#so now we always have tank boy in our freezer

[ddonggeun]

*crunch on a tank boy* eunkwang my beloved this one is for u have a blessed one brother

[luvdsc]

too hot! hot damn!

what do you get when you mix red and blue together?

pairing :: lee taeyong x reader genre :: fluff / boyfriend au word count :: 2,121 words warnings :: a tiny paragraph about making out playlist :: cherry kisses (chungha) ⋆ daft pretty boys (bad suns) ⋆ hands on me (taeyeon) ⋆ crash my car (coin) ⋆ shy (hunny) author’s note :: to the insanely talented goddess who wrote the first nct fic i ever read nearly 3 years ago and still love to this day!!! i didn’t think i’d ever get to be friends with one of my favoritest writers on here, but here we are :’) ily els @taeyongtime​ ♡ 

“It’s hot.”

You’re draped across the old, yet still very plush couch, the kitschy pattern spread across it now fondly regarded as one of the things that transforms this dingy little place from a shoebox apartment into home. The thin spaghetti strap of your faded tie-dyed tank top from your old sorority days hangs limply off of your shoulder, threatening to fall even more when you slump over to the left. The simple drawstring shorts you have on barely cover your legs, but you contemplate tossing them off still because it’s just. So. Damn. Hot.

“It’s hot!” you whine even louder, throwing your arms up in the air before letting them flop down onto the cushions dramatically. The nearby open window only blows in a measly little breeze that does nothing except dry the sweat on your skin for a few glorious seconds before it reappears like a stubborn stain. Your boyfriend only raises an eyebrow at you from his spot on the floor, sprawled out in front of said window and using one of his Nylon magazines as a makeshift fan.

Taeyong agrees, flapping the glossy pages in front of his face desperately. “It’s too hot.”

Two days consisting of barely surviving the power outage creeps into a third, the prospect of having AC again anytime soon becoming extremely bleak. The transformer had completely blown out, and the electric company finally sent out a crew to fix it earlier this morning. The estimated restoration was initially set to noon, but it was pushed back until 3 p.m., then 6 p.m., then 10 p.m., then 5 a.m., and now the big black bolded letters spelling out “undetermined” mocks you from the screen of your phone that's already set to the lowest brightness setting to conserve battery.

To make it worse, your city was suffering a heat wave, temperatures spiking to 105 degrees Fahrenheit every single day and simmering down to 80 during the night before climbing the thermostat again. The raging thunderstorm that plagued last night only resulted in unexpected humidity, making your clothes stick to you like a second skin.

“Make it less hot,” you moan, blowing air upwards towards your forehead in an attempt to cool down in the slightest way possible.

“I can’t control the weather, babe, but I can get you a popsicle?” Taeyong sluggishly pushes himself into a sitting position to face you. The shiny magazine in his hand still flounders around until he gives up on it and tosses it aside.

You turn your head, cheek pressing into the couch cushion, as you squint at him. “We don’t have any left. We took all our food from the fridge to Doyoung’s place. I can’t believe that bastard has a gigantic generator and is flourishing in his stupid air conditioned apartment and making frozen sangrias, while his best friends are about to die from heatstroke.”

You had sent back a rather crass Snapchat back to Doyoung after he sent one earlier of his perfect, Instagram story worthy, iced alcoholic beverage. It’s honestly a miracle that he didn’t toss your beloved brown sugar boba ice cream bars out onto his pristine balcony with picture perfect potted plants to perish. That man can still hold onto a grudge even after he’s on his deathbed and descending into the fiery pits.

Taeyong stands up and slowly ambles towards the refrigerator. “I saved two popsicles in the freezer. I figured it’d stay cold enough and not melt if we ate them soon.”

“Oh my god, that’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever said to me.” You struggle to push yourself up into a sitting position before finally being able to, watching your boyfriend open the freezer and pull out the last two saving graces.

“Do you want blue raspberry or cherry?”

He holds out the two icy sweets in front of you, one in each hand. You already know that he secretly wants the red one; it’s been his favorite ever since he was five and tried his very first one from the ice cream truck that still comes around his parents’ neighborhood. But you also know that he always lets you choose first and wouldn’t complain if you take that one.

You reach out and pluck the blue one from his grasp, and he smiles happily, eyes crinkling in the corners as he eagerly unwraps the cherry flavored one and shoves it in his mouth, tossing the wrapper into the nearby wicker trash basket.

He drops down onto the empty space next to you, reclining back and slouching in his seat. The two of you sit there peacefully, side by side and enjoying the cold snacks, until he wordlessly slides over, pressing the side of his arm and leg against yours.

“Move back,” you complain, shoving him over to his original position. “It’s hot, and you’re making it worse.”

“So are you calling me hot?” Taeyong wriggles his eyebrows at you before taking a bite of his popsicle, much to your horror. He moves closer to you again for the sole sake of annoying you.

“First off, I’m calling you sweaty. Secondly, did you just bite your ice cream?” You throw him a dirty look before moving over and turning to sit with your back against the arm rest, throwing your legs over his lap.

Taeyong slightly pouts at you, munching on yet another chunk of his popsicle and ignoring the way you wrinkle your nose in disdain. “What’s wrong with that? It’s melting, and I don’t want it to drip and get my hand all sticky.”

You can’t believe that you just discovered your boyfriend is a psychopath. He’s going to the same circle of hell as people who pour milk in before cereal and those who hate mint chocolate chip ice cream once he leaves this earth (He can even say hi to Doyoung as he descends to eternal damnation).

“Why didn’t you say anything about this before we started dating?” You are absolutely appalled. Horrified. Disgusted. This is the biggest relationship deal breaker you have ever come across.

“Next, you’re gonna say you hate me because I don’t like pineapple on pizza,” he says as his free hand settles on the top of your thigh, gently tapping rhythmically against it absentmindedly.

“Oh my god, you absolute heathen.” You really thought Taeyong was the perfect man of your dreams, but you unfortunately realize belatedly that even he has flaws. Some inexcusable ones, in fact. 

In the midst of your lamenting, you fail to notice melting sugar slowly trickling down until it leaves a sticky mess all over your hand. Desperately, you toss the empty popsicle stick into the nearby waste basket before licking off the remnants of your icy blue treat from your fingers.

“See? It melted all over you. I told you so,” Taeyong childishly sticks out his tongue as he waves his clean hand and empty popsicle stick around as if to emphasize his point.

“Your tongue’s red,” you say, chuckling slightly, and his eyes widen at this newfound revelation.

“Wait, stick out your tongue,” he demands as he throws away the wooden stick, and you comply with his request. He grins, delighted. “Yours is blue!”

He sticks out his tongue again, almost going cross eyed as he tries to catch a glimpse of his own. At that, your eyes zero in on his cherry stained lips, and an ingenious idea pops up in your mind as the sudden urge to kiss your boyfriend silly makes itself very known.

“Hey, wanna play a game, Yongie?” you ask slyly, and his attention immediately turns to you at the word “game,” interest piqued and eyes fixated on you.

“What kind of game?” he inquires cautiously, taking note of the mischievous glimmer in your eyes. You look like you’re up to no good, and your boyfriend wouldn’t be surprised if you have something up your metaphorical sleeve (Because nobody sane enough would be wearing something with sleeves in this weather from hell. In fact, you’re 66.6% percent certain that those fiery pits are probably cooler compared to here).

“Too hot.”

“Yes, it is,” he acknowledges, shaking his head in agreement, and you laugh, fanning yourself with your hands. “No, silly, I meant the game.” 

“It’s called ‘too hot’?” He raises an eyebrow at you, and you confirm, nodding your head. The expression of skepticism on his face says it all, so you throw in your bargaining chip.

“I hid a chocolate bar in the freezer’s ice chest. The winner can have it.”

His doe eyes immediately light up at the mention of his favorite sweet, and he grabs your hand, squeezing it tightly. “Okay, how do I play?”

“We kiss,” you start, and he’s already pulling you towards him enthusiastically, causing soft laughter to bubble up from your throat, before you swat his hands away. “Hey, hey, hey, I wasn’t done explaining it yet! There’s no touching allowed.”

“That’s no fun,” Taeyong whines, lips jutting out into a tiny pout that you want to kiss away already. “You said this is a game. Games are supposed to be fun.”

“But you’re getting kisses, and it’s already hot so it’s better this way,” you coax, and he relents with a drawn out sigh, and you quietly cheer. “Okay, ready?”

Taeyong gives you a tiny nod, and you grin before leaning in, eyes fluttering close. You gently place your lips against his, and he holds still. But then, a few seconds later, you feel his fingers barely grazing your cheek, and you immediately pull away with a frown.

“Baby, I told you that you can’t touch!”

“That rule is dumb,” he complains, crossing his arms over his chest like a petulant child. You frown at him, pouting until he gives in again because it’s you and he’d cross oceans and climb mountains for you.

“Okay, let’s try again,” he grumbles, glowering as he absentmindedly cards his hand through his hair, and you positively beam at him, and the sulking expression on his face softens almost instantly.

“What if we do baby steps first?” You pull your legs up onto the couch, sitting up on your knees and facing him. He fully turns to look at you, head cocked to one side.

“What do you mean?”

You lean forward and peck his cheek before moving back to your original position. “Like that. Now your turn.”

A lightbulb goes off in his head, and Taeyong leans forward and gingerly places a kiss on your forehead with an endearing smile. You inch forward and kiss his other cheek. He plants a tiny kiss to the tip of your nose, and you lean in to delicately leave a kiss on the corner of his mouth. He presses a kiss to the corner of your lips, and you do the same to the opposite side, much to his utter frustration.

This time, Taeyong chases after you when you pull away. You let out a noise of surprise as he gently tugs you forward, crashing his lips against yours and muffling your laughter, and you find yourself straddling your boyfriend. Your hands wind up tangled in his hair, while his arms lock around your waist and hold you close, game be damned.

You can taste a faint trace of cherry, causing the corners of your mouth to curl into the minutest hint of a smile before you press your mouth against his more firmly as he kisses you back eagerly until you both run out of air, pulling away breathlessly with identical smiles.

“You lost,” you tease, poking his cheek with your finger as your other hand curls around his shirt. He makes a face at you, his hands still resting on your waist, and you find that you don’t mind the warmth of them against your skin even in this ruthlessly blazing weather.

“But you’ll share the chocolate, right?” he mumbles, face still flushed and lips redder than before. He traces soft patterns against your hip as you tilt your head to the side, faking your hesitation.

“Hmm, I don’t know, should I? I won fair and square.”

He sticks his tongue out at you. “Meanie.” 

You laugh, sliding off his lap and onto the empty seat next to him (albeit a little unwillingly, but it’s still hot as hell unfortunately, and conserving body heat together isn’t helping at all). Your boyfriend frowns, mostly because you’re no longer sitting in his lap, but partly because he doesn’t understand why you’re laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

Your grin widens, eyes sparkling like you know something he doesn’t (because you do). “Baby, your tongue’s purple.”

Taeyong turns a shade brighter than his favorite popsicle flavor.

[captainpogue]

Well you were and then all of a sudden you weren't (An OBX JJ Fic)

Quick Summary: Kage is John B's twin sister and shes all of a sudden found herself falling for their best friend JJ.

Warnings: Swearing, talk of abuse, blood/injuries I think that's it if I ever miss anything that you feel should be in here please let me know.

A/N: This is taking place before the events of the first season. I have watched up to episode 8 so if there’s anything that doesn’t make sense cause its info you learn after that, that's why. Also been in a foggy head space lately so if I forgot something that happened in the show or whatever my bad. Just had this concept in my head and it helped a lot to distract me from my constant panic attacks to write it out and I thought I'd share. I have more ideas for Kage and the gang so let me know if you like this and I'll try to write some more.

Word Count: 1,321

Gif Credit to @phoebejays​ 

So it just kinda happened. One minute we were 10 stealing candy bars from the gas station and play wrestling in the front yard, he was just like a brother to me like John B and Pope. But now we're 16 and I can't help but be upset at the way JJ looks at Kie or any other girl honestly. I noticed other small changes too, like when I'd get up at night to go pee and see him sprawled out on the pull out couch and the blanket had fallen off I'd pick it up and put it back on him and smile at how cute he was even with the drool coming out of his mouth. There was a time not that long ago when I would've filled up a bucket of water and poured it on him just to mess with him. But not now, now days couldn't fall back asleep, I'd lie wide awake thinking about how hot he looks shirtless on the boat. Then there's how much I wanted to murder his dad. I've known about how he beats JJ since we were kids and I'd always been upset by it cause I've always loved JJ in some way but now was different. Whenever he'd come back to the house with fresh bruises I swear I could punch through a wall with how angry it made me. For the year or so I'd been feeling this way, JJ still acted the same like I was just his sister. I thought he'd never like me. I'm too much of a tom boy and I'd spent too much time being one of the guys growing up with them. I'd always been smaller than them so I literally wear their hand-me-downs, what guy wants to be with a girl who's wearing his shirt from when he was 14. Kie had the benefit of coming into the group already grown up. I love Kie though don't get me wrong and the group wouldn't be the same without her. Plus it didn't matter if he did look at me the way he looks at other girls cause it wouldn't fly. Not only do Pogues not date other Pogues. John B would flip out. He's always been protective citing the fact that he's 9 minutes older than me as the reason. Now that dad's disappeared and child services could come a knocking at any minute ready to split us up he's been worse. Again none of this mattered back when I thought JJ still thought of me as a sister or just one of the guys like he’d literally said before. That all changed the other night when he came back to the house at 3AM with a really bad busted up face. I couldn't sleep as I was worried about too many things and I heard the screen door squeak open. I knew it was JJ so I went out to see him.

"Jesus J your face." I yelled a little loud forgetting my twin brother was asleep in the other room. 

"It's fine." JJ shrugged sitting down on the couch. I made my way to the freezer grabbing some frozen peas to put on his already beginning to purple eye. I sat down next to him and put the peas on his face, he winced.

"Sorry." I whispered. 

"Its not your fault, and what happened to grow a pair JJ who are you and what have you done with Kage?" Yeah Kage the nickname JJ actually gave me when we first met as kids. We had JJ, John B and Pope so I had to be something. My initials are KGR so just like hes JJ I became KG for a while which sounded like cagey and eventually became cage and I spell it with a K cause that's what my real name starts with. But I can't remember the last time someone actually called me by my real name. 

I forgot I was supposed to still be the pestering sister and not the girl desperately into him so I tried to correct my mistake.

"She's still asleep dumb ass, it's 3AM." 

"Well dumb ass this is way too cold on my face it's hurting more." He complained.

"You're such a baby J. Give it here." I took my tank top off that I had been sleeping in and wrapped the peas in it. "Here, try it now." He put it back on his face and flashed me a smile with a thumbs up. 

"Okay so what else hurts?" I asked. 

"Nothing I'm fine Dr. Routledge." JJ laughed.

"Nice try J but I can literally see blood all over your blond ass hair so let me look." I began trying to see what on his head was bleeding. He was trying to block me so it ended up me sitting on him holding his head still peering at the back of his head. Meaning I'd accidentally put my boobs in just a sports bra right up in his face. I realized what i’d done and just as I was about to pull away I saw the gash down his head. Anger took over I jumped off him and yelled "I'm gonna fucking kill him." JJ was a little shocked by everything I suppose but quickly pretended not to be.

"Yeah well not if I do it first." He laughed. 

"I'm serious J I'm sick of it. I'm not gonna just stand by and let him hurt you like this anymore. The back of your head is literally split open!" And then for some dumb ass reason I started crying. I think it was a mixture of everything; my dad disappearing, possibly getting separated from John B and my friends and my weird hormonal teenage emotions. I'm not a crier like seriously last summer we were being stupid as usual and I broke my foot didn’t let a single tear drop but here I am crying because I found a gash on my best friends head. 

"Woah… hey Kagey it's fine, I'm fine." JJ pulled me into a hug and I couldn't help it. I was sleep deprived, hurting, and currently shirtless hormonal teenager with the dude I really liked holding me in his arms so I looked up and I kissed him. I kissed the dude I've been best friends with since 3rd grade. He kissed back for a second then immediately jumped back. 

"I uh… what was that?" JJ was all red.

"Oh um nothing… sorry… a mistake… I'll go get… um…" I stopped rambling and turned to run from the stupid thing I'd just done. Before I could he grabbed my shoulder turning me around and kissed me. When we stopped we both went to talk at the same time. 

"I thought I was just like a dumb ass brother to you?" 

"Well you were and then all of a sudden you weren't. And I thought I was just like dumb ass sister to you?" 

"Well like you said you were and then all of a sudden you weren't." He repeated what I’d just said. Before I could continue to ask what he meant and find out how much he truly felt the same way I felt about him, John B came out of his room. 

"What's going on?" He asked groggily, pushing his hair out of his face. I immediately jumped into save our asses John B can NOT know about the kiss or he will freak mode. 

"Well you're not supposed to talk about fight club but someone clearly just got back from it so I'm helping him out." I motioned to JJ's face. "Can you go grab the first aid kit from the bathroom?" I asked my brother. 

"Yeah, sure." He muttered making his way to the bathroom. I looked at JJ and we shared a we will discuss this later tell no one look.

[bebepac]

The Dishwasher

I am participating in @wackydrabbles​​ prompt # 58 “Where are you going? It’s not safe out there!”  which will appear in bold.

I also used a prompt from @wonder7pickle​ 45 OTP prompts, # 45, “If I kiss you right now, I won’t be able to stop” which will also appear in bold

This is also chapter 12 of Pop’s Place.  To catch up on what you’ve been missing so far please check out Pop's Place Masterlist .

Summary:  Mia and Jaiden start to get closer.   Liam and Mia hire a dishwasher.  A bad storm hits the area.  

Warnings:  I’m gonna say profanity, because I love a good curse word.  But that’s all, and these these two are too stinking cute.  You know what I say right.   When I have a fluffy fic, that means another story gets hit with the drama rain. 

Word Count:  1994  

Song inspiration for this episode.  Another Jaiden  Brooks pick.  I really kinda love his eclectic music selections, and this week he’s really feeling this one.

 “To Be  With You” by Mr. Big

https://youtu.be/L6-uJLteKek

I don’t own rights to the music.  This is a great song by the way, forgot how much I used to love it!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍

Tagging: @queenjilian​ @dcbbw​  @bbrandy2002​ @indiacater​ @janezillow​  @islandcrow​ @mom2000aggie​ @gkittylove99​ @gabesmommie1130​ @sophie-and-shizuku​ @kingliam2019​ @queenwalton​ @cordonia-gothqueen​ @texaskitten30​  @marshmallowsaremyfavorite​ @queen-arabella-of-cordonia​ @lodberg​ @hopefulmoonobject​ @kimmiedoo5​ @sanchita012​  @mrsdrakewalkerblog​ @cordonianroyalty​ @batgirlassociationofgothamcity​ @hopelessromanticmonie​ @marietrinmimi​ @blueaster-blog1​ @lovablegranny​ @ac27dj​ @classylady1234​ @loudbluebirdlover​ @atha68​ @nikkis1983​ @furiousherringoperatortoad​ @sevenfuckslefttogive​ @ladyangel70​  @annekebbphotography​ @iaminlovewithtrr​  @jared2612​ @cordoniaqueensworld​​ @choicesficwriterscreations​​ @burnsoslow​ @axwalker​

Mrs. Jones was kind enough to make him a plate for breakfast before he started cutting their grass for them.

Jaiden sat at the table eating  turkey sausage, eggs, grits, toast and juice, when he saw Mia walk into the kitchen.

Jaiden raised an eyebrow. Even though Mia looked like she had just woken up, she looked really cute to him.  Her hair was up in a wild ponytail on the top of her head.  She was wearing  a white tank top and some blue pj shorts.

She looked at the stove seeing the cast iron pan her mom cooked eggs in empty. She opened the fridge bending over. Jaiden leaned in his chair to get a better look at Mia. Jaiden bit his lip as he watched her. 

Gloria rounded the corner with another carton of eggs. She followed Jaiden's  line of sight,  catching Jaiden blatantly watching Mia.

When she called Jaiden's name he jumped, losing his balance, causing the chair to topple over, with him in it.

The sound caused Mia to jump. Standing up as she saw Jaiden jump up, his face bright red.

Gloria gave him a look; he knew he had been caught.  

"You alright there Jaiden?" Gloria said with a smirk.

"Yeah that chair was a little wobbly or something. Weird."

"Mom why didn't you tell me he was here?" Mia mumbled.

"I did, you apparently didn't check your phone." Mia touched her hair.

"Well he's seen you at your worst, and he's still staring at you, like you are the most beautiful girl in the world. I think you're okay. He fell out of his  chair, staring at my beautiful girl."

He was beet red now. Even his ears.  His face was downcast eating.

She smiled at Jaiden. 

"You can handle cooking more eggs, just don't let Pops see them! Check if Jaiden wants more eggs."

Gloria left the kitchen.

"Jaiden, do you want some more breakfast? I'm about to make some more eggs."

"Sure."

"I put cheese in my eggs is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's great."

He watched her cook the cheesy eggs.

He brought his plate over to her. She fixed him more breakfast.

"Thank you Mia."

"You're welcome."

Even though he was full, he ate another plate of food, just so he could sit there and have breakfast with Mia and talk to her.

"So why are you here this morning?"

"Our moms are apparently best friends now. Your mom was talking about hiring someone to cut the grass for you guys, and my mom volunteered me. Since it came with a free breakfast, and I get to spend time with you, I don't mind at all."

Mia smiled looking at him.  They continued talking and laughing for a bit.

"Well I better get started." Jaiden took both their plates and rinsed them putting them in the dishwasher.  Mia bottles of water in the freezer.  

She showered and got dressed for the day.  She checked on Jaiden a few times out the window.  It was now the heat of the day and he was sweating, and now shirtless.  Mia’s heart skipped a beat.

She decided it was the perfect time to take out  one of the bottled waters, she was freezing for him.  When she came out of the house, she saw Jaiden drinking  from the water hose.

Mia got a mischievous idea.  

She carefully picked up the hose, and bent it with her hands slowly stopping the stream of water.  Jaiden fell right for it.  Holding the hose end closer to his face.  

Mia unbent the hose, the water hitting Jaiden in the face full blast.  He yelped in surprise.

Mia was doubled over in laughter.  

Jaiden’s eyes shot to her. “YOU!!!!” he screamed, quickly putting his thumb into the hose causing the stream of cold water to hit Mia. Mia screamed.

Gloria glanced out the window when she heard Mia screech.  She watched the pair running across the yard, screaming and laughing. Mia kicked off her sandals, so she could run faster.  Jaiden still caught up to her, spraying her with water.  He had a tight grip on Mia.  He dropped the water hose.  

He pulled Mia closer to him and kissed her.  

“ She was right.  That boy ain’t shy… when he knows what he wants.  Go ‘head on Jaiden Brooks.”  

They finally came up for air.  Mia slowly opened her eyes, seeing Jaiden staring down at her.

“Wow.”  she softly whispered.  “I feel like I wasted almost my whole summer on the wrong guy.”

“It’s okay Mia.  You have me now.  And I’ve been waiting patiently for you all summer.”

“When did you know?”

He smiled.  “When I was driving home from the party that night we first met.  I was thinking about you.  It really annoyed me that you were with Drake.  My family isn’t crazy religious.  But, I asked for a sign to know you were the one for me.  Not even a minute later I saw you pulled over with the flat tire. I was your Superman."

"You also nearly scared me to death."

"Definitely not the type of scream I want to hear from you Mia."

Jaiden winked at her.  

Mia laughed.

"Is that for me?"

He pointed to the slightly frozen bottle of water in her hand.

"Yeah, it is."

"Thanks. I better get back to it."

"Come see me before you leave okay?"

"I will."

He watched Mia walk away. Her clothes were sopping wet. He had gotten her good with the water hose.  

He smiled at her. "That's my girl."

Pop's Place had been so busy Mia was on her roller skates almost every day.

The public outcry to help Pop's small business stay open even with shorter hours and closed for the weekends had humbled Pops. They were actually making more than with them being open every day.  Pops was loved by the community.

"Hey Mr. Brooks!"

He gave Mia a hug.  "How are you sweetie?"

"It's been busy. We've been running like crazy,  and now our dishwasher is our cook! So it's been a mad house but we're making it work."

"Jaiden said he's worried about you. Is there anything you need? Your family needs Mia?"

"Me and Liam are basically running this on our own. Liam is placing the food orders doing all the cooking,  and I'm running the floor.  Mom handles the books. She can't help much, she has a full time job.  If you know a dishwasher, that would save my life right now."

"You know what? I just might be able to help you out with that.  Can I get this coffee to go sweetheart?"

"Sure Mr. Brooks."

"And Mia…. "

"Yes Mr. Brooks?"

"Jaiden is very tenderhearted. You bring out something in him that I've never seen before.  I'm really happy you two found each other.  Tell your father he owes me $20.  I called this, when I saw you two at the hospital.  You two have a connection."

"Glad everyone knew before I did."

Jason smiled. "The same thing happened with me and Ren. I was in love with her, long before I was a blip on her radar."

"Jaiden isn't in love."

Mr. Brooks smiled. "I'll see you soon Mia."

The next morning Jaiden came in with Mia’s favorite coffee and what looked like two folders.

Hey Mia, can I talk to you and Liam for a few minutes?"

"I'd like to apply for the dishwasher position. Here's my resume."

"This looks like a term paper." Liam looked at the folder.

"No, this is going to be an audio and visual experience!  Audio On!!!!!”

Jaiden’s phone comes to life.

Jaiden’s voice blares over his phone sounding like a crazy extreme announcer.  

“JAIDEN BROOKS DISHWASHER!”

Mia opened the folder.  The first page was a full size photo of Jaiden giving a thumbs up, with a clean plate in his hand.

(Author note:  Crazy announcer Jaiden’s voice from his phone will be in all caps) 

“Reason number one why I would be a great dishwasher.  I wash myself every day, sometimes more than once a day depending on what I get into.”

“GO AHEAD TAKE A WHIFF…. I’ll WAIT.  DO IT!!!!”

Mia leans forward sniffing Jaiden.  She nods in approval.

“SMELLS GOOD RIGHT?!? SEE?!?!? TOLD YOU SO!!!!!”  

Mia laughed.

Liam looked at Mia.  She was eating this stupid shit up that Jaiden was doing.  Liam didn’t think he was funny at all.  

Jaiden saw Liam wasn’t amused.  Mia was almost crying from laughter.  He had to win over Liam.

Jaiden went on to talk about a  picture empty sink in his house that had no dishes in it.   A video of his mom saying “Jaiden washes dishes without being told.”  

Lastly, Jaiden talked about his Jeep. He had it parked so it  was sitting almost glistening in the spot. “Would you check out the shine on that Jeep?”  

“LOOOK ATTTTTTT ITTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!”

Finally Liam burst out laughing.  

“Jaiden, I did not know, you were this crazy and this funny as hell.”  

“Because I’m the underdog.  People always underestimate me.  So did I get it?”

Mia looks at Liam.

“Want to start like right now?”  

“I need to go home and change, but I can come right back. Walk me out Mia?”  

Liam watched Mia walk out to the car with Jaiden.  He slipped his hand into hers.  

He leaned into her.

“If I kiss you right now, I won’t be able to stop.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” he whispered, kissing her.  

Jaiden felt Mia’s body melt into his arms.

When Jaiden finally pulled away.  He softly whispered.  “I’ll be back soon.”  

“Okay,” Mia whispered.  She stared deeply into Jaiden’s eyes.  How had she not seen him before? 

"Hurry back it looks like it might storm."

“You worried about me?”  Jaiden smiled.

Mia nodded.

“I like that.  I’ll hurry.”  

Mia watched Jaiden drive off.

Liam watched her when she came back in.  Mia had a dopey smile on her face.

He knew neither him nor Drake had made Mia ever look like that before.  Mia really liked Jaiden.  They had something special.

The restaurant was dead, and the storm coming looked bad. Jaiden made it back just before the rain.

They had been laughing and fooling around in the kitchen.

They hadn't even noticed how bad it looked outside as they were all in the kitchen until their phones started going off.  TORNADO WARNING!!!!!

Mia's phone started ringing.

She put the phone on speaker as Pop's asked.

"Are there any customers?"

"No."

"Close and lock up and go small interior office, there are no windows in there.  Come home after the storm.  Supposed to be bad on and off all day.

"Okay Pops."

When she got off the phone Liam headed towards the door.

"Where are you going? It's not safe out there!"

"To check the generator. We might need it."

"Not worth it, look at that wind and rain." Jaiden said.

They waited out the storm talking in the office.

When that storm cell had finally passed they walked out to their cars. Liam hopped in his R8 and was gone in a second. Jaiden was waiting for Mia to pull off, when she didn't he pulled over to her.

Jaiden jumped out to check on her.

"My car won't start."

"I'll take you home."

He opened the passenger door.

“See, I’m your Superman.” 

Mia smiled.

"You worried about me?"

"I worried about you Mia, even when you weren't my girlfriend."

Mia smiled. She took Jaiden's free hand and held it in hers.

"So you’re my boyfriend now?"

"Only if you want me to be."

In that moment Mia felt incredibly bold.  “Yes, I do.” 

Mia's hand gripped his tighter. "I want you Jaiden Brooks."

At the stop sign, Jaiden turned to Mia. His voice was soft. He licked his lips before he continued speaking. "And I want all of you, Mia Jones.”

[mimssides]

Life on Crow Avenue: Part 5

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Warning: Suicidal thinking from Remus!

__

It was a hot Wednesday and Remus was stacking a few big plant pots in front of their store and then checked the time on his phone. It was already a little after twelve and they ought to take their much-needed lunchbreak.

With a groan he straightened up and pressed his hands on the small of his back and stretched. It cracked a little and Remus remained in the position for a second. He looked up. He didn’t really see anything, just stared into the nothing.

He’ll be fine. He’s fallen for the jazz boy. It’s fine.     It’s fine.     He will be fine.     He has enough to support himself.     He will be fine.     And you’ll be free.

Then Remus heard his name being called out. Franticly, he turned around. Directions were hard to pinpoint and it didn’t help that he somehow knew the voice but was not too familiar with quite yet.

“Up here!” the voice shouted and Remus lifted his gaze and found the face which belonged to the voice.

Widely he smiled at Patton, who was waving through the window from the second floor in the house next to theirs. He waved back and shouted up a Hi, waiting for Patton to continue.

“Wait a second! I’ll come down!” Patton said and Remus stemmed his hands in his hips waiting for the man to join him outside.

He did not have to wait a minute until Patton came out and walked towards him. As of now he wore a white tank top and blue shorts with little rubber ducks on it and Remus got a look of the tattoos on his upper arms and calves. It was not a first, in the past week and a half he had seen Patton several times in shorter clothes as he walked into their store to talk with him and such, but Remus enjoyed the view nevertheless. The colours and motives were so interesting to him and had inspired some ideas in his head.

“Hi!” Patton beamed anew.

Remus grinned and repeated his own Hi again, while Patton stepped closer and then halted barely two feet from him and folded his hands in front of his chest. A grin tugged at corner of Remus’s lips and he put his hands inside of his pants’ pockets.

“Eh, I just wanted to ask if you and Roman maybe wanted to eat lunch with me and Lo? We usually eat together when I don’t have a client over noon and well, I thought the more the merrier?” Patton asked and looked expectantly at Remus.

Remus blinked a little taken aback. Having lunch with Patton and Logan? Something they apparently did every day, was part of their day to day life and they wanted him and Roman to take part of this? Remus had already been surprised when Patton had invited him again for the jazz night last Friday and now this?

   It is too good to be true.  

“I’d love to! I’ll just ask Ro if it’s fine with him. Let me go and ask him right now!” Remus said and already turned towards the entrance of their store.

He did not notice that Patton followed him and he was quick to call for Roman in Spanish: “We’re invited for lunch with Patton and Logan? You good with that?”

“Yeah sure! Do you think they might want eat from the fajitas I prepared? Oh and-” Roman shouted, while walking out from the back and stopped as he saw Patton behind his brother.

Almost unnoticeably Roman motioned with his chin behind Remus and then addressed Patton with a smile: “Hi! I heard we’re invited for lunch? All bring their own food? Or should we bring something for everybody?”

Patton blinked a little surprised and lifted his hands.

“Uh, we usually bring our own stuff or more like I get something from the bakery down the street and Lo eats a sandwich but I doubt he’d be upset if you’d bring something for us?”

The upset and offended look Roman gave Patton when he said that Logan ate a sandwich for lunch almost scared the tattoo artist and he felt like he was supposed to apologize for letting Logan eat like this. And he felt a little bit as if he was in danger as well, since he also just went to the bakery or to a general store to get a little snack for lunch, which was apparently something Roman didn’t find acceptable.

“Please tell me you eat fajitas,” Roman said merely supressing the offence in his voice and Remus next to him rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Patton’s eyes darted nervously from one brother to the other until they landed on Roman and he answered: “I like them? As far as I know Logan does too; he just doesn’t eat them too ho-”

“Oh, hotness is no problem. I always make different sauces because Remus doesn’t like hot as well,” Roman cut him off with a pleased look and cracked is fingers. “So, I can get both of you an actual lunch instead of a meagre sandwich and whatever you’d normally get from the bakery. Ah, and do you think Jay and Virgil could join as well? Or did you ask them already?”

A laugh escaped Patton’s mouth and he looked over to Remus who just shook his head. So, there was a little bit of quirkiness in the otherwise so charming Roman after all. It made Patton like him a lot more and he turned his attention back to Roman.

“The more the merrier! I’ll ask them right away! If you want you can already go over to Logan’s. He’s in the backroom of his shop. You’ll find it with no problem!”

___

Five minutes later the six men sat around a round table in the backroom of Logan’s shop. The room had two big windows in the corner, which faced into the backyard. They had them closed as the air conditioning created a far more pleasant temperature than airing could. Besides the table there was a little counter with a microwave on it and a sink in the otherwise empty room.

Still it was a nice atmosphere, as Roman had laid out eight different bowls with condiments and fillings in them, so all could choose what they wanted to put on their tortilla. The smell filled the room and Roman’s explanation which was what and how hot everything was, made it all even homelier than it had been before.

Unabashedly, Remus started putting his first fajita together Patton then following his lead. Virgil carefully started to put his own together, asking Roman at every ingredient he wanted if it was the vegetarian option, which Roman confirmed every time.

Janus, Logan and Roman took a little more time to put their meal together, as Janus just liked to take his time, Logan was a little picky and Roman just wanted to enjoy the process of composing his own meal and the being together with his little group. It was something that was dear to him and his grin and glee managed to convey that quite well to the other men.

“¡Buen provecho!” the twins said and toasted each other with their fajitas.

Virgil repeated the phrase in a mumble, Patton said it loudly and with the wrong pronunciation but it was the thought that counted. At least it made Remus grin and Patton was entirely happy with that outcome.

“Thank you for the meal,” Logan said directed to Roman, as Janus just nodded and took a bite from his own fajita.

Roman smiled widely and responded after swallowing the bite he had taken: “No problem at all! I’m just happy giving something proper to eat.”

“A sandwich is a perfectly proper meal, thank you very much,” Logan argued and eyed the food in his hands with interest. “But I have to admit that this does look better than what I usually have.”

“I’d hope so! Now stop talking and eat! It won’t get any better the longer you wait.”

Logan nodded at Roman’s instructions and finally started eating. And for a few moments the room was a quiet except for the sound of chewing.

That was until Patton chirped up and said excitedly: “This is delicious Roman! You said you made all the condiments and fillings yourself?”

“Thank you! Yeah, I make them myself. It’s not that hard really. Just takes a bit of time. I usually prepare everything in the evening when I make dinner,” Roman said in a humble manner and not with the pride one could have expected from the otherwise rather boisterous man.

“What are you talking about? This still, like, takes a lot of work to do, right? And did you make the tortillas yourself? They are a lot better than the ones we get from the store,” Virgil chimed in and tapped the tortilla of his fajita.

Roman shrugged and cast his eyes down to his hands, unsure of how to respond.

Remus on the other hand knew exactly how to respond: “Yah, he makes the dough himself. We have premade tortilla dough in the freezer. He’s really good at cooking in general. At least better than I.”

“So, you have an interest in cooking, Roman? And I have to agree with Patton; it tastes very good,” Logan agreed and eyed Roman patiently until the man looked up again.

“Well, what can I say? At one point Chinese takeout just didn’t do it for me anymore, and I learnt making some stuff myself. It’s fun. And tastes better than the stuff you buy.”

Roman barely had met Logan’s eyes and was now looking down into his lap. Eyeing his tummy and trying to not focus on the words in the back of his mind. He knew that they must see the heavy thoughts in his posture and the uncertainty in the air around him. But he could not help it; talking about food, about cooking, it made him somehow always feel guilty about his weight, especially when Remus sat so close by. Proving in a way that he could look much differently if he-

“It’s certainly healthier to cook for yourself instead of ordering all the time. Also, if I understand correctly you are self-taught? Learning such a skill all by yourself is impressive, Roman. I at the very least am impressed.”

Roman looked up and glanced over to Janus who fixed him with a calm look. A little laugh escaped Roman’s lips and he tilted his head to the side, before he thanked Janus and let their lunch continue peacefully.

Logan began to ask Roman what kind of cuisine he preferred to cook from and Roman started explaining that he had taught himself a lot of Mexican, Tex-Mex and Italian dishes because he liked those in particular. And also, because he wanted to rekindle with his Mexican heritage, which he did not elaborate on much further and left it to the other men’s imagination what that could mean.

All in all, it was a rather comfortable meal and Patton was more than happy that he had gone and asked Patton to join them for their lunchbreak.

They put the empty plates and bowls in the sink and Roman asked Logan where the bathroom was and then excused himself for a moment. Remus, who stood at the sink, ready to wash the dishes, looked after him and turned to look at Janus the second Roman was out of sight and earshot.

“Jazz boy?” Remus said with an oddly creepy grin.

Janus quirked his eyebrow up and Remus continued: “If you dare to hurt him, I’ll break your fucking neck. He deserves everything in the world and if you make him unhappy, I will make you regret it. That’s a promise.”

And just like that Remus turned back to the sink, turned the faucet on and started doing the dishes, as if he hadn’t said anything at all. All stared at him and Remus was well aware they did. And yet he didn’t care.

“Do I want to know what your fucking problem is with me?”

Remus halted in his movements and looked back over his shoulder to Janus. Janus who looked oh so offended, oh so pissed off. Remus almost got a little kick out of it, but he knew this was not the time to anger the man more. He just needed him to understand one thing.

“I have no problem with you whatsoever,” Remus replied simply and pulled his beanie further down over his forehead.

Janus let out a huff and wanted to sneer a comment but Remus didn’t let him. With a grin that really did not look like one he said: “I don’t want a problem with you. I don’t care for you and I’ve told you that before. But I do care about Roman. And he’s very, very serious about you. It’s been ages since I’ve seen him so goddamn happy and I can not have you destroy that for him. He deserves love and a goddamn home of his dreams. And I need you to know that, to respect that and to run the fuck away if you just dare to disagree with any of the things I said. Because I cannot see him hurt more than he already is. Am I understood?”

Janus just stared at Remus. He wanted to argue. Probably not about Roman, but how Remus was interfering with their relationship. How he clearly overstepped a line in meddling with his brother’s life and how he could not say such inappropriate things towards Janus, who he barely knew. But Janus didn’t start to argue but shook his head and remained quiet.

Not a man of confrontation.

Probably would help Roman in the future, to have someone like that by his side.

Again, Remus turned to the faucet and started doing the dishes. The door was opened and Roman came back in looking around and immediately sensing the uncomfortable atmosphere. For a second, he seemed confused then he glanced over to Remus and sighed.

“What did he threaten you with?” Roman asked and stemmed his hands in his hips.

Janus scoffed and watched his fingernails with great interest.

“Oh nothing. Don’t bother.”

Roman rolled his eyes and walked over to Remus, took a towel and started dry the dishes, Remus had already washed and asked his brother: “What have you threatened him with?”

“I’ll break his neck!”

“Pff, good one. And you’re not going to do that. I’m sorry Janus. He’s getting ahead of himself.”

As Janus made an unvoluntary offended squeaking sound, Logan frowned and said: “Is this something that happens so regularly with the two of you or why exactly are you so unfazed by your brother threatening to murder people?”

“No, it doesn’t,” Roman answered and looked over him, while setting the plate in his hands down. “But I know he gets overprotective when I’m genuinely interested in a guy. He has yet to actually follow through with any of those threats he made, so don’t worry about it.”

“Genuinely interested?” Virgil repeated with big eyes and looked over to his uncle, who, for once, did not appear to be quite as cool and collected as he usually was.

Roman just chuckled a little and lightly brushed against Remus and just continued doing the dishes. Patton exchanged a look with Logan. The bookshop owner raised his eyebrows and Patton giggled a little before he walked over to the twins and helped them doing the dishes.

Remus began asking Patton about what kind of tattoos he did and which kind of clients he had, which was a huge jump from their prior topic, but Patton was happy to answer and talked a bit about his clientele with sometimes Logan adding a few observations he made over the years of Patton’s clients mistakenly walking into his shop. The conversation remained friendly and Virgil bid his goodbye soon, so he could get back to the store and check on the pets. Patton was next to go, as he had to prepare his studio for the next client and whished the twins, Logan and Janus a good afternoon.

As Logan was talking with Remus about a new crime series that had been delivered to his store, Janus started to leave and was promptly accompanied by Roman. He side eyed him curiously as he stepped out of the bookstore. His smile was unfaded and it was too easy forget how unhappy and ashamed he had looked down at himself during lunch.

Janus didn’t forget.

“I’m really sorry about Remus,” Roman pulled him out of his thoughts and Janus put a smile on his face.

“Oh, it’s fine. He totally did not overstep any personal boundaries at all,” he said and stopped putting both hands on his cane in front of him.

Roman scratched the back of his neck and shrugged apologetically.

“I know, I know. He’s a lot. But he means well. And I think he and you could actually be pretty good friends.”

“Yeah sure.”

Roman sighed with a smile and shoved Janus softly in the shoulder. He did not miss the little grin that stole itself on Janus’s lips and just looked at him for a moment. He was just so beautifully charming.

Then Roman broke out of his trance and said: “Don’t be like this. I’ll have something to make it up to you! Wait a second!”

Like that he turned around and jogged towards their store and disappeared inside for a minute. Slightly surprised but also intrigued Janus watched him re-exiting holding something behind his back and tilted his head sceptically. Roman grinned brightly and brought forth a bright bouquet from behind his back. Next to some decorative fern and grass it mainly contained little sunflowers and violets and Janus felt his jaw drop.

He had never been gifted flowers before.

Overwhelmed Janus looked from the bouquet to Roman, who’s smile was more than complacent, and quickly cleared his throat and then tenderly took the bouquet Roman had gifted him.

“I guess you accept my offering for amends?” Roman asked far too softly for Janus to handle.

Janus made an effort to straighten his back met Roman’s eyes steadily before saying a bit too quickly: “I’ll consider it.”

Both knew that was a yes.

“Thank you for the meal, Roman. It was very good.”

“It’s fine. Eating with you all was very nice. We’ll have to do that again.”

“I agree…”

They looked at each other for a bit longer. Noon was not endless and they could only stand here for so long.

“I’ll have to get back to Virgil. Can’t have him deal with the customers on his own,” Janus said not making a move.

“Yeah, we can’t have that, can we?”

“No, we really can’t…”

Roman clasped his hand behind his back and turned a little towards to the flower shop.

“So, I guess, I’ll see you soon?” he said as if he thought Janus would never show up again.

Janus nodded, forgetting to add words for a moment and then said: “Yes, you’ll see me soon. We live almost at the same street after all.”

“Cool. Then, uhm, so long?”

Janus grinned and finally turned to walk away.

“Yes, so long Roman. Take care,” Janus said throwing Roman a lingering look and walked over to the pet store.

Meanwhile, Remus and Logan had stood behind the shop window and observed the two lovebirds with blank faces. Logan had met a few of Janus’s acquaintances but as far as he remembered none of them had ever rendered the man so obviously flustered like Roman did. And for the latter it also seemed like he was presenting a side of himself which did not seem to be something he liked to show off on a regular basis.

At least that was what Logan assumed judging by Remus’s look and the things he had said at lunch.

But in Remus head was only one thought. It made his heart a little heavy but not as much as it made him feel relieved.

   He won’t be alone.   They’re not going to leave him alone.    I can go.    Finally go.

___

@varthandi

@sickeningly-deceitful

@sammy-is-obsessed / @exhaustedfander

@unoriginalgayboyalex

@alexisrealgay

@softie-sushi

@wolfs-feder

@just-a-neoclassical-painting

For this fic:

@frawkeye

@arodynamic-enby

@espepspes​

@ladysuperheros

@bullet-tothefeels

@fukindork

@shadeofadye

@magic-but-its-green

@liv-is-a-fander

@croftersjam15

[saharamae21]

Unrequited Love (Chapter Eight) - Topper Fanfic

Authors: @sguymon21​​ and @outerbongs​​ Check out chapter 7 on her page!

WARNING: Light mentions of abuse

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_________________________________________

When I told him it was dad, he’s face contorted. I knew that he wished he was there to stop it. He knew that this was the kind of beating he would usually get. I told him I was okay, but he didn’t meet my gaze. He just stared down at the floor, ashamed. I muttered out an apology for the things I had said earlier. I told him I didn’t mean it and I was sorry, but he just cut me off. He told me it was fine. He went and grabbed me a new ice pack from the freezer and for the first time I looked at John B. He didn’t say anything, He just looked at me with a sad expression before looking away uncomfortably. Seemed about right.

“Hey, we're back! Who's ready to-” I heard Kie say. She looked at me and stopped. She looked at me and said nothing. Next to her was Pope and Sarah Cameron. One look at her and I knew that she had taken my place. They didn’t notice that I wasn’t around because she was here. She had filled my position. Kie knelt in front of me and asked me if I needed anything. She didn’t ask if I was okay, but she was showing interest and that was almost enough for me.

“Looking a little rough there, AJ,” Sarah said with a snicker. In some ways she was just like her brother. Same stuck up energy and this mean girl persona that I just didn’t understand. Yet, I knew why Topper is or was still in love with her. She was from a prominent family and had everything I didn’t. She was beautiful and would never have to work a day in her life if she didn’t want to and looking at her made me feel sick. “What’s it like playing rebound?”

“Shut up, Sarah,” I said. I rolled my eyes at her and listened to the boys jump in about my situation with Topper. They muttered things like that they didn’t want me to get hurt or that I needed to be careful.

“Don’t sugarcoat it for her guys,” Sarah said, jumping back in. “If you don’t tell it to her face, she won’t ever get it. Topper Thornton will never end up with someone like you.”

“And John B will end up with someone like you?” I snapped back. The tension in the room was building as I stood up. I wasn’t scared of her.

“All I’m saying is that you would be a girl Topper would have a fling with. A girl that he would have an affair with later in life. The only thing he cares about is what others think of him and what his parents think of him and you will never be good enough in their eyes,” she said. “Right now, he needs something to take his mind off of me and that’s you. Don’t go thinking you’re anything more than JJ Maybank’s younger sister.”

“Kay,” I said while hastily, throwing my dirty clothes into my backpack. I listened to Pope speak up for the first time. He told me that I shouldn’t just leave. JJ grabbed onto my arm, but I ripped it away. He told me that Topper was getting into my head. That he didn’t care about me. I looked at him with pain as I stood up for myself for the first time. “No JJ, you guys don’t care about me!”

“AJ, that’s bullshit and you know it,” he said.

“Really JJ? Do you know what it’s like to live in your shadow? I’ve never acted out and I’ve never gotten in a fight, but since I’m your sister I get stared at everywhere I go! People associate the Maybank name with psychotic and self destructive tendencies!” I heard him scoff at me as I continued on. “Do you know what it’s like to grow up here? With you four? The constant feeling of being left out. The constant feeling that I wasn’t good enough to be closer with you all? I get why John will let her speak to me like that, he’s fucking whipped, but you three? My own brother? You guys have never truly cared about me and that’s really shitty. For the first time I felt seen and heard and you guys want to take it from me.”

No one said a thing. They looked at me as I picked up my backpack and walked out the front door. Nowhere in mind and nowhere to go. I began to walk down the driveway. I could hear Kiara running after me. If anyone was going to try and see if I was okay after that it was her.

“AJ, wait!” I turned to look at her. Tears streamed down my face as she pulled me into a hug. I didn’t hug her back. I just stood there and let everything sink in. “AJ, where are you going? You can’t go back home.”

“I’ll find a place,” I muttered. She looked at me and I knew that Kie felt bad. I knew she wanted me around, unlike the others. She told me I could always crash at her place if I needed somewhere to go. I smiled a little bit and nodded.

“You know you’re like my sister right?” she asked. I could see that this was eating her alive. I told her I knew. I thanked her and told her that I couldn’t stay any longer. I looked at the chateau a final time. The place that once felt like home, now felt suffocating. It was a feeling that I knew all too well.

I sighed and walked down the south side of the island. Nothing today had gone quite the way I had imagined it. I had no food or clothing other than what was in my bag. I had barely any money and I had no place to stay. I climbed over the branches on the boneyard and threw my stuff in the sand. This summer was supposed to be legendary, but for the most part it’s been a disaster. I shimmied out of my shorts and tank top, revealing my black bikini. I walked down to the water and submerged myself. The salt burned my wounds, but the water felt so nice around me. I could stay here all day.

I had probably been at the beach for a few hours when other people began to show up. I stayed far enough from the huge groups of people, but I couldn’t help watching them. The kooks were down far enough that I bet they didn’t even notice me. I stood in the water, enjoying the sounds of the waves around me when I felt his arms. I giggled knowingly as his torso was against my back. A warm and fuzzy feeling filled my body as I turned to see him. Before I could even see his whole face, his lips met mine. It was a quick peck, but still my stomach filled with butterflies.

“Hey,” I said with a giggle. I looked up at him and Sarah’s words echoed through me. He saw my expression change and asked me what was wrong. I stared up at him and knew I had to express what I was feeling. “Top, I-I don’t let people into my life very often. I need to know that this is real for you… I need to know that you’re not going to leave in a couple days or weeks because everyone I’ve cared about leaves and I can’t do this if you’re just going to leave.”

A face of guilt washed over him quickly. He pulled me into his chest and told me he wouldn’t leave. He told me he wouldn’t hurt me, but his voice was shaky. It was as if he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince me. I decided that that was good enough for now and walked out of the water with him. I dried off and pulled my clothes on. I looked over at the Kooks on the other side of the beach and wondered if they noticed Topper was missing. I heard my stomach rumble and heard Topper chuckle.

“Wanna go get some food?” he asked. I wondered if it was okay to leave his friends over there, but I wanted to spend time with him. I nodded and we walked to his car together. We drove back into town and got out by The Wreck. The smell of food was enough to make my mouth start salivating. We were on our way in, his hand in mine, when her voice rang out from behind us. He instantly pulled his hand away and my heart dropped. I turned around and realized why he was so quick to let go. Dr. Thornton stood behind us.

“What are you doing?” she yelled at him. I could see the look on his face. I could see that she was upset with him and it killed me. I knew how much he wanted her approval. I knew how much his mom’s opinion of him mattered. I watched as he tried to stutter out what was going on.

“Dr. Thornton, this is my fault. I asked him to meet with me,” I said. “You see, my brother, JJ. Well he’s the one who owes you guys restitution. I-I was just asking him to drop the charges. Thirty thousand dollars is a lot, ma’am. I just thought if I talked to Topper, he might understand.”

I watched as she raised her hand like she was going to hit me.

“Mom,” Topper said firmly. The look on his face made me think back to Sarah’s words. Dr. Thornton looked at me and lowered her hand.

“I would hit you for speaking directly to me, but it looks like your dad did enough damage for the both of us,” her words cut through me like a knife. I swallowed hard, understanding what Sarah meant. I would never be good enough for his family.

“Mom!” he said, knowing how her words were affecting me.

“She’s a filthy Pogue, Topper. Stop feeling bad for her.” She snapped. I stared at her as she grabbed Topper by the wrist and told him to come with her. “Get away from her before you catch Rabies or something.”

I watched as his mom pulled him away from me. I bit the inside of my cheek and closed my eyes, trying to find a way to stop the tears from forming. Why would I never be good enough for anyone?

______________________________________________

Tag List : @sexualparkour @yungbludz @poguelive @jiaraendgame @briandaflores19

[2ugars]

ੈ♡˳ death by ramen , lty

pairing: best friend!taeyong who’s tired of bratty!fem reader

genre: fluff.    that’s it.

words: 2.1k

a / n : cross-posted as a haikyuu au fic on ao3, linked here. it’s my account, don’t worry. i’ve just revamped this version (though not by much) to most appropriately fit to taeyong’s character more.

also, happy late birthday to our leader!!! :D

---

“[Name], this entire visit just confirms how utterly hopeless you are when it comes to making decisions,” the boy mutters under his breath, his eyes briefly closing as he sighs in exasperation.

You’ve been standing in the seventh aisle selling ramen for what seemed like hours and Taeyong is rather close to throwing you over his shoulder and walking straight out of the grocery store (whether it be with or without food, he doesn’t exactly care anymore, he just wants this to be over and done with).

“I am not indecisive if that’s what you’re trying to say!” You huff, arms crossing indignantly. “I’m just taking my time to weigh out the pros and cons of buying six bundles of instant ramen. Have a little faith in me, you jerk. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

“Yeah, your best friend, not your freakin’ guardian,” he pokes a forefinger to the space between your eyebrows, ignoring your whines of protest when he pushes your head back. “And no one in their right mind would buy six bundles of ramen. Are you trying to kill yourself?”

You duck away from him, turning your attention to the other products on the shelves. “Death by ramen doesn’t sound too bad if you think about it...”

“No.”

You ignore him. You then toss two Exclusive 24-Packet Ramen bundles into the shopping cart before moving up the aisle, and Taeyong automatically returns it to its location, yawning as he does so.

“You can’t say no to death, Taeyong,” you lift a cup of noodles, turning it over in your hands as you reads the ingredients in hangul. “It’s inevitable, and better you accept it than try to dodge it—you said so yourself.”

His eye twitches. “[Name]–”

“Hey, come to think of it, didn’t you say that during our final exams? You got a sixty-three in one of them, isn’t that right? I mean, I guess it makes sense; you’ve always been horrible at math,” you reminisce innocently, placing the noodles back to where it had come from.

Taeyong presses the heels of his hands to his eyes, throwing his head back as he makes a noise of distress, startling nearby customers. “[Name], you’re missing the point!”

The girl making him want to gouge his eyes out (you) stares at him indifferently for a few beats. When he drags his palms down to fully cover his face, he peeks between the gaps of his fingers just in time to see the corner of your lip twitch up into an amused smile.

“Shut up,” he mumbles.

You lift a shoulder in a cool shrug, dismissing him, and skip down the aisle. Taeyong trails after you, a little defeated, but he quickly recovers after watching you frolic to and fro.

“What else do we need, hubby?”

Taeyong rolls his eyes at the mocking nickname (he doesn’t deny it, though, because he supposes your relationship is somewhat similar to an old married couple, anyways). He slips his phone out of his pocket and checks his notes application, going over the list of items the both of you are required to purchase in order for you and your family to survive the week ahead.

“Shampoo, a small can of oats, and three cartons of milk,” he says, pausing to stream further down. “Also, the, uh, Waterfall of Bloody Hell is due in a few days, so uh, you might wanna get pads. I got you two tubs of ice cream already, and I’m pretty sure they’re in your freezer.”

“How reliable of you, Tyongie,” she quips, “you’re so good to me!”

He grunts in response, a faint blush tinging his cheeks red.

The moment the both of you step foot into the dairy section of the grocery store, you’re already scrutinizing the different varieties of ice cream in the chilled compartments. Taeyong lingers by, one hand snug in the front pocket of his hoodie as he leans against the shopping cart’s handle, scrolling aimlessly through his phone’s photo gallery of memes. You surface from the freezer, bits of ice flakes now speckling the front of your pink top. You wave a vanilla cone in his face and he cranes his neck, all the while staring at his phone, to avoid being hit.

“Could you buy this for me?”

He reacts with a scowl but does not turn his gaze to you, preoccupied with his phone. “[Name], I literally just told you that I bought you two tubs, and here you are, nearly stabbing me in the eye with the end of a co– oh my gosh, hold it properly, will you?!” He grabs hold of your wrist, ceasing your actions before readjusting your grip of the frozen dessert.

You giggle, your bell-like laughter ringing in the otherwise dreary atmosphere of the supermarket. Taeyong’s dirty look softens at the sound and is soon replaced with an absentmindedly endeared expression. He doesn’t realize he’s been staring at you until you gently pull away from him, unperturbed by his open ogling.

He blinks. His cheeks flare a vibrant red and he pulls his hood over his head, obscuring your view of his blushing face.

“I take your angsty demeanor as a ‘no’, then,” you say with a snort, plucking the device from the singer’s hands. You toss the cone back into its compartment, sliding the glass lid closed. “You’re crankier than usual, Taeyong. One might even say you’re the one who’s bleeding.”

“Nah. You’re just a lot more intolerable today.”

“Rude.”

You walk over to the chilled shelves stocked with milk cartons while skimming through the list. Now with three cartons cradled in your arms, you waddle over to where Taeyong sulks and delicately line them inside.

The boy threads his fingers through his hair, smoothing out the black locks in an attempt to fix his disheveled appearance. “Are we done here?”

“Yup!” You beam up at him and he affectionately tugs on a strand of your hair as you start walking. “Now to get the oats...hmm, do I want instant or traditional, decisions, decisions… Hey, Tae–”

“Get traditional,” he says without skipping a beat, rolling the cart next to you. He pauses to listen to your hum of response turn into a nonsensical tune, a gentle smile gracing his features, then adds, “it’s a lot healthier.”

---

Fifteen minutes later, you receive a text from your mother containing another list of groceries you are tasked to purchase. Taeyong wants to throw himself in one of the fish tanks near the meat section at the news, and you fortunately prevent him from doing so...before rationalizing that he shouldn’t do it without video evidence (Taeyong, in the end, is the one to drag you away from the fish tanks).

You now stand back to where you started, in the ramen aisle, the shopping cart filled to the brim with fresh produce, food, snacks, and toiletries. As you contemplate the purchase of your ramen once more, Taeyong contemplates life in the background.

Your lips part to question Taeyong about whether to buy the twelve-pack or the six-pack bundle, but you’re interrupted by the sound of giddy chortles down the aisle. You turns your head to acknowledge the noise and are greeted with the sight of a small group of girls your age. To your relief, they do not pay much detail to you. To your amusement, their undivided attention is to your best friend idly standing next to you.

He’s ridiculously attractive. Do you think his hair is natural? Do you think the girl near him is his girlfriend? He’s so cute. Go talk to him. No, you go talk to him!

It makes sense, you suppose, for the male, as prickly and as edgy as he may be, is undeniably handsome in the all-black attire he’s sporting. The lone piercing that’s located at his left helix glints in the supermarket’s lighting, further supporting what the girls are likely discussing in their circle: that this boy standing in the ramen aisle is a typical bad boy.

You chew on the inside of your cheek to keep yourself from laughing at that ridiculous assumption. Lee Taeyong is anything but.  A thought crosses your mind as your eyes follow the defined line of his jaw, and you can’t help it. You smile smugly.

What a perfect opportunity to be petty and show them that he's taken reserved.

And who are you to leave your audience un-entertained?

Masking your features with an air of indifference, you stand before him. His eyes are glazed over as he stares off into nothing and you find yourself shaking your head in fond exasperation before you press your fingertip to the tip of his nose, pushing upwards to make him look like a little pig. He pulls his face away, grimacing in annoyance at the disruption called [Name] in front of him.

“What.”

You don’t say anything and instead, plop yourself face-first into his chest. He makes a small noise of surprise at the sudden weight against his front, his balance wavering for a split second before he rights himself. He chuckles after a moment or two, the sound resonating throughout his chest.

You are startled when your heart warms.

“You’re so needy,” he remarks, childish mirth coloring his tone of voice. “Did you get stuck with what flavor you wanted? Do you need help? I honestly think eating ramen is unhealthy...I heard somewhere that instant ramen is made of cement. That’s horrible for your digestive system.”

You laugh at his constant fretting. You then feel something laying on your head, and after a time of pondering as to what it is, you finalize with the theory that it is his palm. Your hypothesis, however, is debunked when you feel the familiar movement of Taeyong carding his fingers through your hair—using both of his hands.

To satisfy your curiosity, you shift your head to look up, only to be met with the dark eyes of your best friend.

He had been resting his cheek on top of your head in place of his hand.

They’re cute together, huh?

Your eye twitches.

Taeyong lets one hand cup your cheeks and squishes them together to mimic a fish. When you attempt to force yourself away from his tight grasp, he only makes a similar face down at you, keeping a steady yet gentle hold on you.

“Oi, smile more. You’ll get frown lines.”

“Daemyong, I mill mot hethitate to boite yew might mow.”

She’s definitely his girlfriend. Aw, that’s too bad! I’m not that mad, really – just look at them! They look adorable together.

He laughs, releasing you. You roll your eyes, having had enough of the ‘game’ that you probably shouldn’t have started in the first place (because now, your heart’s palpitating, what the frick frack paddy whack does your organ think it’s doing), and turn your back to him, recommencing in deciding what ramen to buy.

The girls have left, not disappointed at all.

Behind you, Taeyong sighs, but there is a half-smile on his face. He reaches over and drapes his arms on either side of your shoulders, forefinger pointing at what looked like the healthiest ramen in the aisle. His chin lays atop the center of your head, and though you express an irked attitude to his apparently obnoxious gesture, you’re trying your hardest not to smile.

“We’re never going to get out of this building, are we?” Taeyong asks five minutes later, not having moved from his position. He sounds so wistful that you let out a cackle.

“I don’t think so,” you admit. You lean back against him, causing the boy to reposition his head to your shoulder while you tucks your head into the crook of his neck.

“Tell you what,” he says, “if we leave right now, I’ll treat you to that ice cream parlor everyone’s freaking out over.”

“The really cute one with the cat foam lattes and ice cream bouquet cones?”

“Yeah. That.”

You pause to think it over then shake your head when you makes up your mind. “It’s alright. I have a better idea.”

---

( Turns out said ’better idea’ was just you hauling home six bags of groceries and, to Taeyong’s distaste, purchasing a bundle of Exclusive 24-Packet Ramen.

“When you turn into a cement statue,” Taeyong says bitterly as he carries four bags because freakin’ heck, [Name], don’t you know that two trips back and forth just isn’t worth it? “I will gladly keep you in the dorms as a lesson for the Dreamies.”

“And I will accept it. I will accept any form of death.”

“[Name]—” A tired sigh. “[Name], you’re so stupid, that’s not what I meant.” )

[imagineclaireandjamie]

Gothie prompt! MG J&C have an incredibly stupid disagreement while she is very pregnant. Naturally, the whole thing culminates in some sort of fluffy resolution.

Modern Glasgow AU

--

Carefully Jamie set down the piping hot kettle and slowlycrossed the kitchen, balancing the tray with sure, steady hands.

 Claire thanked him for the tea and biscuits with a tiredsmile, absently rubbing the ever-growing swell of their second bairn. He kissedher forehead and sat across from her at the table with mismatched chairs thatwas all they could afford as newlyweds almost four years before.

 “Better today?” he asked quietly, pushing the mug of chamomilecloser to her waiting hands.

 “Not quite,” she sighed. “Faith is cutting another tooth,poor thing. Screamed like a banshee most of the afternoon, when I was trying tostudy.”

 Jamie rubbed her feet, propped up on the chair beside him.“I’m sorry I wasna here to care for her.”

 Claire wrapped her hands around the mug. “There wasnothing you could have done – nothing even I could have done. It just needs tohappen. Thank God we have the teething rings in the freezer – but that onlydoes so much.”

 “Aye. And then she’s so upset that there’s no soothingher, aye?”

 She nodded. “And now with this one – we’ll be goingthrough it again before we know it.”

 Gently Jamie squeezed Claire’s ankles, meeting her gazeacross the table. “We’ll make do when wee Brian arrives. We always have.”

 Her tired eyes narrowed above her tea. “And who exactlyis Brian?”

 Jamie’s own brows furrowed in confusion. “Our bairn, aye?The one in yer belly.”

 Claire sat down her mug and crossed her arms. “I wasn’taware we had settled on a name. Or that it was a boy.”

 Jamie shrugged. “I think it would be appropriate to namehim after my father.”

 “Assuming that first of all, the baby is a boy and thatsecond of all, I agree,” she huffed.

 “And why would ye no’ agree, Claire? Ye ken weel how importantmy Da is to me. Was. Even though ye never met him.”

 Crossly she slid her feet off the chair beside Jamie’s, abruptlystanding straight up, arms still crossed, glowering down at her idiot husband. “Iknow that, Jamie. I’m not stupid.”

 Incredulously he shook his head. “I dinna recall sayingye were stupid, Claire. I’d never saythat about ye. But I thought ye’d understand why I want to name him Brian, formy father.”

 “And did it ever occur to you,” she hissed, “that perhapsI’d want to name the baby after my own father, if it was a boy?”

 From the look of surprise that crossed his tiredfeatures, Claire realized that no, it hadn’t.

 She sighed, suddenly tired of everything.

 “Or is Henry a too English name for a Scottish Fraser,hmm? You’d marry an English wife and have half-English children, but insist onstamping your cultural heritage on them?”

 Slowly Jamie rose, hands slightly outstretched. “Come on,Claire – get those foolish ideas out of your heid. You ken that’s no’ true –Faith is an English name, for God’s sake!”

 “It’s a religious name, which transcends nationality,” shesniffed, eyes suddenly full of tears. “And that’s different.”

 Now he slowly stepped around the table, edging closer. “Ihadna considered Henry as a name, Claire. Not because I don’t like it – just becauseI’m an idiot who hadna considered it. The same with girls’ names…” He shrugged.“I suppose after already having a girl, I was thinking that this time we’d havea boy.”

 Claire wiped her nose on the sleeve of her bathrobe. “Areyou saying you want a boy more than a girl?”

 And then he was there before her, gently settling hisstrong hands on her trembling shoulders, rubbing her back soothingly.

 “What nonsense is that, Claire? I want a healthy bairn. That’sall. Don’t you?”

 His thumb swiped the tears from her beautiful eyes.

 “Am I being an idiot?”

 His smile was hesitant. “A bit.”

 She sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know why I’ve beenso emotional – I wasn’t ever this way with Faith.”

 One red brow quirked in question. “Dinna take this theright way, but ye were exactly thisway wi’ Faith. Only – only we were worrit about her a lot more, aye?”

 Claire swallowed. She stepped closer within the safecircle of Jamie’s arms, resting her forehead against his neck. He held hertight, and pulled up the hem of her tank top and the hem of his undershirt tofeel the bairn skin-on-skin against his belly.

 “Are ye worrit it will happen again wi’ this new bairn?”

 She nodded. He rested a confident hand on her belly.

 “All will be well,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m sureof it. Joe was too, remember? He said ye’re carrying this one differently thanye did Faith.”

 “I think Brian is a lovely name,” she said softly.

 “We can talk about it later.” He kissed her forehead. “We’veabout three months left until this one comes, aye?”

 She tilted her chin up for a kiss.

 “I was thinking,” she whispered when he pulled back, “thatif it’s a girl, we can name her Ellen.”

 Now it was her turn to thumb the tears away from his owncheeks.

[deepabidinglove]

Thank you so much for tagging me @dreaminblue67 

Hello beautiful person! (✿◠‿◠) Once you get this you must share five random facts about yourself then pass this on to your 10 favorite followers!

1. I have a fairly unusual family, because my sister and I married a set of brothers. I met my husband for the first time at my sister’s wedding, and about four years later we got married ourselves. We have a super close family and everyone thinks we’re really weird haha. 

2. When I was a kid I was obsessed with death (I still am kinda), and I used to collect any little animals I could find that died. Birds, or fish from our fish tank, or mice, and my mom let me keep them in the freezer. I would take them out and look at them all the time because I was kinda morbid. Tbh, in hindsight, I judge my mother for letting me keep a collection of dead animals next to the frozen waffles. 

3. My little boy Sammy is 4 years old and I’ve never cut his hair, and I really don’t think I ever want to. I know one day he’ll probably ask for a haircut and it’s going to break my heart into a thousand pieces.

4. I’m 32 years old and still have no idea how to categorize my sexuality. It’s something that bothers me a little, just because I feel like I should probably have this shit figured out by now, but....*shrug*

5. I used to have reoccurring nightmares about very slow moving, impossibly giant geometric shapes (yes I know this sounds dumb but it was seriously the most inexplicably horrific thing I’ve ever experienced) that terrified me to the point I would wake up in a panic attack. I haven’t had that nightmare for years but I’m always afraid it’s going to come back. Tagging literally any one of my followers who would like to do it. You’re all my favorite and I would love to read some random facts about any of you <3

[darwin-xf]

Close through the Dark

Just some pillow talk from circa SOSS. Good clean fun. The rest is at AO3. The middle chapter is filthy fun, but you can skip it just fine. If that’s not your thing. Sorry if you saw this. Penultimate chapter of Vox coming very soon! xo-D

————————————————-

“That was it.” Mulder said, some minutes after they had collapsed to the bed.

They lay side by side in the near dark of his bedroom, his fingers laced behind his neck, his eyes idly following the shifting shadows on the ceiling. She was sprawled on her stomach, close but not touching him, her face half buried in a pillow. She emitted an occasional satiated murmur.

“That was what?” she asked, lazily.

“That was the best sex I’ve ever had. Red hot monkey sex, Scully. That was some primitive bootknocking.”

Her laugh settled into a smirk, her eyes still closed.

“Was it ok when I…”

“More than ok.” In fact, their encounter had been playing behind her eyelids as she drifted next to him. She stole toward him and kissed the underside of his jaw, then rested her head on the landing strip of his chest.

“Good,” he said, circling his arms around her and giving her a squeeze. “I would normally, uh, ask first...”

“That’s not bad as a general rule,” she said. “But I think I set the tone, Mulder. For this particular soirée.”

“I picked up on that,” he said, smiling at her.

“I’m not really sure what came over me...”

He shrugged, complaining the furthest thing from his mind. Also, never good for Scully to overthink. In bed, anyway.

His window was open a sliver, allowing the city’s dusky spring hum to wash over them. Bars coughed patrons back up to the sidewalks as happy hour timed out, more carefree and certainly louder. All over the city clusters of tight blossoms weighed down limbs. A night bird trilled nearby and light from a million bulbs worked its way around the edges of his blinds which swayed and rattled in the breeze. A car alarm blared fruitlessly several blocks away.

“Why do the best words for sex all originate from the French?” he asked, leaning down to kiss her mouth. “Tonight’s...skirmish, you might be interested to know, took over the top spot from the rendezvous we had last Thursday.”

“You have a list? Have you been making reports on me from the beginning, Mulder? Taking your little notes?”

“That water isn’t from the faucet, is it Scully?” he asked, gesturing to the half-empty glass they’d been sharing.

“Jug in the fridge.”

“Good. Nothing for the record. It’s all up here,” he said, tapping his temple.

She lifted her head and looked at him. “What did we…?” A slow smile spread across her face. “Oh yeah. Thursday was nice.”

“Last Thursday beat out our power lunch from three Mondays ago, if you must know, which, at this point, is taking the bronze. Nipped it at the wire,” Mulder said.

She looked at him quizzically. Their physical intimacy had been progressing nicely. Which, if pressed, she might admit was an understatement.

“Lunch is a contemporary English word. Nineteenth Century, I think. Luncheon. Power is Latin in origin maybe? But I’m pretty sure it comes to us via Anglo-Norman French as the verb poeir-to be able to. Why aren’t German words sexy, Scully?”

“I can never decide whether your capacity for remembering literally everything except my birthday is more a curse or a blessing,” she said, dragging her fingers through his shorn hair. “You’re so minky,” she muttered, nipped at his pec.

“Me neither,” he said. “But when it comes to this,” he said, wagging his index finger between them, “It’s all good.”

“Hmmmm,” she agreed.

“I’ll work on the birthday thing.”

She snorted. “I won’t hold my breath.”

“We celebrated this year.”

“You invited me to dinner after you overheard Skinner wish me a Happy Birthday.”

“You noticed that? How does Skinner remember your birthday? Why does he? He never mentions my birthday.”

“I’ve never taken a swing at him.”

“You’ve held a gun on him though. And accused him of treason.”

“I guess he’s the forgiving type.”

“Good thing, or he would have canned me ages ago.”

“That's true.”

“There was that one time. Just before we left for Wisconsin? We sang in the bar?”

“Three years ago? I was dying of cancer, Mulder. Even Bill Junior sent a card.”

“Scully, I…”

“It was nice all the same. You don’t often have occasion to see sparklers in February. I never got to eat my Snowball, though.”

Scully peeled herself away and stood at the end of the bed, pressing her arms skyward with hands clasped in a deep stretch, dark in her hollows, not a stitch on. His eyes went soft, taking her in, as his tongue toyed with the sore spot on his freshly split lip.

“There’s a dirty joke there somewhere, but I’m too distracted to think of it.”

————————————————-

They had pulled on some clothes and were at his dining table eating toast and lentil soup.

“Is this from a can?” Scully said, pointing toward her bowl with her spoon. “It’s good. It tastes like my mom’s.”

“It is your mom’s” he said. “She gave me a quart of it from her freezer at Thanksgiving. She insisted.”

“She probably thinks you’re too skinny. And generally a helpless bachelor.”

“I’ll take what I can get. Besides, I like her. I’ve never met a Scully woman I didn’t like.”

“Remember Aunt Maura, my dad’s spinster sister? She’s kind of a drag.”

“With the lavender hair?”

“That’s her. Mom only invites her out of obligation.”

“She seemed like kind of a sourpuss,” Mulder agreed.

“Who spends all of Thanksgiving dinner with people you might see twice a year complaining about noisy children and the lack of amenities on their recent cruise?”

“I kept wanting to ask her about her hair. But I thought it might be rude.”

“You have good manners, Mulder. But, you've never spent time with my mom as my lover.”

“True. You weren’t putting out in November.”

“Not that you know of.”

“Touché, Scully,” he sad. “But you weren’t, right?”

She just shook her head. He went back to his soup.

“Wait. If memory serves, we engaged in some pretty hot premarital intercourse on my sofa not a half hour before meeting your mother for brunch. This was, like, months ago.”

“We did more than that. There was very little room for the Holy Spirit, as I recall. But she didn’t know that. And what, Monster Boy, do you mean by premarital?”

“You know what I mean. Does she know now? That we’re... going steady?”

“Hints have been dropped. Also, we played some serious footsie at brunch. Not to mention I brought you to brunch. She’s not an idiot.”

“Huh. You know what I think, Scully? I think your mother knew what we were to each other long before we did.”

“Maybe she did.”

“I’m not sure how...”

“Well, I’ve heard stories that you can get…a little...intense when I’m incapacitated.”

“You know how the rumor mill is.”

She laughed. Down in the street, someone yelled “Debbie, don’t do this to me!” the plaintive wail echoing up through the corridors of buildings.

“Maybe we should close the windows,” she said.

“It doesn’t bother me. For once I’m about to curl up with my favorite warm body and someone else is acting like a lunatic and going home alone.”

“It’s nice up here,” she said.

“I couldn’t believe your mom gave me your cross to hold, when you were gone. I was afraid I’d lose it. I wore it for a while.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, well I don’t have a jewelry box.”

She smirked at him.

He looked down and smiled, still shy around her from time to time. “I’m just glad I got the chance to give it back.”

“I still have that football video you gave me that day. Somewhere. Maybe I’ll even watch it one day.”

“I was very suave, wasn’t I? Also, a jackass.”

“To me, you were adorable, all sleepy eyed and meek, drowning in some green grandpa windbreaker. You’ve filled out since then,” she said, running her eyes over his bare chest and arms.

“I was so relieved. And petrified. I wanted to scoop you up and snatch you away to my lair forever. Or else turn on my heel and spare you ever seeing me again. I fought those dueling impulses for years, where you were concerned. I was more like the monster from Beowulf than boyfriend material. Grendel.”

“Who wrote Beowulf?” she asked. I had to read that in AP Lit.”

“Anonymous. The same person who wrote Go Ask Alice, a cautionary tale to warn prim young women of the perils of the fast life.”

“Prolific,” Scully said. “And such range. Too bad the name is lost to history.”

“I’ve always wanted to name a dog Grendel.”

“Not a fish?”

He stood up and made his way toward his fish tank. They flashed and scrummed near the surface as he approached—barefoot and boxered, her favorite look—and darted after the flakes as he tapped them into the tank.

“Grendel was hairy and bipedal. Mammalian. Omnivorous and moody. He lived with his mother. All wrong for a fish.”

It occurred to her that Mulder wanted to honor this Medieval mythical monster like a long dead but fondly remembered great uncle, the story of Grendel more plausible to him than Jonah and the Whale to most Christians.

“I’m glad you didn’t succumb to any of those impulses,” she said. “And I’m glad we seem to have found some middle ground.”

Finish at AO3...

[emilyplaysotome]

Chapter 14 - Goodbye and Hello

Catch up on all Chapters here:  http://emilyplaysotome.tumblr.com/post/173554646607/down-the-voltage-rabbit-hole-the-sequel-master

“There’s no way it’s him!” Soryu exclaimed, holding the icepack to his cheek.

He was sitting on my couch and had hit the side of his face on the sidewalk when he’d collapsed as his old memories flooded back. Not wanting to make more of a scene than I already had in front of my building I dragged him upstairs and patched him up.

Similarly as I’d done with Hiroshi, I explained everything that had happened, including the fact that he’d tried to mug me on the train. 

He apologized profusely, cursing the king and what had happened as well as reiterating once more that he was, “not the man he once was” despite the fact that it seemed his true nature was destined to be that of a criminal. When I explained that things would be complicated from here on out seeing as how he was now involved with the New York City mafia scene, his eyes drifted down and I saw actual tears start to well up in the gangster’s eyes.

“Seriously? I…I…”

“I know you worked hard to change. I have an idea that’ll fix this but I don’t know how you’ll feel about it.”

“I’ll do anything to avoid sliding back into the man I once was!”

“Then we’ll ask the king to send you home. Back to the Tres Spades and we’ll say goodbye right now.”

“Goodbye? But…Naomi.”

I could feel myself getting choked up too but I nodded, “I want you to be happy Soryu and I know that’s not going to be here…with me.”

What Soryu didn’t know was that the king had already decided that he would be going back. Like me, he knew that Soryu would never be the man I’d choose and that this “second chance” was only a byproduct of the game I was currently playing. Of course Soryu was hot, and of course I was fond of him and proud of him for turning his life around. It was especially because of that last fact that I knew the king was right when I read the message, “2/6 - time to send this one back to my realm for his own good.”

The mob here was not some otome fairy tale that ended with Inui being sweet and clumsy. The mob here was ruthless and if we weren’t careful the reformed Soryu would quickly get snuffed out for fear that he might rat on his previously illicit activities.

“I want you to know that I still love you,” he said. “I’ve always loved you. And I’ve worked to become the man that you deserve - one who will never make you scared…ever again.”

“Thank you,” I said, gently taking the ice pack from him before I wiped the dirt from his scraped face with a warm cloth. “But I hope that you realize that as you are now you’re a better man than you once were. I might have been the catalyst for you to change, but I sincerely hope that you continue to live this way...for your own happiness. And for a future you can be proud of.”

It was then that my ex-boyfriend, ex-mobster, cold-as-ice Soryu cried like a baby, and I held him in my arms for a good fifteen minutes until he regained his composure. 

When he did, we agreed to spend our last few hours together in good spirits and seeing as how he was Eisuke’s best friend, I figured that I might as well get his take on whether or not he thought it possible that the other king from his realm might be part of my game.

“There’s no way it’s him!”

“You’re positive?”

“I just…Eisuke knows how I feel about you. He’s my best friend and despite what people say about him, he really is a good person.”

I understood what Soryu was saying and I didn’t want to push the idea any further with him. I agreed that it would certainly be surprising if Eisuke was in fact the sixth man, but the way Soryu was dismissing the idea had far more to do with his feelings about me and Eisuke than it did as an objective third party to the situation.

“Just like his best friend,” I replied with a smile as I returned the ice pack to the freezer.

“How does it look?”

“You’ll probably have a bit of a bruise but you always look handsome when you’re a bit roughed up. I’m sure once you’re home the women of the Tres Spades will be falling all over themselves to try and land a date with you.”

A disgusted expression passed over Soryu’s features and I laughed, “You could stand to give more women a try you know…”

“No. You were different.”

“The only thing that was different about me was that you got to know me...as a person.”

He started to reply, then pursed his lips with a slightly confused expression and said, “Explain.”

“You had to get to know me because I was living with you. You initially saw me as a woman and then started to see me as Naomi as time went on…you have to do that with women.”

“But they all like perfume, and dresses, and they only want me for my money and connections!”

“Maybe some, but not all. And you won’t know until you actually have a real conversation with them. Just talk to them like you talk to your friends.”

“But they’re women!” He insisted.

I laughed, “I got news for you Sor, women are people - even in your realm. I know that because I’ve played a teacher, a baker, a police officer…you name it. They had hopes and dreams and opinions and you’d be happy with any of them. Maybe even a maid at the Tres Spades...someone you never noticed before but who is capable of loving you more than I ever could. And you deserve that. This man who worked so hard to better himself…he deserves it.”

His dark eyes looked back at me with a melancholy expression, but he forced a smile and quietly said, “I understand.”

“I’m glad. Be happy Soryu.”

It felt like a natural goodbye and I was unsurprised when a flash of light filled my apartment, revealing the king who nodded at Soryu with a polite smile. It was obvious that since he’d sent that message, the king had been watching me and he looked pleased at how entertaining our goodbye scene had been.

Neither of us fought was about to happen, and Soryu gave me a hug before stoically walking over to the king.

“Are you ready?” The king asked.

Soryu glanced back and I smiled despite the fact that I was crying. When he turned to face the king I caught one last glimpse of those broad shoulders and large back before he was gone.

“I have to say Naomi,” the king said with a smile, “you’re starting to make me sweat a little. Good luck this week.”

The king didn’t wait for a reply from me - he was someone who thrived on the dramatic and that last remark was enough to make me question if he was about to throw a massive curveball my way. Regardless, the day had taken its toll and I was ready for bed.

Seeing as how I had to work out with Hijikata tomorrow before I went into the office, I figured I might as well call it a night despite the fact that it was only 10 pm.

I woke the next day refreshed after a solid eight and a half hours of sleep. I had closed a chapter with not one, but two of the men in this realm and it was time to see how I felt about a third who was a bit of a mystery.

I threw on some workout clothes and ate half of a protein cookie at home and the other half during my walk to the gym, in the hopes of not passing out during what was about to be a strenuous hour. When I entered Edge Fitness, I saw Hijikata waiting for me with a smirk and he nodded in approval seeing as how I’d arrived 5 minutes early to my 8 A.M. workout.

“We’ll warm up with a light 2 mile run today,” he said, leading me to the treadmills after I’d dropped my bags into a locker.

“Ok!”

“Someone’s energetic this morning,” he said with a sneer, “I guess that means I can really go hard on you today.”

“Do your worst!” I said with a smile, though not meaning a word of it.

Hijikata let out a laugh and the second he did I saw this world’s iteration of Shinsaku Takasugi antagonistically drape his arm around Hijikata.

His light brown hair clung to his skin, which was covered in a even sheen of sweat. Standing side by side the two were built very similarly, and their tight attire made that all the more obvious. They both wore shorts that hugged their muscular backsides with Edge Fitness tank tops that left little to the imagination when it came to their impressive chest and arms.

The image felt as if it were something out of a Boy Love manga - a smooth looking, well built man covered in sweat as a slightly grumpier one wore an expression of protest beside him.

“The demon trainer laughs? Who knew.”

Hijikata immediately shook Shin’s arm off of him and snapped, “Get outta here Taka, I’m working.”

Shin didn’t seem to care, and instead he chuckled and used the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his forehead purposely giving me a peek at his perfectly defined abdominal muscles. I was feeling painfully thirsty that morning and though he and I didn’t have the best history together (not that he seemed to remember anything from Otento), seeing his abs first thing in the morning left me with a little grin on my face.

“Hey, we haven’t met before - everyone calls me Taka. I’m going to be training you after I retire Tosh,” he said to me with a confident grin.

“Don’t call me that!”

“Naomi,” I quickly said, which only seemed to make Shin smile wider and Hijikata look angrier.

“I’m jealous that Tosh is allowed to train such lovely clients. A demon like him should never be allowed near someone as delicate as yourself.”

“Oh but that’s where you’re wrong,” I said with my head held high, “I’m quite strong and you’d be quite foolish to underestimate me based on my appearance.”

The comment caught both men off guard in the best possible way, and I watched as their attention stayed on me and their eyes filled with something in between lust and admiration.

“With that said, it’s already been five minutes into my warm up and I haven’t started so…it was nice meeting you.”

Hijikata smiled triumphantly and stepped up onto the treadmill beside me, away from Shin. 

He hit a few buttons and before I knew it I was running 2 miles at a ten minute pace, which doesn’t sound too difficult but proved to have me panting after a minute or so. Shin left us to it after I started running, though he did say something about looking forward to seeing me around the gym.

I could tell that his comments irked Hijikata and I hoped it was because I was making progress in getting him to see me as more than just a client. That day however, his workout kept me moving at a pace that had me out of breath and barely able to think, let alone seduce.

By the end of our hour, sweat was pouring off of me and I felt incredibly smelly and unsexy as Hijikata used our last few minutes together to help me stretch. I didn’t particularly want him touching me in such a state, but I tried to keep my cool as his hands ran over my calf as he extended my leg.

“Have you been meditating?” he asked.

“Yes,” I lied, “I’m really trying to make it part of my routine.”

Hijikata smiled triumphantly, “Checking in with your body only leads to having a healthier one.”

I gave a little nod and Hijikata pushed my leg a bit further, causing me to let out a little yelp.

He chuckled and when I asked why he was laughing he cooly lowered my leg back to the ground and said, “That was cute. Good job today. I’ll see you tomorrow at 7.”

I smiled and nodded, happy that he had remembered that Mondays the company lets us roll in closer to 10/10:30 whereas the rest of the week I try to get in by 9/9:30. It was a small detail that showed he was thinking of me enough to remember something like that, and I made my way to the showers.

Seeing as how I lived a few blocks away, I could have easily gotten ready at home. However, that wouldn’t have let me show Hijikata how cute I looked in my work clothes and so I made the plan to get ready and dressed and say goodbye looking my best if only to put in his head what it was that he might be missing.

The past few workouts he’d seen me looking like a total scrub, and in order to undo that image, I gave myself a sleek blowout and donned a tight black dress that was still office appropriate. 

I was feeling pretty good about myself as I applied a bit of tinted moisturizer to my face and a light coat of mascara on my lashes. Once I felt completely confident that this was going to be the best I was look, I jammed my belongings into their appropriate bag and attempted to walk in the wedges that would soon be exchanged with a pair of flats once I was back home. I planned to drop off my belongings and make the quick swap before heading into work, but I wanted Hijikata to think that I was the kind of confident woman who could rock some wedges that made her legs look amazing.

The second I exited the locker room, I saw Shin and Hijikata arguing about something at the front desk. They were so focused on each other that I worried my hard work would be in vain, so I tried to be as breezy as possible in my approach.

“Thanks for today - I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said to Hijikata with a smile, hoping that he would be so awed by my beauty that he’d feel compelled to ask me out then and there.

As if my mind had been read I heard a voice call out and say, “Hey - we should go out sometime.” 

I froze at the stairwell hoping that it belonged to the right otome man in the game I was playing but when I turned back, and saw Shin smiling at me as Hijikata stared daggers at him.

“You’re not my client, so I don’t see a problem with it. We can talk about it tomorrow,” Shin said and before I could shoot him down, he walked away.

I stood frozen on the spot, my plan having backfired slightly and to make matters worse I had no idea if Shin was asking me out because he was indeed the sixth man or if it was merely to get a rise out of his rival.

Posting this guy early because I’m prepping for a busy work week! Hope you guys like it :)

If you’ve enjoyed the story, please show your support by sharing it with a friend or buying me a coffee!  

Thanks for reading :)

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[gottalovetheletos]

Bright Lights, Big City. Series. Chapter 3.

Authors note:  

IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW SAYING SO AND I WILL TAG YOU. 💖💖💖

Warnings: .Non consensual touching by stranger (Shannon gets him tho)

Word Count: 1,677.

Bright Lights, Big City. Chapter 3.

If you haven’t read it here’s: CHAPTER 2

From the beginning. Chapter 1 

CHAPTER 3

After a hard day of work I most definitely needed a wash. I wanted a bubble bath, I needed to relax before a night of tension. After I was out of my relaxing bubble bath I had a couple of hours to get ready. I had dinner straight after I got home, it was mac and cheese. I needed the carbs because I needed it to soak up all the drinks I knew I was going to have. I looked through my closet and found a lilac dress I’d forgotten about. I decided to dig it out and show it some love.

It finally reached 9 pm and I was just leaving my house. The bar was only a few minutes from my house, so I called a cab. I arrived at 9:10 pm I walked in and saw them both sitting on the sofas talking to some beautiful women.

I felt a little self conscious so ordered a drink and two shots. I quickly threw them back and walked over to them. “Hey Y/N, sorry ladies but this is the woman we came to see” Jared called out. They shot me a dirty look and huffed. “What did you do that for, I was actually enjoying myself” Shannon hissed at his brother. Jared looked at his older sibling and calmly said “I asked Y/N to join us so we could learn more about her”. “Fine, what your poison?” Shannon asked.

“Double Jack and coke please” I answered. “Oh not a cosmo?” he sarcastically asked. “That stuff is like water. I like a drink I can taste” I confidently replied. He walked to the bar to get us our drinks. “Give me your phone, I want to put mine and Shan’s number in in case we loose each other tonight. I’ll put your number into our phones too” Jared said grabbing my unlocked phone off of the table. “So how did you find out about this place?” Jared asked as Shannon came back with the drinks. “Well, I found it when I moved here a few years ago. I actually worked here for a while, but there were different owners and staff at the time” “Why’s that?” Shannon took a sip from his drink and looked up at me. Actually interested. “Well, I’d never been a fan of school so didn’t go a lot. It was the fact that they were trying to mold you into people that fit into society. I’ve never been one of those people.  Obviously didn’t graduate so I started working here then doing odd jobs for people. I found myself quite good at construction but I didn’t find it for filling enough so I traveled for a while until I found the Bright Lights, Big City charity where I started as a volunteer too. I had run out of money and became homeless so they decided to help me move back into the area. So here I am helping others and becoming one of the well know project managers of the charity that helped me. Before this job I had always misbehaved in nearly every way. In my younger years I’d be sneaking out with friends doing lord knows what until the early hours of the morning”. I told them the whole story of my life until now. “Wow so you were a bad girl” Shannon asked. “Not quite. But you know what they say. ‘Well behaved women don’t make history’. ” I laughed.

“That’s true. Hey Shan, that sounds like our story until we found the band” Jared nudged his brother. Shannon nodded. “I’m going to get another drink, can I bring in another round?” I asked pointing at the drinks on the table. “Yeah okay then” Shannon smiled. I got in another round of drinks and 2 tequila shots each and another of whatever they were drinking before. I took the tray back to the table. “Where’s Jared gone?” I looked around for him. “He’s gone to the bathroom” Shannon answered. “Y/N, I just wanna say I’m sorry for my behavior lately. I shouldn’t take it out on you or anyone to be honest, I mean I barely know you and you already probably think I’m a complete ass”. “Not a complete ass, just a bit of one” I laughed. “Well my girlfriend and I, we’re not getting on and to be honest she’s been making me miserable lately. She keeps guilt tripping me into staying in the relationship. But I cant do it. Plus you’re so gorgeous and I can’t do anything about it. You look beautiful tonight by the way” He admitted. I could feel my cheeks burning. “Well Shannon” I grabbed his hand “If you’re not happy, you don’t have to stay in the relationship. It’s a two way thing. You can leave. You have one life to live. Do you want to spend the rest of it miserable, wishing you had it differently? I mean if you’re worried about being alone, I for one can tell you that you are one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever met. You’d have no trouble finding someone else” I gave him a reassuring smile and his thumb rubbed my upper hand as a, kind of, ‘thanks’. “You know my brother likes you too. When I end it with Hannah, he’s going to have some competition” Shannon whispered in my ear. Jared came back to us and seeing Shannon whisper in my ear he said “ so are you guys are getting along?” we nodded. We spent a couple of hours drinking and talking. I had a few too many drinks. “Sorry guys gotta pee” I got up and stumbled to the bathroom. I’d adjusted my hair and re-applied my make up. As I was walking back to the boys some intoxicated guy approached me and started touching me everywhere, a hand went under my dress. “Hey baby, what’s your number? I could show you a few things in the bedroom. Or in my car” he grabbed my arm and was forcing himself upon me. I was trying to get away from him begging him to get off of me, tears starting forming in my eyes. I was scared, he almost got me out of the door but before I knew it he landed on the floor. Shannon had punched him straight in the face. “Get the fuck off her” Shannon bellowed at the guy who was bleeding from his lip and nose. A bouncer came over to see what was going on. I was huddled into Shannon’s chest and Jared rubbing my shoulders and back. “This guy sexually assaulted my friend” Shannon told the bouncer who was now escorting the other guy out of the building. “Let’s take you home” Jared held my hand and called a cab. It arrived quickly. They jumped in with me. “Will you guys come in with me?” I  asked them both as we pulled up to my house. They both nodded. “Make yourselves at home. I’m gonna get changed into some pajamas and take off my make up. I’ll be back down” I told them as they were playing with the dogs. Nellie followed me upstairs. She laid on the bed as I got changed. I threw on my satin pajamas, striped robe and so frilly socks. Took off my make up and threw up my hair.

I was really embarrassed about what had happened tonight so I tried to compose myself before making an apology to the guys downstairs. Nellie and I had a bit of a cuddle on the bed before I made my way down. I walked in to see the boys including the dogs cuddled up on the sofa talking. “Guys, can I just take a second to say I’m really sorry about tonight, I am really embarrassed about what happened”. I looked at the floor at tried not to cry again. “Y/N, it was not your fault someone sexually assaulted you . Don’t be embarrassed. If anyone should be it’s that dick head who tried to feel you up” Jared spoke. “At least he ended up on the floor. I should have given him a worse punishment” Shannon spat. “Thank you guys. Oh god Shannon, hows your fist?” I rushed over to him examining his hand. There was bruising and it was bleeding a little. “Let me get you some ice” I ran to the kitchen and scooped some ice out of the freezer and put it in a towel. I ran back to the living room to deliver the iced towel to Shannon. I turned on the TV and closed my eyes to the sound of them talking. I fell asleep. I woke up to an alarm that was pounding its way through my head. I was in my bed with the smallest of the three dogs by my side. I usually had all three of them squished on the bed. I walked into the bathroom and grabbed a couple Tylenol’s. I then stood at the top of the stairs where I could hear the TV was on. 'I must have left it on when I went to sleep. But how did I get upstairs?’ I walked into the living room where I saw Jared laying on the floor and Shannon on the sofa. They were quietly talking to one another. “You know I have a guest room right?” I chuckled. “We didn’t want to invade your home so we just stayed down here. The dogs kept us company. Tank is a really good hot water bottle. Shannon said giving Tank a good face rub. "So’s Blue” Jared said leaning on the big boy who was still half asleep. “Sorry guys I should have said about the guest room” I apologized. “How could you have? You were passed out” Jared laughed. “Good point. Coffee?” I offered. “Coffee!” they agreed and followed me into the kitchen.

_________________________________________

Chapter 4. 

_________________________________________

Tag List:

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@meghan12151977

  _________________________________________

[mosylufanfic]

I can't believe I only just saw you were taking requests! I absolutely love your writing. Could you please do 25. “Don’t leave me.” for killervibe? Good luck with NaNoWriMo, I'm doing it too and it's HARD! Sending you lots of good-writing vibes :)

Hey, my fellow Killervibe fan, you have the dubious distinction of getting the darkest and grittiest prompt fill that I’ll probably do all month.

I knew I wanted to write something about the nightmare hellscape dystopia that Cannibal Wells (of the Council of Wellses) came from, but when my original idea hit the ten-page mark and there was still a lot more to tell, I accepted that it would not be a NaNo prompt and filed it away to work on later. This, then, is in the same world but happened before that original idea. In spite of the way it might read in the first section, this really, really is a Killervibe story.  And it wound up being 6ish pages anyway.

It being a nightmare hellscape dystopia, there are references to acts of terrible violence, one in particular that I had to draw from the episode, so take care of yourself if you need to.

Mosylu what are you doing?

In the After

By the standards of before, the motel was a craphole. One of those skeevy places that advertised rooms for 39.99 on the giant signs you could see from the freeway, free HBO and wifi, and a pool for the kids. The bedbug infestation came on the house.

By the standards of the after, it was a kingdom.

Julian Albert couldn’t see much of it from his position just inside the razor-wire fence, but he could see that some of the windows still had glass, and curtains, and the ones that didn’t were all neatly boarded up, no gaping holes. A few even had what looked like shutters, cracked open as if the occupants of the rooms behind peered out at him. The little corner of the pool-for-the-kids that he could see had been fully drained, no water sitting around creating mosquitoes and mold.

This was a prime spot, capable of sheltering up to a hundred or more people in reasonable comfort.

And its queen knew it.

Iris West lounged on the motel’s front porch in a folding chair, looking bored and faintly contemptuous. For the after, her look was downright stylish - a leather jacket, jeans without any holes, a black tank top. She even wore tiny gold earrings, almost lost in her frothing black curls.

She had her similarly-attired entourage around her - a young man with long black hair sprawling in a chair next to her, his right arm hooked around the back. A young black man stood at her shoulder, and a petite white girl stood at her other elbow, both of them looking like it would be a downright pleasure to rip his throat out.

And then there was the white-haired woman behind him, holding the knife to his throat. It radiated chill, almost as if it were made of ice, but it wasn’t melting.

Julian couldn’t work that out and didn’t bother to. He’d bargained with groups before and the trick was in the first ten minutes, in showing each other who you were and what you had of value.

“Jesse,” Iris said. “Take his weapons.”

A brief wind surrounded him, and when it abated, a pile of weapons clattered to the concrete in front of the girl. He catalogued them, his stomach twisting up. His shotgun, his sidearm, the knives from his hip and his ankle and even the needle-thin ones from his wrist. Everything.

Shit.

He’d heard there were freaks in Central City. People who’d gotten special powers from the particle accelerator explosion that had turned their world into fucking Mad Max. Looked like he’d found some of them.

“I’d better get those back,” he said, nodding at his weapons.

Iris smiled at him as if she knew what he was thinking. “So,” she said. “Frost tells me you’re requesting shelter.”

“An arrangement, yeah.”

“An arrangement,” Jesse mocked in a high, affected faux British accent like a movie Cockney. “Listen to that accent. Posh.”

Snickers all around.

He managed a tight smile of his own. He knew somebody who’d had their tongue cut out for not laughing at the right joke. He pressed on. “Not just for now. Anytime I come through.”

He’d had a stopping point in this area, but when he’d dropped in this morning, he’d found the house thoroughly sacked and the walls painted with blood.

Well. It happened.

But it did mean he needed another landing place. And this one was bigger than the two or three families that had been living in the house. They’d need more things.

“What’ll you give us?” Her eyes dipped to his meager packs. “Doesn’t look like you have much to offer.”

“Information. I’m a trader,” he said. “I travel all around the metro area. I know every warehouse and supply cache in the city limits. Whatever you want, I can get it.”

Usually this was a trump card. But Iris laughed. “Pass.”

“What?”

“We’ve got our own sources of information. We don’t need yours.”

“Do you know where the warehouses are? Who’s got the best supplies? Sitting here in your little motel on the outskirts, you can’t get more than the dregs.”

The sprawling young man drawled, “Like she said, Tea Boy, we have our ways.”

Iris gave a little nod, and Julian let out a yelp as something yanked at his hair, hard. The black boy stood next to Iris with Julian’s hat in his hand, smirking.

He handed it off to the sprawling man, who spun it around his finger once or twice. “Hmm,” he said. “Julian Albert. You’ve made the lap around the metro area on your scooter - sweet ride, by the way - no fewer than fifteen times in the past four years. You have similar trading arrangements with eight - ” His eyes flickered. “No, seven locations. But for the most part, the places you hit for supplies are places we’ve already been.”

He gave his hand a flick. The hat sailed off it and thumped Julian lightly in the chest before flopping down to lie at his feet like a dead animal.

“You see,” Iris said. “We just don’t need anything you have to give us, and we don’t need another drain on our resources. So, I think it’s time for you to go.”

Julian swallowed. “Right,” he said. “Right.” He turned his head very carefully to look into the glowing white eyes a few inches from his own. “You mind dropping that knife there, Frost, so I can get out of your hair?”

Her mouth curled up in a tiny smirk, and she dropped the knife - literally, opening her hand and letting to crash to the ground, where it shattered on impact.

“Just so you know, I don’t need a knife to hurt you,” she said, and held up her hands. They poured out mist, and he could feel the cold like he’d climbed into a deep freezer from the before. “Frostbite burns like a bitch.”

Jesus fucking Christ. He’d found all the freaks, hadn’t he?.

He leaned down to get his hat, shifting so most of his weight was on his right leg, calculating how much gas his little scooter had and whether it could get him to one of his regular spots before nightfall.

“Wait,” Frost said sharply. “Where did you get your leg?”

He stopped. Turned, careful not to limp or wince. “My what?”

She leaned down and yanked up his left pant leg, exposing the plastic foot laced into his boot and the metal pipe-like leg that ran up to just below his knee. “Your prosthetic. Where did you get it?”

“Caitlin,” Iris said, and whether it was a warning or a question or just trying to get her attention, Julian couldn’t tell.

“Maybe I always had it,” he said cagily, watching Frost - or Caitlin. Whatever her name was. “Maybe I lost my leg in the before.”

He finally pinpointed what was different - her eyes had gone from white to brown. The change shook him more than he cared to admit, even to himself.

She dropped his pant leg and straightened up. “If you had, you’d just say so. And after four years of the after, it would be a lot more beat up. That was recent. Where did you get it?”

The long-haired man abandoned his sprawling posture and sat up straight. With his right arm out in front of him, Julian could see what had been carefully hidden before - it ended just below the elbow. The stump was wrapped in crisp white gauze, and the way he handled it told Julian the loss was recent.

“Got an owie there, mate?” he asked.

The man’s eyes narrowed. “Stung a little.”

“How’d it happen?

His lips barely parted. “Harrison Wells. He chopped it off with an axe. Then he cooked it and ate it in front of me.”

“Yeah,” Julian said. He’d tangled with Wells before, in the city center. Some people survived the after, and some thrived. Harrison Wells thrived, to an unsettling degree. “Sounds like him.”

He looked around, feeling the power shift and tilt. “Well, well, well,” he murmured. “Seems like I have something you want after all.”

Cisco paced the front lobby. “No,” he said. “No, no, no, no.”

“A warehouse,” Caitlin said. “An entire warehouse of medical supplies. Almost untouched as of three months ago, he said. A whole section of specialized items, including prostheses!”

“Three months! A lot could have happened in three months. You could get there and it could be burned to the ground, or ransacked to the walls, or all the fakes could be those fancy-ass myoelectric models that all got blown out with the EMP!”

“His wasn’t,” she said. “I have to try.”

Cisco whirled. “Iris, tell her she can’t do this.”

Iris opened her mouth, but the thunder of feet on the stairs leading to the second floor brought her head up. A moment later, two toddlers careened around the corner of the staircase, followed by an older man - Iris’s father and her twin children.

“They woke up and wanted Mama,” Joe explained unnecessarily, since Dawnie and DJ were already attempting to climb their mother’s leg, demanding kisses. “You take care of that fella?”

“Sort of,” Iris said, hoisting DJ onto her hip and giving him a big kiss, then setting him down and repeating the motion with Dawnie. “That’s what we were talking about.”

“I could hear the yelling from upstairs,”  Joe said dryly, and Cisco looked abashed.

Iris straightened her daughter’s poofy ponytail, put her down, and said, “Go play, babies.”

When both children had raced off into the next room and were safely away from the argument, Cisco pointed accusingly at Caitlin with his remaining hand. “She wants to go someplace with a virtual stranger on the off-chance that she might find a slightly better fake arm for me.”

“Dammit, Cisco, it’s not a fake, it’s a prosthetic, and I’m after a much better one,” Caitlin snapped. “The one you have now is barely better than a stick, and it hurts you to wear it.”

“I just have to get used to it,” he said. “Or maybe I won’t wear one. Maybe everyone will just have to get used to Stumpy here.”

Caitlin looked at Iris. “It’s not just the prosthetic, which could significantly improve Cisco’s quality of life,” she said pointedly. “We’re dangerously low on a lot of medical supplies and this is my chance to stock up.” She started ticking them off on her fingers like a Christmas list. “I desperately need more syringes and needles. Gauze, medical tape, surgical-grade thread for stitches. IV bags would be amazing. Tubing for blood transfusions. Slings and braces. Antibiotics, pain killers - ”

“You wouldn’t be low on those if you hadn’t used them up on me,” Cisco muttered.

“I’d make that choice a thousand times,” she snarled. “And we were getting low before. We would have gotten to this point whether I used them all on you or doled them out like gold or threw them in the river.”

“We could get those from our regular places.”

“Most, not all. Definitely not the prosthesis.”

“He’s still a stranger. What if he cuts your throat and leaves you for dead?”

“He’s got a point,” Joe said. “Even in the before, I’d say that to a young lady taking off with somebody she barely knows.”

Caitlin said, “I hear what you’re saying, Joe, but, you know - ” She held up her free hand and let the cold surge up her arm, center in her palm, spill out of her fingers in streamers of mist. “I can take care of myself.”

Joe nodded. “That you can.”

Iris said, “You got a look at him, Cisco, with his hat. Do you really think he’s the type?”

Cisco flopped down on the couch. He looked very pale, patches of sweat decorating his hairline. Caitlin gripped her hands behind her back to stop herself from going over and checking his forehead for fever. He’d only fought off the last of the infection from the amputation a week ago, and his energy levels were still low and liable to sputter out unexpectedly.

“I want to say yes,” he muttered. “But it felt like he’s exactly what he says - lone wolf type, goes around making his own living, touching down in a few places around Central City to trade and share news.” He looked up at Iris. “His original spot near here was 1748 Magnolia Avenue. The people who lived there? They’re gone.”

“Gone as in - ”

He looked at his hand. “He buried what was left.”

Iris closed her eyes. “I told them they should come here.”

Caitlin put her hand on Iris’s shoulder. “You can only defend what’s inside this fence, Iris. It wasn’t your fault.”

Iris nodded, eyes still closed. “He buried them?”

“Mhm. Said a few words too.”

“Well, that speaks well of him, even if he is an obnoxious jerk.”

“Jerk is pretty low on the scale of terrible these days,” Caitlin said.

Joe added, “Here’s something you haven’t thought of. If this fellow’s on the road that much, he might catch wind of Barry.”

The specter of Iris’s beloved, the father of the twins that he’d never seen or known about, seemed to hang in the center of the room. She looked at nothing for a few minutes, then nodded once.

“Okay,” she said. “Here’s what we’ll do. Jesse and Wally will transport Caitlin and Julian to this warehouse of his.”

Cisco sat up. “Iris!”

“You’ll take the long way around,” she told Caitlin. “Through the outskirts. It’ll still be a shorter trip, time-wise, than that little scooter of his, and safer if our speedsters can zip you away from trouble.”

Caitlin nodded.

“If the trip goes well, if you find he has good information, then we’ll consider the kind of trading relationship he wants.” She dusted her hands on her jeans. “I’m going out to talk to them now.” She narrowed her eyes at Cisco and Caitlin. “You two - have that fight that’s brewing, but do it away from my babies.”

Cisco shut his eyes and slumped down into the couch cushions.

When Joe and Iris had left, Caitlin sat next to him. “Are we going to fight?”

He’d put his hand over his eyes. “Fuck. I don’t have the energy to scream and yell, but I really want to.”

She gave in and touched his forehead. He muttered, “I don’t have a fever. The vibing wiped me out, that’s all.”

She dropped her hand back to her lap, digging her nails into her knee so hard she could feel it through her tough pants. He never used to get tired after vibing. Not this tired. Maybe it was the lingering effects of the infection, or maybe his vibing ability had been permanently affected by the loss of one hand.

After all, he’d lost his breaching ability entirely.

“Look,” she said. “It’s your choice about the prosthesis. If I bring one back and you use it as a paperweight for the rest of your life, then fine. That’s your call. But if you’re saying you don’t want one just because you’re afraid I’ll get hurt going to get it - ” She shook her head. “Well. No. I’m not allowing that. Make your choice again.”

He dropped his hand from his eyes and looked at her for a long moment. Then he raised his right arm, holding the gauze-wrapped stump in between them. “If this happens to you - or something worse - you know I’d lose my fucking mind, right?”

He didn’t like her touching his right arm anymore. He accepted it when she had to treat the wound site, but other than that, he hated for her to lay her hand on his bicep or touch his elbow to get his attention. He wouldn’t even wrap it around her in a hug. Left arm only.

That was why she moved around his upraised stump and settled carefully in his lap, resting her forehead against his. “Do you think I don’t know how you feel? I spent hours wrapped around you in our bed, while infection was eating you alive. Begging the antibiotics to work, begging you. ‘Don’t leave me. Please, please, don’t leave me.’” She put her hands to his face and kissed him. “Don’t leave me alone.”

His left arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her close. “So why?”

“Because this isn’t just for you. Don’t get me wrong, it’s mostly for you. But we’ve got a motel full of people and I need medical supplies.” She traced the dear shape of his face with her fingertips. “You didn’t leave me. And I’m not going to leave you. I am coming back.”

He rested his head against hers. “You can’t say that, not for sure.”

In his voice, she heard resigned acceptance. She would take it. She curled into him, laying her head on his left shoulder. “No, I know. But we never could. Not even in the before.”

FINIS

[panda-luminary]

Not Quite Skinny Dipping Pt. 1 (Marauders Era)

Pairing: Marauders + Lily x Female, Gryffindor Reader (Platonic)

Word count: 1,394

A/N: So, this is my first fanfic/ one-shot/ whatever that I upload. So, feel free to tell me if there’s anything I could add or if there’s mistakes on my writing (if so, please tell me, english isn’t my first language ^^ ). Also, this happens to be the first time I write the Marauders, so please also tel me if the characters are too OOC.

There will be a second part to this. Enjoy your reading!

(Y/N) = Your Name

(Y/SN) = Your Surname

(Y/NN) = Your Nickname

(Y/HC) = You Hair Colour (As in bunette, blonde, etc)

This is settled during the Marauders and Lily’s fifth year.

It was an unusually hot day at Hogwarts. The term was finally coming to its end, and, after a whole year of having piles homework every single day and non-stop studying for O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts, the professors decided that they would have some mercy towards their tired students and let them de-stress the few days they had left before going on summer bnreak.

(Y/N) and Lily had just finished their last class and were more than ready to go back to their dorm to take a nice cool yshower.

“It’s too hot, (Y/NN). I’m practically melting!”, the red-head moaned as they made their way through the crowded halls. (Y/N) chuckled at her friend’s antics but couldn’t help to agree with her.

“Fortunately, that was our last class. I can’t wait to go back to the dorm and take a shower. I might just ask the house-elves to bring a bed-shaped ice cube and replace my bed with it.”

“That might be a good idea, though with this heat I’d be hardly surprised if the ice melts right after it gets out of the freezer! Wait- do wizards have freezers?”

“I don’t know. I had never thought about that.” (Y/N) laughed at the sudden looke of wonder Lily had . “They probably don’t need them- I mean, magic?” she said waving her wand a little.

Lily chuckled “True. I’d hardly be surprised if most didn’t know what a fridge is.” (Y/N) began noticing how Lily was picking up her pace and tried to keep up with her.

“Hey, why are you going so fast?”

“What? I’m not going fast you’re just going too slow.” She raised an eyebrow as Lily said this but did not queston her. She decided to keep quiet after that and kept fast-walking beside Lily, who was trying to hide a grin.

She cleared her throat and said “So, about that shower…” Lily tensed and began walking slightly faster, at this (Y/N) smirked. “I call dibs on being the first to take one”

“What? That’s not fair! You can’t just say you call dibs on something and be the first one to use the shower! I want to take one first.”

They were both practically jogging at this point and neither tried to hide their grins.

“Well, my freckled friend, I’m afraid there’s only one way to solve this.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?” laughed said freckled red-head.

It wasn’t even necessary to say it as they were running already, but the (Y/HC) exclaimed it anyway.

“First to get back gets the shower!”

Both girls were laughing as they passed crowds of bewildered students who were moving out of their way down the hallways, who were probably wondering why the girls would be running in such a hot day.

The two Gryffindor’s didn’t care and just ran even faster when they saw the moving staircases to not miss them.

When they had stepped on the staircase, still laughing they were forced to wait for the stairs to move back to face the Gryffindor landing. The two girls were giddily waiting for the stairs to reach the landing and when it finally did both sprinted towards the Fat Lady screaming the password to her many times, as if it would make her reveal the entrance faster. Baffled at the two usually calm girls the Fat Lady finally moved her portrait aside revealing the Common Room.

Lily and (Y/N) were lightly shoving each other as they ran up to the girls’ dorms. They had almost reached the last step only to slip as the stairs turned into a slide. When they reached the bottom, they were met with a sheepish James Potter an amused Sirius Black, both laying on the floor- they were obviously the ones trying to go up the girls’ dormitories-, a nervous Peter Pettigrew and a face-palming and an exasperated Remus Lupin.  

“Uh-hi?” said James scratching the back of his neck. Lily just gave him an annoyed look.

“Potter” she acknowledged him and kept giving him a look that clearly made him feel as if he had done something terrible.

Seeing that the Lily was not going to make any effort to continue the conversation, (Y/N) sighed and looked up at Remus, who was the most sensible of the ‘Marauders’ as they called themselves.

“Why were you guys trying to get to the girl’s dormitories?” she questioned.

“Well, we were actually waiting for you two to come back, but you were too fast and, these two” he motioned James and Sirius who were now standing up, “didn’t even think before sprinting upstairs behind you. Why were you two in such a hurry anyway?”

Lily decided to answer this. “Well, we were planning on taking a shower, because it’s so hot today- not together, you perverted git. That’s why we were running.” She finished with a scowl directed to Sirius who was making a suggestive expression at the mention of taking a shower.

“Well, then” began Sirius with a smirk, “you girls are in luck!” He made no further explanation as Lily and (Y/N) looked at him expecting.

The latter girl rolled her eyes and sighed. “Yeah? Care to elaborate why we are in such luck?”

Sirius just chuckled. “Why, I’m glad you ask, (Y/N), dear. We would like to invite you to go swim to the lake, seeing that, as you said before Lily, it is such a hot day” he finished.

(Y/N) couldn’t say she was impressed. Lily however only frowned at the boys. The red-head couldn’t deny that she was tempted, but her duties as a prefect came first.

“Go swim to the Black Lake? Isn’t that prohibited? You know, because of the Giant Squid and everything?” she looked at Remus as she asked this, seeing as the werewolf was a prefect as well.

“Actually, there aren’t any rules against it” he shrugged.

“And, seeing that you girls aren’t about to go up anytime soon” James motioned the now-slide behind them. “It can work as a replacement for you shower!”

Lily was looking annoyed again, she seemed to be about to make a comeback but (Y/N) beat her to it. “Uh- well that’s nice of you guys. But in case you didn’t know, we need to go upstairs for swimming clothes.”

At this, Sirius snorted. “Go upstairs? Are you even a witch, (Y/SN) ? Accio (Y/N) and Lily’s swimming clothes!” and before the girl could stop him two pairs of shorts and a pair of tank tops that the girls used for pyjamas came from upstairs. Only one piece of garment landed on his outstretched hand, and the rest landed abruptly on his face and made him stagger.

(Y/N) snatched the clothes from here mumbling incoherent things out of embarrassment.

Peter finally spoke up “C-Come on! It’ll be fun! And if you don’t like it and want to go back, we won’t stop you.” He said with excitement and a smile that could only be described as cute. Well- at least to (Y/N) who looked at him the way she would look to a puppy who was asking for food. Lily, however wasn’t going to give in as easily.

“I don’t know… I mean, what if it’s dangerous? There is a Giant Squid in that lake! Not to mention Grindylows and Merlin knows what other creatures might be hiding in there too” she tried to reason woth the boys and her best friend, but it seemed that (Y/N) had already been convinced by what Peter had said.

“Awwwwe. Come on Lily! Peter’s right. It can’t hurt to give it try! And we can come back if we end up not liking it!”

Lily was hesitant and saw how the boys were looking at her expectantly, she was going to continue playing hard-to-get but once she saw the eager look her best friend had she caved in.

“Alright.” She said with an over-exaggerated exhale, but smiled when (Y/N) cheered with the boys.

“Great! Let’s hurry then. We don’t want to many people making questions and joining us. Too many is not always too good, y’ know?” said Sirius, and they left the common room to go to the lake.

Please tell me what you think and feel free to give any advice on my writing or the characters.

Part 2 should be up soon! :)

[mintyvan]

#5 - late night ice cream rendezvous

prompt: “One where Van and reader go out on a late night snack run” and “reader asks Van if she can go on tour with them for a bit and she’s nervous about asking him because it forces them to take the next step of becoming official”

****

“You know, this actually wasn’t a bad idea,” you say, sitting cross legged and facing Van, who’s laid out on the hood of his car, leaning back against the windshield. There are two pints of ice cream and pack of waffle cones sitting between you.

“And here ya were, suggesting we go to McDonald’s.” He shoots back incredulously, swiping a lick around the edge of the cone; he got chocolate and you got moose tracks.

“It was the only place I could think of open past midnight! I mean, really, who crawls through someone’s window at 4am to go for ice cream?!” A stray melting drop lands on the inside of your thigh, left bare by your tiny denim shorts. It’s particularly hot this spring, but he’s certainly not complaining. Being able to see more skin than you would normally show off is a blessing in a not-so-subtle disguise.

Van holds his hands up in surrender, “I was bored. I finished listening to those records you lent me and couldn’t get to sleep.” He points at you, raising his eyebrows in accusation, “You can’t say anything, anyways. I saw the lamp light on when I showed up. You were just as awake as I was.”

You lick a stripe down the middle of the mountain of ice cream, catching a chunk of a peanut butter cup with your teeth. He’s quiet suddenly, looking at you with barely concealed desire. You shiver, and then try to hide it.

You chuckle, wiping your face with the napkin to veil your blush. “Yeah, yeah. So, sue me.” You look up at him as he sucks on the bottom of the cone.

“Also, there’s ice cream at your house, couldn’t you just go to the freezer?” you ask, although you were glad he came to you for a late night rendezvous.

Finishing his off, he takes a minute to respond. “I need fresh ice cream, Y/N, not the freezerburned stuff. And in real cones” He stresses the words, dragging them out with pursed lips and a gravelly voice; he must be getting tired. “You know this,” he smirks.

You just roll your eyes in response, getting too tired for talking and the heat is causing your eyes to droop heavily. Popping the last bit of the cone into your mouth, you pack the stuff up and stretch out, legs running along the edge of his until you curl one around his calf and rest your head on his shoulder.

He hooks his left hand around your leg, hitching it up higher on his lap and running his palm up your thigh. His hand rests half on your shorts and half on the underside of your ass.

Humming in contentment, you tell him, “This is nice.” You run your fingers up and down his t-shirt clad chest. Van pushes the hair out of your eyes, bringing your face up to his with a finger under your chin to pull you into a lazy kiss – tasting of chocolate and peanut butter and you can’t get enough. He bites gently on your bottom lip, pulling slightly and you let out a sound that causes you both to let go and chuckle.

Sobering up from the kiss, you prop your head up on your hand and look up at him. You’re sure you look as nervous as you feel. Knocking your nose into his, you whisper, “I need to ask you something…actually.”

He moves his hand back down your thigh to rest on your knee; safer territory. Raising his eyebrows, he attempts a cool voice, “Oh?”

“Yeah, um, see. You’re leaving soon... Well, there’s a couple gigs…in a few weeks that I-I really want to go to. North America, actually. I want to go to the states with you and everyone,” you rush out in a breath, keeping your eyes focused on his mouth and not his eyes. You’re still nervous. “With you. Obviously, if you want to have me of course, but that’s obviously why I’m asking otherwise what’s the point of this tirade, right? I mean,” you scratch behind your ear, red splotches forming on your cheeks from embarrassment. “…Well?”

His mouth hangs open, pulled down slightly in the corner, and just stares. “Tour in North America?”

“Yeah…any thoughts?”

He’s quiet for a moment, which is a little unusual, especially paired with that fidgety hand gesture he’s currently caught up in, drumming his fingers on his legs. He doesn’t normally show his nerves like this. You’re scared for what he’s going to say.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you to come on tour? After all… I knew you wanted to come to our gigs anyways, and I was hopefully going to introduce you to the boys soon.”

You scoff, breathing in sharply before laughing through the remnants of your nerves. “I never pegged you as incredibly old-fashioned, my mistake.”

Van’s hand reaches up, lightly pinching the skin of your waist that’s visible between your tank top and shorts in gentle retaliation. “And what with university?”

“Oh, I can barely stand anyone when you’re gone. I wouldn’t want to subject either of us to the long distance, either. I’ll take a semester or two off and pick it back up later.” You’re more relaxed now, but still nervous that he’ll continue to say no. “I know it’s lame, but I’ve always had plans since I was younger to go to North America - not like this, but - I’ve always wanted to go. But on the bus I’d be so good; I’d bring some of my own records and CDs to make the bus driver play them ‘cause we know the radio will suck and I would bring a few books in my purse to keep quiet when you all need a rest-”

He interrupts you, softly saying, “Okay.”

“-and extra snacks. Because I did go to China one year, and all they had that I liked were Frito’s which are gross and smell like feet-“

“Y/N,” he raises his voice, getting your attention.

You stop ranting, biting your lip. “Yeah?”

“I said okay,” Van chuckles, the arm wrapped around your waist to pull you closer into his side.

Eyes wide, a smile forms on your lips. Your eyebrows rise in question, making sure you heard right. “Okay?”

“What, did you think I’d say no?”

“Well…it’s not exactly your kind of thing to invite people on tour.”

“No-” but he stops himself before he can sappily say that you’re exactly his kind of thing. “But, you can come.” He points at you, finger almost touching your nose. “I make no promises on how the band’ll react, though.”

You laugh out loud, the sound reverberating through the empty parking lot of the shopping mart you came to. “Fair enough.” You push forward, pressing your lips to his happily as both your hands cradle his face. Between kisses, you let out a stream of, “Thank you, thank you, thank you”-s. You rest your forehead against his brow, and he rubs his nose against yours softly. “I promise I’ll make it up to you that you let me come on tour.”

Van pulls back an inch, a smirk on his face and an indecent look in his eyes. “Oh yeah? How?”

You suck in a breath, chest rising and his eyes can’t look away from the slip of cleavage your top leaves bare. “Hmm, well,” you lick your lips, “we are going to be staying in the same hotel room at some point.” You lean forward, whispering against his mouth, “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

You pull back with a smile on your face, the tip of your tongue pressing against your teeth. You slide down the hood of the car, and make your way to the passenger door. All he can do is stare after you.

“Oh,” you quirk your eyebrows at him over the roof of the car, “and don’t forget to bring the ice cream.”

[howrv]

Answers

There are so many good questions so, I’ll try to answer some of them.

Q. Do you feel safe?

A.  Yes… very. There has never been a time when we felt threatened (except maybe an alligator or two, but Becky, being from Florida, assured me they are no big deal.)  Sometimes we go on walks at night and hear the coyotes, but being a “good ol’ boy” from Tennessee I do carry at all times.  Most states have concealed or open carry laws and reciprocate with TN permits.  The crazy states like California and NY probably won’t get our business.  If we ever did feel unsafe, we have wheels under us and can move in a hurry.  We research our destinations and have apps full of comments and ratings from other full-timers.  If we go off-grid to a BLM or NFS lands we always check it out in the Jeep first to make sure it’s accessible and looks safe.  In the parks and resorts everyone is recreating and having fun so we haven’t run into bad people.

Q.  How often do you shop for supplies?

A. When we run out of beer or bread.  Most places are in range of a Walmart.  If not, we stock up on things when we know we’ll be off-grid awhile.  We can always pull things out of the freezer and throw it on the grill.  It is surprising how much storage we have.  We have never wanted for more space.

Q. How has your cooking changed.  

A. We thought it might be a challenge in a smaller space. but it really is not. We have plenty of storage and counter spac.  Becky does most of the cooking now (I use to do most of it) and she has really enjoyed it.  Going from a six-burner stove to a two-burner, she has learned to adjust, often preparing a one skillet dinner instead of having six pots going at once.  We have a convection oven/microwave, a pressure cooker, propane gas stove and all the small appliances to make anything we did in our sticks and bricks.  Then outside we have a camp stove, a grll, chairs, table, and a portable fireplace.

Q. Do you plan on hitting all states.

A.  The plan is NO PLAN!  If we happen to do it, that would be nice, however, we have no agenda and want to stay flexible.  There are some states I just can’t get excited about.

Q. What about medical?

A. I am on Medicare and it’s pretty easy for me to walk into any medical service and get cared for.  Just this week I had to have a cactus burr removed from my foot. Becky, on the other hand, is faced with not being able to get conventional medical insurance that goes across state lines (grrrr, don’t get me started!!.)  She has opted for a high deductible, affordable Faith-Based Medi-Share plan.  We will have our teeth cleaned and see our regular docs when we come back through Nashville.  Prescriptions are filled at any Walmart.  Just praying we stay healthy.

Q. How do you get your mail?

A. Good question, right now we are using our daughter's address for a residence and she is fielding most everything, most bills of course are paid online. My accountant takes care of my company PO box. The Escapees organization provides RVers electronic mail forwarding, and arranges domiciles in Texas, Florida, and South Dakota. If my daughter moves to KY we will most likely switch our domicile to Texas for taxes and car registration.

Q. What are things you did or did not expect?

A.  I did not expect to be so comfortable both living in the coach or living this lifestyle. With great heat and air, sleep number bed, back-up power, solar, comfy couch, recliner and adequate kitchen, we have everything we need and want. It has been really nice and I would recommend it to anyone who wants adventure and is willing to do their due-diligence with research and planning.  

I heard Becky tell someone that she expected to have more “highs” all the time, but I guess like anything else, if you do something all the time there are days you have to adjust to life.  Yesterday we had to stay in the air-conditioned coach because it was 108 degrees outside.  We will move to a higher elevation this week.   The good news is, we don’t have to mow the back yard or weed the garden.  We have found that exercise is the key to fighting the blues.  All the resorts have nice workout rooms and the parks have great places to hike.  Becky has her YouTube videos and Yoga mat.  

Overall this lifestyle has exceeded our expectations and is the most rewarding adventure imaginable.  

Q. How long does it take to pack up and move?

A.  An average of an hour and forty-five minutes.

Q. How long can you run on solar?

A. We have 660 Amp Hours of batteries and 3-160 watts of solar panels with a MPPT solar charger and a 5OOO Magnum Inverter.  If we have a full sunny day we can generate enough power to run our power hungry full-size residential refrigerator and have enough left over to run our LED lights, charge our phones and watch an episode of “This is Us” without having to use the generator.  But we don’t always have the those clear sunny days, so if we’re not hooked up we have to run the 8000K Onan diesel genny for an hour or two.  If we need air conditioning we have to run the genny. 

Q. How about your toilet, grey water, black water, how often do you have to dump?

A. We installed a compost toilet that we love (no more smell and use of water.) You can read more about it (click here) in an earlier blog post.  No longer do we need the black water tank, so we have combined our black and grey tanks. Now we  have 116 gallons of grey and and 90 gal. of fresh. so we can do laundry, take showers and not worry about consuming water while unhooked.  A few weeks ago I spent 10 days dry camping with no hookups and only used about half of the water on board.  

Let us know what other questions you have