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heyitsphoenixx · 2 years

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I Wanna Get Better

Chapter One

When Zach Stone’s lifelong goal to get famous is achieved, ten years later he’s still dealing with the consequences.

TW: hard drug use, explicit sexual content (lemon, can’t believe we’re back to this), depression, brief mentions of alcohol and medication. lots of angst.

AO3

Written by @mickeysjones and myself. Gif by @mickeysjones

New update every Saturday at 7pm EST.

Walking was always faster. Walking was cheaper, too. The traffic in LA was ridiculous, the small convenience store was a few blocks away, and walking made more sense than ordering a lift. It took less time to walk, it was pretty out.

He should have called for a car.

While walking back to his small apartment from the convenience store, having bought whatever microwavable meals he found in the small freezer section full of foods that were either already expired, or about to be due to the freezers being very old and in need of maintenance, he saw a group of people.

This wasn't uncommon, people exist in the city, but this specific group was different. They were younger, leaned up against some building he didn't care to know the name of, and they kept glancing up from their phones, whispering to each other as he was about to pass them by.

Again, not uncommon. People exist and they have conversations with each other. This group though, was different.

There were more whispers as he walked by, and finally one of them spoke up a bit louder just as he passed.

"Excuse me?"

Don't stop. Look at the ground. Keep walking.

"Excuse me?" They said it louder that time. He hesitated. "Are you Zach Stone?"

He looked up at the empty sidewalk in front of him, tilted his head, then shook it lightly, never turning back to look at the group of kids behind him.

"No."

Without another word, he continued down the sidewalk towards his apartment.

It was a strange feeling, being recognized. It was something he would have killed to have happen to him 10 years ago. Well, maybe not kill, but close enough to it. He got his wish. He got recognized. Great.

He walked up the steps to a cheap apartment building that felt nothing like home. The stairwell made a horrible noise at all hours, collecting sound from the vents and the outdoors and combining them together to create a melody from hell. The AC worked about 65% of the time, the mailbox was small (not that he was receiving much mail these days anyway), and the neighbors were all either in their 60s or in their 20s and on drugs. A fitting place for him, though. He stood right on the line separating both.

There were no elevators, not that you'd trust them if there were. His apartment was on the 7th floor.

He found himself at the beginning of the endless staircase, his eyes following it up and up until he was risking a neck cramp. He sighed and then began his journey. He'd move one day.

When he finally made it to his apartment, exhausted from the weighted climb, he opened up the door with just enough room to get inside and closed it back, leaving only a few seconds between room transitions. He paused when he got inside, looked around for a second as he struggled to catch his breath, then walked over to the kitchen.

The kitchen and living room were connected, the fridge, the stove, the sink and the cabinets up against the side wall by the door. The couch that seated two, the tv stand that was closed in with a shelf above the actual tv, and the microwave were closer towards the other wall. The stove was small and barely worked, it was more of a fire hazard than an appliance. This was part of the reason why the microwave meals became his best dishes. That and he wasn’t the best chef.

He dropped the two grocery bags on the counter, paused again, then unpacked everything. The first bag had 5 freezer meals, all different in some way, all including a brownie. The second was a bag of dry dog food, and a few cans of wet dog food. Only when the bag of dog food was dropped onto the counter did the clicking paws come running out from the bedroom.

“Alright, alright Doug, calm down, don’t choke on it,” he said, the dog food barely having a chance to hit the bowl before the over-excited German Shepherd was scarfing it down. He put away the remaining groceries while snacking on one of the brownies, then slugged his way over to his bedroom, not bothering to turn on any of the lights as he let himself fall onto his bed.

He hadn’t turned off the ceiling fan before he left, and he stared as his eyes followed the hypnotic rhythm of the blades in the darkness. It was only 7pm and he was already feeling dead tired.

He dragged himself over to his nightstand and got out the small plastic bag. Being careful not to spill any more than needed, he poured a small pile of the white powder onto the table. He took an old credit card from its usual place beside the bag and corralled the powder into a neat, thin line. He pressed a finger against one nostril and inhaled with the other. It wasn’t a necessity, he certainly didn’t need it like he used to anymore, but it kept him awake long enough to live his life normally.

He knew he was depressed, he’d known that for nearly a decade now. He also knew without this remedy he would be asleep all day, every day, for the rest of his life. Medication hadn’t helped, he tried that for a couple years to find it only made him numb, not happy. This didn’t make him happy either, but it pushed away the numbness enough to function, for a while anyway. But he didn’t need it, he was waning himself off of it, actually. There was a time when his body didn’t go a day without the cocaine running through it, for years. Now it was only a couple of times a week, and only when he really needed to function.

He closed the bag and returned it to the nightstand’s drawer, then ran his hands roughly over his face, feeling his nerves start to finally wake up. He walked over to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, then saw himself in the mirror.

“Jesus,” he sighed.

Dark crescents hung below his bloodshot eyes. His hair and beard were longer than they’d ever been, and he ran his hands through the light brown tendrils falling over his shoulders. He hadn’t cared enough to keep up with any kind of self-maintenance, but it helped keep away anyone who might potentially recognize him. Most of the time, anyway.

*****

The lights of the club were dizzying in their intensity, his already blown out pupils contracting as they flashed their colors over him and the rest of the dance floor. He could feel the bass of the music vibrating in his bones, and if it weren’t for the woman grinding against him, he might not have had the presence of mind to keep himself upright. He had one hand gripped onto her waist while the other held aloft a shot of vodka. She had told him her name, or rather, attempted to shout it over the music, but he hadn’t heard her and he didn’t ask again. He could hardly make out any details of her face, but the way her strapless dress barely contained anything was enough to keep his attention. Her hands moved up his t-shirt to wrap her arms around his neck, pressing herself up against him as she moved her hips to the beat.

“What’s your name?” she shouted up at him. His hand on her waist traveled lower to grip her ass, and he bent down to speak into her ear.

“Is that really what you wanna know, or do you want to get out of here?” he said, and downed his shot.

She looked up at him and he could see the gleam of her smile under the lights. She took his hand from her ass and led him to the restroom.

The stall door was barely closed before their lips crashed together in desperation. He held her close as he opened her up with his tongue, and she eagerly reciprocated. His nervous system was firing on every level, and he thought he might catch fire soon and enjoy it. Her hands quickly threw off his shirt to the floor, a thin trail of spit connecting them as they briefly separated to get it over his head. He returned this time to her neck, noticing now that she had long black hair as he moved it out of the way to taste the sweat on her skin. Her hands gripped his hair and she let out small whimpers as he lapped her up. He moved down her neck to her chest, now on his knees so he wasn’t craning down so severely. His tongue flicked back and forth over her tight dress where her nipple was, one arm wrapped around her waist and the other hand slid up her thigh to tug at the seam. She swiftly pushed the dress down to her high, high heels, and stepped out of it.

He sucked as much of her breast that could fit in his mouth, and his fingers moved from her thigh to work deftly on her clit. Her nails dug into his scalp as his fingers alternated between circular movements and long strokes up and down her folds. She was making no attempts to hold in her pleasure now as her moans echoed around the tile walls of the restroom. She moved her hands down to his neck and led him to stand up again. She rushed to undo his belt and his breathing shallowed as she took out his already hard member, growing at her touch. His hands flew to her waist and he spun her around in one movement. She obliged as she raised herself up to him, steadying herself with her hands flat against the stall door. He easily slid himself inside her, a guttural moan escaping from the back of his throat in relief.

He wasted no time as he moved in quick thrusts, his hands clutching her hips so tightly he wouldn’t be surprised if he left bruises.

“Fuck, yes, yes,” he gasped out, sweat collecting at his furrowed brow. She clenched around him tighter and tighter as her moans raised higher in pitch with each aggressive thrust. His head rolled back on his neck as he struggled for breath. The bright fluorescent light and the sound of skin hitting skin added to the fever pitch he was reaching.

“Oh fuck, yes Amy,” he panted, and she froze. He had hoped she hadn’t heard him, but she clearly had. He didn’t know her name, but he was 99% sure it wasn’t Amy, and as she moved off of him and turned to face him, he realized he guessed correctly.

“Amy?” she said indignantly, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, come on,” he said, still panting. “You thought I could hear you over all that?”

“Right,” she scoffed at him. “Well, you have fun finishing yourself off, because it’s Candace, asshole.”

With that, she stepped back into her dress and tugged it on, walking out of the stall and out of the restroom.

He rolled his eyes and locked the stall again, his forehead on his arm that rested against the door, pants still around his ankles and still fully erect.

“Fuck,” he said dejectedly.

It had been ten years, ten incredibly long years since he’d last seen her, but in all that time he could never manage to get her out of his mind. He didn’t even know what she looked like now, he had purposely kept himself away from anywhere he might find photos of her in an attempt to let himself forget over time. But by the fifth year he had realized that she wasn’t going to leave his thoughts any time soon.

Zach Stone slapped the wall beside him in frustration, then took the advice he was given and turned to finish himself off over the stall toilet.

*****

Zach took the stairs two at a time, nearly tripping over himself as he ran through the building. He weaved his way through students wandering through the halls, apologizing as he lost control of his gangly limbs and caused a girl to drop her textbooks to the floor.

He glanced over the numbers on each door in his desperate search until he finally found the door with the number 23 on it. He knocked about seven times in quick succession before it opened to reveal a grinning Amy Page behind it.

In one movement, Zach cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, her hands coming to rest on his chest as her lips were still stuck in a smile. He suddenly pulled back and threw his fists high in the air.

“I’ve got a TV show! I’m gonna be famous! WOO!” he screamed, not caring who heard him. He bent down to kiss Amy again, and she held in her laughter as she pulled him by his shirt into her dorm room. Once inside, she closed the door, thankful that her roommates were absent.

“Ok, calm down,” she said through laughter. “Tell me again, what did they say?”

Zach had his hands on his hips, clearly trying to contain his excitement and failing.

“I don’t know, they said they got the tapes, and they watched them, and now they want to put them on MTV! Amy, I’m getting a show!” he squealed, open palms out in front of him. She thought that she had never seen him so happy.

“Zach, that’s so amazing, I’m so happy for you!” she said. She wrapped her arms around him and he gripped her tight as he picked her up off the floor for a moment. She looked up at him and felt her cheeks stiffen from smiling so hard.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said softly, and brought him back down to kiss him again, this time slow, deliberate, and full of love. She took her time on him, running her thumb along his cheek as she felt him start to relax. She pulled away enough to see his face had turned completely pink.

“Wow, um, thanks,” said Zach, shy and giggling like a kid.

“So, when does it come out?” she asked, sitting down on her bed.

His hands returned to his hips as he looked like he didn’t know where else to put them, and he shook his head, still reeling.

“They said in like a month they’ll air the pilot, whatever that means,” he said.

Amy couldn’t help letting out a chuckle.

“It means that’s when they put out the first episode,” she explained with a grin.

Zach beamed back at her as he realized, his hands flying to his hair in disbelief.

“I can’t believe this,” he said. “I’m gonna be famous, I’m gonna be actually famous!”

The wonder in his eyes halted in its tracks when his eyes met hers again, and she watched his train of thought switch across his face.

It had been a month since she started school, a month since his interview that got him his first taste of public attention on the local news. He had indeed run out of money to fund the camera crew any more, so he was still working at the grocery store to try to get some of it back, but after that interview, every person in Boston knew who he was, and they had loved him for it. For two weeks.

After two weeks, the attention had died down, which Amy had quietly been thankful for. Of course she was happy to see Zach happy, he had finally gotten what he always wanted, and what she had always wanted for him. But when everyone knew and loved her boyfriend, asking for pictures and autographs (and not all of them in appropriate places), she had begun to feel like she was already losing him. He would visit once a week and hardly ever picked up the phone during that time. Most of what she knew about how he was doing was what she saw on the TV at that point, and she had started to become resentful of the small amount of fame he caught.

Then, when everyone around him knew who he was, the novelty wore off, fast. It had startled Zach how quickly no one cared about him anymore, to the point where he was going up to people and reminding them about his segment on the news. Sometimes, people would film these outbursts of his, which would then put him back on the news, but in a less favorable, less likable light.

This had caused Zach to retreat back into himself, back into Amy, and back to his family and friends, who were all secretly grateful for the turn of fate. Everyone was relieved except Zach, who was absolutely crushed. He wouldn’t get out of his bed for days, and was even in danger of losing his job. Heartbroken to see him like that, Amy had called Greg and suggested they gather what footage Zach had collected over the summer and send it around a few networks. She didn’t actually think it would get picked up, she just wanted to do something nice for him to get him back to his old self again.

Zach looked at her now and remembered what he had promised her when she had shown up to him after that first news story.

“Amy,” he started, sitting down next to her on her bed.

“I don’t need this, really. I know I was awful to you, and I won’t ever let that happen again, but if you don’t want me to do this, I promise I won’t. I don’t need to be famous, I just need to be Amy’s,” he said, taking her hand in his.

Her lips tilted up in a half smile and she looked into his pleading eyes.

“Zach, you know I’m never gonna ask you to not do something you really wanna do. You really want this, right?” she asked.

He took a deep breath, then nodded.

“Yeah, I do,” he admitted.

“Then I want you to do this,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I just want you to be happy.”

He smiled at her, the blush returning.

“Thanks Amy.” He was suddenly shy again.

“Can I, uh… can I tell you something?” he asked.

“Yeah, of course,” she said, mildly confused as to why he was asking. He bit his lip, clearly nervous.

“I… I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me. And I know I haven’t been the best boyfriend to you, but I promise this is gonna be different. I’m gonna call you every day, I’m gonna come here four times a week and you’re gonna be so annoyed that you can’t study as much as you should because I’m here all the time.”

Amy giggled at that, hoping it was true.

“And I’m gonna do it because… I love you. I love you, Amy Page.”

She didn’t need hope to know that was true. He looked at her the same way he had looked at her since they were children, like she had put the sun in the sky.

“I love you too, Zach Stone,” she said.

Zach let out a big breath and pumped his fist.

“Yes,” he whispered. “Can I, can I just-”

Amy held his face as she kissed him, perfectly content to be finally in sync with him once again.

#bo burnham #zach stone #zach stone is gonna be famous #zsigbf

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contemplativepancakes · 3 years

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may your days be meowy and bright

a @geraskierholidayexchange fic for @cosmokitt !! I hope you like it :D

Geralt glares at Jaskier from across the counter. He’s sitting at one of the tables, his head leaned in towards Eskel as they look at something on his phone. Geralt’s sure it can’t be anything good.

He clears his throat obnoxiously, and Jaskier jerks back and smiles at Geralt. Geralt’s not certain of the intent, but it comes off as guilty more than anything else.

Geralt finishes plating the jelly donuts to put in his pastry display, setting them down beside the Christmas cookies, before he wipes his hands off on his apron and ambles over to them. Jaskier slams his phone face down on the table and looks up, folding his hands.

Eskel shoots him a bright grin.

Geralt scowls. “What trouble are you two causing now?”

“Trouble? Us? I can’t even begin to tell you how offended I am,” Jaskier says, a hand dramatically clapped to his chest.

Eskel suppresses a snort. “Did you bring us donuts?”

“You’re going to eat me right out of business,” he says, but he plunks a plate down, anyway.

“Right, right. And you’re okay with that? Amazing, I’ll keep you updated. Thank you!” Jaskier trills into his phone as Geralt closes the door to their apartment behind him, catching the tail end of the conversation.

“Who was that?”

Jaskier stirs a pot on the stove and beams at Geralt. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

“You know I hate it when you say that.”

Jaskier ignores the comment. “Tell me what this needs,” he says instead, holding out a spoon.

Geralt comes closer, inhaling the scent of garlic bread from the stove. He takes the spoon and tastes the sauce, humming thoughtfully. “I think it’s fine.”

Jaskier rolls his eyes. “I don’t know why I even bother. You’d eat anything I slopped onto your plate.”

“Yes, and you’re welcome.”

Jaskier winds his arms around Geralt and catches his lips in a kiss. Geralt’s still not sure how he managed to get this lucky, but he’s not complaining. They’ve been living together for about a year now, ever since Jaskier had essentially announced he was moving in.

Well, he didn’t put it like that, exactly. He’d said, “My lease is up in a month, and I really don’t want to look for another place. If only there was a solution,” before draping himself over Geralt’s lap on the couch dramatically.

Who was Geralt to tell him no? He’s had a poor track record, historically.

Maybe that’s why, later, with his head on Jaskier’s chest as he absentmindedly curls his fingers around Jaskier’s chest hair, he only looks a little disgruntled when Jaskier asks him if they can get a cat.

“Come on, darling, it’s the holiday season.” Jaskier bats his eyes at Geralt.

Geralt grunts and shuts his eyes, wrapping an arm around Jaskier and pulling him closer.

Well, Jaskier thinks, it’s as good as a yes.

Jaskier gets off the elevator and looks around furtively before he waves Eskel off. There’s an indignant mewl as the carrier pitches to one side, and Jaskier hisses at Eskel to be more careful. Jaskier hefts his tote bag up higher on his shoulder and looks at his watch.

“Geralt is going to be home in an hour, so we don’t have much time,” he says, swinging open the door.

He was honestly only a little taken aback to see Geralt sitting in their recliner, because nothing can ever go right.

“What are you doing home?”

“Jaskier,” Geralt growls, and Jaskier gives a nervous laugh.

“This is Duchess,” he says with a flourish. “Just look at her, and I promise you won’t be able to stay mad.”

Geralt turns a betrayed look to Eskel. “You knew?”

“Geralt, it was on the shelter’s Facebook page that she needed a quiet and calm home. You’re the quietest and calmest person I know!”

“Serendipity? It sure seems like it,” Jaskier chimes in.

Geralt rolls his eyes and slowly stands up, walking towards them and peering into the cat carrier. “She seems a little standoffish, so I think you’ll really just be two peas in a pod,” Eskel says, and Geralt glares at him.

Eskel goes to open the carrier, but Jaskier stops him. “Wait! I read that we should introduce her to new spaces slowly so she doesn’t get overwhelmed!”

Geralt and Eskel stare at him for a beat. “God, you’re such a nerd,” Eskel says.

Jaskier opens his mouth to protest, but he did devote about four hours to research last night, so he’s not sure he has much of a leg to stand on.

“You’re going to love her,” he says to Geralt, instead.

Geralt huffs. Jaskier’s sure he’ll come around.

In the end, it turns out that it takes longer for Duchess to warm up to Geralt than the other way around, not that Geralt would ever admit it. When Jaskier comes home three days later, it’s to see Geralt’s legs sticking out from under their bed, trying to coax Duchess into coming out.

“Geralt?”

Geralt jerks up, hitting his head and cursing, sending Duchess in a black streak across the floor. Jaskier holds back a snicker. “Did you have a good day?”

“It was fine.”

“Uh huh. Not spoiled by a certain kitten who won’t let you pet her?”

Geralt slowly slides out from under the bed before sitting up and crossing his arms. Jaskier tries to contain his smirk at Geralt’s pout.

“No.”

“Right. How was work?”

Geralt brightens at the prospect of talking about the cafe. “I made a new blend today."

"Oh?"

"Even Lambert admitted it was good."

"You know it was amazing then," Jaskier says in a sing song voice. "Did you bring me any?"

Geralt quirks a smile at him. "You want old coffee?"

Jaskier shrugs.

Geralt sighs. "It's in the fridge, you animal."

"Thank you, love." Jaskier grins and bounces off to retrieve it. He finds it in the door of their refrigerator, with a heart on it. Jaskier’s sure Eskel teased Geralt about it relentlessly.

He dumps it into a pot on the stovetop to heat it up, because Geralt will have a coronary if he just nukes it. When it's just the right side of warm, he dumps it back into the cup.

He makes sure to drink it with the heart facing out and pretends he doesn't notice Geralt's tiny smile.

"How did the donut making go today?"

"Good. Sure as fuck beats making cut outs."

Jaskier tosses him a hopeful glance.

"They're in the microwave."

Jaskier dashes back out to the kitchen, Duchess darting out from under the bed to trail him. Geralt frowns at them both.

By the end of week two, it's as if Duchess has always been with them. Geralt went through the first week terrified he was somehow going to fuck her up, but it has mostly worn off. He's resigned to the fact that she's never going to leave him alone now, as evidenced by the insistent kneading on Geralt’s chest that wakes him up. He groans and turns over, dislodging Duchess from his torso. She gives him an indignant mrp, and he pulls a pillow over his head. “Jaskier, go feed your damn cat.”

Duchess moves on from Geralt to walk over Jaskier’s face, and Jaskier makes a disgruntled noise before he clambors out of bed.

Geralt tries to go back to sleep to no avail. He grumbles to himself. He wakes up early enough as it is to get food in the ovens and the coffee brewing before his shop opens; he certainly doesn’t need to be getting up any earlier than that.

There’s the clinking of cat food pouring into a bowl and then Jaskier is stumbling back into bed. He tugs Geralt close, leaning in to give him a kiss, but Geralt puts a hand on his chest. “You just had cat feet all over your face. I know exactly where those paws have been.”

As if on cue, Duchess scratches around in her litter box, and Jaskier sighs.

Jaskier burrows back into the blankets, putting his cold feet on Geralt. Geralt’s alarm goes off a few minutes later, and Geralt heaves himself about of bed, much to Jaskier’s mumbled protest. Geralt is sure he’s just upset because his feet are still cold. Geralt tugs the pillow out from under Jaskier on his way out, giving him a soft whack. “Love you,” Geralt grunts.

Jaskier takes the pillow and hugs it to his chest, giving Geralt a sour look. “I love you, too, you menace.”

Geralt gives Jaskier a private grin and goes about his morning routine, practically feeling Jaskier’s eyes burning into his back.

“See something you like?”

“You know I do.”

“Hmm.”

“Come on, Geralt. You don't even work today."

And that... is compelling. Geralt had completely forgotten Eskel was going to run things today, giving him the day off for once for the last day of Hannakuh. Jaskier tugs him back onto the bed and pulls him into a sound kiss.

They're interrupted by an indignant yowling, and Geralt pulls away to stare at Duchess with dismay. "Is she going to do this every time?"

Jaskier shudders. "God, I hope not. This is why we don't have kids, Geralt! I'm not prepared to give up my sex life!"

Geralt blinks; it's way too early for Jaskier to be discussing having children with him.

"Hmm. Is that the only reason?"

Jaskier pauses, his hands tangling in the tassels on their blanket. "I don't know, is it?"

Geralt shrugs. "I'm—amiable."

"Amiable? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Do you want kids?"

Geralt feels like he's stripping himself bare, but it's not as uncomfortable as he would have imagined when Jaskier is the one he's doing it for.

"I can...imagine it."

"Yeah?" Jaskier asks softly, tilting his head up to look at Geralt.

"Yeah."

Duchess chooses that moment to jump up on the bed between them, making Jaskier laugh and stroke his hand through her fur, a fond look on his face that makes Geralt melt just a little.

Duchess moves on from Jaskier to climb into Geralt's lap, and after she gives him a little headbutt and hops off of his lap as well, Jaskier pulls him up.

"Come on, let's play dreidel. I'm going to beat you this time."

Geralt rolls his eyes. "Not a chance."

Geralt lets Jaskier pull him into their living room, and Geralt drapes a blanket around his shoulders as Jaskier putters around making them coffee. Geralt is sure it will be way too weak; but he'll drink it anyway. He's content to just have someone besides him make it for once.

Jaskier comes back with two mugs and hands one to Geralt.

"Thank you," Geralt says, taking a sip.

"Okay?" Jaskier asks, like he does every time.

"Perfect," Geralt replies, like he does every time.

Jaskier beams and retrieves the top from their side table. "I'm serious, I'm going to win."

Geralt hums, unimpressed. He gets up to go find their chocolate coins they use for the betting pool. Geralt finds them in the cupboard, rolling his eyes fondly as he notices there are definitely less of them remaining than there were the last time they played.

Geralt returns, and they start playing, the game going on for a while before Jaskier gets frustrated.

The dreidel finally stops spinning, falling on its side with a gentle clunk, and Geralt slowly looks up from it to grin at Jaskier.

Jaskier crosses his arms across his chest and pouts. “This is entirely unfair that you’re so good at this. This is a game of luck!”

Geralt hums as he finishes pulling in all of the gelt on the table closer to him. “It’s not. Heart of the dreidel.”

“I never should have made you watch Yugi-Oh with me,” Jaskier huffs. “Well, in that case, it’s even worse. You’re going to share with me, right?” He scoots his chair closer to Geralt until he’s practically in his lap.

Geralt picks up one of the chocolates and tilts it in his fingers, admiring the way the wrapper catches the light. “Hmm. I’m not sure about that.”

He peels the gold foil off, popping the gelt into his mouth. Jaskier makes an injured sound, and Geralt tugs him completely into his lap. “I might be persuaded,” he murmurs and presses his lips to Jaskier’s.

#the witcher #geraskier #geraskier holiday exchange #geralt is a reluctant cat person i just know it #fanfiction #and look don't @ me for posting a hannakuh fic on christmas #contemplative writing #geralt of rivia #jaskier #eskel

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warpriest-writings · 3 years

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Red eyes on Grandmother's grave.

Sticks broke under her feet, running as fast and hard as she could but it felt like running through jelly, her feet caked in heavy mud.

“Someone! Help me!!! Please!” She cried out but couldn’t hear her own voice.

Before her was the pair of sharp, red eyes out in the middle distance. She couldn’t make out a face; she wasn’t even sure if the eyes were attached to anythin, just floating there, haunting her. Those hungry, starved eyes that wanted to devour her. The eyes just hung there as she sat there frozen.

“What do you want!?” she screamed out, but again her words came out silent.

The sharp, red eyes narrowed, then rushed towards her as a hand reached out at her.

With a difficult, almost pained, inhalation of breath, Patsy woke with a startled jump, accidently knocking her kitty out of bed.

She gasped, “Bean! Come here. Mweh, mweh.” She made kissy noises to her large Maine Coon. Rubbing her fingers together as she did so attempting to soothe Bean and entice her to come back into the bed. Not that Bean needed much convincing; no one in the Desoto household could remember a single night that cat hasn’t slept in Patsy’s bed. By the time she got Bean back in bed and started petting her, Patsy had almost entirely forgotten her nightmare about the...was she running? Regardless, after several minutes of kitty snuggles, she checked her phone, loathing to discover that it was 5:53, merely thirty minutes before her alarm would have gone off anyway.

Of course, she wouldn’t have been lucky enough to wake up from her scary dream at a reasonable 1:17, or even a moderate 3:32. Good, god given times in the early morning a girl could go back to sleep too. Patsy sighed and entered an anxious state of contemplation, debating getting in the shower now and getting that out of her morning routine or laying there, blissfully enjoying the time before she had to get up for real. An absolute miserable time that went on in her head until her alarm went off. Ah, yes, neither productive nor relaxing. Thank you, Anxiety.

Getting out of bed with a less than encouraging groan, Patsy began her morning routine. Feeling emotionally and mentally exhausted by 6:45 AM, Patsy walked briskly down the stairs while putting her long and bouncy kinky hair into a ponytail.

“Morning, Mom!”

Her mom, Elana, looked back at her as some toast popped out of the toaster, “Hey, Sweetheart!”

Joseph, her dad, poured two cups of coffee before handing one to his wife as she handed him the plate of now buttered toast. “Hey, Pats. Finished your homework last night?” Giving Elana a quick kiss.

“Course, Dad,” she said, silently beaming that her parents were still happily married after nearly sixteen years; it was more than could be said about several of her friends at school.

Her mother was the manager at a local small diner, it was a nice little place, near enough to her school that Patsy would usually walk there at the end of the day and hang out with her friends or finish her homework before her mom’s shift ended at six when the night manager came in. Her father worked from home, and studied. Technically, he was still a student at the University of Illinois, but he worked a lot of sub contracted programming and coding jobs on the side. Once she asked him why he was still in college and his reply was, “Sometimes people are just...nervous about getting out there, and sometimes you just so happen to be very good at filling out grant applications. Your momma has a steady job that takes care of us, and my work on the side makes sure we stay in the green.”

“Need a ride to school today, Pats?” her dad said, snapping Patsy out of it.

“I’m good; I kinda want some time to just think,” she told him.

“It’d be nothing, it’s getting colder out and I love driving my babygirl to-”

“Joseph,” her mother interrupted.

He backed down, “Alright, alright. Letting Pats be all independent.”

“Thanks, Dad. I think I’ll have breakfast at school today, I’m going to get going,” Patsy said.

Joseph began reaching into his pocket, “Need money?”

“I’m good, I still have twenty from helping out at the diner.”

“Now hold on, that’s your money. It’s our job to feed you,” he said, and offered her a five, “Take it, and make sure you grab an apple or an orange or something those school food scientist freaks can’t turn into half-baked prison sloop."

Patsy nodded, “Okay, okay.” She took the money, then gave her dad a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, “Love you, mom. Love you, dad.” Then grabbed her backpack from a kitchen table chair and made her way to the door, only partially catching what her dad was saying about Patsy being braver than he was for voluntarily eating school food.

From her house it was roughly a twenty-minute walk to school. Normally, she would have jumped at the opportunity for a quick ride to school, but her mind was still preoccupied by that dream. Most of it was lost, faded just beyond her consciousness’s reach. Those red eyes; Patsy could still see them crystal clearly in her mind. She could almost feel them on her back now. Patsy shuttered at the thought.

As she walked she barely heard the wizzing of bike tires until they were right behind her, lost in her thoughts Patsy made a sound reminiscent of an “Eek!” and jumped off to the grass beside the sidewalk. The biker slowed to a stop, “Miss. Pascala, are you alright?”

He knew her name? Patsy looked at the biker, as she had been largely looking at her moving feet up until that point and the fact that from her perspective the biker was right in front of the morning sun, she had to squint and couldn’t really make out his face, “Uh, yes. I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Hmm?” he took off his helmet, revealing quite the head of curly locks, “Miss. Pascala, a little out of it this morning?”

As her eyes adjusted she suddenly realized, “OH! Mr. Morales, sorry. It was all sunny, and I was kinda lost in my thoughts, and I’ll just stop talking now.”

Her history teacher looked at her with a bit of a raised eyebrow, “I shall see you in the third period, Miss. Pascala, have a pleasant walk. Homework is due by the end of class.” He awkwardly coughed and rode off, quickly moving into the bicycle lane of the road.

Sometime later, after what is by all rights and definitions a poor excuse of a breakfast that would send Mr. DeSoto into a rambling state of disbelief that this was the best that taxpayer money could do for feeding America’s youth, as well as Patsy’s first hour math class (math first period of the day, she was convinced that the school gods hated her) and her second period economics class where they learned..something, Patsy was sure of that. She remembers taking notes and everything. There was a presentation with slides and everything, so they must have learned something...So after econ was her history class with Mr. Morales.

She liked Mr. Morales, more than her math teacher that’s for sure. “Math is the language of the universe.” She was taking English and French and frankly didn’t feel like she had time for a third language course. Mr. Morales was different, he got swept away with the subject sometimes and seemed to have a real love for it.

“We can learn much from history, but the people who made it weren’t trying to teach morals, and they weren’t thinking about just how important that what they were doing took place in 1776, or during the first or second half of the twelfth century. The past is made up of the actions of people who were concerned with living their lives, and if what they were doing was the right thing to do, or the right thing for them.” Mr. Morales said on the first day of school. He was also just a bit odd. His thick curly hair, a trait he described as indicative of his strong greek heritage, was peppered ever so slightly. Otherwise he held onto his youth remarkably well. looking closer to mid twenties rather than late thirties.

After the class ended, Patsy went up to her teacher, “Uh, Sir, excuse me.”

Mr. Morales looked up from his tablet from which he often powered through novels, “Hmm, yes, Miss. Pascala?”

“I was just going over that pop quiz you handed back today and I would have gotten one hundred percent if you didn’t mark my answer for question two wrong.” She said,

He set his tablet down, “That is usually how people do not get full marks. Allow me to double check that.” He held his hand open.

Patsy handed him the paper, “You see, I’m certain the correct answer is B and I’d like to get full credit.”

“Third century B.C. Yes, you are correct. I’ll be sure to update the gradebook and parent portal to reflect this. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Miss. Pascala, I imagine I marked everyone else who answered as you did as incorrect as well.”

He handed her back the quiz after remarking her score and immediately wrote a note he then stuck to his computer monitor.

She excused herself and left with a bright smile, making her way to her next class, and then on and so forth with her day. As she was heading towards her computer typing class after lunch (which was not notably better than the breakfast, it is a wonder that these children survive long enough to eat microwaved ramen in college dorms.) She accidentally bumped into the Principle as she was turning a corner.

“Ooft!” She said, feeling like she walked into a lumpy brick wall.

Principal Robertson cleared his throat and looked down his nose at the young lady, “It is not becoming to run down the hails and blindly around corners.”

He had been the principal at her school for well over fifteen years now, and he seemed to live for it. Participating in school spirit events and playing along with the dress up days, at least he did last year. No one wanted to really mention it but over the summer he lost a lot of weight and his skin got paler...greyer was almost more accurate. Hushed rumors said he was diagnosed with some cancer or another but refused to stop working while on chemo and Patsy wasn’t sure what to think of it all. Looking down at her now she wasn’t feeling very comfortable.

“I, uh, I really need to get to class.” Patsy said

The sickly Principal sighed a heavy breath, “Just slow down.”

“Right, of course. Thank you Mr. I mean, Principal Robertson.” With that she took off, carefully walking not-to-quickly.

Passing around the next corner and with her computer lab in sight Patsy let out her own sigh of relief. The bell ringing just steps away, “Whyyyyyyy?” Patsy said in a hushed, exasperated tone.

She quickly rushed into the room and to her seat, hoping maybe she wouldn’t be marked late. The class lesson began and she got to work with her typing program.

“Hey, Patsy,” Her friend Abby said, “Think your mom would give me a ride home after her shift at the dinner?”

“Course, Abbs.” She replied, “You getting anywhere with these?”

“Not really, my hands know the keyboard but my words per minute is garbage.” Abby said.

“My words per minute is fine, but I have to force myself to type the way that we’re supposed to. It doesn’t help that at home I always just type with my pointer and middle fingers.”

“You type a lot at home?” She asked, “Are you writing something?”

She nearly jumped out of her skin, “No! of course not...I just look up a lot of random stuff when I’m bored.” She must never know.

Abby raised an eyebrow, “Mhm, right.”

Over the intercom the school receptionist called out, “Pascala DeSoto to the Principal’s office, Pascala DeSoto to the Principal’s office.

Abby winced, and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

She tried to return it, her thoughts were racing. Surely she wasn’t being called down to the Office for accidentally bumping into the Principal in the hallway was she? Why wouldn’t he just take her there right after she did it then? Maybe it wasn’t about anything she did at all. Oh God...what if her dad accidentally started another grease fire trying to make home fries? What if Mom got into an accident on her way to the dinner? Her mind was a beehive that someone just punted halfway across a football field.

The receptionist must have noticed the worry on her face and gave her a very sweet smile, “Don’t worry about it too much, Sweetie. Just keep your chin up and remember none of this will matter in ten years.” Reassuring words, either her parents were fine or she was just as unsure why she called down Patsy as she was herself.

Bracing herself mentally, Patsy opened the door and pushed it to the magnetic door stopper that held it open.

“Closer the door behind you, Miss. DeSoto.” Principal Robertson said.

Her stomach did an uncomfortable flip, she wasn’t sure why she was feeling so destressed over this. She hadn’t done anything as far as she could remember or mentally justify. She closed the door, getting a last glimpse of Mrs. O'Riley, the nice receptionist.

Run! Every nerve in her body screamed out but she moved forward to sit in the chair opposite Principal Robertson at his desk anyway. He spoke up; she only saw his lips move, the words not landing correctly in her ears.

“I’m sorry, Sir. Could you say that again?” She asked.

His brow furrowed, “I do not care for repeating myself, Miss. Desoto.”

She sank in the chair. “Sorry.”

“And do not mumble. Speak clearly or not at all!”

Patsy sat back up in her seat in shock, “Principal Robertson, I don’t think you’re allowed to speak to me like that.”

“Do not speak back to me, you’re the one in trouble here.” He said venomously.

Trembling she stood up, “I need to go.”

He got up as well, “I think not, DeSoto. You’ve been hiding really well, tricked everyone but not me.” He licked his upper lip.

A full body chill ran through her entire being and oddly, in retrospect she felt, Patsy really wanted her kitty Bean there. She said, “Principal Robertson, you can’t be serious right now!? Think….think about your wife!”

Robertson frowned hideously, “That bint isn’t important.” He smiled, which was so much more disturbing to the young lady, “not like you, DeSoto, you have been worth all of my effort and patience.”

He reached out for her when the door opened, “Principal Robertson,” called out an all too reassuring voice, “I was wondering if you had the chance to look over those field trip papers I….” His hand less than two inches away from her, Patsy’s whole body was trembling but she couldn’t make her legs run.

Mr. Morales stood in the open doorway, his eyes moving quickly from Patsy to Robertson. “Miss. Pascala, behind me.” He said putting himself between them.

The Principal scowled in frustration, “I’m not entirely sure what you think you are doing, Linus. You are acting like I am some sort of threat to the girl.”

“This doesn’t look good, James.” Mr. Morales replied.

Robertson scowled deeper, and Patsy in that moment of fear and confusion thought his scowl pulled unnaturally at his skin.

Mr. Morales raised his hands defensively, “What are you?” Striking a serious tone with his voice that she had never heard from her history teacher before. It was a cold voice that set her skin on edge almost as much as Principal Robertson had.

Before her eyes the late fifties Principal of clear declining health grabbed Mr. Morales and threw him against a glass case containing various trophies for academic and sports accomplishments. Patsy left out a loud scream and Mrs. O’Riley’s own scream wasn’t far behind.

Later the police officers that responded to the Receptionist's call would ask Patsy what happened next, and she told them the truth. It all happened so fast she wasn’t sure what exactly happened. Mr. Morales, who had bruised ribs, and some cuts from the glass but was thankfully otherwise alright, shouted something that didn’t make sense to her at Robertson and the Principal ran off. She didn’t get to hear what Mr. Morales told them but they questioned him for a good long while.

School was cancelled early and parents were furiously calling the school board and the district for answers. There was a warrant issued for Robertson, and some people were threatening to pull their kids altogether. No one wants their kids to go to the school where the principal threatened a fifteen year old girl and assaulted a teacher.

Superintendent Wilkens sent a parent portal wide email that a warrant was formally filed against Mr. Robertson and the police had opened an investigation. In addition to Resource Officer Thomas three more Iron county police officers would be stationed at the school for security and rest assured that school would be open again Friday.

“No, no...this is ridiculous. My daughter was threatened by that man.” Patsy’s dad said to the Superintendent’s secretary. “Don’t put me on hold! ….Yes, I believe that you do have another call coming in. I….” he sighed heavily, and tossed his cellphone into the living room sofa.

“Sweetheart.” Elana said, putting her hands tenderly on Joseph’s shoulders.

“We worked with that man in the ice cream socal last year, Laney.”

Just out of their sight, sitting against the hallway wall Patsy hugged Bean. Now more than ever the tridactyl kitty gave her some comfort. She kept replaying it over in her mind, Robertson’s face looked so...uncanny valley. Elana had tried to reassure her that it was just her mind playing tricks on her, wanting to think that he was somehow less than human because of how he was acting.

Her phone buzzed, touching the wall it tapped rapidly and loudly and Patsy reactively tried to grab it before her parents noticed.

“Pats? Babygirl, I thought you were laying down.” Her dad said, walking over to her, flipping the hallway light on. “Well, I thought you were scrolling through your phone, pretending to be laying down.”

She gave Bean a little squeeze like when she was littler, “I tried, but I couldn’t take a nap.”

“It’s okay, Pats. How'bout I make up some of my famous root beer floats?”

She slowly nodded, “That would be good.”

“Come on, Patsy.” Elana said, “We can sit at the table while your father makes us a feel better treat.”

She got up and walked over to the kitchen table, Bean closely trailing her like always. “Hey, think I could maybe sleep in your guys' bed tonight?”

Elana quickly glanced at her husband, the pair of them sharing a whole conversation in a moment.

“Of course, Pats.” Her dad said, “I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.”

“It’ll be like when you crawled in my bed when you were little after a nightmare woke you up.” Elana said.

Her father was scooping ice cream into three tall milkshake glasses as Patsy pulled Elana into a hug, “Thank you for being my mom.” she said softly.

Elana returned the hug, remembering the first time Patsy told that to her and felt the sting of tears in her eyes. She was Pascala's mom, there wasn’t any doubt of that. She didn’t give birth to Patsy though. Her birth mom and Joseph’s first wife passed away when she was less than six months old, an oncoming driver didn’t stop at the red light as she was going through the intersection on her way home from work. Elana was her birth mother’s best friend and Patsy’s godmother. After the funeral she just kept helping Joseph out with Patsy, eventually moving in with them. Joseph and Elana married when she was seven, but she had really always been her mom.

As frustrated as he was with the situation, Joseph did his best to cool down and help Patsy feel better, telling his corny dad jokes he spent hours and hours looking up at his computer desk.

He spent almost a half hour that night checking and double checking that every door and window was locked that night, as well as making sure their security system was armed. Unlike Patsy, who almost couldn’t sleep without Bean snuggled next to her, Elana found the heavy cat overly warm but she gritted her teeth through it for Patsy’s sake.

The next morning, Thursday, the day after her high school Principal threatened her, assaulted a teacher and just disappeared. She woke up to the smell of her dad making eggs, over cooking them. Elana always made them a little runny. Everything seemed to run by a little slowly. Like she had been jerked out of a deep daydream and couldn’t pull herself entirely out of her own head.

Around noon she and her mom were watching a cartoon as Joseph entered the room on the phone, “I see, well, thank you, Linus. Yes? I’ll ask her now, we were planning on going to the diner for lunch anyway.” He pulled the phone slightly away from his face and turned to the pair on the sofa, “Pats, Mr. Morales is out of the hospital. He asked if it would be alright if he met us at the diner today.”

She let out a huge sigh of relief hearing he was out, that meant he was okay, “Yeah, that sounds good!”

Joseph put the phone back to his face, “She’s okay with it. We’ll see you there at one. Yep, bye, it was good hearing from you too. And...thank you, Linus.” he hung up and put his phone into his pocket. “He said the superintendent pushed the school’s opening back to Monday, I guess we angry few can make a difference.”

Elana pulled her legs onto the sofa and sat cross legged, turning towards him, “That’s great! I think that’s what WIlken’s should have done from the start, but hey. So we’ll be eating with Patsy’s english teacher?”

“History teacher.” Patsy said, correcting her.

“Linus is also one of my work associates, but yes. He just wants to check in with Pats.”

She nodded, “Alright, I’m going to take a quick shower before we go.”

She gave Joseph a quick kiss on the cheek as she left the room, her husband replacing her spot on the sofa.

Patsy gave her dad a big hug. “So Mr. Morales is alright?”

“Some cuts and bruises but he sounded alright, he didn’t talk about himself much.” Joseph said.

Before long they were sitting down as Margret, one of the servers at the diner, was bringing over a pot of coffee for Joseph and Elana and a Shirley temple for Patsy. “Hey, Patsy.” the retirement age waitress said, “How’re you holding up?”

“I’m okay, Margret.” She said, putting on a cheerful voice.

“That’s the spirit, I’ll be sure to bring you over the biggest slice of cake.” She said

“Yay cake!”

Elana laughed a little, “We’re going to wait to order, Margie. We’re waiting on another person.”

The older waitress nodded her head slightly, “Sounds good, Laney. I’ll be back in two shakes with your refreshments.” With that she was off to serve some of the other customers, or guests as corporate would like they be referred to.

The three of them chatted while they waited for Mr. Morales, while they did Patsy’s thoughts drifted to the bizarre notion that when you see someone you only ever see at school, or school related events that when you see them out and about in everyday life the person is suddenly almost unrecognizable. Like in those children sitcom shows where someone says “Wait, you mean teachers don’t live at school??” or something else mildly insulting to the audience about their perceived intelligence. Still, Patsy wondered if it was going to be super weird seeing Mr. Morales not just outside of school, but on purpose outside of school. He normally dressed in clean but not ironed dress pants and some sort of long sleeved shirt, either a button up or a sweater; would he be wearing a rock and roll band t shirt and shorts? What if he wears his curly hair in a manbun outside of work? The horror.

It was almost a disappointment when Mr. Morales showed up in tan dress pants and a blue sweater, as well as a sling that held his left arm, some bandaging on his cheek with some purplish bruising around its edges.

“Linus,” her dad said, “Glad you could make it.”

“We’re both just so grateful for what you did yesterday.” Elana said as her husband scooted further into the booth, making room for him.

“Oh, I only did what any good samaritan should have in the situation.” Mr. Morales said, sitting down. “Ah!” He smiled at the pot of coffee sitting on the table, “May I? I’m afraid I skipped my usual morning cup...come to think of it, skipped most of my usual morning routine today.”

“Go ahead, refills are free.” Patsy said.

“Are they?” He asked with a smile, awkwardly pouring himself a hot cup.

Margret returned, prompting her mom to say that they’ll probably need a few minutes for Mr. Morales to decide what he wants.

“Oh, go ahead.” The teacher reassured, “ I know what I want, a short stack of pancakes, and two pieces of bacon on the chewier side.”

“Oh, alright!” Elana said, “Brunch it is then, I guess we’re ready to order. Patsy, you go first.”

Patsy put in her order, a belgian waffle with strawberries and a lemon poppyseed muffin. Her father ordered the same as Mr. Morales, but he wanted his bacon crispy. Elana ordered two sunny side up eggs and some toast to dunk in the yolk. With that Margaret took off again.

“It just seemed so...out of nowhere.” Patsy said, suddenly.

Surprised, Elana reactively gave her a side hug, “No one ever expects these sorts of things to happen, Sweetheart. All that matters is that you’re safe.”

“Principal Robertson wasn’t...normal, right?” She asked, addressing her teacher.

Mr. Morales avoided her gaze, looking down into his coffee.

“Pats, Robertson wasn’t the man we thought he was, or he changed or something messed up.” her dad said.

“You saw his face too, right Mr. Morales, you asked him what he was.”

Her parents, worried for Patsy, then looked to the teacher they invited out.

“Miss. Pascala, I don’t know what had gotten into him, or what had become of him. That certainly wasn’t the man I have worked with for over two years now, but rest assured. He wasn’t some abnormality, he was a man, a man who revealed himself to be quite the monster.” Mr. Morales said finally, just as their food arrived.

To her parent’s relief, Patsy dropped the subject. They ate and her dad asked Mr. Morales how she was doing in his class.

“She is an ideal student” he told them, “Attentive, curious, she has a mind for nuance, and seems to genuinely want to understand why people did what they had done in the history lessons.” Which unfortunately made her quite uncomfortable, like she was in a parent-teacher conference all of all of a sudden.

As Patsy began to withdraw into herself, Elana asked her, “So, Patsy, is there anything else you’d like to do in town today before we head home?” She hoped to bring Patsy back to the surface of her own mind.

“Huh?” Patsy asked, she heard what her mom said, but her brain hadn’t really processed it yet. Something it usually would do about a split second after someone repeated what they said to her. “Oh, uh...well I was hoping we could go swing by grandma’s grave?” She stated her request with the inflection of a question. Her grandma wasn’t buried very far from where they lived. However, she knew that her dad always had a hard time going. He stayed in the car when they visited her grave a couple weeks before school started.

Joseph swallowed hard, but nodded, “Of course, babygirl.”

Mr. Morales raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t realize you had family buried here. I was under the impression that your family moved here from Louisiana.”

“We did, but Joseph is from here originally, we moved back here after his mother got sick.” Elana explained.

Mr. Morales turned his gaze back to his coffee, “I see.” Patsy could see his eyes darting swiftly like he either realized something or was thinking very swiftly. She felt like she could relate. “Miss. Pascala, Joseph, Elana. Please do not take me for overreaching but I’m not sure it is safe for the three of you to go to a location like that right now. If Robertson is following you it would be quite the place for an ambush.”

“Linus, don’t speak like that in front of my daughter.” Joseph said, something of a warning in his voice.

“No, dad, it’s alright.” Patsy said, “Mr. Morales, do you really think it’s a bad idea to go to the cemetery?”

Mr. Morales looked to Joseph, who wore an expression that clearly said “Be careful how you say things.” He looked back at Patsy, with a small sigh, “I think, perhaps you should at least wait under after school starts up again Monday? Thank you all for this lovely meal, but I think I should be going. This should cover my food.” He swiftly got up and pulled his wallet out and with just his right hand awkwardly pulled out some bills. Leaving forty dollars on the table as he took off.

“I think you scared him.” Elana said simply, pouring herself another cup of coffee.

They ultimately didn’t go to the cemetery, to both the annoyance and relief of her father. In fact they stayed in for the rest of the day. Watching TV, playing a popular kart racing game which Joseph began quite smuggly. Only to lose to his daughter because of an npc driver launching a nuclear option that blasted him back to third place less than half the track away from victory.

Patsy told her parents that she felt comfortable enough to go to bed in her own room that night, and Elana made chicken parm hero sandwiches. All in all the day drifted by quickly after their lunch with the odd Mr. Morales. It was almost 10 at night when she finally told her parents she was going to bed, and they reaffirmed their own tiredness from the day and wouldn’t be up much longer themselves.

Of course, Patsy wasn’t really going to bed.

She stayed up for hours, just to be sure they had actually fallen asleep. Her dad. Patsy disarmed the security system and left the house, heading straight for the cemetery. She had to see her grandmother’s gravestone. Something about how Mr. Morales reacted just didn’t sit right with her. It had to be around 1:20 in the morning now and it was very dark and while it was brisk out during the day her fingers quickly started going numb and she could see her breath.

The ground of the cemetery was hard and bumpy from thawing into wet muddy ground under the sun during the day. Patsy walked through the cemetery at a brisk pace, wanting to get to her grandma's grave and back before her parents could wake up to find out she snuck out of the house...or worse she was taken by Robertson. The made her stomach clench up, and she began regretting this whole idea. There was a rustling in the bushes and she began to sprint, she felt like running home and forgetting all of this but she was painfully aware she was heading right towards the grave.

She came to a quick stop, looking down at the engraved stone. Ellinore DeSoto, 1961 to 2017. She knelt down, tears building in her eyes. Deep down she knew coming here now was a mistake, her grandma wouldn’t want her sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night, especially not under the current circumstances.

She sniffled, alright she got to the gravestone and proved exactly nothing. Time to get home as fast as she possibly could and swear off stupid impulsive decsions forever.

The wet smacking of lips that made her skin crawl.

“Pr.principal Robertson?” She tentatively asked, standing up and turning towards the gross sound. Her eyes widened in grotesque terror as she looked at the swollen thing that only scarcely held the appearance of her principal, the purplish grey skin stretched uncomfortably tight as the creature smiled wider than nature as she knew it allowed.

“Pascala Desoto,” It still spoke with Principal Robertson’s voice. “So courteous of you to come to me, now we may continue your...disciplinary measures, young lady.” The creature stuck out it’s purple tongue which extended down past its belly.

Patsy wanted to run, scream, anything, but her legs refused to move. Her body frozen. It walked up closer to her, and it’s foul breath was like a thick miasma that made her lungs clench up and burnt her throat, she couldn’t even tremble in fear.

“Speechless, DeSoto?” It leaned in and inhaled deeply by her hair, it chucked out as it spoke, “Yeeheeehesss. Your flesh will do, your form will do.”

Over the creature’s shoulder Pascala saw another, and the ghoul’s smile turned into a scowl. Apparently it noticed him as well. It wrapped it’s unnaturally large hands around her, its index finger on her shoulder and its pinky on her waist. Turning to face him it snarled out, “This is my Witch, get your own.”

The man stepped out of the shadows into the moonlight, the beams catching on his glasses, “Let her go, Corpse eater.” He held a revolver in one hand, and an old medieval looking sword in the other. His arm wasn’t in the sling anymore and he didn’t look injured at all.

“Morales, I knew I should have crushed your throat when-”

Her teacher cocked the pistol and aimed it right at his head.

“G...go ahead. I am not something you can kill with a bullet.” The ghoul said smugly.

“In your state it will hurt, it’ll be a whole world of agony.” Morales said, calling the monster’s bluff.

It took a slight step back, balking out a grunt in some fear. “We can split her! I don’t need her blood!”

Patsy’s eyes widened at the suggestion.

“Don’t worry, Miss. Pascala. This thing won’t harm you...and survive.” His voice was cold again, and she couldn’t help but feel an intense fear. Maybe from the slight tremors she felt through the ghoul’s hand, but somehow she knew that this thing that used to be her Principal was terrified.

“I can’t go back to the corpses people bury, they poison them, and every time I feed I whimper in agony for years, only to need to feed again, the cycle is torture! Have mercy!” The ghoul begged.

“You do not want my mercy, Corpse eater. It is at the end of my sword.” He began walking forward.

The ghoul released Patsy and pinched her throat, “Another step and I’ll break her neck!”

Reactively she reached up at the monster’s finger’s “I don’t want to die!” she sobbed, were she in a more clear headed situation she may have realized she can move again.

Mr. Morales paused, scowling back at the hellish beast.

“That’s right! You...you have a fondness for her, your student, HAH! So long as I have her in my grasp you won’t risk harming her.” The ghoul grinned hideously in it’s little victory.

Her history class teacher inhaled sharply, then said, “If you are going to do something, now would be the time!”

Principal Robertson the ghoul frowned, “What are you playing at?!”

Out from the bushes a large orange cat ran up much faster than Patsy had ever seen in her life and pounced on the ghoul’s forearm, clawing and tearing at it. The ghoul released her and she dropped, quickly and frantically crawling into an upright sprint several yards away from the monster.

Bean used the ghoul as a springboard and sprinted over to Patsy. The Ghoul was screaming and clutching the wounds the cat had left on it, as Morales lunged forward and with a clean swift strike cleaved the monster’s head from it’s shoulders.

Patsy’s breaths were short, and she pulled Bean into her arms as she tried to calm down. Morales wiped his blade off on the grass before sheathing it and steeping over to his student as he holstered his gun.

“I’m sorry, Miss. Pascala.” He said, “Are you alright?”

“What, what was that!?” She asked, looking at the ghoul’s limp body.

He paused, like he was unsure he could answer, “...Is there any world where you could accept that this was all a bad dream?”

She shook her head, “No, I have nightmares all the time, this is real.” Patsy looked at her teacher and gasped, she tried to step back but only fell backwards. “Those eyes!”

Mr. Morales sighed, and pulled his glasses from his face. His eyes were a hungry deep red. “Please, Miss. Pascala, I mean you no harm. You have my word, my oath as a man who has spent his very long life guiding the minds of the youth, and protecting everyone who I find in need of help.”

She tried to steady her breath, with Bean in her arms she felt much bolder and confident, “Those eyes, I’ve seen them in my nightmares, I trusted you and you’re another one of those things!” She pointed to the ghoul.”

He was taken aback, and gestured at his face, “You’ve seen these eyes in your dreams? Miss. Pascala, I assure you I am not a corpse eater.” He grabbed his lip and pulled it up, revealing a long and sharp fang. “I am a vampire, and amazingly you seemed to have augured my presence in your dreams.”

She stared at the fang with wide, slightly horrified eyes. “...Huh.”

“Huh. That...is a first.” The Vampire said, “I imagine you have questions, and you deserve answers. Especially if you refuse to accept this night was just a bad dream.”

She nodded, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to, trust me I’m trying. Still here, next to my vampire history teacher.”

“Very well, Miss. Pascala. This ghoul was hunting you because you are a Sorceress, and whoever gave you that cat was as well. Seeing as how that animal is a Familiar, your Familiar.” He said, “Monday, come to my class after school, and I will tell you more. For now just go home, you’ll be safe there with the cat. I need to clean this up before anyone comes by and finds it.”

It was be a difficult thing to believe that Patsy would just accept things at that, that she would just go home and enjoy her long weekend with her folks, and she could just scratch Bean behind the ear knowing she was some magical protector her Secret Sorceress Grandma had given to her as a little kitten. That she could be nearly eaten and just go back to bed. All that can be agreed upon is that Patsy got out of bed the next morning around 10:30, that she took a shower and had slightly runny scrambled eggs for breakfast. Another thing that can be certain is that Patsy would never doubt what happened, what she saw and what she heard, and that the story of Pascala DeSoto, The Sorceress of Illinois had only begun.

End Chapter

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#Red Eyes on my Grandmother's grave #wip #paypal

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malumsmermaid · 4 years

Text

Nail Polish

NSFR

Roommate!Calum x Reader (I did my best to keep it as neutral as I could)

Warnings: Smut 18+ only please!

Word Count: 1.7k

You were sitting on the living room sofa doing your nails, an idea having struck you during breakfast. So far quarantine had just been binge watching shows and online shopping with your roommate, recently turned friend with benefits, Calum. Your morning idea was a bit of a photoshoot to update your profiles with. So you’d booked the whole day for prepping. A docu-series you’d been meaning to watch was streaming on the living room tv, Calum elsewhere in the house as you put your feet up on the coffee table, carefully applying the polish to your toe nails.

You finished up painting your toes, carefully resting them flat on the table top as you moved the clear coat to the couch, left hand resting on your knee as you began painting it. You were just starting the first coat of color when you heard movement from the kitchen. You paused, carefully holding the bottle of polish in your hand as you glanced towards the kitchen, humming as you registered that it was Calum, probably making himself some lunch. You recognized the low hum of the microwave and smiled, turning your attention back to the task at hand.

Fingernail coat one was working on drying and your attention was back on the show you had on when Calum joined you on the couch. He let out a sniff as the scent of nail polish actually hit him, easily overpowering his plate of leftovers. He rubbed at his scrunched up nose before letting out a deep breath through his mouth and starting on his food.

“Didn’t have to join me if you didn’t want to smell nail polish, Cal.” You tease gently, leaning forward to pick the bottle back up.

“Didn’t realize that was what you were doing, plus I wanted to hang out with you. Why’re you doing your nails anyway, it’s just us here.”

“I’m bored, and I figured you could help me with a little instagram photo shoot, afterall, I did help you with your music video shoot, little payback, even if far fewer people are going to see it.”

Calum nodded, smiling as he agreed before turning his attention back to his meal. He finished eating at the same time that you finished the second coat, Calum leaning forward to set his empty plate on the table as you put the nail polish down. He turned to look at you, teasing glint in his eyes as he spoke, “When you say you’re bored, I hope you’re not bored of me, now are you, sweets?”

You hummed, head tilting as you pretended to think on it, teasing lilt to your own voice as you retorted, “And what if I am?”

He slowly licked his lips, your gaze darting down to track the movement, legs minutely pressing together at the thoughts filling your mind. His face was unreadable as he slowly slid off the couch. “S’pose we’ll just have to find out.”

You were about to ask what he meant when he ducked under your knee, sliding the rest of his body with him. You stared down at him, his brown eyes dark as he lifted your hips slightly, pulling your pajama pants down your legs, leaving you bare to him. “Keep painting your nails, watching your show, love, if you’re really that bored of me.”

His fingers dug into your thighs, pulling you flush with the edge of the couch. You did your best to do what he said, blowing on your nails to try to dry them quicker. However, his tone of voice had clearly had its effect on you, and his usual habits for working you up were in full effect. Gentle nibbles and sucking kisses to the insides of your thighs, paired with steady circles of his thumb on your hips as he held you in place. You tried to turn your focus to the tv, but the man who was currently in the interview frame commanded your attention far less than the one between your thighs, inching his way higher and higher. You subconsciously spread your legs wider for him, biting back a slight whimper when his teeth dug into your flesh in response, slightly more force in the bite than usual.

His eyebrow raised in challenge, reaching back and finding the bottle of clear coat, pressing it firmly into your hand. You nodded, swallowing thickly before gently tapping a nail to see if it was dry enough. Slowly you unscrewed the cap, wiping the brush down and doing your best to ignore as Calum’s tongue slowly traced up your thigh, so so close, before moving away. You bit your lip, focusing on running the brush over the surface of your nail. You’d just started your middle finger when his lips were on you, harsh sucking noise filling the room. You forced down the moan that threatened to spill past your lips, fingers tightening around the brush as your eyes squeezed shut. You had little doubt that Calum’s gaze was on you, watching you fight the urge to react to him. Your theory was proven with a quick slap to the outside of your thigh and you swallowed, shoulders rolling as you attempted to force yourself to focus on painting your nails.

You had just shakily managed to finish your work on your left hand when he added his long fingers to the mix. A gasp finally escaped you, the recently closed nail polish bottle dropping to the plush rug and rolling under the coffee table. Still wet and tacky fingers reached for bleach blonde curls, forcing him closer. All thought of your nails slipped your mind, only goal now to keep Calum’s perfect mouth on you. You were able to feel a twitch of a smile from him as your hips slid ever closer to him, fingers of his free hand digging further into your flesh as he attempted to hold you in place as his name fell from your lips.

Much sooner than you anticipated, Calum had you coming apart, body locking down around his head as he worked you through, moans, curses, and his name filled the living room as his motions never wavered. After what felt like an eternity, he removed himself from between your legs, clambering back up onto the couch. There was a cocky grin on his face, disappearing only as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Guess that answers that question.” He stated proudly, brown eyes glittering as he stared at you.

You gave him a coy smile in return, reaching over and palming his length through his tented grey sweatpants. “I think the next question is clear then, Cal, are you, bored of me?”

He let out a groan as you tugged down his pants, his own legs spreading as you crawled on top of him. You carefully lined him up with yourself before slowly lowering onto his length, taking him all the way inside of you. You let out a contented moan from how full he always made you feel. Calum however, had his head turned to the tv, intent on the game he’d started, planning to last longer than you did in paying attention to anything else.

You hummed as you slowly inched up and down on his cock, varying your pace and slowly removing your shirt in an attempt to make him break. It was only after a very quick upward pull that he finally let a grunt escape his throat, large hands finding your hips as he pulled you back down on him, hitting perfectly inside you and forcing a sinful moan from your lips. He let out a groan of his own, hips now moving to meet you thrust for thrust, pleasure coursing through you with each movement.

“Fuck, shit” he murmured after a minute, pulling out quickly.

You whined from the loss of him, turning to a gasp as he moved you to lay on your back on the white couch, crouched on his knees in front of you. He skillfully pumped himself, flicking his wrist a few times before he was coating your stomach and chest with his release. You gasped at the warmth and he groaned out your name as he finished. He collapsed on top of you, resulting in a wet smack as his chest met yours.

You hummed, fingers massaging his scalp as he pressed gentle kisses to your neck. You smiled, noticing a few streaks of your nail color in his hair. You knew from the moment that you gave up on the game that the nail polish wasn’t going to survive, but you could always fix it later, it wasn’t like you didn’t have any time.

Calum slowly looked up at you, thoughtful expression on his face, “I don’t think I like the ignoring each other idea as much as I thought I was going to.”

You let out a soft giggle, thumb rubbing against his cheek, “I mean, you were pretty good at it.”

“Which part, the ignoring you part or the part where I was paying attention to you?”

You smiled in response to the teasing grin he sent you, “You’re always good at paying attention to me Calum,” you replied, shifting slightly to place a kiss to his lips.

He smiled into the kiss, hands cupping your face as he returned it. “Better get cleaned up so you can have that important photoshoot of yours,” he said, smile on his face as he pushed himself up, translucent white streaks now decorating his toned chest.

You nodded, following him and getting to your feet, “Yeah, besides, we have to get that nail polish out of your hair.”

Calum laughed, “Yeah, this was really not one of my best laid plans, was it?”

You smirked, leaning into his side as you both walked towards the bathroom, “I mean, you did get laid so...”

Calum shook his head, smile squishing his cheeks as the door closed behind him, the ease of this relationship sending other thoughts through his mind, things to address much later, maybe when you could both go outside again.

Tag List: @calpops @irwinkitten @goth5sos @wildflowergrae @empathycth

#calum hood #calum hood smut #calum hood x reader #calum hood 5sos #calum hood 5 seconds of summer #calum 5sos #calum 5 seconds of summer #calum smut

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moldisgoodforyou · 4 years

Text

the one where jj is drunk

warnings: cursing, excessive drinking

wordcount: 1.6k

charlie spent her thursday night holed up in her room. it was like torture - she had three assignments to finish, but it was the perfect weather for the end of april and her senior house was so close to the bars that she could hear the music drifting in through her window. jj kept texting her throughout the night, keeping her updated on every little thing that happened. when he was with her, he tended to drink less in case she needed assistance, but all restrictions flew out the window when it was just him and the boys. shotgun contests, beer bongs, shots after shots - everything was on the table.

charlie glanced over as she got her seventh voice text of the night from jj, around 11pm. she grinned and put it on speaker to listen. “baby...charlie...you’re my bestest friend,” jj slurred in the message. she could hear his brothers yelling at him in the background. “ok, walker, i gotta, i gotta go, but I’m gonna talk to you later! I promise!” the message ended and she laughed, texting him a short reply.

go have fun with your friends, I don’t need constant updates

as if on cue, he snapchatted her instantly - a close-up of him and his friend’s faces, camera angled straight up their nostrils. it was eloquently captioned “send noods.” she rolled her eyes and pulled her shirt aside, sending him a picture of just her bare shoulder with her lacy bra strap on display. he called her right away.

“charlie gertrude walker!” he scolded. she laughed. “oh no, not the middle name, am I in trouble?”

“you weren’t supposed to actually send nudes! I’m in public!” he exclaimed. she could hear the bass pounding in the background from the bar. “it’s not even - go have fun, j, quit texting me!”

“no, I want you here. it’s stupid you have to study. just ask for an extension or something, I wanna hang out with my girl.” he insisted. she rolled her eyes. “I can’t, jj. have fun with the boys, we can go out tomorrow.”

“you promise?”

“I promise. call me if you need anything.”

“love you, charlie!” he told her before hanging up.

sure enough, he called a couple hours later. his words were extra slurred. “charlie!” he yelled into the speaker. she held it away from her ear, grimacing. “hi, j. do you need a ride?” he gasped. “how did you know?” she laughed. “stay there, I’ll be there in five.”

she hung up and pulled him up on find my friends, knowing he would wander if he was alone. she shoved her feet into slippers and got in her car to drive to the bar. she was only an 8 minute walk away, but given jj’s voice, she knew he would be too clingy and too heavy for her to deal with all the way home. once she pulled over by the bar, she honked the car horn upon seeing jj. his face lit up and he stumbled to the car, five of his frat brothers in tow.

“can you take all of us? the pledges aren’t picking up. I think they’re going on strike.” one of the boys asked. charlie laughed, shaking her head. “good for them. get in, try to put on a seatbelt if you can?” they all tumbled into the car, jj in the front seat. his hand went to his usual resting spot on her thigh right away and he leaned over, placing a sloppy kiss on her cheek. “hi charlie!” she laughed, nudging him away. “hi hon. don’t distract me, I gotta drive you and your hooligans back to beta.” he nodded seriously but kept his hand on her thigh. “charlie, I had the best drink ever tonight. ever ever ever.”

she smiled, amused. “yeah?” one of his brothers piped up in the back. “yo, we were discussing this thing at the bar, and-” jj whipped around, shaking his head. “bro night! bro code!” his brother waved his hand around. “yeah, yeah, whatever. anyways, we think charlie’s prob’ly the hottest beta girlfriend, but jj doesn’t want her to know we talk about that shit.”

charlie turned around to glance at the backseat at a red light, raising her eyebrows. his eyes widened. “oh, shit, I thought frazier’s girlfriend was picking us up! sup, walker!” the other boys cracked up immediately and jj groaned, putting his head in his hands. “what the fuck, elliot?” he reached back and shoved him, and they started hitting at each other with how little they could reach.

charlie grabbed jj’s hand, pulling him back to the front. “hey, hey, knock it off! you’re gonna make me wreck.” jj turned back to the backseat. “you heard her, knock it off!” she rolled her eyes and turned the radio up as she drove, then pulled up to the beta house. “alright, everyone out!” there were some mumbled thank yous as all the boys piled out of the car.

charlie stayed put and jj ducked his head back into her window. “wait, you’re not coming in?” she shrugged. “I figured you just needed a ride. I’m wearing my slippers, for gods sake.” he reached in through the window, tugging at her shirt. “come on, I wanna sleep next to you.” she sighed. “okay, let me park on the street. give me a second.” jj pumped his fists in victory. “hell yeah!”

she parked and walked back up the drive. jj wrapped her in a hug, putting almost all of his weight on her. “mmph- j, I can’t -“ she mumbled against him, pushing back. he stepped away then looped his arm around her shoulders. “I’m so fucking glad you’re here, charlie. you’re so pretty. I love your hair like this.”

she laughed, reaching up to touch her scrunchie. “in a bun?” jj nodded. “but I also hate it, because I can’t comb my fingers through your hair.” he stuck his fingers in her bun to make his point. she laughed, removing his hand and pulled out her scrunchie. “okay, okay, better?” he grinned, tugging the end of her hair. “much better! let’s go get snacks, I want snacks. will you make me hot pockets?” she rolled her eyes, taking his hand and dragging him inside. “you’re like a toddler.”

“charlie. char, baby, listen to me.” he tugged at her hair to get her attention. “what, j?” she asked, amused. “you have...you have the prettiest ears I have ever seen.” she laughed. “that’s a new one.”

“no, I’m serious. when you have the double earrings, it’s so hot. I like the sparkly ones.” she nodded. “thank you.” he tugged at her ear and she swatted at his hand. “I’m gonna buy you more.” he declared. “no you’re not, I have enough. and stop with your hands, you’re so touchy.” she laughed. he shook his head as they stumbled into the kitchen. “no, no, I swear. I’m gonna buy you all the things you want in the world, your ring is gonna be so fuckin’ cool.”

charlie paused as she reached for the hot pockets in the freezer, sticking them in the microwave. “my ring?” jj nodded, distracted as he started opening the kitchen cabinets and letting them slam shut. “yeah. I know we’re s’posed to look together, but I think I know you well enough. I have it all planned out.” charlie reached up and grabbed his hands, stilling them from making more noise. “what ring are you talking about?” she asked with a smile.

“your engagement ring, don’t be silly.” he ruffled her hair and planted a kiss on her forehead. “don’t worry, I got it figured out.” she nodded. “I trust you. but let’s talk about this in a year, maybe.” she pulled out the plate of hot pockets and swatted at jj’s hand as he reached for one. “they’re hot, maybank, let’s go upstairs and get you ready for bed.”

he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “I wanna talk about it now. you’re staying, right?” she nodded. “yeah, I got you.” she had to drag him upstairs, continually pushing him off her shoulders, but they eventually made it. she shut the door behind them and set the warm plate on his nightstand.

“why don’t you want to get married?” jj asked, crossing his arms. charlie laughed. “jj it’s not that - you’re hammered, can we maybe not talk about this now?” he shook his head, stubborn. “we’re the perfect couple, we would be great at marriage, and you would look fucking gorgeous in one of those pretty white dresses. it’s settled.” charlie nodded, tugging up on the hem of his shirt. “solid points, j.” he lifted his arms, letting her undress him. “so you’ll do it? you’ll marry me?”

charlie hesitated. “at some point, I’ll get married.” she tossed his shirt in the laundry and jj leaned down, kissing her firmly. “to me. right?” she grinned, shying away from his lips as she tried to tug his shorts down. “eventually. probably.” he seemed to think it over for a moment, kicking off his shoes. “you promise?”

charlie sighed softly, trying to figure out how drunk he really was - and if he’d remember the conversation in the morning. “jj, how much did you drink?” he counted on his fingers, then held up nine. “umm...seven? six? like hardly anything at all.” she laughed and kissed his cheek. “okay then, I promise. let’s go to bed.” he swept her up, making her squeal, then dropped her unceremoniously on top of the bed. they both climbed under the covers.

“night, char. I love you.”

“love you too, j.”

#not proofread so be nice pls #back at it with another gr8 title lol #jj maybank #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank x oc #jj x charlie #mine #jj maybank obx #jj maybank fanfiction #jj maybank fanfic #obx fanfic

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theladyofdeath · 4 years

Note

Cass is left home alone with his and Nesta’s baby for the first time 😂

ugh, you know I love me some daddy Cass. Enjoy. ~

ps - i do not recommend searching “daddy” in the GIF bar.

Cassian had just taken a bite of his chicken burrito when a soft cry came through the baby monitor.

“Cass, he’s crying.”

“I’m aware,” Cassian said, into his phone, food still in his mouth. He hopped off the barstool and started making his way through the living room and up the stairs. “Will you just go enjoy yourself and stop worrying?”

A long pause. “Yeah. Okay.”

“I helped make him, I can take care of him,” Cassian assured her.

Nesta sighed, music playing loudly in the background. “I know, I know. I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?”

“Love you,” Cassian said, finally swallowing the food in his mouth as he got to the second floor.

“Love you,” Nesta said, voice still full of worry as she hung up the phone.

Cassian pushed the door of the nursery open. As if sensing his father’s presence, Bodi’s cry turned into a soft whimper as he squirmed inside of his blanket.

Cassian peeked over the side of the crib and smiled. “That was a nice nap, Bode. Ready to play?”

With steady hands, Cassian undid the swaddled blanket and picked Bodi up.

He didn’t make it a step before gagging. “No offense, but you smell like shit.”

Bodi made a gurgling noise as Cassian laid him down on the changing table and unbuttoned his onesie.

“Alright,” Cassian sighed, taking out a diaper and wipes from the shelf beneath the table. “It’s just you and me tonight, kid. Mommy is out having girl time. She’s been working hard these last few months, taking care of you, yes she has. So, when she calls, which she will, again, in about twenty minutes, you have to pretend to be happy even if you’re pissed. Got it?”

Bodi looked up with wide, hazel eyes.

“Exactly,” Cassian said, tossing the dirty diaper into the bin. “Mommy deserves to have fun.”

Bodi began to fuss, and Cassian gave him a look as he strapped the clean diaper on and secured his onesie. “No, you see, you’re doing the opposite of-”

Bodi’s cry grew louder.

“Alright, alright,” Cassian breathed, picking Bodi up and laying his head against his bare chest. His mouth was instantly wide open, searching for a nipple.

Softly, Cassian began patting Bodi’s back as he turned the light off and left the nursery. “Daddy’s nipples don’t work that way, Bode. That’s a mommy thing.”

When he started to realize that, Bodi started to scream, his little voice nearing non-existent the angrier he got.

“I know, I know,” Cassian muttered, hurrying down the stairs. “It’s hard being a newborn.”

Cassian changed his position, cradling Bodi in one arm against him, supporting his little, wild dark-haired head. Bodi’s feet were kicking wildly by the time they entered the kitchen.

Cassian filled a bowl with water and put it in the microwave for two and a half minutes before strutting into the living room and laying Bodi in a bouncy seat. The screaming grew worse as Cassian strapped him in.

Cassian hurried back into the kitchen. “I know, but I just wiped your ass!”

After washing his hands, thoroughly, Cassian took a bottle of breastmilk out of the fridge and popped off the top, just as the microwave went off.

“Don’t worry, we’re halfway there!” Cassian called.

Bodi didn’t care.

With a sigh, Cassian walked back into the living room and searched for a burp cloth. He found one slung over the arm of the couch, Bodi’s name embroidered along the hem.

That was Nesta’s thing the moment they had decided on a name.

Embroidered everything.

Cassian tossed the burp cloth over his tattooed shoulder before unbuckling the bouncy seat and picking his son back up. The crying only stilled for a moment before starting again.

Back in the kitchen, Cassian took the bottle out of the water and tested the temperature on his wrist. Finding it warm, he took Bodi into the living room, suddenly tired of wandering the house like a madman, and sat in his rocking chair before putting the nipple to Bodi’s lips.

He instantly began drinking, suddenly quiet, hazel eyes drooping.

“There,” Cassian breathed. “That’s better, yeah?”

Bodi cooed, the bottle still in his mouth. When the bottle was halfway gone, Cassian burped him before letting him finish it off.

“That’s good stuff, isn’t it?” Cassian asked, as Bodi chugged. “Yeah, daddy’s tasted it, too. Although I find it tastes better straight from the source.”

Bodi spit the nipple out of his mouth, from the fact that he was done or the fact that he was appalled at the image of his dad sucking his mom’s tit, Cassian wasn’t certain.

“Alright, Bodi,” he began, positioning the infant with a burp cloth on his lap, supporting his head. He started patting his back. “Give me a good one. Here we go.”

And suddenly Cassian’s entire thigh was covered in spit up.

Bodi’s hazel eyes lit up with amusement as Cassian watched him, and laughed. “Shit, you find that funny, don’t you? You thrive on daddy’s misery. Yeah. You get that from mommy, you know.”

Bodi started gurgling, talking in his mysterious baby language.

“I see,” Cassian said, grinning. “Yeah, hilarious.”

He laid Bodi on a blanket, propped on his boppy pillow so his food - what was left, anyway - digested well.

Cassian pulled a pair of sweatpants out of the laundry basket full of clean clothes and quickly changed before joining Bodi on the floor. He grabbed a rattle and started to shake it, grabbing Bodi’s attention.

“There, now we’re happy, huh?” Cassian asked, just as his phone rang, again. “Told you mommy was going to call again.”

He answered it, then pressed the Facetime button.

Nesta’s worried face came up on the screen. Cassian laid next to Bodi so that they were both in the frame. Her furrowed brows were replaced with a small, loving smile. “Hi, my baby.”

“Hi,” Cassian winked. “Now say hi to Bodi, too, before he feels left out.”

Nesta rolled her eyes. “Did you change him?”

“Yes.”

“Feed him?”

“Yes. I know what to do, Nes. It’s as if I’m his father or something.”

Nesta huffed a laugh and chewed on her bottom lip. “Fine, just...keep me updated?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cassian mumbled, as Bodi looked over at his daddy. Catching the sight in their reflection, Cassian smiled. So did Nesta.

“Go have fun,” Cassian begged, for the tenth time that night.

“Fine,” Nesta sighed, and hung up.

“I think mommy is having separation anxiety,” Cassian said, leaning up on his elbow as he started shaking the rattle, once more.

Bodi watched him.

“I know,” Cassian said, nodding, as if Bodi proclaimed a long, deep thought. “Now, I’m gonna turn on the Avengers, and finish my burrito. Cool?”

Cassian took his infant’s silence as an okay.

Having forgotten all about the burrito and laying on the couch, Bodi on his chest, Cassian started the movie. It wasn’t even twenty minutes in that Bodi was sound asleep, and Cassian was starting to doze off.

Which is exactly how Nesta found them an hour later.

The door softly opened and clicked shut, and Nesta’s heels clicked across the hardwood floor until she reached the couch, and looked down at her husband and her baby boy.

She smiled, fondly, as she patted Bodi’s back and kissed Cassian on the forehead. Then, she kicked off her heels and, still in her little black dress, she laid next to them both, her cheek resting on Cassian’s shoulder and her arm around them both. She rubbed Cassian’s side with the tips of her fingers until he fell asleep, too.

#nessian #nesta #cassian #acotar #acomaf #acowar #fanfic #tara answers prompts #fanfiction #oneshot #modern au #daddy cass

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skzsauce01 · 4 years

Text

In Fair Verona︱Chapter 5

Synopsis: Jisung knows he is the Romeo to your Juliet. He could wax poetry about you all throughout rehearsal and even a little after. Except Hwang Hyunjin is the one playing Romeo in the school play, not him. Jisung is just another tech crew member that you don’t know, but he’s determined to win your heart... by any means necessary.

Warning: none... yet

Word Count: 2.2k

Pairing: fem!reader x Jisung; fem!reader x Hyunjin

updates every Wednesday and Sunday @ 11 PM PST︱chapter list

Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

I do bite my thumb, sir.

Jisung spends the entire weekend brooding and checking you and Hyunjin’s social media for updates. Hyunjin posts a picture of you sitting across from him with a cup of pink yogurt and a cup of lavender yogurt in the middle. You hold a pink plastic spoon in your hand and smile at the camera. “Romeo and Juliet, but they eat froyo instead of poison,” reads the caption. Jisung almost hurls his phone against the wall.

When Monday rehearsal arrives, he’s relaxed enough to have a civil conversation with Hyunjin. Hyunjin compliments his shirt while waiting for his cue in Act I, scene I. Jisung jokes that his shirt looks nice as well, and they both politely laugh. Once his back is turned though, Jisung places his thumb between his teeth. Flipping him off would be too direct. Analyzing this stupid play in freshman year finally has some use. He does it again when Hyunjin exits the stage.

“Is your thumb bleeding?” Yugyeom asks. “There’s band-aids in the classroom.”

Jisung swiftly takes it out of his mouth. “I’m fine. I was just… thinking,” he lamely says. “I’m gonna go wash my hands now.”

He tells Changbin, who in turn tells him to hurry because the scene is going to end in a few minutes. Then, against the rules that have hardwired into his brain, he runs down the hallway to the bathroom. As he lathers his hands in soap, he wonders how else he can express his hatred towards Hyunjin without anyone knowing. Deliberately place props in prime locations for tripping over? “Accidentally” hit him with set pieces during blackouts? He turns on the faucet and rinses the soap off.

He makes it backstage just as the lights go out. He doesn’t even bother with his headset; he helps Changbin with the couch as Ryujin and Yugyeom roll out the fake windows. When he’s back in the wings, he sees you chatting with Hyunjin while you wait for your cue. He waves hello to you, but you’re too preoccupied with the conversation to notice. His hand drops to his side, and his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. He puts his headset back on and resumes his usual activity of watching you perform. He spots Hyunjin doing the same. It feels like a competition now: who pays attention to and adores Y/N the most?

“She’s a great actress,” he says out loud. “Don’t you think so, Ryujin?”

She looks up from her phone and out onto the stage. “Lady Capulet?” she asks incredulously.

“No, Juliet.”

Hyunjin visibly perks up when he hears your name. Or rather, your character’s name.

“Oh. She’s good, I guess,” she shrugs. “Probably why she has the lead role.”

“She’s, like, Olivia Hussey good. She portrays Juliet well.”

Jisung barely knows what he’s saying, but Ryujin seems to buy it. She nods before turning her eyes back to her phone screen. Jisung feels himself inflate with pride as Hyunjin doesn’t say anything. He waits for him to turn around and agree, but he just continues to wait for the next scene to begin.

The tide quickly turns as the party scene approaches. Jisung drives himself mad wondering if you and Hyunjin will actually kiss. Stage kisses are the norm in JYP Academy Theater, but Ms. Park demanded real kisses last Friday. Will the kiss simply be skipped over like usual and only performed during the main shows? Will you let him kiss you? Jisung’s head spins with the word ‘kiss,’ and he envisions Hyunjin placing his lips on yours in front of an audience. His own lips curl up in horror, and he taps his foot against the floor in a panic.

When the moment arrives, he finds himself walking towards the edge of the stage again. Changbin, used to his antics now, grabs the back of his shirt to stop him. Meanwhile, you and Hyunjin touch palms, and Hyunjin leans in, eyes closed, mouth pursed. His other hand cups your face, blocking the audience’s view. Jisung can’t see from where he’s standing, but based off of the collective “Ooh!” in the comms, there’s a kiss happening.

“What happened?” he frantically asks. “Did they actually kiss?”

“I think they did it,” says Jeongin. “It’s kind of hard to tell from back here. Hey, Mr. Gi, did they do it?”

“I don’t know,” is his short reply.

The rest of the conversation fades into white noise, and Jisung feels his heart splitting into two. It’s a just possibility, but one nonetheless. He’s hyperventilating now, and he heavily presses a hand to his chest in a weak attempt to stop his lungs from heaving. It only makes him even more aware of his devastation. The second kiss of the scene is almost a repeat of the first, but he can’t look away from the trainwreck that is his love life.

There’s no redos, and Act II begins. You’re waiting for scene two, and no one’s nearby you except for Yugyeom, who always looks like he wants to die of embarrassment whenever he’s around you because of the changing incident. Jisung quickly walks up to you and taps you on the shoulder. You turn around.

“Hey. You were really good out there,” he tightly says. “Especially the party scene.”

You have the same look on your face as Yugyeom. “A-ah, thanks. It was my first time doing something like that.” You look like you’re ready to bolt.

This is his chance to find out the truth, so he follows up with, “I heard first stage kisses are difficult.”

You can’t confirm or deny it because scene one ends, and you have to get up onto the balcony set piece. With clear relief in your voice, you whisper, “Sorry, gotta go,” before running out, taking the stairs two at a time.

Jisung swears under his breath and bites his thumb at Hyunjin, who is comparing you to the sun again. To his annoyance, Hyunjin has improved and no longer sounds like he’s reading off of notecards. You seem to be enjoying his monologue, and he sees you trying to hold back a grin. Your pleased, rosy glow softens your normal high noon sunshine to a golden sunset, and even Ms. Park seems satisfied by the acting. She has only praise for the balcony scene, and you and Hyunjin beam with pride.

While you disappear to change — Jisung’s so glad that scenes three and four are long enough that you can change in the dressing room — he devises a plan to eat dinner with you and potentially give you the chips he wanted to give on Friday. The only flaw of the plan is that you have to finish changing before Hyunjin, so he can spend time with you before Hyunjin inevitably comes in and ruins everything.

When dinner break is announced, he jumps out of his seat and walks as casually as possible to the classroom. The microwave line is beginning to form, and Jisung brushes past them. There’s no unclaimed seat at your table, so he sits nearby. He discreetly moves his belongings to his new location and pulls out his dinner. He purposely brought ramen, so he could have an excuse to start a conversation with you. If he has to eat it for the rest of the week, then so be it.

He watches the door as he slowly prepares his meal. Where are you? He can only hope Hyunjin doesn’t show up first. Luckily, you walk in a few minutes later with no Hyunjin behind you. You sit down and push the textbooks to the side. You pull out a container from your lunch bag.

He twists his body, so he can face you better. “Fried rice again?” he teases.

“I decided to borrow your idea. Instant jajangmyeon.” You unsnap the lid and proudly reveal the unmistakable black package. You rip it open and let the noodle brick slide into the container. “I told Hyunjin about it, and he thought it was genius.”

“Oh!” It comes out more high pitched and strained than he anticipated.

“Yeah.” You pour hot water from your own thermos and let it cook. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. I wouldn’t have had to eat fried rice for five days straight. And this tastes way better, too.”

“Was this your after rehearsal food on Friday?” he asks, though he knows the real answer.

“You remembered that? No, I had froyo with Hyunjin. Ms. Park said we should hang out outside of rehearsal, so we could be more comfortable with each other.” You bite your lower lip. “For the, you know” — your voice drops to a hush — “kiss scenes.”

He feels more relieved now, knowing that Friday night was more like a homework assignment than a date.

“Did you really kiss him today?”

You shift in your seat, uncomfortable by his question. He feels a pang of guilt, but he really, really needs to know.

“It was a stage kiss.”

Is that disappointment in your voice?

Whatever your feelings are, he’s just happy that nothing happened between you and Hyunjin. He reaches into his backpack and takes out a crushed, but unopened, bag of chips. He holds it out to you, and your uneasiness from earlier is replaced by amusement.

“You still have that?”

“I left before Jeongin could find me. Do you want it?”

“Well…”

“Take it.” He tosses the bag at you, and it lands on top of your container. “You’re not gonna be able to eat anything until your noodles finish cooking. We can’t have Juliet starving.”

“Okay then.” You hesitantly open the bag and place one in your mouth. As expected, it’s a fragment. “Thanks.”

Hyunjin doesn’t show up for dinner, and Jisung gladly spends the rest of the time with you. He eats from his own bag of chips and politely asks to try one of yours in exchange for one of his own. You let him try your first attempt of making instant jajangmyeon using the Jisung method, and he approves. The two of you discuss the best snacks at the convenience store, and he’s delighted to find out that you like strawberry Pepero too. When rehearsal resumes, Jisung feels like he’s walking on sunshine.

The rest of rehearsal goes by in a blur. When you had your quick change on stage, he faces the wall again and listens to the conversation you have with Ryujin. He doesn’t even care that you and Hyunjin share scenes with each other and seem to be flirting with each other. You have more in common outside of theater with him than Hyunjin. Without a care in the world, he openly throws up the middle finger at Hyunjin when Ms. Park calls for a rerun of the balcony scene. Yugyeom looks confused at his actions but says nothing. Changbin, however, does.

“Jisung, what are you doing?” he asks. “Do you hate Juliet or something?”

He’s a little offended that Changbin came to that conclusion. He doesn’t tell him the truth though. “The balcony. I just remembered trying to build those stairs. Screw those stairs.”

It’s not a full lie; he does hate the balcony with a passion because building those stupid stairs was an absolute pain.

Changbin laughs. “Ah, good times. You looked like you wanted to kill Seungmin when he used your wood.”

“Still do.”

Tech notes are an even distribution among sound, lights, and stage crew. Jisung doesn’t receive any specific criticisms, but Mr. Gi does send the floor crew to respike the floor to meet Ms. Park’s new demands about set piece placement. Tech crew is dismissed for the night, and Jisung goes to get the spiking tape from the classroom while Changbin and the freshman crew member wait on stage.

The actors are still getting notes, so he quietly opens the cabinets where the tape is located. He rummages around for longer than needed while trying to find out if you are watching him. He decides to bring out all five rolls of fluorescent tape with him, wearing them on his wrist like a stack of bracelets. He hears a chuckle, and when he turns around, he realizes it’s coming from Hyunjin, who has a hand over his mouth. Jisung leaves the room and mouths a curse at him.

He finishes spiking the new locations, and by that time, Ms. Park is done with notes. It’s a familiar scene — you sitting on top of a table, sipping water. Only this time, you have a bag of chips in your other hand.

“Aren’t you glad I made you take them?” he teases as he puts the tape away.

“Yes,” you admit. “Do you want any?” You hold out the bag, and he can see that it’s mostly crumbs and dust.

“I’m good.” He shoulders his backpack and picks up his hoodie from where it has fallen to the floor. “Are you waiting to be picked up?”

“Yeah.” You crumple up the now-empty bag. “See you tomorrow?”

He realizes his mistake: he looks like he’s leaving when he just wanted a reason to be next to you. “Yeah. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Instead of driving home right away, he goes to the convenience store for strawberry Pepero to give to you tomorrow. They do say that the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach.

~ ad.gray

Prepare to be baited. Apologies in advance.

44 notes · View notes

smartlife · 3 years

Text

WEN 56200i 2000-Watt Gas Powered Portable Inverter Generator

Analysis WEN 56200i:

I currently have a Yamaha EF2000is. Saw the WEN 56200i on specials recently and couldn't pass it up for the price. I could have bought two and changed what I paid for the Yamaha.

The reason I bought the WEN 56200i is that the motor is a Yamaha clone, it's very similar inside and the wiring diagrams are pretty much the same, so I think I can connect the two generators in parallel.

It is made in China, but the Yamaha has a label on the inside indicating that it is also made in China. The smartest tools also have the Yamaha engine, but they are all "Powered By Yamaha".

I don't know if WEN 56200i has a license for this engine or if it is a counterfeit. I bet both units can be made side by side in the same Chinese factory.

Review WEN 56200i:

I received it and let it run for a few days and I really liked it. First, it is very attractive. Inside, it almost seems to have the quality level of the Yamaha, although there are differences.

The engine has the same design but has a dipstick, while the Yamaha only has a plug. Spark plugs use different sized wrenches. The Yamaha inverter has a shell, but the components on the circuit board are open on the WEN 56200i .

One thing I like about the Yamaha that is missing from the WEN 56200i is the small door that allows you to access the oil fill hole without removing the entire side cover.

I greased it, gassed it, and then slowly pulled the starter rope a few times. Then I shot twice and it started. I ran it through several short cycles with alternating loads and then refrigerated it to break it down.

Then I got it to work next to the Yamaha testing it with the same loads. I think the Yamaha is a little quieter, but not by much. When the automatic throttle is engaged, Yamaha responds more quickly to charging, while the WEN 56200i flashes its overload light for a few seconds as it reaches a 1500 watt charge from idle mode. But there really seems to be very little difference in the performance or noise level of the two units. The WEN also weighs a few kilos more.

Update 01/04/2017 - A few years ago I gave away my Onan generator in my Class C motorhome and replaced it with more batteries, an inverter/charger, and solar panels. I always get lost and never get addicted.

I don't want to turn on a generator every time I want to microwave or make a cup of coffee. I carry the WEN56200 on the bus for when the solar energy isn't enough and I don't drive enough to charge the vehicle's generator battery bank. I turn on the WEN and let it run for a few hours at 90% load (with a tachometer included).

I never carry extra gas with me because I have never returned from a camping trip where he used half of his tank. After a year, the WEN 56200i still works very well and starts up all the time. My Yamaha EF2000is is collecting dust in my workshop.

I ran it for several hours yesterday with a 40 amp battery charger that charged both 12-volt batteries in my big truck. It spun at 1/4 throttle and was barely audible from 15 yards away.

I just received the WEN Parallel Kit and yesterday tested the WEN56200i in parallel with my Yamaha EF2000is. Both generator sets ran in parallel without any problems. They split the load well with nearly identical RPMs.

Both gensets independently or coupled maintained a good constant speed of 60 cps. The maximum the gensets could charge in parallel was 3,000 watts before the overload light on the WEN 56200i came on.

The Yamaha is a bit stronger. See attached image. I've used them with two 1,500 watt heaters in different settings, as well as my air compressor. The little-known secret is that any brand name inverter generator capable of parallel operation can be paralleled with any other brand. Honda, Yamaha, WEN 56200i , smarter tools, etc.

Pattern Name: Generator

Brand WEN 56200i

Power 1600 watts

Item Dimensions LxWxH 18 x 11 x 18 inch

Item weight 48 lbs

Black and orange color

Voltage 120 volts

Engine type 4 stroke

Displacement 79.7 cubic inches

Output power 2000 Watts

Tank capacity 1 gallon

About this article

Dimensions: 18" x 11" x 18" | Weight: 48 lbs.

Noise level: 53 dB in operation

EPA III and CARB compliant 79.7cc 4-stroke OHV engine produces 2000 peak watts and 1600 watts nominal

Ideal for campsites, construction sites, back doors, and power outages.

Produces clean energy to work safely and prevent damage to sensitive electronic devices such as phones, tablets, televisions, and computers.

Includes two three-pin 120V receptacles, one 12V DC receptacle, and one 5V USB port.

I am really happy with this generator as it suits this purpose. We still have all of our food, not struggling to find gas or ice, and we're sleeping cool and have hot coffee and the DirecTV is getting us news. I can't speak to the long-term reliability of the unit and some of the negative reviews had me nervous, but four days of constant use have me writing this positive review. Very pleased. Hate Irma, love the WEN 56200i.

If you want to know more information about WEN 56200i 2000 Clock it

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choices-love-affair · 4 years

Text

Pedestal ch.4

Ethan stood at the nurses station, discussing a patient notes with another Attending regarding the next step in their care plan that would be beneficial in getting them cured and discharged from Edenbrook. He had officially asked Lorelei out on a date two weeks ago, although the date did not end up lasting awfully long, only getting as far as the carpark outside Donahues before taking her home:

“so, what movie are we watching?” he asked genuinely, as he placed some popcorn into the microwave and poured wine into two glasses. When no he received no answer, he glanced around the living area “Lorelei?” he called out sceptically, beginning to investigate the rest of his apartment.

What he was not expecting to find, however, was her already in his bed dressed in nothing but her lingerie, looking at him, her bottom lip bitten between her teeth “did you bring the popcorn?” she asked.

“Fuck the popcorn” was all he said before slamming the bedroom door shut and descending onto the bed.

Ever since he found the confidence and got over being the jackass that he was being, to ask her out, he found her infiltrating every space of his mind, often absentmindedly fiddling when he was meant to be focusing. They had managed and so far, been successful, in keeping their relationship private, and Lorelei assured him that only Sienna knew. They were smart, being very mindful of their interactions, with only fleeting looks and the occasional peck on the cheek on the way past each other in an empty corridor, and he really hoped they could keep it that way.

He was attempting his hardest to listen to the Attending in front of him, but found his vision often flicking over their shoulder and further down the corridor, noticing Lorelei standing with two other doctors, Trihn and Lahela – of course Lahela, always fucking Lahela. He watched her as Bryce said something and she threw her head back and laughed. Her laugh was so loud, hearty, and boisterous and while it didn’t at all match what you would expect her laugh to sound like, it suited her flamboyant and carefree personality, and just the sound of it elated him, as he softly smiled, a small chuckle escaping him.

“Great, well thanks for that Dr Ramsey, I’ll be sure to pass the information along to ensure we get the patient up and, on their way” the Attending smiled at him invitingly, packing up her files and attempting to regain his focus.

His vision blurred Lorelei out as his attention snapped back to the Attending, granting his face to feign a false smile when he embarrassingly realised he had tuned out from the conversation entirely, “you’re welcome Dr Connolly, keep me updated…”

“Please, call me Elise” she smiled sweetly, her body language changing drastically as she shifted the weight on her feet to angle herself toward him, closing the gap “that tie suits you” she touched it gently before looking back up at him continuing “I was wondering if maybe you’d like to go for a drink after work?”.

“Oh” he began, his rational mind finally coming to the party as he nervously glanced at her. Sure, she was attractive, and in another life, he might have considered it. But not now, and probably not ever, since Lorelei steam rolled her way into his life and he certainly had no intention of changing that “I’m flattered, Dr Connolly” he emphasised, wanting to keep it professional “but I’m spoken for” he smiled at her apologetically.

“Oh! Well that’s certainly news! Forgive me, just the last I heard you and Dr Emery had-“

“Oh, it’s not Dr Emery!” he said hurriedly, putting his guard up once more, he had already said too much.

When Elise realised she would not be getting any more information from him or that drink, she smiled and pulled her shoulders back confidently “well then” she replied “whoever she is, she’s a lucky woman. Thank you for being honest with me” before smiling at him and bidding him farewell.

He breathed out a large sigh of relief, thankful she didn’t ask too many questions and make this situation any harder than it was. He ran his hand through his hair before packing up his files in preparation to leave, when he hazarded a fleeting glance back down the corridor to see if Lorelei was still there, though it appeared she had already left.

A pang of disappointment shot through his body, before he quickly tried to dismiss it, picking up his files, he headed towards the elevators, past where she had just been standing, when his pager went off

“Consult needed, room 913 – Delarosa” he read, before stuffing the pager in his pocket and picking up his pace. Before he could even push the button on the elevator, he heard a cough and glanced around curiously, he had assumed he was alone.

“So…” he heard Lorelei’s voice and turned to find her lent up against a wall down a side corridor “What did Dr Connolly want? She sure looked cosy” she continued nonchalantly, picking at her nails, and trying to remain impartial with her voice and face.

Ethan’s face softened into a small smile that crinkled at his eyes, glancing down the corridor to ensure they were still alone, he approached her “Jealous, are we?” he asked incredulously, eyebrow arching at the refreshing change and role reversal.

“No” shrugged Lorelei, still not meeting his eyes “just curious”

“Well, if you must know, she asked me out for drinks after work” he informed her, watching her face intently and slightly amused when her eyes snapped up possessively as she pushed herself off the wall.

“Oh…well… have fun” she offered, hurt evident in her voice as she attempted to make her way around him, he quickly shifted and blocked her way with his body

“There’s no need to be jealous.” he assured her, voice soft and genuine

“I’m not jealous” she scoffed, face screwing up with disapproval.

“Seems that way. What were you laughing about with Bryce?” he asked

“why were you watching me?”

“why were you watching me?” he shot back instantly

Lorelei considered her next words carefully, although he had offered to at least try to make ‘them’ work, her mind was always clouded with the potential doubt that he would leave the moment things got too much, just like he always did.

“I…” she stammered, kicking at the ground with the toe of her shoe. Ethan reached down and cupped her chin, pulling her face up and making her look at him

“You can talk me” he nodded encouragingly at her, the age gap and emotional maturity obvious.

“I don’t want to share you…” she admitted, voice small “And I know we agreed we weren’t going to be public or even exclusive but I just thoug-“

“we never said anything about not being exclusive…” he chimed in softly, Lorelei’s stomach flipped as she looked up at him, hope flooding her eyes “and for the record… I told her I wasn’t interested” he smiled “I informed her there’s somebody else anyway, although I don’t know how smart that was, the whole hospital will know by noon” he sighed and rolled his eyes, chuckling lowly before continuing “I assumed that that somebody in question was my girlfriend but she seems to think that we aren’t exclusive so I suppose I could always go back and find Elise, take her up on the offer” he looked away from Lorelei’s face around the corner before looking back, a small smirk playing on his lips.

They eyes never leaving one another’s, neither wanting to surrender, as Lorelei grabbed him by his tie and dragged him into the adjacent medical supply closet, closing the door and locking it behind them.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing” he scowled, unimpressed at the random action, Lorelei ignoring him and as she pushed him against the back of the now locked door and reached up to his neck, dragging his head down to meet her lips in a deep and sensual kiss which quickly turned steamy and desperate. Before Ethan could register what was happening, Lorelei had begun undoing his tie in an attempt to remove it “stop… mph” silenced with another of her chaste kisses “Lorelei stop” he said breathlessly as she yanked the tie from his neck and disposed of it on the ground, the top button of his shirt popping off with it as they both stopped to listen to the noise of it bouncing along the floor

“oops…” Lorelei giggled mischievously, biting her lip and looking up at Ethan innocently, before resuming their kiss

Ethan soon found his hands caressing up her thighs and underneath her skirt, toying with the top of her gartered stockings before making his ascent further up, caressing the tops of her thighs as he lost himself in her scent and heady kisses “Jesus Christ” he spoke breathlessly as Lorelei planted kisses along his jaw and neck that rendered him functionless.

Ethan’s mind was going wild, he had never in his entire career considered doing anything like this especially not in a supply closet and DEFINTELY not in his workplace. It went against everything he stood for and yet, he had no intention of stopping her.

Lorelei continued to pepper kisses in the sections she knew sent him wild, as she began pulling his tucked in shirt out from his belt and running her hands along the bare skin of his chest and back down again,

“so, you’re saying that you’re my boyfriend now?” she whispered in his ear as she skimmed her fingers along his pant line, eliciting a shiver from him.

“I’ll be anything you want me to be, Lorelei, just never be threatened by another woman” he replied breathlessly. Unable to handle it any longer, he pushed her off of him and spun her around, pinning her against the door and swapping their positions “you never have to be jealous because it will only ever be you” he growled in her ear, her skirt hitching up as he forced her legs open with his and moved into the newly freed space.

Their kisses intensified, losing themselves in each other and in the moment. Lorelei smirked up at him before attempting to unbuckle his belt, when he became acutely aware of what exactly was happening, and his rational mind once again came to join the party. Before he could change his mind, his hands rushed to hers and stopped them, pulling them up and kissing her knuckles

“stop…” he gestured softly to her, desire flamed in his eyes but nevertheless, his strong will prevailed “not here, we can’t let our guard down. I’m sorry” he apologised as he continued kissing her hands, eyes filled with disappointment before he pushed himself away from her.

“Don’t be sorry, probably not a bad idea” she laugh breathlessly as she fixed her clothes. As she stood and regrouped her hair, she glanced down and noticed his discarded tie still on the ground a wicked thought entered her mind. She bent down to collect it and stood in front of Ethan, watching as he tucked his shirt back into his pants and rebuckled his belt, toying with the material of his shirt that was now missing a button and absently held his hand out for his tie. He looked up at her expectantly when he didn’t receive it, hand still held out, when he saw the mischievous glint she got all to often in her eye.

“Lorelei…” he warned, face hardening with concern as he watched her inch towards the door, unlocking it and slowly turning the handle “Lorelei Stannaway… don’t you dare do what I think you’re about to do, give my tie back” he gestured desperately , fear starting to inch into his face. Lorelei bit her lip before stuffing the tie into her pocket, whipping the door open and slipping unnoticed into the now busy corridor

“Lorelei!” he hissed, to no avail. She was gone “fffffff” he quietly vented “shit!” he surrendered to the situation, standing in the middle of the closet defeatedly, before fixing his hair and attempting to exit the closet without gaining attention.

It had been twenty minutes since he received the page for the consult he was requested for, as he hurriedly entered the patients room, face flushed, although he was unsure if it was from heat or from embarrassment. He was greeted by Ines, two interns and Elise who were now eyeing him disapprovingly at his lack of punctuality. Elise’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at him as she lingered on the now missing tie, broken button and the somewhat dishevelled appearance that now consumed a usually pristine Dr Ethan Ramsey.

Taglist: @ethandaddyramsey @trappedinfandoms @openheart12 @mvalentine @noboundariesplease @miyakokurono (tagging you because you helped this idea come to life)

#open heart #fanfic #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc #playchoices

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matrixaffiliate · 4 years

Text

Endeavor

Chapter Update! FFN and AO3

Next chapter goes up on August 8th! =)

Chapter 2

Ted walked into the office the next morning and went right to the sign that Vic had made the day before. He had scoured the internet to find out what these old machines sounded like and did his best to imitate the noises he'd heard on different obscure YouTube videos as he mimicked stamping his time card. Vic laughed at her desk while he did so.

"Good morning," He grinned at her as he sat in his desk chair. "Did you clock in?"

"Oh yes," Vic nodded seriously, "I want to make sure I keep this job. It's helping to support my family until they find me a good husband."

Ted pushed down the question of whether or not Sean was in the running for her husband and the question of if Sean was worried about helping her keep her job.

"What a noble thing to do, so selfless of you." He grinned when she laughed. He really liked the sound of her laugh.

"So how was running around with Uncle Ron all day yesterday?"

Ted smirked, "Brutal, the hazing here is intense. I don't know how you put up with it."

Vic shook her head, "How else will we know if you're up to working here?"

Ted laughed, "See this is how I know that working here is the right move. I like a group that doesn't mess around, no-nonsense, nose to the grindstone, that's how I like it."

Vic laughed, "I can tell. I don't think there's a bone in your body that knows how to joke around."

"Not a one," Ted shrugged, "some people think it's a waste, but I think they're just jealous."

Vic laughed before her phone rang and she composed herself to answer it.

Ted took advantage of the moment to get his laptop turned on and start unloading the few things he brought for his desk. He'd just started to look through the new potential clients that Ron had been wanting to reach out to when Vic's voice spoke up.

"A wolf figurine?" She picked up the wolf his mum had given him when he finished A-Levels.

Ted gave a nervous laugh, "Er, do you know my last name?"

She bit her lip, "No, does that make me a bad coworker?"

Ted shook his head but he couldn't keep from smiling. "You know if I answer that honestly, I'm only going to make you feel bad."

"Do you even know my last name?" Vic crossed her arms over her chest, still holding the wolf.

Ted smirked, "Why yes, Weasley, I do."

Vic blushed and then laughed, "Fine, I'm an awful person, now what's your last name?"

"You think I'll let you off the hook that easily, Weasley?" Ted grinned. "You underestimate me."

"Oh, come on, I admitted to being awful." She kicked his foot.

"And I admire your honesty." Ted held out his hand for his wolf figurine.

Vic smirked. "I think I'll hold on to this, at least until I guess your last name."

Teddy briefly considered fighting her for it, but he smiled when she rubbed her hand over it like it was a puppy she was petting.

"Sure, hold on to it."

She blinked and bit her lip before smiling, "Thanks, I'll give it back once I figure out your last name."

Ted shrugged and grabbed his phone to call the first company on Ron's list. "I won't hold my breath."

Vic went to argue with him, but Teddy held up his hand and responded to the receptionist that had answered his call.

Her playful glare put a smile on his face for the rest of the calls he had to make.

"Did you bring lunch?" Vic asked as she moved to the fridge.

Ted looked up at the clock and raised his eyebrows. Was it really already one o'clock?

"Er, yeah, I did," Ted pulled his backpack to him.

Vic moved to the card table as Ted sat at his desk and pulled out his sandwich.

"You're going to eat at your desk?"

Ted looked up at her, "Yep."

"Well, this will be an awkward lunch hour. I'm practically shouting at you from over here."

Ted smirked, "Yeah, really awkward."

Vic pulled her drink to her lips and Teddy felt his smirk morphing into a smile. She had something about her, something that kept pulling him in even when his brain kept telling him to back off. Honestly, he needed to stop, she was snogging a guy in the office when he wasn't there. But try as he might, Ted couldn't stop himself. Vic was pulling him in and he couldn't, or maybe he wouldn't stop her.

"Well, what shall we shout about?"

"Do you normally shout with the men in your life?"

"Only when they insist on sitting fifty feet away from me."

"Fifty feet? This office is barely twenty feet across." Ted laughed.

Vic ignored him, "No one likes a cleverclogs, Ted."

He laughed loudly at that one, "Fine, I don't normally care for shouting at the women in my life, but if you insist on eating all the way over there, I can make a special exception for you."

"You're ridiculous," Vic laughed and went to say more when her cell phone rang.

She looked torn as she looked at the screen before mouthing sorry to him and swiping to answer.

"Hi, Sean."

Ted turned to look out the window and tried to push away the annoyance he felt. It would make sense her boyfriend would call over her lunch hour. He tried to tune her out and focus on the cars driving past the office building, but the catch in her voice as she spoke again completely threw that idea out the window.

"Oh, are you sure you can't do that another night?"

Ted focused on chewing his food to keep from turning to look at her.

"No, I understand, just, we planned this out last month."

It was involuntary. Ted glanced her way and saw one of the most dejected looks he'd ever seen, including when Lily was two-years-old and didn't get a second scoop of ice cream.

"Alright, but I'll see you tonight?"

Ted looked back out the window and took a long drink from his water bottle.

"Oh, right, well, text me then."

It wasn't his business, but Ted couldn't help but feel like taking it to blows with Sean. How dare he treat this amazing woman like someone he could blow off?

"Right. Bye."

Ted finally allowed himself to turn his office chair back to face Vic and found her gripping her phone tightly between her hands.

"Everything alright?"

Vic took a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah, just, just plans changing and I've always been a little frustrated when that happens."

"Must be something big to cancel plans that have been set out for a month."

Vic swallowed hard and took a bite of her sandwich. Ted took the hint and moved the conversation forward.

"Well, while you were rudely interrupting our shouting match, I thought we might start shouting about how insane it is that Ron couldn't find space for two more desks at the main office."

Vic grinned. "You're more observant than most. I have two theories on that one."

"Wait!" Ted held up his hand as he set down his sandwich. "We have to make sure that he hasn't bugged the office to spy on us."

He started inspecting the ceiling and the floors, Vic's laughter echoing in the small space. Ted opened the supply closet and the bathroom and the fridge and the microwave before deciding he'd played the part well enough and went back to his desk.

"Alright, I think the coast is clear. Now, what are your theories?"

Vic grinned, "Well, my first theory is that he's protective of me, and doesn't want me involved with all the politicking that happens at the main office. But my second theory is that he doesn't want this to keep being a part of Bread & Butter. I think he's prepping this so that it could become its own operation. And that transition goes much smoother if the people who work here haven't been involved with Bread & Butter at all. I mean, aside from meeting everyone at the main office, did you get contact information? Sure, we could find them over the company system, but we don't do anything that involves them at all. Uncle Ron even hires a different company to deliver for our department than the rest of the company."

Teddy felt his eyes go huge. "Vic you're brilliant!"

Vic blushed, "Well, that's just my speculation…"

"No!" Teddy shook his head, "You're a genius, really, and that's going to completely change the game!"

Ted snagged his notebook and pen and started jotting down notes.

"What are you on about?" Vic moved back to her desk chair and rolled it to his desk.

"Vic, my degree is in marketing, not sales, but your uncle hired me basically on the spot. He's got you running a website and coordinating deliveries. But he's completely cut us off from the rest of Bread & Butter. He told me that he wanted to see me pioneer this division. Vic, we're building a company! And I know how to market that! My job title says Salesman, but I'm sitting on the precipice of being the Chief Marketing Officer. If I can show Ron what I can do to increase my sales, if you and I can grow this into something big, Vic we could be the C-staff of this gig!"

Vic stared at him for a long moment before rolling back to her desk and grabbing a notepad and pen.

"So, what do we do?"

"Why did Ron hire you?" Ted pushed back in his chair.

Vic looked down, "Because I needed a job."

"No," Teddy shook his head, "I will put a thousand pounds down that he did not pity hire you. Did you go to university or any sort of training after A-levels?"

Vic shrugged, "I went to uni, but my degree is in communications, how does that help here?"

Ted looked out the window and thought about it, trying to connect the dots. What did Ron have in store for Vic? Then it hit him.

"You're pretty close with Ron?"

Vic smiled, "I'm his and Aunt Hermione's go-to sitter for Rose and Hugo. And growing up they were always my favorite to play with at family gatherings."

"You're Ron's pick for Chief Operating Officer," Ted scribbled down in his notebook again. "He knows he can trust you to handle anything he throws at you. Did you know anything about managing a website before this?"

Vic shrugged, "No, but it wasn't hard to learn. I watched a load of online courses and I've been able to keep it going pretty well after that."

Ted grinned, "We're building this company up Vic, and we didn't even have to do the hard part, we get to jump into the fun and make this happen!"

"Ted," Vic bit her lip, "I was just speculating. I have no idea if I'm right."

Ted shook his head. "But it doesn't matter if you're right or not. Don't you see Vic? Even if this isn't Ron's intention, we can make this his intention. We can make this big enough to be its own company."

Vic shook her head. "Ted, I don't know the first thing about running a company or even what a chief operating officer is."

Ted looked at the clock, it was nearly two and he had a phone meeting scheduled with a client. "What are you doing after work? We can plan this out, I can teach you what we're working towards, give you the vision of where we're heading."

Vic looked at her cell phone for a moment and licked her lips.

Ted guessed she was thinking about Sean. "This would just be work, Vic, we'll even stay here at the office."

"Right," she kept looking at her black phone screen. "Right, ok, I'm free tonight."

"Perfect," Ted tried to ignore the way his heart beat faster. "We'll order some dinner and then we can start mapping this out, make ourselves a plan."

She smiled and looked back at him, "Sounds great."

Ted would have sworn that all of their clients were talking in slow motion as he had his phone meetings throughout the rest of the day. But finally, five rolled around and Teddy felt like he'd won the lottery.

This wasn't a date; he reprimanded his stupid heart. This was a business planning meeting with dinner involved. This wasn't a date.

"What are you in the mood for?" Vic scrolled through the options on her computer.

"I'm not picky, my family has always been pretty adventurous when it comes to food."

"Oh, there's an Indian place the next street over, how does that sound?"

Ted grinned, "Sounds good, but I doubt they'll do as well as my Uncle James."

"Uncle Harry's dad?"

Ted nodded. "Hands down he could out cook the majority of the Indian restaurants in London."

"I'll have to try that sometime then. But what do you want from here?"

They placed their orders and when it came time to enter the payment, Ted pushed her chair so it rolled across the room and quickly typed in his card info and paid.

"I have cash, I can pay you my share." Vic shoved her chair at him.

"How are you going to get me to take your cash? You don't even know my last name." Ted sat back down in his chair and grinned.

"I could stick it in your shirt pocket." She grabbed her purse out of her desk and started counting out the correct number of bills.

"I'll throw it back at you. I'm not the sort of bloke to throw money at women, but when it's her own money I'll make a special exception." Ted put his hands behind his head and leant back in his chair and smirked.

"Here," she stood and slipped the small wad of bills into his shirt pocket.

Ted almost shivered at her touch, but just as soon as she pulled her hand away, he grabbed the money and threw it back at her.

"You're not paying me back."

Vic picked up the money from the floor. "Come on, aren't we supposed to be coworkers?"

"I don't use bills," Ted shrugged, "I'd probably just lose them. It's a waste of your money to pay me back."

"Really, Ted, you can't just go buying me dinner."

"Of course, I can, you don't know my last name, I can get away with almost anything right now," Ted smirked at her.

"You know, all I have to do is find you on the company roster and I'd know your last name."

"Do you know my first name?" Ted kicked his feet out in front of him.

"No, I'm just calling you Ted because it felt right."

Teddy ignored the way his heart beat harder at her wording.

"Ted is a shortened version of my name, and there happens to be more than one name that shortens to Ted." He smirked at her. "The company roster has my full proper name, Weasley."

Vic narrowed her eyes at him. "I could always call Aunt Ginny."

Ted shrugged, "You could, I don't think you will, but you could. She is my godmother, after all, she would definitely want to know why you want to know my full name."

Vic bit her lip. "If I knew your full name would you take the money?"

"Nope," Teddy grinned at the groan Vic let out.

"You are absolutely impossible!"

"Infuriating isn't it? You should meet the men who taught me how to do this."

"You mean there are men out there who teach you to be awful?" Vic kicked half-heartedly at his feet still stretched out near her chair.

"Oh yes, they taught me all of the awful things, like paying for dinner and holding doors open and being kind and saying please and thank you and asking for consent and all the other things that turn you into a right scoundrel."

Vic chuckled, "Sound like a group of tossers."

Ted smiled; the Marauders had their moments.

"They're the best men I know."

"I'd like to meet them someday."

Her voice had a softer quality to it and Ted felt his heart caving into the sound of it combined with the little smile that touched her lips.

"So, keep your money," Ted tried to bring the joking back as he cleared his throat. "Because those same men will kick my arse if you don't."

"That I might pay to see." Vic laughed and put her foot out to tap his.

"So cruel," Ted shook his head.

Then their dinner arrived and Ted was grateful for the interruption. He was quickly finding himself falling fast with Vic and he didn't want to stop himself. This woman was everything he'd ever looked for and he just felt in sync with her. It was easy, too easy. So easy that he was already having to stop himself from reaching out to touch her. She wasn't his. She had a boyfriend. He needed to back off. He needed to stop.

But he didn't. He justified it by telling himself that this opportunity to grow their division into its own operation was too good to pass up. And Vic deserved this. She deserved to see how far she could go. To see that Ron trusted her more than she probably understood. And if he could give her that, well, it would be worth holding himself back, mostly.

"Alright, I'm going to have to roll myself out of here." Vic moved what was left of her food to the fridge. "Let's get started and you can teach me all those things I need to know to help run a start-up."

Ted grinned and put the rest of his food in the fridge with hers.

"Good idea, the sooner we start the better, you don't want to be driving home in the dark." Ted teased.

Vic blushed, "Well, I go home to my parents' so I'd prefer it after dark. Then most everyone is asleep."

"Alright then, I'll make sure to go into great depth and detail to make sure you aren't leaving here until well after sunset. Then you can pretend you bought your childhood home and live alone with your cat."

Vic scoffed, "Do I look like a woman who would own a cat?"

Ted nodded, "Oh yes, you have the crazy cat lady vibe going for you."

Vic threw a napkin at him, "I hate you."

"How can you hate me? You've known me for less than 72 hours." Ted threw the napkin back at her.

"You just called me a crazy cat lady!"

"No, I said you had the vibe for it," Ted kicked her foot from under the card table. "I'm sure you'll not end up alone without anyone to fill the companionship void but a cat."

"You don't like cats?" Vic kicked his foot back.

"Cats are alright, but I'm not much of a pet person. I like Uncle Sirius' dog well enough, but pets seem like a lot of work for a lot of feedback that doesn't appeal to me. I don't find joy in sitting with a dog or a cat. And I don't really like watching anything you'd keep in an atrium."

"Do you want kids then? Or are they like pets?"

"Are you kidding me?" Ted laughed. "Having kids is completely different than having pets. Kids are little humans that you get to help grow and here's the best part, kids ultimately can handle their bowel movements without any help from me."

Vic's laughter came bursting out of her and Ted couldn't help but admire the way she looked so happy.

"But, yeah, I'm looking forward to being a dad." He rubbed the back of his neck to keep his hand from reaching across the table for her.

Vic's smile went just a touch sad and Ted frowned.

"Hey, you alright?"

She sighed, "Yeah, just wish more blokes were like you."

Ted's heart flipped in his chest.

"But that's neither here nor there," Vic pulled her notepad to her. "Let's get down to business."

Ted blinked, "Er, right."

Ted moved to retrieve his notebook and felt a small smile tug at his lips. Because Vic said she wished more guys were like him, and Ted hoped the underlying message was she wished Sean were like him. Or maybe that he was in Sean's place.

He was so screwed.

#Endeavor #tedoire #tedoire fanfic #tedoire fanfiction #tedoire au #tedoire muggle au #teddy x victoire #ted x vic #teddy lupin #victoire weasley #teddy lupin x victoire weasley #romance #fluff #muggle au #harry potter fanfiction #coworkers romance

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olliethealright · 3 years

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Three Steps From Home - Update #3

Hey everyone, I guess I’m back again. Today, I’m gonna update on the next two chapters of my current WIP. This will be about chapters nine and ten, AKA 3558 words of an honestly stupid amount of food description, Jude being emo, and Aaron deciding if he’s amused or horrified. This is a long one, so the update is under the break.

TRIGGER WARNING: homophobia, emotional abuse, religious content, mentions of conversion therapy

ALSO: these are all my personal words, characters and ideas, please do not use without my consent.

chapter nine - how you met my mother - 1944 words

theme song - let you down - NF

Okay so this chapter is kind of emo and every much a mess, sorry in advance. I’m going to rework this chapter because Aaron is just kind of there and he doesn’t pull his weight (or literally any weight oops), so keep that in mind.

Summary: Aaron and Jude meet Jude’s mom for brunch, and this chapter is basically just the drama that goes down at the brunch and then the fallout that happens afterwards.

excerpts:

Jude VS his mother feat. Aaron just trying to be nice

Maybe once a month, my mother remembered she was a competent cook and there’s more food to be eaten than microwave dinners and cheap takeout. She had recalled her cooking skills that day, and apart from her eggs, which were notoriously near-poisonous, the meal was almost enjoyable.

My mother sat on one side of the table and we occupied the other, she served beans, fried potatoes, corn tortillas, and those damn eggs. We held a casual enough conversation, but your knee was already pressed into mine in case things went off the deep end. You wanted to feel my muscles contract, you wanted to drag me out before I said anything I would regret.

“Why him?” my mother finally asked in Spanish when she had enough of our bullshit and pleasantries.

“Because,” I answered in English. “He’s a good guy, he looks out for me. We’re a good match, Ma, he makes me happy.”

You beamed at me as I avoided my mother’s gaze, and for a moment, I thought that would be the end of it. Across the table, she sighed as if I was the nurse who told her that her only son died. To be fair, I may have done the equivalent; in her universe, you weren’t supposed to make me happy, and nothing would have shattered that world, not even my smile when I looked at you.

and... Jude’s mom bringing up his MAJOR daddy issues

“Get rid of him, before he abandons you like your father did,” she hissed in Spanish the second you were gone. “No one can love you when you are like this, especially not that boy, and especially not me.”

I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood and tried not to look like a kicked animal. “You don’t know Aaron, Ma,” I said carefully, finally answering her Spanish with my own. “He’s not Dad. He likes me as I am, just like you should.”

Her eyes shone, and I knew I had set her up to say exactly what she wanted, I had given her the perfect setup, the gasoline for her fire. “He’s worse than your father. He will always make you feel like an outsider, you will never know how he really feels. But, if you go now, the pastor will still take you. He agreed that you’d be a tough case, that you’re almost beyond help, but he can help you, Jude.”

The way she said it, the proposal almost sounded fair. Thankfully, you cut her off with desert balanced on your arms in a way that only a barista would know how. You set cups of caramel custard in front of us and I dug into mine before I said anything I shouldn’t have.

I’m not going to share anymore because I don’t really like this chapter, but essentially what happens is Jude’s mom is unpleasant, Jude and Aaron leave and Aaron almost talks about his mother, but doesn't (and no one is surprised).

chapter ten - x (I cannot figure out what to call this one haha) - 1606 words

theme song - TALK ME DOWN - troye sivan

I actually don’t mind how this chapter turned out. I love the dynamic between Jude and Aaron in this one, it makes me strangely happy even though it’s not necessarily a happy chapter.

Summary: This one takes place a few months after the last one, Jude and his mother haven’t really talked and he’s finally starting to feel more free of her. Aaron surprises Jude on his birthday with breakfast and fake Amtrak tickets, and the two decide to move to Seattle together. There is a small flashback of the boys after the events of chapter ten where Aaron gets upset.

excerpts:

Aaron and Jude joking about the brunch with Jude’s mom (featuring my favorite piece of Aaron dialogue because he would totally become Gordon Ramsey if he thought he could pull it off)

Your breakfast was excellent. The pancakes were fluffy and sweat, they carried the telltale taste of Krusteaz mix, the kind my dad had made on special occasions. The sausages were as good as frozen supermarket sausages could get, and your eggs were miles better than my Mother’s, which were essentially my only point of reference.

“These might be the best eggs I’ve ever had,” I said.

“That’s only because your Mother’s eggs are, no offense, horrible. I think I saw her put cinnamon in those things. Cinnamon! That’s like the first rule they teach you at cooking school: don’t put cinnamon in your fucking eggs.”

A week later, it was decided. You wanted a place we could discover together. I wanted to get away from churchgoers who talked about Jesus like a cult leader and called me a sinner when they passed on the street, just loud enough for me to hear. I wanted to hold your hand without looking over my shoulder.

I insisted on buying the cardboard moving boxes, but you stole my computer when you saw the Amtrak website open in my browser, refusing to let me buy my own birthday present. We decided on Seattle because you wanted to smell the sea breeze wafting from the Pacific, the only ocean you’d never seen. Seattle because I had never seen an ocean or a big city, because I wanted to go to the top of the Space Needle every weekend, because it was far away from nowhere, Montana.

Our apartment was packed within a week, we didn’t have many possessions to speak of; most of yours were books that stacked neatly into boxes, and I barely had a trash bag’s worth of clothing to call my own. We surfed the internet until we could find an apartment we didn’t hate on a street that wasn’t claustrophobic, but was still close enough to the bustle of the city that we would still be able to hear the noise and taste the gasoline on every street corner. In another week, we would be gone, in a month, we would be forgotten altogether.

Okay, well there it is! At this point, updates will probably all be 1-2 chapters each because I’ve almost caught up with myself. I hope you enjoyed this update, send me an ask if you have questions! Thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far, and remember: don’t put cinnamon on your fucking eggs.

-ollie

#book #threestepsfromhome #novel #author #writing #writer #writblr #story #sad #fun

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onthevirgeofdestruction · 4 years

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Painful Death for the Lactose Intolerant - BCE (Before Cult Events) -

Words: 2,553 Warnings: Depression, Child abandonment, Food Characters: Virgil Universe: Painful Death for the Lactose Intolerant Genre: Angst

Sanders Sides Teenager AU - Friendship - Humor - Angst

Virgil and Remus and Remy have been drunk idiots who are barely coping for a long time. Do you want more Teenage Debauchery? Because you’re getting teenage debauchery and a little angst, as a treat.

Please read Painful Death for the Lactose Intolerant First if you haven’t already- there are minor spoilers for it!

Chapter 7: That’s the Dream

Virgil hated the days Remus didn’t stay over. This stupid house was too empty without Remus’s loud presence. Virgil shouted out in anger as he tossed his backpack on the ottoman just to listen to the echo. Virgil picked up the remote and turned on the TV, picking the first thing on his recently played to listen to while he nuked himself lunch. Well, if you could consider anything eaten after 3 PM lunch.

He liked the noise, just leaving the TV on. It was a habit now, anyway. He wouldn’t even consider playing a game on the TV without Remus, honestly. It felt wrong. But having the TV on seemed right. Virgil sat on the kitchen counter and watched TV through the pass-through while he ate ‘lunch’, which was a microwave meal of biryani chicken. He finished and leaned over to rinse the container and the fork in the sink and left them to dry and climbed up the small backsplash over the sink to jump down into the living room.

Leaving the door wide open to listen to the TV, he went into the small office just off the living room. His parents used the desktop in here. A long time ago. Virgil had just taken over the computer. It was clear they didn’t care about this workstation, just as much as they didn’t care about Virgil. He kicked off his shoes near the door and sat down at the desk, using his toe to turn on the desktop while he leaned back. He waited for it to boot. It was an older computer and took a bit. He chewed on his lip nervously.

The TV wasn’t enough today, it seemed. It was still just so… empty. Virgil was freezing and lonely and sad. Sadder then he had any right to be. Nothing was really wrong. It’s not like his parents were hitting or yelling at him anymore. There was food in the fridge and alcohol on the shelf. They paid for the water and electricity. Nothing was actually a problem in his life. He had no right to feel this way.

People always mentioned how they were jealous of him if he complained to anyone. They wished they were home alone. They wished they had the run of the house. They wished they got to pick the groceries. So Virgil knew he was wrong to hate it desperately. Everyone always told him that he was living the dream. It was stupid to hate it, right? It was stupid to be sad about it. His feelings about it were stupid. The empty house was the dream.

It was so killer his parents bought him alcohol. He was so lucky that they didn’t care what he did or watch his grades or have discussions with him. How cool was it that no matter what Virgil did they’d never bother to reprimand him? He was just a whiner. He didn’t understand how good he had it. He didn’t understand how bad it was for other kids. Virgil groaned and dropped his head hard on the oak desk and the monitor creaked in protest. He tiredly reached up without looking and entered the password to log in.

Time to pretend he wasn’t here all alone all evening! Virgil loaded up his favourite websites. Some art ones, YouTube, a crypid blog, Reddit, general places he could interact with people. Nothing really. Very few notifications. No new comments on his art. The Reddit didn’t have much to comment on. The blog hadn’t updated, even his discord was dead. Remus was busy, probably, and Remy’s dad was maybe home, so Remy had to pretend to do his homework. And actually do homework. Virgil gave up on homework ages ago, though. He wrote it down. He had the pages right there. He never did it. There was no point.

Trying an MMO could help. Hop in on some raids and chat with them. It didn’t happen every time, but sometimes spamming an instance with the same group would cause a little bit of temporary bonding, and he did really want a rare weapon drop from a raid instance he just leveled into. The damn game needed updating, so Virgil took a piece of paper and just mindlessly sketched the character on the loading splash in a new pose. He kind of liked her dress and thought her hair was pretty. Virgil glanced at his phone’s lack of notifications with a sigh and kept drawing during this stupid long update.

It was so painfully quiet in here it hurt, even with the TV on. There was still at least another half hour on the downloader and Virgil abandoned the sketch, completely unable to focus. He wandered the house pointlessly. He checked all the locks on the windows again, except his parent’s room since he couldn’t stomach going in there. Nothing had changed. Nothing had a reason to. It was just him and this stupid giant silent house. He couldn’t take the silence ringing in his hears. He groaned and started singing loudly, listening to it echo off the walls as he walked through the house.

‘Friends on the Other Side’ might not have been the best choice, because now the shadows in his house were getting suspicious. He flipped on all the house just to get rid of them. Virgil couldn’t stop pacing madly and gripping himself, so he went into the kitchen to nuke a mug of milk to make some shit hot cocoa from powder. He needed something. Virgil climbed up on the counter and just listened to the microwave’s hum while some terrible sitcom played in the background. He rubbed his face in frustration. It was dumb! It was dumb! He was lucky! Virgil yelled in frustration again. The microwave finally beeped and Virgil mixed in his cocoa packet.

Virgil dropped off his mug in the living room and grabbed his sketchbook and a CD from his bedroom. He loaded a CD into the stereo and set it low, then picked a TV show he actually liked on the TV. He sketched one of his OCs while the TV and stereo played. It almost wasn’t so empty in here with the stereo going. Virgil sketched himself playing cheese with another character next.

He had to get up and change the CDs twice until he was finally hungry enough to consider dinner. Virgil got up and dug around in the freezer for another microwave dinner, chucking a random one in the microwave without really looking at what it was. He didn’t really care. Virgil ate it while leaned against the kitchen counter and watching the TV. It was still ice cold in the center, but it wasn’t inedible. He just had to chew harder. Virgil rinsed stuff and returned went to go finally play his damn game. It finished loading ages ago, but it took so long he got distracted trying to distract himself.

Grinding the raid wasn’t the worst thing. Virgil was getting good levels and caught on quick, guiding people who didn’t run to the first task right away as he played. He did eventually find a group that was grinding it as he was randomly placed with groups. It took 6 instances for them to start jumping in boredom while they waiting for the boss to spawn. It took another 4 and they were finally chatting in the 2 or 3 minutes of downtime each raid. He even already got the sword he wanted and kept playing. They were nice enough and the levels were good. It was almost like being with other people. They were talking about books, even.

Remus finally messaged the group chat with one of his gore-or memes, and Virgil sighed in relief. It was stupid, but it felt like Remus forgot about him for a bit. Virgil pestered Remus to come online and play with him, but Remus said he was stuck at one of his parent’s stupid events where he had to pretend he wasn’t hallucinating and stay quiet. Remus technically wasn’t even supposed to be texting, but he had been sneaking it under the table when he had a chance. Virgil didn’t know why they forced Remus to be at these things if they barely tolerated him in the first place. Appearances were just too important to them, and that included pretending they didn’t openly hate Remus maybe. Virgil wished he could light one of his mom’s stupid gauzy dresses on fire with her in it. He grumbled, but the new raid had loaded and he continued grinding with his group.

The others seemed to enjoy talking too since all the items they were all trying to grind for were achieved and they kept playing. Virgil had a nearly complete set of the rare armor drop from this raid. He didn’t even care for it, it wasn’t worth much to sell and was barely better than his current gear, but they had gotten into a debate on the motivations behind the events of the Divergent series and Virgil wasn’t going to stop.

Eventually, everyone else had to leave. Virgil put up all the spare armor up for bid and equip everything. The set bonus was admittedly nice. He quested alone for a bit, now that he was significantly over-leveled for many of them he breezed through the quests in the area and moved on. But that tingling started back up in the back of his head eventually. The one that let him know he was alone and that none of the conversations was real. They didn’t even friend request him at the end. It was late enough that most of his guild wasn’t online. The hardcore players were doing PVP and not talking. Virgil sighed and found an inn to get a resting bonus at to sign out. It was already past midnight and he couldn’t even pretend he was tired.

Virgil knew this was dumb. He knew it was dangerous. He knew he shouldn’t do this. But he slipped back on his shoes and grabbed his keys, heading out the front door. The evening air was warm and nice, outside. It was a little overcast, but he could make out a few stars in the night sky. He wished he could see more. He loved the stars. Looking at them always made him feel better. The stars were always there, they could never leave him.

He slid his hands in his pockets and kicked a rock along with him as he headed down the street until it jumped off the curb. He watched it for a moment and moved on. Not being in the house anymore, where he was stuck all the time, helped. He hated being there. He hated the sound of the A/C and the smell of the couch. It was dumb. He was supposed to appreciate this. Why couldn’t he appreciate this? Virgil flipped up his hood and headed towards the park. He didn’t really have anywhere else to go.

He kicked his legs under him and swung higher on the swing set. The set creaked slightly in the night, but otherwise, it wasn’t obvious anyone was out here. Virgil watched the stars close in and recede as he swung. Staring at him gave his head a fuzzy feeling he could describe, but it was both uncomfortable and comforting. He couldn’t think about how bad he was at appreciating things or how much he missed Remus and Remy. The fuzzy feeling just overtook his brain and he embraced it. Virgil gripped the chain and swung as high as he could without the chain clattering loudly, enjoying the fresh smell and the different sights for once.

Virgil must have stopped paying attention at one point because when he realized what was happening he was sitting on the swing completely still while he watched the scattered clouds pass overhead. Virgil rubbed his face and pulled out his phone. The light on his screen blinded him momentarily and he hissed at it, rubbing his eyes. When he reopened them the screen had dimmed down. Shit, he had been out here for ages. Virgil slid his phone back into his pocket and hopped off the swing to head back home. He shouldn’t be out this late.

“I’m home,” Virgil called pointlessly to the empty house as he entered and locked up, sliding the bar under the door handle. Virgil picked up his mug from the living room to rinse out as he got a glass of water. Virgil sighed as he leaned against the fridge and sipped his cup of water, staring at the clock. He should probably get to bed sometime soon. Virgil went to go shower and change for bed.

He left his clothes for tomorrow folded on the bathroom counter to change into quickly and headed into his bedroom after turning off all the lights he left on in the house. There was no point in closing his bedroom door, but the dark hall always scared him, even though he never admitted it to anybody. His brain played tricks on him with the shadows in the hall and he saw things. It was easier to close the door.

Virgil crawled up into bed and laid down, pulling out his phone. It was time to space out to social media. His brain was still kind of fuzzy from earlier and the walk must have helped tire him because he was exhausted even though he barely did anything once he got home from school. Not that he did much at school either. Remus wasn’t here last night either and he had trouble sleeping, so he was too tired today for much. Virgil glanced around his dark bedroom, making sure everything was in place.

His eyes caught on the small locked box on his desk and sighed. Remus would kill him if he found out he did it again and Virgil was bad at keeping on his hoodie when he got drunk. He had grown out of it, he told himself. He wasn’t that weak anymore. He didn’t have to depend on it anymore. Remus came over often now and it made all the empty, silent nights easier. But Virgil still couldn’t throw out the box. And on nights like this sometimes it played at him. Just in passing. He didn’t think he would. He wouldn’t even touch the box tonight, though sometimes he did. Sometimes just holding the box was enough. He didn’t need to tonight. But it was still there. It was an option he kept open.

Virgil pulled his eyes back to his phone and appreciated the fact that the cyptid and conspiracy theory boards were finally alive and he talked with them, sending interesting theories to the group chat. Remy always claimed he hated getting them and that Virgil sent them too late, but Remy was the one reading and responding to them. Remy always called them dumb, but Virgil appreciated that even if he really thought they were dumb he took the time to read things Virgil was interested in. It made him feel better, and he needed that tonight. Because tonight the silent house and the lack of a single soul nearby that cared if he lived or died were both too loud to deal with.

Tags: @elizabutgayer @ollyollyoxinfree

#tsss #sanders sides #tsss fanfiction #sanders sides fanfiction #tsss fanfic #painful death #ayri writes #virgil angst #child abandonment #food #vague self-harm referance #self-hatred #anxiety #depression #ts virgil

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thevengeanceuniverse · 4 years

Text

Music is Worthless (WinterIron)

Read the whole thing here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24563422

~~~

Barnes took a hell of a long time to find, leading Steve in a merry chase around the world as he thoroughly waged war on any Hydra bases he had ever been housed in or heard whispers of.

Steve was gone more often than not, coming back for a few days every few months when he lost the trail, back to Tony so he could aim him in the right direction.

Tony didn’t blink at Steve’s increasing favours. He provided all the funds, created new algorithms for the search, researched the background of Bucky Barnes and the Winter Soldier program, kept the team together and safe during battle. He did not think about the fact that Steve had dropped everything at the mere mention of Bucky Barnes.

Sifting through 70 years of torture and brainwashing protocol brought back his own nightmares. They blended together, making him remember the waterboarding, the yelling in his ears, the shock that lit him with painful intensity as car battery met with water and became electrocution.

Electrocution would turn into Barnes’ electroshock therapy and the hands holding down his arms would be bound to a chair. He would scream and scream, but there would be no sound. Gagged with the mouth guard, there would only be heartacheing, back-breaking, soul-shattering pain and that black hole of silence.

Once again, sleeping wasn’t the most successful experiment so far, but at least when he pushed himself far enough his body took over and knocked him out. He would catch a precious few hours before the nightmares came to say hi and then he would wake up with the trapped screams in his throat and get back to work.

It was like an alarm clock.

Even as he adjusted to his new normal, life decided to be the everlasting gift that it was and exposed a buried video from December 16th, 1991.

He threw up the first time he saw it, the image of Bucky Barnes killing Howard playing in his head over and over against the soundtrack of his mother having the life choked out of her.

Then he watched it obsessively, disturbed by finally seeing his parents after so many years with none of the accompanying music that made it feel like them. If he didn’t recognize their faces and voices, he could almost fool himself that it was strangers, people he didn’t know that wouldn’t make him feel grief and anger and sadness and every other negative emotion under the sun.

The one bare comfort he got out of it was that the main thing that Howard thought of as he was dying was helping Maria. Maybe he wasn’t such a heartless bastard after all.

He was still dead though.

He decided he wasn’t going to tell Steve, continuing to update him on the Winter Soldier’s movements and seeing him off to places unknown as scheduled.

He was so wrapped in the process of finding the man that he forgot what actually was supposed to happen when they found him. Until Steve landed the Quinjet on the Tower’s pad and out walked him and James Buchanan Barnes following like a dark, solemn shadow.

Tony locked down the lab immediately, bending over his knees as he struggled to breathe and remember what he’d been trying to convince himself of: Barnes was separate from the person responsible for the murder of his parents, that that sin lay at the Winter Soldier’s feet and the man had been tortured and had his memory and his very self wiped away like condensation on glass.

He didn’t come out of the lab for three days.

Tony was being an absolute creep and watching James Barnes through the safety of JARVIS’ many, many eyes in the sky. Barnes was subdued most of the time, always scanning the room as if he expected to be attacked at any moment and stiffening any time anyone touched him, even Steve.

But even as Steve’s face fell every time Barnes pulled away, Barnes’ face was impassive, set in a blank mask that said nothing of how he was feeling. It was as if he had no emotion at all. He watched everyone, and from where he was sequestered away, Tony watched him.

He decided to attempt his escape in the middle of the night when no one would see him. His stomach had started to cannibalize itself and all he had left was a moldy piece of bread. Tony wasn’t desperate enough to sink to that yet.

Peeking down from the elevator and seeing the lights off in the kitchen, he crept forward as carefully as he could while listening for any sounds of music or movement. When he heard nothing, he gave up on his Mission Impossible moment and strode into the kitchen, heading straight for the coffee pot.

The magic mix successfully brewing, he opened the fridge and started rummaging through the leftovers. Clint would be pissed that he’s taking the last of the Thai food, but Tony wasn’t worried. Thor was the only one you looked out for when stealing food, Tony didn’t even dare look in the direction of his PopTarts.

Popping the food in the microwave to reheat, he took the time when he was waiting to scrub some of the grease caked on his hands. He didn’t even remember how those got there.

“So you’re Tony Stark.”

Yelping, Tony whipped around to be confronted with one James Buchanan Barnes, shock and disbelief radiating through his core.

Holy shit, this motherfucker is Silent too.

Tony and Barnes stared at each other a long moment. Tony because he was trying to wrap his mind around two impossibly Silent people and Barnes because he just didn’t care to end it.

Packaging up his shock to deal with later, Tony plastered a welcoming grin on his face. “Sergeant Barnes, well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

Barnes forehead creased at Tony’s flirtatious tone, not responding even as he watched him. Tony was unnerved by the intensity of his attention, but he covered that with babble.

“I hope you’ve been having a wonderful stay here at Chez Stark, has Steve given you the grand tour yet?”

“I didn’t think you wanted me here, seeing as you’ve been avoiding me.” Barnes folded his arms across his chest, gaze still pinned on Tony.

“No, you misunderstand,” Tony waved off the accusations. “I’ve just been busy with a few very important projects—of which I would tell you about but then I’d have to kill you.”

Barnes gave him a once over sceptically. “I am absolutely sure I can take you.”

“Is that a diss?” Tony responded, astonished. “Do you actually have a sense of humour buried under all those scowly eyebrows, Robocop?”

Barnes shrugged succinctly.

“Ah, I see, a man of few words. Okay, Snowflake I’ll have you know that if I had the suit on, your ass would be kicked three ways to Sunday.”

“Maybe I’m too old for generation, but when people said that when I came from, you actually needed the ability to back up those words, Shortstuff.”

Tony let out an insulted squawk. “I am not short.”

Barnes raised a brow and Tony could almost hear the “Really?” Reaching behind him for Tony’s coffee cup, he offered it for Tony to take, only to pull it back and hoist it above his head the moment Tony reached out. Lunging for it, Tony came up short and ended up banging his knee on the bottom counter door on the way down.

“What are you, five?” Tony retorted scathingly, glaring when he caught the sound of Barnes’ snort. In response, the man just handed Tony his coffee without fuss, before pushing him into a chair at the table. Grabbing the food from the microwave, he put it on a plate in front of Tony with a quiet order, “Eat.”

Suddenly remembering that he was ravenous, Tony arrowed in on his (stolen) food, groaning happily when spices exploded on his tongue. Yea, free food really was the best.

“You know, you aren’t half bad Barnes,” Tony complimented as he finished up, wiping his face and putting his dishes in the sink.

“Is that something you decided right now?” Barnes paused and Tony felt the air on the back of his neck prickle. “Or is that what you decided after watching me on your cameras for three days?”

Tony debated whether to deny it or not, raising an innocently curious eyebrow when he decided that a silent response was the best response.

“I could hear the whir of the cameras adjusting on me when I came into the room.”

“How the hell did you hear something as soft as that?”

Barnes just tapped his ear casually, as if being able to hear near soundless noises even in a room full of people was an everyday occurrence.

“I wondered why you would want to keep an eye on me even when going to such lengths to avoid me. The only reason I can come up with is that you know I killed Howard and Maria Stark.” At this confession, emotion flashed across Barnes’ face too fast for Tony to read, like the bare glimpse of silvery fish in water.

Tony flinched at the confirmation, at the reminder of what he had spent the last three days struggling to reconcile with. Taking a breath, he reminded himself of the other videos he had seen in his search for Barnes, the ones that revealed the extent that James Buchanan Barnes’ personality had been wiped away to become the Winter Soldier. He had felt connected to this man, and Tony pulled on those memories of connection, trying to let those emotions guide him.

“It wasn’t you, it was the Winter Soldier. You had no choice.” It sounded rehearsed, like Tony was just trying to convince himself of his own words and it wasn’t working, not on him and not on Barnes.

“Mr. Stark—”

“—was my father. And your friend.” Tony let out a sigh, giving up on trying to say the right thing and just going for the truth. “He was your friend, someone you knew and someone who knew you. I watched the video, listened to the way he greeted you a million times. He was happy to see you Sergeant Barnes, recognizing you even after all those years and relieved to see you alive and well. And that more than anything says that the man you were that day was not the man that my father had known, was not a man you chose to be. You were robbed of your choice that day, and many more days before and after that and I can’t blame you for things that were beyond your ability to control.”

Tony extended his hand. “But we both are in control of this situation right now, Sergeant Barnes and I choose to forgive you. But you also have to make the choice to forgive yourself.”

Barnes shook his head in a negative immediately and made no move to take Tony’s hand.

“It won’t be easy—trust me, you’re talking to the Merchant of Death here and I committed my sins fully in control of my decisions, but you have to at least be willing.”

Barnes scrutinized him for a long minute before slowly, hesitantly grasping Tony’s hand with his own and shaking firmly.

“Sergeant Barnes, it’s good to finally meet you. Welcome home.”

“Thank you, Tony. Call me Bucky.”

With the dreaded confrontation out of the way, Bucky became a regular visitor to the lab, sometimes with Steve and sometimes not but when they did come together, they didn’t interact that much, all of their focus on being with Tony.

If Tony had been spoiled before with Steve’s attention, now he was downright rotten. He got used to Steve reclaiming his spot on the couch to draw or call out questions as Bucky and Tony ran around conducting fun (explosive and dangerous) experiments with the arm.

Sometimes Bucky came alone when Steve was out or when things turned bad. He never begrudged Tony for not always noticing him at first, playing with the robots until Tony was ready. Then they would sit next to each other and they would drink the expensive Turkish coffee Bucky would bring in a thermos and he would talk about all the things he didn’t feel ready to share with Steve.

Bucky would bring out the broken parts of him he only felt safe enough to entrust to Tony and Tony was listen and sometimes entrust his nightmares to Bucky.

Sitting with the shattered pieces of their selves around them, Tony realized that he had fallen in love with Bucky Barnes.

#winteriron #buckytony #bucky x tony #bucky barnes #tony stark #fanfic #soulmates #soulmate fic #stuckony #winterironshield #vengeanceworks #music is worthless

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gwenbrightly · 5 years

Text

Never A Perfect Moment 2

Crossposted from ffnet

Kai blearily peeked out of his hammock, still fully ensconced in the fluffy blankets Lloyd was so taken with. He could just barely make out the sleeping forms of his family on the several hideaway beds, additional hammock, and one air mattress that had been hastily inflated a few nights back when they first arrived at the apartment that Lloyd had taken up residence in while the rest of them were off on their individual missions. None of the others were up yet. Why was he even awake? So early…. Misako and Wu were probably still fast asleep in the loft he was currently dangling from. He snuggled back down, hoping that maybe he'd fall back asleep. He'd take every bit of rest he could get at this point. Everything that had transpired recently was definitely starting to catch up with him. It was hard to believe that several days had already passed since they had all been reunited. Life had been a whirlwind of phone calls, hospital visits, takeout meals, and restoration efforts. So much clean up and repair work… that alone took up countless hours. The busyness was good, he supposed. Kai had less time to worry about Skylor's fragile health when he was distracted by the hundreds of tasks that needed doing in order to return the city to its former glory. Somewhere in all the chaos, however, a small glimmer of light had appeared. Late into the previous evening, they had received word that the master of amber's condition had been updated to stable. Even if she wasn't conscious yet, it was a vast improvement over the puking, seizures and assisted breathing that had initially plagued her. And this fact was enough to give Kai all the hope he needed. The master of fire planned to be present whenever her body decided that it was time to wake up. Part of him wanted to kiss her senseless when it finally happened. But given the… undefined nature of their relationship, he wasn't sure she'd appreciate the gesture. He didn't want to hurt her…And he wasn't quite sure how to go about bringing it up without making the entire situation even more complicated than it already was. The master of fire buried his face beneath a pillow, trying once more to lull himself back to sleep. When it didn't work, he gave a muffled groan. He was going to need a nap later at this rate. Giving up on the idea of sleeping more, Kai quietly slipped from his hammock, navigating his way towards the quaint little kitchen. If he were going to be awake, he might as well do something productive and fix a nice breakfast for them to enjoy before another hectic day began (even if his cooking was nowhere near Zane's level). The master of fire tiptoed past a snoring Cole, then edged around the hideaway that currently housed both Jay and Nya, who were currently cuddling more excessively than he would've preferred. It looked like Jay had graduated from hugging pillows to subconsciously clinging to his girlfriend. But, they had been through an awful lot lately. And he was fairly certain that he'd heard the master of lightning mention something about yin and yang symbols at least once while they'd been in the First Realm. So. He should probably leave them be. In the quiet gloom, master of fire nearly tripped over a sweatshirt that someone (Cole) had left on the floor. He stumbled into the kitchen, catching himself on the island. Kai froze for a moment, concerned that the small thudding noise he'd made would wake someone. When nothing happened, he kept going. His phone was right where he'd left it the night before, plugged in on the counter. The master of fire powered it on and started searching for pancake recipes. He was 100% confident that Lloyd would never have stocked the cupboards with mix under any circumstances. Foods like this simply weren't anywhere near as good when they came from a box, and the blonde knew it. They'd lived off of off brand cereal and cheap multi-purpose mix enough times to recognize the difference. The ingredients weren't hard to find. The milk was perhaps a few days past its best by date, and the flour was a bit clumpy, but he could make do. At least he, unlike some people, had never given anyone food poisoning. Which put the odds in his favor (in his opinion). Kai pulled a griddle off a shelf and began measuring things into various cups and pitchers he'd located while waiting for it to heat to an appropriate temperature. As he poured flour into a cup, he failed to hear the stealthy family member sneak up behind him. Which was surprising, considering everything life had thrown at him lately.

"G'morning, Kai!" Nya whispered drowsily. He dropped a measuring instrument, sending up a cloud of flour.

"Nya, you know you can't do stuff like that. You gave me a heart attack…" He complained, blinking the white powder from his eyes.

"Sorry…" She hissed.

"What're you even doing up?" Kai asked, still in shock. Nya was usually the opposite of a morning person. She shrugged as best she could, careful not to jostle her bad shoulder.

"I… nightmare, I guess?" She informed him with a slight frown. It wasn't like this was anything new. Glancing at the glowing numbers on the microwave, she added

"But it is almost 8:30 in the morning…"

"Already?" He rubbed at his face, trying to remove the rest of the substance that currently coated it. She'd tell him about her nightmare if she needed to.

"Here, you look ridiculous! Please let me help you before you manage to get it everywhere…" Nya requested, reaching for a towel that hung near the sink. She tossed it to him with a practiced air of ease.

"Thanks."

"So. Makin' pancakes?"

"Yep. Wanna help?"

"Sure. It's better than watching Jay snuggle with my pillow…" They glanced over to the boy's prone form. Sure enough, in the absence of the master of water, he'd managed to maneuver her pillow into his arms.

"I bet you wish you knew what he's thinking right now, huh?" Kai said with a smirk. His sister raised an eyebrow.

"What could you possibly know about Jay's innermost thoughts?"

"Psh… don't doubt my abilities. Clearly he's thinking 'Oh Nya, I could hold you in my arms forever and ever. I think of you every second of every day… No! Every millisecond! You're so beautiful and awesome and your hair smells like wild cherries on a Sunday afternoon.'" Nya's cheeks turned bright red.

"He does not sound like that!" She protested, biting back a laugh.

"Oh, really?"

"Really. His lips move about a million times faster than that. Now cut it out before you wake the others. Chocolate chips or no?" The girl busied herself, rummaging through a cupboard Kai had somehow missed.

"Do you even have to ask?" He replied.

"Chocolate chip pancakes it is, then."

"You two really went all put with this place, you know?" The master of fire stated after a few minutes of joint mixing and measuring (during which time several handfuls of chips mysteriously disappeared). Nya sobered.

"Y-yeah… we… we wanted it to feel like home. So."

"I get it. It was hard on both you and Lloyd to be left here while the rest of us were gone." He assured her. The batter was almost ready now.

"Even with all the video calls and stuff. It just… wasn't the same. And then I had to leave too, and then… just when we were all together again…" Nya commented absently, playing with a few pieces of chocolate.

"Hey, let's not go there right now… Things were bad, yeah. But they're getting better. We just gotta keep moving forward."

"You've been spending too much time with Jay lately, haven't you?" She accused in a slightly lighter tone.

"You try being stuck with him after he's suffered a mental breakdown and see if you like it." Asserted Kai.

"No thanks." His sister retorted, a weak smile playing on her lips, "You know what these pancakes need to go with them?"

"Bacon?"

"Bacon." Nya decided, wandering over to the refrigerator. By some stroke of luck, there was a slab that hadn't yet expired.

"Perfect. And we've got whipped cream, too. This is gonna make Lloyd's day."

"Yeah! No one will be able to resist the Smith siblings' world famous pancakes." Kai stated lightly, holding out his hand for a fist bump. The raven-haired girl obliged with an eye roll, but wasn't willing to let Kai off the hook.

"You mean Betty Crocker's world famous pancakes."

"Yeah, sure, that." He agreed dismissively, making an (admittedly weak) attempt to bash her over the head with a spatula. Predictably, she dodged.

"Missed me, dork."

"Only cause you won't hold still, shortie…" The master of fire swiped again. This time Nya grabbed her own weapon.

"I'm taller than you." She reminded, blocking his attempt and returning it with her own.

"Yeah, barely!" The two spatulas met with a soft clang, but the siblings no longer cared whether or not they woke the others (the food was almost done, anyway).

"Porcupine breath!"

"Mistletoe addict!"

"Oh my gosh Kai! That was one year."

"You say that like there's no way it'll happen again this Christmas..." Kai paused to flip the latest batch of pancakes. Nya gave a long-suffering sigh.

"How do you know you won't be the one using it as an excuse to kiss Skylor?"

"I… I haven't even talked to her about things yet. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here... I don't even know if…" He replied in a more serious tone. Her face fell slightly.

"That's... Okay, I understand..."

"Sorry… it's just… you and Jay make all of this look so easy, and…" Kai started. Nya snorted, shaking her head in wonder.

"Easy?! Kai. You know as well as anyone that we've had our fair share of rough patches. Super rough ones. There were days I thought we'd never make it to this point. And sometimes? I'm still scared I'm gonna mess up really bad and hurt him again…" She admitted softly. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He'd missed these heart to hearts with his sister. It felt good to be able to be so open with each other again. Even if there were still a few things he was keeping from her – Jay owed him big time.

"You've both come such a long way. I'm so proud of you, sis. And somehow, I don't think that's gonna happen. Something tells me you guys are gonna be just fine."

"Thanks… I think I needed to hear that…" She replied, leaning against him, "You're heading to the hospital as soon as breakfast's over." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah. If… if she wakes up today, I wanna be there for her. Not sure how she'll take the whole coma and being put on oxygen thing." The ninja of fire admitted. She nodded and snuggled against him, enjoying the quiet.

"I smell food," Came Cole's voice from the air mattress he was currently located on, "How soon're we gonna eat?"

"It'll be sooner if you come set the table like the gentleman that you are." Nya called back.

"Hear that, buddy? It's time to get up and make ourselves useful." The master of earth told Lloyd, throwing a perfectly aimed pillow at him. He sat up with a yawn.

"Gah! Fine. I'm up." The blonde stated with a groan, climbing out of his hammock.

"Want me to set out the juice?" Jay offered, also awake now and full of energy.

"Sure."

"And while we do that, can you guys fold up the hideaways? There's no point in having them take up all this extra space." The Green Ninja asked Zane and Pixal.

"Of course." The samurai replied.

"It shouldn't take us very long." Added the master of ice brightly. Like a well-oiled machine, the group set about accomplishing their responsibilities. Within minutes, several people were already in line to start filling their plates.

"So, obviously Kai will be heading to the hospital first, but then what?" Lloyd asked, spraying nearly an entire can of whipped cream on his food. Was he really that predictable? Kai briefly wondered in between attempts to confiscate the delicious topping before Lloyd could make himself sick.

"You gonna join us at the old monastery? Uncle Wu mentioned wanting to look into rebuilding it."

"Uh. Maybe. I was thinking of dropping by Master Chen's and seeing if June needs any help first, though, if that's okay with you guys?" He answered, piling some bacon onto his plate. Nya nodded.

"That poor girl probably does need some support. I can't imagine how chaotic things at the restaurant are right now. Maybe we should meet you there and all head to the monastery together?" She suggested.

"Yeah. That's a good plan. We'll work on helping with rebuilding efforts somewhere nearby and catch you on our way over." Lloyd decided. Kai gave his family a smile.

"Fine by me. I'll text you when I'm done at the hospital."

~-~

Kai was already far too familiar with the route that would take him to Skylor's room. He hurriedly scribbled his name on the check in sheet and turned leave, but was interrupted by Jen, the nurse who happened to be running the visitor's desk.

"I should probably warn you. Miss Chen is finally awake, but she was causing quite the commotion earlier..." She told him. He stared at her, confused. Oh. Now he wished that he'd arrived a bit earlier. Not that he'd pass up a nice breakfast with his family. He knew how much it meant to Lloyd and Nya.

"What do you mean commotion…?"

"Um… We had to give her a bunch of narcotics because her body is still recovering from being so sick, and she was in a lot of pain, and… Well… maybe it's better if you see for yourself…"

"That's… comforting…" Kai said with only a hint of sarcasm.

"I know... I promise it's not as bad as it sounds." She smiled apologetically.

"And I'm sorry for making you more worried. Maybe things have calmed down by now. Have a nice visit!" The nurse waved, watching him head down the hallway.

"Thanks. I-I will." He called back over his shoulder. Wondering what Jen could possibly have meant, he hurried along. He couldn't help but reflect back on all the memories they shared. All the times he'd come to her, looking for advice, or the days they'd bothbeen desperate for an escape and spent hours hiding from their responsibilities… Over the years, they had spent so much time together… Hopefully it wasn't too late for them to build something more…

As he grew closer to the room he knew was hers, he could hear voices carrying on a rather loud conversation.

"Miss Chen, please stop playing with the iv drip. It'll only work if it stays in your arm!" Someone, another nurse, probably, insisted urgently.

"But I can't bend my arm with it in… see?" An additional voice complained in a tone that was just barely audible. A machine beeped loudly. The owner of the first voice sighed heavily.

"Then don't bend your arm so much… keep it like this, okay?" The beeping stopped.

"Okay, okay. But… ammi gonna have any visitors today? This… this is boring. Like. Why izznt Kai here? He's so great. Betcha he'd make everything just… fade away…"

"I aware of that. You've told me already. Five different times, in fact." Hearing himself being discussed, the master of fire knocked softly on the door. There was the sound of footsteps on the other side, then it opened. A haggard looking nurse ushered him inside.

"Heeey, hot stuff!" Skylor called unsteadily. With a bit of color back in her skin and a noticeably less terrifying body temperature, she looked somewhat better than the last time Kai had seen her. But it was obvious that she had yet to fully recover from her ordeal. He wasn't completely sure she was even focusing on him and not some imaginary version of himself.

"I was juussst. Telling my good man Friday, here, all about you!" The nurse shook his head in exasperation.

"That's…. Not my name, but okay. I'm just gonna step out into the hall and let you two talk this out…Let me know if you need anything." The redhead giggled as Kai took a seat in the empty chair next to her bed.

"Oh Kai! I've missed you sooo much…. I'm really glad you're not dead, y'know? That would've been so sucky…"

"Uh... Yeah? I missed you too..." Was the only thing he could think of to say. She stared at him wide eyed, as if this were some mind-blowing piece of information that had rocked her entire world.

"Kai?" Skylor whispered, her perception of the room spinning slightly.

"Y-es?"

"Hazanyone ever tooold you how beautiful your eyelashes are?" She asked. Well, whatever he'd been expecting her to say, it hadn't been that.

"What?"

"They're so…. Long…a-and full… and. And every time I look at them I just! I wannem. Cause they're so lucious and pretty, and it's not fair!" The redhead cried loudly, "S'not fair…. Why'do you getta be the one with the such fabulous eyelashes when I'm stuck with…. These…?" She gestured weakly at her face (her eyelashes weren't unattractive in the slightest, he noted). He struggled to keep a straight face.

"I dunno Sky, I really don't."

"An' don't even get me started on the hair…. It's sooo…. Spiky. Like a porcupine… except cuddlier... I just wanna touchit…." Sniffling slightly, she continued, "But I won't. Cause I know you probably wudd'n wan' me to. So I won't. But I wanna."

"You're allowed to touch my hair if it really means that much to you. You just gotta ask." He told her patiently. Skylor perked up immediately.

"Woah… really?"

"Sure," Leaning forward, he shrugged. She reached out a trembling hand and gently petted his head.

"Oooh…. S'much softer thanni thought it'd be…" The master of amber mused, before growing serious again.

"Why're you always soo nice to me? Like even back when I was… eeeven back on the island. You were so kind…. And I was a big ol liar… M'sorry bout that… You're too pure for me to pull crap like that on you…. I shouldn't've… Oh! An, then, there was that time you asked me to the zoo? An I totally thought you were gonna backout, but ya did'n. I was so happy! Only, it made me fall more in love with you…. Onn'a these days I gotta get you to ask me out for realsies…." A dreamy look crossed her face as she stared into his eyes for a moment, "That'd be amazing… like maybe even the best thing ever… And you know what? I've been doing some thinking, and you know whattineed? A pet peacock!" Had Kai heard her right? Sure they'd gone out together a couple of times (but was it as friends?), and yes, he'd always hoped she was at least interested, but this was different. If Skylor really was in love with him, then…

"Wait. Say that again... Please?" He begged.

"Uh... I wanna peacock?" She replied confusedly.

"No, before that…" But it was already too late; the moment was gone. She scrunched her eyebrows in concentration, then frowned.

"Hm… I-I.… got nothing… Sorry..."

"It's... It's fine." Kai assured her once it had become clear that nothing was going to jog her memory. Skylor yawned, looking deflated. The energy she'd seemed to have when he first arrived was vanishing rapidly.

"These meds... have really got me all messed up, huh?" The master of amber noted sleepily, in a moment of surprising lucidity, sinking back onto her pillows. She didn't even know the half of it…

"I understand… Why don't you try to get some rest now, okay?" He suggested.

"Mmm… fink I will…" She agreed as she snuggled into the thin white sheets, "G'night Kai..."

"Sweet dreams, Sky." As she shut her eyes with a contented smile, the master of fires heart twisted. There was so much he wanted, no needed, to say to her… but he couldn't, not now, and he wondered if there ever would be a perfect moment. Sighing softly, Kai smoothed the sleeping young lady's hair out of her face.

"Goodbye," He whispered, knowing full well that she couldn't hear him.

~-~

"If I ever have to clean out another industrial sized refrigerator full of rotten food, it'll be too soon…" Chad stated dramatically, collapsing into the nearest chair as he exited Master Chen's storeroom. The table in front of him, which happened to be in restaurant's main office, was covered with cleaning supplies, paperwork, and half empty coffee mugs.

"It could've been much worse, and you know it, Mr. I've held literally every job possible at the Ninjago City Mall." June replied, powering on her tablet. She pulled up the checklist they had been valiantly attempting to complete for most of the morning (there was only so much that could be accomplished at once when working with someone possessing Chad's attention span) and made a note next to 'Clean and inventory all supplies currently in storage; remove rotted foodstuffs'. They still had a lot to do if they wanted to have things up and running again before Skylor was released from the hospital. The bespectacled young lady was holding out hope that this would happen sooner, rather than later. She'd nearly flung her phone across the room in panic a few days ago when Kai had texted her to inform her that her friend (and boss) had been rushed to the ER in the aftermath of the battle. Skylor definitely didn't deserve everything the world had thrown at her, especially not being so ill. And she'd do anything she could to lessen the burdens she knew she carried in the meantime.

"Okay, yes. Anything's better than toilet duty…" He allowed, peering over June's shoulder to get a better look at what she was doing. The level of organization on the screen would never cease to impress him. He could barely keep track of his car keys, let alone make sense of the notes he wrote himself during his journalism courses (which had been paused due to an evil warlord taking over the city). How on earth did she manage it all so effortlessly? But that was just the way June was. For as long as Chad could remember, she had always been good at this sort of thing. Being the one to make sure things would turn out okay, no matter what. The quiet, but comforting force, always there to cheer him on. She hadn't always seen her own strength to begin with, but once she'd found her voice, she'd become unstoppable. And he loved her for it.

"You know, the bathrooms are still on the list if you'd like to revisit your glory days…" The manager of Master Chen's Noodle House informed him with an innocent smile. Chad shook his head vigorously.

"I'm good, thanks. My internship at Ninjago Times is definitely a step up from that."

"I know it is." June sighed, slumping in her seat as she ran some calculations in her head, "I just wish we could make it a bit longer without the city being in danger... We've had giant snakes, evil robots, a cult… when will it all stop?"

"It would be nice to graduate on time… but I'm really just glad we're both alive at this point…" The young man told her, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"And besides, think about how different our lives would be without some of the things that have happened over the years. You might not have ended up applying for your assistant manager position, and I know how much you love working here! And I know Skylor's super glad she has you for a friend…"

"That's very true," She agreed, "And you can't deny that those awkward run ins with the ninja contributed to your decision to go into journalism." Chad stood, flashing her a grin.

"Yep, and I couldn't be happier. Life's good; I've got a career I'm passionate about, a wonderful fiancée who puts up with my crazy ideas… Well, most of the time at least!" He pulled her to her feet,

"And… a restaurant in desperate need of some tlc… we should probably get back to work, huh?"

"Yeah, probably. C'mon, let's go see what the others are up to. I'm sure they are wondering why we're not finished with the inventory yet." Decided June. Still holding hands, they wandered back into the main part of the building. The employees that had so graciously volunteered to come in on their spare time and help revitalize the restaurant were hard at work. Several people were scrubbing the conveyer that usually displayed a variety of dishes. Still more wiped furiously to remove smudges from the windows. A pile of broken chairs and a table that was inexplicably missing a leg sat in one corner – a staunch reminder of lawlessness the SOG had lived by during Garmadon's reign of terror. It was a good thing no one had been present when the restaurant had been torn apart in the search for the green ninja and his friends. That wouldn't have ended well, she was certain. The sight had been devastating when they'd first arrived earlier that morning. But things were starting to look up, now. Even if there was definitely going to be some lingering trauma for some of them.

"It's looking better already. We'll have this place up and running again in no time!" Chad cheerfully declared, knowing just how worried June had been.

"Hey you guys. We were starting to worry that you'd gotten eaten by some sort of mutated refrigerator monster or something." Greeted one of the waitresses as she glanced over at the couple.

"We… got a bit sidetracked…" June explained.

"That's okay – as long as you weren't sucking each other's faces off in there." A busboy replied.

"… Did you really just say that, Kyle?" Someone else deadpanned.

"Yeah, have some respect. June's our boss. You oughta know better than that!"

"Okay," June called, stepping in before the discussion could turn into an argument (a relatively common occurrence with this particular set of individuals), "Hey, you know what? Everyone take a break. You've all been working so hard. Go get some food. And water – hydration's very important. I don't want to see any of you back here working for at least half an hour. But seriously, thank you so much for coming today. I know Skylor would really appreciate your dedication if she were here." This seemed to relieve the sense of tension that had been beginning to grow amongst the employees. They scattered in groups and pairs, grateful to be free of productivity for the time being.

"So… what are we gonna do with all this damaged furniture?" Asked one waitress, who happened to be lingering a bit longer than the others. June and Chad walked over to inspect it more closely.

"Hm… Most of it looks salvageable." The young man mused. She nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah… I don't suppose you know of any good furniture repair businesses, Daisy?"

"Not off the top of my head, but I can ask around, if you want?" Replied the frizzy haired young lady.

"That would be a huge help." June commented, looking relieved.

"Sure thing, boss." Daisy said with a cheerful nod before heading off in search of lunch. The pair looked at each other, smiling tiredly, already missing the chaotic atmosphere and sense of comradery the others had provided.

"Which non bathroom related task shall we tackle next?" Questioned Chad, nudging his fiancée, eager to begin another project. A few more minutes of hard work wouldn't harm anything. They could always retrieve their sandwiches from the refrigerator later.

"Hm... We could-" The sound of the bell above the front door ringing prevented June from answering him.

"I'm sorry, but Master Chen's Noodle House is not open for business at the moment. I'm afraid you'll have to come back later if you want any noodles." She stated absently, a bit surprised that someone would attempt to eat there at a time like this.

"I'm not here for the food. Didn't you get my text?"

"Wait – Kai?" The young woman spun to face their visitor.

"Hey June, Chad." The master of fire greeted sheepishly.

"Oh my gosh. I've had my phone on silent all morning… I must have missed it. I'm so sorry!" June apologized, frantically rushing over to him.

"Eh, it's fine. It uh, looks like you've had your hands full here…" Kai commented, glancing about curiously. He had to admit that he hadn't anticipated seeing the restaurant in quite this bad of shape.

"Yeah. You should've seen the place when we got here. Total disaster!" Chad informed Kai, nodding vehemently.

"What.. What exactly happened, here? Was it the SOG?" He asked, eyes drawn to the broken furniture.

"Uhuh... We weren't here when they arrived... The... Incident with the colossus was broadcast on the news and Skylor sent us all home as soon as she saw it. She was so shaken – didn't want any of us to get hurt due to her relationship with you guys. And of course, she was being her usual caring self and prioritizing everyone else's wellbeing over her own, but it was so difficult to stand by and not be able to offer her any comfort. I've never seen her so upset before..." June frowned, "But anyway, we watched the security footage when we got here, and it was... pretty terrifying... They tore the place apart looking for any sign of the resistance. One of them even suggested burning the place down when they didn't find anything..." She explained. Seeing the all of this play out had obviously been anything but pleasant.

"Oh." Kai said, the realization of how much the disappearance of him and his friends had impacted Ninjago suddenly striking him much harder than it had before. He'd known it'd been tough on Nya and Lloyd, but it was clear that Skylor and her employees were just as affected. He should've checked in on them sooner...

"Yeah, but we'll get through it. I mean, the worst of it is over now that we have all of you back and Garmadon behind bars. You should see how hard everyone's been working. I know we all adore Skylor, because she's an amazing person, but it's so encouraging to see all of them come together to help her like this." June told him, smiling optimistically.

"She is amazing." The master of fire agreed softly, thinking back to his earlier conversation with her.

"Have you been able to visit her?" She inquired.

"I... Yes, every day... And just before I came here, actually." Kai informed her.

"H-how is she?" Came the anxious, but hopeful response. He paused for a moment, not quite sure how to describe her current state.

"She's… Well… She was awake for a little while this morning, so that's a good sign…"

"But?" June finished for him, somehow picking up on his uncertainty.

"Skylor and pain meds are an… interesting combination. She was really out of it and said some stuff that was definitely… unexpected… but do I blame her? No… I mean… She didn't know…" Rambled the master of fire awkwardly. June nodded sagely.

"She told you she was in love with you."

"Uh…? Yeah, she did, and it caught me totally off guard and I'm not sure if- Oh… Why am I even telling you this?" He muttered, massaging his temples.

"Kai, can I ask you something?" She asked, motioning for him to follow her.

"Yeah, sure, I guess?" Kai joined her at one of the booths that was still intact. Chad slipped into the booth as well, obviously curious about whatever it was that June was about to ask.

"When you and Skylor so clearly have feelings for each other, why are you still awkwardly dancing around each other instead of asking her out? I figured you would've started dating a long time ago…"

"I…" He sighed, an unreadable expression crossing his face, "It's complicated..."

"Welcome to Ninjago, Kai. In case you somehow missed it, everything here is complicated." Chad observed, looking at the master of fire like he was a world-class idiot. His fiancée elbowed him gently.

"Everyone has a few hiccups in their lives, sure… but you shouldn't let that prevent you from being with the person you love." June stated wisely.

"It just never felt like the right time, you know?" He told them, not meeting their eyes, "We always had so much on our plates… from the moment she got here, Skylor had to deal with everything that came with suddenly having an entire culinary empire thrust on her and I didn't feel like I could add more to her plate by asking for a relationship… and then Morro happened, and everything else, and I didn't want to hurt her if something happened and my duties interfered with things so I…" June and Chad glanced at each other, then at Kai. The bespectacled young lady chose her words carefully, knowing that someone needed to give him some perspective on this situation.

"Look. As your friend, I'm going to be honest with you, here. I know right now it feels like life will never calm down, like it's just one crazy thing after another, especially for someone like you who has to carry far more responsibility than is really fair… but if there's one thing I've learned over the past couple of years, it's that there's no such thing as a perfect moment, and that if you keep on waiting for one," She eyed him meaningfully as she continued, "You'll come to regret it one day because you'll have missed out on a lot of incredible things."

"I…" The master of fire bit his lip, realization hitting him hard. June was right, and deep down, he had already known that. What had he been thinking?

"Just… talk to her... Skylor loves you, Kai. She has for a long time. She'll understand." She advised encouragingly.

"You're right... I've put this off for long enough. The next time I visit the hospital, I'll tell her everything." Kai determined, doing his best to look confident. It was time for him to do what he should've done a long time ago. Suddenly a future with the girl of his dreams didn't seem like such an unrealistic possibility.

#ninjago #kailor #never a perfect moment 2 #myfics #ninjago fanfiction

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