#so that the cutoff looks natural since i want to stay as close to the cat's likeness as possible since i have no idea what that ear actuall

[woodnrust]

Ohhh now I remember why I kind of hate doing art

[poetrusicperry]

the poets and their first summer jobs

i’ve seen some discourse about how rich all the boys/their families are, and of course there would be like very little reason for them to work, but i couldn’t help wondering who would do what for their first jobs (summer jobs bc they couldn’t work while they’re at school). andddd that led me to writing this lol

neil: so neil would have like absolutely zero time for a job between all his normal coursework/extracurriculars and his summer classes (”you know me, always taking on too much”), but i guarantee you he would still take the time to get a job and have his own money to do with whatever he chose. mr. perry wouldn’t care much because it showed neil “taking initiative” or whatever. neil would likely work at a diner as either a bus boy or a waiter. he’s super personable, so he’d always strike up conversations with people sitting at the counter, and he’d get loads of tips bc he’s cute (: he’d bring his summer school work with him to do during lulls in business, which his boss didn’t mind because it’s neil and everyone knows how responsible he is. the poets would come visit him pretty much every day (to eat, see neil, and escape the heat in the air conditioning), likely taking up a whole booth, and making an absolute mess of the area. charlie would be making spitballs, aiming at cameron and knox every time (earning a “charlie, knock it off, i told you three times already! so mature of you, really.” from cameron) and meeks/pitts would try to see how many straws they could connect to make “ultra straw.” todd would come hang out at the counter when neil was closing, admiring his pretty bf as he worked (’: neil would always make todd a chocolate milkshake with whipped cream and rainbow jimmies on the house, claiming, “we have to empty out the ice cream machine anyway” (but really he’d take the cost out of his paycheck, just wanting to make todd happy). his boss would hire him back every summer, loving how much business neil drove in (even if the poets made a mess every time they hung out and ate) and absolutely adoring how much effort neil put into what anyone else would seemingly call a “meaningless” job.

todd: you can’t tell me that todd wouldn’t look forward to working. especially during the summers, it would get him out of the house and away from his parents judging his every move. being the shy introvert he is, he’d likely do things like mowing lawns or gardening for people around his neighborhood. minimal interactions, but still decent pay (as all the people in his neighborhood were likely super rich and could afford to pay him well). the poets’ parents would hire him, after much convincing from their sons (”todd’s just trying to make some money, dad. please?”) and todd would appreciate this more than they ever knew. he’d become super familiar with flower types and he’d become a lot more nurturing after taking care of plants and grass for multiple summers. he’d keep a little journal or notebook with drawings or sketches of the flowers he’d taken care of, complete with descriptions and magazine/newspaper clippings from his mom’s better homes and garden subscription (a lot of his poetry would become nature-related as well). it would be his late night project, or something he’d do if he couldn't sleep (which was pretty common for todd). he’d call neil on the phone some nights and just gush about all kinds of flowers or tell neil how he accidentally got stung by a bee and cried about it because he knew the bee would die (all the while, neil would be listening so intently, taking note about which flowers were todd’s favorites for future use (’: the calls would have to be pretty planned, bc if neil wasn’t working, he was doing school work, or his parents were keeping an annoyingly close watch on him. but sometimes neil would call him impromptu and that made todd just the happiest little camper ever). todd’s nails would be really short (he’d cut them really often because he doesn’t like the feeling of dirt under his nails), which means he couldn’t bite his nails anymore, causing him to pick up a new anxious habit of biting the inside of his bottom lip ): overall, though, todd would like his job, and even find pleasure in being surrounded by little flowers all day. also if/when neil ever got the chance, he’d absolutely tag along to see his sweaty boyfriend in action (come on, neil would go absolutely nuts for todd in a cutoff shirt, 5″ inseam shorts, and converse mowing a lawn looking all manly and tough). 

charlie: obviously, charlie wouldn’t need to work because of his financial situation, but his mom would 110% make him get a job just so he wouldn’t be around the house causing trouble/bothering his siblings for fun (”i’m hosting a lot of book club meetings for the country club this summer, i can’t have you putting spiders in the ladies’ hats again, charles”). similar to neil, mr. charlie dalton would work his summers at an ice cream/custard stand. he’d have to wear a white, short sleeve button up, a red and white striped apron, and one of those white, rectangular hats (his least favorite part HAHA, stating, “my hair is one of my best features and this just takes it all away. it’s unfair.”). the poets would visit often, both for ice cream, but primarily to give him a hard time about his uniform (”i’ll give you twenty bucks to wear this on our first day of classes” meeks would tease, completely gobsmacked when charlie showed up to their first chemistry class in his uniform, earning lots of demerits, but also twenty dollars). charlie would hate it at first, but obviously he’d adjust, being the extroverted/personable person, not taking himself too seriously and being one of the best ice cream slingers anyone had ever seen. he’d give the cute girls (and boys) extra scoops of ice cream for free, winking as he handed them their orders. like neil’s boss, charlie’s boss was even more thankful for charlie’s presence because they’d likely be raking in at least triple the income they would in a summer without him. he’d become a sundae expert, spending many dead poets meeting making them for his friends while they read poems and stories. that being said, he’d come to hate eating ice cream, publishing an article in welton’s honor demanding that they remove ice cream from their dessert menu (yes, almost exactly like the “girls at welton” prank, but he’d make the call collect this time. mr. nolan would be fed up to the point where he wouldn’t even punish charlie physically, just suspend him from rowing [which charlie wouldn’t mind at all HAHA]).

meeks & pitts: after their hi-fi success and the fact that they are seemingly inseparable, they both sought out jobs at the local radio station where they were hired as interns/assistants, running errands and picking up coffee or lunch for the station. but sometimes, when they worked pretty late, the night shift dj would let them pick the records and show them how everything worked (: after nights like that, meeks and pitts would go to one of their houses and add modifications to their hi-fi radio, staying up all night modifying and researching (by the end of the summer, they had made another hi-fi (portable) and their og hi-fi would have been morphed into a huge nationally reaching radio that they keep in the cave (since it would be disallowed in their room at welton). another job that the two of them would have would be answering calls for the station about song requests. with this knowledge, charlie and the other poets would hang out at someone’s house, calling and requesting the same songs over and over and over again. their biggest task for the summer would be organizing the shelves with all the records into alphabetical order (”duh, we should go by first name, meeks. which other way would it be” pitts would argue, only to find out that after they had spent about three weeks alphabetizing by first name, they were supposed to go by last name. “now who’s the idiot?” meeks would jeer, beginning to pull the records off the shelves). they’d also learn a lot about music from their night shift coworker, which would help in their quest to woo some ladies the following school year.

cameron: cameron liked spending his summers doing research projects for fun and just reading a whole lot, so you can imagine his displeasure at when his parents asked him to get a job (presumably to help with paying for his schooling). while upset about it, he wouldn’t complain, and took it on the chin, understanding the reasoning. he’d apply to a couple places, but ultimately end up as a grocery store cashier/stock boy. much like charlie, he’d have the same kind of uniform, but with a green apron instead. he’d spend most of his shift ringing people up at the register, being friendly and personable (something no one ever really realized about him !!). the poets’ moms would always see him and choose his register on purpose, using it as a chance to catch up or tell him to tell his parents that “the overstreets say hello!” or “mrs. anderson says hi!” pitts, meeks, and charlie would utilize cameron’s position at the supermarket to buy nudie magazines unembarrassed/slightly illegally HAHA (”come on, cameron! it’s not like you won’t be included in seeing them next year, too. we bring them to the meetings, you know that!” charlie would say, leaving cameron at a loss, reluctantly scanning the magazines and bagging them as pitts and meeks sniggered). charlie would wave, blow him a kiss, and wink as they left, “love you, richardddd.” sure enough, the magazines would make an appearance during the following school year and cameron was glad he had decided to let them buy the magazines lol. 

knox: out of all the poets, i feel like our knoxious would be the least inclined to work (yes, even less inclined than charlie). his parents wouldn’t even make him get a job because he simply didn’t need to, but to everyone’s surprise, he would volunteer at the animal shelter. the poets would later find out that it was a great way to meet girls (which is why he did it lmfao so they endlessly goaded him about it). charlie would visit often, and even took a rescue puppy home, much to charlie’s younger sister’s delight. charlie even wanted to start volunteering at the shelter to also meet girls, but he was too busy at the ice cream stand (plus, he had really grown to like it there so he didn’t want to leave). another effect of volunteering made knox super interested in zoology and animals, which brought out a newer, more nurturing/caring side to him, and who knows, maybe he’d go vegetarian somehow. he’d want to pursue a career in animal science or becoming a veterinarian, but mr. overstreet was hellbent on knox taking over the firm, so it seemed like a pipe dream. knox would continue to volunteer at the animal shelter, well into his career as a lawyer, and would even go to veterinary school in his 30s (when he was a nationally famous, established lawyer) to get certification to work with animals in a broader way (: 

hope you guys liked these. it was pretty fun to write, and i'd pay such good money to see neil, charlie, and cameron in their uniforms (and todd, but that’s neither here nor there). happy thursday !! let me know what you guys think of these <3(:

[some-dr-writings]

Rantaro, Nagito, and Kaito’s S/O got sick running around in the rain and attempt to sneak out:

Rantaro Amami:

·       “Huh? Noooo, no. You’re staying in bed.” “But-” “No butts- those are for sitting. Now back to bed with you.” You groaned as the man flipped you around and gently shoved you back to the bedroom. “It’s still raining though!” “I know.” Then as if on cue your cough flared up. “It’s exactly why you’re sick now. You can’t keep running out there.” “Ugh. Whatever! Do you know when was the last time I saw rain!?” “Two years ago for our sea-” “Two years ago back in our search in France! I miss the rain; how can you expect me to not run around and dance in it!” Rantaro laid you in bed, tucking you in as snuggly as he could. “Doctor’s orders.” “What doctor!?” With a smile he bowed, kissing you on the forehead. “Doctor Rantaro Amami at your service. Now, this good doctor is off to get you some medicine. No running in the rain.”

·       Though Rantaro hated you being miserable, admittedly he was absolutely indulging in this, getting to just dote on you completely, it was fun to him. It was also a bit nostalgic, sending him back to days where one of his sisters were sick so he got to play doctor and the others would act as nurses or other doctors and try to help Rantaro make soup, or cheer up their sister or any number of other things, even dragging one another out into the snow and quickly all of them getting ill. He missed his little assistants and colleges but… this was still nice. This also felt different since his patient was his partner. He couldn’t quite place his finger on what felt different exactly, but it did. Perhaps instead of a carer like he was for his sisters it was just pulling his partner back onto their feet… maybe that was the-

·       “Hey! No running in the rain.” “Why are you in the kitchen! I thought you were getting medicine!” “I thought a nice hot meal would help. Now back to bed with you.” “Noooooooooo” “Y/N!?” Rantaro panicked for a moment, you having crumpled to the ground. A sigh of relief had escaped him seeing you were relatively alright. “Come on.” “nooooooo” With his hands on his hips he looked down to you. “Alright then.” And with all his might he lifted you up and carried you back to bed. You were too exhausted to fight back anymore and just went along with it. “huh? Going to bed with me?” “Yeah.” He hugged you tightly, snuggling into you. “Seems cuddles is the only way to make sure you don’t go running off again.” He felt so giddy when you nuzzled into him. Even if he got stick because of this, it was well worth it.

    Nagito Komaeda:

·       For most others the rainy season was much more accident prone than the rest of the year with the water bringing slick ground, but for some as… lucky as Nagito it was just like any other time. Truthfully he might have actually liked it more than others for one sole reason. You huddling so close to him under your shared umbrella. No matter what, whenever Nagito bumped into you on a rainy day, SOMETHING would happen to either one of your umbrellas whether it be them braking or getting carried away by the wind and the pair of you would end up sharing.

·       This time was slightly different however “Hey Nagi- AH!” Suddenly a large gust of wind crashed into you, toppling you over, and you losing your umbrella in the process. You sighed seeing you were now drenched. It melted his heart seeing how you so softly smiled to him as he held his umbrella over you. “Thank you.” You took his outstretched hand, lifting you to your feet, even holding you close which really surprised you. “I’m sorry trash like me is the only one around to help you.” There it was. “Nagito please yo-” You clung to Nagito and he to you as more wind crashed by, sending the pair of you toppling down the hill and almost into the street and off the walkway. You ended up having to run, the pair of you trying to protect the other by holding your jacket over the other’s head.

·       “Ugh, of course you lucky bastard doesn’t get sick.” You burried your face behind your quilt trying to cover up your coughs. “I’m so sorry, it was because you were wit-” “Shut up. Nothing is your fault, we were literally in a storm, I probably would have gotten sick anyway.” You placed your now empty bowl of oatmeal aside only for Nagito to immediately take it and trot over to the kitchen for cleaning.

·       Upon returning to your room though he was surprised to find you gone. “Y/N?” “Here.” … The front door? There you stood, shakily taking a trench coat off the rack and placing it on. “Oh no, you don’t need to go out, let me take care of it.” Confusedly you looked over your shoulder to him before taking your hat and placing it on. A light chuckle bubbled out of you before it was abruptly cutoff by raspy coughs. “I-I don’t think you can take my place at work.” “You’re going to work!?” “Bills can’t pay for-” Your stance wavered, you leaning against the door for balance as more coughs bust from your chest. “… I’m calling you in sick.” “Eh- no!” “Yes I am.” “No you’re not!” “I am. You are sick and can’t show the world just how great you are. You need to be healthy in all ways to do that, and I will not sit idly by as you hurt and push yourself. Now go to bed and rest and let me take care of everything else. I can at least do that.”

·       …

·       Never before had you seen Nagito place his foot down on something. You stayed in bed wanting to encouraging this will. This was something Nagito wanted for himself in a way, and him wanting for himself or thinking he was worthy was so extremely rarer. As antsy as you were to get back to work you stayed home, and let Nagito care for you.

    Kaito Momota:

·       “Looks like it’ll rain.” “No it won’t.” You grumbled looking out the window. “It NEVER rains around here. Last time was like, what?  Five years ago? And before that it was eight.” “I don’t know, those clouds are dark.” “We’ve had dark clouds before.” You sighed looking out to the gray world. Winter was so dull when you lived in a place where it didn’t now… or had any weather outside of sunny or partly could really, there was nothing else, it was so boring. In winter the world was just… empty and monochrome seeming. You sat at your desk, continuing your paperwork while Kaito was leaning out the open window looking towards that ever darkening sky.

·       “… Leave.” “Huh!?” He looked to you as if completely offended by that single word. “You look too fetching with the wind tussling your hair, now out of my office.” You pointed to the grand doors for a moment with our pen before going back to work. Silence filled the room as Kaito took in your words. As much as he loved you sometimes it pissed him off how stoic and monotone you always were. “What!?” You didn’t even look up to him as he slammed a hand on your desk. “You heard me.” “Oh no. You don’t get to compliment me and have no tone! Put some passion into it!” “You know how I show my passion.” “Exactly, and that was not it! Put your all into it!” “You are handsome.” “… That was pathetic! Nothing! THIS is passion!” Taking your chin between his thumb and pointer finger he tilted up your head so you’d finally face him. “You are the most gorgeous person on this or any other world. You are the love of my life, my only sun in a sea of stars, the one who I can bare to stray too far from. You are the light of my life, the only one who keeps everything going… Now THAT is passion.” After a moment a small smirk pulled on the corners of your lips. “Finally you give my daily dose of serotonin. What took you so long?” “Eh- Did you just trick me into say-” Before Kaito could finish his sentence though you grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him into a kiss.

·       It was a rarer moment of stunned silence from Kaito, after parting him just looking to you in awe. “Now THAT’S what I was-” “Seriously, get out.” “Wait! You call me handsome so emotionlessly and now you tell me to get out so lovingly!?” Still so lovingly looking to him you pressed a button on the landline phone on your desk. “Call security. My husband is refusing to leave the office again.” “Now wait just a minute!” You chuckled seeing you so easily got a rise out of him.

·       Suddenly you both were snapped from your thoughts hearing something. “Hah! I told you it was going to rain!” Kaito skipped to the window, gleeful closing it. “You shouldn’t have doubted your Luminary of The Stars!” Kaito was confused hearing no response. He looked to you, finding you were just staring out the window. You simply walked up to him and opened the window again, not flinching as rain crashed into you. Then suddenly you were just gone, the doors to your office suddenly wide open. Then Kaito heard cheering, and looking down, he saw you running around outside.

·       “My world!?” Out of breath Kaito leaned against the open front doors of the building while you were laughing, and spinning around nonstop. “IT’S RAAAAAAIIIIIIINNNIIIIINNNNNNNNG!” Kaito just stood there in absolute shock. This looked like his spouse but… could this be you!? You were bursting with emotion, so unabashedly happy, excited, jubilant! You were never one to hide you emotions, but it was never often you showed much emotion and when you did it was more so subtle or in small bursts, that was just your nature, but this- “WWWWWAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! IT’SRAININGIT’SRAININGIT’SRAININGIT’SRAININGIT’SRAININGIT’SRAININGIT’SRAININGIT’SRAININGIT’SRAINING! IT! IS! RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNNNIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGG!” Laughter bubbled up from Kaito’s chest as he dashed out to join you, dancing, running, and spinning around, both with beaming smiles on your faces!

·       The rain lasted for a few days and seemingly neither of you ever took a break, even when night fell you saying you had to enjoy this weather while it lasted before it left for years again! The moment it left though… “Ugh… Lumi pass me the tissues please.” “Sure… My world, could you get me the headache medicine? “Yeah.” You were both bedridden. It was fine though at least you got to cuddle all day.

·       “Lumi… Hey Luminary.” Slowly Kaito awoken. “What is-” “Shhh. Listen.” “……… rain?” He smiled seeing how your eyes sparkled. You both lied in bed for a moment longer loving the warmth before dashing out of the house, still in your pajamas into the rain, laughing and dancing away.

[tellyouwhatilike]

WILDFLOWER PART 1 - CALUM HOOD

So this is what I’ve been working on! I’m finishing part 2 as I post this. I really hope y’all like this, it’s been super fun to write and I haven’t posted any new writing in a loooooooong time- so please let me know what you think! <3 

Part one does not contain any smut, part 2 will 100% be smut lol. 

WARNING: This contains mature language and subject matters, 18+ please!!

__________________________________________

                               PART ONE

 “Cal!” An excited voice called from across the large patio.

Calum’s head whipped around while his eyes searched the scantily-clad crowd at one of this month’s industry networking events the label requested he attend. He had to admit, this was one of the more amusing ones, a themed pool party with a barbeque style spread. With that signature phony, ostentatious LA touch to it, of course. This is the kind of thing Calum typically steered clear of in the past; less so since officially uprooting his life to Los Angeles and being conditioned by his band’s record label to make appearances at gatherings like this on a regular basis. His eyes finally landed on his target and his lips curled up instantly—the melodic voice that had called out his name over the masses of valleyspeak blending together in the background, and subsequently, the only true reason he’d agreed to represent the band tonight at this function.

“My, my, my; look what we have here” he said with cheeky implication as he took a moment to slowly look her up and down with a shit-eating grin spread across his face, leaving his eyes squinted and cheeks rounded. She looked even better than he remembered, her long tousled hair neatly spilling over her shoulder just how he’d always liked it. It had been months since he’d seen her in the flesh and the sight of her was enough to make him feel giddy to his core.

“I’m so glad you could make it” she replied with a breathy laugh, cheeks slightly flushed as her arms wrapped around his neck for a quick squeeze ‘hello.’ In that moment, she was very pleased with her decision to wear her sleek black one-piece suit under her cutoff shorts with a red lip—a combination that always delivered. His palm lingered across the span of her waist around her back, squeezing gently, letting it run down to her hip before letting go. When they parted from their embrace and their eyes met, Calum’s cheeky confidence quickly turned shy and boyish, as it typically does.

“Yeah, me too. This is—this is quite the soiree.” He motioned to the mingling bodies around them. “Um, so how have you been, how was Morocco?” He looked down awkwardly at his shoes for a brief moment, cursing himself and nature for not being smoother. Trying not to come off too eager although he’d been thinking about this interaction daily for nearly a year now, whether they had been speaking or not.

They had been engaging in a modest flirtation for months and months now, they had tried going on a handful of dates right around the time the band came back to LA from touring to focus on writing the following album, ‘Calm.’ The term ‘dates,’ however, should be used loosely; Calum’s record label doesn’t approve of the guys getting snapped by paps casually dating around. Rules have certainly been broken in the past— but he figured, since they’d only just met, it wasn’t worth the headaches that these things cause on the harsh world that is the internet. People always talk and it tends to confuse the masses. So, they opted for more intimate yet appropriate venues for their rendezvous like dinner at Calum’s outdoor living space, tight knit shin-digs at his bandmate Michael’s house, or lengthy facetime calls from their respective home couches.

Calum was absolutely smitten- a feeling so new to him, he couldn’t even remember if he’d ever felt it with anyone else before. He was also terrified things would fall apart just like they always had in the past, she ran free and untamed, never staying in one place long enough to make lasting connections, making Calum wary of her potentially leaving and breaking his heart. He could always see it in her face, there was a wild side to her that she couldn’t explain. Things quickly began to prove too consuming for him as he tried to juggle really getting to know her, despite his reservations, and focusing on pouring his heart into the upcoming record. He’s the type to completely immerse himself in whatever it is that’s important to him, so he felt it wasn’t fair to them or his art if they continued building on the relationship. The pair chalked it up to poor timing and decided to give each other space while he worked with his band tirelessly on their music for a number of months. Forever the wandering bohemian, she jetted off to spend some time living with friends in Amsterdam and then frolicking about in Morocco for the summer.

Once the record was released, promotion was finished and the tour was completed; he and his band mates arrived back to LA for some much-needed R & R before eventually returning to the writing process to start it all over again. She returned back to her home base, for the time being, sun-kissed and thrilled to be back in the states for one major reason. Calum had spent nearly the whole first month home catching up on sleep, ordering sushi on grubhub and lounging around in boxers doing next to nothing; standard procedure. But now he was fully rested, extremely rejuvenated, and he was eager to get up to no good.

“I’ve been good, yeah, Morocco was gorgeous and…mind-altering…” She trailed off, losing her train of thought while taking in his face, she shook her head slightly. “Wow, it is so nice to see you again.” She reveled, her green eyes catching light of the twinkling strings adorning the canopy above where they stood. “It’s been a while, huh?” Her cheeks swelled up as she flashed him a smile and attempted to calculate quite how long it had been in her head, remembering some of the last times they hung out vividly. Thoughts shifting to his scent, how he looked different but it was somehow even better than before, the way he had to look down to meet her gaze, the hand he had pressed against her waist when he greeted her earlier, how she felt at ease and wired at the same time to be in his presence.

“Way too long” He said through a toothy smile, already having to remind himself of how they vowed to take things slowly over the text messages leading up to tonight, and simultaneously imagining leaving cherry red marks down the length of her neck. He couldn’t stop sneaking glimpses of her exposed skin and imagining her dark hair splayed across his crisp white sheets or holding her tightly while she wore one of his old t shirts, he desperately hoped that’s where this night was headed. His tongue slipped out and ran its way over his bottom lip when the thin black strap of her bathing suit slipped down her shoulder, his hand moving before the rational side of his brain had any time to talk him out of it. He gently brushed her hair back to expose her bare shoulder and slid the strap back up into place for her, their eyes meeting as his hand lingered there for a moment too long. His jaw tensed as he pulled his hand away, looking down briefly, she swallowed and made herself busy with her champagne flute. He swore he could feel little tiny electric sparks flying each time his skin met hers. “Sorry” He muttered, ever apologetic.

“Don’t be” She said softly and gave him ‘the eyes,’ the eyes that Calum still thought about before he fell asleep some nights. A face that looked like it came straight out of his dreams, innocent yet sinister all rolled into one, making him shiver. A face he couldn’t help but imagine staring up at him while she takes him into her mouth slowly, then all at once. Quite a regular fantasy he’d been having these days, this face felt like she was giving an open invitation to daydream of her. They’d been calling or texting almost daily for around two weeks since she arrived back home, anticipation rising with each passing day.

“So,” He cleared his throat some, “What are you doing after this?” He asked, meaning for it to come off more charming than it did. “I mean, would you want to go hang out somewhere… else? Or something.” He suddenly regretted going in for the kill so soon, he couldn’t read her expression, though he thought if he stared at her pouty pink lips and long dark lashes for long enough, he might. She smirked to herself and let out a chuckle, using her index finger to poke him in the chest. He, rather dramatically, twisted his face up and rubbed the spot vigorously with his palm.

“Owww!” He whined, wide eyed and feigning disdain. “What did you do that for?” He carried on while she rolled her eyes playfully. Tired of the party’s cold chickpea ‘cheeseburger’ sliders and shallow conversation, she decided to speed this process along. She was no fool, they’d both been waiting for this very moment as an excuse to hang out alone again.  

“Let’s get out of here.” She leaned in to put her lips up close to his ear, brushing her palm up against his bicep lightly. She pulled back to look him in the eyes, a little smile taking over her plush lips his eyes kept finding their way back to. “I wanna come to your house” She stated, stepping forward slightly to close the space between them, her scent creeping up into his nasal passages and making his mouth go dry imagining how sweet she’d taste.

“Yeah,” He cleared his throat, his eyes widening. “Sure… I mean, yeah, sounds good. I’ll grab the car.” He said, trying (and failing) to sound as cool as possible, turning abruptly and b-lining for the gate, lightning suddenly coursing through his veins at the thought of what was to come. Once to the car, he used the mirror to check his hair as he pulled around to the front drive of the house, moving it around and smoothing it down, not making much of a difference with his recently-buzzed ‘do. Now, he knew exactly where the night was going.  

(To be continued...)

[coza-main]

Hello yes hi-

I want a one-shot! Pretty pretty please?????

❤️🙂 Don't care about which pairing (though one from Naruto is preferred) but I'd love to read a big kiss as the finale!! 🥺🥺🥺🥺

A/N: I guess I should preface this by saying you do not get what you want at the end, I’m afraid. I hope you are still satisfied nonetheless. It’s been a while since I’ve written and even longer since I’ve published something so hopefully it isn’t too cringy! But I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope you enjoy it on some level.

Also if anyone wants to send any requests, I’ll keep my inbox open. I guess that’s a way I can celebrate 100?

---

Home

Sakura’s laugh was audible from the other side of the door as she fumbled with her keys. Light from the outside world flooded the room as Sakura’s voice became audible. “-well, Ino-pig. I honestly don’t know what you were-”.

Whatever Sakura was going to say was instantly cutoff when she sensed another chakra nature inside her apartment. She quickly pulled the door closed again and turned back to her friend. “Ino! I completely forgot to get us drinks! Do you mind running to the store and grabbing some while I tidy up?”

Ino began to protest, but Sakura quickly shoved a healthy amount of cash into her hand and stepped inside. “Buy whatever you want Ino-pig! I’ll meet you back here in 30 minutes!” Without waiting for a response, Sakura shut the door firmly. She could hear Ino grumbling as she walked away, but that was the least of her concerns right now.

“What are you doing here?” She hissed sharply at the silhouette in the chair. “You need to leave right now. You weren’t supposed to be back for another week. If Ino had seen you-”.

“I’m sorry, Sakura,” he cut her off. “It was...quite urgent.” There was pain in his voice that brought Sakura immediate concern. His words were thick, as though he could pass out at any moment. Now that her senses were alert, she could smell the distinct scent of iron. She cursed herself for not noticing it sooner as she flicked on the light.

“Itachi,” she breathed out, fear shining in her eyes. “What did you do?”. The wound on his shoulder was so deep she could see the white of his collarbone shining through the mixture of wet and dried blood. She was kneeling at his side in an instant, a green glow enveloping her hands.

“Kisame found out.” He flinched as Sakura’s hands touched his skin, but offered no other explanation. Sakura simply nodded, not needing any clarification. If Kisame had discovered that Itachi was actually a traitor to the Akatsuki, there was no doubt that he would try to neutralize the threat. Itachi was lucky that he got away from the swordsman with just this wound.  

Sakura’s mind was full of questions, but chose to stick to the professional ones for the time being. “When did this happen? Were you followed? How much blood have you lost?”

Itachi only grunted in response, and Sakura’s eyes flicked up to meet his only to find that his head had begun to lull backwards. “Itachi,” she snapped loudly, waking him back up again. When his eyes finally met hers, she returned her focus to healing and repeated her questions again.

“He caught me right at the border.” Itachi was always short whenever he first arrived at her apartment. He only answered the questions asked, never offering anything more. If Kisame had caught Itachi at the border, he would have been close behind him as Itachi fled to her. And with a nose created to sniff out blood…

“He’s dead.” Itachi’s voice sounded pained, which brought Sakura back from her thoughts. Her brow furrowed as she checked to see what injury she must’ve missed before she realized that a jutsu would not help this kind of pain.

“You did what you had to do. If you didn’t, you would be…” She could bring herself to say dead. Her heart nearly broke at the thought of it. Itachi merely nodded in response, his eyes staring into the distance at nothing in particular. She wanted to help him, but the necessary words seemed locked away, inaccessible to her.

She looked at Itachi’s wound, which was no longer life-threatening, and stood up. She decided to leave the wound tender as an alibi. He would need injuries since Kisame was dead. “Can you move? This’ll be easier to clean up in the bathroom.”

Itachi looked around as if he had just realized the mess he had created. “Ah, yes. I’m so sorry about all of...this.” He started to stand, but staggered backwards. Sakura quickly looped herself under his arm to help him gain his footing as if it were second nature to her.

“Take it easy. You’ve lost a lot of blood. I’ve got you.” Itachi simply smiled softly at her and nodded.

Once they were in the bathroom, Sakura sat Itachi on the ground and wet a rag to begin cleaning off the blood. He still had that sad, distant look in his eyes. And she still had no comforting words to offer him. Medical training had taught Sakura that when you can’t comfort someone, it’s best to distract them. So that’s what she did. She sat down next to him and began dabbing off the blood from his skin.

“Tsunade-sama has me working just about every waking hour in the hospital. It’s hard, but very rewarding.” She wiped away at the blood as she thought back on notable events. “I actually reattached a limb earlier this week! The guy came in so mangled, Itachi! It wasn’t even a shinobi. Just a construction worker in a freak accident.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a faint smile dance across Itachi’s face as he watched her. A sign to keep going. “By the time I finished up with him, he could move his toes. He has a long road ahead of him but he should make a full recovery! Oh, and on our training day last week, I even started talking to Tsunade-sama about Sasuke, which led to us talking about the massacre. I think I may be able to get her to relook-”

“Sakura,” he cut her off, all hints of joy gone from his face as quickly as it had appeared. “I’ve already told you that you are risking your life by doing that. As long as Danzo is in Konoha nothing will come to fruition. I will still be a traitor to the village. There is no reason for you to risk your safety here for something that will only result in your death.”

“But-”

“Stop being a child.” His voice was so unexpectedly forceful that Sakura flinched involuntarily. Quickly realizing his error, Itachi sighed. “I just can’t lose you too, Sakura.”

Sakura stared at him as she tried to comprehend his quick switch in nature. Confusion and hurt danced in her eyes, but Itachi had to remain adamant as he maintained eye contact. “Promise me you’ll drop it.”

Sakura scowled at him and chose to focus on cleaning his wound, rather than answering him. She couldn’t promise that, not when there was a chance that Itachi could return home. But Itachi knew her too well, and clasped his hands around her own. “Sakura. Promise me right now.”

Why was he so unwilling to be happy? Sakura was certain that if Tsunade knew what had occurred with the Uchiha, Itachi would no longer be considered a criminal. He could come back to Konoha, get real treatments for his illness, live the life he deserved to. She wouldn’t have to hide him away. He wouldn’t have to sneak in and out of the village, risking his life in both Konoha and the Akastuki.

“Sakura.” He gave her hand a firm squeeze, bringing her back to the present. It was clear he wouldn’t let this go until she gave her word.

“I promise,” she said bitterly. He seemed content and pulled his hands away from hers. She continued to clean away at the blood in silence, painfully aware that his eyes were always on her now. Once she was content with her work, she looked him in the eyes. “Let me grab you some supplies. Be right back.”

She rummaged quickly through her kitchen drawers to find a makeshift first-aid kit and packed it with antibiotics, pain medication, bandages, and other minor things he may need. Itachi was stable, but she wanted to make sure he stayed that way. He was quick to forget about his own needs and Sakura did not need to see the wound infected the next time he visited her. With the bag packed, she finally spared a quick glance around her apartment.

It had smears of blood throughout it that would take a full day of cleaning to remove. It would probably be easier to get new furniture, but that amount of blood would raise questions to anyone who saw her throwing it away. She would just have to avoid having company over until she could figure that out. Not that she invited many people to her apartment, there was really just Team 7 and Ino.

Ino.

She cursed at her forgetfulness. Ino was probably on her way back from the store at this point. She quickly grabbed a pencil and paper and scrawled down a lame hospital emergency excuse and apology and stuck the paper to the outside door of her apartment.

Hopefully Ino would accept her fake excuse and take the beer as her apology without looking into it further. She grabbed the small bag and flicked off the living room light as she receded back into the bathroom again.

“You should stay the night, so I can watch for infection.” She tried to hide her anticipation as she sat down across from him with the bag in front of her. Her eyes gleamed with the small hope that he would accept her offer.

Itachi smiled sadly and affectionally tapped her forehead. “I need to get back. You know that it’s not safe for either of us if I stay here tonight”.

Sakura didn’t even try to hide her blatant disappointment. Or her fear.

“You could have died today, Itachi.”

“But you saved me. Like you always do.”

“I don’t always save you.” Sakura’s face flushed as she averted her eyes from his. She was once again at a loss for words. The Uchiha seemed to have that effect on her.

Itachi smirked and lifted Sakura’s chin up with his index finger to have her eyes meet his. “Your face is as pink as your hair, little bird,” he teased, making her cheeks burn brighter. This was the Itachi she remembered. He had finally returned to her, which only meant that he was about to leave again.

“I wish you could stay,” she whined half-heartedly. She knew it was hopeless. Once Itachi��s mind was made up, there was no changing it. But it was still worth a shot.

“As do I, Sakura. But it’s not safe-”

“For either of us.” she finished his sentence with an eye roll. “I know.”

He tenderly pushed back her hair from her face and caressed her cheek. “Hey,” he said gently, his voice just at a whisper. “It won’t always be like this, okay? I’ll find a way to make this place my home again.”

Sakura felt herself involuntarily leaning into Itachi’s touch and closed her eyes to savor the moment. She found herself wondering what he defined home as: was it in Konoha or with her? She deeply hoped that he meant the latter.

“You promise?” she questioned, unwilling to open her eyes to see his facial reactions. She didn’t want to know if it was a lie or not.

“I promise.” His voice was barely a whisper, much closer than when Sakura had closed her eyes. She felt his lips press against the center of her forehead and her eyes popped open in surprise. But only black feathers danced around her, Itachi was gone again. She grabbed a feather and clutched it to her chest, trying to ignore the ache that was already forming in her chest.

[dailyaudiobible]

12/01/2020 DAB Transcript

Daniel 8:1-27, 1 John 2:1-17, Psalms 120:1-7, Proverbs 28:25-26

Today is the 1st day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you as we collectively greet a new month, the final month of the year, the final leg of our journey, although this journey is a never ending one and…and should be as we find ourselves more and more in a relationship with the Scriptures instead of in some kind of obligatory devotional state that we never can quite get to. Nevertheless, it is December 1st and here we are. We made it to the 12th month of the year. I think that was…well…I don’t think that was ultimately questionable it was…just there's been days and weeks during this year where it’s like, “what is going on?” We made it. We made it. Well done! Let's dive into this month. Let's finish strong as we move through it and prepare for the brand-new year. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Daniel chapter 8.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in first John, today we could probably notice that John, at least in his letters…well…at least in this letter because where just at the very first one…in this letter he doesn't sound so dissimilar to James or so dissimilar to Peter and their letters in that you can claim faith but the evidence of like a faith filled life ends up being a transformed life otherwise you can say whatever you want. So, let me just quote a portion of…of what we read today. “The one who says, I have come to know Him, and yet doesn't keep His commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in Him. The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.” Alright, so we can see this is more than just giving lip service to a religious belief system. The evidence of your true faith in Christ is that Christ is within you, transforming you and that is evident. And, so, easy enough, easy enough here to step back and look at our own lives and ask what's the evidence here? Like I am my own evidence to where my faith is at. So, John’s being direct because this is something to be direct about, this is foundational. Like, the goal of our faith is that we would be transformed into the likeness of Jesus, that our lives would be lived like Jesus, that we would be the hands and feet of Jesus, that we would be the body of Christ in this world. And that's not just something you can say. Like, if everybody in the world just said, “yeah, I guess I believe in this Jesus. Okay, Jesus is now my Savior” and then just went about their lives and there was no transformation whatsoever nothing would happen in the world. Being Christlike isn't something we say it's something we are becoming. And that means we have to participate. We are in collaboration. Our role is to be aware, to be humble and to be surrendered to God's will and ways and to obey and walk with Him. What a relief. If you're walking with God, well, how much safer can that be? And being transformed isn't just for us and it isn't just so we have a better prayer life. Like everything…if we’re being transformed then everything is being touched. If you are being…if something is transformed, its very nature is altered into something else. That's pretty big. We are not who we were at all. And this continuing transformation process with in us that we would also know as sanctification touches everything about us. So, picking up with John and putting it back into John's words, “the one who says he is in the light but hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother or sister remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him, but the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” So again, not dissimilar to James or Peter. Talk is cheap. You can say whatever you want, but if the words that you say are not consistent with the life that you live, then you're not living true and you're not living truthfully. And John says that this happens because, basically because our faith, our trust is put in the world instead of in Christ. And the world that…according to John is passing away. So, hope and trust are put into something that is not going to last, which is a theme that we have seen since we began reading the letters of the New Testament. So, we are at the beginning of the last month of the year and we have talked several times over the last couple months as we came into the last quarter of the year about finishing strong. And John…John is forthright today in giving us ways to look into that as we move toward the end of the year and finishing the year strong. Are our claims about our faith consistent with the lives we are living?

Prayer:

Father we acknowledge the question. It's…it's been a fundamental question for a very, very long time and it exposes so much within us. And if we were honest, we…we would say sometimes…sometimes like the first half of the day can be great and the second half of the day can be awful, one hour can be fantastic another hour can be horrible. We have an ebb and flow and we are tossed around and pulled in all kinds of directions and this shows us how much we swing back and forth putting our trust in the world, putting our trust in You and trying to make both reconcile when they won't ever. We were made for You. We were made for earth, but we are in this world and not of it. And, so, help us Lord. Expose the system of the world that is all around us and ubiquitous so that we can't see it unless we’re focusing our full attention. We can’t do that. We’re or pulled in all kinds of directions. But You are the most-high God. You are the sovereign Lord, and You know who we are, and You love us, and You are Fathering us. And, so, we trust in You to lead us forward. And Father these areas where the things that we say and the things we do don't match and are actually far away from each other, forgive us Lord. This has just exposed the sin. And help us as we repent to move toward wholeness. This is what a fully sanctified person will look like, whole, like Jesus, like the Savior. This is the goal and we want to be fully participating in it. So, come Holy Spirit and lead us as we move into the busiest time of the year. We hold on to You for dear life. We declare this and we pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its where you…well…its home, it’s where you find out everything that's going on around here.

It is indeed Christmas time around here, so I think that's what's going on pretty much everywhere now, in one form or another. For us this year we have the Daily Audio Bible Shop open and we’ve put as many things on sale as we can. We’re not doing a Christmas Box this year as I've explained. Normally that's what we do but with just this year, and all the different lockdowns and protocols and everything that happens we’ve decided just to open up the store and say you can make your own, you can make your own box. Pick all of the things that you like, things you want to give away, things you want to keep for yourself. And if you spend $40 or more in the Daily Audio Bible Shop we will send you the 2020 Daily Audio Bible ornament. That’s something that we've had in the Christmas box all along. And, so, we’ll send that to you along with your order. We have…we have Global Campfire Klean Kanteens in stock right now although that's probably going to not be the case over the next couple of days. But these are beautiful. The only time we've had them this year and so get them while you can. They will not last long, but they are…well…I mean there this double-walled food grade stainless steel constructed like thermos that I use literally every day of my life because it keeps my coffee warm all day. Like, I’m…I had to turn my head, but now I'm looking one that’s full of…of coffee right now. So, check them out while they last. Check out the other stuff that's in the…in the DAB Shop, the like coffee. Like you can send a coffee subscription to somebody and have that land freshly roasted every month on their door. You can do that for yourself. Check…check out the tea. Check out the nitrogen filled portable windfarm coffee that we have in…in the steeped packaging. This is…it's kind of like a coffee filter…kinda like a teabag, right, but only made out of coffee filter with the right amount of coffee inside of it then nitro sealed to get the oxygen out of it so it won’t deteriorate so that it will last and stay fresh and then you just crack that open, pop it into your coffee mug, pour hot water over it, and then just steep it, steep it for a couple minutes and you have really great coffee on the go. And most on the go coffee, well, at least in my experience isn’t all that great. So, check all of this out, as well as the Global Campfire line of resources and all of the different media resources, books, and videos and music. So, check it out at dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop.

One thing I should mention is shipping cutoffs. And for international…if you are outside of the United States then the…the shipping cutoff is today. And we’re just taking our queues trying to get things to arrive by Christmas. We have an arrangement with FedEx that allows us to ship pretty close to the price of domestic shipping. It just takes…it’s just a little bit more unpredictable because they then bring it…import it into the country and then send it through the regular mail of the country. And, so, at some point it ends up in the…in the local mail system and we have no control of and it’s just a lot cheaper. So, that cutoff is today. You can order internationally any day any time but if you're hoping for something to arrive for Christmas time for Christmas day today would be the cutoff date for international. If you are domestic, if you are with in the United States we have a little bit of time and we’ll keep you posted there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you humbly and profoundly for your partnership here at the end of the year. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or if you prefer the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

[singing starts] Dear Lord please help the people that are homeless to know You. Please help them to know You. Please help them to know that they’re just not through this by themselves. Please help them to get through this with Your help. Please help someone to feed them and to give them a little bit of food please help them to be happy to have food and closer to live. Amen [singing stops]. Hi I’m Jaylin.

Hi family it’s Carla Jean from Nevada I’ve been posting on the Facebook DAB friends page but I thought I’d call and let you know that my husband Marty not only has Covid, but he has diabetic ketoacidosis. His blood sugars are over 1500. He’s a in the ICU in Las Vegas and it doesn’t look good. He was diagnosed with coronavirus two weeks ago and didn’t want to go to the hospital. He had to diabetic seizures that me and my 15-year-old son had to bring him out of. Finally, we convinced him to go to the hospital on Tuesday. On Wednesday both Elisha and I started being symptomatic for coronavirus. Family, I need you to really pray okay? I love you all very much.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family my name is El and I’m from the UK and this is my first time calling and I’m just calling today because me and my husband are going through some fertility issues. We’ve been trying for a baby now for two years and it just doesn’t seem to be working out for us the way we had hoped. So, I just ask that you pray for us during this time. Pray that God will bless us with a baby and pray for our marriage as we go fertility struggles. And, yeah, just if you wouldn’t mind to keep us in your prayers. Thank you.

Hi DAB family it’s Friday, November 27th and this is Peggy in California. I called a few weeks ago and asked for your prayers for my son Mason and I have felt the power of that in my conversations with him. I just thank you so very much and I ask that you would continue to pray for him because I think he’s on the brink of making some…a real positive move and he needs to be resolved and it’s going to be hard but I just pray that you would continue to reach out with me in that. And I also want to just lift up all the other adult children that have been mentioned in so many of the calls. It is definitely a struggle that many of us share. And, so, I want to lift up this prayer. Lord I pray that You will give all of the adult children of DAB family the discernment they need to understand the clear choices between good and evil and right and wrong, between what is life giving and life destroying and between a path into a secure and good future and a dead-end street. I pray that they will not allow the world to shape them but instead they will be shaped by You. I know that the influence of the enemy can come in so subtly as being nearly unobserved until it’s too late. But I pray that the Holy Spirit given wisdom and discernment they can be prepared for the enemy and anticipate his plans. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Bye family God bless you all.

Hi this is Pamela from Pennsylvania calling again. This time I just want to thank Brian and his family, China. And I never said anything, but congratulations on the beautiful baby that you’re welcoming into your family. I’m welcoming my third grandchild in February, which is a beautiful thing. My daughter’s a missionary and they’re…it’s just a wonderful loving family. But I wanted to thank Brian for the commentary and the long-standing wisdom in your words in understanding the Scriptures. It comes across very clear and I appreciate that very much because if anybody kept track of my other phone calls I did grow up in a very dysfunctional place and that led to some very dark places in my life. But…and actually all three of my children have gone to Christian school and because of the influence of the Christian school that my daughters went to I became saved and came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. So, I’m very thankful for that. And since that time little by little God has been putting the pieces back together in my life the way it was intended to be according to God. So, growing up in a dysfunctional environment I’m way behind all the people who grew up in a Christian environment and I’ve been scampering to catch up. Brian, I just appreciate your help. It’s making things make sense. So, I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

[poipoipoi-2016]

So you’ve decided you want to walk across the Grand Canyon

@dwelling-abode​ pinged me, and I ranted enough I’m just going to make this a post

3 parts: 

The Hike itself and why it sucks

The warnings

The walkthrough

The gear you’re going to use to make it suck less and also not die

The fitness you need to be in to not die

I apologize to all the mobile people for whom this is a wall of text.  

The hike:

Two variations: 

1) Rim-to-Rim aka North Kaibab to Bright Angel.  I did this.  1 day down, 2 days up.  

2) South Kaibab to Bright Angel off the South Rim

First thing you should notice: There is no water on South Kaibab.  There is no purified water source between Cottonwood and Bright Angel (Well, er, Phantom Ranch) which is the longest, hottest, most exposed portion of the trip.  You are coming up Bright Angel.  

The other thing you should notice: 1000 feet is 600 miles, this is the rough equivalent weather-wise of walking from Calgary to Phoenix to Minneapolis.  On a good day, your downhill day has a 60 degree temperature differential.  

This in turn enforces a very hard cutoff in terms of when it’s physically possible to do this, namely about 2 weeks in early October when the North Rim is open and it *might* not be 100+ degrees at the bottom.  Key word might.  I did it on the last possible day (No seriously, I flew my grandmother out to spend 4 days driving the car around), and it was 92.  

If you’ve never done serious exertion, 55 is t-shirt weather, I mean this.  

If you do it in June/July/August/early September, you will die.   There is no safe way to do this (Read: Any) level of physical activity in the desert in those temps.  

So let’s walkthrough the hike. 

The first mile and a half down to Supai is a boring series of switchbacks down through a pine forest.  Poor visibility because of the trees, boring yellow/grey rock, just do it.  Weather-wise, it went from 30 to 60 in the space of about 2 hours, if you brought a jacket, it’s in the backpack by now.  

Then you get to the tunnel.  If your less... energetic... companions want to come down a little bit, this is the spot they gawk and turn around.  There is a water supply, but it was covered in wasps, so don’t count on it running.  Probably 60-90 minutes down, 2-3 hours back up.  

The rock turns red, the pines get replaced by high desert scrub, it’s really the first open view of the next few miles of the hike and the light’s come around *just* far enough that it’s down into the canyon, but it’s still good light.  

Broadly speaking, you’re switchbacking down the left wall to the bridge, over the bridge, then down the right wall until you hit the bottom of that far wall.  

About halfway down, the red rock converts into the red-gray rock, and the trail becomes a dynamited cut into the sheer rock wall.  If you’re afraid of heights... enjoy!  Seriously, it’s freaky.  There is a tree in this picture.  

It’s another 15-20 degrees hotter (80... It was 30 4 hours and 3000 feet ago), and the sheer rock walls largely conceal the transition from the pictured scrub to actual desert.  

At Roaring Springs, the red rock ends and you get this off-green shale in eroded piles.  The trail flattens out, opens up, and goes another half mile down to the pumphouse.  This was my first working water supply!  It is 11:37AM.  I have been walking for 4.5 hours, 6 miles, and I have another 8 hot, flat miles to go.  

At this point, you merge with Bright Angel Creek.  This is the worst part of the trip.  ~5 miles of open terrain through the desert on a hot, hot day.   Another mile up is Cottonwood, the last water supply until Phantom.  Drain your water now, and refill completely.   Drink, drink, drink.  

About 2 miles up is the Ribbon Falls side trail.  Unfortunately, the bridge was out and I really did not feel like going up to the ford, fording the creek and doubling back while carrying this much gear.  This was a good choice, since I barely made it by dark.  In October, I doubt it’s really running tbh.  

So 5 miles rambling through the desert as the red side cliffs get higher and higher, you get lower and lower, and the day gets hotter and hotter. 

And finally, at last, 11 miles of walking in, you hit the box canyon.  Blessed shade.  3 miles of increasingly tired cornering later, there’s a side hike to Phantom Overlook, 1000 feet straight up, but I was running out of both light and leg strength, so I passed on this.  If you’re coming down South Kaibab, you have 5-6 hours to kill, so go explore the box canyon.  It’s seriously cool, and you’ll never be back here again.  

Go to Phantom Ranch or Bright Angel Campground, check in, drop your bags, run run run down to the river for sunset at the black bridge.  Stay there until dark, then use your headlamp to get back.  

Variant: There’s a variant I’d love to do where I manage to get Cottonwood permits as well, and then do both Ribbon Falls and Phantom Overlook as Day 2 with some more time at Phantom Ranch.  That’s about 7 down slow on the first day, a relaxing early sleep, ~11 (and ~4000 feet of elevation gain/loss nervous_monkey_puppet.jpg) on Day 2, then 2 easy 9-mile days on the climb with dead legs.  

Note: I stayed in the cabins and got 2 hours of sleep.  Preferably, you should just do Bright Angel Campground.  Lows of 70 are perfectly fine for sleeping.  

Day 2:

Wake up.  Walk down to the river, cross... either of the bridges are fine really, black bridge is a slight detour, but ideally this is a short day, adding a mile won’t hurt.  I must admit to being moderately curious about the south side trail from black to gray bridge.  

Two miles running up and along a cliffside trail to the base of Polk Creek. 

Looks like this, that’s a cell phone camera, enjoy.  

You’re still pretty low, but also desert morning, shade, and the river being a giant heatsink.  Then you start the climb out. 1500 feet up to Indian Garden, probably 80% of that climb is a 2-mile stretch of switchbacks.  Lovely red and yellow rock.   

The last mile or two before the campground are flat, exposed to the sun, and still low enough it’s hot hot hot.  80′s are expected.  

And then you finally get to the campground (Trees, shade, toilets, first actual real water supply since Phantom!).  At this point, either:

1) Congrats, you have a campground!  Set up camp, rest, relax, maybe make a Plateau Point (2 miles, 1 hour each way, perfectly flat the whole way) run.  

2) If you’re really fast and have 2 hours/4 miles of buffer in your legs (Iffy, 14 mile day up a 4400 foot cliff), also make a Plateau Point run.  It’s not very pretty at 2:00 in the afternoon, so really don’t feel bad for skipping.  

3) Stare in sheer horror at the 3000 foot cliff that has finally become visible in front of you, and cry inside.  

You are a third of the way up.  

I wasn’t feeling so good, so I went to bed early.  The sun goes down at 6:00 by the way, and it’s so dark you’ll just conk out.  

Day 3: 

So I woke up at 4AM, made a sunrise Plateau Point run (DO THIS) with my tripod, and then headed back.  Packed up the campground, started up about 9:00 or so?  

This is ideal.  You’re headed right up the middle of a crack in the rock, and if you do it this way, you’re making the climb in 60 degree weather in the shade pretty much until the top.  If you took Option #2 or #3 yesterday, the sun comes around, and you’re doing the climb in 75 degree weather in the sun.  

There’s not really much here.  It is exactly a 5 mile, 3000 foot climb with 2 intermediate water supplies split every 1000 feet on 2/1.5/1.5 mile splits.  3 mile resthouse has a decent view.  The most exciting thing past that is the red/yellow line in the rock, and if you do this early enough, the sun will be on that wall.  This took me about 4.5 hours.  

The hike until now has been a 2.5-day test of your ankles.  Downhill, uneven ground, drop-offs, etc.  This is a sheer test of your quad strength and cardio.  Especially as you get closer to 8K feet.  “Officially”, I burned 6200, 4300, 6200 calories across the 3 days.  

The most encouraging thing is seeing the increasingly “tourist” nature of your hiking companions since the serious hikers have proper gear and the less serious ones... do not.  So if you’re watching some little 4 year old kid in Converse, you’re probably not *that* far from the top.  

At the top, stay as close to the Rim as possible.  My ankle gave out the second I got to the top, and I had to hobble half a mile to my hotel.  God help me if there was a shuttle ride or a longer walk.  

Shower, relax, massage some feeling back into your feet, change clothing if you brought extra, THEN meet up with your family members.  And then I was bored, so for sunset, I went around and grabbed this shot of the trail.  

Gear that will keep you from death: 

Satellite comms: 

Garmin satellite comms ($350 for the Inreach Mini + more $$$$ for the actual plan) https://www.rei.com/product/140110/garmin-inreach-mini-2-way-satellite-communicator

I upgraded to the good plan that lets you send infinite random texts (~10 minute delay), and didn’t regret it.  But you need a Panic button that works.  There’s pretty good connectivity, you don’t need one of the $1000 beacons they use in slot canyons, and the cheaper competitors don’t.... actually work.  

Invest in a Garmin.  Set it up.  TEST IT BEFORE YOU LEAVE.  Make sure your relatives know how to contact you over the satellite comms, and that your texts will arrive from some random number.  

Hiking gear: 

Fitted Backpack with both good chest and hip straps and an internal support structure ($2-400)

I’ve been ecstatically happy with my 70L Osprey (Aether?), I also have a 24-inch torso.  

They make different ones for men and women, because the men’s ones put the chest strap straight across the nipples.  You actually care about that.  

Carbon Fiber Hiking Poles tested and fitted ($300)

Get you down steps, get you across rivers, provide support on pushes up, get weight off the ankles.  

Protip: 5cm too long on downhills, 5cm too short on uphills.  

Good boots/shoes ($150-$300)

There’s an inherent tradeoff between ankle support and weight in the boots.  Personally, for a through-hiker with serious gear, I’d go with mid-rise boots

If you were doing a true Rim-to-Rim, they all use trail runners even when they’re not running it.  

Good Boot Socks

Merino Wool is a must, I really like Darn Tough thick boot socks.  

Moisture-wicking underwear

Merino Wool is acceptable

Carbon Fiber is light, you actually care about every ounce. 

Related: You’re about to spend 3 days in the same clothing, it will smell. Merino at least makes it smell better and handles the moisture acceptably.  

Anti-heat gear:

A good sweat-wicking wide-brim hat with holes in the outer band (The name brand is Tilly for $80, I think mine was about $40?)

Good, tough, not too hot hiking pants ($60/pair?)

Ripping is bad, extra pockets are good.  

I use these, note the water resistance and also two pockets, one per leg, with horizontal zippers so you can reach straight down and things can’t fall out of your pockets.  

Some people use those convertible shorts, I’ve never liked the zippers myself.  

Good moisture-wicking t-shirts, or even better polo shirts ($40)

Polo shirts let you pop your collar and cover your entire neck.  

Moisture-wicking keeps you alive when it’s 95.  

SPEND MONEY.  It’s a $40 t-shirt, you just need one, SPEND THE MONEY. 

Light jacket for cold mornings

Consumables:

At least one water bottle and 1 3L Osprey water bladder

Some form of backup water purification

High-carb, high-calorie-to-weight-or-volume, low-fiber food

6000 calories a day * Fiber in an energy bar...

Personal recc: Nutter Butters.  Easy to find in any mid-sized grocery store, can go a week without going stale, etc, etc.  Throw 2-3 family-sized packs into Ziploc, ration one a day.  

Phantom Ranch has a store, you can buy some more food there.  

They also have an all-you-can-eat breakfast, that’s worth investing in if you’re in the cabins.  

Imodium

Any needed meds.  I have contacts so I needed a little bottle of Boston.  

Camping Gear (Skippable if through-hiking or only staying at Phantom):

Lightest possible self-supporting full-frame tent ($300)

https://www.rei.com/product/110817/rei-co-op-quarter-dome-1-tent

The ground is rocky, you probably can’t pitch

There are scorpions and rats.  If you want to try a tarp, I can’t stop you.  

Sleeping bag + pad

Cold, but not that cold at night

Once again, rocky ground.  

Your permit, in a plastic Ziploc bag.  

Camera Gear: 

Your cell phone is very good these days.  

But fine, it’s a once in a lifetime trip.  

Full-frame or APS-C body

High-MP landscape body if you can do it.  

Lenses

24-105/4 for the day hikes.  (NIkon is 24-120/4)

You want the reach more than you want a 24-70/2.8.  

(Optional) 16-35/2.8 for nights/star shots/wide

Long lenses are heavy.  105 is good enough.  

I brought a full-sized tripod, this was simultaneously super-cool and incredibly stupid.  

Maybe a Platypod instead?

Don’t lose your remote trigger the day before like I did.  

Peak Design Clip.  Seriously, amazing little gadget.  

Misc: 

Wallet (Pull the loose change), keys, etc. 

Paper printouts of your South Rim hotel reservations in a Ziploc bag.  

I brought a change of clothing because Grandma was a couple days behind me, but an extra pair of underwear and socks is probably a good idea.   

Extra batteries.  

I blew out 2 camera batteries and an entire 26K mAh battery over 3 days with a camera, a phone, and satellite comms.  

Fitness that will keep you from death:

Broadly Speaking: 

Ankles/Calves/Feet are stability

Quads are power

Hips and back and chest hold the backpack up 

Mine weighed 35 pounds, this is not nothing. 

Cardio matters at the very end, gets outweighed by stability until then.  

1MPH at 7K feet is 3MPH at sea level basically.  And you can do 3 MPH now.  

Arms kinda sorta show up and help a little bit on the hill climbs?

Pretty much your order of priority is top to bottom.  Ankles giving out is a $10000 helicopter ride and months of rehab, legs giving out is a surprise lunchtime and an hour-long rest sitting on a rock somewhere.  

Ankles: 

BALANCE BALANCE BALANCE, also Lyle’s calf rotation starting about 6 months out, ending 4 just in case you injure something. 

Legs: 

Leg press and one-legged leg press.  Also stairs.  Loaded stairs if possible.   Press it UP!  Press, press, press.  I got up to 700 pounds on an incline press.  

Legs, but also Cardio:

Bring your backpack and wear your hiking boots to the gym, take a treadmill, and go slow and highly angled for a long time.  Speed up as you get better.  You use subtly different muscles when you have ankle protection on because the Achilles is no longer able to act as a spring.  Train them hard now.  

If you’ve got a good hill climb near you, be religious about that.  

There are worse things than finding an ice cream shop 10 miles away, walking there with a fully loaded pack for hours and hours, getting the biggest ice cream they have, and Ubering home.  

Hips/Back/etc: 

Hip hinges with perfect back posture.  Deadlifts wreck the back and risk injury, but rack pulls are perfect.  Load up, load up, load up.  

Other back exercises: Cable rows with perfect back posture, Pulldowns with perfect back posture.  

Arms: 

So you did cable rows, right?  Yeah, that’ll get you some good enough arms.  

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

Whatever you end up doing, pause it 2-3 months out.  Avoid injury.  Maintain your lifts, lose 10 pounds, and maybe up the cardio a tad.  

And good luck and enjoy.  

[thetourguidebarbie]

KC + angst and happy ending preferably canon-y (no babies or sc or anything after season 4 lmao) but if the muse takes you in a different direction that’s okay :)

This has a cliffhanger. Please don’t hate me. I have another prompt I’ll use for a part two if there’s interest :)

———

Caroline shifted in bed, pulling the fluffy comforter more tightly around her body, absently tracing the embroidered floral pattern with her fingertip. The cabin was cold, the rain pelting the windows, and she was trying to figure out whether or not to be worried that Klaus was two days late coming back from his negotiation meeting.

She knew it was silly on its face, since Klaus couldn’t be killed, but she vividly remembered the way he looked when she finally rescued him two centuries before, finding him dessicated and buried in a shallow grave, trapped and unable to escape, his eyes still very much alert. It had haunted her nightmares, and she suspected his too, though he’d never admit it. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like, to be buried alive while the people on Earth were being slowly evacuated to Mars and then beyond, not knowing whether anyone would find him, whether he’d be buried alive for eternity. She’d kept tabs on him over the years and had been confused when he seemed to fall off the face of the earth, but she knew something was wrong when he didn’t call or make any sort of contact on her birthday. Call her arrogant, but she knew that he wouldn’t just stop contact abruptly, especially when she’d just started being open about warming up to him.

So, knowing the direction the wind was blowing, that they wouldn’t be on Earth much longer, she set off to rescue him before there weren’t any evacuation ships left. It would have been difficult without a constant food source, but Caroline was a natural planner, liked to be prepared for everything–including the eventual end of the world–and she’d known from the first iphone video after she turned that the days until vampires were discovered were numbered. She got a medical degree and two PhDs and recruited-slash-compelled a few of her professors’ contacts to start working on a synthetic blood substitute that would be sustainable. They succeeded just in time, and her idealistic optimism made her hope that humans wouldn’t be nervous because they’d have no reason to feed.

She’d been wrong.

She managed to rescue Klaus and hop on one of the last fleets. She soon learned that no matter how many solar systems the technology allowed them to jump through, he still somehow managed to piss people off anywhere they went, creating a laundry list of enemies. It was infuriating, honestly. She wasn’t exactly the most diplomatic person in the world, but she at least had some tact, and Klaus seemed to be the only person in the three solar systems they’d discovered so far that was worse than her at keeping his mouth shut. It didn’t help that his enemies were organized enough to hate him together.

His hybrid army was now an actual army in every sense of the word, used to defend them from people, both humans and aliens, who wanted to eliminate them as a threat.

Vampires were scattered around the various planets that had been discovered, generally sticking together in areas of the bigger cities, but humans were still wary despite the overwhelming majority of vampires being perfectly willing to live off of a diet mostly comprised of the synthetic blood (which, honestly, was just as good as the real thing, and she didn’t just say that because she’d helped invent it). The strain had come to a head just two decades before, and as the de facto king of the vampire race, Klaus had taken the mantle of general of the vampire army easily. She hadn’t been content to stand by the sidelines while he plotted and fought the small group of humans who were trying to destroy them, and he mostly seemed to understand that she couldn’t be a passive contributor, but he’d managed to convince her that she shouldn’t be on the front lines. 

As the unofficial war had waged on, she’d begun seeing less and less of him. The number of vacations they took and cities they toured per year dwindled over time, and she’d been so excited for this getaway, their first in months. She knew that he probably hadn’t been overpowered by the humans across the negotiation table, but it didn’t stop her from worrying, and he knew that. He knew how annoyed she’d be if he was too distracted by his plotting and planning to remember that she had planned time out of her busy schedule to spend with him, and if he had a single shred of common decency…

She huffed, trying not to go too far down that path. He was being a jerk and she was mad, but in her three hundred years of life (two centuries of which she’d spent in a monogamous committed relationship with the jerk in question), she’d gotten reasonably self-aware, and she knew that she was more hurt than anything else. He loved her, she was very aware of that, and when she brought it up before a few times over the last few decades he’d promised that once the threat had been taken care of he would whisk her away to New Australia (her favorite planet of the ones nearest to New Brazil, their current home) and make it up to her. 

And frankly, she was looking forward to that. She was sick of his assurances that it was almost over, that they were getting closer to victory. Maybe Klaus had been a bad influence, but the past two centuries had jaded her and at this point non-violent negotiations were getting close to being off the table. Not that she was advocating genocide, but she wasn’t exactly happy to call a ceasefire and continue to live in fear. She knew Klaus wasn’t either.

Sighing after another few minutes passed, she threw off the blankets to throw on one of his henleys, a heavy sweater, and some leggings, grabbing her phone off the bedside table to check the time, deciding she’d call him soon if he didn’t turn up. She poured some synthetic blood into a mug and sat down on the couch, absently fiddling with her phone and staring out the window for a bit before feeling a bit pathetic and turning on the hologrammer, settling on a competition reality show where people were dropped on an “abandoned” planet and had to figure out how to find their way back to civilization to win six thousand star coins. 

It didn’t do enough to distract her, though. He almost always called if he was going to be late, and the feeling that something was horribly wrong was nagging at her. Still, she toughed it out, checking her screen every few seconds to see if there was a text or a voicemail or something, but it remained stubbornly blank.

Once the episode was over she decided it was time to call, if only to make sure that he’d at least be home before she went to bed. He picked up on the second ring, and she found herself frustrated by the smile she could hear in his voice. “Hello, sweetheart.”

“Hey,” she said cooly. “Are you going to be home soon?”

“I’m about to board the ship now. I was just about to call,” he said, hesitating for a moment before continuing, clearly interpreting her tone correctly. “Everything all right?”

“I just…I was…”

She trailed off, not wanting to admit that she’d been worried, knowing that it was irrational, but Klaus had clearly picked up on it from the soft hum and the whoosh of air and cutoff of background noise that meant he’d found a more private place to talk. “I’m sorry, love. I should have called. We’d agreed on jamming communication to the outside for the duration of the negotiations and it took much longer than expected to reach an agreement, but I do have good news. We’ve agreed on a truce for now.”

Caroline snorted, momentarily distracted from her anxiety about Klaus’s safety to fall into strategy mode. “Yeah, like they’ll keep to it.”

“Oh, I expect they won’t,” he said, his tone deceptively mild. “But I don’t intend to either. We’ll talk more when I get back. I’d like your input on some possible avenues we can take.”

Caroline felt a slow smile grow on her face, feeling pleased that Klaus clearly wasn’t trying to shut her out. “Okay. When do you think you’ll be back?”

“A few hours.”

“Ugh. I still don’t get why they wanted to meet so far away from both base planets. ‘Neutral ground’ my ass. They’re totally up to something.”

“I had the same thought, but turning them down wouldn’t have been advisable,” Klaus said, sounding just as irritated as she was with the whole thing. “I’ll see you in a few hours, sweetheart.”

“Okay.”

“Stay safe.”

“You too. I love you.”

“And I, you. I’ll call when we get to the landing area.”

“Okay. Sounds good.”

She hung up, running a hand through her hair and glancing out the window. The rain was still pounding against the glass, and she winced when she saw the hybrid guard on duty wearing a large, thick black raincoat that obscured most of his body, clearly trying to keep warm. Figuring that the least she could do was bring him some warm blood (it’s not like he was allowed to leave his post for snacks), she pulled her sweater down where it had bunched up around her waist and slipped out of her and Klaus’s bedroom. The hallway to the kitchen was dimly lit, and she froze when she felt something wet on the hardwood floor under her bare feet. She reached for the light switch on the wall, flipping it on and feeling her breath catch in her throat as she followed the red pool down a few feet to see a hybrid with a slit throat.

The hybrid who was supposed to have been on duty.

The reality of the situation hit her all at once. Whoever was outside wasn’t her guard, Klaus had clearly been lured far away by the humans for a too-long negotiation on purpose, she somehow hadn’t smelled the blood all over her hallway, and she was in very deep trouble.

She felt a sharp pain in her neck.

Her world went dark before she could scream.

[vortexofentertainment]

5. The Climb - Ours Are the Same

“Come on, Nicole!” Waverly called out as Nicole trudged up the path behind her.

“I’m right behind you,” Nicole called back as she pushed on.

Nicole was struggling a bit. She was used to hiking, but usually in the cold of Purgatory. The heat was unbearable, and she definitely wasn’t as used to it.

But she hiked on behind Waverly in her spandex bottoms and her cutoff tank top that she had tied up so that her stomach (more like abs, Nicole had observed) was visible. Her hair was braided into pigtails, but she had a black hat on as well. Honestly, Nicole had never seen her look so cute. She was finding that she was attracted to every form of Waverly.

Waverly stopped just up ahead to look out over what Nicole was convinced to be a small mountain. She stopped beside the brunette, rested her hands on her hips as she took deep breaths.

“I thought I was in better shape than this,” Nicole huffed as she looked out at the scenery.

“Trust me, babe, you’re in great shape,” Waverly replied. Nicole looked over at her with a slight grin to see the blush on Waverly’s cheeks. Or maybe it was just from the heat.

Nicole had never been one for pet names. She used to even go as far as to say they were gag-worthy and annoying. She realized now that maybe, just maybe, it was because the right person wasn’t calling her those names.

When Waverly called her cutie, or babe, or sweetie, or whatever other name popped into her head, it made Nicole all warm and fuzzy inside. She had even found herself responding with even more nauseating nicknames. She knew that if she wasn’t one of two in this relationship, she would probably be sickened by the way she and Waverly spoke to one another.

But she was, and she was happy. With Waverly, she could be herself. There was no guarding her innermost demons or desires. She felt like she could be free and be who she always wanted to be. It was exciting and damn near too good to be true.

“Come on, let’s set up the picnic over there.” Waverly practically skipped to a little opening of the trees that seemed just perfect for a picnic.

Nicole took one last look at the view before following suit. She took her backpack off and sat it on the ground next to a nearby tree.

She pulled out the red and white checked blanket. When Waverly had produced it earlier, she claimed it was “aesthetically pleasing” and that “it just made sense” to picnic on that type of blanket. Nicole couldn’t find it in her to question that reasoning. Plus, she thought it was kind of cute that Waverly was that much of a planner.

She shook the blanket out and placed it on the ground between her and Waverly.

“Okay, so I packed lots of fruits and veggies,” Waverly said as she dropped down to her knees on the blanket. She swung her backpack around in front of her.

Waverly had also decided that she would be carrying the backpack with food in it while Nicole’s consisted of the blanket and first aid kit. Again, Nicole didn’t question her reasoning and just went with it.

Waverly sat out all the food she had. There were strawberries, grapes, sliced apples, and peaches. Then on the vegetable side, she had cherry tomatoes, pickles, and broccoli. It looked like a pretty nice spread, except for the pickles. Nicole hated pickles.

Nicole watched as Waverly sat everything out perfectly and then pulled out two more reusable water bottles. Nicole adored how committed Waverly was to her own cause.

She hadn’t met many people that truly stuck to their morals the way Waverly does. She never seemed to hesitate to do the right thing when it came to people or the environment. Waverly was truly an angel and Nicole couldn’t imagine her being anything other than who she truly was.

“I hope this is all okay,” Waverly finally said when she looked up at Nicole. A glimmer of doubt passed through her eyes.

“It’s perfect,” Nicole smiled as she settled down on the blanket right next to Waverly.

The soft smile that covered Waverly’s lips made Nicole’s heart race. She leaned forward, unable to help herself, and kissed her. It was a short kiss, sweet and simple, but Nicole wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“Perfect,” Waverly repeated. She shifted onto her bottom, crossing her legs, and taking a pickle from the jar.

Nicole immediately reached for a strawberry. She let her legs stretch out to get comfy.

It really couldn’t get better than this, Nicole thought. It was all of her favorite things: nature, food, and Waverly.

Nicole could remember being little and imaging going on a picnic with the perfect girl. When she used to think about it, there was just a faceless person beside her. That’s how it was with all of her dreams. With every passing moment spent with Waverly, though, that blank face was starting to be filled in.

It was all happening so fast. Too fast, some would say. Stereotypically fast, others would argue. She was jumping off a cliff head first with no reassurance of being caught. It was a chance she was willing to take for the happiness she had felt over the last couple of days.

They felt like a lifetime really. It was like this piece was missing from her life that she didn’t even realize until Waverly fit perfectly in it.

“How is it...” Waverly said, breaking the silence they had fallen into. “...that we just hiked miles in the blistering heat and you still smell like vanilla dipped donuts?”

“I smell like vanilla dipped donuts?” Nicole asked with a grin.

Waverly looked up to meet her stare. “Yeah, they’re my favorite, too.”

Nicole laughed. She leaned back until all of her weight was on her hands. She over at Waverly. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just naturally vanilla donut-y.”

Waverly smiled, looking at Nicole in a way that no one had ever looked at her. It was like she could see right into Nicole’s soul.

“Here,” Waverly said, grabbing another strawberry and offering it to Nicole.

Nicole took a bite, then watched Waverly finish it off herself. Nicole couldn’t kid herself. It did something to her to see Waverly do that.

She tossed the stem back into the container and turned back to Nicole. She leaned forward, pressing her lips against Nicole’s. Nicole could taste the fresh strawberry. It added a whole new level of sweetness to Waverly.

Without losing contact, Waverly shifted until she was straddling Nicole’s hips and cradling her face. Nicole was in a trance. The outside world dissolved around her and all she could focus on was Waverly in her lap.

Not only was she in her lap, but she had deepened the kiss. Nicole let Waverly’s tongue slip past her lips easily and tangle with her own. She failed at suppressing the moan it pulled out of her.

Her hands were too far away, so she sat up straighter, bringing her body flush against Waverly’s. She let her hands wander to Waverly’s hip, settling there and gripping tightly at the loose fabric of her shirt.

Nicole’s entire body was humming. She knew damn well they were in public and anyone could walk by at any time. The rush only added to the intensity of the kiss.

She secretly loved the constant feel of need when it came to a new relationship. The want to explore and get to know each other was intoxicating. Discovering new things about one another that only a select few have found out before was thrilling. It was exciting. It was new. It was a rush.

Waverly slowed the kiss down first, finishing it by placing the smallest little kiss on Nicole’s nose and resting her forehead against hers. She was breathing heavy, eyes closed, and almost a look of pain was creasing her face.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Nicole asked. She ran her hand up Waverly’s spine and back down in an attempt to comfort her. She needed to know what happened so that she could fix it. She had to make it better.

“I’m going to miss you, you know,” Waverly said quietly as she leaned back from Nicole. She finally opened her eyes.

Nicole reached up and tucked some loose hair between Waverly’s ear and the cap to get it to stay.

“I’m going to miss you, too,” Nicole answered, pressing her forehead against Waverly’s again. She connected their lips once more for a long, sweet kiss. “That just means we’ll have to visit each or and FaceTime constantly,” she smiled. She was trying to lighten the mood the best she could. She hated to see Waverly upset.

“I guess I’ll have to come back to Purgatory,” Waverly half-smiled. There was something else there. Something she was holding back.

“Is that okay?” Nicole asked, genuinely curious. She didn’t want to make Waverly uncomfortable in any way, and if that meant meeting outside of Purgatory then she would do it as often as she could.

Waverly looked down at where her hands were on Nicole’s stomach. “Yeah, totally,” she nodded. Her voice was a bit too high pitched for Nicole to believe her.

“Waves,” Nicole said soundly. “Talk to me.”

Waverly removed herself from Nicole’s lap. Nicole watched as she laid back on the blanket with her knees bent. Nicole laid down beside her, body facing Waverly and her head propped up on her hand so that she could properly look at her.

“It’s no secret we haven’t really been back much since we left,” Waverly started. She kept her eyes trained on the blue sky above them. “I grew up with my Aunt Gus and Uncle Curtis. Wynonna left as soon as she could. She really went through some shit after everything that happened to daddy and Willa. Did you know they put her in a mental hospital?”

“No,” Nicole answered truthfully. “I had no idea.”

“Yeah, they never really talked about it around me and she’s not exactly the most open about it,” Waverly went on. “As soon as she got out, she left. We kept in touch and as soon as I turned eighteen, I was right there with her. I love Aunt Gus and Uncle Curtis. They did the best they could and helped send me to college., but I wanted to be with Wynonna. She had already started to make a life for herself. We never in a million years thought that we would end up where we are now.”

“You’re doing pretty good for yourselves,” Nicole smiled.

“Yeah, Daddy would hate it though,” Waverly mumbled. She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands as she exhaled.

Nicole didn’t want to pry. She knew what it was like to have parents that don’t particularly care for you as they should. Whether it be physically, emotionally, or mentally. It can take a huge toll on someone.

“You know he never really treated me like part of the family,” Waverly said as she dropped her hands to her stomach. “Momma left when I was little. So it was just us three girls with good ole Ward. He hated me. Willa was his pride and joy. He wanted her to be just like him when she grew up. Wynonna got by. She managed to stop some of the…” Waverly paused. “…the, um, disciplines Daddy chose for me.”

A flame of hate ignited within Nicole. She couldn’t imagine anyone being that horrible to a sweet, little Waverly.

“The people who killed him took Willa, too. They came to the house and all hell broke loose.” Waverly exhaled. A stray tear rolled down her temple and landed on the blanket beneath her. “We never found her. Everyone just assumed she was dead. We had a funeral for both of them at the same time. Willa’s casket was full of sandbags and Daddy’s had… well, Daddy in it.” Waverly sat up, pulling her knees up to her chest.

Nicole sat up too, wrapping her arm around Waverly’s shoulder and pulling her close. She placed a kiss on the side of Waverly’s head.

“I was six and all I remember is that they let me eat whatever I wanted. I got so sick that night.” She exhaled in a weak attempt at a laugh. “But watching Wynonna go through what she had to go through…”

Nicole could see the next words physically lodge themselves in Waverly’s throat. Her mouth was open, but no words were coming out. Just more tears running down her cheeks. She finally closed her mouth and looked up in an attempt to make them stop.

It broke Nicole’s heart all over again. It was then and there that she decided that she would do anything to make sure she never saw that kind of hurt on Waverly’s face again. She would go to the ends of the earth to ensure her happiness.

Nicole was very protective of the ones she loved. Even the ones she particularly didn’t. She was a police officer after all. It was kind of in her job description to serve and protect.

But this was more. The feeling she had to protect Waverly was more than a duty or instinct. It was in her bones. It was something that was already rooted so deep inside of her. Waverly’s smile was her favorite thing. Seeing it replaced with tears and hurt and a quivering chin was unacceptable.

“Sorry,” Waverly sniffled as she wiped her own face.

“Never apologize, baby,” Nicole reminded her. She pressed her lips to the side of Waverly’s head again. “Never,” she repeated quietly.

Waverly relaxed into her body, letting her hand fall on Nicole’s thigh as she turned her head into the kiss.

“What about you?” Waverly asked as she sat back up. “How are your parents?”

Nicole laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Her parents were not exactly what she thought Waverly was imagining.

“Conservative assholes that barely acknowledge my existence since I came out,” Nicole told her. A pang of hurt stabbed her heart, but only briefly. “It’s okay,” she reassured Waverly, or maybe herself. “I’ve dealt with that baggage and moved on.”

“It still can’t be easy,” Waverly said. She reached over and took Nicole’s hand. “I mean, they’re your parents.”

“Yeah, but they’re pretty toxic,” Nicole said. She looked down at the way Waverly was playing with her fingers. She would slide Nicole’s index ring off and then on again. It was comforting. “I learned at a young age that just because you’re related by blood doesn’t necessarily mean you have to keep those people in your life.”

Waverly stayed quiet.

“When I was younger, they would drag me to church every Sunday,” Nicole recalled. “But I would sneak out and smoke cigarettes around back. I knew I didn’t belong there. I wasn’t accepted there, but they made me go anyway.”

“You smoked cigarettes?” Waverly asked with a small, but shocked, grin on her face.

“I did,” Nicole laughed. “I was, um…” she trailed off. She didn’t want to go too much into details about her teenage years. This conversation had already been heavy enough. “I was dealing with some shit and going through a phase. Lesbianism just wasn’t one of them and my mom really didn’t like that.”

“She sounds lovely,” Waverly said sarcastically. It made Nicole laugh again.

“Imagine Bunny Loblaw, but with red hair.”

“Oh god!” Waverly gasped. “That’s horrible.”

Nicole just nodded but kept the smile on her lips. It seemed to ease the pain of her past. If she acted like she didn’t care, then maybe she wouldn’t in the long run. She had a better life without them in it.

She never wanted them to meet Waverly. That was for sure. She could just see the disapproving look her mother would give her and Nicole did not want to put Waverly through that. It was a special kind of hell.

“I’m so sorry you have to put up with that.”

“I really don’t anymore,” Nicole answered. “I don’t talk to them and they don’t talk to me. It’s a pretty sweet deal,” she half joked.

Waverly shook her head in disbelief. Nicole knew how important family was to Waverly, and it was important to her too. Just, not the toxic family members that wholeheartedly denied everything that she was. She had found her family and her people and she felt more love from them than she ever did her blood relatives.

Waverly made herself comfortable in Nicole’s arms again. Nicole held her close until Waverly’s phone dinged beside her.

Waverly huffed before reaching over to see who it was.

“Oh,” she mumbled as she read the text on her screen.

“What is it?” Nicole asked as she grabbed another strawberry.

“Wynonna wants us to go out with her and Doc tomorrow night for drinks.”

“Oh,” Nicole exhaled, much like how Waverly had.

“We totally don’t have to. I know it’s your last night and everything so–”

“No, I want to,” Nicole nodded. She smiled to reassure Waverly even though her stomach was twisted in knots all of a sudden. “It should be fun, right?”

“That's one word for it,” Waverly nodded. “Nicole, you really don’t have to.”

“I know,” Nicole chuckled. She leaned forward and grabbed a grape this time. “But I really do want to.” She popped the grape in her mouth, giving Waverly a close-lipped smile as she chewed.

She could see the happiness back on Waverly’s face. Nicole knew how important Wynonna was to her. If she didn’t before, she sure does now after what Waverly had just recounted about their past.

“It’s a date,” Waverly smiled as she hit send on the text back to Wynonna agreeing to go out tomorrow night. She looked over at Nicole, a content small smile on her lips.

Her whole demeanor was completely different. She was sitting up a little taller, her legs were stretched out in front of her, and her face was relaxed. Her eyes were still tinged red, but they had that happy glow back inside of them.

“Come on, we should start heading back,” Waverly said as she got up from the blanket. She reached down and pulled Nicole up with her, pecking her on the lips before Nicole could fully stand up.

They cleaned everything up, redistributing the food between them because Nicole insisted that she carry more this time, and started back down the trail.

There was a new dynamic between them. Waverly seemed… lighter. The way she was holding Nicole’s hand and swinging it between them, the way she was constantly informing Nicole of wilderness facts that Nicole already knew but pretended not to, it was all with less weight on her shoulders. It was as if a new door had opened between them.

Nicole was feeling pretty good about it, too. Even though she knew that in a couple of days it would all come to a screeching halt. She would go back to Purgatory and Waverly would go to the next con and they would have to do the long-distance thing for a while.

But they had technology on their side. It would suck, more than Nicole probably imagined, but they could do it. What she felt was real, and she was willing to go through it all to see where she and Waverly would end up. She would FaceTime, text, call, and do whatever she needed to do. It wouldn’t be the same, but it would be worth it.

“Oh my god,” Nicole heard an unfamiliar voice say from in front of them.

She hadn’t noticed that she was only really looking at the ground and over at Waverly as they strolled back through the wooded area.

When she looked up, she saw two girls in hiking gear. One was wearing a t-shirt from Waverly’s show and Nicole was immediately reminded that Waverly was kind of a big deal. It was easy to forget that other people felt that way about her too when they were together.

“We’re such huge fans,” the girl went on as she quickly approached Waverly.

Waverly dropped Nicole’s hand, putting on a wide smile to greet the fans.

The girl’s friend stayed back. She was clutching her backpack and quite frankly looked terrified. She locked eyes with Nicole for a split second before moving cautiously towards Waverly and her friend.

“Oh, thank you!” Waverly smiled as she looked at the two girls. “What’s your name?”

“Callie and this is Beth,” Callie spoke up. She looked back at Beth but didn’t seem to notice her level of discomfort.

Nicole noticed that Beth was actually gravitating towards her. She was a bit overwhelmed herself. Two complete strangers had just approached them in the middle of the woods. This was red flag city for Nicole, but it seemed absolutely normal for Waverly.

“Can we take a picture with you?” the girl asked, eyes full of hope.

“Of course!” Waverly nodded as she turned to look at Nicole. “Do you care to take it for us?”

“Not at all,” Nicole answered quickly.

Callie dug through her pocket, finally reaching her phone, but she paused as she extended her hand.

“Oh my god,” Callie seemed to exhale as she looked at Nicole.

Nicole did not like it. The way all the attention shifted towards her immediately made her uncomfortable. She slowly plucked the phone from the girls still outstretched hand.

Callie looked at Waverly, mouth wide, and a squeal of excitement escaping. “This is your girlfriend!”

Nicole’s heart fell into her stomach. She looked at Beth, who looked to be a little embarrassed by her friend’s bluntness, and then she looked at Waverly.

The question, or statement more like it, had definitely taken her off guard.

It had thrown Nicole, too. They hadn’t discussed labels or even talked about what they were to each other. Just that they were dating. Did that automatically make them girlfriends?

“Yes, well, um…” Waverly looked at Nicole and shrugged. “Kind of.”

“Kind of?” Nicole asked before she could stop herself.

“Let’s take the picture, yeah?” Beth finally spoke up. “We don’t want to keep them from… whatever it is they’re doing.” She grabbed her friend by the arm and drug her over to Waverly who stood between them and smiled.

Nicole snapped the picture, still a little thrown off by Waverly’s answer. She wasn’t really sure what she was expecting. It was good, she guessed, that Waverly didn’t just assume. But a part of her really wanted to hear her say it.

“Thank you so much!” Callie said as she took her phone back from Nicole.

Just as quickly as they appeared, they said their goodbyes and continued on their way up the path.

Nicole stood, a little shocked at all that had just taken place. Waverly was watching her. Probably trying to gauge how Nicole would react to being called her "kind of" girlfriend.

The thing was, Nicole didn’t know how to react. She was a little hurt, but she wasn’t really sure whether or not she had a right to be.

“I didn’t really know what else to say,” Waverly finally spoke up as she took a step towards Nicole.

“No, it’s fine,” Nicole nodded. “The one was kind of… a lot.”

“She was just excited,” Waverly brushed it off.

“The ones in the elevator were much more civil,” Nicole tried to joke.

Waverly didn’t seem to find it funny.

“Are you mad?” Waverly asked, taking both of Nicole’s hands.

Nicole looked down at Waverly’s face. The feelings stirring up inside of her seemed to slip away a little bit as she took a deep breath.

“No,” she finally answered. For good measure, she placed a kiss on Waverly’s forehead. “Let’s go.”

The walk back was quieter. Once they made it to Waverly’s rental car, Nicole was itching for something to fill the silence.

As soon as Waverly got on the road, Nicole rolled her window down. She loved the feeling of the air rushing past. The way it blew her hair in crazy directions probably should have bothered her, but she loved it. It was freeing.

She reached out and turned the radio up as far as she could stand it. Waverly looked over at her, grinning a bit as Nicole let the music consume her.

Paradise City blared through the speakers as Nicole turned to completely face the window. The wind against her face calmed her thoughts and helped her breath. She tried to focus on the rest of the day. All the good parts. She didn’t want to let that girl’s question get to her.

She definitely wanted to make progress on Waverly’s answer before she left. “Kind of” just wasn’t going to cut it.

[darkpoisonouslove]

If someone can explain to me why I waited all day to start writing only when I needed to go to bed and am still awake three hours later, that would be great. I did manage to bring my plans for today to fruition, though, which leaves us with these:

Griffin has started her evening ritual when Faragonda shows up to offer a hand in more than one way.

29 - preparations

A little gust of magic caressed her senses. The energy was calm and flowed easily through the air, reaching her and making the knots her nerves had been tied into come undone just like her brush was doing with her hair, although it was way more pleasant that the pull on her purple strands.

“Need some help with that?” Faragonda asked, stepping closer. She’d barely arrived and she was already offering her assistance, making all troubles seem far and inconsequential.

Griffin didn’t fight the smile pulling at her lips. “Well, I don’t need it, but it would be very much appreciated,” she said, her fingers opening to allow Faragonda to pull the hairbrush out of her hand when she’d barely finished her sentence. It just made the smile widen, especially when she caught Faragonda’s look in the mirror.

“It will be my pleasure,” Faragonda said as she tangled her free hand into the purple locks and gently combed the hairbrush through them, making Griffin close her eyes to enjoy the moment fully. “You seem content,” Faragonda noted with discernible smugness in her voice.

“Why wouldn't I be?” Griffin asked, letting herself just enjoy the moment and passing up the opportunity for some playful banter. All she needed currently was the gentleness with which Faragonda was brushing her hair.

“You mean that as long as I’m here all the troubles stay away?” Faragonda asked, but the smile that could still be heard in her voice was somewhat more insecure now. As if she had doubts about the effect she had on Griffin. Or it was simply that her own troubles couldn’t melt away just because she was in the arms of someone who loved her. Either way, it was concerning to a point that Griffin couldn't allow.

“You mean that my presence doesn’t make you forget your problems?” she teased as she opened her eyes to look for a reaction, hoping to lighten the mood and tell Faragonda everything she needed to hear. They’d never needed to speak to communicate but she was prepared for a heartfelt conversation if that was what was necessary to disperse the clouds over Faragonda’s mind.

The smile that appeared on Faragonda’s face was enough to let her know she’d succeeded. “I would never dare to insinuate that,” she teased back, making Griffin roll her eyes playfully at the feigned fear of her.

She reached behind and caught Faragonda’s hand, waiting for her to untangle it from her hair so that she could lace their feelings together. “Good,” she said, making sure to hold Faragonda’s gaze in the mirror, “because I need your whole focus while you’re helping me with my evening routine.” She placed a kiss on the back of Faragonda’s hand to show her gratitude in advance.

Faragonda sighed dramatically, looking to the sky as if it could open and suck her up to save her from Griffin’s special brand of sweet torture. “Magic rituals require less preparations than your bedtime does,” she whined while she kept brushing the purple locks which defeated the purpose of her complaining.

“Shut up,” Griffin pulled her hand out of Faragonda’s, trying to play offended but the laughter bubbled in her, making the task impossible. “I’m doing all of this to be beautiful for you,” she said, immediately regretting the words when her voice got smaller, the insecurities the existence of which she was doing her best to deny jumping on her despite the playful tone of the conversation, threatening to ruin everything with her own fragility that she hated so much.

“You’re always beautiful to me,” Faragonda said, having sensed where her mind had gone to, but that only made Griffin look away since she didn’t want to face her own weakness in the mirror. She had enough of that every morning. “Griffin, look at me,” Faragonda urged softly, both of her hands on Griffin's shoulders now, even if she was still holding the hairbrush, and compelled her to comply with the request. “Always,” Faragonda said, her gaze so intense that it was impossible for any doubts not to crumble under it.

Griffin felt her whole face soften as her heart relaxed. “Sweet talker,” she murmured as she couldn't quite find it in herself to give the charade her everything when Faragonda had genuinely touched her. But accepting reassurance meant admitting the insecurities had gotten the best of her and she wasn’t ready to admit that defeat.

“Well, I don’t need to talk to convince you of how beautiful you are,” Faragonda said, knowing her well enough to not get offended even when Griffin was slightly offended by her own behavior on her behalf.

She raised her eyebrows and let her lips form a silent ‘oh?’ that was that much more comedic for it before turning around in her chair to face Faragonda. “I might give you a chance to prove that claim to me if you ask nicely,” she said, pulling the hairbrush from Faragonda’s hand in an invitation to make a move and employing her magic to drop it off on her vanity.

Faragonda didn’t need more. She leaned down and captured Griffin's lips in an intense kiss while she tangled her hands in the purple locks, pulling on them slightly as she did so and making Griffin moan in her mouth as sign number one that she believed her. And if she knew Faragonda, she wouldn't stop before she’d gotten at least, like, a hundred of those and made her forget everything from her insecurities to her unfinished evening ritual.

Griffin has already sacrificed her tomorrows with Valtor in order to allow him to take away her tomorrows with Faragonda too.

22 - tomorrow

The steps approaching her were quiet enough not to disturb the natural peaceful state of the library–or at least not to disturb it more than her own sobs that she’d tried to suppress but some had gotten away from her–and that gave away who they belonged to. She’d thought that she’d be alone in the library in that late hour but Faragonda always knew when something was wrong with her so when she hadn’t found her in her room, she’d also known where to look for her.  

Sure enough she felt her friend’s gentle touch on her shoulder before Faragonda sat down on the floor next to her slumped form. And as much as she’d wanted to be left alone she could never make herself shrug off Faragonda’s hand because nothing was stronger than their friendship. Not even guilt or self-loathing.  

Griffin looked up at Faragonda and even though her vision was blurred from the tears and her glasses were all covered in water drops, she could still see Faragonda’s eyes darken as she sensed the direction of her thoughts.  

“You’re crying because of him,” she didn’t try to stall or be roundabout and the way she spat out the pronoun made Griffin afraid to think of how she would've said his name. It reminded her too much of the hatred her own heart held and it was a pain that she never wanted to let Faragonda go through. “This is all on him. He’s a monster,” Faragonda said, her grip on Griffin's shoulder tightening slightly as if in an attempt to get the words through to her. And it was far from hurtful–she doubted Faragonda could ever harm her no matter how far either one of them would let herself go–but it was still alarming with the potential for destruction it carried. Potential that couldn't be in Faragonda’s hands.

“He is,” Griffin said through heaving breaths, the images flashing through her mind more than enough evidence of that, painting a perfect picture of his crimes and everything he was capable of. And her heart hurt, burned by her own feelings. “He is the monster that I love,” she said, cutting her gaze from Faragonda’s because she couldn't take the chance of seeing some more hatred in her friend’s eyes. Even when she knew Faragonda would never hate her no matter what she’d done. “Because I’m a monster too.”

“That’s not-”

“Yes, it is,” Griffin interrupted her because everything Faragonda would say was biased. And they had a real problem when she was the objective one. “Valtor kills whoever gets in his way to accomplish his goal,” her hand closed in a fist,clutching tightly at the fabric of her dress to keep herself out of the past when she’d seen no problem with that. Not because she was disgusted by the memories but because she was afraid she’d forget why she should be. “I have killed people who were in my way to accomplish my goal,” and she’d seen no problem with it right up to the very end, right until she’d realized how far that mindset could take you. Genocide had been her cutoff point this time, but if she fell into that madness again, she couldn't be certain that she’d be able to stop herself once more. “We’re one and the same. It’s why we made such a great team.” It was why she still missed the intoxicating feeling of their partnership. Of everything that had come with it from the good morning kisses to the heartless killing, it had all been a part of the heaven they’d built for themselves while chasing their common goals.

“You’re not like him,” Faragonda said as she grabbed at her shoulders as if to shake her out of those thoughts and she held on to her even if she didn’t quite want to leave them. Just like she hadn’t wanted to leave him. She hadn’t wanted to leave her everything behind. And she sometimes still wanted to go back, held back only by the fact that he’d never take her and that would break her heart worse than being away from him burned. “You left him because you’re better.” She was burning in agony because she wasn’t. She’d never been.

“That difference is just a product of circumstances,” she said, her voice steady now and the tears drying because she’d never been more sure of anything in her life. He’d been raised not to feel, not to care and not to value life. She hadn’t, and yet, she’d been right there with him, at his side the entire time. And in a sense that made her worse than him. Because he didn’t know any better, but she did. She did and she’d still crossed the line and her own boundaries. And she couldn't blame him for that, or her love for him. She could only blame her own heart that had been full of too much pain and hatred and she’d allowed it to go numb while simultaneously drawing from the negative feelings to feed her magic and make herself a threat to the innocent.

“You love him still?” Faragonda asked, and there was no judgment in her voice or her eyes just like Griffin had known there wouldn't be. And she couldn't tell if it was relief that filled her or guilt. Because she didn’t deserve that treatment but she wanted it too much to refuse it with her selfishness. She’d let herself become the worst possible version of what she could be and Faragonda still regarded her as a friend. Because she was still her friend, even when she was at her worst.

She did. She did love him and it hurt but it was better that way. It was better to hurt from love than from hate. She’d learned that now and it was a valuable lesson that managed to give some meaning to her life and the cycle of agony it had become.  

Faragonda’s hands fell away from her shoulders, making her heart skip a beat from the uncertainty that washed over it. “I swore to myself that I’d kill him,” Faragonda said, making Griffin flinch with how slow and serious the words were, definitely well thought out and not just a show of impulsivity, “but I can’t take him away from you.” Faragonda looked down, as if ashamed from herself, and for the first time in their friendship Griffin wasn’t quite certain she knew what stood behind the action. For Faragonda was certainly not joking about her decision, so perhaps she was ashamed of the possibility of her actions hurting Griffin.  

“He took himself from me,” Griffin was quick to say to reassure her, to reassure them both.

Valtor wouldn't be any more lost to her if he were dead than he was now. But she knew she still wouldn't be able to accept it. Her heart would still fill with resentment for Faragonda if she killed him, for it would be like having a part of it torn away and she’d need something to fill the bleeding, gaping hole left in the place of her love. And she couldn't afford that. She couldn't afford more hate.  

“However, I’m asking you not to do it.” She hesitated for a moment before reaching to take Faragonda’s hand in hers. The gesture drew too much of her attention to the fact that her hands were stained with blood but that was the least of her concerns right now. “Not because of me but because of you.” A lie wasn’t such a big deal after all the other crimes she’d already committed. The truth that would break Faragonda’s heart was more concerning but the only way to be selfless now was to be selfish. Or at least that was what she liked to believe. “It’s so hard to begin every day knowing that you’re the reason someone has no tomorrows,” she said, not sure whether looking at Faragonda or not would be better, but she couldn't look anyway so that solved the problem even if it was the solution that only served her, “knowing that you’re the reason there’s a corpse with no soul out there.”

Faragonda squeezed her hand, not allowing her to sink into the memories of all the terrified faces that had come to terrify her in her dreams. It was not quite in her ability to tell whether it was done in support or in search of such and she allowed herself to interpret it as both, giving herself permission to be selfless and selfish with the presumption that that was what Faragonda was doing. Even though she couldn't remember a single time when the fairy had been selfish and hadn’t had her best interest in mind, but she chose to ignore the knowledge that she was just projecting to assuage her own conscience when she had to be a good friend.  

“Valtor may be a monster but he has enough of a soul for it to weigh on your conscience.” Breaking his heart still weighed on hers, and she’d only killed him figuratively. Though, knowing him, that was probably worse. But it was all her good intentions ever led to, and she had no choice but to live with it, because her bad intentions always led to worse. It was the one word that described her perfectly. She was a witch, but she wasn’t evil. She was worse. “Don’t do that to yourself,” she said as she locked eyes with Faragonda. Don’t make me lose you, the voice screamed in her head, but she held it back in one last attempt to put someone before herself for a change. She’d already lost Valtor, and she’d lost herself. She couldn't lose Faragonda too. It would be too much. There would be no tomorrow for her if that ever happened.

It seemed to work as Faragonda drew her into a hug, even if only due to the fact that Faragonda’s best interest coincided with hers this time. It still allowed Griffin to breathe deeply, though, as she wrapped her arms around Faragonda, trying to keep her safe as much as she was holding on for her life. For the sun would keep coming up every morning as long as Faragonda was there with her.

[rheyninwrites]

Old Friends Part 14

A week or so later, we were getting ready to head out. It was Friday night, and all of us were going to get together at a bar in town. Lenny finally had some time off, and it was far enough in advance that Mary-Beth could plan her schedule around it. Abigail and John had found a great babysitter- an older man in their neighborhood named Mr Matthews. His wife had died a few years before, and they’d never had children, so it seemed he had “adopted” their family. I thought it would be as good for them as it was for him, since they’d had either really shitty parents or none at all.

As usual, Arthur was wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and boots. The colors might change a little, but it was always the same. But, hey, he was comfortable and it looked good on him. Really good, tonight. The shirt was black- my favorite color on him- and just a little tighter than usual, probably meaning it was new- he wore them until they wore out. The jeans were that perfect level of worn that meant they were almost t-shirt soft, and fitted perfectly. He’d showered after he got home from work, and actually taken the time to smooth his hair back away from his face, meaning his cheekbones and eyes were on full display. When I first saw him, I let out a low whistle of admiration.

“You look good. Planning on finding someone special tonight?”

“Nah, just thinking that after seeing me dirty all this time, you might’ve forgot what I looked like clean.”

“Definitely a good look on you. You should try it more often.”

He laughed while I sat on the couch to pull on my boots. Normally in the summer, you won’t catch me wearing anything more than sandals, but this was a special occasion. So I traded in the comfortable minimalism I usually went with for something a little more festive. I had on a tight green tank top, with equally tight denim shorts- cutoffs with enough stretch that I didn’t feel constricted, but not enough that they would be falling off by the end of the night. My chest tattoo was on full display, due to the wide neck of the top, and I had actually made an effort to put on one of the few necklaces I owned, along with a couple of bracelets. Being a minimalist, they were plain black leather strips, with one silver chain on the opposite wrist, but it was still something. The final touch was my boots- an old pair of doc Martens I’d gotten in college, heavy enough to be tough, but worn enough to be comfortable. When I finished lacing them, I stood up to let him appreciate my outfit like I’d appreciated his.

And appreciate he did. He eyed me up and down, circling me to get a full view. His eyes widened just a bit, and he raised one eyebrow. Then he stood back, his thumbs hooked on his belt. When he spoke, his voice raised just a little bit.

“Okay.”

That was high praise from him.

I grabbed my phone and shoved it in my back pocket, then headed out the door ahead of him. I looked back to see if he was coming and saw he was checking out my ass. At least he had the decency to look embarrassed. Just a bit, at least.

I climbed in on the driver’s side, then scooted over to give him room to get in. He still hadn’t fixed the passenger seatbelt, so I was in the middle, our shoulders pressed together. I usually made an effort to keep my hands in my lap, but this time I opted to just let them fall wherever, which meant that my elbow was resting on his thigh. Luckily, he didn’t seem to mind, and we chatted away as he drove. At one point, he made a joke and grabbed my knee, but left his hand on it. I guess he found it encouraging when I didn’t move it or say anything, because he let his hand slide backwards a bit and tucked it underneath my thigh. In response, I laid my head on his shoulder and we drove the rest of the way in silence.

When we got to the bar, we could see that most of our friends were already there, so we headed inside. Tilly, Charles, and Mary-Beth were at the largest table with a man I didn’t recognize. She introduced him as her boyfriend, Kieran. Apparently he worked at the same construction company that John and Javier worked at, and they met at one on Javier’s famously wild parties. I was surprised that quiet Mary-Beth would go to one, but found out that it was the first, and last, time for both of them. Kieran seemed really nice, and very reserved and quiet- a perfect fit for Mary-Beth. I was more than a little happy for her, as if always worried that her desire to stay at home and write all of the time would keep her from finding the family life she wanted. Although it had made her a top ebook seller of romance novels.

We were soon joined by Lenny, Sadie, and the rest of the gang. The bar wasn’t overly crowded, considering it was a Friday night, but we made more than enough noise with all of our catching up. I got to hear about all of my friends successes, and more than a few hilarious stories as I nursed my beer. Kieran and Mary-Beth left early, the crowd being a little too much for them to handle, and I promised Mary-Beth that I’d come and visit soon. Abigail and John were quietly dancing in the corner, and Karen and Sean were loudly making out near the bathroom. The rest of us had either finished or nearly finished our drinks, so Arthur and Lenny went to grab more. As soon as they were out of earshot, Sadie burst out.

“What the hell is going on with the two of you, anyway? He ain’t left your side all night, you keep leaning on him, and both of you is looking at the other like the they’s a steak dinner and you ain’t ate in months.”

“Oh, please. It’s not like that Sadie. Well, maybe it is for me, but it’s not for him.”

“Uh-huh. Then tell me why he’s over there staring at you from across the room.”

I wasn’t going to turn around and look, making it obvious we were talking about him. I knew if I did he’d get all self-conscious and wouldn’t let it go until I told him what it was- and that wasn’t to happen. Instead, Charles, who was sitting beside Sadie, confirmed it. I rolled my eyes and assured them once again that it wasn’t like that.

“You know I just got out of that bad relationship, and he’s been watching out for me. We’ve sort of fallen back into that best friend mode, that’s all.”

“Well if my best friend looked at me like that, I’d definitely think they had more than friendship on their mind.”

“Shut up, Sadie. It’s just- not that.”

“Well why not? You’re single, he’s single?”

“He doesn’t like me that way.”

���How do you know?”

Because I’m a hideous fat bitch who doesn’t deserve love.

“Well, what about this fella coming up over here? I been watching him stare at you all night.”

I looked over where Tilly was pointing, and saw a big, beefy guy with heavily oiled hair and black cowboy boots coming toward our table. I prayed he was going to tell me I had something on my face, because he was definitely zeroed in on me, and so far from someone I’d be attracted to it made me nauseous to look at him. Yes, I know lots of people are into heavily muscled, hyper masculine dudes, but I wasn’t one of them. I wanted a guy who would spend more time with me than at the gym. If he’s muscular, it should be because of his work, natural.

He pulled a chair up next to me and sat down. I could see Charles and Sadie both trying to keep a straight face, while Tilly at least had the decency to look sympathetic. I kept my face forward, trying my best not to acknowledge him. He wouldn’t have that, though. He leaned around the table, far too close to my face for comfort, while tapping on my shoulder.

“Hey, sweetheart. What are you doing in here tonight?”

I grimaced, then turned to him with what I hoped was an obviously sarcastic smile.

“Spending time with old friends, is what I’m doing, and that’s all I’m doing. And I’m not your sweetheart.”

“Oh, I think I can change that. I like your tattoo.”

He reached out to trace the tattoo on my chest, and I slapped his hand away.

“You don’t get to fucking touch me unless I say so. Back the fuck off and leave me alone.”

I’d backed my chair out, angling it to give me space to leave if I needed. Charles and Sadie were standing up, and this scene was drawing far more attention than I liked. Instead of leaving, however, he leaned in closer to me, consciously trying to invade my space.

“Oh, I think you’ll give me permission. In fact, by morning, I think you’ll be begging for it.”

As he reached out to grab my chin, I put my arm up to block him, intending to stomp on his toes and leave, but I didn’t get the chance to, as he fell on his back to the ground and a familiar figure stood over him, using the iciest, most menacing voice I’d ever heard.

“I suggest you get your ass out of here without saying another word, or I will break every goddamn bone in your body.”

Rather than waiting to see what happened, I screamed Arthur’s name and pushed him toward the door. Through clenched teeth, I spoke

“Outside. NOW.”

[pug-bitch]

That’s not why I’m going (18)

Not interested in the strings

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Drake Walker x Amara Suarez

Rating: some foul language, some extremely suggestive. No steamy scenes today, but I will make it happen next chapter. Given the nature of the language and some of the sexual suggestions, this is absolutely NOT appropriate for people under 18.

Word count: 4,500 (let me know if the ‘keep reading’ cutoff isn’t working well!)

Notes: This picks up exactly where we left off, in Liam’s study, with Amara’s POV.

*****

Amara knows she can’t falter, not now. She’s gonna have to be firm, stern, and above all, smooth. This is not just a Prince she’s dealing with. Not just a future King. This is Drake’s best friend, and she can’t compromise that.

‘First of all, I wanted to thank you for your kind gift and apology letter.’ She slides the jewelry box on Liam’s desk. His smile disappears some more when he recognizes the box. ‘Unfortunately, I cannot keep the bracelet. It’s too much. I will gladly keep the heartfelt note, though. I appreciate you recognizing that you crossed a line, and I accept your apology.’

It takes Liam a couple of seconds to recover from the blow, and he swallows his saliva a little bit too hard before replying, ‘Thank you. But could you perhaps tell me why you don’t want to keep the bracelet? I bought it for you, with you in mind, it’s yours.’

‘I truly appreciate the gesture, but I can’t keep it, I assure you.’ She makes an effort to sustain his eye contact. ‘I am not interested in the strings that are attached to this gift.’

Liam flashes a wide, almost unnatural grin. ‘I don’t know what you mean, Amara, there’s absolutely no strings. This is an apology gift, for being too pressing with you, and to assure you that you are worth more to me than, forgive my language, a romp in the hay.’

Amara can’t believe he just said ‘a romp in the hay’. She takes a deep breath. ‘And I’m worth what exactly? A diamond bracelet? I don’t want to be quantified. No one should, really. And since you obviously need me to express myself more clearly, I’ll be direct. I’m not interested in you.’

Liam’s jaw drops. He remains silent for a few more seconds, and then says, ‘Amara, I don’t expect you to fall in love with me in a month. We barely had any time to talk, I realize it’s too short. No one here is in love with me, that’s not how it works. What matters is, there’s chemistry--’

‘No there’s not.’ She didn’t mean for her voice to be so abrupt, and she certainly didn’t mean to interrupt him, but there she was. ‘When we met in New York, I instantly liked you, but I’ve come to realize it was not in a romantic way, and now that we’ve gotten to know each other more, it’s clear to me that there is no chemistry. I’m sorry.’

‘Gotten to know each other more?’ Liam suddenly stands up from his desk chair, so fast that Amara jumps up, startled. ‘When? You’ve always dodged me, made me beg for a moment with you. You barely respond when I talk to you, you show no interest.’

‘Shouldn’t that be a clue that, oh, I don’t know, I’m not interested?’

Liam scoffs. ‘You’re here, aren’t you?’

This is not going the way Amara wanted it to go. Offended, she gets up too, and says ‘Well maybe I shouldn’t be.’

Liam’s frown softens a bit. ‘Just like that?’

She shrugs. ‘Well, if i’m not interested, why bother, right?’

Liam gestures for her to sit back down. They both regain their seats, without breaking eye contact. ‘Look, Amara, I’m aware that life at court isn’t easy for someone who isn’t from here. The pressure, the competition, and I’m sure the other ladies are making your life harder than it should be--’

‘I’ll stop you right there. The ladies are fine. Well, I mean, Madeleine’s a dick, we all know that.’ Liam hesitantly nods. ‘But the others, they’re great. Liv is amazing, Hana is a national treasure. There’s nothing wrong with the ladies. It’s the men who are the problem.’

Liam raises an eyebrow. ‘The men?’

Amara wasn’t planning on sharing this with him, but all of a sudden, she wanted him to know exactly what she’d been going through. ‘Tariq in particular. He barged into my room the other night and tried to assault me.’

Liam’s face falls. ‘He...what?’

‘Yeah, I was undressing, he tried to grab me, so I tackled him to the ground.’

His eyes widen. ‘You...what?’

‘Tackled him to the ground. And, you might as well know, Drake heard the commotion and came to help out, and the two of them ended up fighting. That’s where Drake’s bruises come from.’

Judging from Liam’s surprised face, he hadn’t even noticed his best friend’s bruises. Some friend he was. ‘Oh my God...I’m so sorry, Amara. Are you ok?’

‘I’m fine. Thank you. I just thought you should know.’

Liam rubs the bridge of his nose. ‘Why didn’t Drake tell me?’

‘I asked him to keep quiet about it. I didn’t want to cause any trouble. Plus, I understand that Tariq left court.’

‘He did. Now I understand why. Please let me know if you want to press charges.’

Amara shakes her head, surprised that Liam is not making up an excuse to justify sexual assault. ‘No, that’s fine. He barely had time to touch me, I sent him flying on the ground.’

‘How...how did you do that?’

‘You want the truth? I’m an ex cop. I’m trained to apprehend perps.’

Liam’s eyes are so wide that Amara expects them to pop out of their sockets at any given moment. ‘Wow, wait a second here, that’s way too much information…’

Amara throws her hands in the air. ‘See? If you had actually tried to get to know me, to be my friend, maybe we would have had as good a time as in New York. But you had to try to get me alone in the maze, didn’t you?’

Liam lets out a long sigh. ‘Dammit. We did have a lovely time in New York. I just thought there was...a connection, you know?’

Amara nods. She likes honest Liam. ‘I know. And, if I’m being fair, coming here to compete for your hand was a little rash...I should have been clearer, a lot earlier.’ Liam nods, an earnest look on his face this time. Amara continues, ‘I’m not going to bore you with the details, and I certainly don’t want to drown you in information, but the reason I came is...not what it seems. I needed a break, I liked you guys, and when Max offered to take me to Cordonia, I just didn’t have a good reason to say no. My life in New York was extremely complicated and I needed an out. I’m sorry if I took advantage.’

‘This is extremely honest, Lady Amara.’ She wishes she could give him even more honesty, but she just cannot tell him about Drake now. It would kill and bury their friendship. She couldn’t do that. All she could do, in the end, is walk away. Hope that a good solution would figure itself out for her and Drake, maybe they could lay low for a while, and resurface later.

She gets up, and offers Liam her hand to shake. ‘Thank you for your hospitality.’

Dumbfounded, he takes her hand in both of his. ‘What do you mean? Are you leaving?’

She shrugs. ‘What else can I do? I want out of the competition.’

Liam shakes his head vigorously. ‘No, you’re not doing that. Next week is the Beaumonts’ turn to host. You can’t withdraw. Compete until the end. For Maxwell’s sake. Ok? In just a couple of weeks I’ll make my choice, it won’t be much longer.’

She can’t believe her ears. He’s not kicking her out? ‘Are you sure?’ Liam nods. ‘Well, thank you, I truly appreciate this. I’ve come to love Maxwell like a brother, I wouldn’t want to hurt him.’

‘I know. He’s like a brother to me, too. I’m happy to see you stay. And please be aware that, if Tariq shows his face here again, I will take measures to make him pay for his behavior.’

*****

Amara cannot believe what just happened. She bid Liam goodnight and left his study, still shaky from the strange encounter, her legs barely carrying her.

She knocks on Drake’s door, and he opens right away, as if he’d been waiting right by the door ever since she left. ‘Are you ok?’ he asks.

In lieu of an answer, she closes the door behind them, locks it, and kisses him deeply.

‘Wow…’ he says. She smiles, guides him to the loveseat where they both sit, and she fills him in on everything that went on during the meeting. His face goes through a million expressions as she talks. When she’s finally done, he asks, ‘So, you didn’t tell him about us?’

She shakes her head. ‘That wasn’t my intention. I really don’t think that would have been a good idea. I want to keep that from him for as long as we can. I don’t want your friendship to end. I was afraid I’d have to tell him at some point tonight, or that he’d figure out there was someone else, but I pulled it off. I offered to leave, twice, but he didn’t let me. Which, you know, is good for us. I’m thinking we wait until he chooses his future wife, then we go away somewhere for a while, and we just say we fell for each other after the competition. That way, we have time to find Savannah, and to help Max out.’

He wraps her in a tight hug. ‘You’re a fucking genius.’ His lips crash on hers and they kiss for a long time, almost forgetting to breathe. ‘To be honest, I already had a go-bag at the ready,’ he gestures to his packed duffel on the bed, ‘I thought I’d get kicked out tonight.’

‘I really thought I would get kicked out, too. I’ve been looking at Airbnbs in Cordonia all afternoon.’

Drake chuckles, and glances at his buzzing phone. ‘Shit, Liam is calling. I should pick up, right?’ Amara nods. ‘Hey Li,’ Drake says after answering the phone.

‘Hey,’ Amara hears Liam say on the other end of the line. ‘Mind if I swing by? I need to talk and possibly drink a bit.’

‘Oh, um,’ he mumbles, looking panicked. Amara puts her hand on his arm and nods. ‘Yeah, come by. I’m trying to go to bed early because we have to leave in the morning, but I have whiskey here. We can have a couple.’

‘Good, because I’m two doors down from you.’

*****

Drake felt really bad about having Amara hide in the closet. There was simply no way she could get out of his room unseen, with Liam literally around the corner. The bathroom was too risky, too, what if Liam needed to pee? So, Amara hid between his jacket and his shirt, surrounded with pressed blankets. He hoped Liam wouldn’t stay long, but after his last conversation with Amara, that wasn’t looking good.

He’d welcomed him looking as normal as possible, and offered him a drink, which Liam excitedly accepted.

‘Sorry to barge in,’ Liam says, once seated at the desk chair, ‘I just really needed to debrief. Is that ok?’

‘Of course. I’m glad you came to me. Is everything ok?’

Liam takes a big gulp of his whiskey. ‘Honestly...I don’t know. Amara came to see me in my study, and returned the bracelet I gave her as an apology. She also made it very clear that she’s not interested in me.’

Damn, Drake was going to have to act his ass off to feign surprise. ‘Oh shit… how do you feel about that?’

Liam shrugs. ‘I’m very surprised, and I’m not sure how to react, really. From the beginning, I had an inclination towards her and in the back of my mind, I always wanted to choose her.’

Drake lets a short silence go by. ‘I’m sorry, Li. I know you were really into her.’

‘I still am. And I’m realizing you were right all along. I’ve been coming on too strong. I’m sorry for not listening to you before.’

Drake waves him off. ‘Please. It’s alright.’ He clears his throat, unsure of his next move. ‘So um, what now?’

Liam give him a sad smile. ‘Now? I don’t know. She offered to withdraw but I said no. People don’t just withdraw once they enter the competition, and it wouldn’t be fair to Maxwell. Plus, part of me still wants to believe something is possible.’

He can’t be serious. Drake tries not to look too pissed and asks, ‘Even after she told you point blank she doesn’t want to be with you?’

‘I mean, not anytime soon, I get that. But, if she got to know me...maybe she would feel some of the vibes we had in New York. I don’t know.’ He takes another long sip. ‘I’ve always hoped to marry for love, but a Cordonian marriage, in all its openness, doesn’t sound so bad now.’

‘I thought you didn’t agree with the tradition.’

‘Well, in theory, no. But, now that I know I’m gonna have to marry someone I don’t love, I’m just looking for a way to be happy. I don’t know, Drake. I’m just thinking out loud.’

Drake nods. Liam was more shaken up by Amara’s revelation than he thought he would be. Drake just thought he would be angry, but right now, Liam looks sad and defeated. For a minute, Drake feels bad for him. ‘I’m really sorry, Li. I can’t imagine how you feel right now, and I know you probably feel lost, but you’ll find happiness, I promise.’

Liam nods sadly. ‘It’s stupid, but I still kinda want to choose her. Maybe after a while she would--’ He looks at Drake and breaks into a smile. ‘Let’s talk about something else. I’ve heard you’re quite the hero.’ Drake, puzzled, gives him a quizzical look. Liam pursues, ‘Amara said that you defended her against Tariq’s advances.’

‘Oh,’ Drake replies, ‘that’s not how it happened. She didn’t need my help at all, she had him on the ground before I even arrived. But um, I did punch him in the face, though.’ Drake runs his hand through his hair. He knows Amara told Liam about that, so he feels like he has to reiterate in the name of honesty, but he hopes Liam doesn’t question his motives.

‘I would have too, honestly. What a sleazebag,’ Drake nods, silent. What he’s not saying is, Tariq is not the only sleazebag around who doesn’t know what no means. ‘That explains why he left, I guess,’ Liam continues. ‘I was gonna look into it, but I guess not.’

Drake pauses, then says, ‘Actually, I think you should. There was something fishy about him that day. He swore he thought it was his room, as if he’d been sent there.’

‘Hm. That is weird. Alright, I’ll ask around and look into it. Well, thanks for the drink, I know you wanted to get an early night, so I’ll let you get to it. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

Once Liam leaves, Drake locks the door behind him, and goes to free Amara from the closet. ‘You ok in there?’

She flashes a tired smile and says ‘I’m good. That was...something, huh?’

Drake nods, as he’s grabbing another glass for Amara. ‘Yep. I didn’t press him on the choice front, because he was really freaking me out.’

‘Me too. I don’t know, he just seemed irrational at some point. But we can’t worry about that now. We have to focus on being discreet. All we can hope for is that he picks Olivia. Although…’

Amara stops in her tracks, and Drake knows exactly what she means. ‘She deserves better than someone who takes her for granted.’

Amara nods, and stares at the distance for a little while. ‘Fuck, this isn’t good.’

*****

Amara sits in the towncar, between Bertrand and Maxwell. A Beaumont sandwich. She wishes she could have driven separately with Drake, but once again, Bertrand had insisted on briefing the both of them about the upcoming events at Ramsford. It was their turn to host the festivities and the tradition was to have a Beaumont Bash on the first night, which was the next day. Amara half-listened to Bertrand, instead making a mental list of all the things she would have to look into for her Savannah investigation. Maybe at some point she should slyly interrogate Bertrand, but for the time being, perhaps a simple sweep of Ramsford would be good.

‘Lady Amara?’ Bertrand asks, visibly annoyed. ‘Are you with us?’

‘Yes, I’m listening. I got it. We’ll help prep for the party tomorrow.’

Maxwell is not listening at all either. Amara feels terrible for everything he’s had to deal with at Applewood. She knows he had to plead for Drake with Liam, and Drake went to apologize in the morning and made things right, but still. Max doesn’t deserve all this drama.

Once at Ramsford, Amara realizes that she’s only been here a couple of times when she’s supposed to know the estate well. She’ll have a good excuse to snoop later. Thankfully, no events are scheduled in the evening, or the whole day tomorrow, so she’ll have plenty of time to get used to her surroundings.

‘Bertrand,’ Maxwell says, ‘I told Drake and Hana to come help us tomorrow, too, and I thought perhaps they could both stay over one day earlier if that’s ok with you.’

Amara wonders if their dynamic had always been this strange, Maxwell asking for permission in his own home, and Bertrand acting like an elderly classics professor.

‘Of course, that will be fine,’ he replies. Amara is grateful, though. She loves Max and she likes Bertrand, but she may fall on one of their antique swords if she has to spend the whole evening and the next day trapped in their weird brotherly relationship. Plus, she’s obviously thrilled to have Drake near. They haven’t spent one single night apart since they started seeing each other.

Max shows her to her room, and gives her a tour of the entire property, carefully making sure that Bertrand doesn’t follow.

‘Wow Max, those gardens are gorgeous!’

Max looks around, slightly paranoid, and whispers to Amara, ‘Is everything ok? Drake explained everything to me this morning and I’ve been dying to ask you how you’ve been.’

He’s such a good friend. Amara can’t help but feel like she doesn’t deserve him. ‘I’m great, Maxwell, thank you. You’ve been awesome through it all. I’m glad Liam and Drake sort of made up, and I’m all set to stay until Liam makes his choice.’

‘That’s not what I meant. I’m happy, obviously, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have let you leave anyways. But that’s not what I’m talking about. He told me about the Tariq thing. Are you ok?’

‘I’m fine.’ She squeezes his arm. ‘Thank you for being a good friend.’

‘Oh please. Hey listen, tonight Bertrand has a business dinner, so you’re free to do whatever with Drake.’

Amara’s face lights up. ‘For real?’

‘Absofuckinglutely. You two need a break from sneaking around. You can swing from the chandelier if you like. You can fuck on the grand piano. Hana and I will make ourselves scarce.’

What a good friend indeed.

*****

Drake had offered to drive Hana to Ramsford, since she did not have a sponsor and usually got a ride from the Beaumonts. Plus, it was the perfect opportunity to fill her in on recent events.

‘I told you she had things under control!’ she responds, once he’s explained everything.

‘I know. I should have known. But I really thought she would tell him about us.’

Hana looks out the window. ‘I told her not to. Love is what matters. You have to protect it as much as you can.’ She turns around to look at him. ‘You do love her, right?’

Drake chuckles. He likes her directness. ‘I really do. She’s...everything.’

*****

‘Merci, au revoir.’

Amara hangs up. Jamie’s info on Savannah’s bank account had been fruitful. She had just spent a good hour making calls, investigating her whereabouts, with Max in his office.

‘So? Anything?’ Max asks.

‘She opened her bank account in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It’s crazy what French people tell you when you say you’re in the NYPD. The last woman I talked to on the phone asked me if I was like in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.’

Maxwell laughs heartily. ‘So, is that a solid lead?’

‘I’d say so. It’s a start. I mean, she could have moved arrondissements, or even cities, but it’s a good starting point. My former partner told me to look into support groups for single moms, which is a good idea. I’ll call hospitals, too.’

Max nods. ‘You’re incredible, you know.’

‘Oh shut up. I’m just doing my--’ She was going to say job. It had been a while since she’d thought of herself as a cop. Especially in a positive light.

‘Amara, it’s ok to enjoy it.’ She stares into Maxwell’s eyes. The man is truly insightful. He continues, ‘I mean, you’re not disrespecting your brother’s memory because you’re enjoying the investigation.’

Tears fill her eyes. ‘I know. I just wish...I wish a lot of things, Max. For one, I wish you could have met him. He was…’ She takes a deep breath. ‘Drake suggested I share a positive or fun anecdote about Sergio from time to time. Can I share one with you?’

Max nods excitedly, and says ‘I would love that. It’s a really sweet idea.’

‘Whenever Sergio had too much to drink, he’d always end up taking off his shoes and dancing on the table. Really, wherever he was. He got kicked out of so many restaurants.’

‘He would have been right at home at a Beaumont Bash. Shoes are optional here,’ Maxwell smiles.

Amara gives him a kiss on the cheek.

‘Hey guys!’ Hana calls out from the hallway.

‘In here!’ Maxwell shouts.

Hana and Drake appear in the door, and both Max and Amara get up to greet them. Amara gives Hana a warm hug, and kisses Drake deeply.

‘Get a room, you two,’ Max teases. ‘Well actually, no, don’t get a room. I promised Amara you guys could fuck anywhere in the house, so go nuts!’

Drake rolls his eyes. ‘Classy, Beaumont. It feels good to be here again. Thanks for having us.’

Max smiles at him. ‘Welcome back.’

‘Hey Max?’ Drake asks hesitantly. ‘I’m really sorry about yesterday. I was a dick and you were nothing but a good friend.’

Max opens his arms wide. ‘Get in here, Walker.’ The two men hug tight, sending butterflies through Amara’s heart.

*****

‘Would you rather...bone Madeleine, or Penelope?’ Maxwell slurs, and then immediately giggles.

Drake almost chokes on his drink. ‘Really? I’d rather bone a White Walker than Madeleine, so obviously I’m gonna have to go with Penelope.’

‘Wooo, good answer!’ Max cheers.

Drake can’t help but think that drinking games are meant to be shared among people who trust each other. Last time they played, he had been stressed out about Liam’s presence, and he had been scared of revealing something. With Bertrand gone, Max, Hana, Amara and Drake decided to have a small party of their own, with lots of drinks and a cheese plate, followed by a shitton of desserts and drinking games.

‘Ok ok my turn,’ Amara says. ‘Would you rather...fuck Bastien, or Olivia’s bodyguard?’

Maxwell gasps, ‘Oh that’s such a tough one! Olivia’s guy is really hot, but Bastien has that daddy thing going on.’ Drake makes a disgusted face. ‘Oh come on, Drake, I know he’s your friend but you gotta admit…’

Amara chimes in, ‘I just can’t deal with Bastien’s facial hair. Who has a goatee in this day and age?’

Maxwell nods, looking serious all of a sudden. ‘Good point. You’re right, Amara. I pick Hot Nevrakis Bodyguard.’

Drake catches himself being really happy. Not just with Amara, no, that’s a given. He loves every second spent with her. But he also loves this group of friends. He wonders why he hasn’t let anyone in, except Liam. Sure, he was kinda friends with Max and Liv before, but not as close as now that Amara was a bridge between them. Funny how she thinks she’s damaged. Drake doesn’t see her as damaged at all; he sees her as merely wounded, but still solar and magnetic, the type of person who pulls you up from the funk you’ve been in. He looks at her beautiful smile, which goes all the way up to her hazel eyes.

‘Drake, are you with us?’

Hana’s voice draws him away from his daydream. ‘Yeah, sorry, I was--’

‘Staring at Amara with heart eyes like the emoji?’ Hana playfully asks.

‘...Basically.’

*****

Amara cannot wait to have alone time with Drake, even if she is tremendously enjoying the evening with her friends. Once everyone gets tired, she and Drake retreat to her room, but not without Max making exaggerated winky faces at them and suggesting they swing from the chandelier. Oh Max.

Amara closes the door to her room and looks at Drake hungrily. ‘You look so handsome, Walker.’

‘Oh, this old thing?’ he playfully asks, pointing at his denim shirt.

‘Yup. Can’t wait to take it off.’

She closes the distance between them and kisses him deeply. He responds with a low moan. God, she loves the taste of his lips. 

‘Let’s take this to the bed, shall we?’

*****

Madeleine sits at her computer, in her room at the Palace. She can’t believe that Liam still hasn’t asked her on a proper one-on-one date. She’d have to notify her aunt Regina. This was not right.

‘Dammit,’ she mutters to herself, ‘why isn’t there anything?’

The more she digs, the least she finds, or so it seems. But social media is a finicky thing. She can’t give up now. She’ll end up finding something good.

Maybe she should go see him in his room? She knows he’s there. Drake isn’t around, neither is Maxwell, they’re both fawning around that Mexican woman somewhere. So, Liam is alone, unless he’s with Olivia. Madeleine can smell the desperation on Olivia, even more than on herself. Liam may fuck Olivia, but he’s never going to go for someone who so blatantly chases him. Madeleine does not feel threatened by her. You can practically see the desire ooze from Olivia’s body when she’s around him. Madeleine cannot wrap her head around that. Is he handsome? Yes. Would she have sex with him? Definitely. But only because he holds the crown, the thing that Madeleine has wanted all her life. She was supposed to have it all with Leo, but the weakling was not up to the task. She would have happily reigned on her own, made him a consort. But he wanted to chase an airhead on a cruise ship. Whatever. Liam was a more dignified contender.

Suddenly, an image pops up. ‘Here we go,’ she whispers. Finally something she could use to eliminate some of the competition.

One down, one more to go.

*****

Taglist:

@drakeandcamilleofvaltoria @alesana45 @jovialyouthmusic @mariahschoices @drakesensworld @thequeenofcronuts @drakewalkerisreal @notoriouscs  @nikkis1983  @simsvetements @andy-loves-corgis @drakewalkerwhipped @drakxwalker @drakewalkerrosenberg @drakeswalkers @drakelover78 @silviasutton1989 @iplaydrake

Thank you for your encouragements, everyone! Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist :)

[mancavecloset]

The Waterpark - pt. 1

It was a cloudless, mid-August day in the northeast United States. The year was 2012. I had two straight days off from work, which was rare for me, as I’d been juggling three jobs all summer to build up some savings for my first year of college. And for once, all three of my best friends from high school - Sam, Josh, and Kyle - were in town. I was eager to reunite with them and have one last hurrah before we all headed our separate ways for college.

A few weeks back when we’d realized we would all be free for the same 2-day span, we decided to go on a small road trip together. We settled on a mountainside waterpark ‘resort’ a few hours north from where we lived. Though, ‘resort’ was probably a bit too generous a term. I’d been up there for a day trip with my family a few years back, and while the waterpark was neatly built-out alongside the slope of a mountain, with tons of cool rides, pools, and places to eat, the “resort” part pretty much began and ended with a fairly ritzy lodge-style hotel (the place doubled as a ski resort in the winter). On the far south end of the forested property, some campsites and small, rentable cabins dotted the area, with a small rec hall, café, and communal bathhouse in the center.

We decided against splurging on a room in the hotel, since for one, we all were trying to save money for the fall semester. More importantly, we planned to get shit-faced drunk that night, and didn’t want to deal with noise complaints from wealthy hotel guests. Nobody was trying to get an underage drinking citation right before college began. Instead, we went with the thriftier option of renting one of the small cabins, which from the website was said to have two full size beds and a refrigerator. It also had its own grill and fire pit off of the patio so that we could bring our own food and cook. Most alluringly, the cabins seemed to be spaced far enough apart in the woods that we could do a fair amount of loud, annoying, 18-year-old things without causing too much of a disturbance.

I, being the planner of the bunch, booked the cabin and elected myself the driver. I woke up that morning and texted the boys to make sure they were getting up and around. Sam was supposed to be dropped off at my house around 8am, and then I was to pick up Kyle and Josh once we headed out, since their places were on the way.

Sam was the only one of my friends I had really seen at all that summer, but he was busy with band friends, his summertime golf course job, and his newfound passion for yoga, so I really had only seen him a few times since graduation in mid-May. Sam and I did occasionally meet up late at night to drive around, smoking weed and shooting the breeze, but other than that we never really got to see much of each other. I was glad that he was in town and that we had the chance to bond one-on one, since he was the newest of the group of friends. He had only moved to our school about three years ago, and we didn’t really become close until junior year. 

Sam was charming and easy to like. He was a bit of a music nerd, and this past year was the drum major for our school’s marching band, but he got along well with everyone. From cheerleaders to football players to artsy wallflowers, everyone seemed to know and like Sam. He was very non-threatening, but carried himself with more confidence than you would expect for having just a 5′6″, 145 lb frame. He narrowly missed being crowned homecoming king, losing by single-digit votes to our school’s admittedly endearing quarterback. Especially impressive, given that he had only been going to our school for just over two years. Sam was naturally handsome, with thick, long-ish brown hair that waved down around to his ears and framed his boyish face nicely. His eyes were big and expressive, and his nose small, upturned and cherubic. He had a wide, almost feminine mouth with curvy full lips, which were contradicted by a masculine, pointed jawline. His smile was infectious, and he always knew how to charm people with jovial banter.

Sam and I shared a few classes together my sophomore year, and though we were friendly with eachother, we never really hung out outside of school. At the start of junior year, we were assigned as lab partners for AP Chemistry. That semester, we became workout buddies. My previous workout partner, Josh, and I had stopped going together, Josh instead opting to go with his jockier friends to his volleyball team’s lifting sessions. As I began to get to know my new workout buddy and chemistry partner more closely, we became fast friends. I started inviting him to hang out with Josh and Kyle, forming the aforementioned core group of four that would be heading up to the mountains together in a few hours. Josh and Kyle quickly took to him and his one-of-the-guys attitude, though when one-on-one with me, he always flashed a bit more of a contemplative and sensitive side. We could talk about deep things that I never really could with Josh and Kyle, which was very refreshing, and allowed me to be more authentic and vulnerable around Sam.

I had begun realizing I was gay right around the time my freshman year started, but I had always been terrified to tell anyone how I was feeling. I knew if I ever told anyone, it’d be Sam. He was just such a safe and understanding guy. He had a few gay friends and it was not something he seemed to be phased by, so I figured he would be the most understanding person I could tell without fear of judgment, or making it awkward.

But my inkling to confide in him faded fast a few months into senior year, when I realized I had started developing sexual feelings for him. This caught me off guard, as up until that point the only guys that struck my fancy were tall, muscular studs and pudgy beefy types who had big appetites and growing paunches. Sam was neither of those, as his short and relatively lean frame would suggest, but he did have one asset (pun intended) that really got me going: his perfectly round bubble butt. No matter what type of pants he wore, the two perky globes protruded proudly from his backside and bounced firmly as he walked. His newfound passion for yoga brought him to wear more athletic pants that often let little to the imagination. The circular slope of his cheeks jutted out below the small of his back at an almost 90 degree angle, rounding perfectly down his rump like meaty tear drops above his hamstrings. The ass truly defied gravity. Plenty of times I’d steal glimpses of it as he changed before our workouts after school, testing the back seams of his Calvin Klein boxers as he’d change from school clothes to gym clothes. But annoyingly, he was hesitant to shower at the school after our workouts and instead opted to go home in his gym clothes. I’d never seen him or his juicy ass fully unclothed. Sam’s body was boyishly smooth- just the tiniest amount of fuzz between his pecs and the faintest little happy trail underneath his cute belly button. No chest hair, no back hair. I could only image how soft and smooth his bubble ass would look in its full bare glory. 

While up and showering, the thought of Sam’s gravity-defying butt started to chub up my fairly average cock. I know “fairly average” is not descriptive, but it literally is the most standard cock. If I must describe it (you horny bastards): cut, hangs just slightly to the left, no big veins, a little over 6″ on a good day, and average girth. Though, I do have a nicely pronounced ridge where the head meets the shaft that does give it a bit of character, and at the end of the day I really can’t complain about it. I’d been in swim team locker rooms for four years… there were some pretty ugly dicks out there. For a long time, it had been much smaller, and I worried it would never grow, thus I was elated to have reached the 6” threshold when the later stages of puberty finally kicked in. So, yeah. Average was good.

As the water from the showerhead cascaded over my body, I mindlessly rubbed soap suds up and down my shaft and lazily imagined that Sam was standing in front of me: facing the wall, ass jiggling towards my swelling package. Eventually, I just decided to leave it at half-mast as I cut the water, stepped out, and toweled off, inspecting my body in the mirror as I did. 

I was pretty proud at how I’d managed to stay in decent shape despite my hectic schedule this summer. My primary job was as a lifeguard at the local country club. On rainy days when nobody showed up to the pool, I’d do crunches, push ups, dips, and body squats under the roof of the pavilion, since I wasn’t getting regular workouts in like I did during school. Being a swimmer had its perks, like being able to eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight, but it always made my body a little more slender than I’d prefer. My 6′ 175 lb frame was probably no more well-muscled than it had been 4 months ago, despite my rainy day efforts. My limbs were especially lanky, something Josh liked to tease me about since he had upped his workout intensity a few years back. Over the past two years he bulked up considerably, after swapping our tame thrice-weekly gym regimen with daily, 2+ hour training sessions with his volleyball friends. I styled my short, brown hair in a tight coif, and brushed my naturally straight, white teeth. I was good looking enough, but never considered myself much of a heartthrob. I inspected my lean, hairy chest in the mirror. Gotta start benching again, I thought to myself, as I tried to make my baby pecs dance.

I heard a slam of a car door and out of the bathroom window saw Sam exiting his mom’s SUV at the bottom of my driveway. He was wearing annoyingly baggy athletic shorts that went about mid-thigh, and a white t-shirt that he seemed to fill out more than I’d have expected him to. I quickly threw on my Saxx boxer briefs, some cutoff khaki pants, and a RVCA tank top, and hurried out into the living room where my mom was busy greeting him at the door. 

“Micah!” Sam exclaimed as I pulled him into a hug. A real hug, not the bro kind that alot of guys half-assed. I guess most people wanted to stave off the slightest hint of anything other than pure masculinity, but Sam didn’t give a shit what people thought about his hugs. It was one of the things I both admired and envied about him. I gave him a friendly squeeze as he smiled, “I missed you buddy.” 

Shit, I thought, how long has it been? “Almost a month,” I answered myself, realizing that statement was not really cohesive to what he had just said. I quickly added an “I missed you too Sam,” and smiled warmly back.

“You ready for an epic weekend?” He asked, eyebrows moving upwards as he spoke. I chuckled.

“Today is Wednesday.”

“Oh shit,” he jokingly pondered. So like him to not know what day it was. “Well whatever, it’s a weekend for us! Road trip! Did Kyle give you his most recent pretentious music playlist for you to blare in the car?”

I chuckled, “Oh yeah man, Thom York’s greatest hits only. With a brief intermission for an inspiring TED talk on how to get ‘jacked’ in no time,” I sarcastically air-quoted. Sam laughed.

“Oh Josh, bless his meathead soul,” Sam shook his head in feigned sympathy, the corners of his mouth turned up as his eyes shone playfully.

Josh always meant well, but he had a big ego, and we never let him live down last summer when he came back from a six-week volleyball camp and tried to explain to us how we too could get jacked in two months. 

My mom, back from filling my car with what I assumed was her liberal interpretation of “the essentials,” fluttered around us making sure we both had everything packed. “Swimsuits?” Check. “Cash?” Check. “Socks, underwear, towels?” Check, check, and check. 

“I put the coolers of food in the trunk!” She called as we carried our bags down to my trusty old Mazda. 

“You mean the amount of food that could feed the Packers’ offensive line for three months? Yes, mom.” I chuckled back. She really overdid it. There were six packs of hotdogs, three lbs of ground beef, a small mountain of hot dog and hamburger buns, several bags of chips and other salty snacks, two 24-packs of chocolate chip cookies, 12 PB&J sandwiches ‘for the road’ (it was a 2-hour drive), along with a family size jar of peanut butter, a giant bag of granola, a king size carton of candy bars, a family pack of Oreos, three bags of marshmallows, two boxes of graham crackers, a Costco-sized thing of Gatorades, and eight two-liters of soda. 

“Well, I don’t know! You eat alot! And your friends eat alot. Not you, Sam, but Kyle and Josh do!” I rolled my eyes. I really hadn’t been eating a lot since swim season ended, because when I wasn’t training but still eating like my leg was hollow, I’d pudge up a few lbs pretty quickly. I liked my abs, and wanted them for college, so no – I wasn’t planning on eating that much food. She had a point though. Josh and Kyle did eat alot.

Sam chirped in, “Thanks Mrs. K! Plus, it will be good to have extra in case we run into any laaaaadies.” He drew out the ladies part as he shimmied his shoulders at me. I rolled my eyes even harder. 

“Okay Sam, what kind of girl would even put a dent in that much food?” I motioned to the cornucopia of coolers and grocery bags basically spilling out of my car.

“Who said it’d only be one,” he winked. I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Sam was little, but he could ham it up bigger than anyone I knew. 

“Drive safe! Don’t speed,” My mom said as she kissed me on the forehead.

It was Sam’s turn to roll his eyes. “Mrs. K, do you know how aggravatingly slow your son drives?” I punched his arm and he let out a fake whimper.

My mom moved to kiss Sam on the forehead, which he happily accepted, clutching his heart dramatically. “Hush you. Have fun boys!”

And with that, we climbed in the car and drove off, heading for Kyle’s house. 

...

Kyle had been away for the summer at his dad’s house in Kansas City, and his annoyingly scarce use of social media made it impossible for me to keep in touch with him. A sporadic text between work shifts or a call here or there was really all we’d done this summer, and even then it was mostly to discuss the newest music we’d been listening to. Kyle and I loved curating music playlists, and our evolving tastes in music were often a bonding point for us. Kyle was my first friend in middle school, as I was new to the school district and he was in all of my seventh grade classes. We quickly bonded over our shared interest in talking shit about our teachers and rolling our eyes the “popular” girls behind their backs, and soon became close friends outside of school as well. 

Kyle was really easygoing, and was always quick with a one liner or funny observation. I liked hanging out with him, because when we were doing something he was into, he took the lead. That was a welcome change for me sometimes, as usually I feel the need to plan everything out and make sure everyone is happy at all times. Kyle didn’t play sports but was always fairly active, so we would often go on bike rides around town or kayak at the nearby state park. He went to the gym a decent bit, but compared to even most serious athletes, he could mindlessly put away ridiculous swaths of food with little effect. Anytime him, Josh, and I had a sleepover in middle school and into high school, he’d almost singlehandedly clean out whoevers house’s pantry before we were even halfway through an all-nighter of video games and movies. His metabolism had to have been the hardest working one on earth, because the kid just ate non-stop. Though he was never what you would call skinny, he never was really big enough to make fun of, or even notice when he had a shirt on. He always had a small layer of chub, especially around his bellybutton and lovehandles, but he certainly wasn’t fat. And the way he ate, he should have been.

Kyle wore artsy t-shirts and hats alot, and his wayfarer glasses framed his face well. He had light, dusty brown hair that wisped down his forehead and framed a very midwestern, salt-of-the-earth set of cheekbones and jawline. His thin lips and broad chin sat below a symmetrical, average-sized nose and intelligent blue eyes. He was understatedly handsome, in the way you would associate with the lead character in an indie move. At the end of high school, his 5′11, 200 lb frame was stockier than it’d ever been for sure, but sturdy and strong too as he started to take the gym more seriously. Growing up, I always relished in seeing his few chub rolls and slight love handles when he would remove his shirt, but those were rare times. He was really only shirtless at the pool, or when we gamed late at night at Josh’s house in his cramped and stuffy basement. It was enough flab to pique my fancy, but never enough to make me see him in too much of a sexual light. He was always, in my mind, squarely my friend. Admittedly, I did sometimes wonder how he’d look if his metabolism ever called it quits and the pounds poured onto that sturdy, rugby-player frame.

I didn’t have to wonder long. As Sam and I pulled into Kyle’s townhome complex, I saw him bound down his front steps in some tight forest green khaki shorts and an even tighter Obey tee. Kyle didn’t wear tight clothes normally, so it took me a few seconds to even comprehend that it was him.

“Man, I’ve always heard Kansas City barbecue is good, but I guess there’s the proof,” Sam said in awe, chuckling dryly as I pulled my car into the parking spot at the front of Kyle’s place. 

“Hush,” I almost whispered, not being able to say much else. I was dumbfounded at the change heading down the steps in front of me. Kyle was big. Yes, it seemed like he had put on a bit more upper body muscle, but that was the least noticeable part of his transformation. His thick, fleshy thighs filled out his shorts completely, sending them in slow swaying jiggles as they moved, his meaty ass pushing the waistband of his shorts down to reveal his plaid boxers. Thick arms filled out the sleeves of his tee, his sizable muscles covered in a generous layer of soft flesh as he carried the duffel with his left arm. Where his arms met his torso, the beginnings of moobs strained against the fabric of his shirt, bridled but still visible as they bounced in cadence. The most impressive of all was his stomach, which billowed out and down from well beyond his moobs. The lower you looked, the bigger the belly swelled, and the bottom of the jiggly gut flashed from under his shirt with each step down the stairs. Kyle nodded his head upwards with a smile to acknowledge us, his face relatively unchanged except for a slight patch of extra padding under his chin. It was abundantly clear that Kyle had finally eaten himself past his metabolism’s breaking point this summer. At first glance I estimated that he had gained at least 35 lbs in the three months he’d been gone, maybe more. 

“Hey big guy!” Sam was out of the car quickly and collided with Kyle in his trademark embrace, causing Kyle to drop his duffel on the ground with an oof. Sam looked more dwarfed than usual in the shadow of the pudgier new Kyle, his torso nearly disappearing as Kyle’s large arms wrapped back hesitantly. Sam was on his tiptoes, so despite the baggy shorts, his ass cheeks pressed out proudly from the fabric like two wrestling cantaloupes. They wiggled ever so slightly as he continually adjusted the weight on his feet to his toes. Finally released from Kyle’s meaty arms, he playfully poked a finger into the side of Kyle’s gut that had just nearly swallowed him. I silently cringed, not wanting him to draw too much attention to the fact that Kyle had packed on some serious weight. 

“Ha, yeah, I’ve been hitting the gym with my dad this summer - in the middle of a bulk,” he smiled, a hint of pride in his voice. He was never one to care about his body much, so it seemed like such a foreign concept for Kyle to be “bulking” for a specific purpose.

"You look like you could lift a house!” Sam said, punching Kyle on the arm. Kyle smiled sheepishly and let out a light chuckle. I was glad glad he left it at that, as the last thing my slowly engorging dick wanted was for Kyle to be self-conscious about his body this weekend.

“Good to see you man,” I ambled up to him and opted for a more reserved bro hug. Even still, just a lightly pressing against him made his stomach give way much more considerably than I’d have thought. Up close, his body seemed even flabbier than it did from the car. My cock stirred ever so slightly at the sight of his now unmistakable gut.

I zoned out a bit as I climbed into the driver seat while Kyle and Sam chatted, catching up as they stood near the car. I became entranced by Kyle’s shirt riding further up his round, flabby belly, until eventually I could make out the bottom edge of a cavernous belly button. I realized that while I had zoned out, Sam had pulled a thing of Gatorades out from my hatchback, as well as one of the grocery bags that contained the PB&Js, along with a carton of the cookies and two bags of chips. He and Kyle were both chugging a Gatorade and fishing sandwiches from the grocery bag.

I noted a considerable dip in my shock absorbers as Kyle finally plopped into the front seat, drink in one hand and sandwich in the other. His belly rested heavily on the upper part of his quads as his fat rolls strained the fabric of his shirt. I shifted in my seat to hide my growing boner as I backed out of the parking space,

“Enjoy the front seat for 3 minutes,” Sam said to Kyle. “As if Josh is going to let our short asses up there to DJ.” 

He wasn’t wrong. Josh was notorious for playing the “I’m tall” card and claiming the front seat, but Kyle relished the opportunity to play his newest playlist through the aux cord on the way to Josh’s house as we talked about what he was doing up in Kansas City.

“Mostly I just went to the gym in the morning with my dad and then explored the city. I tried all the barbecue I could,” Kyle said. “It was awesome.” I could feel Sam’s knowing smirk from the seat behind me. “So glad my dad moved there, it is way nicer hanging out there than starving out in California with his fitness-freak ex. But damn if it isn’t hot as hell in the summer. Thank God for air conditioning and Call of Duty...” 

I immediately imagined the daily ritual Kyle employed during his time in Kansas City. Wake up, eat his typical four or five bowls of cereal and a muffin or two, go to the gym, venture out for barbecue, get home, peel off shirt (maybe even his pants, I thought, penis hardening even more at the mental visual) and snack non-stop while playing video games and downing sugary drinks. I thought about what I’d give to be a fly on the wall, watching day by day as Kyle grew stronger and fatter, smooth moobs and belly jiggling away as he mashed controller buttons and shoved processed food in his mouth.

I felt my cock start to stiffen impossibly more hard as I drove, as I stole glances at his smooth, jiggling stomach, which was now peeking out from below his t-shirt. He guzzled his Gatorade and munched away on his PB&J, and they were both gone before I had even gotten to the end of his street. I was kind of freaking out - I’d never been this aroused by Kyle, but weight gain was a huge turn-on for me, and it looked great on him. I could hear him conversing with Sam in the background of my lustful thoughts, and I started to feel guilty for tuning him out again as we were trying to catch up. I shifted in my seat again to try and covertly hide my now-raging boner as I snapped out of it just in time. 

“Yo Micah, have you heard of ‘Young the Giant?’” 

“Actually I have! But I haven’t gotten around to listening to them yet!” I enthused, shaking the lust off for the second time today. Kyle cranked up the volume as the sounds of alt-rock filled the car, and we turned on to Josh’s street.

...

There was weird history between Josh and I. He and Kyle were elementary school best friends, and I was quickly a welcome addition to slumber parties and hangouts once I’d made friends with Kyle in seventh grade. Soon, Josh and I had bonded over our love for sports, our tv-show preferences, and our shared interest in talking about sex. He was always taller than most of our classmates, with dark buzzed hair, a killer jawline, and plush, masculine lips. He had a ruggedly handsome face, yet his features were mostly soft. His eyes were intense and full of emotion; He could make you feel on top of the world or totally disarmed with just a glance. As puberty did wonders for him and stalled for me freshman year, a mix of jealousy and attraction for him washed over and confused me.

Thus, he was a large part of my sexual awakening that year. He dated my childhood best friend, Paisley, from the beginning of freshman year through a decent chunk of sophomore year. Because I was close friends with both of them, I got to hear details from both sides: when they’d had their first kiss, first make-out, second base, and so on. What really piqued my interest was when they started messing around together. I got to hear Josh talk about how great a hand-job felt, and Paisley talk about how long and thick Josh’s dick was.

From then on, I was obsessed with his dick and finding out just how big it really was, even convincing her to measure it the next time she serviced him. I pretended that I didn’t believe that it was really ‘all that big’. So one day, she actually measured. Over 7″ she said, and she couldn’t fit it in her mouth without scraping her teeth on it. Unfathomable to freshman year me, as at that point I was only packing 4″ and I knew that anyone could fit mine in their mouth with ease. I became more and more enamored with the thought of it, as a side effect really, because I eventually realized that I was head over heels in love with Josh. 

I constantly tried to see it in person freshman year. At the gym when we’d work out, I’d say things like “we smell, lets shower before we go home.” When I slept over, he would shower and I’d pretend to be asleep so that he would change in the room without worrying about me seeing him, and I could steal a few quick glances at it. Eventually he started to pick up on the attention I gave him, and began reciprocating. When it was just the two of us at sleepovers, he would have me lay on his lap while we played video games. In front of Paisley, he would tease her by having me sit on his lap or big spooning me on the couch. Eventually, it just became a ritual to sleep in the same bed, cuddling and sharing warmth. I loved being held by someone taller and stronger than me. I loved his smell. I loved feeling the rise and fall of his breath. And I wanted more.

Paisley and I had kissed in the school play in eighth grade, and one day late freshman year, she teased Josh that I was the better kisser. This drove him mad enough to kinda-joke, kinda-argue with me about who really was the best kisser, which culminated one night at a sleepover. We thought Kyle was asleep by then, so I felt a little ballsy and said “well I guess there’s only one way to find out.” We leaned closer together, and Josh’s hand grabbed the back of my head and started to bring our faces nearer. I felt the warm air of his breath as our lips began to close the distance and our faces got mere inches apart. I remember his eyes looked at me in a way that caught me by surprise. He looked at me as if he wanted me, and I was sure he knew as I locked eyes with him, that I wanted him too.

A groggy Kyle, without even looking up, mumbled “If you guys kiss I’m leaving.” That was enough to break the tension of the moment. We all laughed it off, but deep down it felt like a blown opportunity, and I then longed for that kiss that never came. 

Sophomore year I did get my other wish. He and Paisley broke up, and word spread around the school that he had an especially large member. He made the varsity volleyball team, impressive for a sophomore, and started going to the gym with his volleyball friends more often. We still worked out together when I went, but he was going twice as much as I was due to my 2-a-day swim practices prohibiting when I actually had the time. The rumors, his varsity status, and his swiftly muscling physique swelled his head quite a bit, and at large sleepovers which we now referred to as “parties”, he always made things a bit rowdy. He would joke in front of the group by randomly threading his flaccid dick through the hole in his flannel pajama pants, waiting for someone to notice it. When it finally got noticed, the room would explode in laughter. I remember the first time I saw it. He popped it out while standing up after winning a match of Fifa, and swung it like an elephant trunk by shaking his hips. This caused an eruption of laughter from the mix of volleyball guys and other friends at the party. I quietly left for the bathroom to rub one out. His dick was as big soft as mine was hard.

Soon Josh and I had left the cuddling sessions behind, and our friendship went back to a more “normal” one. We still had fun together, talked sports and girls and movies. I even got to see his dick a few more times when we would swim together at the high school pool. I was teaching him the more advanced strokes that he wanted to learn for his rotc training. But it was always soft, and he never kept it out longer than he had to. 

All this to say, I was pretty much past my puppy dog love for Josh by the time we graduated. He was still undeniably attractive, and he seemed to perpetually put on muscle, so he still occasionally entered my lustful thoughts as I’d lay in my bed at night jacking off. By graduation he was probably 6′3″, and about 215 lbs. His handsome face had become more chiseled and strapping as he got older. He had left straight from graduation to vacation with his family at the shore, and then headed off to a two-month volleyball camp at his future alma mater upstate. So like Kyle, I hadn’t seen him since May.

Let’s just say that Kyle wasn’t the only one who transformed over the summer. 

“Oh what the fuck, that’s not even fair,” Sam complained from the back seat as we pulled into Josh’s driveway and saw him waving at my Mazda from his front porch. 

As I put the car in park, Josh locked his parent’s front door and swung his hefty duffel over his shoulder with ease. He looked like he was an inch or two taller, but more notably was the sheer amount of muscle that he’d impossibly packed on in the past 3 months. His shoulders were the size of melons, his biceps looked like they were seconds away from popping, and his pecs almost needed a bra as they bounced in his flattering grey tank top. He’d cut the undersides of the tank’s armholes to let his riplping lats breathe out from the sides. His narrow waist connected to a well-muscled ass, which was hugged attractively by a tight pair of athletic shorts. A ridiculously big crotch bulge bounced between his thighs as the tight athletic shorts hugged the upper part of his quadriceps, revealing tree trunk legs and bulging calves. Sam’s jealousy wasn’t misplaced – Josh looked cut out of a magazine.

Josh’s size 14 sandals clapped against the ground as he bellowed, “who’s ready to get wehhh-ehhht!” He was in a chipper mood. I liked him most when he was like this, jovial and positive. His eyes were beaming; it was a dorky type of joy he rarely let people see anymore. I couldn’t help but smile as I climbed out of the Mazda. He pulled me tightly into a crushing hug, muscles rippling, lifting me off the ground as I mashed against his boulders-for-pecs. It was a genuine hug, but I almost felt he did it to force me to take notice of just how strong he had gotten. 

“How are you, Lank?” Fuck, I hated his favorite pet-name for me, but it felt kind of good to feel like he was kidding around with me in such a happy way. There was sometimes an intangible distance to our friendship now, as if we both feel guilty about what transpired when we were younger. I was glad to avoid those eggshells for the time being. 

“I’d be alot better if I could breathe, you giant ape,” I shot back, punishing him for using the lank word. A stupid grin plastered itself on my face. He smiled back, setting me back down to earth as our eyes locked, and I could see the happy glow falter in his irises for a millisecond. “I missed you man,” I said, surprising myself with how much I meant it.

“I missed you too, M,” he spoke quietly, in a gentle, blissful voice that he really only used to use in early high school when it was just the two of us together. It caught me off guard for a half-second before I was able to smile and clasp my hand on his shoulder. Maybe this weekend will be a fresh start for us, I thought to myself.

Sam waited patiently for his turn to maul Josh in his trademark little-guy-bear-hug, and looked his muscular body up and down as I stepped back from the encounter. 

“Hulk hug?” He joked, trying his best to wrap his arms around Josh’s broad, solid thorax.

Josh lifted him up and slung him over his shoulder with a single motion, which put Sam’s shorts-straining ass on full display. Josh swung him from side to side, his ass cheeks swaying in the air like two bouncy orbs. Sam’s shirt rode up during the antics, and I took notice for the first time a small but definite pudginess to the south of Sam’s belly button. I put two and two together, realizing Sam had probably put on a few lbs since the beginning of the summer, and I filed it away as something to watch for later that day. Josh finally released Sam from his shoulder by placing his hand directly onto the jostling globes of Sam’s bubble butt, and guided him off of his body and back to the ground.

Sam slapped his back. “You look great man,” he said in a more serious tone, giving Josh the genuine compliment I’m sure he wanted to hear. 

“Thanks man,” Josh said, much more humbly than I’d have thought he would respond. “They really put me through hell up there.”

Just then, I realized Kyle had still not exited the car, and I spun around to see what the hold up has been. I noticed him polishing off a second PB&J, as he reached for a third, tearing it from its Ziploc. Finally, he shoved the door open with his free hand. He took a bite of sandwich as he hoisted himself out of the car, and the shock absorbers breathed a sigh of relief as he stood. His shirt, earlier able to fully cover his gut when standing, now gave way to expose two inches of soft belly flesh on the verge of overhang. The shirt must’ve stopped doing its job somewhere between Kyle’s house, and the two gatorades + two and a half PB&Js that he had inhaled on the way here. 

I noticed Josh notice Kyle from across the driveway, and saw the slightest evil smile flash across his face before a much tamer expression replaced it. Teasingly, he called out across the driveway, “Perma-bulk!”

I got the vibe that Josh was already aware that Kyle had been trying his hand at putting on muscle this summer. Though I’m sure when he had explained to Kyle that bulking takes a concerted effort to eat more food, he underestimated the willpower to eat that Kyle was capable of.

Kyle was slightly indignant but smiled back. “This is nothing! My dad puts on at least 30 lbs before he cuts!”

I cocked an eyebrow and glanced over at Sam. In a look we both silently share our questioning of Kyle’s weight logic. He’s had to have gained 30 lbs at least during the summer, I telepathically communicated to Sam with a look. He seemed to have correctly translated my facial expression as he mirrors it back my way.

Again, though, instead of taking it further or piling on, Josh retreated as Sam did earlier. “You look solid, man. I bet you could take me in an arm wrestle.” 

Kyle took the last bite of his second sandwich and pulled Josh into a tight bro-hug. With a mouthful of PB&J, he responded, “Bet.”

I felt my cock dance in my pants as I watched my two fantasies hugging in the driveway- a tall, hung, muscular stud and a soft, fattening hunk. Kyle’s soft, doughy moobs pressed into Josh’s hard, boulder-like pecs. His big jiggly stomach smashed into the side of Josh’s solid, washboard set of abs. Kyle’s belly rested so low and poked out so far that as they hugged, it noticeably shifted Josh’s bulge. I could make out the outline of Josh’s egg-sized balls, displaced by Kyle’s nearly-overhanging gut. I adjusted my cock in my pants to hide my growing erection, and noticed Sam turning towards the car. “Lets go get wet, bitches.”

I scurried back to the drivers seat, mainly to watch both Josh and Kyle jiggling as they walked towards the car. Josh’s pecs and bulge bounced as he walked towards the passenger side, while Kyle’s gut and widening love handles jiggled as he looped around the car. He grabbed another Gatorade and a bag of chips from the backseat. Josh had nestled his firm muscled ass into shotgun, and his thick, tree-trunk thighs pushed his oversized bulge into view. He looked up towards my face, and I quickly diverted my gaze to the back, catching Kyle’s belly shake as he tore open the chip bag, sending the scent of barbecue flavor emanating through the car. 

“You guys have everything you need back there?” I asked as an excuse to watch Kyle shoveling a fistful of chips into his mouth. 

“Myupf,” he says back through a mouthful of chips.

I turned my head back toward the dash and nearly bump my face into Josh’s, who was careening his head around to look at Kyle. “Give me some, I’m staving!” He demanded.

“It is 8:30 in the morning,” Sam observed from next to Kyle, incredulously. Again I shot him a quick glance as Kyle handed over the chip bag to Josh and reached into the grocery bag for a fourth PB&J.

“There’s PB&Js?!” Josh asked excitedly.

“Courtesy of Momma K,” I reply. “She packed 12 for the road, so dig in.” I noticed in the rearview Kyle’s face register that his current sandwich was one over the fair limit for each of us, so I quickly add, “I ate breakfast so I’ll probably only have one, if that.” This seemed to placate Kyle as he happily munched down on the last of sandwich number four.

“Same,” Sam echoed. “Well, actually, I’ll probably have a second.” I heard him reach down into the bag to fish out another PB&J. This surprised me, because it was before 9am and Sam had eaten breakfast and a PB&J already, and was reaching for a second one. My cock basically whimpered as it throbbed hard in my pants for the fifth time in a few hours. I imagined the extra calories going straight to Sam’s bubble butt, causing it to grow bigger and plumper. I fantasized about how much rounder, bouncier and fatter his ass would begin to look if he gained even just 10 lbs.

I smiled then, remembering what else was below the sandwiches in the grocery bag. “I think there are some Wegman’s chocolate chip cookies too.”

Josh’s hips twisted toward me as his head turned towards the back, immediately rummaging through the bag to find the carton of cookies. This gave me a wonderful side view of his athletic shorts pulled taut by powerful legs, a meaty ass, and a tremendous dick bulge. He pulled the cookies out victoriously, took three for himself, and passed them around to Kyle and Sam. By the time they got back to Josh, more than half of the 24 pack of cookies was gone. He offered the package to me as I drove, and I pulled one from the carton. One can’t hurt, I thought, glancing in my rearview to see Sam double fisting two cookies in each hand, and Kyle balancing a stack of eight cookies on his meaty thigh.

The sounds of munching and alternative music filled the car as I drove. I was stealing glances at Josh, now on his third PB&J and midway through the bag of chips, his bulging muscly body filling out the passenger seat, and his hefty bulge – could it have gotten bigger? – bouncing in between his thighs with each bump in the road. I glanced again at Kyle through my rearview, his belly looking even more tremendous and starting to grow rounder. He polished off the final cookie in his stack and reached into the carton for more, obviously forgetting that the eight he already had were more than his fair share. I noticed he had unbuttoned his shorts, and the exposed sag of belly below his belly button now escaped his shirt even when sitting down.

I caught sight of Sam, hand absentmindedly playing with the crotch of his athletic shorts, go for the final PB&J in the bag. On top of all of these wonderful visuals, the thought of his bubble butt growing in size and tearing through the seat of his underwear got me even hornier. My cock pulsed through my pants even more, the sexiness of each of my best friends becoming more apparent as we drove. I felt the beginnings of precum ooze into my boxer briefs. This was going to be a better trip than I bargained for.

…

[theycallmebeccawrites]

Chris & Ellie Series: Episode 7

With Tumblr holding my original writing blog @beccaheartschrisevans captive (aka flagged as explicit), I have made a secondary writing blog and may end up closing the other all together. In the meantime, I am reposting all of my stories on my new blog.

Pairing: Chris Evans x Ellie Spencer (OFC)

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: n/a

Episode Summary: This episode takes place in August 2013. Chris takes Ellie with him to a friend's wedding.

Disclaimer: This work of fiction is not to be reposted, used or translated without my permission.

The Chris and Ellie series is primarily chronological.  It begins with a flash forward to 2016 and has a few other scenes in the future.  However, the majority of their story is told in chronological order starting in 2013 and going through 2017. Each episode starts with a date to help you place it within the story.

The Chris & Ellie Series Masterlist | Chris & Ellie Masterlist

Episode 6

Episode 7: The Wedding

August 16, 2013

Ellie was in the kitchen cleaning up dinner when Chris came into the room with his cell phone pressed to his ear. Not wanting to eavesdrop, she tried to block out his voice, but he was talking so loudly that it was difficult.

"You promised to go with me, Scott," he said into the phone. "What the hell am I supposed to do now? I hate going to these things alone… You're right, you're right, work comes first… Ellie?"

Ellie looked up at the mention of her name and found Chris looking at her.

"Yeah, I supposed it wouldn't hurt to ask her," Chris said into the phone. "I know, Scott…. I just wish you'd given me more notice that's all… I promise I will ask her, she is actually staring at me right now…. Yes, I will let you know if you are off the hook."

Curious, Ellie waited until Chris pulled the phone from his ear and hit the 'end' button.

"So," he said, casually. "What are the chances you have this weekend off from the bookstore?"

"Depends on what you need me to do," Ellie replied, crossing her arms.

"Scott was supposed to go with me to a wedding in Palm Springs this weekend," Chris explained. "But he just called to tell me that they need him here in LA for reshoots. So I was hoping you were available to go to the wedding with me as my, uh, date."

"You were going to take your brother to a wedding as your date?" Ellie teased, unable to stop herself.

"Funny," Chris replied, rolling his eyes. "I RSVP'd with a plus one and I can't go to this thing by myself. If I do, women tend to think I am free game and won't leave me alone."

"So it's less date and more personal bodyguard?" she theorized. She wasn't sure if she was up to the task of protecting Chris from the aforementioned 'women', but she wouldn't be a friend if she made him go by himself.

"You're going to make me beg, aren't you?" he said with a sigh.

"Well, now that you mention it," she smirked, curious to see how far this would go.

"You truly are evil," Chris muttered as his phone dinged alerting him to a text message. A smile spread across his face as he read his brother's text. He shot a quick 'thanks' in reply then turned his attention back to Ellie. "Before you make me beg, the resort the wedding is at has a full service day spa. The wedding is tomorrow night and Scott had scheduled himself a massage that they won't let him cancel. It's fully paid for. If you come with me, the massage is yours."

Ellie scrunched up her face as she realized her gig was up and the cocky grin on Chris's face told her he knew it, too. "Alright, I'm in," Ellie sighed, after a moment, reaching her hand across the island to shake Chris's.

"You're the best," Chris said with a smile.

"What does one wear to a Palm Springs resort?" Ellie asked.

Chris took in her cutoff jean shorts and her hot pink racer back tank top and said, "Definitely not that."

"What? You mean you don't think this is a classy look?" Ellie asked. She did a slow turn and caught Chris's eyes bouncing from her ass to her face. "See something you like?" The words slipped from her mouth before she realized it and she felt her face heat up as she watched Chris's do the same. "Oh my God, don't answer that."

"In the sake of all honesty, you have a nice ass," Chris confessed, unable to stop himself. "I noticed it that first day we met."

"Yeah, well you have a nice cock." Ellie's eyes widened as the words registered in her head and she slapped her hand over her mouth as Chris let out a roar of laughter.

"That is the best come back I have ever heard," Chris said, wiping the tears from his eyes as he laughed.

"I'm glad you think so, meanwhile, I'm ready to go bury myself under the blankets of my bed and never leave," Ellie replied. She couldn't believe the words had left her mouth; true as they were or not.

"It's ok, honestly," Chris said, attempting to calm himself. "It's been like five months, we should be able laugh about it by now…"

"I suppose you're right," Ellie replied. "It was pretty funny when you think about it." She giggled as she remembered the paper towels. "The fact that you grabbed the -"

"Paper towels when there was a newspaper right there, yeah, yeah, yeah. My mom loves that part of the story too."

"How are we going to do this?" Ellie asked, sobering. "Like what are we telling people this weekend if they ask how we met."

"We'll keep it simple, you're my friend and you came as my date," Chris replied. "Keep it simple. We met through a mutual friend."

"There isn't going to be any paparazzi there, right? I mean, am I going to have to worry about them posting my picture somewhere with the caption 'Chris Evans dates mystery brunette with fake boobs' the next time I go to the grocery store?"

"It's not an industry wedding," Chris said with a chuckle. "So no, there shouldn't be any paparazzi. In fact, the resort we are going to is well protected so we should be fine."

"Ok, good," Ellie nodded. "I didn't want to have to defend myself to the cashier about my boobs being real."

"Should the situation present itself, I'd be happy to take a feel and confirm they're real, to defend your honor and all that," Chris said, earning him a glare from Ellie. "Too soon?"

"Too soon," Ellie said with a nod. "Now if you'll excuse me. I have some packing to do and I have to see if I can find someone to watch -"

"Scott said he'd stay here tomorrow night," Chris cut her off. "He also doesn't have to be on set until noon, so he'll check on Daisy before then."

"Perfect," Ellie replied. "I'll bring her kennel into the house in the morning. What time do I need to be ready?"

"9ish? Your massage is at noon, so leaving at 9 would give you time to get settled in your room first."

"Sounds good, I'll see you in the a.m."

With Daisy following her, Ellie went out to the guesthouse and opened her closet to pick out her most resort appropriate clothing. She selected the brand new dress she'd purchased when shopping with her sisters and then grabbed nice clothes from the back of her closet that she hadn't worn since she'd first moved to LA. She quickly tried them on and was pleasantly surprised when they still fit and actually felt a little looser than she remembered.

Not wanting to fold her nice clothes, she put them all under a dry cleaning plastic cover and then proceeded to fill her medium sized rolling suitcase with everything she thought she might need. It was nearly midnight by the time she lifted Daisy up onto the bed and climbed in after her.

When her alarm went off seven hours later, she sprung from her bed and took a quick shower. She waited until after she'd carried Daisy's kennel up to the main house before she put on her navy blue dress with striped top. She then made sure all the lights were off in the guesthouse before grabbing her purse, suitcase and the clothes that were hanging and carrying them up to the main house.

Chris came into the kitchen shortly after eight wearing a pair of khaki dress pants and a navy blue shirt that matched her outfit perfectly. He was carrying a hanging luggage bag and stopped short when he saw Ellie's stuff piled next to the table. "You do remember we are only going to be gone for one night, right?" he said, fighting back his laughter.

"Shut up," Ellie retorted, pushing her naturally curly hair out of her face. Spotting Chris's hanging luggage bag she asked, "I don't suppose you have another one of those…"

"You can just add 'em to mine," Chris replied. He unzipped it and held it open for her to add her stuff.

"Thanks," Ellie replied. "Want eggs for breakfast?"

"Sure, I'll get the coffee going," Chris offered.

An hour later, they were in Chris's car and pulling out of the driveway. They argued all the way to the freeway as to what music to play and Ellie finally convinced him to listen to one of her random car mixes.

After about thirty minutes of country songs and 90's boybands, Chris reached over and lowered the volume. "How about we just talk," he suggested.

"About what?" Ellie replied as she switched to a different playlist on her phone. She reached over to turn the volume back up, but had her hand swatted away.

"How about sports? I know you like baseball. Do you like anything?"

"I love football," she said with a grin. "I can't wait for the season to start."

"Really?" He cocked his eyebrow and glanced at her. "Who's your team?"

"Depends, are you asking college or NFL?"

"Do you have a preference?"

"I like college better, because every year you have new players and every 3 to 4 years, there is a major change over."

"Far enough. Who's your college team?"

"The Oregon Ducks, of course. Fun fact, our mascot, Puddles, is Donald Duck's alter ego."

"Uh huh, sure."

"No, I'm serious. One of our former Athletic Directors in the 1940's knew a Disney cartoonist and through him got a meeting with Walt Disney himself," Ellie stated. "There is a picture of Walt wearing an Oregon Ducks jacket. They changed the mascot costume a little, a few years ago, but all the Puddles branded stuff is Donald Duck."

"Given that that was a lot of information in like sixty seconds, I'm just going to believe you," Chris said with a chuckle. "Do you have an NFL team?"

"Of course I do. I'm a Northwest girl so it's obviously the Seahawks. I know you're a Pats fan, though."

"What gave it away?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Obviously not the Patriots shit you have all over the house," she said shaking her head. "I guess I'm just glad you don't like the Cowboys."

"Likewise."

From football their conversation moved to sports they played as kids then to childhood memories and everything in between while music played quietly in the background. It made the two and a half hour drive pass quickly; especially when traffic slowed to a crawl in certain places.

"Holy shit," Ellie gasped as she caught sight of the mission style resort. "This place is gorgeous."

"It belongs to the bride's family," Chris said. "The groom was one of my first roommates here in California."

Pulling up to the entrance, Chris and Ellie's doors were opened for them by resort staff. Chris was given a ticket for the valet service while Ellie supervised the other staff member pulling their luggage out of the trunk.

They made their way into the lobby and were greeted by a third staff member. "Good morning," she said, greeting them. "Can I get you two something to drink before I check you in?"

"No, I think we're good, thanks though," Chris replied.

"Follow me please." She led them over to the check in desk and asked Chris his name. "Ah, yes, I see your reservation here. It's an excellent room overlooking the golf course."

"One room?" Ellie asked in surprise.

"There must be a mistake," Chris told the lady. "There should be two rooms."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Evans, but there is only one room with a king size bed reserved under your name," the woman replied.

"But you have other rooms available, right?" Ellie asked her.

"No, Miss, I apologize, but we are fully booked this weekend," the lady replied.

"Can you give us a minute to talk?" Chris asked her.

"Of course," the woman replied, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.

"Now what?" Ellie asked as she and Chris moved away from the check-in desk. "There's nothing else out this way."

"I know," Chris replied. "We just shared a bed two weeks ago, are you opposed to doing it again?"

"I don't think we have any other options," Ellie sighed.

Walking back to the counter, Chris finished the checking in process and then he and Ellie were led to their second floor room by a bellhop.

The room was of modest size with a large king bed taking up most of it. The attached bathroom had a full glass shower, a separate tub and two sinks. The best feature, however, was the wall of windows that separated the small balcony from the rest of the room and looked out over the beautiful green golf course.

"I don't feel like we're in southern California anymore," Ellie muttered after the bellhop had left. "It's so green."

"You're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy," Chris teased as he opened the patio door and they stepped out into the warm air. "Gah, heat like this makes me miss Boston."

"All this green makes me miss Oregon," Ellie agreed. "This heat is atrocious. I feel my hair getting bigger already."

Chris snickered and stole a look at her before nodding his head. "It's definitely doing something…"

"Fuck, I may have to squeeze in a hair appointment today, too," Ellie grumbled. "You got any more of that Grant money I saw you hand the bellhop? You know, in case they don't take pity on me in the spa by the mere appearance of my hair?"

"Since you're helping me out this weekend, yes, I can give you some money," Chris replied with a shake of his head. "Can we go back inside now?"

Thirty minutes later, Ellie left the room with her room key, a small bag of supplies and extra money in her purse. The spa was easy to find and the receptionist took one look at her hair, asked if she was here for the wedding and quickly ushered her into a stylist's chair.

The stylist applied a product to Ellie's hair then wrapped her hair up before she was escorted to one of the private changing rooms. She took off her clothes and put on a thick terry cotton robe then grabbed the key to the changing room before being led to the massage table.

By the time she returned to her and Chris's room, two hours later, she was completely relaxed from her massage and the hot shower that had followed. The stylist had whipped her hair into submission and, for the first time in her life, she actually had bouncy curls! She'd even had her makeup and her nails done. She'd felt like she was floating during the entire walk back to the room.

"Wow," Chris said when he looked from when where he was laying on the bed. "You look nice."

"Thanks," Ellie replied. Catching sight of herself in the large mirror on the way, she swung her hair and giggled.

"Either you've already started drinking or the spa is experimenting with personality transplants," Chris laughed.

"I may have had a mimosa or two," Ellie smiled as she walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "But look, Chris, look at my hair. It's never looked this good before! Gus, the hair stylist, is a God. There is no other way to describe him."

"It looks good," Chris agreed. Truthfully, he liked her hair in its wild natural form or pulled back in a ponytail. He liked her down to earth spunkiness. "But I'm guessing that this means you don't want to spend the next two hours down at the pool."

"Gus said to stay away from water," Ellie replied. "So that's a definite no."

With a couple hours to kill, they channel surfed until they found a preseason NFL game featuring two teams neither of them cared about, but they watched since it was football.

When they were down to the final thirty minutes, Chris went into the bathroom to take a quick shower while Ellie stayed in the main part of the room to get dressed. By the time Chris left the bathroom dressed and ready to go, all Ellie needed was for him to zip up the back of her dress.

"What are you doing?" she demanded as she saw Chris reaching for his plain black baseball cap. "You're not wearing that."

"Ellie, come on, I'm trying to be incognito, remember?"

"Wearing a baseball hat with a suit is not the way to remain incognito at a formal wedding," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Just wear your sunglasses and keep your head down."

"You're the boss," Chris replied, holding up his hands defensively.

"And don't you forget it," Ellie smirked. She watched as he grabbed his sunglasses and slipped them on. "Perfect! Let's go."

They made their way down to the outdoor ceremony and took two seats in the very last row that had been reserved for them.

"How many people are here?" Ellie whispered.

"500?" Chris guessed as he looked out over the crowd. Half of them were seated on an upper patio while the rest were in a grassy area.

"Do you know anyone other than the bride and the groom?" Ellie asked.

"The groom, Ray, and I were two of five roommates," Chris replied. "So I suspect our other roommates are here. As for Kady's guests, I don't know anyone."

They stopped talking as Ray and the officiant walked to the front of the audience and took their positions. Fourteen pairs of bridesmaids and groomsmen made their way down the aisle before the bride appeared with her father.

After the ceremony ended, the wedding party was escorted away for photos while the guests were excused to the cocktail hour. Servers made their way through the crowd with appetizers and custom drinks created by the bride and groom for the wedding.

Chris and Ellie found a quiet table along the edge of the party and relaxed as they people watched. Spotting a group of six walking towards them, Ellie nudged Chris and pointed.

A smile spread across Chris's face as he recognized his three other roommates and their beautiful wives. One by one he gave them each a hug and then introduced them to Ellie. "This is Ellie," he told them. "Ellie, this is Chucky and Tanya Kelley, Bryant and Gloria Gomez and Brock and Tessa Alexander."

"Hi," Ellie said with an awkward wave to the six strangers in front of her.

"So how did this one convince you to come to this festive event?" Chucky asked as he put Chris in a pretend headlock. "Just blink twice if you're not here by your own choosing."

"Shut the fuck up, Chuck," Chris said, elbowing his friend in the gut. "Ellie is just a friend doing me a favor because Scott had a conflict."

"Alright, friend Ellie, how did you meet this guy?" Chucky asked as he gave Chris a playful push.

"Mutual friends," Ellie replied, giving her best poker face as she tried to come up with a better answer. "We both love Red Sox baseball and football and they thought we'd get along great."

"Of course, C.E. would find a girl, sorry, a friend, that loves football," Brock chuckled. "Has he told you about his annual NFL kickoff party? It's a blast."

"No," Ellie said, looking at Chris with raised eyebrows. "He hadn't mentioned anything about a party…"

"We'll have something to talk about on the way home," Chris said with a forced chuckle.

A voice came over the speaker system inviting everyone to make their way to the dinner area.

"Saved by the bell," Bryant teased Chris.

"A kickoff party?" Ellie hissed to Chris as they followed the other three couples.

"It's usually a potluck style," Chris replied. "I usually supply the drinks and chips."

"Still," Ellie said, forcing a smile on her lips as she realized they were sitting at a table with his friends.

As they reached the table, Chris pulled her chair out for her and then pushed it back in once she was seated.

"So," Ellie said, leaning in. "You guys have known this one for a while. I'm sure you have lots of hilarious stories to share." She tossed Chris a grin.

"We're in public," Chris said, shaking his head. "Keep in clean."

Chris's friends shared stories as they ate the delicious five course meal. By the time they'd finished eating, they were all a little tipsy from their drinks and their faces hurt from laughing. Even Chris had joined in on the storytelling, dragging his friends down with him.

They all quieted down as the bride and groom shared their first dance as husband and wife. That dance was followed by the other traditional dances, but soon the lead singer of the live band invited everyone out on top the dance floor to work off their dinner.

Ellie had assumed she and Chris would sit out on the dancing, but his friends wouldn't allow it. She quickly found herself being pulled out onto the dancefloor with her hand clutched in Chris's. The first few dances were lively and upbeat, but then it switched to a slow song.

Before she and Chris had a chance to escape the dance floor, they were pushed together. After moving their hands from the awkward spots they had landed, they repositioned themselves so they were in a basic slow dance hold, with her hands resting on his shoulders and his hands on her waist.

As soon as the song was done, Chris grabbed her hand and made a beeline off the dance floor. Ellie laughed as he pulled her over to the bar and it was as they were leaving with drinks that they ran into the bride and groom. Chris introduced Ellie to them and, in the few minutes they spent with them, Ellie could tell that they were as genuine and sweet as Chris's other friends.

An hour or so later, their group sat at their table listening to the speeches being made by the wedding party and various other people. The toasts were immediately followed by the bride and groom cutting the cake and then the servers delivered small, personal-sized cakes to everyone.

By the time they'd finished eating their dessert, it was nearly midnight and the long day was starting to catch up to Chris and Ellie. They said their goodbyes to Chris's friends and then took one of the golf cart shuttles back to the main building where they were staying.

After Chris helped Ellie unzip the back of her dress, she went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she exited fifteen minutes later, she was wearing one of the hotel's fluffy white robes over her matching camisole and short pajamas.

While Chris was in the bathroom, Ellie admired her hair in the mirror, amazed that it still looked fantastic after so many hours. She was beginning to think that Gus the hairstylist was a magician.

Not ready to climb into the bed yet, Ellie grabbed her phone and sat down on the end of the chaise lounge. She laid back against the soft fabric and wondered if she shouldn't just sleep there with her hair cascading over the side.

When Chris came out of the bathroom, he shook his head and asked, "Are you coming to bed soon?"

"I think I'm going to sleep right here," Ellie replied, moving her head slightly so the still bouncy curls swayed over the edge of the arm. "Keep my hair from getting messed up."

"You are not sleeping on that thing," Chris said firmly. "You'll hurt your neck."

"But my hair looks so good, Chris!" Ellie pouted.

"Ellie -" He stopped when he realized he didn't know her middle name. "What's your middle name?"

"Elaine," she replied with a yawn.

"You're name is Ellie Elaine?"  he asked, confused.

"No, Ellie is short for Elaine. My first name is Sarah," she explained.

"So why don't you go by Sarah?" he inquired.

"Because that was my grandma's name and she went by Sarah."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Chris replied. "What were we talking about again?"

"I believe you were getting ready to threaten me," Ellie stated.

"Oh right," Chris nodded. He cleared his throat and then in a stern voice said, "Sarah Elaine, you're not sleeping on that thing. I will carry you to the bed if I have to and I will lay on top of you to make you stay."

Ellie sat up and stared at Chris in shock. "You do realize you would crush me if you laid on top of me, right?" she asked.

"Oh, right," Chris said. "Well, I'd find some way to restrain you to the bed."

"Fine," Ellie sighed as she forced herself up. "Have it your way."

While she got into the bed, Chris adjusted the air conditioning of the room, turning it to a lower temperature. He then grabbed an extra blanket from the closet and tossed it to Ellie. He knew she liked to sleep in a cold room, like he did, but he'd learned that she was a bit of a blanket hog.

Climbing into the bed, Chris turned off the lights and pulled the blankets up to his chin. He heard Ellie rustling around next to him and waited for her to get settled before his closed his eyes.

Hours later, he awoke to her long hair fanned out across his face. Brushing it away, he looked over and saw that she was lying on her side facing him. Sometime during the night they had moved from their respective edges to the middle of the bed where a mere foot or so separated them from each other.

Unable to fall back to sleep, he watched her. He loved that her hair had returned to its natural form sometime during the night and it surround her like a lion's mane.

"Stop staring at me, you creeper," she mumbled.

Chris couldn't help but laugh.

Episode 7.25

Want to find me off tumblr? I’m @beccatheycallme on twitter. I also post my stories on AO3.

My tag list is always open, just let me know if you’d like to be added!

[chromecutie]

Colossus x Reader - jet wash!

A/N: based on an anon's request. Hope you like! I pictured Reader sized about like Hilda aka the GREATEST PINUP GIRL EVER, but, you know. Picture her how you want.

Taglist: @emma-frxst @ra-ra-rasputiin @holamor @empressme-bitch @marvel-is-perfection @hazilyimagine Wanna be tagged? Hit me up 😘

__________________

It was as easy a day as there ever was at the X Mansion. The students had a day off of classes, and while most were content to do quiet things and not get into a lot of mischief, there was a batch of rowdy ones likely as not to get into a brawl to test each other's powers. Colossus walked the halls, suspicious that it was so much quieter than he expected. He was more than prepared to break up a fight if he found one, but he couldn't find any of the usual suspects.

He headed outside to walk the grounds and see who he could find. It wasn't long before he heard shrieking and he bolted toward the sound. When Colossus found the landing pad for the jet, he found the rowdiest, most energetic teenagers...and her.

She was officially the literature/language instructor, and unofficially the school counselor. She had a snarky streak that managed to charm the hardest kids and get them to open up to her. Colossus had immense respect for her because of that, and lately that respect has shifted to include romantic feelings.

He couldn't guess how she had wrangled this group of teens, but here they were, all working together (mostly) to wash the X Jet. A few were playfully antagonizing each other, but it seemed more like friendly competition to take care of their parts of the jet.

When he saw her, though, it was less of a mystery. Colossus found his own heart caught in his throat and he had to force himself to act natural. Her thick, full thighs shot out of high waisted shorts. Since she had been moving around a lot to scrub the landing gear, the shorts had ridden up a little and just a bit of butt cheek was showing. She wore a swimsuit top in a vintage cut, and her hair was pinned away from her face. Overall, she looked like she ought to be painted on the nose of the jet, like a WWII war machine.

She shrieked and jumped, laughing as one of her students had diverted the spray of the hose to hit her. As she turned, she locked eyes with Colossus and froze in surprise. “Hi!” she greeted with a bigger smile than ever. “Just who I was hopin’ to see out here!”

“Oh? Me?” The tall, chrome Russian glanced behind him, hardly believing she meant him.

She practically skipped over to him and briefly took his hand. “Yeah, you. We're washing the jet and, uh, I was hoping,” she cringed as if she was about to ask an imposing favor, “you could give me a boost to get onto the wing?”

“Hey!” a boy called indignantly. “I said I could get you up there!”

Colossus watched as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Even she was tested by this kid. “I know, bud, and thank you, but I have a thing with getting lifted telekinetically. I just don't like how it feels. Remember what we said about boundaries? Okay. Thanks for understanding, dude.”

She turned back to her colleague and added, “Plus, I don't want any of them up there in case they slip and fall, you know?”

Colossus nodded, “Da, I see.” He was suddenly nervous about dropping her, but it wasn't very likely. Her skin had a unique ability to grip almost any surface. The kids regularly tried to prank her by coating the floor in Crisco or covering her doorknob in KY lube, but she could dance on the Crisco and the KY just made her mad more than anything.

Trying to stay as professional as possible, and let her keep as much control as she could, Colossus had her climb onto his thigh, then his shoulder. And getting to touch so much of her skin, wet and sudsy, was only a little distracting to him.

From his shoulder, she pushed herself up onto the wing, and she was as smooth and sure-footed as mountain goats. She laid on her stomach and beamed, saying sweetly, “Thank you so much. Can you pass me the bucket I left down there?” She reached and when Colossus handed it to her, their fingers touched and they were reluctant to part. “Thanks,” it was almost a whisper, but the light in her eyes lit a fire in his heart.

“Of course,” he couldn't contain his own smile. “I'll be here when you're ready to come down.”

As she got to work running her soapy sponge over the top of the jet, Colossus absently watched, wondering if she'd be open to some time alone with him.

One of the girls came up to his side, dressed in cutoff short shorts and a triangle top. A telepath, she leaned toward Colossus and said in a conspiratorial tone, “She's been waiting for you since we came out here, but didn't want to ask. She tries not to let on, but that woman is THIRSTY, wow. Just saying.”

He held his breath a moment, desperate not to show he was flustered, and resorted to his easiest cover-up tactic: play the dumb adult. “Thirsty? Did you all not bring water bottles out here?”

The student squinted at him. “I know you know what I mean. Nice try. Ask her out before she makes up stupider reasons to see you.”

[childfreeisthewaytobe]

08.08-08.11.2010

The day I found out I was pregnant, I was at my family reunion. It was a blistering 100 degrees outside and I was feeling absolutely 100% fine until my dad tried to hand me a fresh grilled hot dog. I saw it and immediately felt sick. I objected and probably told him I just wasn't ready to eat yet, but I immediately knew. Immediately. It was unlike any other sick I had ever felt. Unlike any other nausea.

I left the reunion a real short time after to buy some pregnancy tests at Walgreens. I got home and took one right away.

Positive.

Oh my god. What did I do? What the fuck did I do? What did WE do?!

I called my boyfriend. No answer. Called again. No answer. Chirped several times (good old Nextel), and texted. No reply. I knew he was sleeping. He'd spent the whole day running callbacks as a part time firefighter (if you could even call it that) and he was dead to the world, but I needed to talk to him so I got in my car and drove all the way there, calling, chirping, and texting the entire time, nonstop, wondering how the fuck I put myself in such a dumb position.

When I got to his house I banged on the front door so hard I bet his parents thought I was being chased and/or murdered. His mother came to the door and I blew past her like a bull in a China shop up to his room.

I threw the door open and shook him awake harder than anyone should really ever be shaken awake, but in all of my time before getting there, I wondered what a mistake we made and how I couldn't even get him to answer all of these calls and messages. How could I make him grow up and be a father? The firehouse was his stupid life and I didn't ever want to compete.

The bastard was awake. I made up a story about a fake fight with my family to get his mom to leave so I could unleash the horrible news.

"I'm pregnant."

Silence.

Me: "What the fuck are we gonna do?"

Him: "I'm going to get another job and take care of you."

While it's typically every mother-to-be's dream to hear that sort of thing when some dudes straight bounce, that was literally the last thing I wanted him to say. I wanted him to tell me he didn't want to have a baby. I wanted him to cry.

I shook my head with vigorous force.

"No. No. No you're not. I don't want this."

I had decided before he even knew the possibility existed. Regardless of his reaction, he didn't get a say. There was no choice for the boy because he was there or because it was his too or whatever. No no no. No.

I spent the night that night and when we woke up the next morning, he reminded me of our beach plans we made with friends the day before and asked me if we could still go. It was right then that I knew I wouldn't be able to rely on him in the way that I would need to if I ever really entertained the idea of going through with the pregnancy. The beach?

I had to go home. I had to tell my parents. I needed them and I needed the truth out of me. I jumped out of his bed and we drove to my house. Me in my car and him in his. When we got there, we went up to my room and I told him to stay there. I wanted to tell them myself and just be away from him.

I went downstairs to the family room where my parents were sitting on their computers.

"I need to talk to you, " I told them with a shaky voice.

They knew. Come on. They had to.

"I'm pregnant."

"Oh no" my mom blurted out.

"... And we're not keeping it."

Her voice fell. "Oh no."

I didn't tell them so I could feel less guilty or get their blessing. I didn't feel guilty and I didn't need anyone's blessing, thank god. I was 22 and knew all I needed was whatever it was going to cost and my own consent.

My dad silently got up and walked upstairs. My mom and I sat in silence while we listed to his footsteps in the hallway above us and knew he was going to retrieve my boyfriend from my room. Or worse.

They both came downstairs and we waited for their words. I can't even tell you what was said to make me cry. I believe in my heart that I pretended to be upset and unsure of my decision but really I had no remorse and knew I needed to get on the phone and call anyone who could help me end this thing.

We fell silent until like in my family's notorious fashion, we left the room quietly, one by one. When my boyfriend left, I jumped online to search for an abortion, praying to fucking god that I wasn't too far along for a doctor to even want to do it. The literal last thing on earth I wanted was a forced pregnancy.

This would be the first time I ever had an experience with Planned Parenthood, but I feel the need to mention that, hey! They offer way more than abortion services!

I learned that 8-12 weeks was the cutoff for an abortion, but I wouldn't know where I was until my appointment, so I took the very first available time they could see me which was 2 days later; Wednesday, August 11th.

In the 3 days that I spent aware of my condition, I only knew I wanted it OUT. I was constantly ill. I couldn't even think about food, much less eat any. I was so irritable and tired. I did not feel like I was glowing or beautiful or sacred. I wanted to kill the baby myself just to feel better. I did not have one single iota of a maternal attachment to my baby. I could only think that every minute that passed was one minute closer to feeling better.

The morning of my procedure was torture. The nausea was always the worst in the morning and naturally we had to be at the facility as early as we could literally to secure a spot. I didn't understand why since we had an appointment but I would soon learn that the appointment came with a "before" interview that was apparently required by Planned Parenthood or the state or whoever. Each patient's interview was sometime before the actual procedure and they all seemed random.

I sat in the waiting room with my boyfriend in silence and observed the room around me. The nonchalant atmosphere affected me more than I thought it would, not because of how sad it was that we were all there to end our pregnancies, but because of how normal it seemed for some of them to be there. I did not regret my decision but I certainly wasn't able to smile or mess around on my phone or close my eyes and take a nap while we waited.

When my name was called, I thought it was because it was "my turn," but I was wrong. I was pulled into a small office by myself; he was not allowed to come with me. I was sat across a nurse lady with a warm smile who asked me questions I never even considered like "are you here with anyone?" and "are you here on your own accord?" and "do you have a support system at home?"

I immediately understood that some girls that come through there maybe didn't make the choice to end their pregnancies based on their circumstances. I only knew what I felt in that moment and that was that my decision was 1000% my own. I made sure to mention that out loud and asked about the others in the waiting room. She said that I was right but also that she had seen a few of the girls more than once. She called them "frequent flyers."

The interview was all of 10 minutes. We paid the $500 and then I was back out in the waiting room.

Finally, my name was called for real. I got up and followed the nurse into the office. I climbed up on the bench and waited for the anesthesiologist and my surgeon, I guess you could call her. I was thankful they were both women.

It only took me 7 or 8 seconds to fall asleep, but I'll never forget still hearing the sound of the vacuum and the pressure of it being moved in and out and around my uterus to make sure it... "got everything." I feel like I REALLY fell asleep only after the procedure was over.

I woke up in a recliner and a diaper in a room with 5 other girls in my exact position. There was nothing glamorous about it. It was a bright room and I was sitting there with no pants and a diaper on. I looked around the room and immediately started crying. It was awful to see and hear and feel. I hated being there and getting myself there and everything about everything. The other girls talked calmly to me, trying to relax me and calm me down with their "it'll be okay's" and other soft hushings I can't even recall. I just remember wondering how they were so alright. It seemed normal to them and I hated them too.

I woke up enough to ask the nurse to tell my boyfriend to come get me. He walked back and helped me get dressed and gather my stuff. I walked out with him and never ever looked back.

He left me sitting in the foyer while he picked up the car and parked it right in front to come back inside and help me. The good thing about him in that moment was that he had had extensive medical training through all of his firefighter training so he was pretty attentive and knowledgeable about how to take care of me after waking up. It was a quiet ride home if I remember correctly. I may have told him a few things but probably nothing like I left here.

When we got back to his house, I was pretty awake and knew I was going to have to pull it together a little bit if I was going to hide the fact that I had just woken up from surgery from his parents.

When we walked in, his dad immediately offered us grilled hot dogs and I realized I was hungrier than I had ever been in my life. It hadn't hit me until I was faced with the idea of food. My boyfriend looked at me as if to let me decide for us both. I nodded and ate 2.

It started, and ended with grilled hot dogs.

And an epic, epic nap.

I woke up to the sound of my idiot boyfriend listening to fire tones and calls on literally every device he owned as if I didn't just go through one of the most traumatic experiences of my life.

Man was I pissed.

And glad I didn't decide to go through with having a baby with him.