#wow okay i didn’t mean it to turn into sort of a mini fic but

[hoteadepresso]

okay so we know Noah said that “Wills story ends beautifully”, so we can be pretty certain that Will isn’t dying, and neither is Mike

but indulge my angst loving ass and picture me this

they all get ready for the final showdown, months of training and anxiety finally coming down to this. will has trained with el and was able to begin controlling his powers. he’s not exactly fully confident and skilled, but it’s enough to give everyone hope. their time has run out, its time to be ready.

so the night before its time to venture into the upside down and finish it once and for all, they make a bonfire by the cabin, one last night all together before it’s time to risk everything and fight for everything and everyone they love. they all huddle in groups and pairs, talking quietly, laughing and enjoying themselves despite the grim reality they need to face soon. jonathan is playing music on his radio he dragged out into the woods, thankfully there’s still electricity in the cabin.

mike and will exchange soft glances and slight, “accidental” hand brushes as they listen to dustin ramble. they have been constantly tiptoeing around each other throughout past few months, sharing emotionally loaded moments and slowly becoming as joined at the hip as they used to be when they were kids. mike has been there to soothe will through his nightmares, which got more awful the more vecna regained his strength, and will has been there to ground mike whenever his anxiety and overthinking got the best of him.

so they shift a bit closer, their arms brushing together, and Will slowly lets his head fall on mike’s arm, his eyes closing. mike’s heart is about to burst in his chest as he allows himself to turn his own head slightly, his nose almost brushing wills hair.

and then heroes by david bowie begin playing in the background, and mike finally manages to get it together, and he stands up and pulls will by the hand into the cabin. will follows him without any objections, even though he’s surprised, and when mike closes the door behind them there’s only a soft glow of the bonfire illuminating the cabin, enough for them to see each other’s faces clearly, but not enough to break the intimacy of the moment.

‘dance with me?’ mike asks, his heart in his throat, throwing the caution out the window because they might not live to see another night like this, and grabs wills hands gently when the other boy nods silently, surprise clear in his bright green eyes, cheeks flushed.

and they sway awkwardly, because none of them is much of a dancer, but when mike twirls him twice with a silly focused expression on his face and will laughs, whole face lighting up, mike cant help but stare at him, tender, longing smile on his face, eyebrows scrunching slightly, and he moves closer, his hands finding wills face, fingers sliding into his hair gently, and he roams wills face with a searching look

will blinks up at him slowly, his lips parting slightly and he grabs the collar of mikes jacket, standing on his tiptoes to press his lips against mike’s, who instantly brings one arm around wills waist to pull him closer.

the kiss is gentle, but there’s a sense of desperation, they both want to imprint it in their brains, to stay there and never stop kissing, as if it could make the looming doom disappear

they pull away after some time, and mike lets out a long, shaky sigh

‘will I-‘

‘no.’ will interrupts, his eyes misted over with tears, as he presses their foreheads together ‘you can tell me when it’s all over’

mike nods slowly, his eyes never leaving wills. they remain glued to each other for the rest of the night, hands clasped together between each other in the soft glow of the fire, not exactly caring that much if their friends, their family notice

and when the day comes, they both push on with a newfound strength, something to fight for even more ferociously than before.

will and el join their forces and after a long, exhausting battle they manage to end vecna once and for all, protecting their loved ones.

and when will turns with s bright smile to look into mike’s eyes, ready to run into his arms, to scream that they won together, his body goes cold when he sees a long, sharp tendril piercing through mikes back right through his chest. one, final evil act of the dying monster.

mike’s face is still lit up in relief, as if he didn’t yet realise his chest was rapidly oozing blood, a soft smile on his lips as he looks at will, before dropping as he starts coughing up blood, the lips that made wills dreams come true last night now stained crimson.

the tendril rips out of the boys chest and he falls to his knees, as everyone snaps out of their shock and screams echo in the wasteland they’re in.

will is by mikes side in seconds, grabbing at him helplessly as his best friend, the boy he loves, falls into his lap, violent, bloody coughs shaking his body as he stared desperately in wills eyes. the deep, dark eyes he loved so much were filled with fear, tears glazing them over, as mike grabbed wills arm tightly.

‘w-will…’

will tries to silence him, nonsense reassurances spilling from his mouth as he sobbed, vaguely aware of nancy pressing her shaking hands against the gaping wound in mikes chest, desperately trying to stop the bleeding as sobs wracked her body.

‘I…’ more blood spilling from his mouth ‘lo—‘

he coughs again, gruesome gurgling sound erupting from his throat as he stilled slowly, his hand dropping from wills arm. his eyes remained aware for a few more seconds, staring desperately at will, before the light behind them went out.

everything is drowned out by wills screams, as he desperately tries to push his head against mike’s heart, as if he could will it to beat again.

his heart.

[ofstarsandvibranium]

Rectify: Part 1

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

As requested by anonymous: It would be awesome if you could make a tfatws Bucky fic or series where the reader is on the list for his making amends because the winter soldier did something to her or someone she loves, and once he gets close to her in some way he ends up falling for her and it’s really angsty but a happy ending !!

A/N: FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER SPOILERS AHEAD!!! also, this will be a mini series that I will HOPEFULLY be able to finish.

The list. Bucky's therapist made him make a list of amends to help him cope and process the horrors of his past. He was slowly making his way through the list.

With the case of Yori, Bucky has been a coward. He's been working his way to befriending the old man, trying to form some sort of relationship with him to eventually break the news that he's the reason why Yori no longer has a son. But he just can't seem to do it. So Yori's name remains uncrossed and he continues on with his list. The person under Yori is you: Y/N L/N.

You were ten years old when you were coming back from a sleepover to find your parents dead in your home. The police told you that you it was a robbery gone wrong and you were lucky you weren't home. But still, that left you without any parents, instead growing up with your aunt and uncle. You always felt like something was wrong pertaining to your parents' death, but you didn't know what. So you went through life just feeling without closure.

You visited your parents as much as you could. Your career in child counseling provided that you were very busy. However, the weekends were the time of seeing them and reminiscing.

That's how Bucky found you.

Around 3pm every Saturday and 12pm Sunday, you would visit your parents' graves. The time you spent there varied, but, on average, you'd stay for about an hour and a half. This was just from what Bucky gathered from watching you for a month.

It was how he found the courage to come up to you and speak with you.

He slowly approaches you, hears your music playing softly from your phone grow louder as he draws near.

Hearing the crunching of the grass, you look up to see him staring down at you, "Um...hi?"

"I'm sorry for your loss," he gestures to your parents' graves.

You give him a polite smile, "Thanks. It's been years since I lost them."

"Doesn't mean their absence still doesn't hurt," he interjects.

You nod in understanding and ask, "Did you lose someone?"

"My parents as well." he stands there for a few seconds in silence then speaks up again, "I'm James," he holds out a gloved hand and you shake it, "Y/N."

After pulling his hand back and shoving it into his pocket, an awkward silence washes over the two of you, to which to break, "So...James, do you...come here often?" then you burst into a chuckle, "I'm sorry. That sounds like a wildly inappropriate pick up line."

Bucky smiles and shakes his head, "No, no. It's fine. But to answer your question, I've, uh, recently started coming here."

"Are you parents buried here?"

"No, no. Um, I....I like to take walks in cemeteries." What the fuck, Bucky??? "I mean, 'cause, you know, it's quiet and peaceful. Barely any people here to really bother you. Just...I can clear my head." Yeah. That works. That should make sense, right?

"Oh. I suppose that's a good point. I come here pretty much every weekend just to visit my parents and I rarely see anyone. So I suppose this is a good place for you to clear your mind and enjoy the silence without the hustle and bustle."

"Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, what do you do when you come here? Just sit in silence?"

You shrug, "Depends how I'm feeling. I'll tell them about my week, anything interesting that's going on. Sometimes I'll have a little picnic, read, journal, listen to some music."

"That sounds....really nice."

You softly smile up at him, "It is. You should try it some time."

Suddenly, your alarm started going off on your phone. You quickly picked up your device, swiping off the alarm and looked back up to Bucky, "Sorry. I have to go." you stood up, collecting your things, "It was nice to meet you, James. I'll see you around!"

You shake his hand again and head to your car. Bucky watches as you drive away and he sighs. He turns to your parents' grave and whispers, "I'm sorry."

____________

The next week, Bucky sat under a tree close to your parent's grave plot so that he could see you clearly and you him.

Right on time, you drove up, hopping out of your car with a picnic basket in hand and some other items.

Bucky sat looking down at the book in his lap, but glancing your way every so often, waiting until-

"Hey," you give a light kick to his boot and he looks up, shooting you a small grin, "Oh hi. Nice to see you again."

"Do you wanna join me?"

Bucky shakes his head, "No, it's fine. I don't want to interrupt your time-"

"It's okay, James. I don't mind. It'd be nice to have some living company for a change," you give a little giggle and he sighs.

"Well if you insist," he snaps his book shut and gets to his feet, following you to your parents' plot. You already have the picnic set up and you sit down, a look of hesitation on your face.

"Um, I kinda packed some extra food, just in case I ran into you today."

Bucky's brows shoot up in surprise, "Wow. Um, thank you. That's-That's really nice."

You hold out a tupperware of pasta salad and hand him a bottle of water. You play music on your phone while you two eat and make idle chatter.

You tell Bucky of your childhood, how your parents were abruptly taken from you, and how you grew up with your aunt and uncle. It provided some relief to him that your growing up parentless wasn't completely bad, that your aunt and uncle provided a sufficient amount of love and care to you on top of their own children.

Bucky was amazed that despite being orphaned at a young age, you were still filled with so much love, heart, and light, and that you wanted to provide as much care and compassion to troubled children. It was admirable.

A few hours past and both you and Bucky didn't realize how much the day has gone.

"Wow, I don't think I've spent this much time here in a day."

"Sorry," Bucky murmurs with a wince as he helps you to your feet.

You shook your head, "Don't be. Today was fun, James."

"Bucky."

"Hm?"

"Call me Bucky. It's a nickname."

"Bucky," you tested the name on your tongue, "It's cute."

For some reason, Bucky felt himself blushing at the compliment. So he looks down, afraid you might see his blushing cheeks and replies, "Thanks."

"Do you wanna have lunch sometime, Bucky?"

His head shoots back up and you look at him surprised, "Huh?"

You shrug, "I don't know. There's just something about you. I want to get to know you more. If that's okay."

"Um," he nervously runs his gloved hands down the side of his jeans, "Yeah. Sure."

"Great!" you take out your phone and hand it to him, "Put your number in." After he does so, you take back your phone, "So I'll call you and we can hash out the details?"

"I'll be waiting," he responds with a chuckle and a smile. He escorts you back to your car and waves as you drive away. Once you're gone, his smile drops and he murmurs, "Shit. I think I like her."

[atlabeth]

everything happens for a reason part 11 - zuko x fem!reader

Memories, where'd you go?

part 10 | masterlist | part 12

a/n: alternative name for this fic: y/n gets a crush on every pretty girl she meets. yue, katara, and now suki. she can't help it (and she questions why they're all connected to sokka in some way lmaoo)

anyways, this is kind of filler but it establishes some more with relationships and finallyyy gets us into ba sing se at the end. i know it's a lil annoying because there's a lot of episode-to-text writing, but i promise it'll get more freeform as it goes on

also i know that i just posted something yesterday but i have literally zero patience. like i cant hold chapters i have to post them as soon as i write them loll

wc: 5.3k

warning(s): some feels over zuko as per usual, but overall a pretty tame chapter

chapter title comes from memories by panic! at the disco!

Zuko could barely sleep anymore.

He didn’t know when his life became so complicated, but he wasn’t a fan of it.

Back when it was just him, his crew, and the open sea — it was simple. He had a job, a straightforward mission. Find the Avatar, capture him, return home to the Fire Nation and regain his honor.

Now, the waters were more muddied than ever. Now on the run from the Fire Nation just like the boy he was chasing, all he really felt nowadays was anger.

Angry at the world for setting him on this path, angry at the Avatar for refusing to see what was necessary, his sister and her friends for turning against him, angry at the waterbender for making things so damn hard.

He didn’t want to hurt her. A part of him wished that she had never come back into his life, if it meant he wouldn’t have to constantly be fighting against her. He hated himself for the thought, but maybe it would have been easier for her to remain a memory of a lover than his active enemy.

Late at night, when he was reaching fruitlessly for sleep that would never come, he saw her face. The carefree energy from their childhood morphed into the shock and disappointment from both the North and their fight with Azula, and…

It made him wonder what in Agni had happened to them.

He—

He didn’t know. The way he felt about her, it was different than anything he had experienced before. Zuko didn’t know what it was, but he understood that it was special. And now… it felt like he had just thrown it all away.

Zuko couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened with her in that town — what he had done to her.

He had burned her to try and get to the Avatar, and he hadn’t even allowed a glance back at the damage he had done. He had heard her cry out in pain, pain he had caused, and he didn’t even look back.

What had happened to them? What had happened to him?

He kept telling himself that the mission was the only thing that mattered. And it was, wasn’t it? Capture the Avatar, regain his honor, get his old life back and finally be enough for his father. He didn’t have time for friends, or for these feelings he had, or— or for anything but capturing the Avatar. Because the Avatar was the key to everything, to his honor, and that was all that mattered.

But now…

Now, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He didn’t know what was right, or what was wrong, or what path was the one he had to take.

Zuko just wished things could be like they used to be.

~~~~~~~~~~

She didn’t really know when everything had become a mess again.

It all started out fine, like it usually did. Toph had become fully integrated into the group, any past squabbles put to rest in the name of a stronger friendship emerging between all five of them. Katara continued to work on Aang’s waterbending (oftentimes Y/N joining them in their sessions) while Toph slowly but steadily beat earthbending into him — literally.

They had all been working hard for so long that, by decree of Aang, it was ‘vacation time’. They would all get to pick out places they wanted to spend as a break, and after it was over they would get back to work.

Aang had chosen some sort of field with musical groundhogs, and Y/N had opted to revisit an Earth Kingdom village that she had passed through on her journey to the North. Sokka had complained the whole time about how they were ‘wasting valuable planning time’, but had finally conceded after the promise of ‘all the planning his heart could desire’ from Katara after their mini-vacations were over.

Y/N was actually feeling somewhat relaxed for once, but she had forgotten the golden rule — never let your guard down. Everytime she let her guard down, something bad happened without fail. So it shouldn’t have been any surprise with what happened in the desert.

Because after one trip to the Misty Palms Oasis and a journey into the desert with a professor to a long lost library, Appa had been taken by desert raiders.

It was… less than favourable. During their escape from the library, Professor Zei had insisted on staying behind, and now the five of them were stuck in the middle of the desert with no way out and zero guidance. Add some brewing tensions between Aang and Toph because of her being there when Appa was taken, and they had a recipe for a huge disaster.

And a disaster they had. Multiple disasters, actually.

There was only so much she and Katara could do to hold the group together, but by some miracle, they made it out of the desert with only one Avatar State mishap.

(And an incident with cactus juice, but… she didn’t really want to talk about that.)

....at least they had the information about the Eclipse. That was about the only thing keeping her together at the moment.

They had to get the information to the Earth King so they could formulate an attack with his warriors, but without Appa, they had to resort to more traditional methods of travel. Add in one passport problem, and that was how Y/N found herself braving the Serpent’s Pass alongside a refugee family with a baby on the way.

It was… intimidating, to say the least. Despite being surrounded by her element, Y/N didn’t feel any safer from the challenge that faced them. She took a deep breath, trying to tamp down on her fear the way her mother had taught her, as she followed the group, but her thoughts were soon interrupted.

“Hey.” She turned to see who the voice belonged to and was greeted by the girl that had teased Sokka early — Suki, if she remembered correctly. “I haven’t seen you around; are you with the Avatar or that family?”

“I’m with Aang,” Y/N explained. “I’m from the North, and they offered me a spot with them after they helped us defend our tribe against the Fire Nation. I’ve been with them ever since.” Suki nodded as they settled into a comfortable stride.

“That’s cool. Are you a waterbender?”

She gestured to her waterskin and smiled. “Yeah. I’ve been training with Aang and Katara ever since I left.” Y/N then turned her gaze back to Suki, raising an inquisitive brow. “Your makeup — what’s it for? I heard you talking about the Kyoshi Warriors back there; is that some kind of thing with Avatar Kyoshi?”

Suki grinned, her every expression heightened by the sharp reds and blacks above her eyes. “We’re a group of all-female warriors that use the teachings of Avatar Kyoshi and her partner Rangi to defend our home and the place she founded, Kyoshi Island. I’m the leader of our village section.”

“Wow,” she murmured, her eyes falling to the ground for a moment before finding their way back up to the warrior. “That’s really cool. You’re really cool.”

She laughed and shrugged. “Thanks. I’ve been training as a warrior for almost my whole life, so it just comes naturally. I like being able to protect people, and there’s no better way to pay back my home for all it’s done for me like protecting the whole village.”

“Wow,” she repeated with a small laugh of her own. “That’s really brave. I gotta say, I’m kinda jealous — I would love to see what would happen if Master Pakku met you all. Katara literally had to beat the sexism out of him in order to train to be a master.”

Suki chuckled. “Sounds like what I had to do with Sokka. Guess it’s a thing with Water Tribe guys, huh?”

At the mention of Sokka, she internally laughed. There had to be some kind of connection between the two of them, the way their interests kept aligning. “Sokka… he’s had it hard. I can’t blame him that much for any kind of attitude he had before he met you. Pakku, on the other hand? He had to have had something better to do than fight teenage girls.”

“You would think so, right?” Suki agreed. “And Sokka… I know. He’s got a heart of gold underneath all that, he just needed a little push to get it out.” As Y/N glanced over at the girl, noticing a slight pink tint under the white makeup, she gasped.

“La’s fins, are you two a thing?” she exclaimed with a grin.

Suki flushed even harder as she suddenly became very interested in the ocean around her, but she couldn’t help the smile on her lips. “No! I mean— yes— but… but—” she stopped to gather her thoughts before making eye contact again with a sheepish smile. “We’re not… really a thing, but… I do like him a lot. I didn’t really think I was going to see him again after they left the island, so this is really nice.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Y/N asked. “I can already tell that he cares about you — have you seen how careful he’s being with you?”

“Well—” Whatever kind of excuse Suki would’ve made up was interrupted by a rock falling out just under Than, one of the refugees they were with, saved in the nick of time with Toph’s earthbending.

“I’m okay!” he reassured, but no sooner had the words left his mouth before the Fire Nation ship in the distance started firing.

“They’ve spotted us!” Sokka yelled. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

Aang flicked his glider open and deflected the blast, and Katara grabbed Y/N’s hand as they all began to run. Another blast rocked the mountain, causing several boulders to fall just above Suki. Y/N didn’t even have time to shout out a warning before Sokka tackled her out of the way, but it was ultimately more of Toph’s quick earthbending that saved him.

“Suki, are you okay?” Sokka brushed dust and pebbles off of her uniform as he examined her, and once he was satisfied he grabbed her hand and helped her up. “You have to be more careful! Come on!”

As the two of them caught up to Y/N and Katara, she gave Suki a knowing look. The warrior only blushed once again and glanced away.

After hours of navigating the pass, they were only about halfway through. Sokka made the executive decision to set up camp for the night to give everyone time to rest, and then they would get up at the crack of dawn to finish their trip. It only took a few minutes for Y/N to get a fire going, and soon everyone had settled in with their sleeping bags. Sokka got up from his spot as Suki wandered closer to the edge, and Katara nudged Y/N with her shoulder.

“Hey. How are your hands doing?”

“They’re fine,” she answered with a small smile, flipping her hands over as proof. Where there were once red burn scars on her palms only tiny white marks remained — one benefit to healing via waterbending was that most injuries were able to fade away completely after enough sessions. Her burns weren’t very serious and she was able to heal them almost immediately, so both her and Katara were sure that the marks would be completely gone soon.

The mental scars wouldn’t fade as easily.

“That’s good. And you’re taking care of them, right? Like, you’re not beating up people while we’re not looking?”

Y/N grinned. “No. I think I’ll leave that to Toph.”

Katara chuckled and nodded, turning her hands over in a final examination before nodding. “Good,” she repeated. The silence between them, although comfortable, stretched out for a little too long before she spoke again, this time much quieter. “He did this to you.”

“Katara…”

“I know,” she said. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this from me, or really at all, but… I’m worried about you. Zuko isn’t good for you. Every time we’ve run into him, he’s hurt you. And you deserve so much more than that.”

“You don’t understand,” she countered. “You don’t know Zuko like I do. You weren’t there when I was. I know you think I’m insane for still believing in him, but I— I can’t let go of him, Katara. I know the Zuko I love is still in there somewhere, and I have to try and find it. For me and for him.”

Katara’s eyes were full of nothing but sympathy as she sighed — it was obvious she didn’t believe her words, but in true fashion she was still trying her best to be supportive.

“Okay. I don’t understand it, but… I don’t think I can change your mind.” Y/N chuckled sadly and nodded, Katara’s piercing gaze meeting her own once more. “It’s just… Why are you playing with fire when you know you’re going to get burned?”

And for once, Y/N didn’t have an answer for her friend.

~~~~~~~~~

The night went by quickly, which Y/N was thankful for. It meant that the nightmares didn’t last as long.

After a quick headcount to make sure no one had fallen off the pass overnight and an even quicker gathering of their things, they set off to finish their journey.

It went just as well as she had expected — a giant serpent, the namesake of the pass, had attacked them while crossing through an underwater section. Thankfully, she was able to aid Katara and Aang in defeating it with waterbending with no casualties

But in the wake of one disaster there was always another, and before Y/N knew it a baby had been born. She was mostly there for moral support — Katara had it all handled, and Y/N didn’t expect anything less.

But finally, they had made it across the pass, and they were so close to Ba Sing Se that she could almost smell the city air. Sadly, though, that meant it was time for them to part ways — Aang to find Appa, and Suki back to her warriors. After some sad but hopeful goodbyes with Aang, it was time to bid farewell to Suki.

“Are you sure you can’t travel a little longer with us?” Y/N questioned, apparently not above pleading to try and get the girl to stay. “You’re— you’re amazing, and we’d really love to have you with us.”

“I can’t even imagine what travelling with the Avatar would be like,” she smiled, causing Y/N to get her hopes up for just a moment before they fell back down. “But I can’t stay. I have to get back to the Kyoshi Warriors.”

Y/N sighed, her gaze falling slightly downcast. “I get that. I just really wish you could stay. Or that I could meet your warriors. You seriously don’t know how cool you are, Suki.”

“Well, if you’re ever in town on Kyoshi Island, find us. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out and do you one better than just meeting them all,” she said with a grin. “I think it’d be pretty cool to have the first waterbending Kyoshi Warrior.”

Y/N was unable to prevent the heat rushing to her cheeks as she smiled shyly, once again averting eye contact. “That would be amazing. I’ll have to find my way back there after the war.”

Suki bumped shoulders with her, causing a startled laugh to spill from her lips. “We’d love to have you.”

“Wait, why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye to her?” Sokka questioned as he walked up to the two of them. Y/N winked at Suki and gestured at him with her head, walking off before Suki could protest to find Katara.

The conversation the two girls were sharing was an extremely thinly veiled excuse to eavesdrop on the lovebirds, and when they kissed Y/N actually had to hold back a scream.

Sokka deserved this. She knew how much he beat himself up over every little thing that went wrong, and it was about time he got to relax even for a moment. She only hoped that Suki would be in their corner of the world sooner rather than later.

What could she say? She was already fantasizing about life as a Kyoshi Warrior.

~~~~~~~~~

Although they had parted ways, they soon found themselves reunited with Aang to stop yet another Fire Nation threat.

“For the love of Kuruk,” Y/N murmured as she stared into the distance, her eyes wide at the sight of a large mechanical drill. “That was Ty Lee who just took down all those soldiers. And if she’s here, Mai and Azula are with her too. Guys, It’s one thing to stop this drill, it’s another thing to take those three down with it.”

“The question is, how do we do it?” Aang questioned.

“Why can nothing ever be easy?” Sokka lamented. His gaze remained trained on the drill for a moment before he realized theirs were on him. “Why are you all looking at me?”

“You’re the idea guy,” Aang said.

“Wait, so I’m the only one who can ever come up with a plan?” he protested. “That’s a lot of pressure!”

“And also the complaining guy,” Katara muttered, drawing a chuckle out from Y/N.

“Now that part I don’t mind,” Sokka admitted.

“Well, Sokka— you were a huge help in the North, and you figured out a way to defeat the Fire Nation during that eclipse at the library! Plus, there’s all that stuff that Katara told me you did before I joined.” She patted him on the back. “If anyone can figure out how to take that thing down, it’s you.”

He shrugged nonchalantly, his ego only slightly bolstered. “...okay. I think I can do it.”

“That’s the spirit!” she said with a smile.

Unfortunately, that smile faded as a young guard came running up to the wall. “Excuse me, Avatar and friends — I’ve heard that you’ve dealt with that… that pink girl down there before.” They nodded and he continued. “It would do us a great deal of help if you could come down and look at our injured soldiers, then.”

Y/N and Katara nodded in unison and started to follow the guard, the remaining three trailing after them. They ended up inside the wall, in what looked like an infirmary of sorts with all the cots and soldiers lying around, and the two waterbenders exchanged looks.

“You know what to do?” Katara asked.

Y/N hummed in acknowledgment, and they both knelt down next to separate cots. “This definitely looks like Ty Lee’s work,” she murmured as she bent water up from the pot and molded it over the man’s arm.

“What’s wrong with him?” the general questioned. “He doesn’t look injured.”

“His chi is blocked,” Katara explained. “Who did this to you?”

“Two girls ambushed us,” the soldier said, moving his arm as he regained feeling. “One of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs and suddenly I couldn't earthbend anymore and I could barely move. Then she cartwheeled away.”

Katara sighed as she bent the water back into the pot. “You were right, Y/N. That was Ty Lee — she doesn’t look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak point. It’s like she takes you down from the inside.”

As if struck by lightning, Sokka lit up. “Oh, oh, oh! What you just said — that’s how we’re going to take down the drill; the same way Ty Lee took down all those earthbenders!”

“By hitting its pressure points!” Toph exclaimed with a grin.

The breakthrough brought a steely determination to Aang’s features as he looked out into the distance. “We’ll take it down from the inside.”

~~~~~~~~~

Like everything they did, it seemed so simple on paper. But now that she was actually inside the drill, it felt a lot more nerve wracking. Toph opted to stay outside where she could see and try to slow down the drill with the earth at her disposal, which left the four of them to somehow take it down from the inside.

Sokka led them through a hallway with a myriad of valves and pipes as he thought out loud. “I need a plan of this machine — some schematics that show what the inside looks like. Then we can find its weak points.”

“Where are we gonna get something like that?” Aang asked.

Sokka thought for a moment before he took his machete out and hacked a valve off a pipe. Y/N instinctively took a step back and shielded her face from the hot steam. “What are you doing?” she cried. “Someone’s gonna hear us!”

“That’s the point!” he exclaimed. “A machine this big needs engineers to run it, and when something breaks—”

“Someone will come down to fix it!” Katara finished with a smile at Aang, a sentiment the boy returned happily.

It was surprisingly easy to take down the engineer once he arrived — with a little bit of frozen mist on Katara’s end, they had the plans they needed. Sokka’s expertise combined with the blueprints got them to the beginning of the outer shell.

“Wow,” Sokka muttered. “It looks a lot thicker than it does in the plans. We’re gonna have to work pretty hard to cut through that.”

Katara crossed her arms. “What’s this ‘we’ stuff? The three of us are gonna have to do all the work.”

“Look, I’m the plan guy!” Sokka explained with a gesture to himself. “You three are the ‘cut up stuff with waterbending’ guys. Together, we’re Team Avatar!”

Katara and Aang looked wholly unamused while Y/N chuckled. “Team Avatar. I like it.”

“Thank you,” he smiled. “At least someone appreciates my genius.”

“Tui’s gills, why do you have to keep boosting his ego?” Katara complained. “Let’s just get this done before it gets worse.”

The three of them got in position — Katara and Aang on opposite sides so they could pass the stream of water between them, and Y/N making the point of the triangle to work on the other side on her own. They were hoping it would be more efficient being able to cut through both sides at the same time, but it was proving to be much more difficult than they had imagined — halfway through the three of them were already exhausted.

By some feat of strength they were able to completely cut through the brace, but their hard work didn’t pay off in quite the way they had imagined — when the beam only shifted a few inches she groaned.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” she breathed as she wiped sweat off of her forehead.

“At this rate,” Katara paused to inhale deeply, “we won’t do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall.”

“I don’t know how many more of those I have in me,” Aang said sadly.

A large creak suddenly rang throughout the large chamber, and they all looked up for the source.

“Did you hear that?” Sokka asked, already backing up to make an exit. “We took it down! We gotta get out of here, fast!”

Just as they reached the door on the other side, a crackle followed by the sound of a man’s voice dashed their hopes. “Congratulations, crew. The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!”

A collective silence hung in the air between them, the threat now even more imminent as their situation sunk in. Mai and Ty Lee had proven effective in taking down any Earth Kingdom threat posed at them, and despite Toph’s skill they knew she couldn’t take down something like this on their own.

They either had to figure out a way to destroy this drill, or the Fire Nation was going to make it into the city.

Sokka ran back over to the brace and pushed against it, putting all his strength into the feat but to no avail. “Come…. on! Move!”

Katara started pacing around in a small circle, crossing her arms again as she tried to think of something. “This is bad. This is really bad.”

“Sokka, that’s not going to work!” Y/N didn’t mean to snap, but the grinding of metal on metal combined with her nervousness got to her. She sighed and ran her hand over her face. “I— I’m sorry. But it’s still not going to work.”

He groaned as he leaned against the brace. “We’re putting everything we have into busting these things, but it’s taking too long!”

Suddenly, Aang jumped up from the ground with stars in his eyes. “Maybe we don’t need to cut all the way through! Toph — she’s been teaching me that you shouldn’t put a hundred percent of your energy in any one strike. Sokka, get in a fighting stance.”

Sokka complied and as Aang talked through his points, he demonstrated it on Sokka. “You've got to be quick and accurate. Hit a series of points and break your opponent's stance. And when he's reeling back, you deliver the final blow. His own weight becomes his downfall, literally.”

As Sokka fell over from the attack, Katara lit up. “So we just need to weaken the braces instead of cutting all the way through—”

“—then I can go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow!” Aang finished.

Y/N helped Sokka up from the ground, his spirits not dampened at all. “Then boom! This whole thing goes down!”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Y/N asked, flexing her fingers to refresh them for all the bending she was going to have to do. “Aang, Katara and I can handle the braces. Focus on getting up to the top before anyone sees you.”

He nodded and they all met each other with determined eyes. “Everyone inside that wall, the whole world — they’re all counting on us.”

“Here, take this. You need this more than I do. ” Katara took her waterskin off and handed it to Aang. “Good luck. And be careful.”

Y/N noticed a slight blush on her cheeks and she had to hold back her smile. That was definitely something she was going to tease her friend about later — when they weren’t trying to stop the Fire Nation from breaking into Ba Sing Se.

“I will,” he assured. Aang slung the strap of the waterskin around his shoulder and took off, and Y/N and Katara got to work breaking through the rest of the braces.

With the knowledge that they only had to cut through half of each column and the revitalization that came from having a plan, their work went by much quicker. Just when they finished the final brace, it all went wrong.

“Good work, Team Avatar!” Sokka cheered. “Now we— Y/N, duck!”

She didn’t question Sokka as she immediately dropped to the ground, something she was immensely thankful for as a blast of blue fire seared past her. Her eyes snapped up to the source of the attack and narrowed in recognition.

“Of course they’re here,” she growled as she pulled herself back up. “We gotta go, now!”

Katara and Sokka nodded and they all started running. Bringing up the rear, Y/N was able to hear Azula’s words right before they split off into an intersection:

“Follow them! I’m going to find the Avatar.”

Sure enough, when she allowed a glance back, Mai and Ty Lee were closing in on them. She flicked open the cap of her waterskin and bent some out, managing to freeze it at just the right moment to block the incoming daggers from Mai. Still running, she melted it quickly and let it fall to the ground before freezing it again, creating some ice on the ground that would hopefully give them a few more seconds of leeway.

“That should give us some time!” she yelled as they turned a corner, finally turning her attention back to the path in front of them. “Any idea how we’re gonna get out of this thing?”

“Maybe!” Sokka yelled back, slowing to a stop as they came to a dead end, a large hatch the only thing at their disposal. He started tugging on the wheel in an attempt to open it, and when Y/N joined in they were able to wrench it open.

“Slurry pipeline?” Katara frowned as she read the sign on the wall and looked at Sokka. “What does that mean?”

“It’s rock and water mixed together,” he explained as they looked into the rushing liquid underneath the hatch. “It means it’s our way out!”

Katara nodded and climbed in, Sokka following close after. The sound of metal footsteps got closer and closer, and Y/N ducked inside just as Mai’s knives clanked against the hatch. Never before had she been so happy to be floating in a stream of slurry.

The rest of their mission went by surprisingly easy — at least, on their end. All it took was some waterbending — earthbending, when Toph joined them — and encouragement from Sokka (though unappreciated by Katara). Whatever magic Aang was working at the top of the drill had done its job, because soon enough the drill had collapsed in on itself.

And now, they had reunited on the top of the wall overlooking the sunset. After the chaos that had been their day, it was nice to just relax for even a moment. And there was no better way to do so than with her friends.

“I just want to say, good effort out there, Team Avatar!” Sokka exclaimed as he threw an arm around Y/N’s shoulder.

“Enough with the ‘Team Avatar’ stuff,” Katara said dryly. “No matter how many times you say it, it’s not going to catch on.”

“I like it, Sokka,” Y/N smiled. “I’ve liked it this whole time.”

“You always appreciate my genius, Y/N,” he mused. “That’s why I appreciate you.” She laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder as he continued to list off names.

“How about… the Boomeraang squad! Eh? See, it’s good because it’s boomerang, and it has Aang in it—”

“Yeah Sokka,” Toph interrupted. “We got it.”

Aang grinned and scratched his head. “I kinda like that one.”

“The Aang Gang. Ooh, the Fearsome Fivesome!”

“You’re crazy,” Toph muttered as she walked away.

“Wait, Sokka—” Y/N pulled away from him and held up her pointer finger. “Aang Gang — what if we combine it, so it’s just the Gaang? But still with Aang’s name?”

And at that moment, Sokka looked more proud than ever. “Oh, you— you are a genius.”

“Oh, spirits,” Katara groaned. “Why do you insist on encouraging him?”

“You’re just jealous of our name-making abilities,” Sokka said haughtily.

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “You two are completely ridiculous, you know that? Let’s just get into the city before the trains stop running.”

Y/N and Sokka winked at each other as they all started walking, unable to keep the smile off of her face. She always thought it was amazing — they went through insane things every day, but at the end of it all she was always able to smile because of them. And as her gaze drifted towards the city in the distance, she hoped it would hold true.

She had no idea what Ba Sing Se had in store for her.

-

shit is gonna happen next chapter so i hope you all are READY bc im not

perm tags: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77

atla tags: @marianne1806 @brown-eyed-thang @akiris

ehfar tags: @chandies-sideblog @zacatecanaaaa @anzanity @randomthingssss @escapingthoughtsandsecrets @shanksfav @shephard17895 @ilovespideyyy @carisi-sonny @selfship-mishaps @i-belong-in-fandoms @ilistentotayswifttocope @i-make-questionable-choices @3leni

[stillebesat]

Christmas Eve (4/5)

Sanders Sides: Janus, Patton, Roman, Virgil Pairings: Past Roceit (was toxic), Familial Moceit (Dad Janus, Son Patton) Blurb: Of all the barriers that Janus expected to have to overcome in order to get his son a pet for Christmas, encountering his Ex, Roman, working in the pet store had never once crossed his mind. Fic Type: Christmas!Eve Fic, Past Lovers to Enemies to ??? trope, Dad!Janus, Kid!Patton, Frogmin!Virgil, MythicalMin!AU, Frogmin!AU Overall Fic Warnings: Past Toxic Relationship Talk, Manipulation/Lying Talk, Human-ish Creatures kept as Pets Taglist in Reblog

To Catch Up: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Roman regretted the words as soon as they left his lips.

The Dameon he knew could spin the truth like a top. His stories sounding so believable that even now, years later, Roman still had very little idea what he actually knew about his Ex...besides the fact that he was a slimy no good lying viper. If he wanted to get a Frogmin for his kid, then Roman was sure Dameon could point to any cage on the shelf, and despite Roman’s years of experience, convince him that whatever cage he picked would be perfectly adequate to hold the Frogmin. 

Oh Crofters, would the Frogmin they picked out be okay going home with them?! He couldn’t remember Dameon being cruel to animals, but the guy had never shown an interest in them either. Sure, Pattey seemed sweet enough but if Dameon was his actual dad then what if it was all just an act. What if--

Dameon huffed, running his fingers through his curly hair, messing it up in a way that Roman had never seen him do when they’d been together. He straightened, briefly meeting Roman’s eyes as he slipped a hand in his pocket, moving a couple of steps down the aisle to give his kid some space to interact with the Frogmins without them hovering.

Reluctantly Roman followed, his attention split between ensuring Pattey wouldn’t reach into the cage and terrorize the Frogmins...and watching his Ex’s every move.

“You and I both know that I could just point to a random cage and convince you I’d bought it elsewhere, but I hope that the picture I took will be more than enough proof that I have the proper setup?” He asked, pulling out his phone and fiddling with it before holding it out to him.

Well...pictures could be faked….but considering Dameon had obviously not expected to see him here...would he have gone so far as to fake a photo? It was possible. He’d done it before to fake several incidents at college parties they’d gone to...but a cage for a new pet for his son? Who would think to fake that? 

Roman exhaled. No. He’d think himself in circles until well past midnight if he tried to read too far inbetween the lines. It was Christmas Eve. Dameon wanted a Frogmin for his son and Pattey seemed genuinely excited to have one. It had to be the truth. He had to believe that. 

For now.

“If you’ve bought some dinky little hamster cage, Dae, I’m not letting you leave here with any creature until you have a proper setup.” He said, taking the phone from him.

Dameon’s eyes flashed, his mouth quirking up in a half smile as he glanced over to his son who’d somehow managed to cox basically every Frogmin in the cage closer to him. 

Impressive for a child. It must be those soft honey eyes.  

“I did do some research beforehand.” 

“You know can’t trust everything on Google right?” Roman asked as he zoomed in on the image of the kid, Pattey, standing next to a cage as tall as he was. He had to admit. It was a nice setup. Not the most expensive home for a Frogmin he’d seen, but it was a good middling sort of cage. Multilevel, plenty of foliage, there was even a mister visible from the side to keep the place humid. 

“I did ask multiple store employees as well...but I got differing answers.” 

Typical. Ask more than one person and you’d get more than one answer. Still. It looked like Dae had managed to get the proper stuff. “What sort of pond do you have within? A bowl?” People always tried to use cheap tupperware to make a pond for their Frogmins, but it never worked out well in the long run. 

Dameon scoffed, taking his phone back, fidgeting with it as he turned his head away to stare at a nearby cage of little Nagas. “As if. It’s a filtered thing. Not a waterfall, I couldn’t risk the splashing, but it has running water. Fresh. Takes up half of the floor of the cage, the rest is moss and dirt.” 

Huh. Despite his reluctance to give his Ex any credit...he really hadn’t done half bad. Roman crossed his arms. “Hideout?”

Dameon shrugged. “There’s a rock cave on the ground, a wooden one higher up, and Pattey had me grab a moss hammock four stores ago. Just in case.” 

Four? “....And just how many stores have you been to today?” On Christmas Eve. Shouldn’t he be like...going to some big fancy party or something? Or…at least getting ready for Santa’s arrival? 

Dameon grimaced, slipping his phone back in his pocket. “Fifteen.” He admitted, keeping his attention firmly on the cage in front of him. 

Roman whistled. Talk about dedication. “Ouch.” 

“Mmm.” His fingers twitched as he glanced to his son, wearing that half smile of his. “No one else in a hundred and fifty miles has them.” 

Roman’s eyebrows shot up. A hundred and FIFTY miles? Dude. Good news. It meant there was a low chance of him ever having to encounter his Ex again after tonight if he drove this far. But Dude. He drove this far? For his son? The Dameon he knew wouldn’t have gone through half as much effort. He would have convinced someone else to do all the work for him instead and then take the credit. 

“Talk about a Hail Mary then coming all the way out here without calling first.” Especially since his store was closing like...right now. “The Mythical Mins have been quite popular this year. You’re lucky my store had the foresight to quadruple our orders.” 

“I did try calling.” Dameon said, holding out a hand to the Nagamins, a flash of wistfulness crossing his face as he watched the minis leisurely slither about within. “After the first two failures...I called the next--oh, six?” He grimaced. “Those who actually answered assured me that they had them in stock--only for us to find that they’d sold out by the time we showed up. I stopped calling after that point. Just looked up the next pet store and drove.”

Wow. That was--- “I didn’t think you’d ever be so persistent. Especially for some kid.” Wait. Roman blanched. That came out so wrong--

Dameon’s eyes flashed with all too familiar anger as he whirled to him, his hands clenching. “He’s not some kid, Roman, he’s my son. And as cliche as it is...I would move heaven and earth to make him happy.” 

Roman jerked his hands up. “I didn’t mean--” Yeesh. And he was hoping to avoid triggering Dameon’s temper. He just hadn’t expected his Ex to be...that protective. Of course, he just hadn’t ever seemed the type to...settle down either. “That came out wrong.” His words were usually wrong in some fashion when Dameon was present. “Honestly, I’d be more surprised if he wasn’t.” 

Dameon exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck, the anger unexpectedly vanishing as quickly as it had sparked. “The eyes right?” He raised a hand to his own golden ones.

“Well...yah. They’re practically the same.” Unfortunately. Though on the kid it was cute instead of terrifying. 

He dropped his hand. “Yah...well you saw it quicker than I did.” He looked back to Pattey. 

Roman blinked. “Wait. You--”

Dameon huffed, shaking his head. “It took me...a bit...to believe he was mine.” He said in a low voice.

Roman scoffed “You saw his eyes and you didn’t--weren’t you expecting him?! Weren’t you there for his birth?”  Hadn’t Dameon just said he would move heaven and earth for the kid? He would have thought--

His Ex ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up further before he gestured to himself. “Do I look like--No. I--I’d--I’m---” He exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You know how I was, Ro--I didn’t--” 

Was. Roman raised an eyebrow. He’d never heard Dameon stutter this much since...well, their first meeting. “And you were always so eloquent.” Flowery words, hidden meanings, barbed compliments. He’d lost more sleep to figuring out just what Dameon had actually said to him and what potential meanings his words held during college than he ever had over studying for finals. 

Dameon rolled his eyes. “Shut up.” 

“Make me.”

Those were fighting words, Roman knew. 

Yet his Ex didn’t rise to the bait. He hunched his shoulders, visibly taking a deep breath before relaxing his hands. “I’m not like that anymore. I’ve chan--” He cut off grimacing.

“....You’ve changed.” He’d heard that particular phrase a dozen times in college. Yet this time...it seemed just a tad more...believable. 

 Dameon exhaled, giving a slight shake of his head before meeting his eyes. “I’m trying to be a better person...and even if I wasn’t,” he gestured to his son, “I would much rather walk out of here with a Frogmin than without one for his sake.” 

Wouldn’t any parent? At least the ones who wanted to prevent a meltdown. Roman tilted his head to the boy. “He is a cute kid.” Despite who his Father was. 

“He is.” Daemon said, that fond half smile appearing on his lips again without any sign of the malice Roman was familiar with. “Some days...I wonder how I got so lucky.” 

Yah...karma had obviously gotten mixed signals there. 

Mentally Roman kicked himself. And that was how he’d end up getting the three Christmas ghosts visiting him tonight. Sure. He was still obviously bitter about his Ex. But he knew people could change. Just because he couldn’t picture Dameon being a good Dad, didn’t mean it wasn’t possible. Not when the apparent proof was standing right before him. “Well...it seems like Fatherhood has done you some good.” 

Red tinged Janus’s cheeks as he raised a single eyebrow. “Is it really that hard to believe? That I could be a good dad?”

Had he ever looked back on their college years? The list of why he wouldn’t be a good dad could easily fill three books. 

But. Roman tilted his hand back and forth. “I only ever knew Liar Dae.” He said simply. 

There was still a chance he was still talking to him right now, though from what he’d seen so far he’d like to believe otherwise.  

Dameon grimaced. “Right.” He ran a hand through his hair again. “Right. I--” 

“DADDY!! PRINCEY!!!” Pattey squealed as he rushed towards them, his hands held up high to show them a tiny figure with purple and black spots hanging on to his fingers for dear life. “I GOT MY FROGMIN!”

Roman blinked, mouth dropping open as he recognized the rebelliously reclusive Frogmin who had sworn over a year ago that he would never go home with any human.

“Virgil?” He whispered taking a half step forward as Dameon dropped to his knees in time to catch his son before he could run face first into their legs. 

“He picked me, Daddy!!” He picked me!” Pattey cried, practically vibrating with excitement as Dae quickly brought his hands up to surround his son’s, keeping the little emo Frogmin from being jostled further. 

“That’s great, Pat!” His Ex said as his cool golden eyes gave the Frogmin a once over, his fingers twitching on his son’s hands. 

Roman made a soft sound in the back of his throat as the Frogmin hissed, ducking down out of sight. 

Yah. That was Virgil alright. The hiss was his trademark sound after he’d learned it from Roman’s own Min, Logan. But why would he come out of his dark little corner to--how had Pattey even convinced him?! Roman himself had tried every trick in the book to warm the dark and stormy emo of a Frogmin up to the idea of being owned by a human.

Nothing had worked.

Though Roman couldn’t remember ever offering spiders as a bribe before. Was that honestly all that it would have taken? A different food source? 

“Virgil?” He asked again, biting his lip as his voice elicited another hiss from the Min and the unwelcome attention of his Ex. 

Dameon looked up, eyes flashing. “Is there a problem?” He asked in such a Karen tone that Roman automatically bristled at it. 

“Ye--No? NO!” He said slashing his hand across his chest in denial. 

Dameon huffed, his hands remaining steady on Pattey’s as he half turned to him, giving him the look. “Roman.” 

Roman glowered at his name, baring his teeth in what could barely be called a smile. “I said, NO, Dameon.” He said working to keep his tone even and obviously failing by how his eyes sharpened. “It’s just that Virgil’s never wanted to go home with anyone before. I’m--” Worried. Surprised. Concerned. Curious. The list could go on forever. He knew Virge after all. And there had been plenty of kids just like Pattey -besides the golden eyes- who’d wanted Frogmins before and Vee had never shown himself to them.

A variety of emotions flashed across Dameon’s face too fast for him to process as his Ex tilted his head, staring at him in such a way that Roman was sure he was analyzing every word he used and movement he’d made. “Worried he won’t be a good fit?” He asked, his tone more mild than Roman had been expecting as he dropped his hands from his son’s, though he could hear a hint of bitterness to it.

He’d be lying if he said the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. But--- Roman exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck as he held out his other hand, tilting it back and forth. “Honestly...Virgil probably likes me about as much as I like you.” He said, watching as Dameon winced.  

“And that means...?”

What else did Dae expect him to say? Their relationship had been toxic. Before ten minutes ago, Roman would have said that all he felt for Dameon was utmost hatred.

Now though? 

It was...it was all so muddled. He was seeing a side of Dae that he’d never seen before. He didn’t know what to think. “Soo--” 

“It means we’ll be besties!!” Patton cried, honey eyes positively lighting up as he bounced in place, eliciting another hiss from the Frogmin. “I’ll be the Prince and Virgil will be the Dragon Witch and together we’ll defeat the evil Aaraog and we’ll all live happily ever after! Right Prince Roman?” Pattey beamed at him, holding his hands out, fingers uncurling so that he could see Virgil. 

The Frogmin growled, dark hair falling in front of his mismatched eyes before he adjusted his legs, jumping to the boy’s shoulder.

Pattey let out a giggle, scrunching up his shoulders. “Vee, that tickles!!”  

Roman let out a breath as Virgil ducked down into the collar of the boy’s jacket. A Happy ending huh? “...Right….That.”

Daemon’s own smile was rather brittle as he stood, ruffling his son’s hair. “Soo…” He said echoing Roman’s tone of voice as he looked up, eyes for once not looking cold and calculating, but...resigned? “It looks like Virgil here wants to come home with my son.” He said, gesturing to the Frogmin peering out from Pattey’s jacket. “Is there paperwork or something I need to fill out for him or--?” 

Right. No need to drag out this conversation any longer now the kid had chosen his new pet. “Yes. You’ll need to fill out forms and Virgil--” He cut off as the Frogmin hissed giving him the middle finger. He tsked. Now that wasn’t appropriate for a child to see.  “Virgil.”  

The Frogmin shook his head, spots slightly glowing as he glowered at him. “No Box, Princey.” He said, with a slight echo to his voice. 

Princey? Roman pursed his lips together. Of course the Emo Nightmare chose to finally speak to him now that he was leaving the store. Typical. A true Christmas Miracle. Logan would be so proud to hear that the little EmoFrogmare had finally broken his silence to Roman. 

Pattey reached up, cupping his hand protectively around the Frogmin as he gave Roman the saddest puppy dog look he’d seen this holiday season with the watery eyes, trembling lip and everything. “Vee can stay with me right? I’ll keep him warm.” 

Yes, but-- “You know that’s not our policy, Vir--” He exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose as Virgil let out an even longer hiss sounding like an agitated rattlesnake. “Fine. Fine. But if you fall and break your leg it’s not my fault.” 

Dameon coughed into his hand, doing a poor job of hiding his smile as Virgil flashed him a thumbs up, curling up against Pattey’s neck as the boy gasped, eyes going wide. 

“No! No breaking! He’ll stay Safe!! Virgil is MY PROTECTOR!! He’s eating the spiders!” He said, shaking his head hard enough that the Frogmin would have fallen if the kid’s hand hadn’t been right there for him to cling to with his little sticky fingers. “Promise!” 

And this was the boy EmoFrogmare wanted to go home with? Roman didn’t understand at all. He raised an eyebrow as Vee settled once more on Pattey’s shoulder. “That’s good. Just be careful alright?”  

Virgil hissed in response, baring his teeth at them.

“He really doesn’t like you does he?” Daemon commented in a low voice.

Roman rolled his eyes, gesturing for his Ex to follow him to the checkout counter so he could grab the proper forms. “Nope.” He said, popping the P. It was kinda irritating too. He could charm all the other Mins in the store and get them more comfortable and out of their shells before going to their new homes, but Virgil had never warmed up to him. 

Dameon gave him a crooked smile. “I’m sorry.”

Roman stiffened at the unexpected third apology falling easily from the snake’s lips. How could he say it now for something that wasn’t even his fault when he couldn’t even apologize for--for...everything that had happened between them back in college? 

He shook his head, waving it away. “Don’t be--well you can be once you pay for him.” He said, jabbing a finger in his Ex’s direction before pulling out the forms and a pen. “Then his bad behavior is on you, not me.”

To Be Continued.  Part 5

[samanthadalton]

Gift and a curse part 1

pairings: Bianca x f! mc (Charlie) 

A lot of you actually wanted this fic which makes me so happy because Bianca deserves all the love. 

(also just wanted to add that when i played the game i romanced mackenzie but for this fic and for the story to make sense i’m romancing adam)

context: rewrite of chapter 12, where Bianca admits her feelings for mc and I give their relationship a bit more depth 

reader discretion is advised as there’s mentions of slight internalised homophobia and abuse 

taglist: @cloud9in @jaxsmutsuo @penda-bear @alleycat97 @kawaiibanditmoneytaco @crazzyplays @avalawrencefl @itszdavenport @annamaries-things @rory2107 @gamechoices-player @oxjenayxo @suoirallesalta @boopbapbeepbop @queensayeed @fantasy-of-fiction @baronyvampire @vampiregod325 @waterinathermostat @sanguetripasebolodechocolate (i added people who replied, reblogged and liked my post asking about the fic, some people weren’t showing up on the tag im sorry :((( but if you wanna be added or taken off let me know 😊) 

word count: 3.4k 

After spending the night making up with Adam, Charlie stands on her front porch, savoring the feel of the sun on her skin, reveling in the wave of content that is washing all over her. She’s broken out of her reverie when a familiar voice calls out to her and a small smile creeps up on her lips. 

“Beautiful day right?” Bianca walks down the pathway, her neck craned upwards gazing up at the sky. 

Charlie hums in response, “even more now that you’re here.” She catches Bianca freeze for a split second before plastering a bright smile as she walks up the steps to stand next to her. “So what brings you over here?” Charlie takes a small sip from her glass of iced tea before settling it down on the small table next to her, looking over at the model expectedly. 

“Just wanted to check up on you after yesterday, it was kinda intense. How did it go with Adam?” 

“We had a long talk last night and I finally feel like we’re on the same page again. We managed to put the whole elopement thing behind us.” Charlie waves her hand, dismissing her original predicament, “again thank you for your advice on the roof, it helped me get my head straight.”

When Charlie glances over at Bianca, there seems to be a shift in her energy, her usual peppy self is replaced with an unfamiliar expression on her face, one filled with anguish. “That’s…great. I’m glad to hear it.” 

Charlie lets out a small laugh, “yeah that sounded really convincing.” She squints her eyes, assessing the model. Bianca looks like a deer in headlights, as she watches Charlie’s gaze roam up and down her body, before the AME contestant flashes a teasing smile. “Oooohhhhh. I see what’s going on here.” Charlie says tauntingly. 

Bianca splutters, “oh- you, you do?” A blush creeps up to her cheeks as she shifts awkwardly, unable to meet Charlie’s gaze. 

“I think someone has a little crush.” Charlie jests taking a small step forward. “You were hoping Adam and I don’t make up because you want Adam all to yourself.” 

“Charlie..” Bianca trails off as the girl teasingly pokes at her side, all colour drained from her face. 

“That ‘honey’” Charlie raises her fingers in air quotes, “of yours that you were being all secretive about, you were talking about him right?” 

“You don’t get it. Adam isn’t the one I like.” Bianca blurts out as she snaps her gaze up to the brunette, her eyes staring longingly. Realisation begins to dawn on Charlie as she comprehends Bianca’s revelation and all sense of amusement is wiped from her face. 

“I- what?” Charlie begins blinking rapidly, stunned into submission. 

“It’s you I have feelings for.” Bianca looks at the girl with sadness in her eyes as the silence looms between the two of them. Worry seems to take over Charlie, as her eyes roam the space in front of them, she knows Bianca would never intentionally sabotage her but being on AME means there are prying eyes everywhere and the last thing she needs is for Vince to have some leverage over her. She grabs Bianca’s hand and pulls her into the house, closing the front door behind them. 

“I don’t know what to say.” Simultaneously the girls’ gaze drift down to their intertwined hands and Charlie carefully tears her hand out of Bianca’s before running a distressed hand over her face. “How long have you felt this way, I mean I didn’t even know you liked girls like that.”

Bianca visibly tenses, a grimace appearing on her face, “it’s been on and off season 1 and 2 of AME. I thought I could suppress my feelings but after our kiss in Vegas it’s only been getting stronger.” Bianca sighs heavily, slumping her shoulders tiredly as makes her way to the living room, collapsing onto the couch. Charlie follows close behind and sits next to her, while keeping a safe distance between herself and the model. “And I’ve always been attracted to girls but,” she sinks further into the couch, her entire demeanour crestfallen. “Being a lesbian model in an industry as cutthroat as the model one isn’t easy. A lot of people just assume that it’s easy and that I’m this carefree or this egotistical person and-” she trails off unable to finish her sentence. 

“Hey,” Charlie shifts in her seat, edging closer to Biance, wrapping her in a hug, “you don’t have to explain anything I get it.” She soothing rubs her back, as Bianca settles her face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent, feeling lulled by the sense of security it brings her. “I just, I-, Bianca I’m getting married in a couple of weeks.”

“I know,” Bianca pulls herself out of Charlie’s arms, wiping away the few tears on her face. “I’m sorry to put you in this position Charlie but I just know I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t say anything.” She sits up a little straighter, conviction beginning to settle in her. “Charlie if you don’t feel the same, tell me right now and I’ll walk away and we can pretend that this didn’t happen, and I’ll make peace with the fact that you choose Adam.” 

Charlie gawks at Bianca, perplexed, the silence from the AME contestant an indication that the feelings may be returned. The model takes her chances and takes Charlie’s hand in hers, her thumb circling the brunette’s knuckles. “Or.. we can acknowledge that you feel something for me, whether it’s a tiny spark or whatever, you feel something for me and we do something about it.” 

Charlie pulls her hand out of Bianca’s and exasperatingly huffs, “what are you talking about?” 

“Come on Charlie, it’s just us here,” Bianca gestures to the empty room, “I know you picked up on my indirect flirting,” although her tone is teasing, her eyes tell a different story. Charlie feels herself almost losing herself in the intensity of Bianca’s hazel eyes but her mind drifts to Adam and she tears her gaze away from her. 

“Maybe, but Bianca this is crazy, I don’t even know what I feel.”

“Then go on a date with me.” 

“What? Oh my god.” Charlie looks at Bianca, shocked while Bianca’s expression is full of determination. 

“We’ve never been on a solo date so go on one with me, tomorrow.” 

“I-, what about Adam?” 

“What about him? Charlie this is about you and your feelings, and I know they exist because you haven’t denied it.” Charlie laughs, shaking her head slightly, the AME contestant is a lot of things but a liar isn’t one of them, at least not when it comes to real life. “Don’t you wanna explore this and see where it goes? Who knows, maybe you’ll be surprised.” 

Charlie knows she should say no, her and Adam are finally in a good place but a tiny part of her knows Bianca is right and she can feel the butterflies in her stomach as the model watches her. “Okay.” 

……

The next day after the challenge, Bianca drags Charlie away from the rest of the group and takes her to the rooftop of the AME mansion. Awaiting for the pair is a blanket carefully laid out on the floor, surrounded by pillows and a big picnic basket sitting in the middle. 

Stunned, Charlie turns to Bianca, admiration in her eyes, “Bianca you did all of this for me?” 

Bianca flashes one of her dazzling smiles before settling on the blanket and patting the seat next to her, “of course I did babe. Now come and sit.” Charlie moves to sit opposite the model, she cranes her neck upwards to catch the faint light of the sun shining through the sky behind the clouds. 

“How did you even get all of this up here?” 

“I told the production team that the bride demanded a mini picnic and that they should oblige with her requests or face her wrath.” 

“My wrath? You make me sound like some sort of villain.” 

“You? A villain? Never. Now lets see what they have in here.” Bianca scrambles through the picnic basket and pulls out a bottle of champagne and a platter of mini sandwiches. 

“Wow, this looks really good.” Charlie picks up a sandwich, and all but moans when she takes a bite, “oh my god this is the best sandwich I’ve ever had.” 

“Let me taste,” Bianca leans forward and opens her mouth a little and Charlie places the rest of her sandwich in the model’s mouth, her fingers slightly brushing over her lips as she does. They both feel a jolt of electricity, but Charlie quickly retracts her hand, and anxiously settles it by her side. 

“So.” 

“So.” 

The girls awkwardly trail off looking off into the distance before the sounds of Bianca pouring the champagne breaks the silence. 

“Look babe, I don’t want this to be awkward. I mean we’re best friends, there’s no reason why we can’t use this time to get to know each other better.” She offers Charlie one of the flutes of champagne, which is gratefully accepts. 

“You’re right, so where do we start?” The girls clink their glasses together and the conversation begins to flow smoothly. 

Bianca talks about her past, how her family grew up poor and how she turned to modelling so she could financially support her parents. Charlie laughs along as Bianca tells her the story of her first gig and how she lied about her age so she could legally be there and how her mother wasn’t happy with Bianca taking up modelling at first, but couldn’t be prouder once she began making it in the big leagues. Bianca also tells Charlie about the issues surrounding her sexuality, how she has to hide who she is because she doesn’t want to be blacklisted or seen as an outcast just because she loves women, because models tend to be very judgmental. Charlie intently listens, part of her gratified that Bianca is sharing this part of her life with her, because it’s definitely not easy for her too. 

When Bianca bares her soul in front of Charlie, Charlie only finds it fitting to bare hers too. She goes deep about her life, things that she hasn’t even told Adam about because she’s worried about what he might think or say. But there’s something enticing about Bianca that simply makes it easy for her to tell her anything. And so Charlie tells Bianca about her abusive father, how he made her and her mother’s life hell for years until her mother had the courage to leave him and since then they haven’t looked back. She talks about how she went to school for a degree in economics but couldn't really find a secure job once she left college so she had to work in a small bookstore so she could make a living. 

The conversation wasn’t all doom and gloom, the two reminisced about past relationships and embarrassing moments, their hopes and dreams, practically every topic under the sun. However, there was one subject that didn’t come up and that was AME. No words were spoken about production, Adam, the show itself, it’s like the girls completely forgot that world existed. After talking for hours, Charlie sighs and moves to stand, stretching her arms as she does. 

“Hey where are you going?” Bianca playfully asks, throwing a grape at the girl’s leg. 

“I just need to stretch my legs a little, god knows how long we’ve been sitting like this.” 

Charlie moves towards the edge of the rooftop looking over the building, her gaze wistful as her mind wonders. Bianca joins her, her arms resting on the wall. 

“What’s on your mind?” 

Charlie doesn’t tear her gaze from her sky, her voice is low and soft as she speaks, “everything.” She turns her head and lifts it to gaze at Bianca, “have you noticed how we haven’t spoken about Adam at all tonight.” 

“Yeah I have. But you can tell me whatever’s on your mind. We’re friends before anything else.” 

Charlie laughs derisively, “no offence but I think you’ll be kinda biased.” 

Biance lets out a small airy laugh, “I promise to be as objective as I can.” 

Charlie sighs before looking out at the entrance of the mansion, the glow of the lights illuminating the pathway, a stark contrast to the dark night sky. “Tonight has been.. nice.” 

“Just nice?” Bianca teasingly raises an eyebrow which Charlie catches in her peripheral vision. 

“I mean it wasn’t what I was expecting. Some of the stuff I’ve told you, I’ve-, I’ve never told anyone before, not even Adam.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah, oh. I thought tonight would give me some clarity, but I’m just more confused than ever.” 

“And why’s that?” Bianca hums. 

“Because.. I think I’m falling for you and I don’t know what that means for Adam and I because I still love him too.” 

Hope glimmers in Bianca’s eyes when Charlie looks up at her, fear creeping into her own eyes. 

“You know what I think?” 

“What?” Charlie softly says. 

“I think that you do love Adam but,” Bianca has a pensive look on her face for a few seconds before it slowly shifts into resolve as it settles into her features. “But, I don’t think you’re in love with him. At least not anymore. I think you’re afraid of upsetting anyone or hurting anyone’s feelings so you’re forcing yourself to go ahead with this wedding when it’s not what you want.” 

Silence stretches between the two as Charlie mulls over Bianca’s words, her brows furrowed together in contemplation. 

“Charlie?” Charlie hums non-committedly, still lost in thought. “Charlie.” Bianca says a bit more sternly, which gets Charlie’s attention jerking her out of her thoughts. “Look babe, I think you’ve done so much for this show, I mean you’re having a wedding on national tv just to please the fans. I think you need to start doing things for yourself, be a little selfish.” 

The air between them crackles with intensity as the two look at each other, desire slowly beginning to flood in their system. Charlie deftly looks at Bianca’s lips before looking back up at her eyes, uncertainty looming before her eyes but she takes the plunge leaning forward capturing Bianca’s lips in a sweet kiss. Bianca moans a little as she deepens the kiss, her tongue tangling with Charlie’s as her hand moves to grip at the brunette’s waist. A familiar voice booms out behind them, and Charlie suddenly jerks back, horror plastered all over her face. 

“Mackenzie.” 

Mackenzie hovers by the entrance of the rooftop, nostrils flaring in anger, as her eyes dart between Charlie and Biance. 

“What the hell is going on here?” 

“Mackenzie it’s not what you think I-” Mackenzie raises her hand, and the words die out in Charlie’s mouth, as tears threaten to fall. Bianca, too stunned to move, stands awkwardly, her mouth hanging open but not daring to speak. 

“I think you need to leave,” Mackenzie’s glare snaps to Bianca, who solemnly nods in acceptance. 

“I’ll catch you around,” Bianca squeaks out before shuffling towards the exit of the rooftop. She throws Charlie an apologetic look before leaving the two girls on their own. 

“You have some explaining to do.” Mackenzie crosses over to Charlie, her arms crossed together, while she gives the girl a deathly glare. Charlie apprehensively wrings her fingers together, unable to meet Mackenzie’s gaze. “Why the hell are you kissing Bianca?”

A dam seems to break in Charlie, hot tears begin streaking down her face, as she begins to sob uncontrollably. Some of the anger in Mackenzie begins to dissipate as she tries to console her. “I don’t know what to do Mack.” 

“Let’s sit down.” Mackenzie guides Charlie to one of the chairs before pulling one out for herself and sits on it facing the brunette. The tough girl awkwardly pats Charlie’s leg as Charlie’s breathing becomes frantic, her chest heaving heavily. “Hey it’s okay.” Mackenzie does an exercise to help Charlie control her breaths, telling the AME contestant to slowly inhale, hold and then to exhale. After a couple of tries, Charlie feels like she’s back in control and nods gratefully at the tough girl. “Charlie, you need to tell me what’s going on.” 

Charlie takes in a deep breath and proceeds to tell Mackenzie everything, from Bianca’s admission to her indecisiveness between the model and her fiance. Mackenzie nods her head along to the brunette’s admittance, a blank expression on her face. 

“I don’t know what to do Mack, I’m torn.” 

“Are you serious? You love Adam, you’re going to marry him in a couple of weeks.” Mackenzie looks down at the ring that sits on Charlie’s finger.  

Charlie exasperatingly throws her hands in the air, “I know that! I’m not sure if that’s what I want anymore.” 

Mackenzie sits back in her seat, contemplating, “I’m one of your best friends, and I made a promise to you that I would do whatever I could to make this the best wedding ever.” she runs a distressed hand through her hair, “are you sure about Bianca? I mean this could be a crush or-” 

Charlie violently shakes her head, “no. It’s not a crush. It’s like-” Charlie gazes at Mackenzie, a euphoric look glistening in her eyes, “when you were younger did you ever want something so bad but you thought you couldn’t have it. And when you finally got it, it exceeded all of your expectations and made you happier than you thought was ever possible?” Mackenzie, purses her lips, her eyes lost in thought. A few moments later she nods. “That’s what it feels like with Bianca. I’ve always felt drawn to her, but I didn’t think she ever liked me like that, I didn’t think it was possible. But now it’s a possibility and I think that I can be happy with her. But the practical side of me thinks that I’m rushing into it. That I’m acting too rash or impulsive and that if I choose her I lose the stability I have with Adam and then I end up getting burned in the end because I’m rushing into something I barely know anything about.” Charlie shakes her head, “I’ve never felt so confused before.” 

“You know I’m never one for the sentimental crap but I think deep down you know what you want, I think you’re just afraid of hurting someone you care about.” 

Charlie laughs, “you know, Bianca said the exact same thing.” 

Mackenzie smiles, “and here I thought she was just another dumbwitted model.” Charlie playful swats at Mackenzie who laughs. “For real, I think you need to have a deep conversation with yourself and weigh out all the pros and cons. But I feel like you already know the answer.” 

Both of the girls fall into a silence as Charlie looks down at her ring, fiddling with it as she ponders. When she speaks, her voice is low and shaky. 

“How do I tell him?” Charlie's voice cracks as her lips quiver, as she holds back another wave of tears.

“If he truly loves you he’ll understand. It might take him a while but he’ll get it, he’s a good guy. He only wants you to be happy.” 

“You make it sound so easy.” 

“Heh. I guess I’m just not one for indecisiveness, I usually know what I want and I go for it.” 

“I envy you for that.” Charlie’s eyebrows furrow together, a skeptical expression on her face. “Do you think I’m rushing into it with her?” 

Mackenzie shakes her head, “no, I don’t. I’ve seen the way she looks at you. I mean if I knew she’s a lesbian I would’ve put two and two together but, sometimes you just know who you want to be with. I mean, look at Adam’s parents. They knew each other for 3 months before they got married and they’ve been happily married ever since. You know what Adam’s dad told me his only regret was?” 

Charlie shakes her head, “what was it?” 

“His only regret was that he didn’t ask her to marry him sooner.” Charlie breaks out into a wide smile which Mackenzie returns. “Adam’s probably still awake, you should go and talk to him.” 

Charlie nods with determination, letting out a huge breath, “you’re right, I shouldn’t delay it.”

[kyluxtrashpit]

2020 Fic Recap

I really like writing these and 2020 has been a HELL of a year, so here we go lmao. It’s been a wild ride for sure

Total wordcount: 88 109 words (note: I’m subtracting the ‘sorry I didn’t finish this, here’s a summary of the remaining plot’ that I published for a fic in a previous fandom from this since it’s not relevant here). Overall I wrote less than last year, but given all that happened in terms of the world and personally and fandom-wise and all of it, I don’t feel too bad about it lmao. I also have a lot of WIP words of half-finished things and some planning and such so I feel okay with this

Favours, 4906 words, posted Jan 4

This was a weird one cause this is a two chapter reader insert fic, the same story but told with both Phasma and Hux. I originally wrote this for Phasma, but later decided it would be easy to tweak into a Hux story (which it was lmao) and figured people might like that, so I did both. I had fun doing it, even if this is kind of a very small niche ship and trope wise

Know Your Shadow, 5022 words, posted Feb 16

Ah yes, here we are, the first foray into renben, a ship I had NO idea would grab me so hard but here we are lmao. I’m not done with them either yet, don’t you worry. There’s something about the corruption angle I really like, also Ren is HOT, and it’s also interesting to think about Kylo truly getting to find himself and be who he wants to be. Canon didn’t really satisfy on this, but the concept still interests me and it’s what had me writing this fic. Also, Ben losing his virginity to an older man like Ren is just *chef’s kiss*

Public Indecency, 3719 words, posted Mar 1

And my second renben! This was partially inspired by art and partially by just the idea of not giving one single fuck, and how thrilling that must be for someone like Ben to experience. Ren and the KOR truly do not give a shit and it’s really beautiful in a way. Plus some hinting at found family with the KOR. Ngl, Ben/Kylo finding his place and acceptance with the KOR makes me so Soft and there’s so many words I could write about it. Plus public sex is very hot lmao

Beautiful, 3254 words, posted Mar 8

Back to kylux, and this one was an old WIP I started back when the prompt was first posted on KHK in like 2019 or something. I got stuck on it and then left it for a while. I was digging through my old WIPs, looking for something that might catch my interest and boom, this one did, so I finished it and then posted it. I quite like the fic and it’s a bit more in the ~classic~ style. It’s also always a good feeling to get an old WIP done lmao

Choose Your Destiny, 5077 words, posted Mar 20

More renben and this was my fix it fic for ROKR vol 4. I talked about this more on twitter at the time and why I found the story as it was unsatisfying, but ultimately it’s really just a case of rushed writing and playing into established bad writing (e.g. showing a fall from grace by having someone kill someone eviler than themselves). I also really liked Ren and I felt like Kylo didn’t really get to have enough agency in like... any of it. His motivations were weirdly absent as well, despite this being ostensibly about him. So I wrote this, which I think handled how the story should have gone a lot better and, plus, it’s got smut!

(Okay and the rest are behind a cut for length)

Show of Devotion, 2479 words, posted Mar 28

Renben once again and this time, I mean, it’s all inappropriate use of lightsabers lmao. I was looking at the Ren and was like ‘wow that is SO phallic’ and then the horny brain turned on and, well, here we are. I also wanted a side of found family with the KOR and I think got that with this. It’s horny. It’s fun. What more could one want?

Aural, 2729 words, posted May 12

Okay this one... I have absolutely no excuses for lmao. I’m not even sure where the inspiration came from, I just remember I was in an online work meeting that was boring and the entire sequence of events played itself out in my head. It was all I could do to focus on work for the rest of the day and not immediately write this cursed creation lmao. The worst part was I’d been totally blocked on writing since March and this, THIS, was what eventually broke out of me. In case you haven’t read this one, it’s ear sex. Hux’s dick, Kylo’s ear. No, I don’t know the logistics either. But hey, I had a blast with it, both in terms of writing it and the reactions lmao. Someday I gotta write a follow up involving a nose too

Missed Chances, 10 749 words, posted Jun 7

Ah yes, this is the point where my renben met my kylux and created this absolutely enormous peanut butter cup of a fic lmao. It really was supposed to be like half the length it was, but alas, it was not. Also cockblocking kylux was SO hard, they wanted to fuck SO bad, but I had to stop them, the story demanded it lmao (and people in the comments were MAD, which is always excellent). It’s also when my renben series really started to have like, an overarching plot (aside from the modern au fics which I’ll talk about later). I even still have more instalments planned

Free Use, 6971 words, posted Jun 23

Another one that turned out far longer than initially planned, and also my most popular fic this year! I’m both surprised and not cause like. It’s a complete smut fest + my heavy headcanoning of the personalities of the KOR. People like smut, but I also feel it’s kinda niche considering how deep I’m in for the KOR lmao. So idk, I guess the smut won out. I did have a lot of fun with this one and there’s a lot of characterization thought put into each KOR, so it was really nice to see people loving that as much as I did. Canon gave us crumbs, but I just used them to make meatballs

Eat You Up, 1573 words, posted Jul 5

There’s not a lot to this one, it’s really just renben rimming cause the sexual dynamic with renben is so fun. Kylo/Ben is inexperienced yet eager and depraved enough to impress Ren, which is something considering I think of Ren as Very Experienced lmao. I really do love this ship; it’s a lot of fun to play with

In the Vents, 2002 words, posted Aug 3

Ah and this was my first piece for the stuck inside event on twitter, which I had a lot of fun with. Stuck fetish is one I’ve always wanted to explore, but never had any concrete ideas for. This event led to me finally getting to have Kylo stuck in a wall (plus more as well), which was fun. Also I spent far too long thinking about Hux’s vent contraption set up cause I knew he would never let Millie go anywhere that might hurt her, so I had to come up with a way to make the vent safe and here we are lmao. Hux being an engineer and also the most extra cat owner in existence worked out very well indeed. This was also the start of my creativity boom near the middle-end of the year that uh kinda burned out in a not so great way, but I’ll talk about that later lmao

Distraction, 3658 words, posted Aug 6

Another for the stuck inside event and another kylux/renben sandwich! Also featuring the KOR this time! Listen... it’s a gangbang, it’s got renben, it’s got kylux, it’s got Kylo getting stuffed from all ends... this is the kind of fic that, to me, is pure indulgence lmao. I had a tremendous amount of fun with it

Entrapped, 3484 words, posted Aug 8

So this was also for the stuck inside event (yes, I wrote 3 fics in about a week lmao - I don’t know how I did it either) and it’s darker than the sort of things I usually write. I enjoyed exploring something like this though, something outside my usual purview. It didn’t perform super well, but tbh the dark ones rarely do so lmao

Pit Stop, 1505 words, posted Aug 31

Welp, this is just an excuse for watersports lmao. I like piss, what can I say? And I’ve done it to kylux, so I had to do it to renben, and the modern au ‘need to pee on a road trip’ seemed like the perfect opportunity for it. Not much to say for it really

The Deal, 2431 words, posted Sep 3

Ah and this one here was the first for the throwback event I ran on twitter! The event itself ended up kind of being tainted by drama from one singular person who kind of ruined it by being a jerk for literally no good reason, but I’m not going to talk too much about that. Even with that, I still greatly enjoyed it and this piece might be my favourite from it as a whole. Kylo Amidala, political scandals, neither of them being nice... ahhhh yes, it definitely brought me back lmao

Devotion, 1929 words, posted Sep 10

Another for the throwback event, this time with Emperor and Hound dynamics which, unf, yes, I will literally never get tired of it. I really had fun with every fic from this event and this one was great because I so rarely get to write real action scenes, even if they’re in a flashback here. That and the dynamic itself really made it fun

To Be Wanted, 10 473 words, posted Sep 16

Ah yes, and here is my KBB for the year! I did a minibang this time, as, well, everything was going horribly wrong around the time of sign ups and I thought a mini would be more realistic. I think I was right on that and I’m glad I did it, even if I was torn at the time. The idea itself is one I’d been thinking about for a while. I can’t remember if I thought of it after seeing the leaks for tros or after watching the movie itself, but it’s been with me for a while and while I dithered over whether or not to sign up this year, the idea came back and was just perfect for a minibang. Plus I got an absolutely amazing and wonderful partner, which is really what makes the experience of doing bangs so great. I love this fic, I LOVE the art for it, and the whole experience was definitely a highlight to 2020 as a whole, both overall and in terms of my fandom/writing experience this year

Floss Me, 2033 words, posted Sep 21

My third for the throwback event and also the dental fetish fic I’ve wanted to write for a while now lmao but could never figure out a scenario for. As some of you may remember, 2018-2019, I went through some pretty horrific dental stuff and ultimately I think it kinda gave me a fetish lmao. Also I feel like there may or may not have been a kinky flossing prompt on one of the prompt sites at some point, but I looked everywhere and couldn’t find it so. But anyway, it was a fun fic for a kink I think is quite underrated tbh

The Cost of Certainty, 2541 words, posted Sep 25

My fourth and final piece for the throwback event, and this one is also a contender for my favourite piece from that event. I have always loved the idea of Hux being a serial killer and this was a perfect excuse to write it. I’d also recently finished a rewatch of Hannibal and, well, you can see where this came from lmao. I love writing tension and it was just very fun all around. I almost wish I’d done something like this as a long fic but tbh I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed writing it as much

Huxloween Drawings, 676 words, posted Nov 1

So this isn’t a fic but rather the drawings I did for huxloween, but people wanted them on ao3, so posted they are. Now, I mentioned above that I had this massive creative boom in Aug-Sep, but that it burned out rather badly. This is when that happened. I got into this place where I just... felt like everything I made wasn’t wanted or needed in the fandom. That everything I like is so unpopular at this point that I should just give up and leave. That I’ve spent all this time and energy over the years trying so desperately to get people engaged and so few ever cared and I just... ugh. It was bad. It was really bad and definitely partly fuelled by the bullshit that someone brought up regarding the throwback event (and I still believe that they are the sole cause of it’s poor reception). I, uh, am doing better now and still working through it all but it was a really rough time. But I found myself still wanting to be creative so I decided to draw. I am not good at drawing. I am not an artist. But that’s what made it fun: I went into each drawing knowing it wasn’t gonna look great. That wasn’t the point. So I never got upset about it. I think it helped me a lot tbh and I did really enjoy it and I’m glad I did it

Unconventional, 7243 words (in progress), updated Dec 20, first posted Nov 18

So the next part of me trying to fix the bullshit in my brain creativity-wise was to post the first chapter to this fic. This is a piece I’ve been working on since 2016-2017 (I don’t remember exactly when, but it was pre-TLJ, and I’ve gotten a new computer since so I don’t have the original creation date of the document) but I could just... never get a plot together for it and ever since I abandoned a fic in my old fandom (and this year I finally posted the ‘sorry this isn’t getting finished, here’s a closure summary’ chapter), I’ve been hesitant to post WIPs before being at least 80% done. So I said fuck it, I’m gonna post this and not be scared. Is this fic complete? Nope, but the plan is starting to come together. Do I know exactly where it’s going? Nope, but I don’t need to. Is it self-indulgent as all hell? Absolutely. I love this fic and I love this story and I love the concepts within it. So I posted it and tbh, it really helped. And I think this, combined with my writing break where I drew for 31 days straight lmao were really my saving graces here

Test Run, 3661 words, posted Dec 31

And now my final fic of the year! Which is a ship I honestly wasn’t super into (I don’t hate it, it just generally doesn’t do much for me) but then I did that thing where I thought ‘hmm but could it be written in a way that I am into?’ which, in my experience, always leads to me writing exactly that. Which is what I did here lmao. I’m pretty happy with it though and despite it being very strange to write, as I really had to work to get these two to get where they were going lmao, I had fun with it. I honestly doubt I’ll write more of them, but I’m glad I wrote this one, and I think it’s a good experiment to close out the year with

What have I learned?

Honestly, this year was a clusterfuck lmao. 2019 wasn’t great for me either, but we all lived through this and it was certainly An Experience. I think what this year really helped me focus on was what made me happy. I ended up in some dark places and I don’t want to go there again. It feels repetitive to say that, once again, I have learned that writing what I want is key when I say that every damn year, but tbh I think 2020 underscored it even more so. Spite as a motivator, when used to much, smothers the spark of creativity and the joy of creation. The most important lesson I learned this year by far is to not let that take the driver’s seat. A dash here and there? That’s fine. But as your main motivator? That’s just not healthy. And I need to work to keep it from consuming me like it has been for too long

Goals for 2021?

So last year I didn’t set any hard goals and boy, is it a good thing I didn’t, cause I achieved none of them lmao. I didn’t write more words (though I did write more individual fics, and the word count gap between this year and last is about the size of the difference between a big bang fic and a mini bang fic so really, I think I did okay), I didn’t even write a single fic for BTHB, and, to be really honest, I did not manage to keep my love for writing alive the whole time. I was in a really dark place a few times this year, but that drop in Sep-Oct was the worst from a creative standpoint. I feel like I’m mostly out of it now, even if I still have some work to do maintaining it. I’m hopeful for the future in that regard. The only thing I really did accomplish was that I feel positively towards all the fics I wrote; I’m happy and proud of all of them

So what is my goal? Honestly, I feel like every year I have to relearn the lesson of ‘write what you want, have fun, be self-indulgent, fuck expectations, etc.’ and my goal this year is to not have to relearn that again, but to keep that energy and carry it with me for the whole year. I realize I may have to put some effort in there, but I’m okay with that. I don’t know what 2021 has in store, but if I can just keep my passion alive and not fall into that pit again, I’m calling it a win

[general-kenobi357]

Someday Soon-Chapter 1

Pairing: JJ Maybank x Fem!OC

Summary: The only goal Isabella Bailer has this summer, is to have a good time with her friends, the Pogues. But when they find a ship wreck after a hurricane their summer takes an unexpected turn. 

Note: So this is my first fic that I have actually properly finished and I am so excited to share it. I first posted it on Wattpad but I find that I don't really use that platform much so I wanted to post it somewhere I go on often. I hope you enjoy my twist on Outer Banks :) Also the I have written Iz to be as nondescript as I could so that you can imagine her however you want. 

Word Count: 10.5k (The first chapter is really long but later on the chapters get shorter.) 

🔅🔆🔅

We’re the Pogues, and our mission this summer is to have a good time, all the time.

The soft breeze brought the smell of the ocean to my nose while the sun shone brightly on my cheeks. I had to squint to see my friends through the bright rays. As the sun fell lower the day only seemed to get warmer, the beer in my hand brought a cool relief, after taking another drink a smile grew on my face as I listened to the conversation between Pope and John B. 

“That’s what, a three-story fall to the deck?” Pope asked, looking up at John B who was currently balancing on one foot on the edge of the roof. We were all hanging around one of the many mini-mansions that were under construction in Figure Eight. “I give you about a one-in-three chance of survival.”

“Hm” John B replied as he stuck a finger into the air pretending to check the direction of the wind. “Should I do it?”

“Yeah, jump.” Pope quipped, pointing a drill at him. “I'll shoot you on the way down.”

“You’ll shoot me?”

“Yep. Pow!”

“They’re gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers.” Kie told us shocked, as she emerged from the house that was yet to be finished. 

“Of course. Why wouldn’t they?” I inquired somewhat bitterly from my spot sitting next to JJ. Nothing Kooks did surprised me anymore, all they seemed to care about was their own vanity.  

“This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about turtles, I guess?” Kie asked, sounding somewhat defeated. I sent her a sad smile, wishing I had more power to change the way things were. 

“I can’t have cold towels.” JJ added sarcastically before we all directed our gaze towards John B. 

“Can you please not kill yourself?” Kie asked him sweetly as he continued to lean dangerously close to the edge of the building. 

“Yeah that would really ruin my summer.” I added, I had protested John B climbing onto the roof in the first place but once that boy got something into his mind, no one could change it.

“And don’t spill that beer. I’m not giving you another one.” JJ warned seconds before the can slipped through John B’s grasp and came crashing onto the deck.  

“Whoa! Oh, shit.” John B exclaimed as he attempted to regain his balance on the roof, I turned to look out at the ocean again, not wanting to see him hit the deck as well. 

“Of course you did. Smooth.” 

“A plus.” Pope commented as he leaned over the side of the deck before looking back at the group. “Hey, uh, security’s here. Let’s wrap it up.”

“Humpty Dumpty, let’s roll.” JJ called to John B while he hopped off of the scaffolding we had been sitting on, before turning around and offering me his hand to help me get down. “Sweetheart?”

“Thank you.” I replied, accepting the hand he held out as I jumped down onto the deck.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” John B agreed as he followed us down. 

“Gary, is that you?” JJ called out to the security guard as we gathered our stuff up. “It’s me. Gary, good to see you, man!”

“You’re just asking for it.” I told him as I shook my head trying to hold in my laughter. 

“Get ‘em! They’re comin’ your way!” I heard one of the guards shout from behind me as I followed Kie towards the van. “Hey! Stop!”

I spared a glance behind me as I exited the house and saw the guard catching up to JJ. 

“Not much of a hugger!” I heard JJ shout as he avoided the guard. 

As I ran down the front steps John B pulled up in the van, Kie hopped into the passengers seat as I climbed into the back leaving the side door open for the boys to jump in whenever it was they decided to show up. 

“Bus is leaving!” John B called out as he honked the horn. I peered out the back window watching as Pope started climbing over the fence, before promptly falling flat on his face. JJ hoped over next and helped him back to his feet. 

“Come on, boys!” Kie called.

I held out my hand for Pope who was struggling to get into the moving van. Once both boys were inside John B stepped on the gas and we all watched Gary hopelessly chase after us. We were all left in a fit of laughter after JJ was done teasing the poor security guard. 

🔅🔆🔅

The Outer Bank, Paradise on Earth. It’s the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes, one island. 

All right. So there’s Figure Eight, the rich side of the island. Home of the Kooks. So, guess where we don’t live?

And then, there’s the South Side or the Cut. Home to the working class who make a living busing tables, washing yachts, running charters. The natural habitat of… drumroll, please… the Pogues. 

That’s us. 

Pogues, Pogies, the throwaway fish. Lowest member of the food chain. Okay. So, the downside of the Pogue life is we’re ignored and neglected. But the upside of the Pogue life? We’re ignored and neglected, which means we do whatever we want, whenever we want. So, let me introduce you to the crew.

First up… JJ Maybank, my best friend since the third grade. He's about as local as they come. Latest in a long line of fishing, drinking, smuggling, vendetta-holding salt-lifers who made their living off the water. Best surfer I know. Just don’t tell him I said that. Mild kleptomaniac and a future tax cheat.

Next up is Isabella Bailer but we just call her Iz. A former Kook up until she was ten and her dad was caught embezzling money from his company and promptly arrested, her family basically lost everything. Shortly after that she moved in next door. Definitely the Mom of the group, she basically takes care of all of us, and when she’s not cleaning up our messes, she’s working with her Mom, cleaning houses for the Kooks. Iz is the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet until you threaten her friends then you better run the other way and hope she doesn’t find you. 

After Iz there’s Kiara Carrera, or Kie, as we call her. When she’s not saving turtles or listening to Marley, or getting a dolphin tattoo, she hangs out with us. I’m not really sure why though. So, she’s a rich kid, actually. Foot in both worlds. Her family owns The Wreck, this Outer Banks institution. Total cash cow with the tourists. You know, I’m not really sure how her parents feel about us. But I think we all have had a thing for her at one point or another. 

Finally we have Pope Heyward, the brains of the operation… finalist for the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship. And the smartest person I know. Little bit of a weirdo. His father’s this legendary character, Heyward. Anything you wanted on the island, Hayward could get for you. Now, I’m not sure Heyward knew what to make of his oddball son, but it didn’t matter. He was a Pogue, just like the rest of us.

So, that’s my crew. And my name is John Booker Routledge. I’ve been living on my own for the past nine months in an old fish shack on the marsh. The Château, as my dad used to call it. Where is my dad? Well he disappeared at sea nine months ago, looking for a shipwreck. Who disappears at sea these days? I miss him. Any other possible guardians who could look after me, might be your next question? Well Mom split when I was three. Last I heard she was in Colorado and Uncle T who is supposedly my legal guardian is currently in Mississippi, building houses… 

Which means it’s just me right now, on my own, hangin’ with my friends. 

🔅🔆🔅

I swung lazily in the hammock that sat between John B’s house and my own as I watched the water. The sun was starting to rise higher and I could already tell it was going to be another long hot day. I was lost in my own thoughts until I felt the hammock dip to the side. Glancing up I gave John B a small smile as he tried to readjust the balance of the hammock. 

“You know I really hate this thing?” He told me still struggling. 

“I know it's ‘cause you don’t know how to relax.” I replied, teasing him as I shifted to help balance the hammock after the change in weight. 

“I’m gonna take it down one of these days.” He threatened, finally leaning back.

“No, I love this hammock, it's my favorite spot.” 

“I know I’m only teasing you, I’m not sure you would ever talk to me again if I took away your hammock.”

“You’re damn right I wouldn't.” I told him attempting to sound serious before letting out a laugh. We laid quietly for a few minutes before I spoke up again. “So do you have big plans today?”

“Um, yes.” He responded after taking a moment to think. “I get to go down to social services and talk to some people about how there are no responsible adults in my life.”

“Oh that sounds like sooo much fun.”

“I know right? You want to come with me?”

“As much as I would love that, JJ said he was going to take me out so I could practice driving the boat.” I had my license but I was not the best driver on land and I had barely ever driven in the water. 

“Oooh you and JJ alone on a boat?” John B asked, stretching out his words and wiggling an eyebrow at me. He loved to tease me about the very obvious crush that I had on JJ every chance he got. At his teasing I took the half empty beer he had brought out with him much to his protest. 

“No, number one, you and I both know that I will never be brave enough to make a move, number two, no Pogue on Pogue macking and number three I think that Pope said he was coming with us.” I rambled about the many reasons why what John B was suggesting would never happen before I downed the rest of the beer and handed back the empty bottle.

“Wow, thanks, I wanted to drink that.” He commented on the bottle in the grass beside us, I shrugged my shoulders as if to tell him he should have expected it after his teasing. “Also if I were you I’d go confirm that JJ still knew this was happening because he’s inside with a girl right now and they looked like they might be awhile.” 

“Seriously?” I groaned trying to cover up my jealousy with annoyance. I knew that I had no right to be jealous, JJ didn’t belong to me and I was far too scared to ever confess how I really felt, not that I could even figure out how I really felt. But it still hurt to see him with different girls all the time. “I guess I’ll go investigate.”

I quickly stood from the hammock before thinking, but it was too late. As I turned around and watched the hammock flip and John B tumble off onto the grass below. 

“Thanks for the heads up.” He grumbled as I helped him to his feet. 

“Sorry. I forgot how terrible you are at sitting in a hammock.” I said trying to cover the smile on my face.

“Yeah laugh it up, your friend just got attacked by a hammock, real funny.” He replied pretending to be upset as he dusted the dirt off of himself. 

“I mean it is kind of funny.” I called over my shoulder as I made my way back towards The Château to find out who was around. “I’ll see you later John B.”

I stepped onto the porch only to find Pope stretched out on the couch fast asleep. ‘I suppose he won’t be joining us.’ I thought as I walked past him into the house. 

In the main room Kie laid on the pull out couch blowing clouds of vapor above her. I sent her a soft smile which she returned before I turned the corner towards the bedrooms in the Château. 

Only one of the room's doors was closed so I figured that was where JJ was. I raised my hand to knock on the door but the sound of a shrill giggle stopped me. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know what was going on so my hand retracted back from the door and I walked back towards where Kie was. 

I laid down beside her with a sigh. Kie shifted closer to me as we both just hung out. 

“I’m pretty sure it’s some Touron who’ll be gone by the end of the week.” Kie finally spoke up, I raised my head to send her a questioning look. “The girl in there.” She added pointing to the room JJ was in. 

“Oh.” I nodded laying back down. I stared back up at the ceiling, contemplating whether I wanted more details about this girl. “Was she pretty?”

“I didn’t get a good look.” She responded. 

“Huh.” I responded, unsure if she was telling the truth or just trying to make me feel better. “Are you working today?” I asked, wanting to change the subject before I thought about JJ anymore. 

“Um, yeah. I have to leave soon.” Kie responded, glancing at the time on her phone. “Did you want to come with me, I might be able to sneak out fries for you.”

“No, I better stay here. I think my Mom has a few things she wants me to do before the storm tonight.” I responded, I also still half hoped that JJ would want to hang out. 

“Okay, well I’m sure that I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said, smiling as she stood to gather her stuff. 

“Yeah, tomorrow morning we’ll all go out and check out the damage.” I responded, standing up as well.

“Love you.” She cooed, pulling me into a hug. 

“Love you too.” I responded, before we both let go of each other. She then grabbed her backpack and headed for the door. “Stay safe!” I called after her as she walked towards her car. 

After Kie had left I had made my way to the dock, which is where I was now sitting watching the stormy clouds that were forming out in the open water. 

“Hey.” Pope spoke softly, alerting me to his presence, before he sat down next to me. 

“Hey, I figured you were going to sleep all day.” I teased, sparing a glance at him. 

“Yeah, I guess I was more tired than I thought.” He responded with a smile. “It looks like it’s gonna be bad.” He added, referring to the dark clouds that were beginning to move closer. 

“Yeah I just hope it isn’t too loud, last year Emmy had nightmares all summer from the thunder.” I said, remembering how bad my little sister’s nightmares had gotten. 

“Well there aren't any thunderstorms in Agatha’s path so there shouldn’t be much thunder this time.” He informed me. 

“You are too smart for me, Pope.” I said with a smile.

“Speaking of smart things, we should bring in the boat before it ends up in a tree somewhere down the road.” He said, I looked over at the boat which had sat in the water by the dock all day, waiting for us. I was more than a little bitter over the fact that JJ had stood me up. “Iz?” Pope asked, pulling me from my thoughts. 

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, yeah let’s bring in the boat.” I finally responded before standing up to help Pope.

We were able to bring in the boat before Pope had to head home to help out his Dad and I walked back to my house to help my Mom before the storm hit. 

🔅🔆🔅

The next morning I woke up to the sound of someone clattering around in the kitchen. After getting dressed I walked out to see my Mom and Emmy at the kitchen table eating breakfast in the dark. 

“No power?” I asked as I flipped the switch knowing nothing would happen. 

“Nope.” My Mom replied as she walked past me to put her bowl in the sink. “And no water. I’m gonna pick up another tank of water from Heyward on my way home from work. Seems like the storm took out the whole island. Listen I know that you wanna hang out with your friends but I need you to take down all the storm shutters at some point.”

“Mom the day after a hurricane is a free day.” I argued, I knew better than to argue with her most of the time but I still had to try.

“I know and I’m not saying right this minute but at some point it would be nice.” She surprised me with her reply, most days I would get a lecture about talking back. 

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked checking her forehead temperature. 

“Yeah are you feeling okay Mommy?” Emmy parroted from behind us, one of her new hobbies.

“Yes, I’m feeling fine.” She said, swatting my hand away from her forehead. “I’m trying to be nice, this is your last summer before you graduate and I know you’ve been working a lot.”

“Okay…” I replied, still suspicious that this was some kind of trick. Quickly kissing her cheek, I grabbed my bag and kissed the top of Emmy’s head, jogging to the door I left the house before she could change her mind. “I’ll see you when you get home.”

I heard them both say goodbye as I closed the door behind me and made my way over to where John B and JJ were standing clearing branches off the HMS Pogue. 

“Mornin’ boys.” I greeted the pair as I helped them finish clearing off the boat. 

“Someone's in a good mood.” John B suggested as he made his way over to the side of the boat I was standing by. “You and JJ have fun?” He asked in a quieter voice. 

“Nope, he completely blew me off. I don’t even think he remembered.” I replied, biting the inside of my cheek trying to not show my disappointment. “But it’s fine, today is a free day and we are going to enjoy it.” I said putting a smile back on my face as I looked over to where JJ stood oblivious to mine and John B’s conversation. 

🔅🔆🔅

“Well, look who we have here.” JJ taunted as we pulled up to the Heyward’s dock. 

“We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory.” John B added pretending to speak into a walkie talkie. 

“I can’t. My Pop’s got me on lockdown.” Pope replied sadly. 

“Come on, man” JJ grumbled from his spot beside me. “Your dad’s a pussy. Over.” he commented speaking into his own pretend walkie talkie. I turned to look at him surprised as I hit his arm lightly. “What? He is?” JJ tried to defend. 

“Oh, I heard that, you little bastard.” Heyward scolded JJ.

“We need your son.” I said as I directed my attention to Heyward. “Island rules. Day after a hurricane’s a free day.”

“Who made that up?” Heyward demanded moving closer to the boat. 

“Uh… Pentagon, I think. We have security clearance.” I added, trying to come up with excuses. 

“Yeah, I have a card.” JJ tried to add to my story. 

“You think I’m stupid?” Heyward challenged. 

“I'll do it tomorrow. I promise. Tomorrow.” Pope told his dad, getting ready to get into the boat. 

“You think... No, no. Hell no. You doin' it right now.” Heyward told Pope as he hopped into the boat. “Bring your ass back up here.”

“I promise I'll do it tomorrow, Dad.” Pope assured his father as we started to float away.

“We’ll bring him back in one piece.” I called back to Heyward as we started to speed off towards Kie’s dock. 

🔅🔆🔅

After picking up Kie, Pope had taken over driving the boat and the rest of us were sitting around watching JJ attempt one of his many tricks that he had tried a million times but that never seemed to work the way he wanted it to. 

“You’re getting beer in my hair!” Kie reprimanded JJ. 

In an attempt to avoid the same fate as Kie I stood up from my spot beside her. But just as I got to my feet I felt the boat shift under me and jolt to the side throwing me off the edge. After a moment underwater I realized what had happened and swam back to the surface. 

“Jesus, Pope!” I heard Kie berate Pope. 

“You okay, JJ?” John B asked, I assumed he had also been sent overboard. 

“I think my heels touched the back of my head.” I heard JJ reply from the other side of the boat. 

“Kie, you okay?” John B asked, shifting his concern away from JJ.

“I’m all right.” Kie answered John B after a moment of pause. “Where’s Iz?”

“Over here.” I called from where I was treading water, a moment later I saw JJ swimming over to where I was. We made eye contact for a moment before he scanned that rest of my face with concern making sure I was good. I gave him a reassuring smile before looking back at our friends on the boat. 

“Guys... I think there's a boat down there.” Pope said looking out from the ledge of the Pogue. 

“Shut up. What?” Kie asked moving to look into the water. “No way.”

“No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's a boat down there.” Pope added confidently. “For real. “

“Holy shit, he's right. Let's go.” Kie said, getting ready to jump into the water.

We all dove down as deep as we could and sure enough a sunken boat was sitting below the surface. 

“You guys saw that?” JJ asks as we all come up for air. A chorus of agreement followed JJ’s question as we looked at each other shocked. “That’s a Grady-White. A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy. That’s a primo rig.”

“Yeah. That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge.” John B informed us after we had all climbed back into the Pogue. 

“You surfed the surge?” I asked, concern filling my thoughts.

“What the heck John B?” Kie added in the same tone. 

“That's my boy. Pogue style.” JJ congratulated him, as John B nodded confirming what he had just said. 

“Wait, wait. Do we know whose boat that is?” Pope asked curiously, wanting to know more about the wreck. 

“No, but we're about to find out.” John B replied as he went to grab the anchor of the boat. 

“Dude, it's too deep.” JJ warned as John B made his way over to the edge of the boat. 

“Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ.” John B challenged as he readjusted the anchor in his grip. 

“Well, I'm not resuscitating you. I'm just making that clear up front.”

“That's fine.”

“Diver down, fool.” Pope said while giving John B a mock salute. 

“Diver down.” We all called as JJ pushed John B off the side of the boat. We all leaned over the side of the boat anxiously waiting for John B to come back up. 

“Should we go get him?” I asked the others in a concerned voice. It felt like he had been gone for ages at this point and I couldn't spot him in the murky water. Moments after I spoke John B broke the surface tension in a fit of coughs. 

“Oh, my God. That took forever!” Kie said, relieved as we all allowed John B some space to climb onto the Pogue. 

“I found this motel key.” John B supplied holding up the key while he got into the boat. 

“Great! We salvaged a motel key.” JJ spoke sarcastically as I inspected the key that John B had found. 

“Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard.” Kie suggested “Maybe we'll get a finder's fee.”

“Yeah, and not work all summer.” JJ added, hopefully as we speed off toward town. “Thanks, Agatha, ya batch.”

🔅🔆🔅

After an unsuccessful talk with the coast guard, as in we were completely ignored because they had no interest in what a group of teenagers had to say, we decided to head straight to the source and check out the motel. 

The boat slowed down as we got closer to the motel and began to take in the scene before us. It was a disaster, mattresses thrown on the lawn, windows broken, and trees that had been uprooted or close to it. I had to wonder how much of this damage was caused by the hurricane and how much was caused by a neglectful owner. 

“I thought the Château looked bad.” JJ commented from the front of the boat. 

“This place is a shitshow.” John B added. 

“Doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady-White stays.” I said, confused as to why someone with such a nice boat would be staying somewhere so rundown.

“No. Looks like a place someone with a Grady-White would get killed.” Pope suggested.

“All right. Here we go.” JJ started jumping out of the boat ready to tie us to the shore. “This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' in for landing.”

“We good?” John B asked, standing beside me. 

“Yeah, we good.” JJ confirmed. 

“All right. Here goes nothin'.” I stated, while I tried to take the key from Pope’s hand, who had elected to stay on the boat with Kie as lookouts. 

“Hey.” Pope said seriously, while he held the key just out of reach.

“Yeah?”

“Don't let them do anything stupid.”

“Yeah, I’ll try.” I gave Pope a reassuring smile as he passed me the key, still holding a look of uncertainty on his face.

“Uh, be careful.” I heard Kie tell John B from behind me. “I mean it.”

JJ offered me his hand as I jumped out of the boat but I just ignored it, still a little mad that he had forgotten about me the day before. I made eye contact with him for a moment and saw a look of confusion grace his features before disappearing. I began walking away from the boat as JJ waited a moment for John B to finish talking to Kie. I listened to them talking behind me.

“Just be so careful, John.” I heard JJ tease as I started making my way across the front lawn of the hotel. 

“God, you're so weird.” John B replied.

“What was that about?”

“I don't know. Maybe she wants us to be careful?”

“Ever since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's just been, like, <Oh! Be so careful, John B.>” JJ mimicked what Kie had told John B earlier as we started to climb the stairs to the second floor. “<Oh, just give me that John D already.> Just ask Iz she sees it too, right Iz?” JJ asked me. 

I paused for a moment when I reached the top of the stairs, turning around to meet JJ’s eyes

“Are you done?” I asked in a sour tone. 

“What?” He responded with confusion evident in his voice and the smile falling from his face. I rolled my eyes before turning around and beginning to count room numbers. “Why are you so mad at only me? What’d I do?”

“Dude.” I heard John B start saying. “You completely blew her off yesterday.”

I was curious what else they said to each other but their voices became muffled as I walked too far ahead. Stopping at the end of the hall in front of room twenty-nine. I turned to find the boys jogging towards me, John B gave me a small smile and JJ had a look that almost resembled remorse on his face. 

“This is it?” John B asked as JJ took the key that I was holding up in front of me. 

“Housekeeping.” JJ called out in a shrill voice knocking a few times on the door. 

“Should we try it?” John B asked, pointing to the key in JJ’s hand.

“No power. No security cameras. No one's gonna know.” JJ reasoned as he pushed the key into the lock. It felt like we could still get in trouble if we were caught but before I could voice my concerns JJ was already half way into the room.

“Huh.” I muttered, as the two of us followed JJ in. It was dark and smelled of mildew, definitely not the kind of place someone would stay if they had the funds to buy a Grady-White. 

“Check the bag. See if there's a name on there somewhere.” John B instructed JJ as I moved past the pair to open the blinds at the side of the room.  

“A jacket.”

“No name on the jacket?”

“No. It's a nice jacket, though.”

“Definitely over 50. He's got New Balances.”

I listened to their conversation as I walked across the small room into the bathroom. As I moved through the bathroom and rustled through the medicine cabinet, I heard the beeping of a safe in the other room. 

“Uh… JJ? Iz? You’re gonna want to see this” I heard John B call from the other room. 

Entering the room I looked at John B first who was looking over to where JJ stood with wide eyes. Following John B’s line of sight my own eyes widened as I realized what JJ was holding.

“Is that a gun?” I asked as if it could be anything else. 

“Put the gun back, JJ!” John B tried to reason with him. 

“This is a fucking spendy gatt, man. Just…” JJ said, eyes wide like a kid in a candy store. “Bam! Bam!” He mimicked the sound of a gun as he pointed it around the room.

“JJ, we’re not stealing anything.” John B told him for the hundredth time. 

“Just take a pic of me. Right here.” JJ pleaded with John B, but my attention had shifted to the sound of a rock landing on the window sill. 

I pushed past the boys as they continued arguing with each other, and looked out the window.

“Cops. Cops!” I could see Kie and Pope whisper yell while they pointed in the direction of the door. Turning around quickly I waved at the boys to get their attention. 

“Guys, the cops are here.” I told them in a hushed tone. John B moved towards the door to see if he could hear anything. “How are we gonna get out?” I asked them, feeling panic start to rise through my chest. 

“Out the window?” John B suggested as he pushed open the small window as far as it would go. 

With John B out first and standing to the right of the window, I followed quickly behind him moving to the left so that JJ could get out. In an attempt to keep us from being seen JJ pressed me against the wall of the motel, which meant that I was now pinned between him and the wall. My chest rose and fell unevenly as I squeezed my eyes shut hoping the cops couldn’t see us. As we we’re standing on the ledge I felt JJ’s hand grab on to mine and give it a reassuring squeeze. 

“Listen Sweetheart, I’m sorry I ditched you yesterday. I didn’t mean to forget.” JJ whispered to me, his head was right next to my ear and I could feel his breath fan out against my skin as he spoke. 

“As much as I appreciate your apology, I really don’t think this is the time JJ.” I whispered back terrified of every word that left my tongue. 

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right, sorry.” JJ replied, shifting his weight slightly. 

“Guys! Shut. Up.” John B whisper yelled from where he stood on the ledge. 

As we both turned to look at John B I felt cold metal touch my free hand, startling me I pulled my hand back swiftly and as I did I heard a clattering as something fell from the ledge. 

“JJ, tell me that wasn’t what I think it was?” I demanded as quietly as I could. 

“Well you tell me what you think it was and then I’ll tell you it wasn’t.” He said and I could hear the smirk in his voice, shocking me that he could still be joking when we were about to be caught at any moment, I rolled my eyes at him. 

🔅🔆🔅

After our narrow escape from the motel, myself and the Pogues were headed towards town, discussing what we were going to do next. 

“The cops took everything like it was a crime scene.” John B stated still sounding shocked at what he had seen back at the motel. 

“Did you guys find anything?” Pope asked us curiously. My gaze shifted to JJ as I already knew what he had taken. 

“Did we find anything? No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah, we did.” JJ responded smiling as he held up the gun, and to my surprise a wad of cash. I let my head fall into my hands wondering how JJ could be so dumb.

“What the hell?” Pope asked standing, panic written all over his features. 

“Dude, chill.” JJ started walking over to where Pope stood. “Better than cops having it.”

“I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh, sh, sh.” JJ said, grabbing Pope by the shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. “At least you have us, right?”

“I'm living the nightmare.”

🔅🔆🔅

After a trip to the marina and witnessing Scooter Grubbs get taken away by a coroner, we were back at the Château trying to figure out what to do next. 

“Okay. So, um... we didn't see anything.” Pope spoke up as he paced in front of us all. “We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia.”

“Actually, Pope's right for once.” JJ stated, looking at us all. “See, I agree with you sometimes.” He assured Pope. “Deny, deny, deny.”

“Guys, we can't keep that money.” Kie piped into the conversation. “We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma.”

“Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too.” I added referring to the gun JJ was still in possession of. 

“We gotta go dark.” Pope suggested. 

“None of it makes sense.” John B finally said, breaking his silence. “This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden, he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'.”

“So how does a marina rat get a Grady-White?” I asked, thinking out loud. 

“Prostitution.” Pope suggested making me laugh under my breath. 

“Okay...” John B stated, trying to move past Pope's comment. “Or maybe they're trying to fly under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?”

“They were straight smugglin'.” JJ finished John B’s thought. 

“Smugglin'.” John B confirmed. “And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck.”

“For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it…” Pope said and I could tell he was thinking about all the terrible outcomes. “...it probably belongs to someone else.”

“Minor details.”

“They could come looking for it.” Pope warned. “Taking it would be catastrophically stupid.”

“Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time.” JJ reasoned holding up the money that he had now decided belonged to us. “All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck.”

“Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal.” John B added. 

“Right. And how exactly do we do that?” I asked. I still felt like Pope was making a lot of good points that the others were not listening to. 

“Kegger?” Kie suggested looking at the rest of us for confirmation. 

🔅🔆🔅

You can't understand the Outer Banks without understanding the boneyard. It's kinda like a three-layer burrito. There's us and our friends, the working-class derelicts. Then, there are the Kooks, the rich second-homers. They're mostly from poncey-ass boarding schools, just rich trustafarian posers. Our natural enemies. And then, there are the Tourons. Totally clueless. Here for a week on vacation with their families. Chum for the sharks.

Later in the day after the sun had set, the kegger was coming to life, basically the entirety of the island's teen population was in attendance and the beach was getting pretty crowded. Earlier on I had been hanging around with JJ, all had been forgiven between us and we were back to cracking jokes. 

Up until JJ spotted a girl he wanted to flirt with and I was left alone. Since then I had started chatting with a couple of Tourons who had taken one surfing lesson earlier in the week and now thought they knew everything about the sport. Desperate to make my escape I searched through the crowd for my friends. Just as I was about to make up an excuse I heard shouting from the water. 

“Sorry, I have to go.” I told the pair lamely. “I think that’s my friends calling me.”

“Okay. Bye.” They replied as I walked away. 

Much to my horror, once I had reached the shore it turned out to actually be my friends shouting, and the shouting had turned into a full out fight. I recognized John B in the water but the Kook he was fighting had their back facing me. I pushed my way through the crowd once I spotted Kie and made my way to stand beside her. 

“What the hell is going on?” I asked, looking at her face which was covered in fear. 

“Topper and John B started arguing and now they're trying to kill each other.” Kie answered, watching as the fight got worse. That’s when I noticed the Kook Princess, Sarah Cameron, trying to calm down her angry boyfriend. 

I used to know Topper when I was young. We had been friends but when I had moved to the Cut we lost touch. Now as he stood over John B I barely recognized him. He wasn’t the young boy I had once known, now he was a cruel person who thought he was better than others just because his parents had money.

“Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?” I heard Topper challenge John B.

After that comment I had had enough and I was desperately looking around the crowd trying to figure out what I could do to stop them. I felt useless as I definitely couldn’t just jump in there, I had no idea how to fight. But we had to do something before Topper killed John B. 

As my eyes scanned the crowd I noticed JJ who was already looking at me. His once bright eyes looked dark and it seemed like he knew exactly what he was about to do. I shook my head as I tried to make my way over to him, but he was already stalking towards where Topper and John B fought. I had a feeling I knew what he was about to do but I didn’t want to believe it. 

I held my breath as I heard the crowd go silent when JJ clicked the gun's safety off. 

“Yeah, you know what that is.” JJ threatened as Topper pulled away from John B. “Your move, broski.”

“Come on. Chill, dude!” Topper responded, trying to reason with him.

“Put the gun down.” Sarah cried desperately. 

“Did you say somethin', Princess?” JJ asked, not taking his eyes off of Topper. 

“We're good. We're good.” Topper tried to tell him, raising his hands in surrender. 

“Kie! Iz! Can you check your psycho friend, please?” I heard Sarah screaming behind me pulling me out of the trance I had been frozen in. I took a few steps closer to JJ but I didn’t want to get too close when he had a gun pointed at someone. I had seen him get in fights before but never like this, this was different. I really thought that he might kill Topper and that terrified me.

“JJ.” I spoke softly so as to not startle him. He turned to glance back at me but kept the gun pointed at Topper who was looking back at us. “Think about what you’re doing.” I continued speaking calmly, meanwhile I could hear Sarah practically sobbing behind me. “You have to let him go.” I said, at this JJ nodded ever so slightly before pulling the gun away from Topper. 

“Okay, everyone, listen up! Get the hell off our side of the island!” JJ yelled into the crowd of people before shooting the gun into the air. 

The second JJ moved Topper was out of sight and Sarah wasn’t far behind. While Kie and Pope began to berate JJ over his actions I ran into the water to go check on John B. 

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked John B once I reached him, holding his shoulders so he wouldn’t fall back into the water. He mumbled back something incoherent as he swayed in my grasp. “Guys! Can you help?” I asked the three Pogues who still stood arguing behind me. 

With their help we got John B out of the water and closer to the fire that had been started a while ago. We all sat silently there for sometime before John B was able to get up again and we all headed home. 

🔅🔆🔅

After a sleepless night, we were all back together at the Château, I sat next to Kie as she lazily hit a pair of bongos that sat on the table between us and Pope. JJ was further away in the yard throwing god knows what into the grass. I stood up as I saw John B make his way over to us. Meeting him halfway between the main house and where the rest of our friends were I pulled him into a bone crushing hug. 

“What was that for?” He asked, chuckling while he looked at me. 

“I’m just glad to see you’re okay. I can’t lose you, any of you guys.” I explained making myself think back to last night. 

“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” He joked trying to lighten the mood. 

“Yeah, I know.” I said the smile returning to my face. “Hey, by the way I saw the cop car driving away this morning, is everything okay?”

“Eh, it’s alright Peterkin stopped by, told me to stay out of trouble and to clean up the house.” John B explained as we made our way over to the others. “Look, I'm callin' it off. All right?” John B announced to everyone. “Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS.”

“And you believed her?” JJ questioned. 

“Yes, I believe her, JJ.” 

“An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop.” He added, trying to make his point. 

“All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out. It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun.”

“You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your ass.”

“Topper was gonna drown me?”

“Sure looked like it.”

“Alright, calm down.” I spoke up trying to get them to stop.

“Come on. They always win, don't they, man? Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win!” JJ started to raise his voice. 

“Look, it's okay!” Kie reasoned, also trying to help me calm them down. 

“No, it's not okay!” JJ argued, turning his attention to John B. “It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there, and you know it. I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go. You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk.” JJ added pointing a finger at Pope. “ And you...I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?” He asked Kie. “But us three.” He finished looking at John B and I. “We got nothin' to lose!” 

“I don't want to talk about this.” John B told JJ as he began to walk away. 

“So that's it?” JJ asked and I could tell he was losing hope in John B. 

“Just get out of my way, bro.”

“John B, listen to me. I have a plan.”

JJ telling us he had a plan? That was never a good start. 

🔅🔆🔅

We all gathered around Kie who was inspecting the tanks that John B had stolen from the Cameron's. JJ had tried to argue that we were going to return them so technically we were just borrowing them but I didn’t think the Cameron's would see it that way or the cops they would inevitably call if they found out. 

“This is empty. You took empty tanks? I…” Kie told John B sounding defeated. “Okay, this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us. Love it when a plan comes together. Does anybody know how to dive?”

“It's kind of a Kook sport.” JJ replied. 

“I... read about it.” Pope responded cautiously. 

“Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die.” Kie reasoned.

“Look, y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?” JJ asked. 

“If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends.” Pope told him.

“Bends like, bend over and…” JJ asked, making me roll my eyes at him. 

“The bends kill you.” Pope said seriously and JJ straightened up.

“I can do it.” I finally said standing up at the front of the boat. “I went diving a few times with my dad when I was younger.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” JJ stated, a look of worry crossing his features. 

“I’ll be fine, it’s like riding a bike, you don’t forget.” I reasoned. “Right?”

“Let me do some calculations real quick.” Pope said while he looked through his bag for a notebook. 

“Are you serious? You’re gonna do some calculations right now?” John B teased Pope with a smile on his face. 

“Hey, let the man do his calculations, alright?” JJ told John B before glancing over at me again. 

“That boat's about 30 feet down. Okay.” Pope stated, thinking out loud. “So it'll take 25 minutes at that depth.”

“Twenty-five.” I confirmed half listening to him half focusing on keeping my hands from shaking, suffice to say I was a little nervous. 

“Which means you need to make your safety stop at about... ten feet. All right? For two minutes.” 

“Okay, ten feet, two minutes.” I confirmed, attempting to remember everything he was telling me. 

Kie suddenly stood up from her spot and jumped off the side of the boat, disappearing into the dark water. 

“What was that all about?” Pope asked, distracted. 

“I don't know, but I liked it. A lot.” JJ commented. 

“Anything else I need to know?” I asked, looking at the boys who were all very clearly still thinking about what Kie had just done. 

“All right. Yeah. Uh, when you... uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold.” John B stated remembering where he was. 

“You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?” JJ told me, holding up a key and miming it in the air. 

“Yeah I think I know how a lock works JJ.” I told him sarcastically, as I took the key from his grasp. 

“Hey! I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down.” Kie said finally emerging from the water. “It's where you need to do your safety stop.”

“Okay, thanks.” I responded giving her a smile before pulling the heavy tank onto my back. I could barely pull the straps tight because of how much my hands were shaking. Seeing me struggle, JJ made his way over to me and finished strapping me in. Giving a thumbs up as he took a step back. 

“Keep an eye on this.” Pope said, pointing to the console attached to the tank before handing it to me. “You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress.”

“Okay, how much do I need?” I asked. 

“Unclear.” He answered truthfully after a brief pause. “Breathe as little as possible.”

“Zen. Think Zen, you know?” JJ commented trying to get me to relax. He took my hand in his while I looked around at everyone. 

“Yeah. Got it.” I responded, moving closer to the edge of the boat. 

“Hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so... better get a move on.” Pope said. I knew he was just trying to be helpful but it did not help me feel very Zen. 

I was about to pull down my mask from where it was sitting on top of my head when I realized JJ still had a tight grip on my hand. 

“I’m gonna need this.” I told him, holding up our interlocked hands. 

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that.” He said, awkwardly letting go of my hand and rubbing the back of his neck. “Be careful, yeah?”

“I’ll be fine.” I responded, but I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince him of myself. “Diver down?”

“Diver down.” My friends all confirmed as I pulled the mask down over my face before jumping into the water. 

🔅🔆🔅

A couple of minutes after Iz had dove off the edge of the Pogue, the rest of the group sat waiting anxiously in silence for their friend to return. Well everyone but JJ who was currently pacing back and forth across the floor of the small boat, seemingly mumbling something under his breath about how Iz would be fine. The other Pogues watched, baffled as to how he could do things like this and yet still not realize how he truly felt about the girl who had just dove into the water. 

JJ and the rest of the Pogues were pulled out of their thoughts by the sound of sirens and the flashing lights of a police boat. 

“Shit.” Kie said, alerting everyone that the cops were pulling up next to them. 

“Guys, that's the police.” Pope said, the panic in his voice rising with each word. 

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” John B said standing up. 

“Yep, that's the police. Just act frickin' normal.” JJ confirmed what they were all seeing, meanwhile acting the least natural the Pogues had ever seen him. JJ never panicked. “Evening, officers.”

“How you kids doing?” Deputy Shoupe asked the group, passing a rope over to connect the boats. “You know the marsh is closed?”

“No. No. Wow. I didn't know that. Why... Why is it closed?” Pope asked, trying to look calm.

“Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down. Seen anything?”

“No. No boats. No.” John B responded. 

“Where's your other friend you always hang out with? Who’s that, Bailer’s kid, uh, Isabella? She here?” Shoupe asked.

“She's working.” Kie lied. 

“Hm.” Shoupe hummed, not entirely convinced. “I'm gonna check your little boat out.”

“Yeah, hop aboard.” John B said, waving a hand. “You wanna check... uh, check her out.”

Meanwhile below the surface Iz had found what she was looking for and began unlocking the hold. 

After Shoupe had inspected their life jackets, he made his way to the front of the boat, putting his sunglasses on and looking out onto the water. From the back of the boat JJ also scanned the water, he thought that he saw something move beneath the surface and prayed that Shoupe hadn’t seen the same thing. 

🔅🔆🔅

After getting into the hold I found a small bag and took it with me as I swam towards the anchor of the boat so I could make my safety stop before heading back up. 

From my spot ten feet below the surface I looked up, noticing the shadow of a new boat and someone looking into the water. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment as if that would help me keep from getting caught before opening them and looking at the console in my left hand. There was less than thirty seconds of air left and I was panicking even more than before. 

Just in time the figure left and moments later the second boat disappeared. With my last breath of air I swam to the surface pulling off my mask as I took a huge breath of fresh air. 

“There she is!” JJ pointed at me letting out a sigh of relief. “Don’t scare us like that!”

“How'd it go down there?” John B asked as I made my way to the ladder on the back of the boat. 

“Did you find anything?” Pope asked, pulling me up.

“Did I find anything?” I answered the question by holding up the small duffle bag that I had found in the hold. 

“Yeah, there we go! That's my girl!” JJ hollered scooping me up into a hug as John B took the bag from me. 

“Jeez.” I laughed as JJ let go of me again and Kie made her way to my side. 

“You okay?” She asked, a look of concern painting over her usual happy expression. 

“Yeah, I ran out of air.” I said trying not to worry her but realizing my words did the opposite of that. 

“You scared the shit out of me.” JJ said, snaking an arm around my waist. I knew he just thought of me as a friend but his actions still gave me butterflies, it was nice to know he cared. 

“Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh... we took care of 'em.” Pope informed me. 

“Hey, guys? Guys, bogey, two o'clock.” Kie said, pulling us from our previous conversation. 

“Do you recognize that boat?” Pope asked.

“I've never seen it.”

“What are they doing here? The marsh is closed.” John B asked and I couldn’t help but smile at the irony of his words, after all we knew better than to be there and yet here we were. 

“Let's not stick around and find out.” JJ stated, moving to the front of the boat. 

“Should we wait on 'em?” Pope asked. 

“Are you joking?” I asked, helping start the boat up. “JJ, hurry up.”

“Guys, don't wait for me. Go.” JJ told us as he pulled the anchor up as fast as he could. 

“Go right.” I suggested to John B who was standing behind the wheel, thinking if we went further into the marsh they might not follow us. 

“Let's go!” Kie rushed as the boat turned behind us. “Hey, guys, they're following us.”

“This can't be good.” I said as JJ moved to stand beside me.

“Dude, you gotta go faster!” JJ urged John B as the boat began to gain on us. 

“I'm going!” He said while trying to maneuver the marsh that was filled with thick weeds. 

Looking back I noticed that one of the men had leant down and was now standing back up holding something I could quite make out.

“Uh, guys what is that?” I asked as everyone but John B looked back. 

“What the…” Pope started but the rest of his question died out at the sound of a gunshot. 

As everyone one dropped down to the floor of the boat I felt as if I had been pushed, there was a heavy weight on my chest.

“Holy shit!” I heard Kie mutter as I opened my eyes realizing that JJ was on top of me. This was now the second time in the past two days that I had been pinned between JJ and another surface. Had it been under different circumstances I might have been able to enjoy it. 

“John B, get down!” I heard JJ yell as I felt the vibrations of his voice echo through my own chest. 

“We're gonna die!” I heard Pope say hopelessly from beside me.

“Shit! Pope, move.” Kie muttered, I couldn’t see much but I thought I saw Kie walking to the back of the boat carrying something. 

“Get down, Kie!” John B yelled as the man in the other boat continued to shoot at us. 

Then the shooting stopped as the sound of the other boat died out. 

“Oh my god.” Pope sighed, sounding very relieved as everyone started to get back up except for JJ.

“JJ?” I asked, looking up at him. His face turned towards me, inches away from mine as he hovered over me.

“Yeah?” He asked, sounding completely oblivious.

“You gonna let me get up?” I asked, smiling.

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that Sweetheart.” He said standing before he offered me his hand. A look flashed across his face that I couldn’t quite recognize, if I didn’t know better I would think it was disappointment?

🔅🔆🔅

After arriving back at the Château we all gathered on the dock. To take a look at what I had found in the hold of the Grady-White. 

“What do you think it is?” Kie asked us. 

“Gotta be money, right?” John B responded with another question. 

“That or a couple of keys with street value from the low-to-mid-mils!” JJ added. 

“Can we please just open the bag?” Pope let out looking impatient. 

“Wow, Pope. That's a rare outburst of emotion.” John B teased as he stretched out the wait even longer. 

“Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation.” I said in the same boat as Pope, urging them to hurry up. 

“Alright Sweetheart, calm down.” JJ said from beside me putting a hand on my arm to calm me down. 

“We almost died over this.” Pope added to our argument to open the bag faster. 

John B opened the bag pulling out a metal canister. After opening that too he let the contents spill out onto his hand. Disappointment rose up as we looked to see that all it was was an old compass. While taking a second look I thought that I recognized it from somewhere but wasn’t sure. 

“Oh, wow. Yup. That's about right.” Pope stated, standing from his crouched position. “Good job, everybody. We found a compass.”

“Dude, what? It's not worth anything.” JJ told John B who was staring at the compass in awe. 

“This was my father's.” Were the only words that left John B’s lips. 

🔅🔆🔅

After the disappointment of not finding much of anything after we all risked our lives we all headed home. Entering my house the sun was setting outside and it seemed empty. But my Mom’s car was parked just off the road and I could hear faint talking coming from the back of the house. I walked through the living room and kitchen, past the stairs that led to the loft which was my Mom’s room. Past my own room and the bathroom before coming to a stop in front of my little sister’s door. Leaning against the door frame, I saw my Mom reading Emmy a book by candle light, I assumed that the power was still out. 

Walking back to the main room I started to make myself a sandwich, realizing that I hadn’t eaten much of anything all day. Just as I was about to take the first bite. I heard Emmy’s door close and my Mom entered the room, holding a candle in her hand. 

“Hey, Honey.” She greeted me as she set down the candle. “How was your day?”

“Good.” I responded in between bites of the sandwich I had made. “Pretty uneventful.”

“Really?” She asked, almost surprised. “I saw Shoupe on my way out of town and he said that he saw your friends out on the marsh when they were doing their search for Scooter’s boat. He also said that you weren't there. Your friends told him something about you working, but I didn’t know you were working at all for a few days.”

“Oh really?” I said trying to figure out how to cover the real story up. “Um, Mr. Cameron came down and asked if I could pick up another shift. I guess his kids have been spending a lot of time inside since the storm so it was a bit of a mess over there.”

“He drove all the way down here?”

“Yeah well since the phone lines are down he couldn’t call.” 

“Huh, it seems strange he would come all the way down when he could just wait a couple more days for us to come over.”

“Yeah well it was really bad. I would have taken pictures if my phone wasn’t dead.”

“Oh no I don’t need pictures, I’ve met those kids and cleaned that house, I believe that they could make a terrible mess.” She said seemingly believing everything I was telling her, she paused for a moment before asking another question. “You don’t know why your friends were in the marsh do you?”

“Well” I started, thinking about what I could say that would get us all off the hook. “They were actually waiting to pick me up. Yeah. Cause I went up to Figure Eight with Mr. Cameron but I didn’t want to make him drive me all the way home. So they hung out in the marsh I guess while they waited.”

“How’d you call them?” Mom asked, picking apart my story. 

“Walkie Talkies.” I blurted out. “You know the ones that Heyward got Pope and I a few years ago? And that must have been why they were in the marsh even though it was closed. You know cause the walkie talkies only work for a certain radius, and the Cameron house is probably too far from here.”

“Yeah I guess so.” She said moving towards me to grab my now empty plate. 

“Thanks.” I said, as she put my plate in the sink. “I think I’m gonna head back over to John B’s if that's okay.”

“Of course just don’t forget to sleep at some point. You do still require sleep.” She told me. 

“I know, I’ll see you later.”

“Love you!” I heard her call after me as I closed the door and made the short walk over to John B’s where I saw him and JJ lounging on the porch. 

🔅🔆🔅

[snowdice]

The Things We Never Mentioned (Part 1 of 3)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan/Patton

Characters: Logan, Patton, oops i made a self insert Lia(OC)

Summary:

“Believe it or not, academia and relationships are not mutually exclusive.” That was likely true, Logan knew. It was also not the problem.

The problem was his ability to move things with his mind, a blue suit he kept in his bag, and the mountains of red files he kept hidden in his apartment. No one knew that Logan was Bluebird, the cities resident superhero. He hadn’t even told his parents and he wasn’t planning on doing so. Sharing such a secret with anyone was a danger to everyone involved. He refused to do so.

At the same time, he knew that starting a romantic relationship with anyone who didn’t know the truth, was unfair to that person. Inevitably they would find out and there would be a disastrous fallout, but beyond that, starting a relationship on a foundation of lies was a horribly cruel thing to do to another person.

These two conflicting rules Logan followed had never posed an issue for him before recently, but…

But he did like Patton.

This is a three-shot dealing with events set before my story Sometimes Labels Fail set about a month and a half after the mini fics A Coffee Shop Meet Cute and A Coffee Shop Incident Report.

Notes: Superhero AU, people crushing really hard

“Why are you being all weird?” Lia asked.

Logan paused in his grading and frowned at her from across the table. They were seated in “The Hideout” at one of the tables with 200 exams between them. “What do you mean?”

“You’re acting all cagey. You keep looking around and you’re rubbing at the sleeve of your sweater like you do when professors are handing back assignments you struggled with.” Logan stopped the indicated action and placed his hands resolutely on the tabletop.

“I’m fine.”

“Too many people?” she asked. “We can go to my apartment if you want. Greg won’t mind.”

“No!” he said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically judging by the odd look she gave him. “I quite enjoy this coffee shop.”

“…What’s your deal today Logan?”

“I am simply stressed at the number of final exams we have to grade by tomorrow.”

“I don’t know if I believe you.”

“That is not my problem,” he replied and took a sip of his coffee before going back to his grading. He still couldn’t stop his eyes from going to the door every so often.

It was about 15 minutes later when the bell over the door chimed and Logan’s hand went still when his eyes found “The Hideouts” newest patron. They met eyes briefly and Patton immediately corrected his course toward the table.

“Hi Logan,” he said with a smile, stopping about a foot away from where Logan sat.

“Hello Patton,” he replied. “How are you today?”

“Oh, I’m good.” They made eye contact for a couple of moments longer before he seemed to register Lia’s presence. “Oh, um. Sorry if I’m intruding.”

“You’re not,” Lia said before Logan could say anything. “Hi, I’m Lia,” she said offering her hand. “And you’re Patton if I heard right.”

He shook her hand with a smile. “I am. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too. How do you and Logan know each other?”

“We’re just both regulars here and I almost poured a cup of coffee on him about a month and a half ago.”

“Wow,” she responded and then turned her eyes on Logan with some sort of untrustworthy twinkle in them. “Wow,” she repeated.

“Lia and I,” Logan said turning to Patton, “were teaching assistants for the same course this semester and are now grading the student’s finals.”

“I see. Well, you’re obviously busy so I’ll just let you…”

“Oh, you like Mind of Mystery?” Lia suddenly interjected.

Patton looked at her in surprise and then seemed to remember something, looking down at one of the pens on his bag. “Oh!” he said. “Yeah, I do.”

“You know, I love that show. Logan have you ever watched that show.”

“Uh… no.”

“Well that sucks. Now I kinda want to talk about it. Hey, grading doesn’t really take much brain power. Why don’t you grab a coffee and come sit with us? We can talk about the show. It will keep my mind off this mountain.” She waved to the stack in front of her.

“Oh, I,” he said, biting his lower lip. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“It’s fine,” Logan said instantly.

Patton looked at him and smiled widely before looking away. “Okay then,” he replied. “I’ll go get some coffee.”

He watched the other man walk to the counter and then turned back to Lia. “What?” he asked at the strange look on her face.

“Oh my god,” she said and reached over to give him a punch on the shoulder. “You didn’t tell me you had a cute coffee shop boy.”

“I don’t have him Lia.”

“Have you asked him?” Logan felt the tips of his ears heat. “And don’t think I didn’t notice that you didn’t argue that he’s cute.”

“Well that is an objective fact.”

“Oh, is it now?” she asked. “Is that what Logan’s calling objective now?”

“He is clearly aesthetically pleasing. I am simply stating fact.”

“So, there’s no bias there?”

“Not at all, you noticed yourself did you not?” She rolled her eyes.

“Logan,” she said. “My dear friend, co-teacher, and office mate, if you don’t ask out the cute coffee shop boy who is clearly into you, I will slightly move every single one of your pens in the office.”

“And then I will throw your desk out of the window.”

“Come on, Logan,” she groaned. “He’s as cute as a button and is making heart eyes at you from the counter.”

Logan craned his neck backwards and Patton was indeed looking at him. He looked away when he met Logan’s eyes. Logan turned back to Lia, his blush now fully formed.

“Please,” she whisper-chanted. “Please, please, please, please, please.”

“Why are you so interested in my dating prospects?” he hissed back.

“Because you’re my friend, you were clearly hoping he’d show up, and you lit up like a Christmas tree when he came in. You have to ask him out.”

“I’m not interested in dating at this point in my life,” Logan said. “I’m quite busy with my studies and teaching. There is no room for such frivolities.”

“Logan I’m getting married this summer.”

“Yes, and that is you. Not me.”

“Believe it or not, academia and relationships are not mutually exclusive.” That was likely true, Logan knew. It was also not the problem.

The problem was his ability to move things with his mind, a blue suit he kept in his bag, and the mountains of red files he kept hidden in his apartment. No one knew that Logan was Bluebird, the cities resident superhero. He hadn’t even told his parents and he wasn’t planning on doing so. Sharing such a secret with anyone was a danger to everyone involved. He refused to do so.

At the same time, he knew that starting a romantic relationship with anyone who didn’t know the truth, was unfair to that person. Inevitably they would find out and there would be a disastrous fallout, but beyond that, starting a relationship on a foundation of lies was a horribly cruel thing to do to another person.

These two conflicting rules Logan followed had never posed an issue for him before recently, but…

But he did like Patton.

“It isn’t an option for me at this point in my life,” Logan said.

Lia looked like she wanted to respond, but then shut her mouth and smiled over his shoulder. Patton appeared back at the table a moment later. He grabbed a chair from a nearby table to sit.

“How did the end of the semester go for you?” Patton asked.

“For the classes I took, it went well,” Logan answered. “As for the one I taught, it is not quite as over as I would like.” He gestured toward the exams stacked on the table.

“That looks like a lot.”

“Ugh,” Lia said. “It is and I’m suffering.”

Patton’s nose scrunched up a bit as he smiled. “Did you enjoy what you taught this semester at least? Calc II right?”

Lia shot Logan a look as though it were not normal behavior for someone to discuss the course they were teaching with an acquaintance or for said acquaintance to retain that information. “Yep,” she replied. “It was pretty fun. The students can be silly, but I like teaching.”

“I’m sure Dr. Stewart thought the same thing about you when you couldn’t remember the definition of a Lie group on your final.”

She stuck out her tongue in response. “Anyway,” she said. “It was a fun course to teach. It’s where you start getting mostly math majors or majors that need a lot of math and not people taking requirements. Plus, I got to work with Logan this semester so that was nice.” Logan rolled his eyes at her and hid his warming cheeks by taking a drink of coffee. “He’s great to work with, you know. The students all like him because he’s good at being patient and very thorough.” Okay, another drink of coffee. “I like working with him because he doesn’t hit on me since he’s very gay.” Logan chocked on his coffee.

“I’m,” he stopped to cough. “Unsure what my sexuality has to do with anything.”

“I’m just making conversation,” Lia replied innocently.

Patton chuckled softly and bit his lip with his own light blush on his cheeks. Oh god. He knew. If Logan had less self-restraint, he would have just thrown himself out the window and flown into the sun. Patton cleared his throat after a moment. “Didn’t you want to talk about Mind of Mystery, Lia?” he ask.

She frowned. Clearly, she did not want to talk about a television show. Yet, she was thankfully forced by social convention to discuss it with him. Logan did not have much to contribute about a television show he had never watched, but despite that, found himself unable to effectively grade. He held the red pen in his hand and hovered it over one of his students’ exams, but all of his attention was on their conversation. Patton was soft spoken usually, but his voice was always clear. That is unless he was tired. Logan secretly loved the days he came in a little sleepy even though it must be bad for the man’s health, especially as it was often during the mid-morning. His speech got a little slower and his voice went deeper. He also lost some of his sense of boundaries and got a bit touchier when tired. With most people, this would make Logan cringe, but with Patton it made his chest warm.

The conversation slowly came back around to talk about the exams Logan and Lia were grading which Logan was more prepared to be a participate in.

“Hey, what’s the answer supposed to be for 26?” Lia asked. “My answer’s not lining up with Dr. Bakers.”

“Which test form?” he asked.

“B,” she replied. “It’s this one.” She leaned over to point to a question on the blank exam she’d been using to scribble on. Patton leaned over to glance at it too as Logan wrote it down on some scratch paper to work it out. Ugh. Integration by parts. He was too brain numb for this right now.

“1/2- ln(2)/2,” Patton said after a few moments. Logan looked over at the napkin in front of him where he’d written out the steps in precise script.

Now, Logan tried very hard to not be an academic elitist. He’d honestly been absolutely obnoxious in his high school years but had taken a step back and reevaluated his attitude later in life, helped by being humbled by a few of his first-year graduate classes. He had not cared about Patton’s ability to solve calculus problems. It was not at all why the man captivated his attention in the past month. In fact, he’d been running under the notion that the man was not particularly book smart and he had been perfectly content to strike up an acquaintanceship with him despite that.

So why did he suddenly want to capitulate to what Lia had been needling him about this entire afternoon just because the man could calculate a definite integral.

Perhaps it had little to do with the equation at all.

“Pretty and smart,” Lia commented. Logan kicked her under the table and for good measure made the plastic coffee cup that was teetering on the edge tip all the way over. Lia made a noise of frustration and got up to get some napkins to clean up the mess.

“Please ignore everything she says,” he said to Patton.

“I think it’s sweet,” Patton said. “She seems like a good friend.”

“I would barely call her a friend,” Logan murmured, “She won’t even be an office mate once I manage to get her desk to the roof of the math building.”

Patton laughed, but they were interrupted by something beeping at his waist. He glanced down at what seemed to be a pager. “Oh!” he said. “I’ve got to go, sorry.”

“Of course,” Logan said, blinking at the pager. “I hope it isn’t an emergency.”

“Oh, it’s always an emergency,” Patton mumbled. “Bye Lia,” he said when she returned back to the table. “I’ve got to go, but it was nice meeting you.” He turned to Logan. “I’ll, um, see you later. Probably not today, but later.”

Logan nodded. “Have a good rest of your day,” he said and got a small smile in return.

“Bye Patton, nice to meet you!” Lia called after him, and then he was out the door.

They decided to finish grading for the day about 20 minutes later.

“Well,” Lia said chipperly when they exited the coffee shop. “That was a productive coffee shop grading party.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

“But… we still have over 150 exams to have graded by Monday.”

“Right,” Logan said. “Somebody kill me.”

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 2 Part 3

[moonlit-imagines]

That’s a First

Jericho Wilson x reader

warnings:

a/n: he’s really cute ngl 🥺 ps clark ur amazing

prompt: @clarkimagines: “Hi, I hope you’re doing well! Can you please write a Valentine’s Day fic with Jericho Wilson from Titans where he has a crush on the reader and decides to go all out for the holiday after learning the reader has never had a valentine before?? Thank you!! 💙”

You were the youngest member of the Titans, so you and Jericho really clicked when you furst met. The two of you had the best times together. You even started hanging out alone with each other. The team enjoyed teasing you about it. A lot.

Soon enough, Jericho and you were “a thing,” which didn’t surprise a single soul. He had you meet his mom (she wasn’t a fan), you started opening up to him about your life, and he was just the cutest person on the face of the Earth.

Valentine’s Day was approaching and Jericho was ecstatic. He didn’t understand why you didn’t feel the same way.

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, “I guess I’ve just never experienced a Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t a major concern for me growing up.”

“You didn’t get valentines from classmates?” Jericho signed. You shook your head.

“I was homeschooled, remember? Working at the ‘family business.’” You air-quoted. Jericho frowned and moved his gaze to the floor. “Hey, don’t worry,” you rested your hands on his shoulders and kissed his forehead, “just because I’ve never had a Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean I don’t have a heart. There are so many other reasons for that!” You joked. Jericho rolled his eyes and fought off a smile.

“Don’t start with me.” He warned with a chuckle.

—————

Immediately after that conversation, Jericho ran straight to the store to get all the essentials for a perfect Valentine’s Day. The cheesier, the better.

His trip to the store was thorough, he walked down each aisle at least twice. Among his items in the cart, he had: cake mix, frosting, tall candles, a medium-size teddy bear, large box of chocolates, candy hearts, flowers, and an array of ingredients that he’d be using to cook you a fancy meal.

The plan was to make dinner for you while you were having a small party at the Titans Tower, get you over to his house, eat said dinner while the cake was in the oven, listen to some vinyls and dance around, exchange gifts, and put on a romcom. He didn’t know if romcoms were your thing or not, but he was going to make you watch it either way. You just had to. It’s Valentine’s Day.

You invited Jericho to the Valentine’s Day party, but Jericho said he wouldn’t be available until later that day. You were fine with that, and the Titan’s party was nothing to special. There were store-bought heart-shaped sugar cookies and drinks! What more could these lovely people need.

You pulled Dawn aside and told her that you were absolutely clueless on what you should get Jericho as a present. She was sort of amused with how clueless you are, but also almost proud of you.

“Look at you, y/n. All grown up.” She smiled and sipped her beer. “Just get him something that shows him how much you care. What does he like?” Dawn asked while you brainstormed. After a second, you got an idea.

“Oh! I know!” You tapped your hands on the table. “Music. I should get him a vinyl from tje shop, he’d love that.” You nodded to yourself.

“I also suggest a card...and maybe a small box of chocolates.” Dawn grabbed your hand and rubbed her thumb against it to calm you down, she could tell when you were nervous. “You should probably get going, kiddo. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” You grabbed your bag and car keys and walked to the elevator. “Bye, guys!” You shouted over to them. They actually didn’t let you leave immediately. If you didn’t already know, the team was a little protective of you.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Hank stopped you. “When are you coming home?” He asked.

“Uh...I dont know. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow morning?” Hank raised his eyebrows.

“Tomorrow morning? As in, you’re spending the night?” He looked appalled.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Dick warned.

“Wow, the bar’s pretty low, then.” You joked.

“Oh, come on, you guys. Just let y/n do what y/n does. If they’re old enough to beat up bad guys, they’re old enough to make their own choices.” Donna chimed in.

“Thanks, Donna.” You turned back to the boys. “I’ll text you, okay?” You offered.

“Fine.” Hank and Dick both crossed their arms.

“Okay, love you guys, bye!” You walked into the elevator and heard each of the Titan’s “love you, too’s” echo back.

“They grow up so fast.” Dawn commented.

You snagged a Frank Sinatra album from the local vinyl store, and you were pretty excited about it already. Next stop was local grocery store because you knew they sold the tiny boxes of chocolates with mini bears together. And you were right. You picked, paid, and made your way to his place.

You knocked on the door three times. Jericho opened it up and was a little bit messy. His apron was smeared in what you could gather as cake batter.

“Right on time.” He signed to you. You chuckled and gave him a kiss.

“It’s smells great in here.” You told him. “What is that, chocolate cake?” He enjoyed watching you smile. He nodded as an answer.

“The food is ready. I’m going to change, be back in a minute.” He signed and hung his apron up. You patiently waited and he came back from the room in a nice little short-sleeve button-up and some fresh jeans. And he was holding one single rose.

“The rest and in that vase over there.” He motioned to the vase.

“Thank you, Jericho.” You told his as he pulled out a chair for you, then watched him make up your plate for dinner. “Wait, did you make everything yourself?” Jericho nodded again.

“Let’s eat!” He picked his fork up and you didn’t hesitate to do the same. Your first bite was amazing.

“Dude, this is awesome. I didn’t know you could cook!” You complimented. “I’ve been living off of TV dinners and Dick’s ‘experiments’ for the past two years.”

“He’s not good?” Jericho asked with a chuckle.

“In his defense, he’s getting better.” You shrugged. The small talk went on for a while, then the oven beeped.

“It needs to cool before I put frosting on.” He told you. “Want to listen to some music?”

“Oh!” You jumped. “I left something for you in my car. Be right back!” You rushed outside and grabbed the record, bear, and chocolate and ran back inside. “Tada!”

“Is that...” He stopped as you handed him the Sinatra record.

“Frank Sinatra’s greatest hits?” You finished for him. He immediately put in on the record player and it started playing I’ve Got You Under My Skin. Jericho held his hand out for you and spun you around. You and him danced for what felt like an eternity. After a while, he decided it was time to finish the cake, so you took that time to text the Titans. “All’s well here. Will text you guys soon and let you know if I’ll be back tonight. <3”

“Ready for cake and a movie?” Jericho had asked you. He had a plate of cake in each hand, you gladly took a slice and sat on the couch. He popped in a DVD and some Vince Vaughn movie started playing. You laughed a little and took a bite of the cake. “This is all my mom had.”

“I’m not complaining. You lifted your arms up as he tried to cover the both of you up with a super fuzzy blanket. The rest of the night was spent cuddling and watching movies until you both fell asleep. You may have forgotten to text the Titans...

[sincerelyreidburke]

A fic for day 2!

The 25 days of Kiersey continue! This is Thanksgiving-focused, but I wanted to get this one early in the countdown before Thanksgiving was too distant of an event. I’m counting this as a winter holiday.

For context, if you want or need it, here is a ficlet that will function as a faraway prequel to the events of the following fic.

In the summer between his sophomore and junior year, Quinn tours with a fictional production of a real Broadway show, Deaf West's Spring Awakening. I recently watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and decided that Quinn Cooper needed to be in on that action. Here's what happened as a result.

Heaven forgive me, for it is LONG under that cut! I saw the opportunity for Quindo fluff in New York City, and I ran with it, my friends. Featuring Quinn’s tour friend Kyra (in person, finally!), some stereotypical NYC tourism shit, and, of course, the actual Thanksgiving festivities.

///

Playbill.com

November 1st

Summer Cast of Deaf West’s Spring Awakening To Perform At Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

*

Tuesday

Kiersey, NH

 Technically, the official start of Quinn’s Thanksgiving break occurs at 1:15 on Tuesday, when his last class lets out. Walking across campus after he leaves the sciences building is, to be sure, a very freeing experience. But it’s not until he’s by the door at the house on Beech Street, with a packed bag over his shoulder and a train ticket in his pocket, that it truly feels like his break is beginning.

“I can’t believe you two are ditching out on Shaley Thanksgiving,” Ben tells him, shaking his head and mock-scowling, as he takes the keys to his Prius off a hook by the door. “After all I’ve done for you?”

Quinn smiles brightly, and offers Ben nothing but a shrug. “I’m sorry, Ben,” he hums, “but I’ll be thinking of you in spirit.”

“Wow, that’s so nice of you, Mini.” Ben puts a hand to his heart, with all the snark in the world still in his eyes. “It’s almost for a moment like you’re not ditching to go to the big city.”

Quinn hums contemplatively, then glances at the time on his phone. “Sebastián,” he calls, and hopes his voice travels up the stairs. “We’ve got to go! The train’s in twenty minutes!”

“Twenty-four,” corrects Remy, as he walks to the door to join them with his own bag in tow. “You’ve got time, Q.”

Quinn knows he does have time, but as they say in the theater, on time is ten minutes early. He smiles at Remy anyway, and sighs. “I suppose we do, don’t we?”

Remy shrugs. “The train station is, like, two seconds away.”

This is also true.

“You’ll have to forgive me, Ben,” he adds, while they’re waiting. “Goodness knows I’m grateful for your mother’s hospitality.”

“It’s okay.” Ben smirks. “On the bright side, this year you won’t have to deal with her being weird.”

Mrs. Shaley does say odd things, most of them thinly veiled discomfort about his existence as an openly gay man (Quinn, you are just so stylish! It must just be natural for you people), but Quinn is still grateful that she had him to her house last year all the same.

Remy, who is going home with Ben again this year for the brief break, looks to him now, and asks, “Will we see you on TV?”

Quinn smiles— he can’t help it— and dusts off his knit scarf where it’s wound around his neck. “I certainly hope you will,” he replies. “So long as the parade is on, I don’t see why you wouldn’t.”

“That’s awesome,” Remy says, with a smile of his own, and Ben adds, “I can’t wait to live-Tweet it and say I know you.”

He sighs into his hand. “Oh, Benjamin.” He’s about to call for Sebastián again— he did have the class that released the latest of all of them, so it makes sense he’s the last to be ready, but then again, he should have just packed last night— but before he can call him, the floor shakes with the unmistakable rhythm of him bounding down the stairs, and in another second, he’s joined them by the door.

“Sorry, baby.” With his backpack over his shoulder, Sebastián looks handsome enough that Quinn is willing to forget his previous punctuality stress. “I’m ready now.” He’s in his nice winter jacket, with the red scarf and matching hat, and he looks every bit prepared for the November streets of New York.

“Good,” Quinn says, simply, and fixes the way his scarf tucks into his jacket before he turns to nod at Ben. “We’re ready when you are, mister taxi service.”

“You’re an asshole,” Ben replies, “and let’s get outta here.”

The train station is only a three-minute drive from campus, and Ben and Remy drop them off there, with their own long drive to Providence awaiting them as they pull out of sight. Quinn feels as if he’s buzzing with adrenaline, with the excitement of the five days that lie ahead of them. Thanksgiving break may not be long, and in past years, it hasn’t been very eventful for him— freshman year, he stayed on campus, and last year at Ben’s house was nice but not particularly crazy— but this year is a whole new story.

This year, he gets a Thanksgiving break straight out of his wildest, most wonderful daydreams.

“Are you excited, cariño?” Sebastián asks him, as they’re waiting on the platform for the train, bundled up with their bags in the cold. Quinn feels like they’re at the start of a wonderful holiday movie.

“Of course I am.” He winds his arm up in his and remarks, “In fact, I can’t remember the last time I was quite this excited.”

Sebastián smiles. Under his knit cap, his curls are just a little windblown. Quinn has never seen a more handsome sight. “I’m excited for you,” he says, and kisses his forehead, and this is going to be the greatest school break ever.

*

Wednesday

New York, NY

 On their first full day in New York, Quinn has rehearsals. This makes sense, because the whole reason they’re in New York in the first place is so that Quinn can perform. Nando doesn’t even have enough words for how proud he is of him, and the performance hasn’t even happened yet.

Quinn is up bright and early Wednesday morning. He’s headed to the hotel convention center downstairs, where he’s meeting up with his castmates from over the summer for the first time since he left tour in August. Nando rolls over in bed— it’s still dark out— and smiles when he feels him a kiss to his cheek on his way out. He reaches out of the covers and feels around until he can grab Quinn’s hand in the dark.

He squeezes it, three times— their wordless way to say I love you. Quinn returns the three squeezes, kisses the back of his hand, and then turns to go, a silhouette in rehearsal clothes as he leaves.

The bed feels empty without him afterwards, but it’s still dark outside the windows of the room, so Nando falls asleep for another little while and dreams of 

When he wakes again, he has an interesting situation on his hands: time to himself, in the middle of New York City. He’s never been here before, but he’s fully prepared to become a huge tourist so he can visit some of the food spots he follows on Instagram.

At a respectable hour, he gets up, gets dressed, and does just that in Quinn’s absence. A few very successful dessert-for-breakfast experiences later, he heads back to the hotel to FaceTime Mama and his sisters.

“Can we watch him on TV?” Gabi asks.

“Is he gonna be on one of the floats?” adds Rosa.

“Well, not exactly on a float,” Nando tells them, “but yeah, you can watch him on TV! I don’t know when he’s on, but he’ll know, so I’ll text you guys later.”

“Wish him luck for us,” Mama says, with a warm smile, and Nando smiles, too. It’s not that often you spend Thanksgiving in New York, when your family is thousands of miles away and your friends hundreds, but it’s also not often that your boyfriend, the love of your life, your favorite person in the entire world, is performing at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, so. Y’know.

Nando didn’t know it was possible to be this cheeky with pride.

At noon, he goes downstairs to pick Quinn up from rehearsal. He’ll have a busy Thursday, what with the parade and everything, but for the rest of the day, their time is entirely theirs.

It’s kind of easy to tell where the cast people are coming from, because one of Nando’s various acquired skills from the course the two years so far of this relationship is being able to spot Deaf people in public. It’s really not hard. Just watch for flying hands!

That’s how he spots Quinn— leaving the convention area, among his fellow Deaf West people, or— Kyra, actually, to be more specific. Nando hasn’t seen Kyra in months, since July, actually, when he met her on their Phoenix Spring Awakening tour stop. Her hair is different— in space buns instead of her afro— and she’s wearing a bright orange sweater, which, if her Instagram is accurate, is right in line with her sunshine aesthetic. She was amazing on tour; she’s such a talented person.

She walks side by side with Quinn, and they’re moving kind of slowly because they’re turned halfway toward each other to talk. Their hands move a mile a minute, and Nando knows a good amount of sign, but can’t keep up with this rapid conversation.

Lucky for him, he doesn’t have to. Quinn and Kyra seem to see him at the same time— and Kyra signs something he does understand, with this huge, bright smile. Literally, her sign means cactus and S, but Nando knows that’s just his sign name.

He waves across the lobby, then signs back to her— sunshine and K, for Kyra, and she lights up even more. She runs the rest of the way over, and Quinn goes after her.

How are you? he asks, and Kyra looks so excited that she almost jumps up and down.

They get to hold a small conversation in sign, and Nando loves catching up with Kyra but sort of loves even more how Quinn smiles as he watches them talk, like he’s glad they’re interacting, and it’s just— it’s wholesome. It’s great. Kyra is great, and he’s just so happy for Quinn that he gets to see her and all his tour friends again. He was sad to part with them at the end of the summer.

Kyra’s mom is in the city with her, so they part ways when she arrives; Quinn has another brief and very fast sign conversation with her as she’s leaving. Nando figures it’s probably just ‘see you tomorrow,’ but you never know.

“Baby,” he whispers, leaning down to him as they start side-by-side toward the elevator, “you have to hear about the churro I found this morning.”

Quinn laughs, and looks up to him, winding his arm in his elbow. Nando thinks they were meant to fit together this way. It’s so natural, and so easy. “I would love to hear about that.”

“I took pictures and everything,” he says, then pauses to press the button and hail the elevator. He looks to him again to add, “But also, how was rehearsal? Can I take you out to lunch?”

“Out to lunch?” Quinn swoons. “You must be trying to get in my good graces.”

He pretends to pout. “Am I not already in your good graces?”

Quinn swats at his chest. “Oh, don’t be a drama queen.”

He kind of wants to point out that Quinn, rather than he, is the one who just got out of several hours of pro theatre rehearsal— but he guesses that would be telling him what he already knows. Instead, he grins and shrugs, then kisses his forehead. The elevator dings upon arrival. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he says, and they have a very good afternoon.

*

Thursday

 It’s absolutely frigid outside, and it’s six in the morning, and Quinn is having the time of his life.

He’s huddled on a couch with his castmates, in a trailer, waiting for the day to begin— though he supposes it’s already started, given his five o’clock wake-up call. He thought the tour was exciting, and truly, it was, but this is a whole other excitement entirely— being in New York, with so many performers all in one small place, knowing what lies in store for his day.

Life, he thinks, is maybe a dream come true right now. From coming here with Sebastián to getting to perform, there are so many things he’s grateful for, so many experiences he feels so lucky to have. This is no exception, as he sits in the trailer, with space heaters warming his feet and cast friends on either side. It’s like being back on tour, except this time, it’s one time only. He has to make it count.

And… yes. Quinn is decided. He is going to be completely obnoxious on Instagram today. To start it out, he nudges Kyra, who sits directly next to him, and opens the front camera on his phone.

Kyra lights up for the camera— she truly is the human embodiment of the sun, and Quinn is honestly a little jealous of how good and put-together she already looks at six in the morning. She’s wearing yellow earmuffs that sort of match the gold rims on her glasses, and she hooks an arm around his neck to lean into the picture. Her cheek is warm against his, and he laughs. On his other side, their friend Minji pushes into the camera, too, and flashes a heart at the camera with her thumb and pointer picture together.

Are you posting that? Minji asks, once he’s snapped the selfie.

He puts his phone down and grins. Obviously, I’m posting it.

He’s hunting for stickers to put it on his story when it becomes something of a ‘thing’— the various other friends and castmates around him realize he’s taking pictures, and then, right as he gets the selfie up on his story with a little turkey sticker, everyone is clustering for another.

Group shot!

Let us be on your Instagram!

Yeah, we need a reunion picture.

Hang on, he tells them, and laughs, then climbs up onto the edge of the couch. He faces them to add, I’m not tall enough for that, and while they laugh at his height’s expense, he rolls his eyes and opens his camera again.

Smile! he signs into the camera, and then clicks the button a few times so he’ll have options to choose from. This one should be a post, not a story, he decides. He thinks there are enough cast members in it to maybe send it to production staff. Not to pat himself on the back or anything. Really, he just wants to document these moments with his friends, while they’re all still in one place again.

Oh, you know what we should do? he says to Kyra, as he’s sitting down on the arm of the couch. A before and after picture, with costumes.

Kyra grins, and she nods. They did posts like that several times, over tour— a picture before you get costumed, and then the same picture but after you’re ready to go onstage. We should make a TikTok, Kyra says.

He laughs. Oh, goodness, he says, but he knows he’ll probably wind up doing just that. He has a feeling his social media will be quite alive and well by the end of the day today.

He wants to hold every part of this day in his memory, so he’ll never forget what this feels like.

*

It’s been three months since Quinn got to be Moritz Stiefel.

Though it took a lot out of him this summer, it’s a role he’s missed sorely, and he doesn’t usually get to go back to playing characters whose shows have come to a close for him. He supposes today is a bit of an exception, and, to be sure, he’s been excited for today since the very moment he learned this performance would be happening— but it’s not real, exactly, until he sees himself in a mirror, in costume.

He knows this version of himself, though he hasn’t seen it in awhile. His hair is mussed up, and the school uniform costume fits just as it’s supposed to, with a crooked tie and a tall pair of socks. He isn’t mic’d yet— that’s a step they’ll reach later this morning, with the sound technicians at the parade, and his hearing aids have been out for several hours; they’re tucked into his jacket pocket right now.

The mirror in the trailer is small, and he smiles at himself in it. He always likes this part, performing— when he gets to see himself as the character he’s going to be. Today, it’ll only be for five minutes— but five minutes of glory, on television, with his friends from the summer, and so they’re bound to be some of the most exhilarating five minutes of his life.

He doesn’t want to get a big head, but the fact that so many people will be watching… that’s a lot to take in. On the street, in person, Sebastián will be watching, too, and that’s something he’s very mindful of.

Kyra is putting flowers into her hair, at the small mirror next to him. He grabs his phone to wave it at her, and she grins, then signs for him to wait one second, so he does.

Just like old times, she says, when she’s done, and then lets him take their picture in the mirror. He sends it off to Sebastián first, then puts it on his steadily growing Instagram story.

It is just like old times. Quinn doesn’t want the day to be over, and it’s barely begun.

*

Of all the places he’s performed, Quinn has to say that the streets of New York City rank high.

The morning is a blur— move from place to place, let people tell you where to be, get briefed by tech people who know a lot more about what’s going on than he does. Comply, because that’s what you do. Warm up your voice. Take so many pictures that your phone starts to yell at you that it’s running out of storage.

From a distance, spot someone who looks an awful lot like your boyfriend on the side of the street. You can tell it’s him, because you knit that red scarf for him two Christmases ago. It’s his color, undoubtedly. Kyra signs his name at him from afar, but he doesn’t see either of you. Until you go on.

You get a little nervous, but you don’t have time to be nervous, because you’re on the move and you’re waiting to perform, and then— you blink, a rush of adrenaline, and it’s over.

And you just did what actors all over the country dream of doing.

There aren’t words for that in English or in sign.

*

Friday

 On Friday morning, when Quinn wakes up, it’s snowing.

He doesn’t realize it at first. He’s tucked beneath Sebastián in their hotel bed, waking from a sleep so deep and welcome it felt truly heavenly, buried between covers and warm weight. He opens his eyes to gentle, natural light in the room, a sure sign they slept in, and he blinks a few times before he realizes what he’s seeing in the nearby window.

Snow. So much snow, and falling fast. Goodness, it’s beautiful. The view isn’t bad, either; Manhattan is a sea of buildings, and this snapshot of glass is only a glance. The snow is so peaceful, coupled with the thought that they have nowhere to go, nowhere to be. After the dream come true that was yesterday— the parade, the performance, getting dinner with Sebastián and Kyra at some diner with no other patrons in the middle of the Thanksgiving afternoon— he could use to rest and reflect.

Quinn knows it’s cliché, but he truly does love this city.

He threads his fingers into Sebastián’s curls, and pulls his head close to his chest, and rests in bed while he watches the snow come down.

Some time later, when Sebastián has woken, he gets to spend a lazy, snowy morning in bed, and between gentle kisses, he tells him there’s nowhere else he would rather be.

*

Saturday

 “Can you keep up, baby?”

Nando knows a retort is coming before it even does, but he still grins when Quinn pipes up, from a few feet behind him, “Oh, you just mind your business, Sebastián; I am fine.”

As if to prove it, he closes the small space between them and skates up by his side. Nando knows that getting out on the ice and immediately taunting him was not practical, but it was entertaining, and he likes that Quinn’s cheeks are flushing now. He holds out his elbow, like a peace offering, and Quinn wraps his gloved hand up in it.

“You wanna take a winter stroll?” Nando asks him, with a wink down in his direction.

“This is hardly a stroll,” Quinn replies, in that know-it-all voice that drives Nando crazy in the best way possible. “It’s more of a glide,” he adds, and with that, they start skating along.

“That’s fair,” Nando replies, and tips his head up to take in the view.

He couldn’t spend any weekend even slightly related to the holiday season in New York City without going ice skating under the huge tree. Because first of all, it’s in every New York Christmas movie ever, and second, one of his and Quinn’s first dates was skating, and third, he fricking loves to skate, and fourth, this is his life, so there.

“This is breathtaking,” Quinn remarks, and that’s an understatement. There are enough lights on the tree to probably show up from space, and Nando has learned over the past few days how huge this city actually is, but being right here in the middle of everything just reinforces that truth. They skate along in the throngs of other people, which is part of the tourist experience, and honestly just makes it even better. Nando has seen this on TV so many times. He can’t believe he’s actually here. Pretty much everything about this weekend has been like some kind of dream situation where crazy things you imagine actually come true.

And speaking of dreams. He looks down to Quinn, and it’s, like, okay— cheesy, but the lights are all reflecting in his eyes, and he’s bundled in his scarf and peacoat, and he’s the prettiest thing Nando has ever seen. Including the giant tree. Including everything.

Quinn catches him looking. Of course he does. He smiles, rosy-cheeked and windblown, and hums, “What?”

“I love you,” Nando replies, and kisses him right in the middle of everything.

Quinn laughs out of the kiss. He stays tight on his arm, and somehow, they keep skating without falling. Nando thanks his hockey side for that.

“I love you, too,” Quinn replies, and his voice could block out all the noise of the whole city.

They’re the center of the world.

*

Sunday

Kiersey, NH

 The whole way home to Kiersey, Quinn sleeps on Sebastián’s shoulder.

It’s unintentional, but peaceful all the same, dreams full of memories of the weekend. He gets into his seat at Grand Central Station, slumps against him, and wakes to his gentle nudging hours later, so they can change trains in Boston. The next ride is shorter, but he rests again anyways, and the gray November day is dimming outside the train windows when he opens his eyes at the Kiersey station.

They walk back to campus— it isn’t far. Sebastián is holding both of their bags, and Quinn is holding nothing but his arm. It’s chilly, but bundled up, it isn’t so bad. With this boy, Quinn is so very warm. By the time they round the corner onto Beech Street, lines of student houses with warm windows stretching down either side of the familiar road, the sun has gone down.

On the front steps, Quinn pulls his hands out and looks up to him. He hasn’t had his hearing aids on in over twenty-four hours, and it’s been the most liberating and lovely experience. Before they re-enter the chaos of the hockey house and he’ll have to put them in again, he wants to sign him one last thing.

Thank you for joining me, he says, once he has his gaze. I love you so much.

Sebastián smiles. He puts the bags down by the door, rests both hands on his shoulders, and kisses him gently. No wintry breeze could stop the warmth in Quinn’s chest.

When he’s pulled back, Sebastián replies, I’d join you anywhere. I love you, too.

Quinn beams at him, and with one more shared, quiet moment, Sebastián picks up the bags, and Quinn leans into the front door and pushes it open. Hey, people! he reads on Sebastián’s lips, no doubt a loud exclamation, as they cross the threshold together. We’re home!

Home, indeed. Quinn closes the door behind them, and the warm, familiar, slightly chaotic embrace of Beech Street welcomes them back.

[smilingspinel]

even mORE SOULMATE AUS for spinel x reader >:3 how about the soulmate au where theres a black spot where you first make physical contact with your soulmate and when they touch it, it becomes a patch of womderful colors~

SURPRISE!

I was so inspired by this particular imagines prompt that I ended up breaking my own mold and writing a 2.8k fic for it instead.

It was a lot of fun to write this out, so I hope that you enjoy it!

~~

You were born with your spot on the back of your hand. 

It didn’t come as a surprise to you, or your parents, or any of your friends, really. Everyone had them somewhere, and the back of a hand was considered one of the most common parts of the body to have them appear.

It’s your soulmark, and its location determines the first spot your soulmate will ever come in contact with. When you were a young kid in elementary school, all you could think about was who it could be. You would chase the kids around at recess, waving it in their face, taunting them to touch it. It was a game, and only the bravest of the few would actually comply, but nothing would ever happen. You all would break into giggles, knowing very well the result would never change, and joked it would not work by coincidence, that nothing happened because the wrong person touched it, or that they did not touch in the exact center of the black spot.

That’s all it was to you, as a kid. It was a game, because the idea of a soulmate sounded more like a fantasy from the fairy tales the teachers would read at story time. But as time passed and your friends and classmates got older, you felt like you were the only one who still wanted to play the game, who saw the spot as just the source of a fantasy game you play at recess. Some of your classmates were finding their soulmates as early as the sixth or seventh grade. You wouldn’t have believed it had you not seen a few of them go down yourself.  You suppose it isn’t that odd, since you always hear stories at weddings about how the couple met when they were small children. 

Which…wouldn’t bother you, except middle school came and went, and so did high school, and while everyone around you was walking around with colorful displays of love splashed all over their bodies, you still had your black little spot on the back of your hand. It’s not like you’d given up on dating, it’s just that you’d begun to shy away from letting your partners see the spot on your hand, because you were always so afraid of heartbreak, that you would believe you’d found the one only to find out you were meant to break up, that you never thought it was worth the trouble. 

“It’s just…” you sigh, bringing your wrist to your forehead as you lie down against the grassy hill against the crystal temple. “It doesn’t feel right, you know? Waiting your whole life for one person to come find you? When you’re not even sure that they’re coming at all?”

Beside you in the grass, Steven laughs. ”Y’know, [y/n], you really remind me of someone else I know. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were meant for each other”

You raise an eyebrow at him in question, which makes him laugh.

“No no, I’m serious! I think you’d really like her”

You blink. “You do?”

“Yeah! I think you two would really hit it off, if you know what I mean”, he says, and nudges your shoulder. You can feel a blush forming on your face, and Steven must be able to see it forming on your face, because before you can make any form of a protest he’s already standing to his feet.

“Wait right here,” he says, like you have any other option but to comply, and between one blink and the next he’s already sprinting off. You watch him go until he’s just out of your sight, and once he’s gone you roll over onto your stomach to observe some of the flowers in front of you.

Should you pick some of the flowers for her? Does she even like flowers? Will she know that you just picked them at the last minute, instead of carefully thinking out an arrangement at a local florist? Steven’s friends with a lot of gems, what if she has future vision like Sapphire does? What if she already knows what you look like, before you even get a glance at her?

“Ugh,” you complain to yourself, and scrub your hands down your face. All of this worrying is getting you nowhere. Steven’s been your best friend since early childhood. If anyone’s going to have any idea of who would be perfect for you, it’s going to be Steven.

It’s a calming thought, but the idea that Steven very well may be bringing you your soulmate causes your heart to start slamming into your chest.

“[Y/n]?”

The sudden call of your name nearly makes you jump out of your skin, and when you peak through your hands at whoever called your name you see Steven holding hands with…someone you can’t make out in the bright sunlight.

You quickly jump up to your feet, brushing yourself and your hair off, pretending she didn’t just see you pathetically moping around in the grass.

“[y/n], this is Spinel!” Steven beams, nudging a gem looking equally as nervous as you closer to you so you can get a better look at her. She shyly rubs at the back of her neck with a gloved hand. 

She’s….she’s beautiful. She’s so much prettier than you could’ve ever imagined. She’s bright, she’s bold, she-

You start giggling uncontrollably, and Spinel frowns, turning to Steven. 

“H-hey, what’s the big idea here? You said they’d like me!”

“Oh, no no!” You frantically wave your hands around, a blush burning into your cheeks. “It’s not that! It’s just…” You giggle. “You just look like you’re in a punk rock band or something”

Spinel blushes, taken a bit aback, and beside her, Steven’s eyes turn into stars. “Awwww!” he coos, nudging Spinel just a bit closer to you. “That’s like, the biggest compliment you could give someone! Punk rock is the coolest!”

That makes your blush worsen, which makes Spinel snort in laughter (oh no, that’s adorable). She outstretches a hand to you, literally.

“Spinel! Though I’m sure you already figured that out, since Universe just told you”

You shy away from her outstretched hand, holding your own to your chest, but you flash a smile regardless. “I’m [y/n]”

She retracts her hand and laughs again. “Aww, whatsa’ matter? Afraid of a little punk rock?” she teases, and you laugh, but keep your hand where it is regardless.

Steven giggles. “Didn’t I tell you? Their spot hasn’t changed yet. They’re still on the lookout for their soulmate” 

The playful smile suddenly fades from Spinel’s face, and it’s replaced with a dark magenta blush. “Really?” she says, in a hushed sort of whisper. “Lemme see” she takes another cautious step towards you, and you take a cautious step backwards.

“Nah, I won’t touch it,” she promises. “I just wanna see it”

She’s got an indescribable look in her eyes, but something about it tells you she’s telling the truth, so you cautiously show her the unimpressive little black spot on your hand. 

She sure seems to think otherwise. “Wow,” she gasps, walking in a circle around you to get a good view of it at every angle. “I’ve neva seen one of these when they weren’t already full a’ color. Steven told me he’s had his filled since he met that girl Connie, and Garnet’s had hers since she first fused. I didn’t even know gems could have one, let alone a fusion” she shrugs, and stretched her neck around to look at herself. “I can’t find mine, that’s for sure”

Okay, that’s pretty reassuring to say the least. You snort in laughter, which makes her retract her neck back to its original place, and she grins widely.

Steven beams equally wide at the display.

“Aww, see? You’re perfect for each other!”

You and Spinel seem to blush at the exact same time, which only seems to prove Steven’s point even further. He laughs, and clasps his hands together. “Looks like my work here is done, let me know when you need a minister for your fusion ceremony!” he calls out, and runs off like he’s expecting you to chase after him for making such a comment. And you would, hadn’t it been for the worsening blush on your face.

“Fusion ceremony?” Spinel asks, tilting her head to one side in confusion.

“Marriage” you mumble, just under your breath.

“Oh,” she replies, equally flustered, which gives you the idea that Garnet must’ve filled Spinel in on the idea at some point or another. For a brief, seemingly never ending moment, you two stand in silence beside each other, the only thing capable of breaking the tension in the air between you two being the occasional breeze.

“Well…” you say, kicking at the grass and stifling a giggle. “Do you…wanna try the whole dating thing? To see how that goes?”

Spinel snorts in laughter, but vigorously agrees once you clarify that it’s a genuine offer.

~~

It’s honestly the best decision you’ve ever made in your entire life. Although you’re both very shy about getting touchy with each other, you actually hit it off very well. One experimental date becomes two, than three, than four, than five, until you two eventually come to the very obvious conclusion that there’s nothing experimental about it anymore. You go on walks, to new movie releases, on mini road trips together, and with every date you go on you find yourself falling more and more in love with her, and you’re positive the way she looks at you she’s feeling the exact same way.

Your first kiss comes naturally. You’re sitting beside each other at sunset, hands mere inches away from touching, when you both lean over simultaneously and just go for it. It makes you both collapse onto the sand with laughter, your arms covering your eyes.  Once you recover, you both sit up in the sand and give it another go.

After that, it becomes sort of a game between you two to try to sneak a kiss to the other without physically touching otherwise. You’d wind your hands around your back, you’d stand on your tiptoes, and on one or two occasions you’d recreate that kiss from Spider-Hero just to avoid touching each other.

And it’s not long before you find that you’re happier with Spinel than you’ve been with any other partner you’ve had in the past. All of this worrying about waiting to be found slowly fades around you. You no longer care who the universe may claim to be is your “assigned” soulmate, because as far as you’re concerned, you’ve already found yours in Spinel.

You’re pretty confident she feels the same way, so you psyche yourself up in the mirror to tell her you don’t care; you don’t care what the universe thinks, because you know she’s your soulmate. If you need to cover up your little black spot with layer after layer of concealer to hide it, to defy the universe’s choosing, you’d do it every day for the rest of your life.

You’re going to tell her.

You’re going to tell her.

You’re going to tell her, you repeat to yourself, stepping out of the bathroom in Steven’s home, where you’d been practicing. It was, in fact, the easiest place to meet Spinel, since the homeworld warp was right there beside his bedroom. And even then, she practically calls this place her second home, since she visits from homeworld so often so she can see you.

You’re going to-

You suddenly stop dead in your tracks at the sound of Spinel…crying?

“Spinel?” You frown, looking around for any sight of your girlfriend. “Spinel? Where are you?”

She doesn’t respond, just starts crying harder at the sound of your voice, which gives away her location as upstairs in Steven’s room. You book it up there between one blink and the next, and you find her curled up on Steven’s bed, hiding under his mass of blankets.

“Spinel?” you ask again, sitting beside her. “Are you okay?”

“Go away” she hisses, though she doesn’t sound like she actually wants you to leave.  You shake your head. “Spinel, I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong”.

She visibly tenses up under the blankets, and stretches to push herself even further under the blankets. “I said go away”.

You sigh, and shift your position on your bed. This isn’t the first time you’ve seen her break down like this. She’s broken down to you dozens of times before, about Pink Diamond, about her fear of abandonment, and of her commitment issues, and you know her well enough to know that she very rarely ever means it when she says she wants to be alone. But if she really means it this time, you suppose you can talk to her another time and let her work through whatever’s bothering her on her own.

You stand up from the bed. “Okay,” you cave. “But come and find me if you want to talk it out, okay? I’ll wait downstairs until you’re ready to talk”

There’s a pause, and you’re sure she isn’t going to say anything, but just as the first step creaks from you stepping on it, she tosses the mass of blankets aside.

“Wait,” she calls after you, and her voice is scratchy and broken from crying. “You’re right. I do want to talk to you”.

That’s more like it. You turn on your heel, and make your way back over to Steven’s bed, sitting right beside her. “Yeah?” you ask, as gently as you can. “What do you want to talk about?”

She wipes her tears away from her eyes with her wrist. “I…” she starts, twiddling her hands together. “I know how you’re always tellin’ me that you love me, and you wanna be with me no matter what, and all that stuff about how I didn’t deserve what Pink did to me, yadda yadda,” she sniffles, “but I overheard ya talkin’ to yerself in the bathroom. I heard ya sayin’ all this stuff about your soulmark, and how you don’t care this, and ya don’t care that, and…” she temporarily cuts herself off to curl her arms around herself. “I just kept thinkin’….if…if we really ain’t soulmates, if we really ain’t meant to be, then you’d run off, that you’d leave me for wastin’ all your time, that you’d forget all about me, and-” she chokes back a sob, and no matter how much she tries to continue she just can’t seem to compose yourself.

Your heart breaks for her. “Oh, Spinel…” you whisper to her gently, and you reach forward to cup her face gently in your hands, gently wiping her tears away. She jumps in shock from the gesture, but leans into your hand, gently bringing a hand of her own to place a hand of her own on top of yours. “Listen to me, okay? All of that stuff I was saying to myself in the bathroom was that I don’t care what the universe thinks of me anymore. I don’t care about who my soulmate was supposed to be, because I’ve found her in you. All of that was because I’m willing to defy the universe for you, Spinel” you tell her, and you gently rub little circles into her tear streaks with your thumb. She opens her eyes to gaze into yours, but before you can say or do anything else, there’s a brief flash of light as the black tear streaks on Spinel’s face suddenly bloom with color.

You must be staring at her in shock, because she’s laughing again. “What?” she teases. “I got somethin’ on my face?”

“Spinel…” you whisper, only managing her name, and suddenly you’re the one tearing up and just as it had when you first met those fateful few weeks ago, the smile in her face is suddenly fading away, replaced by a dark magenta blush.

“[Y/n]?” She asks you, equally as soft. She pulls her hand away from yours and gently pats at her face where her hollow tear streaks had just been moments ago. Tears start welling up in her eyes again, and this time she takes your hand from her cheek, and lo and behold, where there was once an empty black spot was now a spot bursting with every color of the rainbow.

“I knew it had to be you” you murmur, your voice breaking with emotion, and she chokes out a laugh as she launches herself at you, wrapping her arms around you and planting passionate little kisses all over your face.

“I love you too,” she murmurs, between one little set of kisses and the next.

[argyleandjonathansmokingajoint]

In the Warmth of Your Smile

Pairing: Byeler/Byler

Words: 2441

Summary: Will’s had a pretty bad night. Scratch that, pretty bad year. Mike can’t rewind time, but he can be here.

Warning: None, they’re kids and they have their first kiss though? (Well, Mike’s second, sorry.)

Author’s Note: Thanks for reading this! I just have a lot of thoughts about that Halloween night. Can you believe I didn’t mention “Crazy together” once? I hope the feeling is invoked, though. You can also find this and all my other Byeler fics on my AO3 here!

They’re sitting shoulder to shoulder with legs pressed in close in Mike’s basement. It must be getting pretty late now. The fear’s still sitting in Will’s stomach like a lump, but it’s settled now thanks to Mike and his comforting words. His reassurances are still floating about in Will’s head when Mike says something and he has to turn to him to try to catch it.

“Huh?”

Mike scoffs lightly at his friend. “I said you really should have told me about that girl-”

“Max.”

“Yeah, whatever. you should have told me she was coming with us tonight, that you were inviting her.”

“You’re still upset over that? Come on, Mike.”

“What? Because of her-” he cuts himself off and lowers his voice again. “If I wasn’t so focused on all that, I would’ve been with you the whole time.” his chin is jutting out and Will’s worried he might cry, but instead he just curls his fists up, pulling on the pants of his Ghostbusters suit.

“Hey, it’s nobody’s fault. And don’t blame Max. ‘Sides you never asked about your friend, El being in the party. Just decided." he says it matter of factually as he swipes a bite-size snickers from the table and unwraps it. He tries to avoid conversations about her usually, especially if Mike’s the one talking about her, but he can’t help the comment that rolls off his tongue.

“What?” Mike has all of a second to feel offended before he looks at Will’s face. That’s right, now isn’t about him and besides, Will’s right anyway. He always seems to be right. He wishes he knew what Will was thinking though.

“Nothing. I just d- Look, it doesn’t matter anyway, okay?” Will sticks the whole snickers in his mouth and bites down. Hard. It gives him something else to focus on, other than the thoughts running through his mind.

“Sheesh, you won’t even have a conversation with me? Fine! I don’t get what the problem is anyway? It’s not like she’s done anything to you! She even helped save you!” During Mikes little tirade, Will finishes his mini up, but was now looking to the ground, visibly shaking.

He turns towards his friend within the second Mike was done talking and lets loose on him. “Jeez, I just don’t like her, okay?! Not everybody has to like everybody and I don’t! You don’t like Max? Well I don’t like this El you-you keep talking about! God, you can’t just shut up about her! I- I mean I get it, you care but guess what? I’m right here, Mike!” There are tears in Will’s sullen eyes now, but he keeps going, voice softer this time. “I came back. She left. You’re always here for me, but it’s like you’re not at the same time and I hate it.” The words are practically growled as they make their way out of Will’s angry throat.

Mike looks at Will, his best friend since they were five, as if he’s been stricken. It hurts, to hear all the thoughts and feelings that have been built up inside his small friend this whole time he’s been back home. He thought it’d been him and Will against the rest of the world, but it turns out he’d been part of what was hurting him most.

He blinks and feels something running down his cheeks. Huh? How long has he been crying? “I-I’m sorry. Will, I-” He looks down at his lap, then back up at the boy in front of him. Tears escape his eyes too and Mike wants to hold his hand or hug him, to comfort and be comforted, but he’s afraid he’s lost those privileges now, so he settles for just looking at his sad face, sure that he’s never felt so crushed in his life, excluding the time he saw “Will’s” body being pulled from the quarry.

“Will, I didn’t know you felt like that. I thought we told each other everything.” Will’s sharp look makes Mike flinch and inhale a breath.

“Yeah, so did I. But I guess not anymore.” When Mike looks at him questioningly, Will sighs. “You and El sure got pretty close while I was- gone.”

Mike is stunned for a second. He racks his brain and then it clicks. No, no way. “Will, it’s not like that! I- We weren't -!” He clumsily scrambles closer to Will on the couch and clutches both of his hands in his own. “I promise it wasn’t like that. Not for me, definitely! You know I-” The words don’t quite make it out of his lips, but the answering blush to both of their faces is enough tell them both the truth.

“But, then why did you act so uh, you know?” Will looks to the side.

Mike bumps his shoulder, still holding his hands and makes sure to look into his eyes as he says the next words.

“I lost a friend. I guess I started to care about her.” At Will’s hurt expression, Mike quickly corrects his phrasing. “As a friend though, a friend only! Besides, she doesn’t even know basic stuff. I think it would be, like, taking advantage of her.” Mike makes a face. He remembers Nancy overhearing Nancy talk on the phone to Barb about that. His dad was never gonna tell him, so he’s lucky to have learned it somewhere when he did. He still feels guilty for that kiss, knowing what he knows.

“Mike?” Said boy looks at Will and his heart almost stops. There are dried tears on his face and a question in his eyes still.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here, anyway.” He says softly, pulling Will closer and wrapping his arms around him tentatively. Will seems to accept this, so Mike leans his head on Will’s shoulder and then, with the silence of the house around them, he just breathes him in.

Will sits there, still and breathing shallowly. He’s too nervous to do anything, not wanting to make a mistake and have Mike move away.

It’s maybe thirty seconds before Mike chuckles and burrows closer to Will, gently stroking his back with a single finger. “I’m not made of glass, you know?”

Will seems to calm when he hears that and relaxes instantly. “S-sorry. Nervous.”

“Me too.” If Will could see the expression on Mike’s face as he say those words, he’d see the hopelessly lovesick look he wears.

Will, wearing his own lovelorn look, places his head atop of Mikes and his arms come around Mike in a hug-like fashion, then stay there.

It’s quiet inside Mike’s home. The only sound the boys can hear are their breathing and the muffled television upstairs. Will can feel Mike’s heartbeat against his side and he wonders if Mike can feel his. It’s a nice thought and it makes his heart feel all fluttery inside. There’s so much he’s yet to tell Mike, that he must know now but Will wants him to hear it too. He wants to-

“Can I kiss you?”

“I- Wha-?” Mike’s head shoots up and he stares wide and owlishly at Will.

“Um, a kiss?” Will’s losing his nerve, but he looks into Mike’s eyes and Mike doesn’t look disgusted. He looks amazed, like he’s surprised that Will would actually want to kiss him of all people.

“Y-yeah!” Mike catches himself and then says, calmer, “I mean, sure, okay.” But his eyes are still eager and Will can’t help but grin, even as his cheeks turn a dewy pink. It’s okay, Mike’s are the same color.

“I’ve never done this before.” Will confesses. It’s kind of daunting.

“I’ve never done this with someone that matters.” Mike whispers back as his face comes closer to Will’s own.

It makes Will’s heart hammer even faster. He feels almost like a grown adult and at the same time like he’s five years old again, meeting his best friend for the first time on those swings. His eyes are cracked open just the slightest bit ‘cause he figures you gotta be able to see which direction you’re going in, right? He thinks Mike probably looks beautiful this close up because he looks beautiful all the time, but he can’t see to well with his eyes squinted half open and half shut so he’ll half to check another time. Another time, wow.

His internal monologue seems to die as Mike’s lips graze his own, his eyes slipping shut fully and of their own accord. After five seconds it’s over but then Mike’s coming back in again. And again. And again. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing and Mike doesn’t seem to either, so he just tries to emulate what he’s seen in movies and from TV. It seems to be working, Mike and him pressing their lips together and rubbing them around slightly. It feels nice, at least. He’s grabbed onto the back of Mike’s suit sometime during their kissing and Mike’s bunched up the front of his in his hands.

They’re still softly kissing when the door to the basement opens and the clicking of heels starts down the steps.

“Shit.” Mike curses. They jump away from each other as quickly as they can, almost as if just burned.

“Boys!” Mrs. Wheeler rounds the corner and peeks her head down. She looks at them suspiciously for a few seconds then shakes her head fondly. “Boys, sort out your candy now! Will, your brother’s here to pick you up, sweetie.” She smiles, turning and heading back up the stairs.

“Yes ma’am!”

“Okay, mom!”

Mike looked put out as Will and he starts sorting through the candy and chocolate.

“Eugh, raisins.” Mike’s face scrunches up and he’s about to throw them in the trash can, but Will stops him.

“Wait, I’ll take them.”

“But you don’t like raisins either.”

“No, mom does.”

Mike’s eyebrows go up at that. “Dude, I’m seriously questioning your mom right now.”

Will just shrugs and smiles. “She eats them on her oatmeal.”

“Wow.”

When nothing else is said Will looked at Mike questioningly, still going through the candy pile. “Huh? What’s wrong?”

“It’s true.”

More silence.

“Mike, come on. What’s true?”

“You really are too good! How is this possible? That I could meet someone like you and you would think I’m worth anything is beyond me.” Mike’s tone is joking, but Will leans over and pecks his cheek anyway.

“Don’t you know how important you are, Mike? To the party? To me?” He leans in and just when Mike thinks for sure, they’re going to kiss again he smiles and pushes him back.

“Here.” In Will’s hand is a Baby Ruth. Mike looked at him questioningly.

“I dont-?” He wasn’t sure what was up.

“Kiss.” Oh. Oh, okay. Well, if it was an exchange Will wanted than he’d be happy to oblige.

“O-okay, yeah!” Wow, calm down, Mike.

Will just laughs slightly in return. Then, they’re coming closer and closer, but the sudden sound of footsteps on the wooden steps stop them in their tracks. They didn’t even hear the door open this time. Was it never shut? They can’t remember. Mike and Will back up until they’re at a safe distance from each other, then Will picks up his candy-filled bag.

Perfect timing, as Jonathan rounds the corner just then. His eyes are tired but his lips curve into a smile when he sees Will. He waves and nods his head at Mike too.

“Hey guys, you hit a lot of houses?”

They look at each other and remember the events that had taken place earlier. “Uh, it was pretty good. We decided to come back early though and just watch some Halloween movies.” Mike covers for Will.

“Oh, yeah? Not too scary?” Jonathan’s concern is palpable an honestly, Mike gets it.

“Uh, n-no. Funny ones mostly.” He’s blanking, shit, he’s blanking.

“Um, E.T and So-something Wicked This Way Comes?”

“Right. You guys okay? You’re kinda jumpy.”

Oh no. It’s all over. He knows and he’s gonna tell they’re mom, then Mrs. Wheeler’s gonna find out, oh God, Ted-

“Did you guys actually watch a scary movie? ‘Cause I won’t be mad. Will, I know you love them, an-”

Will sighs and looks over at Mike, who gives him a smile and a quick wink.

“Okay, yeah. We watched Cujo. It was really scary and ya know, we’ll probably both have nightmares now.” He looks back to Mike, who nods along.

“Okaaayy.” Jonathan draws the word out, still not sounding convinced, but whatever secrets they’re holding, it doesn’t seem they’re ready to give it up quite yet.

Will turns back to Mike and walks over to him. “Here.” He looks down and in Will’s hand is the Baby Ruth from earlier.

“But-” He looks at Jonathan standing on the foot of the steps and then back at Will. “Our deal.” He maybe puts too much emphasis on the words, but that’s neither here nor there.

Will grins. “It’s okay. You’ll make it up to me, won’t you Wheeler?”

It nearly short circuits Mike’s brain, but he manages to hug back when Will goes in for a hug.

“I’ll call you later on the walkie.” He promises.

“‘Kay.” Then Will’s out of Mike’s arm’s and moving up the stairs, shouting a ‘see ya’ behind him.

“Bye!” Mike yells back, then he plants himself on the couch with a doofy grin on his face.

~

"Hey, buddy?" Jonathan looks puzzled as he and Will make their way out to the car, having already said by to Mike's mom.

"Yeah?"

"You guys drink some Kool-aid or something? Have some kind of red candy?"

Jonathan can swear he sees Will's soul leave his body the moment he say it, the sheer terror on his face is enough to read and he feels like a fool. It doesn't take a genius to round up all the clues and know what they mean.

"Yeah! We had.. Skittles! It was skittles!" Will hurries through an answer and though it's hardly believable, Jonathan lets it go.

"Well, congrats." He ruffles Will's hair and the boy looks unsure.

"For what? Eating skittles?" He's incredulous.

"Uh, yeah. I haven't had any, but I hear they're pretty good." He says as they buckle their seat-belts and Jonathan starts the car.

That changes Will's mood instantly and he smiles. "Oh, I still have tons! You can have some of mine!"

"Oh. Thanks, bud."

Jonathan turns up the music on the radio, a song about someone who's in love, their heart is breaking, and for the first time Will can't relate to it.

[mybullshitsensesaretingling]

Call Ahead

Request: can u do a bones fic where reader is jims little sister and he finds out about them?

A/N: I got a little excited, so, uh, this has four parts. This first part is a little heavier than it should be so

Warnings: Mentions of abuse

It was late. Not late enough for you to feel bad for showing up unannounced at the brother’s quarters or to start regretting the decisions you had made that lead you to do so, but late. You rolled your shoulders, still tight from the drive, as you strolled down the hall. The bright lights lined up on the ceiling could almost make you forget how dark it was outside and how long you had now been awake for. The way your backpack felt like it was dragging you to the floor helped you to remember.

You lifted up a hand and knocked on what you prayed was Jim’s door, and resisting the urge to lean against it and take a quick nap, you waited. After a minute or two, that felt like years, of silence you knocked again. And again. And once more. Finally there was movement.

“Alright, alright. I’m comin’,” a gruff voice said from the otherside of the door.

That didn’t sound like Jim.

The door opened to reveal a tall man with dark, mussed hair that stuck up in all directions. A pair of worn out pajama pants hung low around his hips and he was trying to blink the sleep from his eyes.

That definitely wasn’t Jim.

“Wow. Is he’s gettin’ ‘em right outta high school now?” he muttered to himself as he stared down at you, tiredly rubbing on of his eyes. “Jim’s not here.”

“Okay, first, gross.” You said, taking a step back from the door without taking your eyes from him. “I’m his sister. Don’t ever think what you were just think about me again. Second, he does not get them right out of high school. He’s got some morals. And third, gross.��

He blinked at you. “You’re his sister?”

“Yeah,” you nodded.

“Guess that means you can come in.” You smiled at him as he moved out of the doorway, holding the door open for you. He closed the door behind you and turned on the light, illuminating the mess the covered every surface in the room. “Sorry, for the, uh, state of things. It’s been a busy week. Exams, ya know.”

Dropping your backpack to the floor, you shrugged off his apology. You scanned room trying to figure out which side was Jim’s as his roommate sat down at his computer.

“What’s up, man?” Jim’s voice sounded from the speakers a couple minutes later.

“Hi, Jim,” you called from just out view of the camera.

“Who was that?” he asked.

“You’re sister.”

“Ha ha very funny,” Jim said humorously. You walked up to the desk and waved. “(Y/N)?” he spluttered, setting down the beer in his hand. “What are you doing-” he stopped himself when he got a better look at your face. You had covered up the bruises that covered your face, but it had been a long day and Jim had always been scarily good at spotting them. He sighed and shook his head. “Get some sleep. We’ll talk about this in the morning, okay? You can take my bed.” He turned to his roommate. “Bones,” he didn’t seem to need to finish the sentence for the roommate to understand as he nodded stiffly. Jim turned his attention back to you. “I’ll be home soon. Love you.”

“Love you too,” you said before the call ended. You looked down at the brunet with a smirk, “Bones?”

“Your brother’s stupid nickname for me. My name’s Leonard,” he told you getting up. “Let me get you something for that eye. Take a seat on Jim’s bed.” He nodded at one of the mattress on his way to the mini fridge. “Wanna tell me how you got here?”

“Drove,” you said, moving some laundry from the bed.

He turned to look back at you over his shoulder. “From Iowa? That’s almost thirty hours.”

“Not the way the I drive.”

He smiled, recognizing the similarities between you and your brother. He sat down on the edge of his own bed and held out an ice pack to you. Gratefully, you took it and pressed it carefully to your eye.

“How’d this happen?”

“Come on. You know my brother. Do you really have to ask?” you joked.

“Was it your dad?” he asked gently.

You looked away. You hadn’t realised Jim was sharing family secrets with this man.

“Sorry. I wish I could he-” You looked up at and he stopped. “Right. Sorry. Are you hungry?”

“I had three bags of Cheetos for dinner. I’m good, thanks,” you smiled and he snorted.

He leaned forward and readjusted the ice pack for you. “Does your mom know you ran away?”

“I’m almost twenty. It’s not called running away anymore. It’s called going on a road trip.” You paused before adding quietly under your breath, “And never coming back.”

***

“Hey,” a soft voice sounded as you stirred. “You awake?”

You blinked your eyes open. You didn’t recognise anything around you, but when you turned you saw your brother smiling down at you. He wore a red uniform and looked happier than you had seen him in a long time.

“I brought you breakfast.” He handed a paper bag over and you riffled through it.

“Cinnamon rolls and a flask?” You asked, holding them up and raising your eyebrows. He might be your big brother, but that didn’t mean he was the responsible one.

“It’s how all the greats start their day,” he joked, but his face stiffened into a more serious expression. “I called Mom.”

Sitting up and unwrapping one of the cinnamon rolls, you hummed noncommittally.

“You really scared her.”

You lifted a brow. “You’re not really going to give me a lecture about scarring mom, are you?”

With a heavy sigh, he sat down on the edge of his bed that you were currently occupying. “No.”

You nodded in a ‘that’s what I thought’ sort of way and bit into your breakfast.

“I made you an appointment at the student clinic. I made it with Bones. He’ll be discrete, but I want you to get checked out.” You nodded along as he spoke. His eyes drifted away from you and then back again. “Was it bad?”

You pulled your feet up, curling in on yourself.

Jim was five when his mother married Frank. Even then, Jim hadn’t trusted him. A year latter you were born and he started to reveal his true colors. By the time you were one, he had grown cruel. Jim had done his best to protect you and get you out of that house, often placing himself in harm’s way, but eventually he had to get himself out.  

“Sweetheart, I need you to talk to me.”

You rested your head back against the headboard. “I didn’t want to leave Mom alone with him, but I couldn’t do it anymore. He pushed me too far.”

“It’s not your job to save her,” he reminded you.

“I get what the flask is for now,” you chuckled dryly. You studied every imperfection in the ceiling before you spoke again. “I can’t go back there, Jim.”

“You don’t have to. You can stay here as long as you want. We’ll figure something out.” His hand rested softly on your knee and you lowered your chin to look at him. “You’ve got a support system here. We’ll take care of you. Get you pack on your feet.”

“That better be orange juice in that flask,” Leonard said from the doorway.

“I could add orange juice to it, if it would make you feel better,” Jim offered.

“I’m down for mimosas,” you smiled weakly.

He scoffed, grabbing a few PADDs from his desk and shoving them into his bag. He left on out and turned to you. “I talked to a couple friends at schools and labs around here. No pressure, but if you want to transfer out here. You’ve got options.” He handed you the PADD and you looked down at the pre-med program displayed on the screen.

“What’d I tell you?” Jim grinned, patting your knee.

[adventuresloane]

i left a light beside the bed for you

Read on AO3

Dani/Aubrey

Rated T

Raffle Prize for @desiree-harding-fic

@tazprideweek

"This feels...normal," says Dani, chewing on a three-inch nail.

Aubrey pauses. Her thumb stops gently rubbing over and over Dani's knuckle, and only then does she notice that she's been repeating that same gesture the whole time, absent-minded. She remembers that she has to pee. Truthfully, she's sort of had to pee for the past hour, but kept refusing to make the fifteen-foot trek from the bed to the bathroom. It would mean overcoming her inertia enough to leave the comfort of the soft duvet, and it would mean her bare feet on the cold tile, and it would mean no longer holding Dani's hand.

"Good normal or bad normal?" she asks. She can hold it.

"What do you consider 'bad normal'?"

"Well, you know. Like boring. I feel like normal things are usually boring." She shuts her mouth, then, and swallows. Is this boring? Was she bored?

"Well, I wouldn't call  you  normal," Dani answers, and her grin makes the freckles on her cheek shift.

Aubrey glances at the box of nails. "I wouldn't call you normal either."

"I guess not. I was just talking about...this." She goes quiet after that. Both of them are submerged in the hum of the mini fridge and the air conditioning. Aubrey looks away and holds onto the air inside her mouth, just behind her closed lips. Dani, she has learned, is the type to get her words all in order before she says them. She has also learned--is still learning--not to interrupt the process by blurting whatever comes to mind, which, as it happens, is her usual response to silence.

If she stares at the ceiling long enough, it starts to look fuzzy. Like there's a grainy film of static over the surface of the plaster. It makes her think of mist outside a window, of the big old tube TV that had sat in the living room of her house for her first few years of life and that had tingled warmly when she pressed her hand to the screen. Everything feels a bit fuzzy now, maybe because it's 3AM. Everything feels warm and a bit familiar.

Finally, Dani says, quietly, "This is what I imagined it would be like if...if things had gone differently."

Aubrey shifts to nuzzle underneath her chin and nods slowly against her, lips brushing her neck. "I know what you mean." As she says it, she knows that it both is and isn't true.

Aubrey had always been good at getting used to things. She had to be, in order to drift in the way she did, navigating unfamiliar towns and faces. The novelties of the new places she visited, the disorienting change of scenery that made her pay attention to everywhere she went, things like storefronts with shells in the windows and residents who all still referred to fridges as "iceboxes"--all these things turned into background noise before long, things she stopped seeing. Sometimes, she thought she was too good at adapting. Boredom always lumbered up behind her, would glom onto her if she stopped moving for too long. Her general rule of thumb was that if she managed to memorize the major street names in the latest podunk little place where she had settled, it was time for her to move on. She'd go and do her best to shake off any moss she had gathered.

So, typically, she wouldn't have chosen to stay in Kepler for as long as she was. But getting accustomed to monster hunting, moon-activated portals, and her own actual magic was its own kind of challenge. This, she guessed, was the new normal, this hotel and these people. But she was used to that too. Her life had been full of new normals the past several years. It had become normal for her, at the end of a long day, to crave the protein kick of a cheesesteak sandwich from a roadside stand, when before she had hardly ever touched meat and a fig and pear salad had been her favorite meal. Hell, it had become normal to be homeless.

Being unable to sleep through the night had been normal for awhile. It was fine, whenever she lay down to close her eyes and instead felt her heart running too fast and hot for her to relax. In that case, she just threw off the sheets and went for a walk anywhere.

While most of the lodge's halls were familiar to her by now, they were harder to navigate in the darkness. She got turned around and backtracked a couple of times. That was alright. Nobody was up to see her fumbling around at this hour of the night, or, rather, the morning.

Or that was what she would have assumed, until she wandered into the kitchen.

The first thing Aubrey noticed about her was what she always noticed, which was the fact that she was gorgeous. The second thing was that she looked as if she'd just been caught in the act. Frozen in shock, she stared wide-eyed, with her arms wrapped around a stack of take-out boxes freshly plundered from the open fridge. She hunched over it awkwardly, like an Igor in an eighth-grade production of  Frankenstein,  her chin pressed on top of the pile to steady it. All in all, there was a certain frantically-stockpiling-squirrel-in-autumn quality about her, which, Aubrey knew well, could only derive from the early-morning munchies.

This was to say that, for once, she looked like even more of a hot mess than Aubrey. Given that up until now, she, with her lithe body and smell of fresh earth, had resembled more of a fey creature than a person, this came as a strange relief. So she was human after all! Or, well, not human, but capable of imperfection. On the other hand, it just so happened that Aubrey was currently wearing a Snoopy-themed nightgown that she hadn't bothered to wash in a month and almost surely had a comical case of bedhead, so it wasn't like she was winning the Dignity Olympics.

Fuck. She'd been staring.

When Aubrey finally kicked her brain into gear enough to speak, her voice sounded an octave or two higher than normal. "Hi! Hey, uh, Dani, sorry to walk in on you like that! I hope I didn't freak you out, I was just--"

"Are you supposed to be down here?"

"Oh." Dani had said it quickly enough to make her jolt back. The sound was loud and bounced off all the chrome in the large space, hitting her like an accusation. Within moments, the tips of her ears felt so hot it was a wonder that they did not ignite. "Sorry, I, um, I can go--"

"No! No, I..." She exhaled heavily and placed her bundles on the chrome countertop. "Sorry, that was rude. You don't have to leave."

"Oh," she said again. "I mean, it's fine, though. I can if you want."

"I don't. Really. That, uh, wasn't what I meant to say." Dani glanced away and did not elaborate.

"Oh," she said, and now this was getting ridiculous, and she thought about how much she really ought to think of something better to say, quick, before this got to be any more awkward than it was, which was hard, because the only thought running through her mind right now was Don't blow it.  

"I love your--"

"I love your hair," Aubrey said almost simultaneously, then quickly added on, "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"The same thing." Dani breathed out through her nose, something that was not quite a laugh but approached it. When she grinned, her canines showed, noticeably longer than her other teeth, disguise or not. That was kind of hot, though she couldn't say why. "And...thanks, but there's nothing special about mine, I don't think. I just like the way you dyed yours."

"Yours is really pretty, though! It's cool that you're able to keep it that long and still have it look nice. And you've always got that, like, strategically disheveled thing going on. Like, you don't even need to look in the mirror every morning and it still just looks good."

Dani blinked at the end of her rambling. "Well...I don't have a reflection, Aubrey."

Well, dunk. "Right! Right, 'cause, vampire, so you're--right, sure."

"I mean, it's not just me. It's something about the human disguises. Don't ask me how it all works--the disguises are made of illusion magic, and I guess they interact with light in weird ways. It happens in pictures and video too. Sometimes we just show up blurry, but my form's never shown up at all."

"So, wait, but how do you know what you look like, then?"

"I kind of don't?" She shrugged. "I know some things, obviously. But not so much what my face looks like. At least, no more than you know what your voice sounds like if you never hear a recording of it."

"Wow. That...that's kind of a shame."

"I mean, it's whatever. It's not what I really look like anyway."

"Yeah, sure." Her fingers tapped rapidly against the pad of her thumb as she considered. "But like...would you like to know? What you look like, that is. I mean, I could try to tell you, if no one else has."

Her eyebrows shot up, in what, thankfully, looked like curiosity rather than judgment. Aubrey accepted that as an okay to stay for a bit, seating herself on the metal of the kitchen counter, cold even through her clothes. Dani hopped up to join her.

The inherent problem with this idea, she realized too late, was that she would have to look Dani in the eye for an extended period of time, and, as it happened, the last time she had done that, she had nearly started an all-out bonfire in the middle of the lodge. All she could do was try to think cool thoughts, which, of course, made it more difficult to give a decent answer. She kept tapping her fingers together, this time to snuff out the tiny flames she felt budding at the ends of her fingertips. "Well..."  Don't just say 'cute.'  "You kinda look like Florence Welch."

Dani's mouth quirked upward, and a half-second later, giggles came up out of her. She turned so that her expression was half-hidden by the curtain of her hair, but not before Aubrey saw the way the smile changed her whole face, softly crinkling and brightening her eyes, lifting her slightly sunken cheeks. She looked lighter, somehow, than she did before, and it had nothing to do with the kitchen fluorescents. With some of the tension gone from her chest, Aubrey went on, "But, like,  Lungs  Florence, you know?"

"I can live with that," she chuckled. "I like most Florence + the Machine."

"Me too! I'm doing a bad job of this, though. Fuck. Um, you've got a sharp jaw and a square chin. Your nose is kind of narrow. Green eyes, but you probably already knew that. A really nice, light green, though. Kind of--hang on, don't blink for a second. Kind of like...duckweed? No, shit, I was trying to come up with a good plant simile but I fucked up."

"Oh my god, please keep going. You're doing great."

"Like matcha, then? Yeah, I'd say matcha. Okay, sorry, we can stop having a weird staring contest now."

She laughed softly again, then quieted, eyes cast downward. Then, without warning, she reached into her back pocket. She flipped through the pages quickly, but Aubrey still saw, flitting before her, the gray graphite faces of other residents of the lodge. Just about everyone, except for one.

As she sketched, Aubrey leaned over the page and watched her create a new person out of nothing, weaving an image out of crosshatchings as thin and delicate as spider silk. Although knowing next to nothing about drawing, Aubrey gave her some pointers. "Your lips are a little bit thinner than that." "Your cheekbones are a little bit higher." "Don't forget to draw in the freckles below your eye. They're kind of faint, but they're there."

Aubrey went to look in a little closer and felt her forehead knock against something hard. By the time she realized that her head had collided with Dani's, both of them had jumped back a little, instinctively. She hadn't realized how much they had been leaning in with their heads turned toward the sketchpad.

Dani blinked once, twice, as though dazed. "I'm sorry, I should...it's late. I should go."

"Um," she called to Dani's back, "are you usually up at this hour?"

Dani stopped walking, then turned with a small, sheepish smile. "Well, I don't strictly have to sleep."

"Rad! Me neither! I'll probably see you around then."

"Yeah, you probably will."

Aubrey kept sitting there for some time after she left. She wasn't tired, and her heart was still pounding too much for her to sleep.

A few nights later, as she wandered the lodge in the wee hours, she rounded a corner to find the door to a single suite open, drenching the otherwise dark hallway in the golden lamplight from within. Considering that no one left their doors open even during the daytime, this was decidedly weird.

When she walked by and looked inside, Dani was there to meet her gaze. As if she had been waiting.

"Hi," she said quietly.

Aubrey, whose exhausted brain was even more deficient in the attention department than usual, replied after a delay of six full seconds, "Hi."

More moments of silence passed as she tried to figure out whether she should just keep going without being a bother, or whether her addled mind could manage a conversation right now. She couldn't figure out which Dani would have preferred. Maybe it was a fault of the disguises or maybe it was just how she operated, but either way, she was hard to read.

"So...do you have your bunny?"

"His name is Dr. Harris Bonkers, PhD, and no."

"Can you get him?"

"Huh?"

"So he can hang out with us. I probably should've asked if you wanted to hang out first. Sorry, I don't normally do this."

"Uh...no, that's fine. That's great. I'll...I'll go ask if he wants to come."

She brought him, and then, in the following weeks, made sure to bring him every time. More often than not, they passed the first hours after midnight together. For the most part, Aubrey did not remember the conversations in particular, at least not the specifics of them. They were long and meandered and doubled back on themselves. Instead, she remembered what she learned from them, from Dani. That the light orange-ish mushroom that grew on large trees in the forest were mildly poisonous to some and tasted like chicken to others, and that you'd never know unless you tried. That Barclay and Mama used to have regular competitions to determine who could handle the spiciest food. That she was, in fact, not to hard to read at all--that she picked at the stitches in her quilt when she was nervous, that she sometimes rocked back and forth a little on the bed when talking about something that excited her (though never enough to disturb the rabbit resting in her lap).

Aubrey remembered what she learned in the pauses, too. There were large in-between spaces of nothing, when neither of them spoke. She learned, to her surprise, that she didn't mind it. The sound of Dani's deep sighs and the bags of slightly stale Goldfish crackers she kept under her bed had become part of a routine. Predictable. She hated predictable, usually. But the rest of her life--her new life of monster-hunting and magic-using--had stopped being predictable awhile ago. So this was alright. Nice, even, to have one space where she knew what was what.

"I kind of don't want to leave," she mused into one of these silences.

"The room, you mean? You probably should. My bed's not big enough."

"No." Yes. "I mean leave Kepler. Normally I would've moved on by now."

Dani nodded. "I guess you did travel a lot before. You've got a lot going on around here, though."

"Yeah, I guess that's it. So much is new I haven't gotten used to it yet. I'd hate to live somewhere I'd gotten used to," she said with a chuckle.

"You always wanna keep moving?"

"I think so."

It might have been several minutes before Dani spoke up, though she didn't keep track. All Aubrey knew was that she heard her say suddenly, "Aubrey, don't take this the wrong way, just...how could you ever want that?"

The "how could you" pricked her. Aubrey  slowly turned to look at her, eyebrows raised.

"It's an honest question," Dani went on. "I just...I can't relate. Maybe because I left home so early and...well. Suddenly."

Aubrey glanced away. She asked, "How early?" before she could wonder whether she wanted to hear the answer.

"Oh, I don't know. I was a teenager."

"And remind me again, how old are you?"

She had to think about it. "Twenty-two."

"How long have you been twenty-two?"

"Awhile?" She gave a small shrug. "But years are different on Sylvain than on Earth. Keeping track is hard for me. That's what I'm saying. I miss being used to where I live, and understanding it, and understanding my place in it. I'm barely acclimated to Kepler. I can't imagine having to pick up and do it all again, all the time."

The forest green hotel carpeting was rough under her toes. "Yeah, I hear you," she replied after a bit too long. She wanted to say it was easy for her to do it, over and over. She would have said that, normally, to anyone else. But now, in the early morning hush, she thought it might not have been what was easy so much as simply what she did, what she felt she had  to do. "I guess...I mean, I had a home I left early too. And I don't think I'll feel that way about any place ever again. I never even wanted to try. Why stay anywhere when no place is ever going to feel the same? I don't know, I'm not making sense, probably. It's too late. Or too early."

"No, I think you are."

"Yeah." She took in a breath and tried a smile. "I could be wrong, though. I've, uh, found out I was wrong about a lot of things since getting here."

Dani glanced at her and, gradually, returned the grin. Aubrey had also learned not to look for too long, or she might get self-conscious and hide her face behind her hair again. Not as often, though, lately, and not now. She had been unfolding over these nights, slowly. "Like what?" she asked.

"Monsters being real was a big one."

She laughed this time, albeit from behind her palm. "Guess so." With one hand stroking Dr. Bonkers, she let the other rest on Aubrey's thigh, fingers lightly tapping. Aubrey tried not to squirm. Her body seemed hypersensitive under the touch, almost pricked by it. Or maybe that was the heat traveling just beneath her skin, out to her extremities, like it did just before flames burst from her fingertips. After holding it back for awhile, her hands stung like they had when she had touched a hot lightbulb as a child. Dani was still touching her, and she wanted to shift away but also desperately didn't want this contact severed. She tried to quench the heat radiating from her and hoped Dani would not notice. (Surely, she had to notice, and that thought only made her burn more.)

Later, she tried to hide the round scorch marks left in the quilt by her fingertips. She realized then that she was in what one might call deep shit.

So she had been less than proactive in the romance department for the last few years. She had had work to focus on. A blossoming career in entertainment, in fact. And anyway, she had never stayed anywhere long enough to make a real connection. Aside from some flirtatious moments in bars, a few teasing strokes, there had been nothing since high school. She was touch-starved, probably. Liable to crush on any living soul who so much as brushed arms with her. Did it really even count as a crush if all you wanted to do was sit together while touching? Maybe she just liked hanging out on her friend's bed in the middle of the night while the two of them took turns resting their heads in each other's laps and spilling their darkest secrets, and that was all fine and very platonic.

These were only some of her considerations as she sat, one evening, with Dani's fingers loosely interlocked with her own.

If she weren't careful, she knew she would just up and ask. She tried to distract herself instead. "Oh! I thought you might like this." She pulled out her phone and opened up her photos, which was about the only thing the device was good for in this quiet zone. "Saw a snail today."

Dani, who was already leaning against her shoulder, came even closer, tickling her clavicle with her hair as she looked at the picture. She grinned and nodded. "Effervescent."

"Can you ID it?"

"Virginia bladetooth, I think. I see them all the time in the garden."

"You're like a walking field guide, you know that?"

She giggled quietly, idly flicking the buttons on Aubrey's vest. "I think I've just spent way too many hours reading them." The metal jingled as she jostled it.

"You're amazing. Hey, by the way, what are we?"

After saying it, Aubrey immediately wished she had taken more distracting snail photos.

Dani, for a moment, looked as if she had not quite heard or understood. She gave her a curious look before the meaning of the question occurred to her, and her soft smile collapsed under its own weight. Her mouth was open. She seemed to take in a lot of air without breathing out.

She was just about ready to laugh it off, to make a gal pals joke, when Dani started, "We're friends, Aubrey." Aubrey didn't think she imagined the way "friends" had been enunciated. "Why? Were you...did you think we were more than that?"

Her whole mouth tasted of sour spit. "Well," she said, with an impressive lack of shaking, "we could be, if you wanted?"

"No."

The answer was instantaneous. She didn't say it in a mean way. Just an honest one.

"Ah." It sounded, even to herself, like the wind had been knocked out of her. "Right. I, uh, think I made this really goddamn awkward just now! Bad joke. I should probably go back to my room anyway, so--"

"No, hang on!" There was a tug on her sleeve as she went to stand up.

She sighed. "Listen, it was dumb. You really don't have to try and--"

"It's not dumb. I just...it's got nothing to do with who you are or anything..."

"It's not me, it's you, right?" she muttered. Suddenly, she felt exhausted.

"No! No, that's not what I...it's only even kind of about me." Her eyes snapped frantically this way and that, as if searching for a way to explain herself, or for an exit. They looked in every direction but Aubrey's. Her fist clenched and unclenched rapidly, over and over.

"Hey," Aubrey said in the softest voice she could. She sat back on the bed and considered, for a moment, wrapping an arm around Dani's hunched-up shoulders, then decided against it. "Hey, it's okay. Really, it is. I...I didn't want to make you worry."

"I'm sorry." Dani's breath shivered. "I'm sorry, I don't know how to explain...okay, look. I want to date you. I do."

Within half a second, Aubrey went through whatever the opposite of the seven stages of grief is. "Oh. Good to know."

"But I don't think I can."

"Can I just ask why, though?" She waited for an answer that she did not receive. "Listen, you're, like, really sending me a lot of mixed signals here, and I wasn't gonna push it but I feel like at this point you owe me some kind of--"

Dani slapped her hand down onto the bedspread and, far too loudly for 2AM, shouted, "I can't bring you home to my mom!"

The silence that followed was not one of the comfortable ones. It hit her like cold.

"Sorry." Dani's voice was a whisper, now, one that came out cracked. "I'm genuinely sorry. For all of this. I just don't know how else to explain it. This could never be a normal relationship, you know? I can't introduce you to my family, I can't take you on the dates I would've taken you on back at home..." She trailed off, swallowed loudly. "Maybe it's stupid. It's definitely stupid. I...when I was younger, I always imagined having a stupid romance like you see in teen movies or whatever, something really sappy and typical, and then I left home and resigned myself to the fact that I'd never have a chance of a normal relationship like that. Or a relationship at all, really. I don't know."

Aubrey let the quiet stretch on for a good while longer. Then, almost to herself, she murmured, "I couldn't bring you home to my mom either." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dani's head snap towards her. She kept staring at the floor anyway. "It's hard. She won't ever know the person or the people I decide I want to spend my life with, and that's hard as shit."

"Yes," Dani answered, barely audible.

"It'll always make relationships feel a little weird, I think." Finally, she glanced in Dani's direction. "I feel like that's not really a reason not to have them, though. I don't even know what would qualify a relationship as not-weird, honestly. Or what counts as 'normal' in your book."

"Maybe," Dani sighed. "But it's also like...you really don't know how much you still don't know about me. About Sylphs in general. You might find it too weird."

"Are you serious? Try me."

With a huff, she reached under her bed to pull out a small, jangling cardboard box. Making eye contact all the while, she pulled out an iron nail, held it up for Aubrey to see, and then bit down on it, running it back and forth so that it grated against her teeth.

"What, is that a stim? You don't honestly think I'd judge you for--"

"No," Dani interrupted with a tired tone. "That's not it. You'll see some Sylphs doing this when there are no humans around to comment on it. You know how my kind are rumored to drink blood? That myth started because we get insane cravings for iron, and so a lot of us will just spend all day sucking on literal metal."

"So? Still not that weird."

"But that's just an example. There's a million little things like that you don't know about. I just think you're going to find something about me too bizarre one day."

"Oh yeah? Well I can hang," Aubrey said, and with that, pulled an inch-long nail out of the box and gulped it down.

A pause.

"You don't swallow them whole, do you?"

"Aubrey, what the fuck.”

"Huh. Why did I do that?"

"Oh my god." Dani laughed, and kept laughing, high-pitched and uncontrollable. It was the incredulous sort of laugh that comes from being so delirious with panic that the feeling loops back around to being hilarious. Not that Aubrey could relate or anything. "Oh my god, Aubrey, you're insane! How did you manage to make this night even more ridiculous than it already was?"

"Am I weird enough yet?" She had started to giggle too. It wasn't like there was much else to do at this point.

"I'm gonna die." Dani wiped tears from the corners of her eyes, trying to catch her breath as she continued to laugh. "Or you might. I'm really scared for you actually."

"Yeah, this is bad probably, huh?"

"No, seriously, we have to go to the actual emergency room now because you just ate an entire nail."

"Wait, no, I hate hospitals!"

"Me fucking too, but you just swallowed a sharp chunk of literal metal! It could, I don't know, puncture you or something!"

Aubrey groaned. "Fine, but only if we don't tell Mama."

Dani stopped giggling for a moment, thinking. "We still need her car, though. I know where the keys are."

"You have a license?"

"I don't show up in photographs, remember? Of course I don't have a license."

"Right. Cool. Well, I don't either, so..."

"Don't worry. I drive the landscaping cart around the lodge's grounds all the time."

"Well, that's probably basically a car. You know what street signs and shit mean?"

"Probably."

Three blown stop signs, two unheeded red lights, and several screeching turns around bends on the highway later, they both came stumbling up to the sinister red glow of the EMERGENCY sign and the automatic sliding doors below it. "Stop laughing," Dani kept saying as they walked in. She tried several times to bite her lip in order to stop her own hysterics, but it only resulted in her snorting loudly instead. "Stop it! You're injured! We shouldn't be having a good time!"

Given that most cases of ingested foreign objects occur in individuals under the age of five--a fact of which the doctor felt the need to inform her--Aubrey figured she could at least take some pride in being a novelty. All the same, it was difficult to get her story straight. She ended up with several brochures for therapy to treat pica. It was at least preferable to admitting, "I ate a nail in a misguided attempt to prove a point to my anxious vampire not-quite-girlfriend."

Dani stood up the moment Aubrey walked back into the waiting room, as though she had been watching the door. She had sobered up some, it seemed. Nervously, she pulled on each of her fingers as though to crack the knuckles, though there was no sound. "How'd it go? What'd she say?"

"So apparently, most people just pass this stuff on their own. They took some X-rays, but apparently I'm not at a huge risk for being perforated or whatever, so they're not gonna put me through surgery. She just said to monitor it."

"Well, I guess that's good." Her tone was doubtful as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Still, I wish they could do more for you than just tell you to wait. Where'd you get the Jello cups?"

"The nurses will just give them to you if you ask! I guess they felt bad for me. Want one?"

With a faint smile, she took it and sat back down. "So," said Dani, peeling back the lid.

"So," said Aubrey. She tapped the side of her plastic cup with her forefinger. Of course they had to talk about it. It might as well be at this hour, she supposed, like all their other important talks. "Maybe you had a point, huh? You'd never have a normal relationship with me as your girlfriend." She forced a small chuckle at the end.

Dani didn't laugh in return this time. She poked at the red gelatin. Aubrey noticed that she liked to watch the chunks of it jiggle on her plastic spoon before eating it. That was important. "Maybe not," she said thoughtfully. "Though I was thinking that sneaking out and stealing Mama's car is pretty teen rom-com."

Aubrey recognized that as a hint of hope. "So is sharing Jello, I think." She looked out the window at the streaks of yellow on the horizon, signaling the coming sunrise. Mama would be up with the sun, surely, and possibly wonder where her car went not long after. "We're going to get in so much fucking trouble. Also very teen rom-com."

That time, Dani giggled. Then she stopped, not lifting her eyes from the tile. "I really do care about you."

Aubrey blinked. "I...I care about you too."

"Could we...would you be okay with taking it slow? I'm not sure I want to call it a relationship just yet. But I like what we've been doing. I really like it."

Slowly, she felt a grin spread across her face. "Just tell me something: can I do more than what we've been doing? Am I allowed to kiss you?" She brushed aside Dani's hair before it could fall in front of her cheek.

With a small smile, she asked, "Are you going to make fun of me if I tell you I've never kissed a girl before?"

"No. But I think it's worth a try."

"This can't be exactly how you thought it'd be, though."

"What do you mean?" Dani asks.

"I mean, for one thing, you probably imagined you'd be dating a Sylph. And that you wouldn't be living in a hotel. This probably isn't anything like you imagined a  normal relationship being, is it?"

"Well, that's true." Another pause passes by. Matter-of-factly, she goes on, "Nothing in my fucking life worked out the way I wanted it, actually."

"I know," Aubrey says quietly.

She feels a graceful hand card through her thick curls. "I feel like that might be okay, though."

Aubrey had no idea if this relationship qualified as normal or not. Normal, she guessed, was not the word for it. It just felt a bit like home.

((Please consider reblogging if you enjoyed!))

[lady-divine-writes]

Klaine one-shot “Under the Boardwalk” (Rated G)

Summary:

After overhearing some bad news, Kurt leaves his parents in their hotel room and goes for a walk … but he gets lost. Eventually he stumbles upon a stranger who points him in the right direction is a number of ways. (2883 words)

Kid!fic inspired by the beginning of the movie Beaches. Takes place in the late 50s.

Read on AO3.

Kurt doesn’t know where he is.

He didn’t expect to get this far.

Of course, he wasn’t really thinking when he left. He just needed a break. So he thought, once up and down the boardwalk. That’s all. He’d aim for as far as Nathan’s Hot Dog stand, turn around and come back. It was a straight shot. No chance of getting lost. This was the same walk they’d taken yesterday. It was a no-brainer. But after a while, everything started to look the same – every store front, every lifeguard station, every food cart.

He’d walked straight! Perfectly straight!

Or so he thought.

He never made it to Nathan’s. And now, caught in the bustle of people mobbing the beach, playing carnival games, and eating food he normally wouldn’t touch but which smells heavenly to his starving stomach, he has no clue how to get anywhere. He becomes frantic, anxiety welling up within him, filling his chest until there’s no room for anything, even his racing heart. He considers yelling for his mom and dad, but seeing as they didn’t come with him that would be no use. They’ve probably discovered he’s gone by now and are worried sick – another unnecessary load heaped on to their pile of stress. And Kurt … well, Kurt might as well dig himself a cave in the sand because this is where he’s going to live from now on.

Lost and exhausted, his feet aching and the back of his neck burning, he walks over to the stairs leading down to the beach. And even though he’s not a big fan of sitting on anything thousands of human shoe soles have touched, he drops down onto the warped wood and begins to sob.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” he mutters. “Whining like a baby! You’re eleven-years-old, Kurt! Grow up!” He sniffs, wiping at his wet cheeks with the back of his hand.

“Hey!”

Kurt’s head shoots up when he hears a voice call out. There are tons of people on the beach today, and lots of people calling hey, but for some reason, Kurt feels like this particular hey is directed at him.

“Hey! You up there!”

The voice is closer now, but the fact that it’s coming from underneath his butt pretty much cinches it. He looks down between his legs, through the space between the steps, and sees a face staring up at him.

“Jesus!” Kurt screams, leaping to his feet. He stumbles down the steps, landing on his butt in the sand.

“Oh, hey! Are you okay?”

Kurt peers into the grey-gold shadows underneath the boardwalk and sees the face with body attached running towards him.

“You lost or somethin’, kid?”

Kid? Kurt stares at the boy wearing a black leather jacket and blue jeans – at the beach, of all places! - thinking he can’t be any older than he is. In fact, Kurt’s sure he’s older, if only by a day. Kurt stares at the boy in a daze, unsure what to do when he reaches a hand out to him. His parents warned him never to talk to strangers. But he’s frightened and he’s desperate.

And he could really use a friend.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am,” Kurt says, taking the boy’s hand, letting him help him to his feet.

“Where’re your folks?” he asks, eyes sweeping the beach and the boardwalk behind them as if he’s going to be able to pinpoint Kurt’s parents even though he’s never seen them before in his life.

“They’re back at our room.”

The boy beckons Kurt under the boardwalk, and whether it’s a smart decision or not, Kurt follows. With the skin on his neck and scalp screaming from the heat, he needs to get out of the sun.

“You shouldn’t be here alone. This place ain’t exactly the safest, even in the daytime.” The boy falls down onto a small blanket covering the sand and crosses his legs. He looks Kurt up and down, his lips curling. “You must be from outta town, cuz you’ve got fresh meat written all over you.”

Kurt glances down at his shirt as if checking to see if something he didn’t notice before is actually written there, and the boy smiles.

“My name’s Blaine. Blaine Anderson,” the boy says. His eyelids narrow as he asks, “You wouldn’t have heard of me before by any chance … would you?”

“I don’t think so. But you’ve probably never heard of me before, either.” Kurt kneels on the blanket and sticks out his hand. “I’m Kurt Hummel.”

“Yeah, you are!” Blaine laughs, slapping Kurt’s hand instead of shaking it, and Kurt rolls his eyes. Blaine is teasing, but he’s not being mean. “Maybe I can help you. I sort of live here.”

“Under the boardwalk?”

“No. In Jersey. Where are you staying?”

“I … I don’t know. It’s not a hotel. It’s more of a bungalow? A group of them, right off the beach. There’s a fountain in the middle with a mermaid playing the flute … and it’s by a restaurant …”

Blaine whistles. “You’re staying at the Shore Cottages. Not too shabby. Your folks have money?”

“No,” Kurt replies, taken back, wondering if giving Blaine this much information was a mistake. His father warned him that criminals often employ kids to pickpocket for them. Could Blaine be one of those? In his leather jacket and jeans, hair slicked back like James Dean, he definitely looks the part, but maybe that’s a big clue that he’s not one. He’s too obvious. “In fact, this is the first vacation we’ve ever taken out of state. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the beach.” Kurt looks down at the blanket beneath his knees. It’s torn and frayed, off-white in places when it should be bright, and faded around the edges, burnt from the sun. Kurt has to wonder if Blaine brought this blanket with him or if he just found it here. “It’s the first time for a lot of things.”

“What’s the big occasion?”

Kurt chews around the words before he says them, trying to make his mouth form them into something different. Something better. But he can’t change reality. He can only live with it.

“My mother’s sick. She’s more than sick. She’s … she’s dying. I just found out today.”

Blaine looks aghast. “You mean to tell me your folks brought you out here for your first ever summer vacation by the shore just to tell you your mom’s sick?” Blaine shakes his head disapprovingly. “That’s cold.”

“No!” Kurt rushes to defend his parents with tears welling in his eyes. “No, that’s not … they didn’t tell me. I overheard my mom and dad talking, and she said a word …”

Blaine is on the brink of asking what word?, but the way Kurt bites his lips together and closes his eyes, as if shutting out the world might shut out the truth, Blaine already knows.

His grandfather died of cancer a few years ago. When they first found out, his mom often made that same face. But his grandfather was in his seventies. He’d lived a long, happy life, watched his children grow into adults, get married, start lives of their own.

Kurt’s mother can’t be older than Blaine’s, and she’s only in her forties.

“The thing is, I think I’ve known for a while,” Kurt admits.

“How?”

Kurt shrugs. “In little ways. My mom started getting colds a lot, and it always takes her forever to get over them. She’s tired all the time, she has these scary coughing fits, she …” He stops, feeling more hopeless now than when he left. “I don’t think they know how to tell me. I think my mom and dad wanted us to have this last summer together before they had to deal with it. You know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Blaine inches closer – close enough that the fingers of his left hand are only a hair or so away from Kurt’s right. “That’s rough. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.” Kurt nods into the companionable silence, gaze fixed on the ocean – calm to his eyes, but he can hear the waves crashing beneath the slope of the beach in front of him. That’s how his parents have been, he realizes – calm and happy on the outside for his benefit when, on the inside, they’ve probably been screaming.

“How long you guys stayin’ out here for?” Blaine asks.

“Two weeks. And when we get home, we’re buying a house closer to the hospital where my mom’s getting her care. I heard them say they’re going to take me out of school, move me away from the only friends I have to some place two hours away! I’m going to some dumb old school called … Daiton Prep?” Kurt squints at the sunlight streaming through the slats in the wood walkway above them as he tries to remember what his father called it. “Dyson Prep? Di … Dover Prep?”

Blaine leans in questioningly. “Dalton Prep?”

Kurt snaps his fingers. “That’s it! Dalton Prep?” He turns to Blaine, tilting his head suspiciously. “How did you know?”

“I live here, but I’m not from here. I’m a Buckeye, too. From Westerville. My brother and I came out here ‘temporarily’ (*air-quotes applied*) after I won the Kings Island Variety Show.”

“I’ve seen that!” Kurt says in awe. “They air it on TV! That must have been so exciting! You must be really talented!”

“Well …” Blaine blushes, rolling his head away so Kurt won’t see “… you know, for a seasoned performer like myself, it’s just another day at the office.”

“So, what’s your talent?” Kurt asks, but hurrying to guess before Blaine can answer. “I know! You’re a tap dancer! No … a ventriloquist!”

Blaine’s bashful smile crashes like the waves on the shore below them.

“No, I’m a singer. I do a mini-Elvis routine down at the Nickelodeon that brings the house down, if I do say so myself.”

“A singer? Wow! I—I want to be a singer someday. Except, I want to perform in musicals.”

“Do you?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s my biggest dream ever!”

Blaine nibbles his lower lip, considering the boy in front of him, thinking so heavily it shows on his face. “You know, Dalton Prep is the starter school for Dalton Academy. And they have a singing group called The Warblers. They’re kind of like rock stars. Scouts go to their performances and everything! Guys who’ve sung with them have gone on to tour, cut records, even sing on Broadway!”

Kurt’s eyes go wide. “Broadway?”

“Uh-huh. It’s a really good school.”

“I guess … that’s not so bad.”

“No, it isn’t. There’re definitely way worse places in the world, you know.”

“I do.” Kurt nods soberly. “At my school, I get bullied a lot.”

“There, you see? That won’t happen at Dalton. They have a policy – no bullying allowed. And they’re very strict about it.”

“That does sound nice,” Kurt admits, but his gaze drops to his hands again. “But I still won’t know anyone there. And … I don’t make friends very easily. People seem to think I’m weird.”

Blaine puts his head on Kurt’s shoulder and blinks up at him ridiculously, making Kurt giggle. “You’ve got me. And I’m weird, too! We’re a matching set!”

“Blaine! Blaine!”

“Ugh!” Blaine moans, dropping his head off Kurt’s shoulder and into his sand-covered hand.

“Who … who’s that?”

“The warden – a.k.a my big brother, Cooper.”

“Blaine! Where the hell are ya, kid?” The boardwalk above them rattles with the weight of running feet, knocking loose sand that rains down on them. Those same feet barrel down the steps and stop not too far from them. A man wearing jeans and a white tank top spins in a full circle. He stops, brilliant blue eyes (odd to Kurt since Blaine’s are hazel) staring straight at them. It must take a moment for his vision to adjust since he doesn’t seem to see them right away. He throws his arms in the air when he does. “Blaine! Jesus Christ, kid, you scared the life outta me! You’ve really gotta stop runnin’ off like that!”

“It’s a good thing I did because this guy here’s hella lost.”

Cooper only seems to notice Kurt when Blaine mentions him. “Really?”

“Yup. And if I wasn’t here, who knows where he’d’uv ended up. He’s not from around here.”

Cooper’s head bounces back and forth, deciding what to do with that information. When it reaches his right shoulder for the third time, he shrugs. “Well, ok. Let’s get him back to his folks and then you and I need to go back to the theater and practice. You’ve got a spotlight comin’ up in three days and, not to be mean or anythin’, but your footwork sucks! Uh …” He shoots a guilty look at Kurt. “I mean, stinks. Sorry, kid.”

“It’s alright,” Kurt says, mildly amused by the banter between these two siblings – one because Kurt is an only child, and two because Cooper has to be close to twice Blaine’s age!

“About that …” Blaine looks down at the sand, that thoughtful look returning to his face. “I was thinking that maybe we could go back home. See mom and dad. And maybe … I could go back to Dalton?”

Cooper’s jaw drops. He stares at Blaine like he suggested finding the closest sharp object and cutting off his own foot.

“I … I don’t think I heard you right there, squirt,” he says, side-stepping closer with a hand cupped to his ear. “Could you give me that again?”

“I said I don’t want to play the Nickelodeon anymore! It’s tired and it’s getting old. I wanna go home.”

Kurt had heard him the first time, but hearing Blaine repeat it makes his jaw drop, too. Blaine didn’t necessarily make it sound like he was living the dream out here, but he gets to perform in front of audiences who pay to see him! Who in the world would give that up? And why?

But it sounds like he hasn’t seen his folks in a while. Missing them might make him throw in the towel.

It would for Kurt.

“So what you’re saying is you wanna leave all this behind, your whole career as a performer, to go back to boring Ohio, let mom and dad shove you in a stiff, itchy uniform, and stick you back in Dalton Prep?”

Blaine nods dramatically. “Yes, Cooper. That’s exactly what I’m sayin’.”

Cooper throws his hands in the air again, but he doesn’t seem exasperated this time. He looks relieved. “Finally! God Almighty! I’m getting’ so sick of Jersey! I can’t wait to leave this place in my rearview! In fact, I’m marchin’ right down to that roach infested shack they call a theater and …”

“Coop?”

“… tell that cauliflower-eared mutant of a manager …”

“Cooper?”

“… that the Anderson boys are done working for peanuts!”

“COOP!”

Kurt deflates into a mass of laughter when Blaine’s voice cracks, which Blaine catches, and he starts laughing, too.

“Yeah, squirt?”

“Let’s leave on good terms. I mean, you never know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Give them two weeks’ notice. Have them cut us out of the schedule slowly,” he says, throwing Kurt a subtle wink. “That way we can pad our pockets a little more and spend some time on the beach. We haven’t really done that since we moved out here. It’d be nice to have somethin’ like a real vacation.”

“Yeah …” Cooper points emphatically at his brother for his great idea. “That’s the ticket, little bro. When did you get so smart?”

“I must have learned it from you, Coop,” Blaine says in a deadpanned tone Kurt suspects comes from repeatedly answering this question that same way, like it’s the only acceptable response.

“You’re darn tootin’. Come on. Let’s get your friend back to his folks and then we can work on that footwork.”

“Sure thing.” Blaine gets up first, taking a step or two downwind before he brushes off his jeans. “You comin’, Kurt?”

“Yeah,” Kurt says, doing the same. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

Kurt’s eyes burn something fierce when he steps out into the light, but he doesn’t feel so hopeless or heavy anymore. His mom’s still sick. He can’t get away from that, no matter how far down the beach he walks. But now he has a friend, someone he’s already shared that with, by his side. Someone he’ll know when he goes to school in the fall. Which makes Kurt curious:

“Did you … do that for me?”

“Eh, you know …” Blaine looks over at the ocean since he can’t keep the truth off his face if he tried “… I’m getting kind of tired of playing nickel and dime shows. We get practically no money. And the only way I can get any kind of a break is if I run off. It’ll be nice to go home and see my old friends again …” He bumps Kurt’s shoulder and smiles “… hang around with some new ones. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?”

“No.” Kurt follows Blaine as he speeds ahead of Cooper, leading the way. “Doesn’t sound so bad at all.”

[goodmythicalshipping]

As Much of Me as I Am of You (3/3)

It’s finally here - the last installation of my first ever fic! Now before y’all start flooding my inbox with fic requests, I would like to state something: I wrote this fic on my own free will because I had some spare time, which isn’t usually the case. I’m typically a busy girl and this fic took a decent amount of work to complete. That’s not to say I won’t write more in the future, but it may be awhile so I’m just informing you now. That being said, if you do have fic requests, I’ll be happy to consider them! Shoot me your ideas in the good ‘ol ask box :)

Summary: Hours before they’re supposed to embark on the first date of their live tour, Link finds himself coming to terms with his newfound adoration toward his lifelong best friend. The next morning, the two simultaneously discover the real meaning of having an “out of body” experience.

<< Chapter Two

One decent lunch and a few more hours later, the bus arrived at the event center in Vegas just before 2:30PM. Pulling into the center’s lot, the crew began unloading all of the necessary equipment needed for the show and bringing it into the venue. As Rhett and Link exited the vehicle and made their way inside, they passed by a few fans who were staying at a nearby resort, waving from afar and trying their damndest to flash them a neutral, friendly expression as to not raise suspicions. Once they entered the building, Stevie turned to the two of them.

“Alright, guys. I’m gonna get us all checked in and then escort the crew to the auditorium to set up. Once I’m done at the desk, how about you make your way up to your room and meet me back here in the lobby for dinner in a couple of hours?” she inquired.

“Perfect,” the two of them stated almost in unison, surprising each other. Maybe this whole body swap controversy had left them more in-tune with one another than they had originally thought, giving them hope for switching back later. Stevie giggled and turned around to approach the front desk.

“Excellent, that’ll give us plenty of time to try and sort this thing out,” Rhett whispered into Link’s ear, making the younger man shiver with delight. Desperately hoping his eagerness didn’t show, the two of them got checked in and made their way toward the elevators.

As soon as they entered, a large group of people piled into the compact elevator behind them, forcing them to squeeze together until they were only standing a mere inches apart. Link felt his body get hot all over, striving to keep his gaze directed anywhere else so Rhett didn’t notice how nervous he was. His efforts, regrettably, did not go unnoticed, with Rhett heeding how the other’s breathing had picked up within the tight space.

“Hey,” Rhett murmured to him, causing the other to whip his head around to meet him. The two beamed at each other, now fully aware of how close their faces were. If any of the strangers in the elevator moved another muscle, they would probably make contact.

“S’only a few more floors,” he continued. “I know how jittery ya get in crowds. It’ll be over soon.”

In that instant, Link wished that it was just his claustrophobia kicking in that was making him tense. As they ascended further, more and more passengers debarked the elevator until they finally reached their floor. They made their way through the carpeted hallways until they reached their room. Pushing their way inside, they took in the sight of their temporary quarters: two full beds, a shared bedside table, a flat screen TV and a killer view of the Vegas skyline.

“Wow, check out that view!” Link proclaimed, darting toward the big windows.

Rhett soon approached him, situating himself next to his friend and observing along with him. It was very scenic, but he had his eyes focused on something, or rather someone, else. He smiled at the excited look on Link’s face, amazed at how much he was still Link even while functioning as Rhett. Link turned to him, catching Rhett off guard and causing him to hurry toward the farthest bed.

“So how’re we gonna go about this?” he said, plopping down on the mattress and trying to appear nonchalant. “What should we try first?”

“Well, can you remember what you were doing right before ya fell asleep last night? Maybe that’ll give us some clues,” Link responded.

Rhett thought for a moment: he couldn’t recall what had exactly been on his mind last night, but he was sure it was about Link. He wasn’t about to admit this to his lifelong friend right there in the hotel room, so he evaded the question.

“Nah,” Rhett replied after a few seconds. “Maybe we should start with some physical gestures?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what kind of gestures are we talkin’ here, McLaughlin?” Link kidded, feeling himself flare up again.

“Get yer head out of the gutter, Neal,” Rhett retorted, although he wasn’t against the idea of making said… gestures, if Link obliged of course. “I meant like a secret handshake, perhaps a weird series of hand symbols? We could run and do a chest bump or something.”

“Yeah, because running directly into each other went so well for that mother and daughter in the movie we just watched,” Link laughed. “I’ll shake yer hand though.”

The two did just that, to no avail. Over the next two hours, they proceeded to try everything they could possibly think of: meditation, strange poses, trading clothes, reciting chants that they looked up on their phones, pressing their foreheads together to try and read each other’s minds, and even whipping up a “potion” using ingredients supplied from the room’s mini fridge and bathroom sink. They decided to give up after Link began retching up the concoction into the nearest trash bin.

“It’s no use, man. We’re gonna be stuck like this forever!” Link whimpered, still hovering over the bin.

“Don’t say that! There has to be something we haven’t tried,” Rhett pondered. “What do people normally do in movies to break spells?”

Link froze in place, mulling over the question. He had a hunch he already knew the answer and was reluctant to share it with Rhett, but after just heaving up a mixture of orange juice and travel-size shampoo, his options were becoming limited.

“W-well…,” Link stuttered. “Hear me out here… th-this might sound crazy, and you can s-say no, but… I-I think, um, m-maybe we should-“

He was interrupted by the familiar sound and buzz of Rhett’s phone going off. Link hastily dug for the phone in his pants pocket and answered immediately.

“Hey, Stevie, what’s up?” Link spat out, somewhat relieved. Rhett looked at him with interrogating eyes, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah, sure! We’ll be right down, see’ya in a minute,” Link replied, hanging up the phone. “Looks like this is gonna have to wait until after dinner, Stevie’s waiting for us in the lobby.”

Rhett nodded, following him out of their shared hotel room as he contemplated what Link was about to suggest. Wherever he was going with it, he surreptitiously hoped they wanted the same thing.

--

Dinner was a pleasant distraction from the mayhem they had both endured that day. The trio stopped at a nice barbeque joint only a couple blocks away from where they were staying, indulging in a piquant spread of baby back ribs. Rhett couldn’t help but sneak glances at Link throughout the meal, grinning at how cute he looked with sauce smeared all over his face as he laughed at Stevie’s frequent wisecracks. After the meal ended, they all headed back to the auditorium for sound check.

With surprisingly few errors, due in part to the fact that they weren’t actually singing or playing their respective instruments, the sound check was over in just under half an hour.

“Okay guys, head backstage and get ready. Doors open at 7:30,” Stevie informed them.

The duo did as they were told, and piled into their shared dressing room backstage. With T-minus one hour before they were scheduled to go on, the pressure once again began to set in between them. They groomed themselves to the best of their ability, working in silence for quite some time.

Link broke the silence first. “Hey, Rhett?”

Frantically, Rhett spun around, still buttoning up his red patterned shirt that belonged to Link. “Do I look okay?” he asked.

“Never looked better,” Link replied. Rhett rolled his eyes at this, but Link was only half-kidding: he did look really good in that shirt. It was then that he refocused on their main objective, cringing as he recalled their embarrassing conversation from earlier that afternoon. “Um, Rhett? As much as I’d like to continue helping you get this vessel I’m trapped in ready for tonight’s show, I think we should talk about the plan.”

“What did ya have in mind?” Rhett gulped. “I mean, what else is there? We’ve tried pretty much everything we could think of.”

Link felt his heart skip a beat as he debated over what to say next. He fiddled with Rhett’s comb on the counter in front of him as he let the words escape his mouth.

“W-well… not everything.”

“Link, what are ya-,“ Rhett started before he was interrupted by a loud knock at the door.

“15 minutes, guys!” Stevie called out from behind the door before walking away. Link was about to speak again when Rhett charged right toward him.

“Look, Rhett, m-maybe we should jus-“

He was cut off by a pair of lips crashing into his own. Before he could even process the situation, he felt Rhett’s hands come up to cup his jaw as both of their brains spun. Once he realized what was happening, Link reached down to embrace Rhett, bringing him closer and deepening the kiss. Rhett lifted one of his hands to lightly graze the hairs at the nape of Link’s neck, who in turn parted his lips to allow Rhett to enter. They continued like this for some time, getting lost in each other’s touch and exploring each other’s mouths. It was full of passion and a moment neither of them wanted to end after waiting for so long, but they knew they would eventually have to go on stage.

Reluctantly, they break apart and rest their foreheads together, eyes closed and panting. After a minute, Link slowly opens his eyes and finds himself staring into Rhett’s beautiful, shiny green irises. Only this time, he’s not looking into a camera phone.

“Rhett!” Link exclaimed, pulling Rhett in for a bear hug and almost knocking him over as the taller man laughed exuberantly. They stood there holding each other, reveling in the fact that they were rightfully back in their own respective bodies.

“How did you know that this would work?” said Rhett, pulling Link away to face him.

“Well, after watching that dumb movie a couple of times and hearing how much it talked about an ‘act of selfless love,’ I came to the conclusion that I should come clean about how I felt in order to save you from this awful curse,” Link replied. “But now…”

“What is it, Link?”

“D’ya think…” Link paused before continuing. “…d’ya think if we did that again, we would just switch back?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Rhett drawled, pulling Link in again for another kiss, this one even more idyllic than the last. After a tender moment, they separated once more.

“Am I still you?” Link queried, gazing up at Rhett with an enormous smile from ear to ear, as if he didn’t already know.

“Afraid not,” Rhett affirmed. “Guess this means we can tell the crew that we’re back on as originally planned.” Rhett released Link, taking his hand and leading him towards the door.

“Y’ready?”

“Let’s give ‘em a show,” Link declared.