#yeah my mom wasn't happy. yeah my brothers made fun of me.

[chilikit]

if you're a closeted transmasc this is your sign to go and get the haircut you've been wanting but are scared to get

[barcaatthemoon]

holiday || lia walti x reader ||

you bring lia home to meet your family.

it wasn't very often that an opportunity arose for you to spend time with both lia and your parents. arsenal's trip to america was a pretty big deal. you and lia managed to fly out a week before everyone else was required to so that you could spend time with your family. the games weren't anywhere near where you had grown up, but lia had never been to south dakota, so you booked a weekend trip.

"there is so much space," lia said as she stared out the car window. the two of you were in the back of your parents' trusted minivan. it had been in the family since you were young, and had been the faithful transport of you and your siblings, and now your siblings' kids.

"it's kind of nice. london really makes me miss it out here," you told her. lia hummed as she turned and grabbed onto your hand. your homesickness had been an issue for the past two season. you had nearly left because of it before lia reminded you that eventually you'd get to go back home, but you might not get to come back to arsenal if you ended your contract early.

"granny's got the whole family at the house, by the way. i told her to give you a day to rest, but she knows you won't be here long," your dad warned you. there was nothing more that you expected from your grandmother. you were the only grandchild who moved more than an hour and a half away, and she missed you like crazy.

"it's fine dad, i got a monster at the airport, and i'm sure that uncle craig brought coffee," you said. at that, your dad laughed, his brother's coffee being a running joke in the family. it was strong to the point of being nearly undrinkable, and yet, the man put cup after cup of it down every single day.

lia seemed a bit lost on the joke, but you were more than happy to fill her in. you were always scared of rambling, so you rarely let yourself go on like you were. lia deserved a bit of a warning, not having really dealt with a true midwestern family before. everybody would agree on clearing out by 8:30, and the last scragglers would most likely hang around until the early hours of the morning.

"this is where you grew up?" lia asked as she pointed at the large house in front of you. since you had left, your parents had added onto the house quite a bit. there were things that you had helped to fund, as had all of your siblings. that house had been in your family for three generations, and none of you were going to let it go to someone else or be torn down.

"yeah, it didn't look like this, but pretty much. come on, let me show you my room!" you excitedly raced up the stairs with your bags. lia followed you, just barely able to keep up.

your room looked exactly like it had when you left it two seasons ago. you had played at the reign before transferring to arsenal, but before that, you had been a husky. washington had been your home away from your parents' place, and your bedroom reflected that. even before you had left for college, you had dreamt of a purple jersey of your own in the shops.

"the bed will be a bit cramped, but we should be fine. just, keep your hands to yourself, my mom has a sixth sense for that sort of thing," you warned lia. she nodded as she took everything in. you made a place for her things and then hopped back to lay on your bed. lia stood there for a moment before joining you, glad to be able to relax for a moment.

the two of you barely got to lay there for a minute before you were called down for dinner. lia looked confused about where to sit until you plopped yourself down at the kids' table. you were more than happy to sit with your younger cousins, nieces, and nephews. in your eyes, that was always the most fun table with their little games and stories.

lia tried to sit with you, but unsurprisingly, your sister pulled her away to the 'hen table' as you had grown up hearing it. you watched as they questioned lia at first. she seemed nervous, but visibly kept calm which you were impressed by. most of your girlfriends from before had run off after a good questioning from your granny and sister-in-law.

"do you kiss that lady?" nicholas, your little brother's son, asked you.

"sometimes, i do. it's a pretty big deal, she's the princess of switzerland," you told him. as if she heard the nickname, lia's head whipped around to look at you. you gave her a little finger wave before turning back to the kids' table antics.

it wasn't for another couple of hours that you got a moment alone with lia. she seemed to be very popular with your family, which you appreciated. most of the time, someone always hated whoever you brought home. you had counted on either your sister-in-law or one of your uncles not approving, but they seemed to love her the most.

"you picked a good one, chicky," your older brother said as he pulled you in for a hug. "i don't know how you pulled her, but i'm glad you did. i'd put a ring on it if i was you."

"shh, don't scare her off," you hissed as you swatted at him.

"hey, don't let her slip away. that's all i'm saying," he told you. he pressed a kiss to the top of your head and then left. his words were bouncing around in your head as you helped your parents get the kids who stayed over to bed. lia had headed up for a shower before you, so you hoped that she'd still be awake by the time you got up there.

"i didn't know you had such a big family," lia said. there was nothing behind it, just an observation. you knew that a lot of your teammates would be surprised when your whole family showed up at your game in washington. "do you think you'll come back here when you retire?"

"that's always been the plan," you told her. lia hummed as she pulled you to lay on top of her. "i'd be willing to change that for you."

"i don't want you to change that for me. if you'd let me, i'd like to come back here with you. this is a good place to raise a family."

"is that something you really want with me?" you asked her. lia nodded, as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"of course it is. now, let's get some rest because i believe i was promised a tour of the farm in the morning," lia said. you chuckled at that, knowing exactly the amount of free labor your dad got from having people "tour the farm."

[alderaana]

pretty, pretty girl.

leon kennedy is your older brother's best friend, you're freshly eighteen.

nsfw, p-v, virgin reader, slightly older leon. please wrap it before you tap it.

Your birthday was highly anticipated. Finally legal, so many opportunities that have opened up to you. Your parents had showered you with gifts all day, leading up to your party tonight.

"Happy birthday sis, here's a little something from me."

Your brother smiles, handing you a medium wrapped box. You smile, tearing the package as he leans up against the wall to watch you.

"Oh my god- Danny you seriously didn't.."

You were met with a signed slipknot shirt, all of the current members had signed it...

"i jumped through hoops for that so you better love it."

Your brother laughs as you engulf him in a huge hug.

"Thank you so much, seriously this is amazing."

"Don't sweat it kid, you made it to the border of adulthood."

You smile, admiring the shirt and thanking your brother again. making your way upstairs, you glance over your notifications of all of your friends wishing you happy birthday.

You place the shirt on your desk, admiring it fully before hearing your parents call you downstairs.

"coming!"

The stairs are stiff as you run down them, finding your parents in the kitchen.

"Hey birthday girl! your party is going to start soon, we wanted to know if you had a time for the family to leave and it just be us and your friends?"

You nod.

"Can it be around 8? I think that will be enough time for grandma and grandpa since the party starts at three."

"Sounds great. well help round them up around eight then."

Your mom smiles as your dad opens his phone, presumably to let the family that was coming know. you had a bunch of your friends coming over to spend the night for your birthday.

---

Your family all came pouring into your living room, holding gifts as you and your parents greeted them. Soon after your friends were doing the same.

The party was fun, but oddly overstimulating. There are so many people in your house which wasn't common at all. When it came time for cake, everyone gathered around as you stared at the Sicilian cheesecake with a candle sat in front of you.  The tension was high in your brain as everyone serenades you for your occasion.

The candles flicker out as you blew them out, the sounds of cheers as you did so. A good amount of "you made it!" and "you're getting so grown" were thrown towards you as everyone cut their slice out. You smiled at everyone, enjoying your cake.

Presents were the most exciting yet nervous time of the night. Lots of money made its way into your hands, your friends gifting you lots of casually sexual things which you would laugh with them about later.

"Thank you all so much, seriously. I am so grateful."

Your smile seals your sentiment as your family all gather around to take a picture with you. a momentum for the scrapbook, you finally being legal.

"Alright, it's getting late you all."

Your mother pipes in, silently hinting for everyone to roll out so you could spend just one on one time with your friends.  Everyone wishes you one last time as they roll out slowly, some help pick up and take some food from dinner home.

Your mother sighs as she shuts the door, turning back to you and your friends.

"Alright girls. we'll leave you alone now, don't go too crazy."

Both of your parents head upstairs, leaving you with your friends.

"So what now hm?"

Jess pipes in, giggling with everyone else.

"I honestly don't know. my family was kind of exhausting."

You say, rubbing your eyes as you turn the tv on.

"Do you guys want to watch a movie?"

"Let's just listen to music, you'll pass out if you watch a movie."

Madi says laughing, grabbing the remote and putting on a party playlist.

"Yeah come on, it's your birthday let's make the day last!"

You laugh, shaking your head as they make you stand up, encouraging you to dance with them.

"You guys are insane, fine."

You dance with them, letting yourself enjoy it as they turn the lights off. The TV being the only illumination as you danced more with them. Madi grabs your sides, giggling as she dances up against you. You all laughing as Jess takes pictures, both of you posing stupidly as the music plays louder.

"Hey! turn that down. mom and dad are asleep."

Your brother says from the bottom of the stairs, laughing at all of you.

"Sorry Danny, guess we just got a bit carried away."

Your friends laugh and hum in agreement.

"Well, either way I had to get something from downstairs and it was way too loud coming out of my bedroom."

You laugh, watching your brother head towards the front door, assuming he's getting something from his car.

Unfortunately, you were wrong. he opened the door and you were met with his best friend holding a present. The man was wearing a leather jacket, his hair slightly damp as it was pouring rain outside.

"Am i late to the party?"

You freeze, your friends being confused. He smirks as he with one arm goes in for a hug and pat on the back with your brother.

"Sorry, i totally forgot to tell you Leon was coming over sis."

You shakily laugh as you regain your composure.

"No it's fine, and no you aren't late at all."

Leon walks up to you, handing you the gift.

"Good, this is for you kiddo."

"You seriously didn't have to Leon."

You admire the packaging, its decorated with black sleek wrapping paper, a red bow decorating the top.

"C'mon, open it."

Your friends sit up, looking at you as you awkwardly look down at it. Your hands slowly unwrap the present, treating it as if it was a bomb in your hands.

Inside the box was a bomber jacket, black with gold embroidery on the back that made into a moth.

"Holy shit Leon. where the fuck did you get this?"

He laughs, happy with your reaction. You smile wide as you throw it on, it fits exactly how you wanted it to.

"Looks perfect on you."

A blush creeps over your face as you surge forward, hugging Leon tightly. he's caught off guard, slowly hugging you back.

"She doesn't even hug me, and my gift was better!"

Your brother says, laughing in shock. Leon looks over at him, laughing lightly as you break the hug.

"The slipknot shirt was just as good Danny, I just don't want to touch you. you reek of old spice and Leon doesn't."

You and your friends laugh, Leon trying not to join as your brother's face looks jokingly offended.

"Okay, you're lucky it's your birthday or I seriously would have went there."

He points at you menacingly as you laugh.

"Alright, i'm going to hang out with Danny now."

He ruffles your hair.

"Happy birthday again."

Leon smiles as he heads upstairs with your brother.

"Dude your brother's friend is hot."

Jess whispers, you glaring her down.

"I fucking know. and he's always been hot..." you sigh, Madi and Jess looking at eachother in glances.

"so what's stopping you now?"

Madi asks, searching for your answer. The idea was in your mind, especially with the way he hugged you back. He was always someone you crushed on, ever since Leon and Danny started being friends. that was five years ago, but you never let it really control you. He always seemed like someone out of reach even if you tried. for god's sake he's 23, and you're freshly 18.

"Uhh..."

You look down, shyly shuffling your feet.

"Because he's way older you guys. he's 23 just like Danny."

Madi laughs, "and?"

You scoff.

"That's a bit of difference.... i don't know you guys."

Your friends look at you like you said something outlandishly stupid.

"Dude... even if he doesn't seem interested i would try and go for it."

"You guys are being bad influences cmon.."

"Bad influences?? with the way that man looks? no we definitely aren't."

You sigh, sitting down in between them.

"Dude, just go upstairs and find a lame excuse to be in Danny's room."

It wasn't a bad idea, there were several things you could go into his room for. Asking if he had an empty laundry basket, keys to his car because you left something in his car, etc...

"Okay well let's go to my room and think about this more."

Madi claps excitedly, "yes let's make tonight us helping you out as wingwomen." Jess smiles and nods, all of you heading upstairs to your room. which uncomfortably was next to Danny's. Footsteps were soft as everyone heads into your room. Madi plopping onto your bed as Jess sits in the chair for your desk. You close the door and look back at them, who both share the biggest shit eating grin.

"Guys come on... don't look at me like that."

"Okay, so what if you go in there and ask if Danny can heat up some of the food from dinner.” 

You deadpan Jess. 

“What.. i’m hungry it’s not like you’re lying.”

Sighing, you nod and make your way out of the room. Stopping at the closed door to your brother’s room. You could hear them laughing, playing some sort of video game. You suck in deeply and open the door, being met with Leon sprawled out on the bed watching your brother play some game. They both turn towards you, and notice Leon wearing a black tee that fit him extremely well. 

“Danny can you heat up some of the food for my friends and we’re hungry again.”

He looks annoyed as he shakes his head. 

“Can’t you do it yourself? It’s literally so simple.”

“Yeah but it’s my birthday and i won’t put that on my friends.”

Danny gets up, visibly annoyed and loudly sighs. 

“Fine.”

Leon laughs, watching Danny leave the room.

“He was in the middle of a match, but good job making him get up.”

You nervously lean up against the doorway, smiling at Leon.

“You should see him when you’re not around.”

Leon props himself onto his elbows, making direct eye contact with you.

“Oh believe me, i’ve known him so long i hear about it every single time now.”

You scoff, jokingly holding your chest.

“Wow. what a brother.”

You admire Leon as he laughs, his legs spread apart and his sweatpants fit exactly how you want them to. 

“Cmon, you know Danny. How surprised can you be.”

You giggle back, nodding in agreement. 

“I guess you’re right.”

You bite your lip gently, focusing on the floor for a second before deciding to be bold. 

“So Danny told me you’ve been enjoying your federal job? How is that going?”

He sits up more, now on the edge of the bed. His elbows propped on his knees as he looks up at you. 

“It’s alright. I make the money i want to, and i’d like to say i’m pretty good at what I do.”

You gently nod, shifting against the doorway. 

“You don’t come around as often because of it.. I noticed that. Danny did too.”

He smiles, looking at his hand.

“You pay attention to that?”

His tone gets flirty, and a little stern. It catches you off guard.

“Well…. Don’t say it like that..”

He stands up, getting closer as you start to internally panic.

“Oh i know it’s exactly like that.”

He leans closer, his hand running underneath your chin forcing you to make eye contact with him. You couldn’t feel air in your lungs as you stare into his gaze, him smirking slightly as he towers over you. 

“I’m going to check on Danny, we can talk about this later birthday girl.”

Leon chuckles, walking past you and going downstairs. You couldn’t feel your face as you try and calm your breath. What the fuck?

You walk into your room, being met with two faces of anticipation.

“Well?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Danny has food ready downstairs, let's go.”

You turn around, walking down the stairs as your friends lightly tap your shoulder unspokenly asking what happened. 

You avoid eye contact as Danny hands you a plate of food, sitting on the couch. Your friends thanking Danny. You focus on your food until Leon sits near you on the couch. They had made themselves a plate as well, but the silence was killing everyone. Your phone buzzes underneath your leg.

Jess: dude WHAT happened…… it’s so awkward? Did it go badly? 

You look up, glaring Jess down from your end of the couch. 

“I think i’m just going to eat in my room, you coming le?”

Danny asks, waiting for Leon.

“Nah, i’ll finish then come up.”

“Yeah we might do the same Danny.”

Your friends follow Danny upstairs with their plates, leaving you and Leon alone. Fuck. your phone vibrates again.

Madi: this is for your own good 

You sigh, throwing your phone down and trying to just focus on your food. 

“Your friends know what they’re doing, huh?”

Leon laughs, standing up and putting his plate in the dishwasher. He makes his way over to you, grabbing your empty plate and doing the same. You try to get up and make a run for upstairs but Leon stops you before you can even think about it. 

“You’re so pretty when you’re nervous….. I love it.” 

He holds eye contact with you, and all you can do is lightly gulp unsure of how to react. 

“L-Leon what are you doing”

He grabs your wrist, standing up and forcing your chest against his.

“Don’t play fucking dumb.”

You try to free his grip, but he already was so much stronger than you. His free hand comes to run through your hair, tucking it behind your ear.

“Pretty, pretty girl.” 

His hand comes underneath your chin again, bringing it to his face as he lays a gentle kiss to yours. You catch yourself kissing back, his hand slowly letting go of your wrist. You could feel your heart rate going through the roof, his hand catching your lower back. 

“Leon…”

“Your brother is going to notice me being gone for so long.”

He smirks, letting go of you and heading upstairs. Again, what the fuck?

You stand there for a moment, realizing that this was the second time he had left you in that position now. Why was he treating you this way? He was just calling you kiddo earlier. My god. You grab your phone, heading upstairs and finding your friends. 

“Seriously guys. That was fucked up.”

More confused looks. 

“What even happened?”

You sigh, throwing yourself onto your bed. As you speak, you zone out at the ceiling. 

“He kissed me, then just left.”

They both jump up, trying to not squeal since he was literally in the room next to theirs. 

“Dude… you’re in!!!”

“I don’t even know… he just left me so fucking confused.”

“Oh shut up. Do you think he’ll take your virginity?? Oh my god. Jess, we need to sleep in the guest room.”

Madi exclaims to Jess, causing you to roll over and scream into your pillow. 

“Guys! Stopppp.”

You try not to smile, but you definitely weren’t good at it. You were just okay with kissing him, but losing your virginity? That was a dream come true.

“You know what… It is getting late.” 

Jess smugly smiles at Madi, who nods in agreement. 

“Yeah. it is.. Guess we will have to sleep in the guest bedroom now.”

They both get up, starting to grab their things. You can’t even stop them as by the time you could even argue they were out of your room.

“Oh my god. They just fucking bailed on me. This is not fair.”

You get up, sighing as you turn your light off. You could hear Danny lightly snoring as you laid down in bed. You open your phone up, texting Jess and Madi that they were dicks but that you loved them at the same time. You scroll on social media, before getting up to use the bathroom.

The hallway was dark, and you stumble around until you open the bathroom door. After finishing your business you wash your hands, admiring yourself in the mirror before drying your hands and heading back to your bedroom. 

As soon as you close your door, you turn around to find Leon sitting on your bed. 

“Your friends ditched you.”

He spoke in a whisper, but you could still hear how smug he was about it. 

“What are you doing in here-”

Leon pulls you towards him, you stare down at him. The only thing illuminating the both of you was your lamp on your desk. 

“Finishing what I started, that’s all.”

“And what is that, Leon?”

He trails his hands up and down your sides, his hands slightly underneath the bottom of your shirt. 

“So beautiful.”

He breathes out, his hands trailing farther up your shirt. You put your hands on his chest, subtly stopping him. 

“Leon, if you’re fucking with me. It’s obviously working. Is this some dare Danny made you do? Because that is low.” 

He pulls you into his lap, causing you to gasp in surprise as he holds your back.

“Danny would kill me if he caught us like this, so no.”

He smiles, watching your face determine and realize what’s happening. He cups your face with his other hand, kissing you again. Leon’s hand on your back lowers, cupping your ass. You moan into the kiss which encourages Leon even more. He grabs your ass, his hips pressing into you. The kiss deepens, and you can feel his boner underneath you.

“Fuck.”

He breathes out, admiring your face as you stare right back at him. You catch yourself sitting up, straddling him better. His hands meet your hips encouraging you to keep doing what you were doing. You lean down, kissing Leon harder as his hips press up slightly from the contact.

You run your fingers through his hair, then cupping the side of his face. Leon is an amazing kisser, he really knows how to take the lead. His tongue moved perfectly against yours, biting on his lower lip caused him to grip your hips harder. 

“Let me take care of you…. It’s your birthday.”

Before you can respond, he flips you onto your back. He leans over you, kissing slowly down your neck as he bites and licks small hickeys onto it. You whine which causes him to slowly grind into you. You can feel yourself getting wetter at the attention. His hand comes up, cupping your boob as he kisses more into your neck.

“Leon please..”

He perks up, a smirk on his face.

“Please what, princess?”

You blush, feeling yourself heat up as your core throbs at the pet name. He looks down at your shirt. 

“Let’s take this off. Is that what you want?”

You nod shyly, letting Leon help you out of your shirt. His breath hitches at your lace bra, obviously not expecting that. He leans in and kisses you harder, excited over the new exposure of skin. 

“So beautiful baby… going to make you feel so good I promise..”

Leon breathes out, kissing your neck again and trailing down to your boobs. You grab his hair, lightly moaning as he leaves darker hickeys on your tits. You grab at the bottom of his shirt, silently asking for him to take his off as well. 

“Yeah? Alright baby….”

He leans up, taking his shirt off. His body was insane… You knew he went to the gym but he was built. You catch yourself staring before Leon leans down again. You feel along his back as he kisses you, his hips starting to grind against you again. You whimper into his lips, causing him to smirk into the kisses. Leon’s hand trails down to the waistband of your pants. 

“Do you want this?”

You blush at the question, starting to slightly tremble at the excitement. 

“Yes Leon..”

“Ill be gentle, just for you baby.”

He smiles, sitting up to pull your pants off. His breath hitches as he realizes your panties match your bra, causing his dick to jump a little. He tosses your pants onto the floor, laying further down, spreading your legs. You can’t stop trembling as you watch him. His broad shoulders hold your legs as his arms hold your thighs. He looks up at you, smiling. He taps your thigh with his finger, silently saying it’s okay. You calm down, giving Leon the leeway to start. 

His hand trails over your clit, admiring the underwear. He slowly pulls it to the side, admiring how beautiful you are. 

“Oh my god..”

You feel Leon sigh onto your pussy, the bed slightly moving from Leon grinding into the mattress. He gently feels your entrance, admiring the slick you’ve produced. He licks his fingers, slightly whining at the taste. 

“Mmnmmm. Are you ready?”

You nod, still nervous. He slowly peppers kisses around your thighs, finally latching onto your clit. You whine, trying to be quiet. He smiles against you, licking up and down. He enjoyed the taste, letting his finger tease your entrance as he focused on your clit with his tongue. You arch your back and press yourself against his face. He loves all of it. The way you already are breaking out into a sweat because of him.

“L’Leon..”

You grab his hair slightly, causing his pace to speed up. His fingers slowly dipping into you more. You can already feel your orgasm building up. His smirk is imprinted into your clit as he eats you out. You feel your legs spread farther, but Leon stops that very quickly. Leon’s fingers quicken alongside his tongue, your orgasm almost there.

“Leon please… im going to …. Please fuck fuck fuck..”

“Come on babygirl… let me taste it.”

That sends you over the edge, you can feel him moan into your pussy as you clench around his fingers. Your grip on his hair not helping. You try and catch your breath, Leon pulling his fingers out and his tongue laps up your cum.

“So good…. You did so good princess.”

You cover your face in embarrassment, which isn’t for long as Leon pulls your hands out of your face to kiss you. You can taste yourself on his tongue, him moaning into the kiss. You trail your hand down to feel his hard on. Which causes him to moan into the kiss more. 

“Please Leon….. Fuck me.”

He smiles, petting your hair again. He nods, taking his sweats off leaving him in his boxers. You pull him into you, feeling his boner against your core. He takes you in for a kiss again, grinding into you fully this time. You’re shaking with anticipation again, moaning at the friction. Leon tugs at your underwear, slowly pulling them off for you. 

He then motions you to sit up, helping you pull your bra off. His eyes latch onto your bare tits, admiring how perfect they were. You lay back again, watching as Leon pulls his boxers down. His dick springs free, precum leaking. He was huge. You internally panicked, and he picked up on that. 

“It’s okay, we can go slow unless you want to stop.”

“No. it’s okay, it’s just my first time.”

His dick twitches at that, causing Leon to smile.

“Is it? I'm going to set a high expectation then.” 

You blush, trying to look away. He grabs your face, kissing you as you feel his tip brush against your entrance. You grind into him, both of you moaning at the contact. 

“If you keep doing that i will fuck the shit out of you baby.”

You apologize, which causes Leon to laugh. 

“So cute.”

He sits up, pushing your thighs to your chest. He grabs his dick, gathering your slick onto his dick. He quietly groans at the sensation. He lines himself up and looks at you again.

“Ready?” 

You shyly nod. He pushes in slowly, letting you adjust to him. You well up with tears, trying not to cry. You feel how much he stretches you, glad he prepped you beforehand. 

“Shhh.. shhh. It’s okay. You can take it. Fuck you’re so tight”

Leon wipes your tears away, giving you gentle kisses as he pushes more and more into you. 

“Doing so good for me baby…. Look at you. Take me so well, especially for your first time.”

He kisses your neck, almost bottoming out now. You feel yourself wince as he does, glad it finally was over. Leon kisses you again, trying to help ease you. It works, it really helps you relax, his hand running through your hair. You start to clench around Leon, feeling yourself at ease.

“Fuck….. So tight… I don't think I'll last..”

Leon sighs into your skin, slowly pulling out. The feeling making you whimper as he pulls almost all the way out before slowly pushing back in. This causes a low moan from Leon and a whimper from you.

“Oh my god.”

He bites your neck to prevent himself from moaning loudly as he repeatedly slowly pulls out and pushes in. Both of you in pure bliss as he does so. 

“Are you doing okay princess?”

You nod, feeling yourself moan as he holds your thighs to your chest, starting to pick up his speed. 

“God i’m trying so hard to be gentle but you feel so fucking amazing.”

“You can go faster I- i can take it.”

You grab at his back, then your other hand holding the nape of his neck as he picks up his speed. 

“So fucking beautiful… look at you. This pussy is perfect.”

He leans down, sucking your nipple and pinching the other. The sound of his thrusts starts to get louder. Leon didn’t care, he was way too busy with how amazing you were to care about anyone else in the house. You can feel yourself tighten as he goes harder. He sits up, his hands digging into your thighs as he starts to go as fast as he can into you. You’re moaning as quietly as you can now but he’s practically hitting your cervix with how hard and fast he was going. 

Leon’s face scrunches, enjoying the way you feel around him. You can feel your orgasm building up which causes you to whine. Leon whimpers as he feels you pulse around him.

“Baby i’m about to cum inside of you if you keep doing that.”

Your back arches.

“Please cum in me Leon please..”

You feel him speed up even more.

“Yeah? Going to fuck myself into you… fill this pussy up.. Make you mine. You are mine. After this. Going to cum inside my princess’s pussy real hard for her.”

You can feel how he’s about to, which sends you into your orgasm. Your head is thrown back into the pillow, feeling your walls pulse around him as he releases into your pussy. His pace is still the same, slowing down as he makes sure he cums every last drop into you. You catch your breath as Leon collapses on top of you. You hold onto his back, and the back of his head.

“Fuck Leon..”

He laughs into the skin of your neck, still inside of you. 

“Was it good for your first time?”

“That was perfect.”

He kisses your neck, moving up to kiss your cheek. Petting your hair, he admires your face and smiles. Leon sits up, slowly pulling out of you. He watches as his cum slowly leaks out of you, a big smile on his face. 

“Let me clean you up, pretty girl.”

He stands up, finding a towel from your laundry and helping clean you up. Leon then pulls his clothes on, searching for yours and helping you get dressed. 

“Please don’t leave this time Leon.”

He smiles at you, admiring how pretty you truly are.

“I wasn’t even planning on it, babygirl.”

He lays down, pulling the covers over the both of you. Letting yourself fall asleep, you enjoy Leon's big arms cradling you as he cuddles into your neck. 

[storydays]

We'll Keep This Love in a Photograph John Dory X Fem Reader

Laughter filled the clearing, as BroZone and the Pop sisters sat around the camp fire. Turns out sitting around and roasting marshmallows was fun. In order to build their relationships strong, BroZone decided to have monthly get togethers, and each sibling got to choose where they hung out, and this monthly is was John Dory's turn.

"Hey, JD! I found this photo book while I was looking for more hot chocolate, which I found by the way, but who are these Trolls?" Poppy asked, coming out with a picture book in her hands.

John Dory froze seeing the book, face falling into a sad smile as he gently took the book from the Pop Queen. "John? You okay?" Floyd asked, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Y-yeah..." The oldest Troll trailed off, clearly not in the moment anymore. Floyd shared a look with Bruce, and looked at the now open book that changed John Dory's mood.

The first picture of a much younger John Dory holding the camera , and a female Troll both grinning wildly at the camera, and they were both dressed in winter clothes, covered in snow, the female holding a pair of ski poles in her hand.

"This, uh, is another part of why I've been gone so long. This photo book is all that's left of them."

He took a few pictures out with gentle hands, and passed them around the group.

"This is...sorry, was (Y/N)...she was my wife. She used to run a ski lodge in the Nerverglade Trails with her family." He chuckled fondly, thinking of the wild adrenaline junkie Troll. "She taught me how to ski, and I taught her how to make Grandma's flavorberry pie. She had the biggest sweet tooth ever, even bigger than you two, Poppyseed and Viva."

The others looked between the pictures and John Dory, feeling the happy energy coming from the oldest Troll, as he looked back on these fond memories.

"We dated for about 3 years, before she proposed." "Wait, she proposed?" Bruce asked, tilting his head, clearly invested in the story...he was the Heartthrob for a reason, he'd always been sucker for a good love story and happy endings.

John Dory laughed loudly, making his brothers smile. "Yeah, Sweet Tooth wasn't very patient. She did what she wanted whenever she wanted, and took everyone on the ride along with her."

Branch then showed Poppy a a photo booth style picture of John Dory and (Y/N) in their wedding clothes: JD holding (Y/N) bridal style, grinning , switching their wedding clothes, both making silly faces, and finally the two sharing a kiss, holding each other close.

"Once we were married, we couldn't keep our hands to ourselves, so it wasn't a surprise when she told me she was pregnant." John showed Clay a picture of an polka dotted egg on a pillow with (second favorite color), fluffy bangs poking out, with smirking (Y/N) holding up a onesie that said, "You can stop asking now❤️." and John Dory clearly excited, frozen in time looking at the egg in awe.

Clay and Viva were both looking at a picture of John Dory sleeping on the couch with the tiny infant resting on his chest, (Y/N) looking like she was trying hard not to squeal.

Floyd smiled at the little toddler now making a face as she wore her father's goggles and a diaper, (Y/N) holding her stomach clearly laughing. "She was a wild child, wasn't she?" the second youngest BroZone member asked.

"Took after her mama, that's for sure. Her name was Cara. My little Cara Beara." Rhonda squealed excitedly, remembering the little Trolling. Bruce smiled at the little nickname before frowning. "Wait, was? John, what happened?"'

John Dory scowled at his hands, before looking sadly at the final photo that made its way into his hands. It was the last picture they'd taken before it happened. Cara was a big girl, now at the age of 8 years old, resting on her dad's back, and her mom's hand on her shoulder. (Y/N), holding 2 pairs of ice skates, but she was also wearing a pair of compression socks on her feet. John Dory was holding the camera on a stick, to do a group selfie.

"Cara wanted to learn to ice skate, and (Y/N)'s been skating since she was a kid, so obviously she was the best choice. It was going to be below freezing later that night, and we wanted to get Cara out in nature before hen. So while they were skating, I wanted to surprise them with a hot chocolate movie night snack bar. I came back to Rhonda, and I noticed it started to get darker."

JD exhaled softly, tearing up. "I went to go get them, still skating, and having fun. So I went to get them, when I saw a fox creeping towards my girls. I yelled out to them, and started running, hoping to get to them in time." John Dory flinched, as if he was relieving the moment again. "I was too far to get to them, and by the time (Y/N) realized I was saying, the fox ate them both in one bite."

John Dory pushed the palm of his hands into his eyes fighting the tears, threatening to spill, losing the battle and letting out a sob, as he continued to berate himself.

"It was my fault! If I'd been out there and skating, instead of inside with Rhonda, we would've gotten out and home safely! I'd promise to protect them, and I turned my back on them! If they didn't get eaten,(Y/N) would've taken Cara and left me because I--" John was cut off by his brothers hugging him tightly, Floyd sniffling softly.

"JD, we've seen the pictures...there was so much love between you, (Y/N), and even more so when Cara was born. You did what you could, and they're with you now, even if you can't see them." Bruce sniffed, he knew what it was like to lose a child. Brandy had 2 miscarriages before they got pregnant. "You've carried this burden that wasn't yours, for so long. It was an accident." Floyd whispered.

JD gripped on to his brothers, sobbing quietly, letting them take on some of his pain.

Poppy and Viva placed a supporting hand on one of JD's shoulders, in silent support. Viva noticed a slight glow out of the corner of the eye. She nudged Poppy, who gasped, catching the brothers' attention.

Standing a few feet away, petting Rhonda was a ghost version of (Y/N) and Cara, both of their smiles brightening when they saw the group looking at them.

"It was never your fault, Daredevil. It was an accident. But we're okay now, John." "Yeah! Now we can watch out for you, just like you did for us Daddy!" Cara yelled excitedly, before going over to hug her dad. John Dory gasped, feeling her hold on to him, before hugging her tightly back. (Y/N) came over to join the family hug. The rest of BroZone smiled softly, seeing the family together.

"Enjoy your brothers, go on adventures do you can tell us all about it." (Y/N) cooed, as she and Cara backed away and began to fade away. "Bye Daddy! We love you!" "Goodbye, my love. We'll wait for you to come home." promised (Y/N), as they faded away completely, John sobbing harder in his brothers' arm, holding that last picture in his hands.

"We keep this love in a photograph."

Wow that one got away from me lol

Let me know what you guys think!

@vacayisland

[dorkydiaz]

i made a short post here referring to my own experiences and wanted to expand on it, you can reblog both of these posts btw. I am only writing this all down because the way some of you have spoken about chris and his decision very much bothers me. trust when i tell you i do not want to completely lay out my trauma on the internet for all of you to read, but if it makes one of you understand why this works, why it is important, then it will have been worth it to me.

When I was 12 my father was diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia. the adults in my family and his doctors decided that it was best for him to be moved to a a full time care facility. The next year, and after hearing, seeing, and understanding my father's condition and where it would go, I, at thirteen years old, made the decision to say goodbye to him, that I did not want to hear about what levels of deterioration he had reached. I wanted to remember him as he was when he remembered me, and all the adventures and fun things we did together.

I made that decision. I made it because it was easier than watching him deteriorate, forget who his sister, his brother, my brother, my mother, and me. And I knew that at twelve and thirteen. It was never a decision I ever thought I would have to make, it wasn't a decision I should've had to make.

Now, the important part, over the next few years my decision was questioned and ignored by the adults in my life and even my brother, some of the questioning I can understand now that I am older, but it should have never reached the level it did. My aunt and uncle would openly discuss his condition over dinner when he came to visit, and I would run away to the restaurant bathroom and cry my eyes out until my mom came to get me. I was forced into visiting him in his care home, which ended with it causing far more harm than good. Only then was my decision somewhat respected, it took me being retraumatized for it to be taken seriously.

Despite all of that, I do not regret that decision.

I can't know how I would be different if none of that happened. But at this point in my live, eleven years and some therapy later, I am fairly certain I would be less traumatized, carry less resentment and anger, if maybe my mom had spoken up at those dinners and made arrangements to get updates without me next to her trying to enjoy my pizza. Had I not had to see my own father forget my name and then have some sort of mini medical emergency. Had my brother heard me in a way only a sibling could.

So, yes, Christopher at thirteen made a indefinite and truly most likely temporary decision to remove himself from an environment where he doesn't fully trust his sole and primary caregiver. He knows his dad loves him, Eddie made that so clear. And it could really be 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 weeks, and so on and so forth until Christopher is ready to come home. And him knowing that Eddie respected his decision and loves him no matter what is what is going to make that time shorter. If he had walked out with his father begging him to stay, to forgive him before he was ready, the chances of him coming back would in my opinion would be far slimmer than the circumstances under which he did leave.

with that i leave you this, "yeah people go away. and it's sad. and it hurts. but you know, not everyone goes away forever. sometimes they come back. and as much as we miss them, that's how happy we are to see them again."

[luv4fandoms]

Best Christmas ever! (Dwayne x Fem!Reader)

I'M BAAAAAAAACK!!

So this idea hit me when I read these prompts and I couldn't resist writing it. It seems I am a sucker for Christmas themed stories with Dwayne and Laddie lol. This is kinda in the same universe as "When you're unaware" since it mentions a brother who owns a truck

late night drives to see all the christmas lights in the neighborhood

Pairing: Dwayne x Fem!Reader

Word count: 885

Warnings: Overload of cuteness

⚠️ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐬, 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞.⚠️

Ko-Fi

"The Carter's still got the biggest light display back home?" Your brother asked as you walked down the boardwalk to meet up with the boys, it had only been about five months since you had met them and already you couldn't picture your life without the rowdy group.

"Oh yeah, every year Jenny is adding something new. I think now it's a competition between them and the Gonzalez family that moved in down at the old Jackson place, they go all out too"

"I remember how pissed George used to get when mom would get dad to decorate"

"Yeah times that by a hundred and you now know the first Christmas after the Gonzalez's moved in" you laughed just as you caught sight of the boys.

"Y/N!" Laddie called, running down the boardwalk to hug you.

"Hey sweetie! Having fun so far?"

"Paul took me on the rollercoaster and Dwayne got me cotton candy" he smiled up at you.

"Hopefully in that order right?" You laughed.

"Paul knows better" Dwayne nodded earning a 'Hey!' from the blonde vamp.

"So what were you two discussing?" David asked while Paul passed a blunt to your brother.

"The families that go all out for Christmas back home"

"Should have seen this one, I swear they must spend a grand a day in electric with how many lights they have" your brother told them.

"Whoa really?" Laddie asked, now invested in the conversation.

"Oh yeah, think of like every light on the boardwalk but on just one house" you laughed.

"Paired with light up animatronics of Santa, reindeer, and snowmen" your brother finished.

"That is so cool!"

"It really was" your brother nodded.

"It definitely made Christmas" you smiled

"That it did"

"I will admit, I'm gonna miss not seeing it this year...I feel like it's not Christmas time until you see the lights"

"Yeah I know what you mean, it's childhood"

"But I get to spend this Christmas with you so I'm happy!" You smiled, leaning down and grabbing Laddie in a bear hug, listening to the smallest vampire laugh, unknown of the eyes that were watching the scene unfold with a soft smile, and a plan forming in his head.

It had been a couple weeks since then, the boardwalk had decked itself out even more for the Christmas season with various lights and window displays, but that wasn't what Dwayne wanted you to see that night when he pulled up to your house. He parked his bike in the garage, Laddie jumping off the back to go get you while he grabbed the keys to your brother's truck. He had already told him his plan, so he had offered his vehicle since it would be able to fit the three of you, and because he kept it at your house instead of at the cave near the ocean air. He watched you stumble out, quite literally, due to Laddie dragging you, he may only be half vamp but he was still stronger than a human. A bag of homemade cookies in one hand and a smile on your face as you gained your balance.

"I have been retrieved" you laughed, making your way over to him.

"I also come baring goods, but please kind sir, why have I been fetched from my kitchen?"

"Because fair maiden, we are going for a drive" he smiled, holding up your brother's keys, which caused you to raise an eyebrow.

"Come on!" Laddie cheered, pulling you towards the old truck before you could say anything, you laughed as you helped him up into the cab, before getting in once he settled in the middle of the bench seat, Dwayne soon getting in and starting up the old girl. You weren't sure what he had in mind, but you knew he wouldn't do anything reckless, not only was he not that type, but he also had Laddie in the vehicle, your brother's vehicle at that. He drove for a while before you found yourself in a more populated part of town, but not as populated as the boardwalk area, more of the suburban type of place...And that's when you saw them.

Lights were strung up on just about every house, in ever color, and every shape. Some houses had full blown Christmas trees out front while others had the wire reindeers. Some had Santa on the roof while others had the classic blowmolds that looked like they had been passed down for generations.

It was Christmas.

Dwayne smiled as he watched you and Laddie stare in awe at the houses, the radio softly playing a Christmas station while he drove slowly. Laddie had already dug into your cookies as he offered them both one with a smile.

"This is so...magical" you smiled.

"This street continues on into the next town, they do this every year. I always take Laddie to see it" he explained.

"It's my favorite part of Christmas! When we heard you talking about missing the lights Dwayne wanted to show you too!" Laddie spoke around a mouthful of cookie. You tried not to tear up as you looked over at the man who held a soft smile while looking at the two of you, his two favorite people he concluded.

"Thank you, this is the best Christmas ever" you spoke softly. He simply nodded as he watched Laddie curl up against you, pointing excitedly to his favorite displays. He couldn't agree more.

'Best Christmas ever'

I'm so happy with how this came out! Short but sweet lol. I really do lean towards Dwayne and Laddie for Christmas stories 😂. I hope everyone enjoyed it!

[the-froschamethyst4]

Reality Check

𖤐Pairing: Husband! Soap x Wife! Raeder

𖤐Pronouns: She/Her

𖤐Warnings: fluff, angst, harsh language, spoiled brat, married couple, slight comparing to siblings, arguing, happy ending,

𖤐Summary: Your young daughter hangs out with the wrong crowd and your oldest child gives her a bit of a reality check

————

————

Kiara was surrounded by her 'friends' at lunch. Kiara was a 7th grader in middle school. Her mom and dad were able to get her to the same school her older went to.

A high-end private school.

Her older brother Ryker held a good reputation in the school and everyone knew Kiara because of Ryker.

But Kiara was just making herself look stupid hanging out with these type of girls and not girls that actually wanna be her friends. What I mean is Kiara hangs out with the rich, spoiled brat, daddies money girls.

They pack around Louis Vuitton bags, Gucci belts holding up their skirts, end up makeup, and high end skin care that they don't need but yell at their parents for.

Kiara didn't have that, she'd be lucky if she even got the latest new phone. Her mom worked as an assistant to a Law Firm and her dad was in the Military and wasn't home a lot, so her mom was doing a lot of the work.

A mom working 40 hours a week, barely a husband that comes home. Ryker sometimes had to step in and be a parent a few times. But he doesn't blame his parents. They're just busy people and try to be there for their kids.

Kiara laughed with her 'friends' as they made fun of the group of girls who liked to play video games. Kiara deep down liked to play video games, but stopped to fit in with her friends.

"Oh, girls, I'm having a sleepover, tomorrow, for my birthday, don't forget to bring gifts," her friend Lily says. Lily was like...Regena George, popular and rich and everyone 'liked' her.

Not really

The girls giggled as Kiara just smiled at Lily.

"Bring expensive gifts," Lily emphasized on the word expensive.

Kiara didn't have any of her own money, and Y/n was strict on what to buy for a 12-13 year-old.

"Oh I already know what I'm bringing."

"Same."

"Yeah, you're going to LOVE it, Lily."

"Kiara?"

"Huh?"

"Are you coming?" Lily asked, placing her hand on her arm after she got done picking at her newly fresh nails.

"Yeah, I think so...I'd-"

"Have to ask your mom?" Lily mocked Kiara. Kiara used to say she'd have to ask her mom a lot and Lily was tired of it and 'taught' Kiara how to do whatever she wants without her mom knowing, but her mom was good, she knows almost everything that Kiara is up to.

"No," Kiara says. "Nah, fuck my mom, I'll come, I'll catch a ride," Kiara says.

"Good."

The girls kept talking as Kiara rubbed her arm.

---------

2:30PM

"MAMA! I'M HOME!!" Kiara yells from downstairs and kicked her shoes off at the front door.

"She's not home," Ryker came around the corner with an apple in his hands.

"Is she at work?"

"She was just called in, I got home an 1 hour ago and she was asked to come in," he says.

"Oh good, can you take me to the mall?"

"Why?" Ryker questioned her.

"Because it's Lily's birthday tomorrow and I want to get her a gift," Kiara says, placing her bag on a bar stool.

"Who cares, and mom won't let you go."

"She won't have to know, if you just take me."

"Hell no, I'm not taking you."

"WHY NOT!?" Kiara yells.

"Because mom hates Lily, you know this, but yet you still choose to be friends with her."

"Because Lily is nice to me."

"She treats you like a slave, Kiara," Ryker tells her.

"No, she doesn't."

"Did she say get an expensive gift?" Ryker raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah and?"

"With what money are you going to get her an expensive gift?"

"You can help me-"

"Fuck no, Kiara!"

"THIS IS SO UNFAIR!!"

"HOW IS IT UNFAIR!?"

"Because why do I bother going to some fancy private rich kid school if I can't even get expensive things?"

"You should be fucking lucky you even got into that school, Kiara. Mom and dad worked their asses off just to get you thought the fucking door," Ryker tells her.

"Kids?"

"Dad," both kids say at the same time.

"Where's your mom?"

"Work, she got called in-dad tell Kiara she can't go to Lily's house tomorrow."

"Lily?" Soap was confused.

"She's some girl that treats Kiara like a slave."

"SHE DOES NOT!! OH MY FUCKING GOD, RYKER!!"

"HEY!" Soap yells at his daughter. "What the hell did you just say?" Kiara knew she fucked up when the word slipped past her lips.

"Dad-"

"Room. now. When your mom comes home, we're having a discussion," Soap points to the stairs and Kiara had hot tears in her eyes and rushed upstairs and Soap heard her door slam shut. "What the hell was going on?" Soap asked, Ryker.

--------

9:00PM

Y/n had come home, taking her heels off at the front door and saw Soap coming towards her.

"Soap," she smiles at him, she placed her hands on his forearms kissing his lips.

"Hi, love," he says into the kiss. "We have a bit of an issue."

"What kind of issue?" She asked.

---------

Ryker had explained everything, Y/n and Soap went upstairs to their daughters bedroom. Y/n knocked and heard a low grumble. She opens the door and both parents walk in.

"Kiara?"

"I'm tired...leave me alone..."

"Sit up, Kiara," Soap says, a bit stern, Y/n placed her hand on his shoulder as a 'calm down.'

"Kiara, I want to know from you what happened?" Y/n asked.

"Fine," Kiara sits up. "I HAVE A RICH FRIEND, WHO WANTS AN EXPENSIVE BIRTHDAY GIFT BUT I CAN'T EVEN GET IT FOR HER BECAUSE I HAVE NO MONEY AND NONE OF YOU ARE GOING TO HELP ME GET IF FOR HER!"

"Is this rich friend, Lily? You know how I feel about Lily-"

"MOM! PLEASE! I DON'T CARE, SHE IS MY FRIEND!"

"Kiara if you don't stop yelling at your mother-" Y/n stops Soap.

"Kiara Amelia McTavish," Kiara knows the full name isn't a good sign. "You are a lucky girl, you wanna know why?"

"Why mom?" Kiara asked a bit annoyed.

"Because," Y/n walks into the bedroom and sat next to Kiara. "You have a mom and dad that loves you, an older brother that paved the way for you for middle school, but...I am tired of you coming home and asking for outrageous things...last week you asked for a Prada bag-"

"A month ago, you asked for a Gucci belt," Soap joins in.

"This isn't you asking for outrageous and expensive thing."

"Then what is the point of going to a rich kid school, if we're poor?"

"For an education, and we're not poor," Soap says. "We just don't think a 13-year-old needs such expensive things, your brother doesn't even have such expensive things..."

"Why do you think you want them, Kiara?" Y/n asked, placing her hand on Kiara's back.

"Because I want to fit in with my friends, they all have expensive things and carry the most expensive and luxury things, I want to fit in, I feel out of place when I sit with them at lunch," Kiara says.

"Kiara, you are an amazing and smart young girl, you shouldn't need expensive things to feel like you need to fit in...aren't there other girls at the school that don't have expensive things?"

"Yeah but...Lily hates them, she makes fun of them all the time, if I leave the friend group to have those girls as my friends, Lily won't speak or hang out with me."

"Who cares, Kiara."

"Ryker-"

"No mom, I'm sorry, but I am so tired of hearing, Kiara only talk about Lily and what Lily wants, she never thinks about her own feelings only Lily's. Kiara, she treats you like a slave. You are my little sister and I am tired of this Lily girl."

"I agree with Ryker," Soap says.

Kiara rolled her eyes at her family.

"Kiara," she looks at her mom. "I want you to do the right thing...okay?"

"Whatever."

"Till then, you're grounded," Soap says.

"WHAT WHY!?"

"Because of the yelling at your mother and cussing at me." She rolled her eyes again. "And for rolling your eyes at us," Soap and Ryker left her bedroom as Y/n moved her daughter dark brown hair from her face and kissing her temple.

"I know you'll do the right thing, Kiara," she says, getting off the bed and heading to her bedroom to change from her work clothes.

--------

Kiara was laying on her stomach on her phone and having her laptop play a random YouTube video. She was on Amazon looking at gifts for Lily, but she shuts her phone off and tossed it on her pillow.

She falls on her back and looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm not going tomorrow," Kiara says as she walked into the dinning room, Ryker was eating leftover spaghetti.

"Okay?" Ryker says as he was still eating.

"Where's mom and dad?"

"Eating out, tonight, date night," he says.

"Are they bring anything back?"

"Maybe, this is just to hold me over till they get back," he says picking at the leftovers. "So you made up your mind?"

"Yeah...you were right..." she hates to admit that to him, since Ryker has a 'big ego' as Kiara says. "Lily is a bitch."

"Aren't you grounded for cursing?"

"You gonna snitch to dad?"

"No," he smirks.

--------

Y/n and Soap came back kicking their shoes off at the front door and seeing Ryker on the couch watching TV and Kiara on her phone.

"We brought some food back," Y/n says, placing a plastic bag of food on the marble counter. Kiara and Ryker jump off the couch and started to open the bag and pulling out their food.

"Thanks," Ryker says for the both of them.

"Kiara," Soap opens his hand, letting her know she shouldn't have her phone. She groans and slaps her phone on his palm. "You'll get it back later."

"When's later?"

"Friday," he says. She tossed her head back knowing she'll have to wait a week to get her phone back.

Ryker smirks and Kiara punched his arm. Y/n just giggled at her kids.

After a while Soap and Y/n were snuggled against each other watching their favorite show as Ryker was in his room playing video games and Kiara was scrolling on her laptop.

She then saw in the bottom corner a notification from Lily to the group chat. She opened the message and read it.

Lily: The party is actually going to be at our Lake house Here's the address

Jade: OMG it's huge, I'm DEFINITLY coming

Angel: Oh yes! I'll so be there

Lily: Kiara, are you coming?

Kiara started to type and she knows everyone could see bubbles popping up letting them know she was typing, but she stops before she hits send and started to backspace it.

She left the group chat and started to watch her YouTube again.

Then the notifications started to pour in. Them asking her questions if she changed her mind, did she forget she was typing and then a personal message from Lily popped up making Kiara click it and see.

Lily: Hey, saw you were texting in the group chat, the location changed to my lake house, are you coming, if so can you bring snacks and soda?

Kiara: Actually Lily, I'm not Have someone else bring your snacks and soda, ask Angel or something, I'm not coming

Lily: Did you not ask your mom or something? Did your brother say no on the ride? I can send our butler out there to go get you

Kiara: Fuck no, keep your butler away from my house, I have made up my mind to not come to your lame ass birthday party

Lily: WHAT!? KIARA MCTAVISH WE ARE NO LONGER FRIENDS AND I DON'T WANT YOU SITTING WITH US AT LUNCH!!!

Kiara: Fine by me, bitch

Kiara blocked Lily's number along with the rest of the 'friends' numbers. She closed her laptop and got under the covers and fell asleep.

--------

Monday

Kiara saw her old friends eating and laughing and Lily was showing off her new gifts.

Kiara looked past the group and saw the girls that played video games just behind them playing on their switches and seeing like they were having fun together.

Kiara put on a brave face and walked past her old group of friends to the other girls.

Lily and the others all gave Kiara a nasty look as she passed them but she ignored their stares and glares and mentally imagined herself flipping off Jade, sticking her tongue out at Angel and slapping the shit out of Lily.

"Hi."

"Oh hi, Kiara."

"Can I sit with you?"

"Sure," the girl moved over letting Kiara sit next to her as Kiara placed her bag between her feet and placed her lunch on the metal table.

"Have you ever played this?" She asked Kiara.

"No," Kiara shakes her head.

"Here, try it," she gives Kiara her switch and showed Kiara how to play it. "Wow, you did that so easily."

"I use to play video games," she says.

"Here..." she writes down her number and gives it to Kiara. "We should play together sometime."

"I'd like that," Kiara gives her a soft smile and saved her number.

[lostbetweenvampiresandmusic]

Homes and hotels

He had nightmares about that night. He heard the screams of his brother still, and the angry growls of the vampires. He still had nightmares about the what ifs. He and his friends could have been killed, or maybe if they had been lucky, they could have managed to kill all the vampires. Maybe they could all have survived, on the condition that they had to be turned into a vampire as well. But none of that happened. No one died. Well, except for Max, that is. But still, as he thought about it, it could have been a lot worse.

He was okay. Mom was okay, even if she was still recovering from a nasty break up with the head vampire. His Grandpa was okay, still happily going out with the widow. And Michael was okay. His relationship with Star had watered a little after the whole affair, but things were looking up for them.

Yeah, Sam sighed as he got out of the bathroom. Things could have been way worse. Max was dead, Michael was human again. Things were almost like before. Almost, because now they sometimes had random immortal visitors bugging them. Lucy didn't mind. She had come to like the boys and adored doting on them. Michael didn't mind, beginning to see them as friends. Sam, however, did mind. He didn't like vampires before, and he definitely didn't like them now.

This morning, he didn't think about vampires, however. He thought about how he finally had gotten access to a TV and that he was home alone this very morning. Mom had worked a lot, and since Sam had helped rebuild the house, she had decided that this was a proper - yet expensive - thank you for all the work he had done. So, Sam got dressed, styled his hair, sprayed on some hairspray, and practically jumped down the stairs, happy to finally enjoy the wonderful world of MTV once again.

He ran into the kitchen. He quickly grabbed a bowl and filled it with cereal, and quickly splashed some milk on top of it. He searched for a spoon, but when he couldn't find any, he settled for a fork. He ran to the couch, jumping over the back and landed-

"What the hell man?!"

Sam jumped up, dropping his cereal. The couch wasn't empty. Instead, a very grouchy, very tired, very familiar vampire lay on the couch.

"You?! What are you doing here?" Sam demanded, grabbing his fork of the ground, pointing it at the vampire.

"Sleeping?" Paul said sheepishly, chuckling at the fork Sam was holding. "You know that won't work right?"

"Shut up, I still got the stakes in my room!"

"Good for you kid."

"Why are you here?" Sam demanded.

"Like I said, I was sleeping!"

"This ain't a hotel, bud! Get back to the cave!"

"I can't." Paul shrugged.

"Why not? Are they mad at you?"

Paul chuckled. "No?"

"Then why don't you go? This isn't even your house? Come on, man, a couple of weeks ago you were ready and happy to kill me!"

"People change?"

"Yeah, right," Sam sighed, cleaning up the spilt cereal. As he cleaned the final bit of milk of the ground he shook his head when he saw Paul rolling a joint. "Absolutely not."

He quickly grabbed it, throwing it out with the cereal - causing Paul to whine.

"Not fair! That shit is expensive!"

"Yeah, well, we don't smoke here."

"Fine," Paul sighed, getting ready to roll another one. He was about to light it when Sam turned around, ready to grab it once again.

"No smoking! If you want to smoke you go outside!"

"I can't!"

Sam stopped, realising that Paul was right. The sun was up.

"Well, the least you can do is move so I can watch some tee-"

Sam sighed, realising that the loud snores were not faked. The vampire had fallen asleep again

"He's bloody impossible," mumbled Sam as he made sure all of the curtains were closed. "Rude ass vampire. Yeah, join a gang, Mike! It will be fun!" He sat down on the couch, folding Paul up so his spot was free. Paul's head lay not at his feet, but he just continued sleeping.

"Not like all of those weird undead friends of yours will use our house as a hotel when they bloody live in one!" Sam continued as he reached for the remote controller, turning the TV on.

"Your couch is better!" Paul mumbled.

"Go back to sleep."

"I thought you wanted me to go?" Paul moved to sit more comfortably.

Sam sighed, rolling his eyes. "Why, why am I the one with a family that walks right into the arms of a bunch of vampires?"

"Cause your tasty?"

"What?!" Sam shrieked, jumping off the couch, causing Paul to burst out in laughter.

"Nothing."

"I remind you, I still have those stakes!"

Sam sighed as he realised Paul had once again fallen asleep. As he finally turned the telly on, turning the channel to mtv, he noticed an empty bottle of liquor laying next to the couch.

"Great." He mumbled. "With my luck, I'll be dealing with a hungover vampire later."

[taylorsv3rsion13]

we never go out of style || c.f.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

A/N : this chapter even though it's the episode where conrad finds his mom w cancer, it's not gonna be in this chapter because i have other plans :) ALSO chapters will come out as quick as they can. i have been busy recently and will be busy for the next couple of weeks, though, i’ll try squeezing in some writing time.

words : 1.9k

synopsis : things were always rocky for conrad and you. after the whole break up, will everything be the same the year later? or will it all turn to shit.

Growing up pin Cousins, I made a lot of memories. And yeah, most of them started with a song, and ended with a boy.

Every summer I found myself dancing in the living room with Belly. Both of us being terrible whatsoever. We would complain about how we needed a dance partner, and then two of the guys would come in.

Usually I got Conrad and Jeremiah went to Belly.

For fun, Belly and I used to practice being debs. To think that we actually wanted to do it when we were younger.

"God we need partners." I complained as I fell onto the couch.

"Steven!" Belly yelled to get her brothers attention.

Steven scoffed a no as he continued to play his video games.

"Here, I'll be your partner." Conrad said as he got up from the couch, walking over to me.

"Jeremiah, please." Belly said as she practically begged him.

He laughed a little before getting up to help us.

The music continued as Belly and I were spinning around, yet we couldn't even take ourselves seriously.

I concentrated hard on the steps as Conrad counted out the beats. I messed one up as I stepped on his foot.

"I'm so sorry." I laughed a little.

He shook his head, "Don't worry, it's fine."

The four of us continued to practice ballroom dancing as Belly and I were spun around.

I did knock into Conrad a few times, maybe more than I should've which made the both of us laugh.

"Sorry." I said awkwardly.

"It's okay. It's fine." He would say.

And now, Belly and I were both in an actual dance room. Practicing for our moments of being a deb.

Cameron stood with her as I looked around awkwardly in the heels I was borrowing.

I practiced the steps by myself, but if I'm being honest, I just felt stupider. Everyone else had their partners, and they were all socializing, while I stood awkwardly in the midst of it.

I took off the gloves that I had been given as I took out my phone from my pocket. I needed Conrad to save me from this mess. Or someone atleast.

I texted him a quick "Hey" before putting my phone back in my pocket.

We had gotten a brief introduction of who Ms. Covington was, before we all began walking with her instructions. I turned to no one, and couldn't help but feel sorry for my own self.

"Hey. Where's your escort?" Nicole asked as she made her way over to me.

"Oh, I just haven't really found one. And none of the guys want to do it with me.." I said awkwardly smiling at Nicole.

"That's okay, uh, I-I'll be your partner for today."

"Really?" I asked.

"Sure, I'm your deb sister. But you're going to need an escort for your big night." Nicole reminded me. "Paige is going to have an aneurysm if you wait too long."

I laughed a little, "Yeah, so will Susannah."

We both laughed at the comment as she began helping me through the steps. I wasn't horrible, but I definitely wasn't good either.

"Did you do all this last year with, Conrad?" I asked Nicole as I missed her foot by a mere inch.

"Well, Conrad was actually spared Ms. Covington. I was supposed to go with this guys James, but he dropped out last minute. So Conrad stepped in to save me."

"Oh yeah, Susannah taught the boys a lot of dances." I said as I remembered the dances we used to do in the living room and in the ktichen.

"Conrad, actually, he-he had left me on read last night." Nicole stammered. "And I was wondering if you've seen him today."

"Um.." I thought back to last night and everything filled inside of me again. Happiness and excitement. "No, he was still asleep when I had left." I lied.

"Ooh!" Nicole exclaimed as I accidentally stepped on her foot.

"I am so sorry." I began to apoligize.

"No, no, it's okay, don't worry." She smiled as everyones eyes had turned to us.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked. "I'm so sorry."

"No, it's nothing, it's alright."

"Hey ladies." I turned my head to Jeremiah. "Mind if I have this dance?" He asked.

"Yes actually." Nicole and I both said which made us laugh a little.

"Belly..." Jeremiah said.

"Jeremiah, you're gonna get me in trouble with Paige." I said, pointing to his sheer basically netted top.

"Hey." He whistled over to Steven who happily took off the coat of his tux, handing it to Jere.

Nicole raised an eyebrow, "Okay, Harry Styles?"

"How's this? It's better?" He questioned.

I gave out a small laugh as I shook my head.

Jere didn't take much of the dancing seriously which made the both of us laugh as we waltzed through the room. I could hear snickers from Steven.

"Hey Alexa, play "So Pretty"" Jeremiah said quickly to the Alexa in the room.

The speaker began playing the song as we all looked at Jeremiah who was already dancing on his own with disappointed looks from Ms. Covington.

Ms. Covington didn't seem to care for long as she let us all dance to the music freely, obviously knowing she'd get complaints from us if we had asked her to stop with the song.

"What. Is going on here?" Paige asked as she came into the room. She ordered Alexa to stop and we all stood there, staring straight at her.

"Jeremiah Fisher, why aren't you at the pool?" She asked.

"We had a code brown." He lied. "Yeah, we had lost the keys to get into the chemical closet."

Paige shuffled through her little binder, pulling out a key and tossing it to Jeremiah. "There you go."

"Thanks." Jeremiah slightly whispered. He looked over to me, "See ya later, Y/N/N."

"All right everyone, let's try that again..." Paige sighed. "This time without, whatever that was."

I looked back up from where I was standing and saw Conrad in the doorway. I smiled at him as he gave me a peace sign.

What I barely saw was Nicole in front of me, who waved at Conrad as I did as well.

Nicole giggled as she made her way over to me, knowing she was my partner now that Jeremiah was kicked out.

My phone rang with messages, "Oh sorry, I just have to check this." I said.

My phone had a text from Conrad, saying "See you when you get back."

I couldn't help but smile just a little.

I continued dancing with Nicole, who now seemed to be in a better mood after the interaction with Conrad.

The practice didn't last long, giving me the perfect chance to go home, change into a swimsuit, and bike over to the beach for a quick swim.

I came home after the beach, seeing Jeremiah lay staring straight up at the sky.

I laughed a little, "What's with the flower crown?"

"My mom's getting ready to paint me as Hermes, messenger of the gods." Jeremiah said, but he didn't seem very stoked about it.

"Isn't that cool." I said smiling.

I looked around the backyard, but couldn't even find Conrad. I feel like something was happening between us again. I just didn't know what.

"Who you looking for?"

"Oh, I just um, thought Conrad would be back by now."

Jeremiah sighed before getting up, "Where have you been?"

"Just at the beach."

"You never go to the beach alone, are you okay?"

"Of course I am, I just wanted some me time." I said smiling.

"Well, if you are upset, Laurel and my mom... they're high-key stoned right now." Jeremiah said.

I looked at him in shock before laughing, "You're joking."

"I'm not!"

I shook my head.

"Yeah, all of the good snacks are gone."

Susannah had brought me out to inspect her painting of Jeremiah. Laurel followed out after me, but I couldn't stop staring at the painting.

"Ah- It's... um-" Was all that could manage to come out.

"Mmhmm." Jeremiah mumbled, trying to add on.

Laurel pointed at the painting, "Picasso and Jackson Pollock had a baby." She laughed.

"What?" Susannah said as she too had to get a better look of her painting.

All of us now stood around the painting, looking at what should've been Jeremiah.

"Oh my god, it's terrible." Susannah said as she began to laugh uncontrollably which made the rest of us break into fits of laughter as well.

Susannah and Laurel called us brats before leaving the house for a beach walk.

I walked up to my room, Jeremiah following close behind, "Come on, let's go swim."

I looked at my room. Clothes were scattered everywhere, and nothing was organized. "I actually have to clean my room, I'm sorry."

Jeremiah pouted, "How come nobody ever wants to play with me?"

I only smiled before walking into my room, "Later."

I mean I wouldn't say I was lying, but at the same time I wanted to hangout with Conrad, but he wasn't even here

A loud clammer from outside brought me away from cleaning. Conrad was outside, putting the easel and portrait back up.

I smiled as I made my way down the stairs, out to the deck.

Every summer focused on Conrad. This one was different though.

"You're back." I smiled.

He gave me a quick smile saying a quick "Hey" as well.

I helped put away some of the art supplies, as there was obviously some sort of tension yet again.

"How are you and your mom?" He asked.

I stammered a little, "Oh my mom- uhm, yeah we're good."

He took the water pitcher and paint brushes from me, our hands centimeters away from touching.

"What happened last night?" I asked.

"What do you mean." His back was to me.

I sighed, "For crying out loud we almost kissed."

"Really?" I was pretty wasted. Don't remember much."

He tried walking away, but I followed.

"Are you actually serious?" I asked, making eye contact with him.

Conrad shrugged, "Okay, so what. We almost kissed."

I stood there, just looking at him. I don't know what I wanted him to say, but I wanted it to be more. I wanted him to quit playing with me like how he used to.

"What do you want me to say, I'm sorry?" He asked.

I scoffed, "Are you sorry?"

"I don't know."

I just gave up. I couldn't win him and I was dumb to think so.

"Y/N, I think about you. And you know that I do. I just... I can't."

I held back all the tears that I possibly could. "I'm not playing these dumb games with you anymore."

There's been a lot of built up frustration recently. A lot more than I can hold. It's hard and it hurts.

It's hard being by yourself. Especially when everyone has someone else.

I waited a long time til Susannah got home. She was the one person I knew I could talk to. So as soon as she walked through the doors, she saw me.

"Hey, Sweetie, what are you doing down here?" She asked.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked, wiping away a tear that had just fallen from my eye.

She hugged me tightly, "Of course we can, I'll get a pot of tea ready for us.

I sat at the kitchen island as I watched her prepare my favorite tea. One that I used whenever feeling down.

"What's on your mind?" She asked as she sat down beside me at a stool.

"Do you believe in second chances?" I asked, looking up at her eyes.

"Of course I do. Especially for your age. You guys are new to love, experimenting."

"Susannah, I'm getting really mixed emotions and I don't know what to do."

All at once everything began to spur out of me.

Conrad walked in once during my little rant, but Susannah had shooed him off.

I jumped in the pool, ready for my late night swim. It was calming, peaceful almost.

Jeremiah hopped into the pool. But his tone was different.

"You're my best friend"

"And you're mine." I smiled.

"There are times where I wanted it to be more."

I looked at him in shock, "Jere-"

He grabbed my hand and I allowed it. I didn't stop him.

And there I was. 12 in the morning. In the cold pool. Kissing Jeremiah Fisher.

I let go.

"I'm sorry. I can't."

[onmyyan]

Hi I just wanted to make a request to ask if you could make a Drabble to ask if you could make a gabe x reader as you when you talked about caspians family you mentioned how gabe is compared to his brother caspian or possibly someone else I would like to know more about him in general and about what would he do with a clay maker s/o who secretly knows about the family business and is an insomniac and also likes to sleep a lot but tries to do the most that they can and won’t fall for the manipulation tactics he uses and just says “ you know if you wanted me to stay home you could’ve just said so?🤨

sorry if your burnt out also have as much fun as you can as a 22 year old !!! You don’t have an obligation to answer this but thank you.

A/N: Ello bby i am soooo happy you asked about Gabe omfg im kicking my feet rn!!! I tried to check all the boxes of the request i apologize if i missed any, Also I'm not burnt out thank you for your sweet words i wanna give u a forehead kith anyway!!!! Heres Gabe! NOT EDITED

T/W: YANDERE, MURDER, GABE IS FUCKIN CRAZY LMAO,CURSING

Gabrielllll Mi Amor omg where do I even begin?!

Standing at a proud 6'4 this mf is big. He's the strongest of his brothers physically, and has always used it to his advantage.

Early on in his life he was being compared to Caspian. They looked so alike it wasn't hard to see why people brought it up the way they did but it still bugged him.

Subconsciously he began to act anyway his brother wasn't. Be it avoiding the kitchen like the plague or gluing himself to the workshop downstairs.

Has a voice like warm butter and can sing stupidly well.

Sings/hums little tunes whenever he's working.

Love languages are acts of service and gift giving, he just wants to take care of you.

Terrified of spiders, he will call you crying to come get it.

Loves tinkering with things, surprisingly delicate hands for such a rough guy.

He laughs with his whole body, the kinda loud boisterous one that made other people start.

Snorts when he finds something especially funny.

He has a hard time reading social cues so he's constantly making dumb jokes, especially when he's not supposed to but he's so funny it's hard to stay mad at him.

Charm up the wazoo, the kinda guy where no matter where he goes, someone's coming up to say hello to him.

He's really good at pattern recognition and it makes him come off a bit psychic at times

Like how he'd clock someone's bad mood the second he seen them, notices details most people wouldn't.

Himbo.

The kinda guy where if you accidentally burn yourself he'll do it too just so you could be in equal amounts of pain, is it dumb as hell? Yeah. Is it also the sweetest thing ever? Absolutely.

Wants the kind of love Mortica and Gomez have, unfiltered raw passion.

Morbid sense of humor.

He's always warm no matter the temperature, comes in mad handy during the colder months and means he wears the smallest amount of clothing when it's hot out which is just a win for everyone.

Scorpio male I repeat Scorpio male. Do with that what you will.

Believes in love at first sight, he's such a big softie.

Had his tongue pierced in his friend's dingy kitchen when he was 18, a secret to this day his mom doesn't know about it.

His canines are a little longer than most and he absolutely had a vampire phase.

Likes to bite. A lot. It's a love language.

He confides in Caspian for everything, expect his envy of him. For that he talks to Ricky.

He can knock someone out with his right hook and has many times before.

He grew up working for his dad's approval and that meant getting his hands dirty.

At first his was a bit weary of using his strength to hurt people but that all changed when his Father put things in perspective for him.

"Everything we do- it's to keep food on our table, to keep us safe- your mother safe." And it all clicked.

Violence for the sake of violence wasn't okay. But violence for the sake of love? That shit was poetic.

He's essentially the family's guard dog. If anyone fucked with them? You told Gabe and suddenly the problem was gone.

He loves the color red, specifically the shade of red that came outta' the first guy his Father sent him after.

He was just supposed to rough him up a little but had too much fun caving in the dude's face.

Thinks killing in the name of love is the most caring thing you can do for someone.

Lil bit of a masochist streak. Likes when he gets to fight someone who can actually keep up with him cuz that little jolt he gets down his spine when he gets hit is addicting.

Animals love him, like you got a cat that hates everyone? Loves him.

Likes preening himself, takes about an hour in the shower everyday, since he dyes his hair so often he takes extra special care of it.

He has a beauty routine and he never skips it, definitely sets up self care spa days with the two of you once you're together.

Really good at videogames, like don't let him goad you into any sort of bet around gaming bec you will lose.

He's the second oldest but carries a lot of the weight of the older brother title since Cas wants nothing to do with the family business

Loves taking things apart to see how they work then putting them back together. He's done this to his PC a lot.

Really such a sweetheart but he has a dark side that feels a lot like a caged animal.

He's not afraid to show you this side because he's proud of it, it's kept him and his kin safe time and time again, why wouldn't he want you to know he'd do anything for you?

Does not like large public spaces, he needs to have a clear way in and out of any area.

Has mad anxiety, takes meds for it.

Works out every day, his favorite way to do so is jogging, he loves being able to just turn off his brain and go.

He meets you on one of those jogs!! Runs right past your art studio but stops when he sees you about to drop this heavy ass box you're attempting to move in a truck.

"Woah- I got you don't worry." He said in an attempt not to scare you as he was some random man running at you from across the street.

You'd peak your head out with the sweetest smile he's ever seen. The honest gratefulness in your eyes warmed him to his core.

"Oh thank you!- I appreciate it." Sure the words were simple but paired with that sheepish little laugh brought heat to his cheeks, he had the sudden to urge to fix his hair, make sure he looked presentable because holy shit were you gorgeous.

You're in a dust covered pair of overalls, your hair is windswept, and you still knocked the breath from his lungs.

"Whatcha' got in there?-god sorry if it's personal you don't need to, I'm sorry." He was very obviously flustered but he was so cute it only added to the charm.

"It's some clay my friend asked for- I had some extra from this project I'm working on- anyway thank you so much.." She trailed off waiting for his name. "Gabriel, you can call me Gabe." His voice was deep and warm like molasses on a hot cookie.

He asks for your number then and there and your fate is sealed.

He runs home faster than he's ever run before, like straight to his apartment, straight to the laptop, doesn't even close the front door kinda rushing.

You only gave him your first name but since he knew you most likely worked at the pottery studio he met you outside of he could find what he needed easily.

He wasn't the most technology savvy man out there but he managed to find a few of your socials and made a quick call to a friend, he has a lot of connections and it was nothing to get the info he needed.

He's a straight shooter and texts you asking for a coffee date that night.

You accept, and despite not usually entertaining men you'd only met that day, he had this captivating energy that had you accepting before you could talk yourself out of it.

The date would be dummy cute, he shows up with flowers and what was supposed to be a quick cup of coffee turns into an all day adventure where you just talked and talked about everything and nothing.

He has you laughing the entire date, blushing from the sheer intensity of his gaze. He was blunt in the way where he said whatever was on his mind.

"I'm sorry- Ima be real I didn't catch a word you just said- the sun hit your face and I had to take a second. Holy shit- you're stunning." His genuine disbelief along with the way he shyly inched his hand to interlock your fingers had your heart skipping a few beats.

He's so into love and the idea of being entirely wrapped up in it.

Before you know it it's getting dark and if he's not walking you to your door he's politely demanding you let him know when you're safe and sound.

The kinda person who makes sure your seatbelt is on or if you're walking on the sidewalk he'll always take the street side just in case.

Would jump out of his coat if you gave the slightest inclination you were cold.

He once balled up his hoodie and threw it at you from across the room like a basketball, like he jumped and dunked.

If you wear fake lashes first time you take em off he the type of dude to be terrified thinking you're just yanking out your real one's.

If he has stuff in his hands and you jump at him he will launch the items if it means catching you better.

Definitely the type to randomly come up to you and silently demand affection.

He wants you to go with him to the gym just to see him be hot. N like maybe give him a reward kiss every time he completes a set.

Surprisingly graceful for such a big dude.

He's an all or nothing type, makes that abundantly clear on the phone one night as he'd gotten in the habit of falling asleep to your voice.

"I want you. Entirely. And I've never been good at denying myself." He'd sound so sure, so certain in his words it made your brain go a bit fuzzy.

Possessive in a hot way not an icky controlling way.

Like if someone hits on you in front of him he has to physically distract himself so he doesn't commit a crime in broad daylight.

Instead whenever his jealously is triggered he becomes a koala, latches himself to your back like a demon, his massive form hovering behind you whenever you went.

"My girl can dress however she wants. I can fight."

Does not tolerate any disrespect towards you or your relationship.

Some girl tried to grind on him at the club and he threw his drink at her.

Petty as HELL when mad, he has a shit list and you do not want to be on it.

Protective as hell, if you indulge his little tendencies (putting sunblock on you if it's warm out, always bringing extra snacks incase you get hungry when you're working) he will start talking about marriage lmao

Speaking of he loves to linger around your studio whenever he can, be warned he will distract you by being adorable so working will be hard but it's totally worth it.

Nicknames for you are : Baby girl, Ma', WIFEY,(almost always followed by a kiss) Darlin', Mi Amor.

He's struggled with insomnia before so he knows a thing or two.

Once you start sleeping over more he notices your nocturnal habits and quickly adjusts.

If you ever get up because you just can't sleep and need to get some energy out he always wakes up.

He can't sleep without you so if you're gone longer than a minute sirens go off in his mind and he's wide awake.

If you wanna watch TV until you can finally rest you know he's right there with you, likes to have you resting in his lap so he can wrap himself around you entirely.

If you simply want to exist in silence he can do that to, so long as he's with you he knows peace.

It wouldn't take long for you to realize his family's secret.

Gabe can keep a secret from anyone.

Except you.

Sometimes his Father would call for him at odd hours of the night, and he'd have to shoot out of bed with little explanation.

You'd wake up to the lightest pressure on your forehead as he kissed you goodbye.

"Shit- go back to sleep Baby, somethin' going down at the shop, they need me." He'd say this cradling your still half asleep face, gently thumbing over your cheeks before stealing another kiss.

He'd come back hours later, the sky still dark and he always showered and put his clothes in the washer before he came to lay back down.

After a while these constant exits would have you a little worried, while yes he was the single most loyal man you'd met and the idea of him cheating seemed laughable, especially considering how seriously he took you, you knew he was hiding something.

Eventually our boy slips up and leaves some blood on his shirt, it was splattered on like paint and yeah at first you were a bit terrified at the concept of your boyfriend being violent then you really started to think about it.

The way he talked about people he didn't like, that look in his eye whenever you told him someone had upset you, how he seemed almost eager to fight at any time.

It made sense.

Then there's the way he talks about his family's shop.

"It's kinda' fun working down there- yeah it can get messy but that's my favorite part."

"I mean Jimmy knew what kinda' businessman pops is- no wonder he die- retired. No wonder he uh, retired. 👀"

It's embarrassing how slick he thinks he is.

It all comes to its boiling point when one day you two are out and bump into a smaller, who at the sight of your loving boyfriend, goes pale as a sheet, nearly dropping the bags in his arm.

"H-Hey Gabe! Boy it's been a minute huh? Listen tell your pops I ain't ducking him or nothing I swear!-" The man said practically vibrating in place, sweat pooling down his flustered face. He was petrified.

Gabe cut him off with a look, his eyes glancing between you and the vermin across him.

"It's Gabriel. Only my friends get to call me Gabe. Do you think we're friends Joey?" You'd never heard this tone from your boyfriend before, it was cold and dry, as if was an entirely different person speaking.

His hold on your waist would tighten when the trembling man looked to you.

"Aye don't look at her look at me, I'm the one talking to you right?." He sneered down, he didn't move and still had the stranger flinching. "Your mama never taught you manners or somethin'?"

"My apologies- really Gabriel, I didn't mean nothin' by it." And with that he'd practically run away, checking over his shoulder every few seconds as if he though Gabe would be following.

"Forgive me, Amor. Some people-" he sucked his teeth before shaking off his nasty look. His fingers began dancing against your side.

"He owe your dad some money?" You'd ask figuring the interaction far too intense to be about a late car job or something.

Gabe would respond honestly before thinking, "Yeah, little bastard has been dodging me all week now he wants to come up to us- nevermind that, let's go were gonna miss the movie!" His flustered response would break all tension, but you'd gotten all the confirmation you needed.

All in all this big bad bastard just needs someone to hold his leash and accept his particular brand of love.

[woso-dreamzzz]

hey! long anon here again… w the (as usual) long asks (oops) sorry about this one again, friend!

rereading the earlier bits of injured for fun (masochism) as a result of my nieces spending the weekend with my family. they’re twins and just turned 3… and it made me wonder what bambi was like pre-neglect. my nieces are so small and so excitable and have so much wonder in their eyes (sometimes tho they sit and stare blankly and it seems like they’re in deep thought lol) and it just hurts to think that bambi could be all giggles and excitement the way they are… but she’s been regressed to an apprehensive version of herself.

in the first part of injured bambi’s really cautious and quiet and quite introspective for a young child. bambi in the second part is probably even younger… since it takes place when jenni and alexia are a thing, and it’s cute to see bambi dotes on jenni the way a kid would to their parent (my nieces are constantly in their mom’s lap or sitting with my mom or something.)

it’s cool but sad because my nieces’ dad started working abroad so they’ve been hanging off my dad and brother—my aunt says it’s because they don’t see their dad as much. what do you think it was like for bambi when jenni was out of the picture initially? would we still see this introspective, sort of apprehensive version of bambi had jenni not left and none of this (olga, jaume, neglect) happened? we find out jenni’s been there for the pregnancy and for bambi’s entire life before she left for mexico. she’s young but i keep thinking that she probably lost a bit of herself seeing my nieces be so happy with some “father figure” given they don’t see their dad often anymore.

and then the part where we see bambi begin to realize the lack of attention she’s getting now that she has a younger brother. she’s 4… i think… and holy moly it brings tears to my eyes because ??????????? no kid should ever have to think about whether their parent/s are going to give them attention. especially at that age. so when bambi hides and waits for her mami… yeah. you made me a jenni stan with that one line… even before jenni-ism/the jenni agenda was a REAL thing. and then you cemented it by making bambi rationalize crying silently because alexia yelled at her the last time she expressed her own emotions when alexia was fussing over a crying jaume.

again i was just wondering if there was a large divide or shift in bambi’s personality given the events of neglect taking place in such an important time for development. she’s forced to mature so quickly and at such a young age and that just hurts. trying to mentally prepare myself for this sunday tho!

1010382 apologies to u and the readers bc of this long ask. it was just a thought (that definitely spiralled bc i love my nieces and i also love bambi) gonna go make more teeny and pequenita/natalia and princesse HCs bc they bring me a lot less pain than bambi does

Don't apologise! Your long asks make me really excited every time I see them!

Obviously, there's a space on Bambi's masterlist now for the Before so there's definitely going to be some younger Bambi coming at some point but she's always been quite introspective. It's just how she is but she wasn't nearly as apprehensive as she is now. But she was still giggly and happy and super cute pre-neglect.

In part II, Jenni was also only Tia Jenni but she definitely took a maternal role without it being an obvious thing (and it was in the cards for her adopting Bambi as well before the breakup). It was difficult at first when Jenni left because she definitely saw Jenni as a motherly figure. Jenni has been in Bambi's life since before she could remember so there was definitely a hole that she and Alexia had to adapt too.

Bambi realising that Jaume gets all the attention is so heartbreaking. In situations like this, there's mostly two options they can go with. There's the acting out to get attention and then there's the withdrawing themselves which is what Bambi did. She withdrew from everyone and stopped trying to get attention. She decided to wait it out to see if it would get better but it never did until Alba took her. Bambi crying silently was actually heartbreaking to write because she knows that she won't be getting attention and there's a chance that she'll get yelled at again.

There was definitely a shift in Bambi's personality pre and post-neglect. She was always reserved and a little introverted (there's actually studies about how children of mothers who suffered with long-term post-partum depression are more likely to suffer from difficulties of social and cognitive functioning, problems in externalising problems and anxiety disorders) but the neglect definitely makes it worse and it's something that she never fully recovers from.

It's a little heartbreaking to actually confirm but Bambi does suffer from long term effects of her neglect. It's never the really extreme things like failure to thrive (but that was borderline) but it does affect her future personality. She never fully goes back to how she was in the Before.

Bambi's in a very delicate part of her development so she's still able to bounce back to an extent but never fully. It went on for a bit too long combined with the medical trauma that she suffered during the same period so older Bambi does end up with a nervous disposition and she's often stuck in her head a little bit. She's got a habit of overthinking sometimes.

If Bambi never got neglected then her personality probably would have ended up wildly different.

[icecoldflames]

It Hurts to Love You (Sanders Sides)

Happy holidays @candied-peach! I had never heard of the hanahaki disease before so this was my first time writing it; it was very fun! (@sanderssidesgiftxchange)

Word Count: 5386

AO3 Link

Prompt: hanahaki disease (with a happy ending) (preferably with one of the dark sides)

~~~

Summer

It hurt to breathe.

Virgil's chest stuttered whenever he exhaled too deeply and, every so often, he’d cough up a daffodil petal. It sat bright yellow against Virgil’s purple, almost black, bed sheets before he'd sweep it away into the thin space between his bed and the wall.

His older brother, Patton, offered to take his shifts at their family’s flower shop and, only after Virgil hacked up another petal, did Virgil finally relent.

So here he was, propped up in bed, scrolling through Tumblr, and trying to ignore the heaviness of his chest. His room smelled even more floral than usual, and that was saying something considering he lived above a flower shop. The extra sweetness in the air probably wouldn't be noticed by most people, but Virgil could sense the slight change. It made his head spin.

There was a familiar, sharp, rap at the door. "Virgil? Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Virgil said, voice strained.

Logan pushed open the door, wearing a blue button up, brown hair a little tousled, and his gaze took in the entire room before finally settling on Virgil. "Patton said you weren't feeling well. Something about the flu?" He walked over to the single window in the room, spidery curtains keeping the room in relative darkness. "You should let some fresh air in," Logan said, brushing the curtains aside and opening the window.

"Ugh," Virgil groaned, putting his arm up to shield himself from the sunlight. "Shouldn't you be at the library?" He asked, eyeing the name tag on Logan's shirt.

Logan came to sit at the foot of the bed. He shrugged, "I asked Valerie if I could take the rest of the day off. With Roman and Remus still in school, and Patton taking over your shifts, I thought you might be a little lonely."

Virgil felt his throat seize up as another petal forced its way up his windpipe. His body bent forward as it scraped his insides and he let out a barking cough, scrambling to grab the dishcloth he had brought with him to cough into. The petal landed safely inside the material.

Logan watched, worried, but didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary and Virgil sighed in relief. He couldn't let Logan figure out what was really wrong with him. He knew Logan would blame himself for everything that would eventually happen as Virgil's condition worsened.

Virgil flopped back up against his pillows. "I hate being sick," he grumbled.

"Do you know who might have given it to you?" Logan asked, idly beginning to fold up a stray hoodie on the floor. "You went to that concert last Saturday, didn't you? Someone probably had the flu and didn't want to miss it." Logan shook his head and clicked his tongue, "Irresponsible, if you ask me."

"Okay, mom," Virgil said with a roll of his eyes. "I would've gone to the concert if I had been sick too. Practically cost me an arm and a leg to buy a ticket in the nosebleed section. I wasn't about to throw money down the toilet."

Besides, Virgil hadn't gotten his sickness from the concert he had attended over the weekend. The smaller symptoms had started nearly a year before; the day Virgil had realized he loved his best friend, Logan.

They had been laying together on a picnic table, stargazing and waiting for the predicted meteor shower to start. Sharing a wool blanket, Virgil had felt Logan's body heat and realized just how close together they were.

And, as the meteor shower began streaking light across the dark sky, Logan reverted to what he always did when he couldn't find the words to express himself: he used someone else's. "Ah, Moon—and Star! / You are very far— / But were no one / Farther than you— / Do you think I’d stop / For a Firmament— / Or a Cubit—or so?"

"William Wordsworth?" Virgil had asked, one out of three poets he could list off the top of his head.

"Emily Dickinson."

Poetry had never really been Virgil's strongpoint, unless you counted all the cringy, angsty, poems he had written in junior high when he was just realizing he was gay. But the way Logan had recited the lines, almost in a dream-like trance, Virgil had the epiphany that he loved Logan.

The discovery had come crashing into him—like a piece of space rock falling from the sky and smacking him in the chest.

The day after they had stargazed together, Virgil's chest had had a weird heaviness to it that was nearly impossible to notice unless he sat or stood up too quickly or exercised too much.

Being a hypochondriac, Virgil had internally panicked but eventually rationalized that having a slightly heavier chest than normal was hardly a medical emergency. So, he ignored it. Dealt with it. Pretended he was fine because fake it 'till you make it, amiright?

And, for a year, everything was pretty much okay. At least, health- and chest-wise it was.

Then, just yesterday, Virgil was introduced to Janus Ekans. Logan's new boyfriend. Logan had had boyfriends before, but none of them had really seemed all that serious. None of whom Virgil had liked (not that Virgil would say anything to Logan about it).

But Janus seemed like a stand-up guy. He even made Logan laugh. He understood Logan's literary references. And that was the thing: Virgil didn't have anything bad to say about Janus. Virgil fully knew that he was just jealous, but he couldn't very well explain that to Logan without profoundly embarrassing himself.

It had been utter pain to third wheel as Janus and Logan made dove-eyes across the coffee table at one another, Virgil knowing full well that Logan would never look at him that way. Virgil was firmly in the friendzone and there was nothing he could do about it.

And that was when Virgil had coughed up the first daffodil petal, heaving into a coffee shop toilet.

Virgil had come home that evening and, while watching Beauty and the Beast with Patton and the twins, was unable to explain away the petal that had managed to escape his mouth and land in the popcorn bowl.

Patton had been noticeably upset and understandably disturbed as Roman explained the condition Virgil had come down with. "The hanahaki disease," his younger brother had said, a closeup of Gaston's face frozen onto the TV screen behind him. "When a person suffers from unrequited love, they cough up flower petals. It worsens and worsens until the victim starts coughing up whole flowers."

"But why don't all people who experience unrequited love get the disease?" Patton had asked, wringing his hands in his lap, worrying his bottom lip.

"It's still a rare condition," Roman had said, and glanced over at Virgil before bringing his attention back to Patton. Virgil hadn't known how Roman knew about the hanahaki disease, and decided he'd take Roman's word for it rather than search it up himself because he knew he'd fall down the rabbit hole.

A wrinkle had formed in-between Patton's eyebrows. "And nothing can be done?"

"It goes away if the person who Virgil loves loves him back. And, well, if not, you can get surgery, but then the feelings for the person are eliminated along with the disease."

"No! You can't do that—I don't want to go through any surgery!" Virgil had said, suddenly sitting upright, a wild look in his eyes. He couldn't have his feelings removed like it was just a diseased organ.

"Virge—" Patton had said with a sigh.

Virgil remembered cutting in with, "—Roman, how long do I have?"

"A good couple of years, at least," Roman had replied with, and Virgil could see the visible relief rush into everyone's faces. "It only gets bad when you start coughing up whole flowers."

Remus, ever the comedian, had tried to lighten the mood. "So, when are we going bungee jumping? Gotta start crossing things off that bucket list sooner rather than later."

Autumn

Virgil sat across from Logan in a study room in the university library. Plenty of natural light filtered in from the large window, nearly taking up the entire wall. Almost too much light, if you asked Virgil. He wished there were blinds.

Now that school was back in session, Virgil hardly saw Logan anymore. The only times he could were between classes when Logan holed himself up in a library to work on essays or make notes on required readings. (Virgil had once asked Logan why he'd willingly hang out in a library if he worked in one, to which Logan had responded, "The anticipation in my heart / All those books—another world—just waiting / At my fingertips." Virgil had asked, "Shakespeare?" and was only met with a snort.)

The one thing Virgil had to promise when keeping Logan company as he studied was to keep the conversation to a minimum. It had been hard before, but now Virgil was grateful for it. If he talked too much, he'd eventually cough up another daffodil petal. Or, rather, multiple petals. Two weeks ago, he had started coughing up two or three petals at a time, red flos adonis petals mixing in with the bright yellow of the daffodils.

Virgil didn't mind just sitting in the vicinity of Logan, anyway. His time was limited; any moment with his best friend was one to be cherished. It was kind of odd, to be honest. Knowing that he was going to die in a couple years almost made it easier to swallow the idea that he was going to die in general. Of course, he wasn't looking forward to it, and he wasn't about to lose all his anxiety because of it. But it was almost…comforting knowing he could do nothing to stop his imminent death.

Logan and Janus were still going strong, and it physically hurt to see them be so content together. Virgil couldn't be around the two of them for long without running off to the bathroom to flush flower petals down the toilet. Whoever said that time healed all wounds had clearly never loved someone who didn't love them back.

"Are you okay?" Logan asked, cutting through the silence, and Virgil snapped his head around to look at his friend. Logan's eyes were still trained on his computer screen, typing something out but, at a pause, he finally locked eyes with Virgil. "You seem…awfully quiet today."

"Just thinking about life," Virgil said, which wasn't a lie. "I guess I'm in a little bit of a funk." Understatement of the century, but it would have to do. Coming up with lies on the spot had never been Virgil's strong point.

The space between Logan's eyebrows wrinkled, and he frowned. "Have you been exercising and eating regularly? Sleeping well? Do you need to make an extra appointment with your therapist?" Logan pushed Virgil's metal water bottle towards him. "Drink some water."

Virgil let out a hacking cough which led to a coughing fit, petals climbing up his throat, tickling and chafing his insides. He grabbed the opaque, purple, water bottle and pretended to take a drink as he spat out four soft petals into the water. Virgil couldn't believe something that soft could feel like metal in his mouth.

Virgil wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and twisted the cover of the water bottle back on.

Logan was still watching him intently, his mouth pursed together. "You should get that cough checked out. It looks painful."

"It's not that big of a deal," Virgil said, waving his hand away, not meeting Logan's eye. He suddenly wished he'd stayed at home, curled up in his dark bedroom and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Logan's eyebrows furrowed even more. "Virgil, this isn't like you at all." His voice was coated with worry. "You can tell me anything, you know that right? I know I don't understand a lot of feeling-type things, but I'm always here to listen and learn."

"I—I…" Virgil began, feeling his eyes starting to sting from unshed tears. Why did Logan have to be so understanding? Logan was being such a thoughtful person. Why couldn't he be ruder about everything? Say, "That's cool," and dig his head back into his computer, never to bring it up again.

The study door creaked open, and Janus slipped through, wearing a black hoodie and yellow Doc Martens. He was holding a coffee cup in his hand. "Hey," he greeted, as he shut the door behind him. He settled into a rolly chair next to Logan and handed him the coffee before looking over at Virgil apologetically, "Sorry, Virgil, I had no idea you'd be here today or I would've asked if you wanted anything."

Virgil wanted to scream and shake Janus by the shoulders, wanting to know who he should blame for giving Logan such a good boyfriend and making Virgil fall desperately in love with his taken best friend. The Fates? Aphrodite? God? Someone was having a good laugh at him from above.

"It's fine, really," Virgil said instead. "I'm more of a tea drinker anyway."

"Me too!" Janus exclaimed, both his blue and brown eye lighting up. Virgil sometimes had the silly thought that Janus faked his heterochromia with contacts, but Virgil knew fully well he was just making things up to hate about the other man. "Coffee makes me nauseous."

Logan stared at Virgil for a little longer, clearly having trouble dropping their previous conversation. "Thanks, Jan," he finally said, picking up the coffee cup and taking a little sip. "How are your applications?"

"Oh, you know," Janus said, giving a stressed smile to no one in particular, "It's been painful trying to get people to respond to my emails asking for references."

"What are you applying for?" Virgil asked curiously—maybe a job in rural Nunavut, far, far away?

Janus grinned, "I'm running away to join the circus. Specifically, as an acrobat. I'm hoping to find a place here in Florida but I'm also going to widen my horizons and apply out of state. Who knows what'll happen?"

Virgil nodded, honestly curious. He hadn't known Janus to be an acrobat. Then again, Janus hadn't been doing great feats of acrobatics on Logan's kitchen table. "What kind of acrobatics? Like, doing stuff on a big ring? On a long piece of fabric? Or like Zac Efron and Zendaya in The Greatest Showman?"

"If you're going to be conversing, you can do so out of the study room. I've got a 3000-word paper due in three days," Logan piped up, in his usual Logan-y way that didn't indicate hostility. "You can wait outside—I've only booked this room for another thirty minutes."

Virgil and Janus exited the study room, exchanging small smiles. Virgil could see him and Janus becoming great friends in a different timeline; years down the line, they could share inside jokes with one another or hang out with no troubles. If only that timeline was this one.

Winter

Virgil supposed the one good thing to come out of having the hanahaki disease was that his brothers were actually nice and helpful for a change. The four of them even had movie nights twice a week where they piled onto the couch and popped ungodly amounts of popcorn with extra butter. Can't die of a heart-attack if you're about to die soon anyway.

"What if you sold your petals?" Remus asked on one of these nights in February. The credits for Gnomeo and Juliet were running in the background. "Join Patton's wedding planning troupe and sell all the stuff you cough up. Little kids could chuck them down the aisle. You'd make a killing."

"I doubt people want flower petals that come out of my mouth," Virgil said, dubiously.

"Well, you don't have to tell them that."

"Virge," Patton said, who had been oddly silent all evening. "Why don't you just tell Logan about this? Communication is key, right? Maybe he does have feelings for you, he just hasn't realized it yet."

Virgil vehemently shook his head. "Absolutely not. He's in a happy relationship with Janus; telling Logan wouldn't be fair to either of them. I don't want them to break up because of me and I don't want Logan to feel like he has to love me—" Virgil's sentence was cut short as his chest stuttered as he breathed in. He clamped a hand over his mouth as he went into a coughing fit, new petals making their way up his throat. Remus slid the popcorn bowl away. When Virgil could feel that all the petals were in his mouth, he gestured for Patton to pass him the metal bucket before coughing the petals out into it. The familiar red and yellow petals softly landed among the other petals.

"It could also accelerate the disease," Roman piped up, his eyes not leaving the bucket of petals. "If Virgil tells Logan, and Logan rejects him, that is."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Virgil said, the talk about his hanahaki disease beginning to grate on his nerves. "Let's watch another movie."

And, because Virgil was going to die soon, everyone let him pick what they'd watch next.

~~~

The next week was Logan and Janus' six-month anniversary since getting together. Virgil, because he just loved to put himself through even more pain than what he was already going through, texted Logan the afternoon before.

Are you planning to do anything tomorrow for your six months?

Logan was never one for big gestures, but that didn't mean he wasn't thoughtful. For Janus' birthday, Logan had gifted his boyfriend a gift card for the local pet shop so Janus could buy pet food for his hamster, Sacagawea.

Not even five minutes after Virgil sent the text, Virgil's phone lit up with a video call from Logan.

"Logan?" Virgil asked after he accepted the call.

Logan's face took a moment to appear on Virgil's screen and, when he did, Logan's glasses were askew, and his face looked like he had just run a marathon. "Do couples actually celebrate their six months or are you just being facetious?"

Virgil blinked twice. "Uh, no." And, after another pause, "Wait, Logan, are you serious?"

"Unfortunately, I am," Logan said, and ran a hand through his hair. "I even completely forgot tomorrow's our six months—I wrote down the initial day we got together but I changed my calendar for the new year. I think I only marked down our one-year anniversary. I didn't think people actually celebrated months being together." 

Virgil had never heard Logan sound this stressful; not even exams worried him this much. "Okay, this is fine," Virgil said automatically. "You've still got half a day to figure this out. You've got plenty of time."

Logan straightened his glasses and put his face into his hands. "I am quite possibly the worst boyfriend."

"Hey, that's not true," Virgil said, and he was highly aware that the two of them had switched roles. Usually, it was Logan talking Virgil off the brink, not the other way around. "This is a simple mistake Janus doesn't even have to know about. And hey! You were great at getting stuff weeks early for Valentine's Day. Apparently, our flower shop was full of boyfriends buying roses the day of."

"That's because Valentine's Day automatically comes printed on my calendar."

"Breathe, Logan," Virgil prompted and, as soon as he said so, noticed the irony of the sentence. "This is less important than a birthday. Just get some reservations at a nice restaurant or buy him something nice. That's legit all you have to do."

Logan didn't say anything for a second, taking Virgil's advice to take three deep breaths. Finally, he said, "Can you come with me to find something to buy for him?"

"What?"

"I don't want to get him just another gift card. I've heard that it may be just a little impersonal."

"Where did you hear that?" Virgil asked. While not unnecessarily false, Logan giving gift cards for special occasions was as a part of him as sheep growing wool. "Did Janus tell you that?"

"Of course not!" Logan said, looking offended that Virgil would even say such a thing. "I was listening to a podcast where they were discussing Christmas gifts. But we're getting off topic now; will you come help me pick something out?"

Virgil didn't think he could and, frankly, he didn't want to. Following Logan around while he was searching for the perfect anniversary gift for Janus? Virgil now regretted even reminding Logan of the date. Helping Logan come up with a strategy was fine—Virgil didn't want to ruin Logan and Janus' relationship completely—but Virgil being a part of the strategy and helping out? Out of the question. Virgil didn't want anything to do with it.

It was such a hard balance in loving Logan and wanting to be with him while also wanting Logan to be happy, even if that wasn't with Virgil. Maybe Virgil was being illogical with this decision, but love did that to a person.

"No, I can't do that," Virgil said, voice coming out shaky despite himself. He knew this wasn't like him at all. "I'm sorry, you'll have to do this yourself." And he quickly ended the voice call, already feeling flowers forming in his lungs, threatening to ascend.

~~~

Logan came over a week later, claiming he had a surprise that couldn't be told over the phone. Virgil was hesitant because Logan didn't bring up last week at all, which was unlike Logan who was usually straight to the point and didn't let things linger.

"Guess," Logan told him once he sat himself on the edge of Virgil's bed, his blue eyes alight with excitement.

Warily, Virgil said, "Give me a hint." He could feel anxiety swirling around in his chest, which was not helping his current situation in his lungs. Something told him this was not good news for him.

Logan thought for a moment before reciting, "In a blazing brick and plated show / Not far away a 'villa' gleams, / And here a family few may know, / With book and pencil, viol and bow, / Lead inner lives of dreams. Thomas Hardy."

When Virgil didn't say anything, Logan just came out with it. "Janus and I are thinking of moving in together."

Something large formed in Virgil's windpipe. He bent over quickly, letting out a hacking cough to try and push it up. It grated against the walls of his trachea. He let out rough, dry coughs, feeling the thing slowly but surely making its way to his mouth. Every time he breathed in, the thing fluttered and allowed small bits of air down into his lungs.

"Virgil? Virge?" Logan asked, surely about to execute the Heimlich maneuver but was quickly pushed to the side by Roman, home sick from school, who suddenly burst into the room, shoving Logan out into the hallway, telling him to go home.

Roman pounded on Virgil's back for a good three minutes before the thing finally plopped onto Virgil's bed, its petals unfurling like a monstrous octopus extending its tentacles.

A green carnation.

"A full flower," Roman whispered, his eyes wide with fear as he stared at its bright, toxic, green.

Virgil gulped, a bead of sweat sliding down his forehead. "Get Patton."

Spring

Sleeping was now the only refuge from the flowers. He couldn't remember the last time he dreamed. Every time he would awake, he only knew he had fallen asleep due to the fact time had passed. The rare times he was awake, he saw the green carnations, daffodils, and red flos adonis' littering his bedroom floor. He felt like he was living in Isebela's bedroom from Encanto.

Now that the snow was melting, Patton kept Virgil's bedroom window open and a fan always on to get the scent of flowers out of the room.

On a Wednesday in April, Virgil awoke to Logan's voice, coming from the kitchen.

"You have to bring him to the hospital; he can't stay here." Logan's voice was tense and slightly pushy. "If you could just tell me what's wrong with him—"

"—Listen, Logan, I appreciate your worry but there's nothing we can do about it. Virgil doesn't want medical help." Patton just sounded exhausted. "Believe me, if there was something that could be done, we would do it in an instant."

"There truly is nothing that can be done about it?"

There was then silence, the only noise coming from the blowing of the fan in Virgil's room. He strained his ears to listen, wincing when he noticed the roughness of his throat as if he had a cold.

"Pretty much," was all Patton answered with.

~~~

Virgil had heard of out-of-body experiences before, but only because Logan had written an essay on them in high school. They often occurred when a person was near-death. Virgil had always wondered what having an out-of-body experience would be like.

Two weeks later, Virgil didn't have to wonder anymore.

He had just closed his eyes for a midday nap when his eyes flashed open, and Virgil found himself floating above his own bed like a ghost. Someone had swept away most of the flowers, leaving a single green carnation on Virgil's bedside table.

Virgil himself was curled up in bed, head dug into his pillow and arms wrapped around his torso. Virgil had seen himself plenty of times in the mirror but hovering above his physical body was just plain weird.

Virgil's bedroom door creaked open and Roman and Remus rushed inside, closing the door behind them.

"Where's Patton? I thought he was supposed to be manning the shop downstairs!" Remus whisper-shouted.

"Gone to therapy. Don't you remember? Today's the second Saturday of the month," Roman said in a similar fashion. "Logan must have come up the back entrance. What do we say? Tell him to go away?"

Remus glanced over at Virgil, asleep in bed. "He hasn't awoken since yesterday afternoon," he muttered, changing the subject, and sounding the most serious Virgil had ever heard him. "He needs to eat. Maybe we should have brought him to the hospital; then they could have tube fed him."

Roman sighed and rubbed his temples. "I think we should tell Logan."

Both Remus and Virgil's eyes went large.

"We can't! Virgil doesn't want us to!" Remus exclaimed.

"No, listen," Roman said, frowning deeply. "We'd just tell Logan that Virgil has the hanahaki disease. We wouldn't tell him who Virgil loves. But I think Logan ought to know at this point. They're friends. Maybe it'll put Logan a bit at ease knowing there is legitimately nothing to be done because, at this point, I don't think Logan believes us when we say we can't do anything more for Virgil."

"Except for Logan returning Virgil's feelings."

"Exactly," Roman said with a slow nod. "Okay, well, I'll bring him in. We'll let Logan have a short visit before sending him back home."

Virgil waited with bated breath as he heard the twins returning with Logan. While he was a little stressed about Logan finally learning what was ailing Virgil, it didn't feel nearly as bad as Virgil thought. Maybe it was being out of his own body or perhaps just the fact that Logan still wouldn't know he was the person Virgil loved.

"—He's still asleep," Roman was saying as he, Remus, and Logan entered Virgil's bedroom. "But we think you should know what's really going on. I don't think Virgil has much time left, if I'm really going to be honest with you."

Logan's spine visibly straightened, and he turned to look at Roman. "Okay," he said slowly. "Tell me."

And so Roman told him. About the hanahaki disease, and how Virgil's symptoms had sped up uncommonly fast that day when Logan had told Virgil he was planning to move in with Janus. Remus slowly made his way behind Logan to brush the green carnation off the bedside table.

Logan didn't say anything for a long time afterwards. When he did, his voice came out hoarse. "Unrequited love?"

Roman nodded, lips pursed.

Logan looked over at Virgil's sleeping body, and Virgil could practically see him putting the pieces together. Virgil held his non-existent breath. He knew this was a bad idea, why did Roman and Remus decide to tell Logan this? It was stupid, utterly stupid—

"It's Janus, isn't it?" Logan said, face looking pained.

Behind Logan's back, Remus face palmed.

Roman managed to hold it together, but Virgil could tell by his face that Roman was utterly bewildered by Logan's statement. "What do you mean?"

"His symptoms started showing after Janus and I got together, and then it got serious when I told him we were planning to move in together. Oh my—" Logan couldn't finish his sentence. He sat down right on the floor and put his head in his hands. "He loves Janus."

You idiot, Virgil wanted to say, although a part of him was grateful Logan still didn't know. You loveable idiot.

Roman bent down slowly. "Logan—" Roman began, and Virgil's vision went completely white.

Virgil let out a halting breath, back in his own body. He could feel a flower halfway up his windpipe, but Virgil breathed shallowly; he didn't want the others to know he was awake. He needed to hear what was going to happen next.

"Janus is gone," Logan said, his voice small. "He got accepted to a circus in England the day after I told Virgil we were planning to move in together. His flight was March twentieth."

Virgil didn't move a muscle, but he opened his eyes to just slits, allowing himself to get accustomed to the light. Janus was gone? He had been gone since February? Virgil suddenly felt bad for not being there for Logan even though there was no possible way for Virgil to have known.

"If only I had known earlier—I could have set something up between the two of them," Logan continued, voice muffled. He was still sitting on the floor, his knees pulled up.

"You'd be willing to let Janus go to maybe save Virgil?" Remus asked, dubiously, standing awkwardly to the side.

There was a sniff from Logan. "We broke up."

"You broke up?" Roman exclaimed, echoing Virgil's own screaming thoughts. The flower was now nearly unbearable to hold down. It was going to force itself up soon, whether Virgil liked it or not.

"Long distance…it's hard for me. Having Janus live on a whole other continent across the ocean would be difficult. So, we decided to break up. It was mutual."

"No other reason?" Remus prompted, to which Roman smacked his twin brother's arm.

Logan's gaze shifted to Virgil, who snapped his eyes shut once again. Virgil didn't think he could hold the flower much longer. He needed to cough it up.

"I…I think I love him." Logan's voice was so quiet Virgil wasn't sure if he heard right.

"You love…who?" Roman asked, unable to keep a little bit of excitement out of his voice. "Who are you talking about?"

Virgil tentatively opened his eyes once again to see that Logan was staring at the ground, his Adam's apple bobbing. Finally, Logan whispered, "I love Virgil."

Virgil's heart nearly exploded, and he let out the most hacking cough yet, a green carnation flying out of his mouth and smacking Logan right in the side of the head. And then…nothing. Virgil felt no more flowers trying to make their way up his windpipe. His chest felt lighter than it had in years.

Logan's head shot up to stare at Virgil. "You're…you're okay. I thought you were about to die…" His words faded off as the realization struck. "Not Janus."

Both Roman and Remus slipped out of the bedroom, matching grins on their faces.

Virgil shook his head with a small smile. "No, not Janus." After Logan didn't say anything, just stared at Virgil, slack-jawed, Virgil said, "Well, are you going to recite any love poems to me?"

"I think I'd rather use my own words at this moment," Logan said. "I love you."

Virgil grinned. He didn't think he would ever tire from those words coming from Logan's mouth. "I love you too."

And Virgil breathed.

[heartbreakgrill]

kol mikaelson; best friend’s brother pt. 5- don’t blame me.

“oh, lord, save me. my drug is my baby i’ll be using for the rest of my life.

a/n: oooookay 😂 one more part after this? no promises? this chapter is cool and i like it but be warned it’s semi boring.

@fitzs-trained-monkey @fandomrulesall-blog @princess-charming-01

i was shunned.

it had been two months and i hadn't heard from rebekah. she'd stopped coming to school the day directly after her discovery. she texted caroline, informing her she wasn't going to be apart of the cheer team anymore. she was even respectful enough to return the uniform to her.

but she wouldn't answer any of my texts or calls.

i stared longingly at her usual desk in each and every class. paying attention was difficult when there was a newfound hole in my heart. i'd never been so close to somebody before, especially in such a small time frame. and suddenly she was gone.

all because of me.

i took up more shifts at the grill and was on the precipice of full-time. caroline, bonnie, and elena started having me over more often. but i excluded myself from supernatural conflicts. it's not like i had offered any good skills anyways.

it was better this way, i told myself.

elena would make jokes about how it was good i had decided to stop seeing rebekah. like i'd had a choice.

"i'm sure it was fun sometimes, but god, i would be sick to my stomach with fear," elena remarked, tossing popcorn into her mouth.

it was a friday night after the last football game of my entire life. a moment i should've gotten to share with rebekah.

i smiled, tight lipped. "yeah."

no.

i missed it.

it felt more normal than this.

movie marathons, making fun of romantic scripts. stuffing our faces with pizza and popcorn and soda. swimming until 3am, listening to one direction. a guaranteed 'ride' home from school everyday.

fuck, i'd even finally gotten my license. my mom started taking me out to practice with my learner's permit and, after a few weeks, i passed the test with flying colors. all my hours at the grill over the past two years made up enough money for a down payment on a decent car. i wished rebekah was in the passenger seat every time i left school. vamping was fun- but i had the entire world at my tires now. with no one to see it with.

though i did miss her vamping me everywhere. it always led to a laugh, a new happy  memory to be shared between the two of us.

there would no more of those.

i'd gone to the house numerous times, of course. i'd waited a month to do so, afraid that if i came too soon, it would slice open the wound and pour lemon on the cut. the first time, i'd waited on the porch for ten minutes, fingers nervously playing with my lanyard. rebekah always joked that she would buy me a keychain whenever i got my license. she wanted to be the first one to do so.

but i'd had to buy my own.

i knocked, eventually. klaus opened the door. he smiled sadly, down at me.

"hello, love," he nodded once. affirming the situation. it was as bad as i thought.

"i-" i shut my mouth tightly. my voice was weak. "is rebekah here?"

klaus shook his head, left to right, "she left."

my heart sunk a little further. i was afraid it would drop out of me if it went any further. "where'd she go?"

left? the house? the family? the state? life itself? had klaus daggered her? had she decided to tap out of it all?

klaus leaned against the frame, crossed his arms. "my family founded new orleans, a long, long time ago. we had a house- a compound there. elijah thought it might be a good idea for us to leave mystic falls behind and start over. rebekah finalized that decision after- you."

tears welled up in my eyes. i quickly brushed my fingers against my cheeks, soaking up the water there. it kept coming though, and i sniffled at the flood. "oh. ok. i'm sorry- sorry to have come."

i went to leave, but klaus caught my wrist in his hand. he looked down at me, pitifully. his pupils were rounded out with compassion. that was the klaus caroline saw. that humanity. he pulled me into a hug.

it wasn't awkward or tense. i sunk into his arms, and the tears flowed from my eyes. he held me gently, one hand at my back, the other at the nape of my neck. his fingers were soothing on my skin, comforting me back from the ledge. eventually, i pulled away, flashing an embarrassed smile.

"um," i gulped, "when you see her, will..."

klaus nodded encouragingly. "it may take a while, but she'll hear you eventually. i can't promise forgiveness or the chance to move forward. she's stubborn. but she does love you. always and forever."

i shut my eyes tightly, a shaky breath reaching the bottom of my stomach. "thank you."

the other times i went, the house was empty. i just wanted to soak in the memories there, the smell of the garden, the chlorine of the pool, the aura of rebekah's room. i stood on the porch, staring at the door, willing it to unlock. then, i saw a envelope, sticking out from underneath a rock on the porch. my name was on the front, in a beautiful, cursive writing. it was heavier than an envelope of its size should be.

i quickly tore it open, careful not to rip the thick packet of papers inside. a letter from klaus was enclosed, along with a key, and that packet.

"dearest y/n,

i have enclosed the deed to our home here in mystic falls and in new orleans. i put them in your name. i didn't want to sell this one, in case my family wants to one day return. but i additionally wanted you to have it. i hope it's consolation, though it's not enough for what you've gone through since the supernatural first knocked on your door. the second is so we have a reason for unwanted to not be able to come in. i hope it's ok if i call you, need i your invitation.

below is the address of our compound in new orleans and my new cell phone number. one day, i hope we see you again. you are a mikaelson now, no matter what happens.

affectionately, klaus.'

i tipped the envelope and the key dropped into my hand and a necklace fell to the porch. i picked it up, hands beginnig to shake when i saw the mikaelson seal branded on its charm.

i burst into tears again.

–

kol was a different story.

for a week after, he came to see me. after school, walks home from the grill, a trip or two out to our over look. it was tense at times, especially when one of us would bring up the issue at hand. but we tried to push through. if i had been completely abandoned, i didn't know if i would've been able to move on so well. not that i was moving on at all.

then, after a week, he started making excuses. i waited for an hour after my shift at the grill one night. he never showed. so i walked home, wishing my drivers test would come sooner. it happened again later in the week. i waited twenty minutes.

at that fridays football game, i looked for his face in the crowd. he was nowhere to be seen. i texted him, called him. he sent back excuses, apologies that were empty. i'm sure rebekah was threatening him, and he felt pressured- but what about me? he'd roped me into this mess, and now he was leaving me on the side of the road. he was breaking the trust if built, brick by dirty brick.

eventually, his responses stopped. i cried myself to sleep two nights in a row when i realized he was never going to come to my window again. and when klaus told me they were moving, i stuffed kol's hoodie in the back of my closet, his boxers in a drawer somewhere.

movie tickets, a pressed flower, a polaroid of him. it was empty romance now. a hopeless dream i had once wished and was now paying for.

i should've known.

rebekah had been wrong. i never needed this- a hurricane, disrupting my life when it was just getting great. what lesson would i learn? that i was a shitty friend? that i was vulnerable and stupid and fucking hopeless.

when i got my license, i drove myself out to the cliff. i wore his hoodie, hoping it would bring me a sense of closure. i sat on the open trunk of my car, clutching the necklace around my throat. i hid it under my shirt everyday. it was still valuable to me. it made me feel a little better.

tears wallowed down my face, sobs threatening to burst through my mouth. i put in my headphones and listened to his songs, his favorite lyrics. the 1975 was truly meant for douche bags like him.

i sat silently, staring at the full moon, howling down at me like it was humorous, this barren moment. here i was, alone. where we had once been together.

in every way.

i swear i heard a twig snap from the woods. i jumped off the trunk, spinning around to face whatever danger was there.

"hello?" i peered into the darkness, tired and afraid. i pulled a headphone from my ear.

a shadow moved along the tree line and my eyes snapped towards it. it dissipated as moonlight streaked across the trees.

someone had been there. or maybe it was a trick in my head.

i went home.

life moved on.

fall bled into winter, but the only real change in the days was the bitter cold that came some nights. it snowed, only sometimes, and i relished in the excuse to skip school, work, to just lay in bed. i carried my chair to the balcony some times, sat there and watched the snow fall around me. i'd shiver under a blanket, and get a cold every once and awhile. but it felt good to freeze.

i was a walking cliche for some months. until i let myself thaw a little. caroline and i became closer friends. it began one day after school, when i was at my locker. she offered for me to come with her, elena, and bonnie to a tour of white more college. i declined. she asked why. i shrugged.

"are you.." i watched her take a deep breath. her brows furrowed. she frowned. "y/n...are you okay? god, how has nobody noticed how- i'm so sorry."

she latched onto me, hugging me tightly to her chest. my eyes watered a bit.

"it's fine, care," i pushed off of her. i felt like i was choking. "there's bigger issues in the world than my broken heart."

"no, god, y/n..." she sighed, "you lost your best friend and your...boyfriend? you lost kol all within the span of a month. i don't know what happened between you two, but i do remember that night- rebekah's party. you had feelings for him. and he left you. what happened?"

i shut my locker, crossed my arms over my chest, "i don't know. they moved to new orleans. i guess i was too heavy of baggage to pack."

caroline shook her head, "no, don't say that. that's not true. hey- screw bonnie and elena. why don't we go out tonight? get drunk at some random bar, cry over tequila shots and dance with small-town 7 looking boys?"

i let myself laugh for the first time in a long time. i nodded, "sure. that sounds...fun, actually."

hours later; i was dressed up in the tiniest black piece of cloth, wearing a pair of caroline's heels that made my feet groan when i walked. i let her curl my hair, do my makeup. all of it took too much energy- but i needed to stop moping. i needed to close the chapter on mourning and start writing the one for healing.

i needed to start getting ready for graduation. prepare to spend my last summer as a kid in my hometown.

the mikaelsons weren't going to ruin my life. not my senior year.

i threw my head back, a tequila shot burning down my throat. i coughed into my elbow slightly, looking at Caroline with a grin. she cheered as i slammed the glass back onto the bar.

the music blared in my ears, another 2000s pop hit that was only fun to listen to in bars like this. we danced, drank stuff she compelled out of the bartender, and i sat and watched as she flirted with two boys.

they came over to us and she looked to me, "let's go dance with them! fuck kol!"

i shook my head, laughing, "no, thanks. you go, have fun!"

i slid off the bar stool. she frowned at me, but shrugged. "if you insist!"

i watched her escape to the dance floor with the two boys. they fell into the crowd easily, dancing perfectly on beat to the miley cyrus song. i glanced around the crowd, at the different dancers taking up the space in the bar. my eyes fell over the face of a brown-headed boy. his hair fell in perfect swoops on his head, curling slightly at the nape of his neck.

my heart beat skipped as he turned towards me, laughing with his friends. there were crinkles in his cheeks, white teeth gleaming between rosy pink lips. my gaze flickered to his eyes, shining bright chocolate in the dimmed lighting in the bar.

i thought i was going to puke.

i stumbled out the back door of the bar, bracing my hands on the brick wall by the dumpster. it was freezing outside and goosebumps immediately prickled at my skin. i tucked my hair behind my ears furiously, taking deep, stubborn breaths.

i needed to hear his voice. i needed- needed something from him. an echo. a memory.

i pulled out my phone, quickly dialing the number i had memorized.

and he answered.

"kol?" i nearly sobbed, tears flecking down my face, smearing my mascara.

there was nothing but silence on the other end of the line.

then i heard a shuffle. my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

"kol," i breathed, "i know you're t-there. i k- why did you leave me? why did you just leave me here to deal with this mess? you said that i meant something to you, and then you just left. who does that? i-i put everything on the line for you! i put my trust in you! and you fucking left me! you kno-"

my voice cracked, and a sob burst through my lips. "i think i-"

i set my hand against the wall, my shoulder brushing up against it as a cry wracked my body.

"i think i might have loved you."

i heard another shuffle on his end.

"but, i guess i'll just let that go. i hope that you're okay- you deserve to be okay, even though you left me here. alone. i'm going to say goodbye even though you didn't give that to me. goodbye, kol. i miss you."

i hung up. he wasn't going to talk anyways.

taking a deep breath, i threw my phone across the narrow alleyway because of a burst of anger. it hit the wall, broke into pieces.

it was time to let it go anyways.

–

5 months passed.

i was sitting on the couch in the salvatore boarding house. caroline sat beside me, annoyed, with her arms crossed over her chest.

i popped another grape in my mouth, the plastic baggy in my hand crinkling. "sure you don't want a grape?"

caroline rolled her eyes with a huff. "i want to go get ready to graduate high school- not sit here and wait for damon to solve this weeks crisis."

i rose my brows in surprise, chewed on another grape. "forget i asked."

i wasn't exactly 100% sure what was happening: though i'd grown back into this friend group, and simultaneously gotten involved in a few conflicts here and there, i wasn't always up to date on the news. i tried to stay on the sidelines, as per usual, especially after i was almost killed two months ago.

being close with caroline, meant getting close with the entire group. which, now, was fine. two months ago, it was overwhelming. one minute, i had been with her at the local mall. shopping. the next, i was tied up in some back-alley, abandoned store, with a head wound and a knife in my stomach.

i still don't remember much from that day. but i do remember jeremy.

he had stormed in, to my recuse, only a few hours after i'd been kidnapped by some big shot vampire with a grudge against stefan. jeremy had prioritized me. bonnie had done a locator spell and, instead of waiting for a negotiation, he came and got me.

caroline was there beside him. she took out the enemy and then offered me her blood. i denied it for the first time in my life. i'd never been in this situation before. but i knew the potential consequences of healing quickly like that.

i chose the hospital.

i let jeremy untie the ropes, carefully pick me up, and carry me to the ER. he sat with me for three days- there even when even my mother and father weren't.

he held my hand, soothed my headaches, and made sure i was always stocked up on cafeteria jello.

that's when i felt the hole in my heart stitch up. that's when i fully started to like waking up again. when i was noticed again, when my existence mattered. when i had someone to listen to me ramble about my night at work, someone to cheer me on at basketball games when i was cheering on our team.

when i had someone there to hold me, to soothe the ache away. to fill the void. someone who wasn't fleeting. someone who wasn't dangerous and bad.

the door to the boarding house flung upon. damon sauntered in, heading straight for the whiskey bottle. elena, jeremy, and bonnie followed behind him. bonnie looked exhausted. elena had blood on her shirt. and jeremy's shoulders dropped in exhaustion as he set down the heavy duffel bag of vampire weapons.

i looked to his kind brown eyes, and watched them light up as he met mine. i stood from my seat, feeling pulled towards him. the others dropped out of my vision, out of my focus, as i reached for his face with gentle hands. my stomach did flutter with some kind of feeling for him. it wasn't as strong, as passionate. but it was there.

"are you okay?" i comforted, examining him for wounds.

his hands came to rest at my back. "yeah, i'm good. elena and damon got to em before i could."

"good," i let out a deep breath. "that's good."

jeremy hugged me tight. i closed my eyes, resting my head in the crook of his neck. i breathed in his scent. i relished being held. i relished having someone to care and worry for like this.

it wasn't jeremy's fault i didn't care that it was him.

because if he stayed silent long enough, i could pretend, for even a second, that he was a different body under my touch. that his songs were different when they played in the car, that he took me on more emotionally connecting dates than the grill.

i did care about him. i always had. i'd known jeremy since i was ten, he was 8. my family just moved to mystic falls. and elena, bonnie, and caroline became my friends. frequent sleepovers were spent at the gilbert house. and jeremy was the lame little brother who, i guess, secretly harbored a crush on me for years.

each time he'd died over the past two years, i had cried. i'd mourned him at his funerals, was hopefull when he'd returned from the dead. because i cared for him.

but, now, i was standing on the edge of a cliff. he had jumped a long, long time ago. my feet were hanging off of the ledge- and i couldn't bring myself to let go of the sky holding me up.

i felt my heart tear open a bit, felt the bleeding start. i pulled away, hands beginning to shake.

because, though i had thawed from my icy regret, i was still soaking wet from the past

jeremy let go, but his eyes turned down in concern, "what's wrong?"

i brushed my hair behind my ear and gave a pathetically fake smile. "nothing. i was just worried."

i turned to caroline, who was now standing, anxiously wanting to just leave already. i was right there with her. sometimes, i could handle dancing on the precipice with jeremy. sometimes his eyes would glitter just the way kol's had, and i wouldn't be able to breathe.

just now, i had caught a scent similar to kol's cologne. and i needed out. 

"care?" i called out.

she met my gaze, her eyes fierce with precision, "we have exactly three hours and 35 minutes until they call our names out on that football field. if we leave now, and get back to your place, we'll have three hours and 20 minutes. it takes an hour to curl my hair- then an hour to do yours-"

"care!" i interrupted, annoyed. "get in the car and let's go."

her eyes slammed shut as she took a deep, grounding breath. "alright," she opened her gaze, "let's go graduate!"

we bid adieu to our friends. jeremy walked us out to my car, caroline following ahead of us. jeremy held my hand sweetly, thumb brushing against the skin on the back of my hand.

i watched caroline climb into the passenger seat as we passed through the front door. i stopped in my tracks, pulling jeremy to a halt beside me.

he glanced down at me, smiling, "how ya feeling?"

i shrugged, "like a high school graduate."

he snickered. "not quite yet. give it a few hours."

i crinkled my nose with a small giggle. "i'll see you out at the stadium?"

"yeah," he nodded. jeremy looped an arm around my waist. he leaned down, placed a sweet kiss on my lips.

my eyes fell shut, and i appreciated in the physical affection. but my brain flickered with images.

i could never forget, no matter how far i moved on.

i tugged away. i always did first.

i was a shitty person. but i couldn't be alone again.

jeremy grinned at me as i waved goodbye.

within ten minutes, caroline was curling my hair while i did my makeup. she played music on her phone, a compilation of songs from when we were younger. it made us both emotional, and i'd had to redo my mascara three times.

rebekah should've been there. i loved caroline. i was grateful i'd gained her out of the mess of the past few months. but rebekah was supposed to be there, in my room, playing one direction, straightening my hair, probably. she should've been there, complaining about four more years of school- something she secretly enjoyed. dressing up a beautiful white dress, adorning her graduation gown with medals and sashes.

days like today were sensitive for me, i guess.

when i was done, caroline sat my vanity and started on herself. i changed into my white dress, and plopped on my bed to lace up my heels. but, i heard my mom call my name from downstairs. i padded, barefoot, into the hall, with furrowed brows.

leaning over the steps, i yelled down to her, "what?"

"there's someone at the door for you!"

i straightened up, confusion washing over my face. my fingers reached for my neck, for a necklace- the necklace- to tug at. it was a nervous habit. something soothing in moments of uncertainty.

but i'd stopped wearing it whenever i'd gotten back with my friends. i didn't ever think they'd be comfortable with that idea of who i had been associated for those three months. for some reason, they couldn't see the mikaelsons how i did.

besides caroline, none of them even knew about kol. they just thought rebekah had done what every other mikaelson always does- abandoned loyalty. abandoned me, destroyed my happiness for the sake of power or blood.

little did they know.

my fingers met the chain of a necklace my mother had bought me as a present for today. i tugged at it as i descended the stairs. it still brought some comfort.

i turned at the bottom of the stairs, to face the door. my mother stood beside it, hand dangling off of the knob as she spoke to the person on our porch. my eyes wandered away from her figure, and to the boy standing in the doorway.

my heart hammered in my chest. i flushed red, out of excitement and worry. his eyes peeled away from my mother's, a brilliant grin dancing on his face. my mom turned, following his eyes. he held two large bouquets of roses, one pink, one white.

my mom smiled at me, "she's here! you have a visitor, y/n."

she walked past me, frozen at the bottom of the steps, and squeezed my shoulder encouragingly. she knew i hated talking to people. if only she knew...

when the door to her office squeaked shut, i finally spoke. "klaus?" i squeaked out. i managed to put a foot out in front of me, attempted to pull myself toward. my hands fell off of the banister, slack at my sides.

his smile widened, "hello, love. may i come in?"

i stopped at the door. my jaw was hung open. "what are you doing here?"

he offered the pink bouquet of flowers. "i wanted to you see you graduate. one of us should be here."

i took the bouquet from him, eyes widening at the gorgeous dozen of roses. i wanted to cry a little bit at the thoughtful gesture, but i swallowed my feelings. i couldn't let myself go like that again.

"thank you," i held them like a baby in my arms. "uh, please, come in."

klaus stepped inside as the magical barrier fell. i shut the door. he looked around, admiring the inside of my house. i watched him carefully, trying to examine any ulterior motives. not that he would do anything bad. but had something happened? was he here to deliver news? good news?

"why are you here?" klaus turned to my voice.

he crossed his hands in front of him, "to see you graduate."

i rose my brows, pursed my lips. "that's it?"

klaus let out a small chuckle, head falling forward. "can it wait until after? after youre done?"

i shook my head, hugging the roses tighter. "tell me. please."

my lip wobbled as he looked to me. his eyes swam with worry, sadness. bad news.

i bit down on my lip.

"rebekah has turned off her humanity,” he barely whispered.

i swallowed thickly, tears falling freely down my cheeks. "um-"

the floor creaked on the stairs. both our heads whipped towards the sound. caroline stared down at us, concerned.

"klaus? what the hell is going on?" she clutched the banister. she looked dreadful.

i brushed hair behind my ear, "here. uh, let's go up to my room."

he followed behind me up the steps, the old wood freaking beneath our feet. i couldn't help but notice him peer at caroline, sweetly, slyly, with the flicker of a cheeky smirk on his lips. she rolled her eyes- but i saw the red dance along her cheeks when he walked past.

i shut my door behind us with a click. then, i took a seat on the edge of my bed. my legs were shaking, and i couldn't trust myself to stand. caroline sat back at the vanity, continuing her makeup, hesitantly. she never could waste a single second, but she listened intently.

klaus looked around my room, admiring the decorations. his eyes fell on a picture frame on my desk. he walked over to it, picked it up gingerly.

"rebekah wasn’t doing well after…well, you know…”"

i felt sick. i hugged my stomach as if that would hold my together.

klaus continued, admiring the picture frame with a small smile. "she was at her worst, y/n. do you remember that diner that was slaughtered on the edge of town back in october?"

i nodded. caroline let out a little breath, a bit of shock.

klaus hummed, “that was our girl. part of the reason elijah suggest we leave mystic falls, was because rebekah was drawing eyes onto our family. we narrowly avoided our house being burnt down. that’s when i transferred it to your possession. and we finally decided it was time to leave. in louisiana, rebekah was murdering by the dozens. when confronted, she’d get hostile. threaten all of us with daggers, a white oak stake shed somehow come into possession of. she nearly killed kol-“

i shuddered. caroline was brushing eyeshadow across her lids when she saw me sob into my hand through the reflection of the mirror. she quickly set the brush down, vamped next to me on the bed.

i fell into her embrace. she looked to klaus, "maybe use less descriptive words, yeah?"

klaus shook his head, "kol fled. he was missing for three months. when he returned, she daggered him. i’ve kept him under just until we’ve got her under control. his bodies hidden, far from her influence. then, we managed to corner her one night. we were going to dagger her. that was my sister’s tipping point. and we watched as she shut down. she shut it off. rebekah went missing for another two months. finn just found her in paris. she was- she was worse, if at all possible. elijah and i managed to dagger her. we transported her back to our compound. shackled her, let her wake up."

caroline grabbed a tissue off my bedside table. she dabbed at my wet cheeks carefully. i sniffled.

klaus finished up, "i know daggering her for a hundred years would be easier. but i'm done punishing my family for what my mother did to us. i want to save her- i want to help her. she deserves that from me. but i need your help."

my eyes fell to the floor, as if answers lay there within the cracks of wood. i had to go. i had to help bring rebekah back. i had to be the glue for this fucked up family. with a gulp, i joked, "at least i won't be missing any school."

caroline giggled sadly. she brushed the hair away from my face, attempting to soothe me down. klaus stared at the picture frame. he carefully set it back down on the desk. rebekah and i smiled into the camera, dressed in our cheer uniforms. i peered at it, more tears clouding my vision. she was my twin flame, i just knew it. she was the best friend i’d ever had.

and she needed me. even if she didn’t know it.

"i have a room ready for you. a plane ticket for later tonight. i can have your things packed while you're gone."

i nodded. i stood, confidently this time, from my bed. my knees still shook as i said, "okay. let's do this."

the rest of the day flew by- not in the good way i thought it would, though. i attempted to smile my way through the ceremony, faking cheeriness in the endless photos with my family. i kissed jeremy, pretending like what we had was good, that things weren't going to change- that they had ever done so in the first place.

i didn't tell anyone. not my mother- who sobbed into a tissue the whole day- not jeremy- who'd bought me flowers, a bracelet. i let him clasp onto my wrist happily, kissed him in return for the gift. at the dinner my parents took us to, i let him make plans for our summer together. a camping trip in june, my mothers talks of move in day in august. i didn't even know where i'd be tomorrow, let alone september. college was going to be put on hold.

when the night was finally over, i decided to go to ‘bed’ early. i walked jeremy to the front door. leaning against the staircase, i watched as he slinked his jacket on. he ruffled the hair atop his head, messy locks from the long day.

my parents laughed in the living room, at some comedy on the television. i looked in their direction, lips sucked between my teeth. they were shaking.

i turned back to jeremy. he grinned at me, reached out for my waist. i fell into his embrace. he felt comfortable, safe. he would always be the better choice, i knew that. he represented everything that was good for me- home, familiarity, normalcy. because he was pure and easy.

i could learn to love him if i stayed. i could push myself off that cliff. i really could see myself choosing this path. because it was correct, on the balance scale of good and evil. his side would always win.

but i knew that would never happen. i could- but i didn't want to. i knew this trip, this journey back into the lives of the mikaelsons, was going to change my life forever. these final moments, in the front room of my childhood home, were my final ones as a human, teenage girl. the air was shifting- change was coming.

time was fleeting. and i had to go.

our fates did not match. i knew it deep in my soul. he was meant for this- a small-town, siding with the good guys, always winning. i wasn’t. i never had been.

i didn’t want that.

jeremy pulled back, hand sliding up to my cheek, holding my face delicately. his brown eyes were lit up, gentle and kind. there was so much goodness inside of him. his lips were moving, "i love you."

my brows curled up, sympathy covering my expression. my chest burned. my heart ached. this could be so easy, "i love you."

but i never wanted easy.

i wanted to have to fight for it. i wanted it to matter so much because it cost me my blood, maybe my life. life was precious, and we in mystic falls took it for granted too often. the mikaelson’s never did that. they never wasted a breath.

that was the kind of girl i had grown to be. all this time i had been avoiding supernatural conflicts, but now i was ready to solve them. ready to help- ready to lay it all down.

for love. for life.

i walked up to my room. klaus and caroline were there, waiting for me. i handed caroline three envelopes- three letters. my explanation. reasons. the tension in the room felt like i would never come back to this house. and, if i did, it would not be for a very long time.

at the gate for our flight, caroline held me tighter than i'd ever been hugged. she promised to call, made me promise that i wouldn't fall off the face of the earth. something in her eyes was lit anew- some kind of understanding, some fervent belief about me. about this.

i sat by the window on the plane, turned my body away from klaus. i watched my little town float down from beneath me, the plane rumbling up and away with intensity.

the mikaelson's needed me.

it was the first time in my life i'd ever felt that. usefulness- purpose. to care for, glue together, repair a family so broken. i didn't know why destiny had chosen me to be the one to bring them together. maybe it was my humanity, my ability to connect with life because i was living it- something. they all shared a compassion for me, and i them, that brought them together. though rebekah and kol's were misconstrued, i knew they could find peace. with my help.

as soon as we brought rebekah back. i didn't know if she'd see me and snap back into reality, but knowing her- she'd fight.

but when she'd come back, i knew it would heal. i knew she would finally break, finally forgive and hear me. it would patch my poorly stitched heart. life would be full again. even if i had to let kol go, fully, i knew a treaty could be drafted.

mystic falls was not my home. it had never felt like it. it never would. caroline was my friend- i cared for all of them. but they were not my family. my choice lay elsewhere.

i tugged on my necklace. the m gleamed under the dim lighting of the airplane bulbs.

i had a family. they were waiting for me to come back. they were waiting for me.

[goldkirk]

Hi! Of all the blogs I follow, yours has reblogged the most about Shiny Happy People. I'm watching the documentary too. Is it okay if I ask what your connection is to the doc, if any? I actually used to live down the street from the IBLP HQ in Illinois (legit a 1 min drive) and had no idea what the building was used for until about 2015. I thought it was strange that I never saw any cars out in front, despite its size. A student from my high school made a short (30 min) documentary about IBLP called The Cult Next Door. It's on youtube if you're interested. Anyway, hope you're doing well!

Yeah, totally okay to ask (thank you for asking!). My answer is a little bit complicated, but it's the truth I have to offer lol.

That's wild! I am absolutely going to go watch that documentary on YouTube, thank you for telling me about it!

My family wasn't IBLP, but by the time I was growing up (baby of the family by 10-16 years), our parents were Devout Roman Catholics who had been convinced that even Catholic parochial schools and Catholic high schools and most Catholic colleges were actually not safe and were brainwashing kids too--less so than public schools but still insidious and Bad. Literally my mom would threaten and pretend to pick up the phone to Call Sister [REDACTED] and have her enroll me in Parish School as punishment if I wasn't cooperating with homeschooling enough. Obviously this had been taught to me as a Dangerous Place To Go, so that made me shape up quick every time.

As far as I've been able to retrospectively put together, my family was pulled into a bubble of Especially Special Devout Holy Practicing Roman Catholicism that was a combination of tradCath influences (plus voting based on the USCCB and pro-life group publications each year), Evangelical influences especially from Focus on the Family/Dr. Dobson (and WORLD magazine, and the HSLDA), and IBLP influences through the Catholic and Christian homeschool circles I was funneled through.

My family got stricter as I got older, and as I was in middle and high school my sister and her group of Catholic homeschool families went further into conspiracy theory and tradCath territory than my Mom and Dad have, and I was getting influenced from her (her family and me and my mom and dad had a large chunk of time per week together and she also has been a partial mother figure as I've grown up).

My family was also involved with Opus Dei, and I was way more involved than my Mom's ever been because the women's center for our area had a LOT of teen girl programming--Evenings of Recollection, Weekend Virtue Retreats, service projects, etc. etc., and I got a lot of influence from that too.

We had a lot of the child-rearing practices that are mild-to-moderate among the fundie/evangelical homeschooler crowds, if that gives some insight.

I, as an older child and teen in the Strict Homeschool Groups (not the fun homeschool groups)--and via my sister and the media I was allowed to consume--got HEAPING doses of purity culture indoctrination AND the push towards martyrdom and persecution complexes AND christian nationalism AND female submission AND science denialism AND--

For many years in a row, my Mom specifically trained me in Apologetics and Church doctrine and theology, trying to patch up any possible hole that led to my oldest brother leave the Church, and on top of this got me books about like "resisting the indoctrination every college will try to give you" etc. etc. I also got trained as a younger child to resist indoctrination and to give specific rote answers from the HSLDA guidance whenever questioned about homeschooling.

Most of the families I was allowed to socialize with were living under various flavors of the same homeschooling/modesty/fear-indoctrination/super-devout kind of worldview that IBLP spread and a LOT were fans of the Duggars (I know I definitely watched sometimes while at my grandparents' house). There's also an IBLP-adjacent book that I call the Fucking Purple Book that uses "Marian virtue" and stuff as a way to plug IBLP-style modesty and submission practices. This book ran rampant among moms in my high school homeschool co-op circles.

tl;dr - I was raised as an IBLP-adjacent homeschool kid and definitely interacted with families that were following IBLP's practices over the years

[murkystarlight]

Dreamzzz season2 spoilers

(Tbh. This is just me writing down my commentaries while watching the episodes)

Episode 14

The cat is adorable. And pretty..(I say this word a lot)

Pyewacket?

Zoey having troubles.

Yo-... I wasn't paying attention for a split second, and I thought she jumped out the window-(cause the cat was looking out of it 😭)

Also- how is Cooper's mom letting him go out to places every night? Does he sneak out? What about all the other ones? What do they tell their caretakers?? "I'm going to sleep at an observatory with my friends that my science teacher owns. See you tomorrow! Bye~"

Cooper is trying a lot of new things. Good for you. Very good.

Those two make a nice duo

The Never Witch probably is like a... some sorta.. memory bank. She would do great at tests. Can she help me with my tests??

Make more of the dopples? Oh-

Oh he is jealous- also, potent biofuel made from dream trash? Nice. ...does. does pollution happen in dreams too?

Okay- so.. hammer? And key leads to orb. The key looks pretty

Dad's birthday! That's cool. Okay. Um.. how is that related?

Cooper's being alone and lonely

Oh- Astrid has to sleep at a different time- of course.

Same every year?? Jasmine? And some.. weird red hulk versions of-

And Cooper has done it again! He does most the stuff around here doesn't he

They got Zoey's cape- so... is the one still around her neck a different part? Or is it the same but torn off

At least Z gets the credit

Oooh~ pretty

They just pushed eachother inside-

Duty Decimal System. New knowledge people

Z-blob can be used as a... backpack?

The spinning dots thing is coool. How do you do that??

Also how do they hold the paper while it's spinning??!

Cooper's brother?? Do we actually get to meet- at his place?? Holy- ah thank you riddle

Izzie is now besties with Jasmine

And Mrs. Castillo says something interesting again. Something is up with that woman! I swear

And does this mean.. we aren't going to Cooper's place after school to crack the riddle with his brother?

Dallas! He's trying to sell scarfs- in.. not very much winter. Nice to see him again. Still selling his knitting. Only making the same scarfs...

Rock n roll realm? Okay- there's a lot of cool realms. And we don't know them all!(Wow. Logan sleeps well)

Mateo! You can't just cut him off like that..

Don't worry Cooper. It means you're getting more spotlight and focus. And not going to be abandoned after getting your character arc finished in the first two episodes.

"When you said you've been trying new things? That.. worked for you. Right?"

"Yeah. It's been great. But while I was trying new stuff, i think everyone else moved on. I feel kind of... alone"

"Alone isn't so bad. Nobody around to hurt you. Or for you to hurt"

"But it hurts. When the world keeps moving on without you"

I love the dynamic here. Those words are... kind of- hitting the spot but.. uh. Yeah. Nice. Very nice scene

"That's it!"

"You seem.. very happy about my pain"

"No, the world did move on! Stuff changes."

Then lore. But I really love this conversation guys. It... augggg

"The eye of the storm?"

"Bad weather? Need a scarf??"

(Okay. Dallas is also very adorable now)

Slept all day? Wow- that is some skills

And look at them dopples sleeping- omg--

The maze is pretty fun

Aannnd they're getting sucked in

Mrs. Castillo?? ...I'm telling you. She has something going on

And Cooper and Zoey is stuck together again.

And no- you aren't exactly giving off new best friends vibes Zoey. I thought you opened up. And he notices it too. Probably everyone else did also.

Okay it would be such a shame if we lost that thing. Because all the puzzle and stuff the time? So hard to find it. Lunia did some really good defense systems. Without booby traps

Okay. What happened to Izzie? What is that eye?!

Omigosh! It's Pye! Sick ...motorcycle? Okay... not what I was expecting honestly. But nice! That's awesome

That eye is messing with everyone's head- so... complicated. What is it supposed to be??

Um... doing the opposite?

"Aww... you called me Diz. I love it. are we besties?" That's adorbs. What? Huh? And she's crying? So many- confusing- ugghhh

"Wait. Why are you crying? If you're crying... shouldn't I be crying?"

💗(I used the word adorable or cute too many times-)

"Wait a second. If you understand me.. does that mean you understand everything I ever told you?"

Woah- lol. Your cat knows your secrets

"Not. One. Word. About the bathing suit incident"

...what bathing suit incident. What's that supposed to mean- Zoey! That was totally unnecessary! Why did you- Ugh. Now I'm curious- what do you f-ing mean???

That ball is making things really fun. I love it. Don't understand it. But I love it

Oop- Mr. Oz- I.. think... we owe you... another apology. Haha...

"[Laughs] pretty colors" yes indeed Cooper. You did a good job on that colored smoke

And now they're fighting- and Mateo is getting pulled into the mess- and... they're friends again. Welp- not sure what I was expecting. But they're having a bro moment. He has the smile on his face again so.. yay

Crocodile car!!

Dizzy is... still here?

Oh- the eye of confusion... it just... it literally just makes them confused. Oh. Okay. Yeah- that's it. Confusion. Mhm

The troubled look on Madteo- it's great

So many things packed into one episode geez-

Episode 15

Okay, Zoey. Are you sure it's a good idea to go meet your dad while he is.. dome-ified?

Also- why does he look... older?

The lip motions when Zoey and her dad meets. They're new. Cause... they be fed up and pouty and... twisted to the side?

Take care of Zian? Well. That's good. He- I like him. I like this guy.

He is trying Zoey. He... he admits his mistakes and try to apologize. Like.. genuinely. That is- something amazing

Gnorf's! Yayyy

New looks out of nowhere. Okay-

They caught Dizzy captive oohhhhohh

Cooper is not liking the sappy stuff

And now we're trying to find out about the crown.

Logan and Astrid~ they're really cute. Isn't too weird. Kinda forced and quick, maybe. But I think it's a good match

Astrid is kind of like a Cooper style

"What we face in the forge is not fear. But the thing we must learn to face within ourselves."

Interesting..... humm.... so the forge... then what about in the first season- okay. Cooper, um.. makes sense. Izzie... maybe she needed to like... let her mom go? I really don't understand Mateo's though.... maybe it's something like.. you can do it! Yayy (idk. Lol)

Oh here we are. The norfs

I loves theses dopples- seriously

And- Cooper is just.. chilling in the back. Okay. Well- yeah. He can do that. Do everything you want. He doesn't make a good cop does he?

So apparently the dopples still have the same interests and everything else. They're just... evil

"You like anime? Give up the Intel and we'll let you watch the Bunchu Bunny season finale. Episode just dropped last night"

"Oh, I helped Doom Dome the writer of that show. Made him tell me how it ends. (Spoilers of the anime)"

Well. That plan backfired. And bad. But at least we know? Nope. Doesn't help. She is the worst- (and we have two offended friends. Who love watching that anime. And got spoiled the ending-)(look at Cooper panting. So frickin cuuuutte. He's like- "no- you did not just do that to us-!")

And the bonus scenes?! No- she did not! How could she- but I need to know the plot and story of Bunchu Bunny now. It sounds fun-

Astrid has character building! Yayy let's see it

Logan has a interesting one too

You smell him on Zoey? What- and how did they know Zoey was using the watch for dream bandit stuff? Suspicious why they suddenly showed so much interest when Mateo opened the bag and showed them the eye too..

Logan!! Good, good

..another maze? ..did Logan just break the wall? He got an hourglass! Astrid needs to loosen up

On the table. He has had enough. And Izzie has a plan.

Look at Dizzies eyes going wide- dang... both Izzie and Dizzy sure love their pickles...

Logan grows! Whooo (I love that jacket-)(and the tail- holy. A tail??) Look at those two- finding true meaning, giving your hourglass. Blue and gold- mmmnnh

Uh oh-

"Promise me Teo. Promise me we won't ever become bitter like the GNORFs"

Why.... does that sound like... um... let's say- foreshadowing. .....it.. it sounds bad (also, what are you? A couple? That sounds so much like a couple in fanfics or smth-). Mateo doesn't even answer it

Eye twitch- Hehehe Yeah... yes. Use it agaisnt her. Savage- the give(not really) and take.

New look for Astrid too! So this is where she gets the new haircut!

Alright. We got two successful teams and one unsuccessful team

To the Nightmare king?? Him again? So is that what his crown is??

Episode 16

'Grim vengeance'? Please tell me Sneak is here again?

The snippets of info the dopples are giving us? They are delicious. Thank you dopples. So... what happened the last time the Never witch fought the Nightmare king?

Apparently the crown the Nightmare king originally has is not the crown we're looking for-

I can't tell if Cooper is shuddering because of the weather.. or....

Just keep away from the lovey dovey stuff they're portraying. If you don't like the sappyness

Susan! Snivel!! (Shoot- almost forgot about them) your babysitter hasn't come in ages, has he? Awww you poor things. They look so bored

"Anyone else think it's wack the Nightmare King had the crown of control this whole time but never used it?"

Exactly Logan! Ugh- it's weird. Right?? But Dizzy said from what she knows. Maybe someone else took it again?

Ruby in her staff? That's padt of it too? The ruby? *sigh* didn't know that

Susan carrying Snivel-

"Okay- maybe I should really stop throwing rocks-'

Eyes wide Susan. That was surprisingly cute

Sneak mentioned! Yay

A closet die hard vegetarian- holy- Oh my gosh

"Sneaky- sneak!"

Susan was shocked. But then realized this is worth bullying him about

Rainbow dance kitty-

Oooh Sneak has got some serious blackmail

Z-blob robot!! Yeahhhh

Susan helped! And- Snivel's just confused as heck

Okay- Cooper. Does have the fear and horror from when he was first captured. ...thank you

Trauma-

And Izzie just restarted Cooper's trauma

Darn it Izzie. Think a liiiittle bit more. Will ya?

"Did you miss me? I've been looking forward to this for days"

"You've been looking forward to seeing my for days-? Awkward~!"

Yes Teo! He is arrogant! He loves himself! And you technically count as himself. Duh-

"That's not what I meant! Tell me what you did with Dizzy"

Aw. So they do care for eachother

"Don't worry. She gave up real easy"

Zoey kicks Never Witch butt!

...uh- what happened?

Oh- they're in the Never Witches mind. Yes! Lore. Maybe we can see what the cloning herself thing is

So.. pretty and calm and peaceful

Sisters? Twins? Oh-

Helmet! Finally! Cooper! You have your helmet on!

Oh. Is that what the Never Witch means by the beginning? She used to be alone with that other purple hair girl. But other worlds started appearing and purple hair was interested and wanted to go explore. But the Never Witch didn't like it. Doesn't like change. Like we kept getting informed on

The islands are so pretty though

Accepting mistakes... hmp

Snivel keeps getting thrown-

Oh- sister... okay. But wow. If you love her so much. Let her do what she wants. And what do you mean 'if you go, don't ever come back'. I never understood those-

Uh... she just.. withered the flowers and made lighting crack? Anger can do things to people

Sandman!! Ahhhhhhh I missed you man

She went everywhere? Became one with the Dream World?? Whaaa??

What do you mean bring her back to me? You told her never to come back to you!

I like how Izzie and Mateo is heating the Sandman's words and thinking of their mom(I think)

So... I guess the Never Witch is a child playing with Barbie dream houses

Ah- we got babayaba's moving house(I don't know the name-)

Snivel- wow. We are really throwing away their trust for us

Oooh. The Nightmare King and the Never Witch! The fight. And it has something to do with the crown- the Nightmare King was keeping it away from her! Exciting

The crown looks cool-

So... she is blind?

"Welcome ba~ck! And... goodbye"

The sword! Oh yes! Those look so pretty! So Cooper's staff and Mateo's sword is also going to be here. Right? Right??! It's also very pretty (and Mateo made a... blob blasting thing)(looks like the Ghostbusters)

"I. Am the FIRST DREAM" WOAHHHH so anyways guys-

Did- what- um.. okay. So...

The Never Witch was just about to zap Logan and Cooper, Cooper jumps into Logan's arms amd the two wake up screaming. ...isn't it bad if they wake up in fear??

NO!! THE NIGHTMARE KING DIED

Also, why were you sleeping in your gym shirt Cooper? Is that your pj's? Or..

And seriously! Again? Why can't it be both Izzie and Mateo he says. And hugs. Why can't they just- why do every animation or movie or anything, do that! I want them all to be smiling and hugging, asking eachother if they're okay

Okay. But good job at reading the memory

We are going to.... the Beast realm!

[hecckyeah]

Okay I saw your fic behind the scenes ask game and I MUST know behind the scenes info for "So A Crazy Thing Happened At The Terra Bella Lodge"

Oh my GOSH I'm so excited to tell you all of it!!!!

First, obligatory link to said fic in case someone would like to read it! (But be warned-- I spoil everything below)

A couple of fun facts:

I can't remember for the life of me what exactly spurred this idea, but it's heavily influenced by Leverage and some of the more bottle-like episodes they've done. Very heist-y origins! Although I wish I was better at writing heists, because a Brooklyn 99/The Rookie heist would be the crossover fic of the century.

I spent roughly 15 entire hours watching episodes of Brooklyn 99 and clips of Jake and Amy so I could get their voices in my head, since I'd been on a Rookie spree and all I was hearing was Tim and Lucy, and while they're similar in some ways I needed to remember how to write Peraltiago! Pretty sure I've watched every single b99 clip that exists on Youtube

The inspiration for the Terra Bella Mountain Lodge is actually a real place!! It's a wedding venue in Estes Park, CO called the Della Terra Mountain Chateau. I've sadly never been there but it looked GORGEOUS, and if I ever get married, it'll be on my top 5 venue options for sure

I tossed around the idea of whether or not to have Jake and Amy's kids there with them, since it's kind of a romantic spot, but I opted for my own enjoyment of getting to write the kids instead of being realistic and keeping them in New York with Jake's mom or something

I listened to basically nothing except this chenford playlist I made, the whole time. music on repeat is very effective for my writing brain :)))

I had a couple deleted scenes where Jake and Amy solve the whole case from the minivan, then Tim goes and busts Lucy out by fistfighting 3 guards at once in a superhuman throwdown brawl, but I went back and added those scenes where Lucy saves herself like the queen she is since she was feeling a little too Damsel-in-Distress and not enough Badass Officer (Detective) Chen, and I'm SO glad I did. It's a better story for the grandkids ;)

Also, in previous drafts Raymond Reeves WAS the villain. I was planning him as the thief who wanted to steal some diamonds or something, but it just wasn't gelling with my brain. I think I rewrote all the scenes with him and Marcia about 27 times before I was happy with it.

SPEAKING OF THAT DUDE!!! This is one of my favorite BTS tidbits :))) Raymond Reeves' backstory is that he has about 10 aliases that he uses and for ALL of them, the initials are S.K. -- Sanford Kain, Silas Kearney . . . Because S.K. stands for Serial Killer. He was so guilty about what he did to his brother-in-law, that he purposefully branded himself forever, subconsciously hoping someone would put the pieces together and he'd finally be arrested and punished for his crime.

Vesa Wescott was always going to be in on the crime from the beginning, I just didn't decide exactly how until Ronan Reeves came into the picture :)

This is very easily the first fic I've fully drafted out from beginning to end, and it STILL changed along the way!

I threw around the idea of Lucy going into preterm labor during the snowstorm, but figured that was kind of cliche and scary and unnecessary, and I'd rather have her working the case with Jake and Amy than anything else.

Oh, and Tim absolutely breaks his no-Disneyland rule for the Peraltiago fam :))) But given that I've never been to Disneyland and have no idea what it's like, I don't feel qualified to write that fic . . . Maybe someday!!

So yeah, there you have it!! I hope you enjoyed this episode of behind the fic with yours truly 😄

[ask me about a fic!]