#I dunno. I guess I drew the cool part of the picture and now I have to draw the ordinary and uncool parts

[birdmenmanga]

I've entered the "sitting uselessly in front of my computer" phase of working -_-

#just thinking thoughts... #I dunno. I guess I drew the cool part of the picture and now I have to draw the ordinary and uncool parts #WHICH ARE OF COURSE EQUALLY IMPORTANT #because they make the cool bits stand out. but still #ohhh I think I'm also less eager because it's more literally 'redrawing' rather than like. drawing new stuff. lol. #me when I change the panel layout so drastically new panels are spawned entirely from the ether

[things-we-cant-say]

pretty little liar

Pairing: Ten x Female!Reader

Summary: In order to get your annoying ex off your back, you tell a little white lie that takes an unexpected turn.

Genre: College!AU

Warnings: Smutty smut, dirty dancing

Word Count: 4,867

A/N: Unable to withstand Ten’s power any longer, I had to start writing about him…or a version of him anyway. Hope someone out there enjoys my first dip into the ~imagines~ pond. ☺️

The party was in full swing by the time you and your best friend Amy arrived, the music so loud it could be heard down the street. It was a wonder the cops hadn’t broken it up yet but hey, the night was still young. Ducking through the arched doorway with Amy hot on your heels, you let her guide you into the foyer where you both stopped to take in the scene. The place was packed with people dancing, drinking and laughing—everyone apparently having a great time. Which was perfect for you because all you wanted to do was blow off a little steam and pretend you hadn’t spent the day fantasizing about committing the perfect murder.

You enjoyed school for the most part and you enjoyed your classes, but really you couldn’t wait for it all to just be over. Two extra years and your master’s degree in linguistics was almost within your grasp. You still weren’t one hundred percent what you planned to do with it (teaching was definitely out) but either way you were ready to dive into the real world. To no longer be stressed out about exams and papers and boring ass professors that constantly seemed to have a stain on their tie.

And to get far, far away from your stupid ex, Adam.

“Uh oh you have murder face,” Amy said as she peeped around to look at you. “What’s wrong?”

You shrugged. “Just in my head I guess.”

Amy hummed. “I get it. That’s why we are here though! To get fucked up and do something we regret in the morning.”

You laughed. “Guess we’re Uber-ing home.”

She grinned and grabbed your wrist, pulling you over to a table loaded with different types of alcohol. The guy ‘tending bar’ as it were winked as you two approached. “What can I get you for?”

“Something with alcohol but where we can’t taste the alcohol!” Amy exclaimed happily. “Oh! And if you’ve got any little umbrellas I’d like one of those too.”

He did finger guns and proceeded to cook something up in two red cups, sticking in two pink umbrellas when he was done. You and Amy took your drinks and after a cursory sniff, took a sip. The tequila wasn’t as strong as with a single shot but you could still detect it just not enough to make you stop drinking. Unlike Amy you didn’t plan to get completely fucked up but you weren’t going to say no to a nice buzz.

Cups in hand you migrated onto the dance floor and fell in with everyone else, bopping to the beat and scream chatting over the loud music.

“I really needed this!” Amy yelled. “Statistics is kicking my cute little ass!”

“I know what you mean!” You shouted. “But hey! Soon we’ll be done and actual jobs will be kicking our cute little asses!”

Laughing, Amy bounced up and down, sending her blonde hair flying. “Is that why you’ve been so grumpy lately? Or is it…he who shall not be named?”

With a sigh you took a big sip of your strawberry margarita. “Yeah. He keeps fucking calling me and leaving me these stupid ass messages, apologizing and shit. I’ve blocked him but he just uses someone else’s phone.”

Amy’s eyes stretched wide. “That’s like stalker behavior! Or maybe he really is sorry for what he did.”

You snorted. “Sorry for having sex with his ex in the backseat of my car? As far as I am concerned he can take his ‘sorrys’ and shove them so far up his ass they come out his mouth as safaris!”

Amy choked a little on her drink, hitting you hard on the arm in admonishment after she stopped coughing. “I hate you! I could have died!”

Her words made you smirk. “But did you? No but for real, fuck Adam. Fuck Adam and anyone who even looks like Adam!”

“Woo!” Amy threw both hands up into the air, yelping as liquid sloshed down onto her head. “Oh shit! Drink emergency I’ll be right back!”

Before you could say anything, she turned and hurried back towards the drink table. Alone in the middle of a dancing crowd, you didn’t know whether you should slink over to a corner or just keep dancing. That last thing you wanted was some random dude trying to groove with you. Of course if you decided to hold up the wall nothing would stop some random dude from trying to hit on you either. At a bit of a loss you drained the rest of your drink and did a I don’t really know anyone two step, hoping Amy would return soon.

The tequila settled nice and warm in your stomach, making you feel more at ease. Most of the people at the party were from your school but not ones you associated with on like, a daily basis. Sure you recognized a few faces from the library or cafeteria but there was no one you’d had more than a surface conversation with.

And then your eyes landed on him. Ten.

Ten was a…different sort of person altogether. He was the kinda guy CW shows thought actually existed in college, except he was very real. And very much fucking gorgeous in that unattainable way CW shows also loved. However, that sort of did him a disservice because as far as you knew, he was just a decent guy who happened to be able to do some pretty awesome things.

For example, he was an amazing dancer. The kinda dancer that just freaking mesmerized you when he moved. Had you wondering how in the hell had he taught his body to do that shit? One minute he was in total sync with everyone else and the next he was performing his solo and blowing your mind. He’d done some show a few months ago with a friend and you’d nearly flipped out of your chair watching him work. The body rolls, the attitude, the way he’d just commanded the stage…whew. Was it possible to be a fan of someone who wasn’t famous?

Then there was his art; things he designed himself or drew from memory. Art class was essentially where you’d sorta came to be acquaintances with him. You weren’t exactly good at drawing but you liked it enough that you wanted to improve, plus it helped you de-stress after particularly hard days. Ten on the other hand excelled and just like with dancing, it was interesting to watch his process. He’d described himself as a sensory artist so he wasn’t always as concerned with the end product as the professor sometimes wanted him to be. From your eye though he’d yet to create anything that wasn’t remarkable. In fact, more than once you’d wanted to ask him to design a tattoo for you, but felt it would be kinda weird. He had no idea what you were into after all. So far your conversations with him had consisted of colors and that one time he’d asked to borrow one of your brushes.

You were pretty sure he’d sold something to an art gallery.

Anyway so Ten could dance and he could draw and he could sing and he was fluent in several languages; as far as you knew the only thing he was kind of shit at was cooking. But who hadn’t set a class kitchen on fire once or twice? Or three times…

If he were an asshole—well people would probably still crush on him—you’d count that as a major flaw and want to keep your distance. But the kicker was that he could do cool things and he was nice. Dorky even especially when it came to cute animals. Was always posting pictures of himself at the animal shelter playing with the kittens and the puppies, or just acting like an idiot with friends. Yet it was that confidence that made him seem untouchable, and also made him sexy as fuck. More than once you’d fantasized about biting his Adam’s apple.

Heh.

Shaking your head, you fanned lightly at your face with both hands. Maybe stepping outside for some fresh air would be a good idea.

“Y/N!” Amy nearly tripped over her pretty sandals in her hurry to get back to you. “Weewoo weewoo weewoo!”

“Um…”

She grabbed your shoulder. “It’s a police siren! We have a code red situation here, I repeat a code red! Adam just walked in!”

“What?” You blinked and immediately looked towards the doorway, brows narrowing when you saw she was right.

Standing there in a white t-shirt in his formerly handsome glory was your ex-boyfriend, Adam. Once upon a time you’d thought the world of him; thought he was the kinda guy you could probably marry someday. The kinda guy you’d introduced your family to. Turns out he was the kind of guy that hooked up with his ex in your car repeatedly until finally being caught in the act. Sure it had been gratifying to make him and her walk home half naked but it had done nothing to quell the pain left behind. Thankfully though your pain quickly turned to anger and now you usually focused on not murdering him when he popped up. There was a lot you could forgive but cheating was firmly in the do not cross zone. Everything you’d felt for him evaporated the moment you saw him with her.

And he’d promised he was over her. Lying piece of shit, you thought to yourself.

“What the hell is he doing here?! Does he even know anyone here?” you asked with a frown.

“I dunno!” your friend said slowly. “It’s possible, big campus and all. Do you want me to help you climb out of the bathroom window?”

“Yeah my boobs aren’t fitting through one of those skinny ass windows,” you replied wryly. “Though to be honest I’m almost willing to risk it. C’mon let’s—”

It was too late. Adam spotted you like an arrow searching for its target, eyes registering shock and then elation. He reached you in three quick strides, opening his arms for a hug that he was damned crazy to expect. “Y/N. Wow you—you look amazing. I’m so glad we ran into each other.”

You huffed. “I’m not. I told you we’re over Adam. Or does me blocking your calls not get the message across?”

He exhaled deeply. “Look I know I messed up but I’m sorry. Classes were just really tough and—and Lucy and I would reminisce about old times…”

“Do I look like I give a shit? You cheated on me and we’re over.” The lie came so easily. “Besides, I’ve moved on.”

“Yeah!” Amy poked him in the chest. “She’s moved on so suck it!”

Adam arched a brow. “You’ve moved on?” He sounded skeptical and that made your blood boil. “Since when? And with who?”

You’d once heard that Hippocrates came up with the saying drastic times call for drastic measures though it wasn’t something you’d be willing to bet money on. However, standing there with your ex eying you like he just knew you were lying brought a whole new meaning to the idiom. You would one hundred percent be damned before giving him the satisfaction of gloating.

Tequila’s kicking in…

Without missing a beat, you put a hand on your hip and motioned to Ten. “Him. I’m seeing him.”

Amy made a sound like a cat having its tail stepped on while Adam gaped at you. “What? I—no. No way. You’re totally lying. I’ve seen the people he’s dated and you’re not his type at all.”

This bitch.

Twirling on your black heels, you strolled across the room to where Ten sat in an arm chair, chatting with a few of his friends. Before you could talk yourself out of it, you straddled his lap and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I know this is awkward as fuck—I’m so sorry—but if you just play along I will owe you big time. I’ll give you anything. You need a kidney? You can have a kidney.”

Ten’s friends had gone mute and as you sat back to gauge his reaction—or to possibly be thrown off of him—you bit your full bottom lip. His dark eyes were watching you calculatingly, his own lips pursed together like you were a riddle he needed to solve. Up close he was utterly breathtaking, all smooth skin and silky black hair that fell artfully across his forehead. He smelled incredible.

And then he spoke.

“There you are baby,” he said wrapping an arm around your waist. “I’ve been looking for you.”

That was when you figured you owed him your first born but it was fine. “Well, you found me. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

He chuckled. “You’re worth waiting for.”

His friends still looked confused though they didn’t have time to voice their opinions. Adam stalked over seconds later like a man on a mission. “So it’s true? You and Y/N are together?”

Ten tilted his head to the side and you saw the moment the lightbulb went off for him. “Yeah we’re together.”

Adam huffed. “Since when? For how long? Where did you two meet?”

Ten smirked. “Are you taking a survey or something?” He brushed his lips across your jaw, making you shiver. “The only thing that matters is that she’s mine. Let’s dance, Y/N.”

“I would love to,” you replied with a smile. You were also grateful he’d remembered your name.

You climbed off of his lap and took his hand, sending Adam a you thought look before pulling Ten out into the thick of the crowd. Your heart was beating a mile a minute but you felt too giddy to pay much attention to it. Plus, you knew Adam was watching you like a hawk and you didn’t want to let on how nervous you actually were. If he found out you were lying he’d never leave you alone and consider you pathetic to boot. Besides the nice buzz that was finally creeping down your spine told you everything would be fine. How could it not be?

Ten’s hands settled low on your hips and he gave you a little tug, pulling your back to his chest. You fit rather perfectly with him, his chin brushing the top of your head. Picking a rhythm in the song that thumped with bass, you began to move together. You rolled your ass against him and leaned your head back to rest on his shoulder, focusing on his breath as it ghosted across your neck. A silver of light wouldn’t have been able to get between you.

Normally you wouldn’t have dared to do something like this with a near stranger but your desire to make your ex suffer was bigger than your nerves. Besides Ten appeared to be all in on the ruse; his body twisting and curving in sync with yours, fingers on his right hand sliding up between your breasts to wrap lightly on your throat. His teeth nipped at your earlobe and you gasped. Reached around to his side to clasp his shirt for an anchor. You heard him chuckle and suddenly you were spun away from him only to be reeled back in, this time face to face.

The room felt like it was two hundred degrees. You weren’t exactly wearing much—a slinky black dress with tiny ties at the hem—but even that seemed too much. Without missing a beat though you and Ten continued to grind with one another, his thigh just barely pushed between your own. Every time you swayed forward to meet him the denim of his jeans rubbed deliciously against you, sending sparks sprinting through your veins. Both of his hands were on your ass as if helping to guide you, and as you met his gaze you couldn’t help but bite your lip at what you saw there. Desire, lust, hunger—no one had ever looked at you like that before. Like they could just devour you and still not have enough of you.

It made you feel powerful.

You grinned and wrapped an arm around his neck, fingers giving his hair a little tug. He hissed and lowered his head so that he could mouth at your bare shoulder, hands squeezing your ass so hard it nearly hurt. You weren’t sure when you started to get wet—maybe it was the moment you sat on his lap or he decided to play along with your dumb stunt—but you could tell it now. Your panties were sticking to you, your skin was on fire and it was becoming difficult to think straight. Honestly however you didn’t want to think at all, especially not if it meant not being in Ten’s orbit.

“Ten,” you whispered into the skin under his jaw.

He hummed, the sound vibrating through your body. You plastered your hand to his chest and pulled it down, nails catching on the thin material of his shirt until they were brushing along the zipper on his jeans. You gave him a quick squeeze—he was hard and straining—and he cursed loudly. Between one second and the next he was dragging you down a dimly light hallway, past kissing couples and one guy passed out drunk in the doorway of someone’s room. He swung you both into the first vacant room he came to; a lavish bathroom at the very back of the house. The door was closed with a swift thump and the lock clicked shut.

You licked your lips as he crowded you back into the counter, looking down at you with a tiny smirk. That part of your brain that yammered on about bad decisions was surprisingly quiet, so you figured it was beyond okay to pull him down for a kiss. As with most of the stuff he did, Ten was a damn good kisser. His mouth was soft and warm, his tongue playful and coaxing. He kissed you like he’d been waiting to kiss you for a long time. Until it grew deep and sensual. Until you were both panting with the need for air but neither wanting to let go of the moment.

With a gasp you tilted backwards a bit, your knees suddenly weak. “Fuck me,” you said absently.

“Can I?” Ten asked, chest heaving. “Can I fuck you?”

“God yes,” you replied, already pulling your dress up until it hitched around your waist.

Ten hooked his thumbs onto the band of your pink panties and slid them down your legs, laying them next to the sink. He looked you over with that same eye he used for his art but you could tell he liked what he saw. You grabbed his hand and brought it between your legs, spreading them wider for him. Two of his fingers slipped inside of you without any resistance to find you damp and aching, already so hot for him. He started a lazy rhythm—in and out, in and out—like he was in no hurry at all. Like he wasn’t driving you crazy all the way down to the tips of your toes.

He kept his eyes locked onto yours as he touched you, lips slightly parted like he couldn’t believe this was happening. That rang true for both of you. Never in your wildest dreams did you think you’d ever really be friends with Ten, let alone about to hook up with him. It was like you’d stumbled into some alternate universe.

Bringing his free hand up to your cheek, he smoothed his thumb across your lips, pressing lightly until you let him in. You sucked his thumb into your mouth and gave it a little nip, smiling when he smirked. When he deemed it wet enough, he pressed it to your clit and you moaned, your hips stuttering upward with a will of their own. He began a firm massage, working your clit this way and that, fingers still thrusting in their maddening motion. Of course he’d be great with his hands. Of course he’d be able to play your body like a finely tuned instrument.

Pressure started to build low in your stomach. “I—I’m…”

“Turn around.” Ten took a step back and made a show of sucking his fingers into his mouth, tongue darting out to lick between them like he wanted to savor every drop.

You whimpered but did as he requested, your eyes finding his in the wide silver mirror. You watched as he unzipped his pants and pushed them along with his dark colored briefs down to the floor. You hadn’t seen him pull out a condom but he had one; ripping open the packaging with his perfectly straight teeth before rolling it onto his hard cock. It was a delicious looking thing you had to admit, long and thick with a slight curve. If you’d had the time you would have gladly went to your knees for him.

A low breath shuddered out of Ten’s lungs as he pushed inside of you, his hands gripping your waist so strongly you were bound to have a few bruises later. “Fuck, you’re tight.”

It had been a while since Adam and nobody after him until now.

When he assumed you’d adjusted to the size of him, he pulled nearly out before driving back inside of you. You moaned and pushed back to meet his thrusts, feeling the pleasure shattering through you. Your breasts bounced as he moved and he reached a hand forward, tugging down the top of your dress so that he could cup one. He rolled your nipple between his fingers and pinched, bending over you so that he could bite down onto the tender skin of your shoulder. The motion sent him even deeper and you both groaned at the feeling.

“Te—Ten,” you stammered, losing your train of thought when he rolled his hips liked he did on the dance floor. “Oh fuck! Fuck!”

The picture you made in the mirror was a very erotic one; you could see every single expression on Ten’s handsome face. The utter enjoyment he was obviously finding in fucking you was written all over it; there was nowhere for it to hide. His head was tipped back, eyes fluttering closed only to pop back open so that he could watch himself shove into you over and over again. He had you up on your tip toes, nose just an inch from the mirror itself. He was always sexy but tonight that word took on a whole new meaning.

All you could do was try to give as good as you got.

You slapped a hand onto the sink to steady yourself and clenched around him, reveling in the low whine that escaped his throat. It kinda sounded like your name.

And then he was pulling all the way out, dick bouncing as he stumbled backwards. You blinked in confusion. “Wh--what’s wrong?”

Ten ran his fingers through his hair. “C’mon. I want you to ride me.”

He sat down on the closed toilet seat lid and you straddled him without a second thought, sinking down onto his dick with a full body shudder. With your dress around your waist and your breasts jiggling in his face as you bounced up and down on his cock, he traced his tongue around your nipple before lightly biting down. You tangled your fingers in his hair and panted out his name, letting out a squeak when his palm connected with your ass for a hard slap. Planting his feet on the floor, he leaned you backwards a bit as he drove into you repeatedly, eyes watching how well your pussy took him.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured against your collarbone. “Gorgeous—you feel so good.” He bit you again, this time on the side of your neck. “So good.”

With one hand on his shoulder to brace yourself, you rose up and let yourself come down hard over and over again, feeling him pound so deep it was almost criminal. Had the music not been so loud you knew exactly what you would have heard; the sound of skin hitting skin as Ten fucked you like he owned you. Just for tonight, maybe he did.

You weren’t sure how long it went on but when you came it still managed to take you by surprise. Your body lit up like a Christmas tree from the inside out and you cried out Ten’s name, clenching around him, your nails digging into his shoulder blades. He muttered a drawn out fuuuuck and pinched your clit with this thumb and forefinger, making you jerk so hard you nearly tumbled off his lap.

“Ah! Ten!” You shouted as he kept it up. “I—no—oh god—”

Your pussy tightened around him again and he shivered, thrusts growing erratic as he came with a grunt. You trembled through a second orgasm almost in disbelief—usually the only thing that could get you off twice in a row was hidden under your bed in a shoe box.

Seconds later you flopped against him, attempting to catch your breath. He was still rolling his hips just a tiny bit, making all the too sensitive areas ping.

“Whoa,” he said breathlessly, wrapping both arms around your waist. “That was…”

You chuckled softly. “Yeah…” Chancing a look at him, you admired the way strands of his dark hair stuck to his sweaty forehead. He was glistening, shirt sticking to his chest. He smelled like hints of your perfume and you smelled like hints of his cologne. It was all so intimate.

Reluctantly you sat back and gazed at him, wondering if things were about to get awkward. But Ten just smiled and ducked his head a little, a barely there blush creeping up into his already flushed cheeks. It was so adorable you couldn’t have resisted kissing him if you tried. From the way he melted into you, he’d had the same idea.

After a few minutes of just enjoying the feel of his lips against yours, you forced yourself up off of him. Your legs shook; you had to grab the counter to keep from tripping in your heels. You could already tell you’d still feel him tomorrow and the thought made you kinda dizzy, but in a good way. Blinking at your reflection—your hair was a dark mess—you knew there was no way you’d be able to hide the love bites that adorned your skin. They stood out stark red and purple like a bruise.

Ten remained slouched on the toilet for a couple of moments before removing the condom and tossing it into the trash. He dabbed at his dick with a handful of toilet paper, and then pulled up his underwear and jeans. “So…can I ask you something?”

You fixed your dress. “Sure.”

“Who was that guy?” he inquired with a grin. “The one you obviously wanted to get away from.”

Oh shit you’d forgotten all about Adam! “Oh he—he’s my dumb ex. He jumped stupid at me and I—I wanted to show him that he’s an idiot. That I’m totally over him. I—I’m sorry for getting you involved.”

He laughed as he patted down his hair. “No complaints from my end. I think he got the message though.” Reaching behind you he handed you your panties. “Don’t wanna forget these.”

It was ridiculous to be embarrassed considering what you’d both just done, but you couldn’t help it. You took them from him and pulled them on, keeping your eyes on the ground. “Thanks… Look Ten—”

“I’m hungry,” he said interrupting you. “Have you ever had grilled dried pollack?”

“Um yeah once I think,” you replied uncertainly. “It was pretty tasty.”

Ten motioned behind him. “I know a place that makes it if you wanted to go. And…maybe afterwards we could just hang out. Talk.”

That sounded amazing. “I’d love to. But…”

He picked up on your meaning. “Y/N I sit next to you in all of our art classes. I make conversation with you for no reason. Do you really think I of all people forget my brushes? Honestly I’ve wanted to ask you out for a while but you’ve always seemed…disinterested.”

You were dumbstruck by his admission. “Me?! That’s just my face! You’re the unattainable ingénue or whatever!”

Ten chuckled, folding his arms across his chest. “Oh please the only thing standing between me and being a serious cat dad is having an apartment that allows animals. However, this conversation is pointless. You owe me and I’m collecting…if that’s okay?”

You huffed but couldn’t stop grinning. “It’s perfect.”

The walk from the bathroom to the living room had everyone staring with a few people letting out loud whistles. Adam had disappeared but Amy was there to give you a big thumbs up. You promised to call her later and then let Ten pull you outside into the warm night air, your fingers happily entwined with his.

#wayv ten #ten imagines #wayv smut #ten scenarios #ten x reader #ten smut #nct scenarios #ten oneshot #wayv imagines #woc reader #wayv ten imagines #ten lee #wayv au #nct au

[wiypt-writes]

Too Loose And You’ll Lose It

Chapter 6: Jesus Is My Homeboy Co-written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​

Summary: Jake and Stella spend an afternoon looking for suitably embarrassing photos of Pooch to use on his Stag Party and when they find some older shots of themselves they take a trip down memory lane. But the trip is cut short when Evan arrives.

Pairing: Jake Jensen x OFC Stella Stevenson

Warnings: Bad language, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

A/N: So this chapter was written for For @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ and @sagechanoafterdark ‘s Winter/Holiday Challenge. Prompt- “That is the ugliest sweater I have ever seen.”

TLAYLI Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 5

They were running low on time. There were so many things to do before Pooch’s stag party in four weeks that The Losers had all agreed they should split their forces to get everything ready for the weekend in New York. As such, Stella and Jensen had ended up pooling their resources and were currently browsing through pictures on Jake's laptop while Pooch was on his lunch break. Unfortunately, Cougar had the day off so he wouldn't be able to stall Pooch at the small café down the street but that would pose no problem if they hurried and got what they needed fast. Mind you, Jolene had done her fair share of work and had sent them a bunch of shaming Pooch pictures they could use for their ‘mission’ and picking the most embarrassing ones should surely be easy as pie.

The problem was, however, that Jensen was finding it hard to concentrate and keep his eyes and mind focused on the screen. In fact, hard didn’t even come close to describing. He was leaning so close to Stella as they studied his computer screen that he could smell her shower gel. A scent of vanilla and pumpkin which he could easily identify anywhere with his eyes closed. Not that he needed to keep his eyes open to smell something but he knew what he meant…

"Oh my god, Jake! Look at his fucking hair!" Stella suddenly shrieked before starting to howl, startling him and pulling him out of his useless wandering thoughts.

"What?" he asked looking at her before glancing back at the screen again as Stella grabbed the mouse and clicked on a picture to magnify it and show a young Pooch sporting an afro hairdo which made Jensen blink.

"Didn’t know Pooch was part of the Jackson 5" he laughed before he inhaled and looked at her “Oh my God, Stel, they were really the Jackson 6. Pooch is the missing link. Poor Pooch, abandoned after birth, discarded youngest son of an already overcrowded family." He sighed and Stella howled again, this time banging her hand on the desk.

"Did Jolene send you these?"

Jensen grinned, smug he was making Stella laugh hard at his wisecracks. "Yup."

"He is gonna kill you." Stella snorted as she shook her head.

"Nah, he will be too drunk to care, as we will all be." Jensen offered as he saved the picture into another folder, missing Stella wrinkling her nose, but hearing her sigh before speaking.

"I dunno if I'm going yet."

"What? Why?" Jensen inquired hastily, turning to look at her. "You have to come, Stel!"

"Yeah, but I’m not so sure. I mean it was nice of Pooch to count me in but..."

"He counted you in because he wants you there. You're a Loser." Jensen cut her off before she could even doubt her place in the tight group they all formed.

"Yes I know that and I want to spend a good time with you guys but…" she trailed off and at that Jensen inhaled and shuffled on his chair to sit facing her. She hadn't spent any decent time with them for the last month. Every time they organised something she ended up backing out as Agent Shithead happened to have booked them something to do, on the exact same night, always a coincidence.

Bullshit if you asked Jensen.

He was just pondering how exactly he could point that out to her, without pissing her off, when she continued talking.

"Ev was on about us going away that weekend. He's busy for the week or so after with stuff at home, so I won’t get to see him."

There it is, Jensen thought, but did his best to stay calm, even though he wanted nothing more than to scream at Stella that the guy was a jerk and it was clear he was doing this to keep her away from him. But Jensen knew he couldn't do that, not without ratting his nosy ass out for listening into their argument the other month, so instead he decided to keep it cool and play the role of the concerned, interested best friend and confidant.

"Oh, what's he got on at home?" he spoke, pleased to hear his voice sounded interested as opposed to prying. "His Auntie is moving house and he's helping. Then there’s like decorating and stuff so we won't see each other." Stella explained and Jensen could clearly see her frown burrow as she repeated what he suspected were the exact same words Shithead had told her, but the look on her face made it seem as if she was doubting them almost, now she was the one that was uttering them. Jensen felt a flicker of hope and sighed as he looked at her, pondering what to say. Don't jinx it now, Jensen.

"Don't sigh at me like that Jake." she pleaded, somewhat guiltily. "I was just thinking…good luck explaining to Pooch you’re not coming to New York with us because your boyfriend is busy the week after." he explained himself, almost spitting the word boyfriend, which he regretted the moment he did as he could see Stella's expression change from a concern to anger as he glared at him. "Don't start, Jensen." "I’m not starting anything, Stevenson." He declared, using her surname as well, making it clear her calling him by his hadn't gone unnoticed. "Just trying to make you see you’re missing Pooch’s Batchelor Party, which will only happen once in his life, so as not to make your boyfriend angry." "It's not about not making him angry, for fucks sake" Stella almost growled, visibly annoyed at his insinuation. "You sure about that? What would his reaction be if you told him you were coming with us?" Jensen pressed, ignoring all the red flags her tone and expression carried, in a desperate attempt to make her see for herself what, to him, was crystal clear. 

Fuck it Stel, why can't you see it? "I don't know.” Stella said, somewhat exasperatedly as she gave a shrug “He wouldn't be mad, probably disappointed but..."

However, as she spoke there was something in her voice and Jensen squinted his eyes at her. He could tell she understood that to be not entirely truthful, as he knew she was well aware Evan had a temper. Stella herself had kicked him out of her apartment the very same day he had confessed to her he didn’t want her near her ex, and from what he had heard since about a few other arguments they had, it always ended the same. Him raising his voice and guilt tripping her into thinking she was to blame.

So, all things considered, Jensen decided to change strategy and go down the guilt trip road. "Ok. Whatever you wanna do. But remember, disappointment goes both ways Stel." he stated as he shrugged and focused his attention back on the screen. "What's that supposed to mean?" Stella asked, frowning. "Just that by not disappointing your boyfriend, you’re gonna end up disappointing Pooch. But I guess its fine, he still got the rest of us. I just hope it doesn’t bit you on the ass one day.”  He insisted on making his point while flicking through the rest of the pictures. His eyes didn't leave the screen but he heard her groan besides him.

"You know what? I can't be bothered listening to you bitch." She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I’m not bitching Stel. Do whatever you think you should do. You already know my opinion, so that’s the last thing I’ll say on the topic." he said as he looked at her from the corner of his eye. "That'll be a first." Stella snorted, folding her arms over her chest. "Well if it has to be, so be it." Jensen shrugged again as if he couldn't care less, but he could feel her eyes on him and he fought to avoid turning his head to look at her.

"Just flip to the next photo JJ, before I smash your head through the desk."

Jensen was fuming now, but decided not to acknowledge that last comment, thinking instead when he finally unmasked Shithead, she’d be eating her words and apologising big time. Instead, he fought the anger down, took a deep breath and did as he had been told, flipping to the next picture which drew a smile to his face. It was a shot of all the Losers out at Christmas a few years back, five faces grinning into the camera while wearing tacky Christmas sweaters.

And, just as Jensen expected, Stella laughed heartily when her eyes spotted the one he had on and he grinned.

"You still have that sweater?" Stella chuckled, pointing at the item of clothing which depicted Jesus wearing a party hat whilst holding a balloon, with the words ‘BIRTHDAY BOY’ written underneath  "Yup. Don’t know where though. Must be at my parents. That’s if Gracie hasn’t found it and decided it’s the coolest thing ever."

“No one would decide that’s the coolest thing ever.” Stella laughed again and then grabbed his arm. "Oooh! Do you still have the photo of the time we went out back home with them all on, the Christmas before we passed out of training?"

Jensen took his eyes off her hand that was still grabbing his arm and rubbed his beard while thinking about the system folder the picture may be in. "Yeah, I think it might be in one of these." he said as he clicked on one named ‘Good Times’. Stella could see a load of thumbnails as they popped up on the screen. They were mainly shots of his family, but there were also a few of her and him and a couple of him and Gracie. And she was just thinking about how he still had some of the pictures they had taken together all those years back, wondering to herself if that meant he still cared for her after everything that had happened between them or if he had simply forgotten they were there in the first place, when she heard him say "Yup. There it is."

"Oh my God, look at that Jakey!" she squealed, her gorgeous smile on her face again, as Jensen noticed she was back at Jakey. “We look so young.”

Jensen smiled broadly at her before turning to look at the picture again, taking every detail of it in. It was a picture of him, his dad, Rob and Stella all in horrific sweaters. Jake wore the aforementioned item bearing the large Jesus image, Rob’s was a Home Alone themed Sweater, featuring the infamous picture Kevin finds in his brother’s room along with the quote- ‘Buzz, your girlfriend…woof!’ John’s had a 3D elf attached to the bottom emblazoned with the slogan ‘When I think about you I touch my Elf’ and Stella’s was the classier of the four, a sparkly green Christmas tree effect, with baubles hanging all over it. The four of them were rosy cheeked from alcohol (well, mostly…) and smiling broadly, Stella stood next to Jake as his arm curled around her waist, John to her other side as his draped over her shoulder.

Happier, simpler times for them all.

"Remember that afternoon?" Jensen asked her, smiling softly at a grinning and younger Stel on the screen. "Yeah." Stella smiled at him. "It was the afternoon of our annual Secret Santa dinner night at your mom and dad’s." Jake then turned to look at her, grinning. "That’s not what I was asking, Stel."  She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "You want me to say I remember our bunk up in the bathroom?" "Yup." he replied as he wriggled his eyebrows playfully at her. "My sweater was missing a few baubles when we made it back into the bar."  "Yeah" he reminisced as he grinned wildly. "Birthday boy got his very own porn show.”

Stella snorted, slapping his arm. "We are so going to Hell for that."

"Well if that's what Hell is like baby, I don't wanna go to Heaven." he quipped cheekily, making Stella slap his arm again.

“Stop it, Jake!"

"Okay, okay, sorry..." he chuckled. But he wasn’t sorry in the slightest about bringing up that memory and as Stella turned her eyes back to the screen he found himself back in that bar, one Friday afternoon in December 2002. It was the day before Christmas Eve and he, his dad and Rob were out for drinks on what could have been deemed as a forced boys’ afternoon because his mom had kicked them out not long after lunch stating that she and Jane were doing dinner with Jules. Apparently they needed to get started like five fucking hours in advance for some reason and thus, all three men had found themselves at their local bar at four p.m. wearing their ugly Christmas sweaters as was the tradition on that day. What they hadn't counted on was having to go out in them, least of all to a bar where almost everyone knew them.

Stella was meeting her girlfriends for a shopping afternoon before they all met up for dinner and drinks and the annual "joke" Secret Santa. Only this year they were two down as Rey and Dick were in Florida visiting some of Dick's extended family, who knows who exactly, as Jake wasn't very fond of paying attention to details when Dick Fitzpatrick spoke. What he did know however, was that they would also be examining pretentious venues for their wedding the year after.

Fifteen minutes after their first round was served, Jensen was putting his empty beer down as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and John immediately nudged him. "Give it a rest son! You've been glued to that all afternoon."

"Yeah. What are you doing? Talking to someone?" Rob snorted, rolling his eyes. "I wonder who."

Jensen grinned. "Not my fault my girl can't stand not to message me for more than thirty minutes."

“Keep telling yourself that. It’s you who can’t stand not talking to her." Rob quipped as John chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"You saying I'm whipped Robert?" Jensen asked sternly, tilting his head to look at him before his face split into another huge grin. "Because you would be absolutely right and I'm not ashamed to admit it." 

At that he waved at the bartender and ordered another round while John snorted and Rob shook his head.

"We’ve lost him, John." "We lost him a long time ago, Rob” John sniggered and Rob nodded seriously. "Yeah, so says Jane." He spoke as he leaned on the bar. "Shut up Robert, you're the one that drove two hundred miles home at like four a.m. because Jane was crying she had period cramps and you were away with work." Jensen jabbed at his brother in law.

"He got you there pal." John laughed loudly as Rob narrowed his eyes.

"How do you know that?"

Jensen just shrugged. "I’m her little brother, I know things."

Rule number two?... four?..., whatever, in military training; never reveal your sources or methods of information.

But Rob wasn't buying any of Jensen’s bullshit and narrowed his eyes again. "Jane told Stella, didn't she?"

"Maybe." 

Maybe wasn't a yes, right?

Rob rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"You wanna make this a competition? Because Jake’s been like that for years now." John teased Rob.

“Oh, shut up dad." Jensen protested as he passed him one of the beers the bartender had just placed in front of them.

John laughed before raising his bottle "You already admitted you were whipped!" and Jensen groaned as his dad took a big gulp of his second beer. "You know, Son. I'm kinda offended you don't make me coffee and toast every morning."

"What?" Rob asked, spluttering beer all over the bar.

"Every time Stel stays over, he makes her coffee and toast in bed. Fuck the rest of us, like.."

Jensen grinned and cut his dad off straight away. "No. I don't fuck the rest of you, which is why I don’t make you breakfast."

At that some of the usual patrons turned to look at them as Rob started howling at John’s face. "He’s not wrong John."

"Guess I asked for that one." John mused before taking another sip of beer.

"You totally did, dad."

"Cheers to that." Rob quipped as he and Jensen clinked their bottles together.

"What is this, gang up on John day?"

"Come on old man. Don’t get angry and order another round for us." Jensen grinned, chugging his beer down and patting his dad's shoulder. So John did, and then when they finished that it was Rob’s turn to buy, and thus the cycle continued two hours later they were still perched at the same place at the bar, talking nonsense with alcohol running freely through their systems.

"Pity Rey and Dick are away this year because I had found the perfect shit Secret Santa gift for her." Rob whined and Jensen sniggered by his side. "A joke book?" "Nope. Her boyfriend is the joke." Rob quipped and both men started laughing until John corrected Rob.

"Ah ah ah, her fiancé." "Yup, right. Her fiancé." Rob repeated, raising his beer in a mock toast.

Jensen chuckled and leaned his head on his right arm where it was folded on the bar before speaking. "Fahk man. All she talks about is that fahkin’ wedding." "Well she's excited, son." John shrugged. "Too excited. She’s got Jane on the phone, all day." Rob complained and, at that, Jensen groaned raising his head again to look at Rob.

"And Stella, man. She’s dreading whatever bridesmaid dress Rey picks." Jensen paused, before grinning widely. "When me and Stel get married it's just gonna be one big party." John and Rob shared a glance.  "Well, we’ll see if you stay true to your word when we come to it." John said simply, not knowing if it was drunken Jensen speaking or if his son was being serious about it. But Jensen's next comment left no room for doubt.

"We already talked about it. No fancy ass do just a simple set of I dos and a fuck load of fun." Jake stated seriously.

Rob shared another quick glance with John as he raised an eyebrow. "You two talked about it?"

"Yeah." Jensen nodded but then frowned, spotting the expression on his sister's boyfriend's face. "What's the issue?"

"What's the issue? For fucks sake, Jake. You're only twenty-one" Rob argued and Jensen was fast to cut him

"So what? When you know, you know Rob."

"And what can you possibly know at twenty-one?" Rob insisted.

Jake just shrugged, any possible concern on Rob's part falling on deaf ears, he just knew. "Never be another girl for me."

At that John decided to help his son out. "To be fair Rob, he's been in love with her for basically the last ten years. Was just too chicken to do anything about it until he was seventeen"

Rob snorted and shook his head as he raised his beer to Jake. "Cheers to that man. You're a goner." and then sipped from his bottle before continuing. "You wanna spend your life with Rey as a sister in law, be my guest."

Jake looked at him and then shrugged again. "Worth it."

"Well, I guess that speaks for itself." Rob finally conceded which put a big smile on Jensen's face before he made a confession.

"I'd ask her now but we got training to finish first, so..." and then Jake hiccuped before gulping down the rest of his beer.

When they all finished their drinks and another round was ordered the three men were in an inevitable semi-drunk state and, as was to be expected, started cracking jokes and, what was worse, singing out loud. After being told to quit their fourth rendition of ‘Oh, Christmas Tree!’ by the bar tender, they moved back to jokes, Rob and Jensen trying to out-do each other with the trusty old ‘Yo Momma jokes’.

Jensen nailed rob with the one about his momma being so stupid she stared at a cup of orange juice for twelve hours because it said concentrate, to which Rob responded that Jensen’s momma was so short you could see her feet on her driver’s license photo. They continued getting more and more insulting until Rob grinned and pointed his bottle at Jensen, smirking.

“Yo momma’s so ugly, she threw a boomerang and it refused to come back.”

"Hey!" John protested, suddenly zoning into the conversation, making the two younger men howl with laughter. He clutched his glass as he glared at Rob.  "You're my least favourite son in law now, Danby." "I’m your only son in law John."  "Yeah, and you're shit." John stated, tipping his bottle towards Rob, spilling a little of the pilsner he was drinking onto the bar surface. "I’ll tell Jane you said that." "Tell her whatever you want. I’m her favourite father." John shrugged, taking a large gulp of his beer. "As opposed to that other one who shows up on her birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas?" Jensen quipped, grinning at his father. "What?" John asked, not understanding what shit his son was talking but then he realised what he had just said and snorted. "Oh God, I think I’m drunk. Your mother is so gonna kill me." "Just blame John. She can't shout at him." Jensen offered, trying to keep a straight face at his father's frown. "John? Who’s John?"  Rob and Jensen started pissing themselves laughing at John's dumbfounded face. "John Jensen, best disgusting person." Jake shrugged. John frowned and suddenly realised "Oh, you mean me? Hey! Why am I disgusting?"

"Because we have pretty much finished our drinks, your lagging behind and you haven’t ordered a new round yet.” Jensen fired his shot.

"I bought the last one." John reminded his son.

"No, you didn’t. Rob did." Jensen quipped as he winked at Rob.

"Yeah, he's right John. I did." Rob played along.

John was about to tell them both to piss off as he wasn't that drunk when he spotted Stella and her friends entering the bar and decided to play his son, with his one and only weakness. "Tell you what. Whoever cracks a smile first buys the next round. If you can go for two minutes I’ll buy the next ones. Think you can keep a straight face boys?” he baited them. "You mean you want us to be grumpy like you old man?” Jensen arched an eyebrow as he hiccupped. “But it’s Christmas, what’s there to be grumpy about.”

"You chicken, Son?” John teased him and Rob whistled as Jensen stopped dead, his almost empty beer bottle poised at his mouth.

"You just call me a chicken?” he slammed the bottle down on the surface, wrinkling his nose as he waved his hand in the air “Whatever man, start the damned timer." 

John did as told and put his phone at the centre of the table, so they could clearly see it counting upwards. The three men started looking at one another, examining each other’s faces for a flick of a smile as they tried to keep their own as straight as possible. And just as the two minutes were about to expire John tapped Jensen on his shoulder and nodded behind him.

Jake turned and just as he did a huge grin broke on his face as he spotted Stella, Then he realised, turning hastily to his dad with a groan. "Damned it!! You stitched me up."

John was already cackling as Rob banged on the bar, both men unable to hold back the tears of laughter.

"You know what, I don’t care. Here.” Jensen said as he slapped twenty bucks on the bar. "Imma go say hi to my Stelly." "Yeah, go Son. Say hi to your Stelly." John mocked him as he wiped the tears in his eyes.  But before Jensen left, Rob nodded to the twenty bucks and looked at John.

“Another twenty say he doesn’t come back in the next fifteen minutes."

"You think it'll take him that long?" John scoffed, earning a glare from Jensen who then looked at Rob.

"You suck.” Jake hiccuped. "Talking about sucking, fifteen minutes Jake." Rob teased him, tapping at his wrist. "II only need ten.” Jensen shrugged.  

At that Rob looked at John who shook his head with a smirk as he set the timer again. They then saw Jensen leave, crossing the room over to his girl.

As he approached, Jensen saw Stella's cheeks were pink most likely from a combination of alcohol and cold. As she spotted him, those cheeks raised showing off her dimples and her cute little nose wrinkled as she grinned hugely which Jensen loved. "Hi Jakey!"

"Hi, gorgeous." he greeted her back before kissing her and then grinned at her friends. "Ladies?"

They all murmured hi and Stella looked at him. "You gonna buy me a drink?"

"I’m buying you all a drink but you’re gonna have to help me bring them to the table, baby." Jensen offered, getting his plan rolling.

The girls all cheered Jensen and ‘complimented’ his sweater in return for the free drinks. "Jesus is my homeboy." he stated, seriously puffing out his chest causing Stella’s friends to laugh. "You’re so full of shit." she snorted.

"Rude, Stel."he narrowed his eyes playfully. "True." she admitted as she stood up patted Jesus's head. "Come on then, let's get these drinks. Be back in a moment girls."

"Yeah, sure." One of them spoke as the rest all giggled. "Don't make it too long guys."

Jake chuckled as he grabbed Stella’s hand and started leading her through the room.

"Jake, the bar is that way.” She started to protest. "Need a pit stop." He replied simply. "Right well you go pee and I'll meet you at the bar. Gimme your wallet." Stella ordered as she stopped in her tracks behind Jensen.

"Nope. You coming with me." he ignored her request, pulling her hand to keep her walking.

"What?"

 Jensen didn't answer her but yanked her towards the men’s restroom. "Shhh..."

"I'm not going in there Jake!" Stella protested.

"All right. Ladies it is” Jensen quickly spun to the door next to the gent’s and Stella scoffed.

"Jake! No!" She stopped again and yanked on his arm hard enough to make him jerk back, turn and bump into her slightly. “What's up?” his hands fell to her hips as he began to walk them backwards into the ladies bathroom. As he pushed the door open he checked around to make sure they were alone and began to pull her further into the room, ignoring her protests. He dropped his head to whisper in her ear, stopping just outside an open cubicle “You losing your sense of adventure, baby?” he softly nipped at her neck and she shuddered “God, you’re a damn bastard, Jakey.” She whispered.

“Yeah but I’m your damn bastard, Stelly.” “Oh, shut up!” she mumbled, grabbing the front of his sweater and pulling him towards her for a ferocious kiss before she pushed him into the cubicle, his lips curling into a smirk against her mouth. Once inside he backed her up against the door, reaching round to lock it, before his large hands cupped her face, the kiss growing deeper as his tongue slid against hers, grazing the roof of her mouth as she fisted her hands in his sweater.

“Don’t pull Jesus’ hair too much.” He quipped and she grinned, her hands sliding up into his own short locks, giving a shark yank tipping his head back, bearing his neck to her.

“I’ll just pull yours instead.”

A low growl rumbled in his throat as his hand slid up her sweater, his leg moving forward as he planted his thigh in between hers. She let out a moan as he pushed up sharply, the harsh denim of both their jeans grinding on her spot. She was soaked already, and when his fingers started to undo the buttons of her pants she was relieved that he wasn’t wasting any time. He pulled them downwards and pulled off the boot on her left foot, allowing her to step one leg out of her jeans, freeing her legs slightly as he gripped her left thigh, hooking it over his hip. Planting one hand by the side of her head, his other shifted her panties to one side, and he grinned again, his lips hovering over hers.

“You know, for all your protests, you feel pretty ready, Darlin’”

“Shut up and fuck me Jake.” She mumbled as his lips caught the pulse point on her neck, her head banging against the cubicle door causing it to rattle as his fingers slid into her folds, one circling her clit. 

“This what you want?” he asked, his breath was low.

“God, yes!” she muttered as his fingers picked up the pace. He inserted one inside, then another, and her head fell forward onto his shoulder as he curled it forward his digits forward against her spot, thumb circling her clit. Moving his other hand he slid it up her jumper and pulled down the cups of her bra freeing her breasts, gently rolling one nipple in between his fingers, his other hand still fucking her gently and she let out a gasp.

“Jakey for God’s Sake just fuck me already!” she repeated her demand and Jake grinned.

“I love it when you beg.”

“Prick.” She mumbled, as her hands flew to the buckle on his belt, opening it with a clink of metal before she easily undid his jeans, her fingers pushing them and his boxers down, allowing his hard cock to spring loose. Jensen hooked his hands under her knees and lifted her so her legs were round his waist, back pressed to the locked cubicle door. Once more he claimed her mouth with a heated kiss, swallowing the dirty groan she gave as he pushed into her.  

Her walls gripped him with their familiar warmth and tightness and with a sigh he began to move, slowly at first, gently, her hands grasping at his shoulders as she tilted her hips towards him, her clit grinding against his pubic bone and it was then that one of the baubles on her jumper pinged loose and dropped to the floor with a soft chink.

“Shit.” She mumbled, but her word cut off as Jensen rotated his hips, pushing against her harder and she gasped as his hips quickened their pace, his ruts becoming deeper and faster. Soon the bathroom was filled with the filthy sound of skin on skin, moans and groans, punctuated by the odd soft clink as bauble after bauble worked itself free from Stella’s sweater. Her hands were everywhere-in his hair, up his back, under his top, nails biting at the skin as she hung onto him for dear life. Jensen continued to slam into her again and again, lips kissing down her jawline, neck, nipping and biting softly as he went. 

“God I love you, Jakey” Stella gasped, her hands now on his face, bringing his mouth round to kiss hers again, the pads of her fingers digging into his short stubble.

“Love you too, my Stelly” he moaned into her mouth, the noise of the door behind continuing to rattle loudly as his pace didn’t falter in the slightest.

“Fuck…” she moaned, her nails sliding up into his hair and Jensen gave a gasp as he felt her tighten around him Her heels, one still wearing a boot, dug into his ass, her nails digging into his scalp as she groaned, her eyes wide. “Jakey, I’m…”

“You gonna come for me?” He asked as his mouth hovered over hers, eyes locked on hers, watching, and she nodded, a whimper escaping her throat, as her head banged back against the door.

“Shit, Jake, oh, oh…” and then her words and little noises died off, her mouth dropping open into a silent scream as she clamped around him, hard as her release took her away. Her entire body shook and Jensen gave a strangled groan that bubbled from the depths of this chest, and he clutched her to him, tightly, hips stuttering as he shuddered with the utter intensity of it all, before he too came hard with as surge that curled his toes.

Their chests heaved together as Stella clung to him, Jake’s head pressed into the crook of her shoulder as they both waited for the world to stop spinning around them. After a moment or two, Stella began to chuckle and Jake moved, pressing his forehead to hers, their noses bumping as he kissed her softly.

“You good?” he asked and she nodded.

“I am but I think poor Jesus will be scarred for life.” She grinned and Jake laughed, before he pulled out of her with a gentle sigh, setting her back on her feet. “Can we get that drink now?” she asked.

Jake laughed before he remembered what Rob and his dad had said to him and he quickly grabbed his phone, smirking.

9 minutes…

The memory faded away as Stella’s voice hit his ears and he turned to her “Sorry, what?”

She rolled her eyes. “I knew you weren't listening!”

“Sorry, was just thinking about that afternoon.” He grinned “Dad and Rob were highly amused we did the dirty with Jesus watching.”

“And whose fault was that?” Stella arched an eyebrow at him.

“I didn't hear you complaining. Well, not until after when you realised half the baubles were missing off your sweater.”

Stella snorted “My mom asked me what happened to it when we got back to yours. And your dad said…”

“Divine intervention!” they both spoke at the same time, laughing, only to be interrupted as Pooch walked into the office.

“Amen! What are you two up to?”

Stella wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and looked round at him. “We were just looking at some photos and reminiscing.”

“Some photos?” Pooch asked as he approached Jensen’s desk. Jake turned the laptop for him to see and Pooch bent closer before he shook his head.

“Jensen, what the fuck are you wearing man?”

“Question should be who the fuck was I wearing Pooch.”

“Or why?” Pooch shot back and Jensen shrugged.

“It’s a Jensen-Stevenson family tradition buddy.” He leaned back in his chair, scratching his chest over his uniform. “Every year we have a dinner and a Secret Santa. Well, we used to anyway before...” at that he sat forward and cleared his throat, noticing Stella look away as he did so. He quickly recovered himself and smiled up at Pooch “Rule was the worst sweater won an extra prize.”

“Well you nailed it Jensen because frankly that is the ugliest sweater I have ever seen."

“You’re going to hell for saying that.” Jensen pointed at him.

“Yeah and we'll see him there after what poor Jesus saw that afternoon.” Stella snorted. Jensen smirked asas Pooch looked between them slightly confused.

“What do you...” he trailed off, groaning as he suddenly understood and then scoffed as they both started laughing again. “You guys are...were...” he pulled a face, “oh that’s nasty.”

“What’s nasty?” another voice spoke and all three of them turned to see Evan in the doorway. Jake shut his laptop violently, in a display of petulance more than anything. He was damned if he was letting that fucker into their private joke. Evan arched his eyebrow slightly before his attention turned to Stella as she explained.

“Oh we just found some old photos of us in horrific Christmas sweaters.”

“Found? On his laptop? By chance?” Evan’s tone was slightly accusing and Stella shrugged, missing the glare he shot at Jake.

“We were looking for something else and got side tracked.” Stella waved her hand “Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you were in briefings till late?”

“I was but we finished earlier than expected and thought I could pick you up and maybe grab dinner at mine? I’ll cook.”

“Erm, sure.” Stella smiled “Sounds good.”

Pooch and Jensen exchanged a glance and Jensen merely rolled his eyes. Here she was again, backing out of a pre-arrange Losers social. But Jensen knew better than to raise that fact, certainly not in front of Evan.

As it happened though, Pooch didn’t.

“You not coming to the poker game then?” he asked and Stella blinked before she gave a groan.

“Shit. I forgot, erm…” she looked at Evan. “Roque’s organised a game.”

“Oh, okay.” Evan shrugged “I just thought we could spend the evening together. You never said anything about a poker game, Pumpkin, I wouldn’t have asked if I’d have known.”

At that Jensen rolled his eyes. The smell of bullshit was overwhelming.

“I must have forgotten.” Stella shrugged.

“Arty, you ain't been out with us for weeks.” Pooch pressed “Every time we organise something you’re busy. We got stag do planning to do!”

At that Jensen really did grimace given their earlier conversation. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

“I thought you weren't going to New York?” Evan spoke, his voice calm but Jensen spotted the nerve twitching in his jaw.

“What?” Pooch tuned to Stella and she groaned.

“Sorry.” Evan looked from her to Pooch, an innocent expression on his face and Jensen gripped the side of the desk firmly to stop himself doing something stupid. Like punching the fucker in the face “Did I put my foot in it?”

“What do you mean you're not coming?” Pooch completely ignored Evan, his eyes fixed on Stella as he waited for her to answer. She floundered for a moment, and Jensen sighed. He was torn, he felt sorry for Stella but on the other hand he really wanted Pooch to call her out and perhaps finally see what he had been saying for weeks- that Evan was a manipulative little shit.

“I haven't decided.” Stella shrugged, her voice quiet “I don't know what I'm doing.”

“You haven’t decided? What’s there to decide?” Pooch continued “You said you were coming Arty, I was counting you in”

“I know. I'm sorry, I just-“

“This is my fault.” Evan jumped in. “I'm busy for the week after helping my Aunt move house and I suggested we do something that weekend as we won't see each other. I booked us a hotel in Boston.”

“You did?” Stella frowned and Evan nodded before he took a deep breath and shook his head.

“I didn't know the dates clashed.”

“Sure you didn’t.” Jake mumbled to himself, turning back to the monitor which now showed nothing but the screensaver which was a picture of him, Stella and Gracie at her soccer game they had attended back home last year. Still, he pretended to be busy as Pooch and Evan stared at one another before Pooch shrugged, taking a deep breath.

“Whatever man.”

“I’m sorry Pooch I…” Stella started again and Pooch cut her off.

“No Arty, I’m the one who’s sorry.” His usually jovial tone was cold and Jensen saw Stella’s shoulders slump in the corner of his eye and wanted nothing more than to give her a hug.

“I think I’m gonna skip poker tonight.” She spoke softly and Jensen’s head whipped round to face her full on.

“What?”

“I’ll let Roque know you’re dropping out.” Pooch cut in.

“Are you sure, sweetheart?” Evan looked at her “I don't mind if you wanna go, we can do something tomorrow instead.”

This time Jake’s scoff was loud enough for all three of them to hear and Evan turned to glare at him. Jensen held his stare, his hands clenching into fists under the table. He was just about ready to explode.

“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s fine.” Stella stood up “I’ll see you both later.”

With that she grabbed her jacket and left the room, Evan behind her, his hand planted in the small of her back. Pooch and Jake exchanged a glance, watching her go before Pooch crossed the room and closed the door, turning to Jensen.

“Dude. She’s not coming on my bachelor party? What the fuck?”

“I told you the guy is a manipulative bastard.” Jensen grit through his teeth. “She told me earlier she didn’t know if she could make it as he wanted to spend the weekend with her. He’s doing it deliberately to keep her away from me, or us, whatever.” He sighed, “And I’d bet my last dollar that, despite what she says, she’s offhandedly mentioned something about poker tonight and he’s shown up here now, on purpose, to guilt trip her into not going.” His fingers traced his goatee. “I don’t know what to do, Pooch.

“I tell you what I do know.” Pooch looked at Jensen. “We need to get rid of him. He has got to go, man!”

Jensen blinked, and then a broad grin spread across his face as Pooch’s words registered. Finally, he had an accomplice, someone else who had seen Shithead for what he was.

A shithead.

“Welcome aboard, Pooch.” Jensen leaned back in his chair, arms folded behind his head “Welcome aboard.”

**** Chapter 7 Part 1

#too loose and you'll lose it #jake jensen x ofc #jake jensen x original female character #jake jensen #ssholidaychallenge #the losers

[much-obliged-timothy]

Dad Tim & Uncle Rhys Part 12

Literally right after I finished writing this I saw a thing that said Ava is 18, but we’re going to pretend she’s in her younger teens because this is a fic and I’m in charge now?? Anyway, here’s a new entry into this! 

“Timothy? Are you listening to me?”

Tim glanced up with the kind of guilt that announced he absolutely had not been listening to Rhys. Rhys sighed, realizing he was going to have to repeat his whole story.

“You’re not eating, either,” Rhys pointed out, deciding it’d be a waste to bother repeating the story if Tim hadn’t managed to focus the first time.

He’d invited Tim to come spend his lunch in the office. He’d needed Tim to sign some paperwork, and sometimes it was nice to just sit and talk. Despite his stunted social skills after what he’d been through, Tim could be surprisingly hilarious when he told stories. 

Now, though, he just kept glancing at his son. Phoenix and Zer0 were trying to build up a structure out of playing cards together, Phoenix laughing every time it fell down onto Zer0’s lap.

“Something wrong with Phoenix?” Rhys asked.

“What? No, he’s fine,” Tim said. “Just…” He sighed. “I took him to the park last night to play. There were a few kids there already. They invited him to join a game, but he hid behind me and refused to move or speak. I told them he wasn’t feeling well enough to play right then.”

“Uh...he always gets like that around people,” Rhys said.

“I know. But he’s getting better,” Tim said, glancing at him again. “Only around adults, though. Last night made me realize Phoenix has never actually played with another kid in his life. Hell, he’s never even talked to another kid before. He grew up surrounded by adults fighting to survive. Then I get him out and he ends up surrounded by corporate adults.”

Rhys hadn’t really thought about that before. And Tim had already said he didn’t plan to have any other kids, so it’s not like Phoenix would even have a sibling to play with. 

“Why not set up a playdate with someone here?” Rhys offered. “A lot of the employees have kids.”

“I dunno. Phoenix is a bit...much,” Tim said, frowning. “He’s a good kid. But he has no idea how to interact with, well, normal kids. I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t want to set up a playdate and then have other kids tell him he’s weird, or make fun of him.” 

Rhys thought for a moment. “Hey, what about the vault hunters? Don’t they have a kid with them? Um, I mean, I think she’s a teenager, but still younger than the people he hangs out with here. And if she’s with them, I doubt she’ll think a little boy who knows how to use a gun will be weird.”

Tim brightened with tentative hope. “Oh, yea! They did mention something about that. You think she’d be willing to, I dunno, just play with him for a little?”

“No clue,” Rhys admitted. “But it can’t hurt to explain the situation and ask. Your son is playing with an assassin, Tim. It really, really can’t hurt to ask.”

“I’ll get in touch with them tonight,” Tim said. “I just...want him to learn how to play with other kids. That’s all. Even if she’s older than him, it’s a start.”

With that settled, he seemed a lot more at ease. Rhys decided to retell his story, pleased when Tim actually paid attention this time. But they both found their eyes slipping to Phoenix, realizing just how at ease he was playing with an adult assassin.

Definitely couldn’t hurt to ask a kid to play with him.

***

There was a knock on the door. Rhys called for them to come in without looking up from his computer.

When the door opened, he glanced over, then had to do a double take. He stood up hastily.

“Zane,” he said.

“Still rockin’ the beautiful mustache!” Zane said cheerfully. A girl stood next to him, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else. “Timothy got a hold of us last night. Where is the lad and his little lad?”

“I’m not a babysitter!” the girl said.

“Ah, hush, Ava,” Zane said. “Kid’s a fun one. Kinda cute, too, if you squint.”

“Don’t let Tim hear you say that,” Rhys said. Then, because he felt compelled to defend Phoenix, “He is a pretty cute kid. It’s just the messy hair that throws the look off. Tim should be here any minute. He had to go over some stuff with me.”

“Heard the boy’s gotten quite fond of you,” Zane said, throwing himself into the nearest chair. 

“I’m still not sure how,” Rhys said. “He is a good kid, though. I’m helping him learn how to read because he thinks if he can read, he can help Tim get work done faster.”

Zane opened his mouth to reply, but the door opened. Tim came in, Phoenix in his arms and a file of papers in his hand. He paused, eyes going wide at the sight of Zane and Ava.

“Oh,” he said at last.

“Dad,” Phoenix whispered urgently. “That’s the guy who talks funny.”

Tim laughed a little. “Yea, pal, it is. His name is Zane, remember?”

“I’m Zane, and this lass here is Ava,” Zane said, gesturing to her.

She was eyeing Tim and Phoenix, trying to look disinterested. But curiosity slipped onto her face, especially as she noticed Phoenix’s eye.

“Did he- inherit that from Jack?” she said in confusion.

Tim tightened his hold on Phoenix a little. “I was given DNA injections. Guess it permanently altered me more than I guessed. Uh, right. This is Phoenix, and I’m Timothy. Thanks for coming.”

Tim set Phoenix down, but Phoenix immediately gripped his shirt, tensing up and trying to hide behind Tim’s legs. Tim nudged him back out.

“Timothy! Wanna talk to ya a minute,” Zane said, getting up. “Nothin’ serious, I promise. Let the kids get to know each other while we chat.”

Phoenix tightened his hold on Tim. Tim had to pry his hand off, ruffling his hair.

“I’ll be right back. Rhys is here with you. You’ll be fine,” Tim assured. 

“Dad!” Phoenix said, but Zane pulled Tim out of the room.

“Uh...he’s not good with people,” Rhys said.

“They warned me,” Ava said. “Hey, kid, quit staring at the door. Zane isn’t going to hurt Timothy. He helped save you guys, remember?”

Phoenix didn’t speak, just backed cautiously towards Rhys, eyes on Ava now. Without everyone watching her now, she dropped the bored teenager act, sitting on the ground and looking more curious than anything.

“Zane said you had a gun when they found you,” she said. “You can shoot?”

Phoenix hugged his bear to his chest and gave a stiff nod. “Mom and dad taught me.”

To Rhys’ surprise, she grinned at him. “That’s awesome. Zane said you shot at them. You’re kinda badass, kid.”

Phoenix’s shoulders eased, just the slightest. “They had my dad. ‘Course I shot ‘em.”

“Hey, good for you,” she said. Her expression shifted to something sad, pained. “Gotta protect the people you love before you lose them.”

Phoenix inched forward, just a little. “Did someone you love die? That sucks.”

“Yea. Yea, she did,” Ava said, shaking herself a little. “So, I’m stuck here with you for a bit. What do you do for fun?”

“I…” He bit his lip, glancing at Rhys, who nodded encouragingly. “I, um, I like to look at the pictures in books.”

“Do you know how to read?” Ava asked.

“Kinda.” He was blushing a little, dropping his gaze. “I’m still learning. Boss guy and dad help me.”

Ava went over to the bookshelf in the room, looking over the titles there. “Whoa, hey! You have a book about Sirens?!”

“Oh, uh, it’s just a lot of guesswork. Interesting theories, but little facts,” Rhys said.

“So? That’s still awesome. C’mere, kid, let’s read this.” Ava pulled it from the shelf and sat down with it, gesturing Phoenix over. “Do you know anything about Sirens?”

Phoenix frowned, but his love of books had him cautiously moving closer to her to peek at the cover. “Nu-uh. I met one. She was really cool.”

“Amara, right?” Ava rolled her sleeve up, showing her Siren tattoo to Phoenix. His eyes widened and he drifted even closer to look it over. “I’m a Siren, too. My...My friend passed her powers to me when she...Well, she believed in me, and I cherish that. Looks cool, huh?”

He reached out, but caught himself in time and jerked his hand away. Ava just moved her arm closer to him, though.

“You can touch my arm,” she said, then narrowed her eyes. “But don’t be weird about it. And I’m ticklish.”

He pressed his fingers lightly to her arm, staring at the tattoos. He pulled his hand away after a moment and pointed at the book.

“Can you read it?” he asked.

“That’s the plan.” She pat the spot next to her. “Let’s learn about Sirens. Man, the stories I could tell you about Maya! Talk about a badass.”

She began to read the book to Phoenix. It was clear he didn’t understand a lot of the words in it, but every time he started to look bored or frustrated, Ava would pause in her reading to tell him a story about Maya and the use of her powers. Those sucked Phoenix right back in, and he eagerly pressed Ava for all the- often gruesome -details of Maya’s battle history. 

By the time Tim and Zane reentered the room, Phoenix was squealing with laughter as Ava told him an exaggerated story about Maya juggling bandits with her powers. Tim froze in the doorway, eyes wide as he watched his son.

A wide, relieved smile broke out on Tim’s face and he slumped against the doorframe in relief. Rhys couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

Phoenix noticed him and waved. “Dad, dad! Ya gotta hear this! Ava’s friend was a funny badass!”

“Tell me about it when we get home tonight, alright? I don’t want to interrupt you guys,” Tim said, sitting at Rhys’ desk. 

“M’kay, I will!” Phoenix promised before turning his excited attention back to Ava. “What’d she do next? Did she crush ‘em?”

“Much more talkative than when we met him,” Zane said, sitting next to Tim.

“He’s come a really long way,” Tim said, that smile still on his face. “God, he’s come so far. I never imagined I could leave him alone in a room with a total stranger and come back to find him laughing. And he didn’t even run for me this time.”

“He was nervous at first, but she drew him out of his shell,” Rhys said. “Uh, they’ve mostly been talking about fights and Siren abilities, but he’s having a good time.”

“She was the perfect choice to get him used to younger people without making him self conscious,” Tim said. “Thank you, Rhys. He and I would be lost without you. Hopefully they can...ya know, do normal kid stuff at some point. I’m just glad to see him so happy.”

“Have to take him to Sanctuary to hang out with Ava sometime!” Zane said. “Lass could use the company of a kid. They’ve both been through too much to be normal kids, but they still deserve childhoods.”

Tim nodded. “Yea. Thanks for bringing Ava here, Zane. Hell, thanks for getting us out of that casino. I owe you guys my life and his life.” 

“Ah, pay me back with a pint later,” Zane said, clapping Tim on the back. 

Rhys looked up at the kids. Phoenix had leapt to his feet, firing finger guns at Ava. Ava ducked behind the bookcase and pretended to return fire on him with her own finger guns, the two engaging in their pretend war, their laughter filling the room.

“Huh, never seen her just...play,” Zane said as he watched. 

“Then it was good for both of them,” Tim said. “I’m glad.”

He was smiling so wide it looked like it hurt his face. Rhys put a hand on his shoulder and they watched the kids play, all of them relieved to see two kids who’d gone through so much in their short lives get to just have fun for once.

#borderlands #timothy lawrence #borderlands rhys #dad tim & uncle rhys #borderlands au #My writing

[hopelikethemoon]

Movie Night (Javier x Reader) {MTMF}

Title: Movie Night Rating: PG-13  Length: 2900 Warnings: Slight voyeurism, light smut (teasing in public).  Notes: You can find everything about Maybe Today, Maybe Forever here. Set January 1999. Two days without MTMF, did you miss me? I’ve been working on this over the past two days, trying to get my desire to write back after the unpleasantness.  Summary: Family movie night is always an event. 

@grapemama​​​ @seawhisperer​​​ @huliabitch​​​ @beccaplaying​​​ @thewallpapergoesorido​​​ @twomoonstwosuns​​​ @gooddaykate​​​ @livasaurasrex​​​ @ham4arrow​​​ @plexflexico​​ @readsalot73​​​ @hdlynn​​​ @lokiaddicted​​​ @randomness501​​​ @fioccodineveautunnale​​​  @roxypeanut​ @snivellusim​​​ @lukesrighthand​​​ @historynerd04 @mrsparknuts​​​@ ​​​​​@awesomefandomsunited​​​​​​​​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​​ @exrebelshocktrooper​​​ @synystersilenceinblacknwhite​​​ @ah-callie​​​ @swhiskeys​​​ @exrebelshocktrooper​​​ @u-wakatoshii @space-floozy​​ @cable-kenobi @cool-ultra-nerd @himbopoes​​​ @findhimfives​​​ @pedrosdoll​​​ @frietiemeloen​​ @arrowswithwifi​​​ @random066​​​ @uncomicalhumour​​​ @heather-lynn​ @domino-oh-damn @cyarikaaa​​​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​​​ @im-still-a-pieceofgarbage @ksgeekgirl​​ @yabby-girl​ @xqueenofthecraziesx​​ @punkass-potato​​ @coredrive​​ @pascalesque​​ @theduchessofkirkcaldy​​ @queenquazar​​​ @sabinemorans​​​ @buckstaposition​​​ @holkaskrosnou​​​ @yespolkadotkitty​​​@seeking-a-great–perhaps @kochamcie​​​ @jaime1110​​​ @katlikeme​​​

After the girls had gotten their fill of watching Mulan for the dozenth time, you and Steve helped them set up a pillow fort in the middle of the family room floor, while Javier, Monica, and Nadia ran a relay team on bringing popcorn and Capri Sun out to keep them occupied while the six of you tried to enjoy The Mask of Zorro. 

“I wanted sweet popcorn.” Josie huffed a little, but shoveled a handful of popcorn into her mouth, before retreating back into the pillow fort with Olivia and a full bowl of popcorn. 

“Please don’t let Sofía eat any.” You warned.

Olivia poked her head out, “Sofía is sleeping.” She told you as she shushed you. 

“Hey, no.” Steve shook his head. 

“It’s fine,” You assured him before turning towards Javier as he returned with two glasses of wine and a bottle tucked under his arm. “Classy.”

He winked at you, “Figured we could do something different for movie night.”

You took your glass from him and took a sip, “You read my mind.” You took the bottle from him, sitting it down on the coffee table beside your glass of wine. “Girls, do you have everything you need?”

“Yes!” They called back.

“I finally got the movie rewound,” Connie announced as she flopped down onto the opposite side of the sofa, beckoning Steve to her. 

“Has no one ever heard ‘be kind, rewind’?” Steve chuckled as he sank down beside her and stretched his legs out to rest his feet on the coffee table. 

“I don’t get why Blockbuster doesn’t just check every VHS,” Nadia pointed as she joined Monica on the armchair, “I kinda hope one day there’s an easier way to watch a movie.” 

Monica popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth, “You mean like your crazy idea for being able to watch movies at home with the touch of a button?”

“It’s not that crazy,” Nadia protested, nodding her head towards Javier. “He agreed with me.”

“Yeah,” Javier said as he sat down beside you. “Picture it — any movie you want, right on your TV.” He draped his arm around you.

You grabbed the blanket off the back of the sofa, pulling it over your lap and curling up beneath it and leaning into Javier’s side.

“I dunno, Peña.” Steve hummed thoughtfully. “Seems like it might require a lot of storage.” 

“It could work.” Javier picked up the edge of the blanket, situating it so it was over both of your laps. “You know,” He said to you. “I realized why you wanted to see this movie.”

“Oh?” You smirked at him, pulling your arm out from beneath the blanket to play your fingers through his hair. 

“Antonio.” He arched a brow at you.

You scrunched up your nose, “Like you don’t love Catherine Zeta-Jones.” You teased, tugging at his hair before you leaned forward to grab your glass of wine, taking a sip. 

Monica arched a brow, “I can see that.”

“Right?” You laughed, settling back into Javier’s side, sliding your arm behind him. “Steve, who’s on your list?”

“My what?”

“Your freebie.” You laughed, enjoying the brief look of panic on his face as he looked towards Connie. “You know, who would you get a freebie with if the opportunity arose?”

“Uh,” Steve scratched behind his ear. “I don’t know—“

Connie interrupted her, “Mine is definitely Harrison Ford. Though, Bruce Willis has a certain appeal too.”

“Does everyone have a list?” Steve looked towards Monica and Nadia. 

Monica shrugged, “It would be a fight over Kate Winslet or Winona Ryder.” 

Nadia popped a handful of popcorn into her mouth, “Definitely Winona.”

Steve gave you a weary list, “What the f-u-c-k?”

You couldn’t help but laugh, “Sorry?”

He raked his hand over his face, sighing heavily as he looked towards Connie, “Michelle Pfeiffer, I guess.”

“Really?” She hummed thoughtfully. “I guess I can see that.” Connie looked towards you then, “I thought you had a thing for George Clooney?”

“I go through phases.”

Javier squeezed your thigh under the blanket, “Let’s not forget your Kevin Costner phase. I don’t know how many times we’ve watched Robin Hood.”

“I cannot tell a lie, my taste varies.” You leaned your head against his shoulder, pressing your thigh against his beneath the cover. “You also love what’s her face from Jurassic Park.”

“Who?” Steve questioned.

Monica perked up, “Laura Dern?”

“Yeah! Her.” You nodded, nudging Javier in the ribs.

Javier shrugged, “I came for the dinosaurs and stayed for Dr. Sattler.” 

“Now that we’ve gone down that path, how about we start the movie?” Connie suggested as she picked up the remote and hit play. 

“For the record,” You interjected. “Sam Neill could get it.”

“Yes!” Connie agreed with a laugh as she grinned at you. 

Steve and Javier exchanged looks and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes. 

You pulled the blanket up around your arms as you shifted beside him. Javier wrapped his arm around your shoulders, maneuvering you so your head was resting against his chest more comfortably. 

“You should grow your hair out again,” You told Javier as you tilted your head to look at him, before looking between him and the TV screen. 

“And look like a prisoner?” His brows rose upwards as he looked down at you, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. 

You reached up and brushed your fingers over the hair that fell against his forehead, “I like the unkempt look.” You ran your hand over his chest as you leaned in to kiss him. 

He brushed his nose against yours as he drew back from the kiss, “Summer isn’t too far away, baby.”

“It’s January.” You laughed softly, shaking your head as you dragged your fingers through his too-short hair. “I guess I’ll just have to get my fill of unkempt from Zorro.” You sighed dramatically before turning your gaze back to the screen — watching as Alejandro and Joaquin got out of their predicament. 

Javier’s hand idly stroked your bare leg beneath the blanket, his touch warming you far better than even the blanket had. 

Chewing on your bottom lip, you tilt your head just enough to catch Javier’s gaze. He canted his head to the left, a brow arching upwards curiously as his fingers trailed along your inner thigh, rising up to skim just beneath the bottom of your shorts. 

Oh.

You punctuated your nod with a quick kiss, before turning back to watch the TV, just in time to watch Joaquin meet his early demise. 

You shifted beneath the blanket, letting your legs part far enough to accommodate Javi’s wandering hand. His touches were teasing — his fingers skimmed up your inner thigh, barely brushing over the crotch of your underwear, before retreating back down your thigh. 

It made concentrating on the movie a little more difficult. 

And no one was aware. You glanced towards Monica and Nadia — both of whom were staring at the screen and eating popcorn. Steve and Connie were whispering to each other, their gaze fixed on the screen too. 

You leaned forward to pick up your wine glass and your own bowl of popcorn. You took a sip of wine, sitting the bowl down on the blanket where your leg was pressed against Javier’s. “You want your wine?” 

“Yeah, baby.” Javier pulled his hand out from under the blanket and dragged his fingers through his hair. 

You took another sip before sitting your glass back down and picking up his. Javier brushed his fingers against yours as he took the glass from you, a smirk playing over his lips as he met your eyes over the rim of the wine glass as he took a sip. 

Both of you managed to behave yourselves as the movie progressed — right up until the scene between Elena and Zorro in the confessional. 

Your hand slid back beneath the blanket, watching him out of the corner of your eye as your fingers ghosted over his cock through the heavy fabric of his jeans. 

His ring clinked against the side of the Corelle bowl holding the popcorn between your laps and you froze. No one else seemed to notice — too focused on the film, as Love pursued Zorro. If they had noticed, Javier played it off like he was sitting the popcorn aside on the arm of the sofa. 

He relaxed back against the cushion, exhaling slowly as he gave a short nod of his head. Neither of you were bold enough to do much more than grope each other — not when everyone and the children were right there, but the thrill was there nevertheless. 

You bit down on your bottom lip, your eyes fixed on the TV as you cupped him more intentionally, rubbing your thumb down the length of him. His jeans kept him confined, but you could still feel the way he hardened beneath your touch. 

Javier cleared his throat, using that as an excuse to unwind his arm from around you and tuck it under the blanket. He slid his arm beneath yours, his hand grabbing at your thigh possessively. 

“Can we pause real quick?” Monica interjected, “I need to use the restroom.”

“Yeah,” You sat up a little straighter then, “Connie do you still have the remote?”

“Yep!” Connie fumbled for it on the sofa, before hitting pause. 

Javier reached for the bowl of popcorn again, sitting it on his lap as he grabbed a few pieces and popped them into his mouth, giving you a sideways look. 

“I think I’m going to go put Sofía down,” You announced as you rose to your feet, stretching your arms above your head. 

You glanced back at Javier, watching the way he was watching you. You knelt down to peel Sofía out from the pillow fort, laughing at the mess the girls had managed to make with the popcorn — kernels and pieces of popcorn strewn across the floor.

Josie whispered to you, “We were feeding Bruno.” She pointed to her Beanie Baby. 

“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood,” You teased her, cradling Sofía to your chest as you stood back up. “Hey Javi, do you mind helping me with Sofía?”

You weren’t sure you had ever seen Javier move as swiftly as he did. He was up and off the sofa, following you down the hallway to the nursery. 

“I haven’t seen you move like that since 1987.” You taunted as you bounced Sofía in your arms, turning back to look at him as he lingered in the threshold. 

Javier snorted, “What can I say, baby? I’ve been incentivized.” He dragged his fingers through his hair as he leaned against the doorframe. 

You smirked, “We didn’t even make it to the kiss.” 

Javier rubbed at the side of his neck as he stepped further into the room. “It’s not like we don’t know what happens.” You pointed out as you settled your daughter into her crib. “We need to do another movie night. Just the two of us.” 

He nodded his head slowly, “That new Star Wars film is out in a couple months.” 

“May, right?” You questioned as you leaned down to kiss Sofia’s head, before walking away from the bed. “Is this a date, Javi?”

Javier clicked his tongue against his teeth, “I’ll never stop dating you, baby.” He told you as you approached him. 

“What a sap,” You scrunched up your nose and rolled your eyes as you reached out and draped your arms over his shoulders. “Have you always been this much of a sap?”

He rocked his jaw as he stared down at you, “Back in the 80s, I met someone who turned me into a sap.”

You snapped your fingers, “I bet it was that fucking Murphy character.” 

Javier chuckled, “Bingo.” He ran his hands along your waist as he leaned down to kiss you, a slow kiss that only served to stoke the fire you felt in your veins. 

A soft moan escaped you as your lips parted against his, your fingers winding through the hair at the nape of his neck. 

He squeezed your hip, “We should go back out there.”

You nodded, brushing your nose against his. “As soon as they’re gone…” Your brows rose upwards and you caught his bottom lip between your teeth. 

Javier pulled you towards him abruptly, your chests pressed together. “I’m counting the minutes, baby.” He assured you as he kissed you again, his tongue invading your mouth — winding you up, only to abandon you. 

You trailed after him down the hallway, grabbing his ass before you stepped around him and his scandalized expression, as you made your way back to the sofa. You grabbed your wine glass, finishing off the last of it. 

“Did she go down easily?” Connie questioned as she tucked her legs beneath her. 

“Surprisingly easy.” You nodded, rubbing your thumb over your bottom lip as you glanced over the back of the sofa at Javier. 

“Olivia had to go potty.” She explained, pulling your attention back to her. “Steve’s handling it.”

Javier settled back down on the sofa beside you, stretching his legs out and propping them up on the coffee table in front of him. “Should’ve known they’d need a potty break.” 

Monica laughed, “And here I thought you two were going to have your own bathroom break.” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” You rolled your eyes and flipped her off with a grin as you shifted so you were laying across his lap with your head propped up on the arm of the sofa. “We are capable of behaving. Shocking as it might be.”

“Barely,” Javier admitted, stroking his fingers over your hair as he looked down at you with a smirk before turning his attention back to Monica. “You enjoying the film?” 

Monica shrugged, “It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s enjoyable.”

You feigned offense, “Sacrilege. The Murphys are your parents now.”

“Rude!” She gave a look. “Did I criticize your taste in men? Because I could go there if you’d like me to.”

“Javier is sitting right here.” You laughed, turning to look up at him with a grin. 

“Exactly,” Monica shook her head. “I’m just saying, your taste is suspect. I respect it but…” 

You shrugged, “I didn’t choose to fall in love with a man who still dresses like it’s the seventies, but I’ve come to terms with that.”

“Baby… Shots fired.” Javier pursed his lips as he looked down at you. 

“Are we roasting, Javier?” Steve questioned as he returned to the family room, sending Olivia back into the blanket fortress. “Because there’s a grill out back we can roast him on.”

“If you bring up the fucking burnt burgers—“

“Daddy!” Josie popped her head out. “You said a naughty word.”

“JoJo, not now.”

“Mommy, he said a bad word!”

You started laughing and quickly it spiraled out of control to the point that you were laughing so hard you ended up crying. 

“You better believe I’m going to bring up burnt burgers,” Steve continued. “How the hell-“

“Daddy!” Olivia popped her head out of the fort beside Josie. 

“Stephen.” Connie scolded him. 

You started laughing even harder, sitting up and coughing as you tried to catch your breath. “I’m wheezing.”

“Baby, it’s not that funny.” Javier complained, but that barely deterred him. “You’ve got a lot of balls bringing that up Murphy… Or, actually not, come to think of it.”

“Ouch, Peña.” Steve huffed. “That’s a below the belt jab.”

Javier rolled a shoulder, “Bringing up one grilling mistake for the rest of my life sure seems like a below the belt jab.” His brows rose upwards warningly. “At least I don’t still go duck hunting.”

“Says the man who enjoys going skeet shooting.” Steve shot back. 

“I enjoy skeet when the company’s not being a jackass.”

“Javier!” You slapped his thigh.

Josie seemed to have the answer for stopping the two grown children from fighting. She emerged from the blanket fort, hands on her hips and glared at Javier. 

“Fuck!”

Everyone stopped at that. 

“Josie!” You snapped. 

“Joséfina Selina Peña.” Javier hissed out.

“Finally some peas and quiet.” Josie sighed dramatically and retreated back into the fort. 

“Our daddies are such gophers.” Olivia said as she pulled the blanket entrance shut. 

“Gophers.” Monica parroted, which sent all of you back into a spiral of laughter. 

“More like whack-a-mole.” You pointed out with a snort as you grabbed for the remote. “We’ve got half a movie left to watch and one of the best kiss scenes in modern film. Less bickering, gentlemen.”

“We’re not bickering.” Javier insisted as he sank back down onto the sofa, dragging his fingers through his hair. “But you’re right about the kiss.”

“Thank you.” You winked at him. “Who doesn’t love a sexy sword fight followed by a different kind of sword fight.”

You hit the play button, tossing the remote aside as you settled in against Javier. “Doesn’t beat our kisses, though.” You assured him as you pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

He turned to grin at you, “Not even close.” Javier rested his hand on your thigh, rubbing his thumb against your skin. “I love you.” He whispered. 

You grinned to yourself. “I love you too.” You told him curling your arm around behind him as you settled your cheek against his shoulder.  

#javier pena #javier pena x reader #pedro pascal x reader

[septic-skele]

UT - In All But Name

Summary: Papyrus has grown up believing that he's never had or even needed parents. When the other children explain what a dad is, however, he comes to the conclusion that Sans has been his dad all along.

Sans and Papyrus, last surviving skeleton monsters of Snowdin Town, were sons of mystery.

No one was sure of where they were originally from, the exact time they snuck into Snowdin or how long they had been there before they were noticed. It was to Sans’ credit that some of the shopkeepers to this day were unaware that he had snatched their foodstuff to line his pockets. Grillby, however, was more observant than most, clearing away the trash behind his bar to uncover the sneak thief and the hungry, fussy bundle he protected with his life.

No matter how the nosy yet well-meaning townsfolk poked and prodded, they could never pry anything out of Sans about their parents. Whenever the topic came around, it seemed to trigger all of his trap doors; in the span of a soul beat, he would close off with a tense shrug and a grin.

“Dunno, it doesn’t really matter. Hey, I actually gotta get goin’, okay? Y’know. Papyrus.” That was all he would say, as if Papyrus’ existence explained nothing and everything at once. Baffling, the townsfolk thought, but they wouldn’t stand between Sans and supervision of his charge for an answer.

Why not ask Papyrus then? the bold ones pointed out, only to be reminded that Papyrus had just recently grown into striped shirts. If he was an infant when they arrived in town, he would have little to no memory of his parentage unless his brother opted to inform him. Sans’ obvious caginess about it made that unlikely and it would be unfair to upset Papyrus by pointing out that something was missing from his life. It wasn’t their place to drop such a realization on him.

If there was ever a scenario where the notion of a parent was strictly necessary, such as school registries or field trips, Sans handled it with the teachers behind closed doors. He was Papyrus’ guardian, a single parent in all but name—though whispered rumors of that sort weren’t unheard of either.

“Are we certain they’re brothers? If Sans is older than he looks, he could be…”

“No, no. Skeleton genes ran strong, back in the day. Papyrus would be his spitting image if it was like that.”

“What if he takes his looks after the mother?”

“Grillby said that Sans was barely out of striped shirts himself when he found them! He couldn’t have, not at that age—certainly not with a gimp soul.”

Those conversations were always smothered before either of the skeletons got close enough to overhear; no one wanted to risk offending Sans any further with the suggestion.

With all of the secrecy surrounding the subject, a short attention span and the wide-eyed obliviousness of a carefree child, Papyrus remained largely unaware. He had his brother, his teachers, the various children he (hoped to) call his friends. What more could a baby bones ask for? What more could he want?

One afternoon, after what might have been four rounds of the game Humans and Monsters, Papyrus finally felt the surrounding enthusiasm waning. He was always cast as the scary human, chasing down the other children with the goal of snatching and eating them. They had proved to be expert runners and hiders, scrambling away from him at every turn with very convincing shouts of disgust. Nevertheless, Papyrus was relentless in his attempt to play the game properly. At long last he caught up with them to find that they collapsed into the snow, worn down and breathless.

“Wowie! That was a lot of fun, right?” he burst out eagerly, undeterred when they groaned at his presence. “Oh, don’t worry! The game’s on pause; I won’t try to eat you now!” With no further ado he scooted himself into their circle and crossed his legs nicely. A couple of them glared at him. They must be sore losers of the game.

“We didn’t really wanna play Humans and Monsters, Papyrus,” a rabbit monster by the name of Hedda told him flatly. “’Least ways, not with you.”

“Oh!” How was he supposed to respond to that? “I’m sorry. But thank you for playing anyway; it was fun! We can play something else now if you want! What do you like to do? Do you like puzzles?”

“No,” Hedda huffed, ears flattening in annoyance.

“I don’t think I have time for another game. My dad’s coming to get me soon,” a boy named Chiff sighed.

“You got lots of homework?” Capra, a teacher’s daughter, guessed sympathetically.

“Nope. Dinner’s been cold two times this week ’cause Dad’s late picking me up, so Mama’s mad at him about it. She wants him to come get me a whole half hour early!”

A half hour was an eternity of playtime stolen from him. Scandalized gasps of dismay went around the cluster at this dreadful news.

“That’s awful! Instead of taking you earlier, your dad should just walk you home faster. You should tell him that,” Capra advised firmly, backed up by noises of approval.

Papyrus, for his part, concurred with the others, though his brow was furrowed with curiosity. When something he didn’t know was brought up in conversation, he would often nod and smile anyway, happy to pretend he was in on the secret, but the question had been on his mind for some time.

“What is a dad?” he asked. He had heard them speak of their dads before, always referring to a specific adult in their lives, but he was never certain of what singled that one out as a “dad”. It was only now that he was in the right mood to ask and the others seemed in the right mood to answer him.

“Don’t be stupid!” Hedda snickered, shoving at him. “Everybody knows what a dad is! Don’t you have one?”

“Well, tell me what it is,” he urged, bouncing back upright just as hurriedly, “so I can know if I do or not! Why’s it so important to have? What is a dad?”

Hedda drew herself up confidently, as though an entire dissertation on the matter had already been prepared, only to falter as she gave it a second thought. Until now she had never needed to explain something she believed to be common knowledge. “A dad…Well, a dad’s someone older who’s in charge of you,” she announced at last, folding her arms authoritatively. “He makes up the rules.”

If that was the only condition, Papyrus had quite a number of dads! His teachers had pasted colorful “Class Rules” posters on the walls. The King made rules for the entire Underground and Sans had created plenty of annoying house rules: finish homework before playing, clean your whole plate, don’t try to build snowmen in the house, close the door after coming inside but don’t slam it. That had to count for something.

“That’s not all a dad does,” Chiff protested before Papyrus could comment on this.

“Oh, then you tell him what it does, if you’re so smart!”

“My dad takes me all sorts of places, like I said. And he shows me how to do stuff, like reading and numbers and magic and…lots of things! And he scolds me when I get in trouble.”

Gnawing pensively on one of his knuckles, Papyrus mulled over this information. Briefly he considered the river person, who had taken him and Sans in a boat on their special outings to Waterfall, but there wasn’t much else to say about them. They didn’t fit the rest of the criteria.

Because he had never met the King, he couldn’t be sure of his opinion on getting in trouble. At school he often heard of things that the King had said or done, but did that count as Asgore showing him things? Probably not, which meant that he was out of the running too.

Still, that hardly created a shortage. His teachers spent all day explaining sums and magic and Sans helped him read a picture book every evening. None of them were happy with him when he misbehaved; that he had learned the hard way, many times over. Sometimes he would walk from a teacher’s scolding with a note in his hand, right home to Sans’ reproach for making them scold him in the first place. Oftentimes it felt like they were ganging up on him.

He frowned. “Is that all they do?”

“Not just that! When you’re not being naughty, dads are really nice to you. They give extra big hugs; sometimes they’re so big, they take you right off the floor!” Capra asserted. “And they play games with you and cheer you up when you’re sad and take care of you when you’re sick or hurt. They buy you sweets and clothes and tuck you in at night and tell you that they love you very much.”

At that Papyrus perked up. The teachers played games with him and his classmates sometimes at recess and if he got scraped up they would take him to the school healer, but comfort, big hugs and tucking in? All of those things were Sans’ job.

Just a few weeks ago, when they were playing chase, Papyrus had slipped on an icy patch and smacked his head too hard. As soon as Sans reached him, he had gathered him up in a hug, patting his back and hushing him while he cried. Later that night, when the headache became truly awful, Sans perched on his bedside and pet his skull until he fell asleep. The next day, he had chocolate syrup in Papyrus’ oatmeal as a surprise treat.

“Nyeheheh! I do have a dad!” Papyrus exclaimed. “Sans is my dad!”

“Sans is your brother,” Hedda snorted. “Brothers can’t be dads.”

“Why not?” Chest puffing out in defense of his new conclusion—and Sans’ honor—Papyrus remained triumphant. “If those are all of the things only a dad does and Sans does them all, that means I’ve got a brother who’s cool enough to be both! Can your brothers do all that your dad does too?”

Hedda’s nose twitched. “Well—” Before she could muster an answer, an older monster calling interrupted the conversation. Chiff pushed himself upright.

“There he is,” he informed them before raising his voice. “Coming, Dad! I gotta go. Bye, Hedda. Bye, Capra. See you tomorrow, maybe.”

“I hope so!” Papyrus chirped. He was eager to play another game with him sometime, as thanks for being part of the group to offer him all of this newfound knowledge. Next time he could catch all three of them at once, he would have to ask what the difference was between a mom and a dad.

Once Chiff left, the girls rose to make their exit too. Papyrus trailed after them at a distance, hoping not to seem overeager or clingy for companionship, but he wasn’t too far to see when their parents came to fetch them. He couldn’t help but feel pleased on their behalf at the hugs and kisses they received.

It was curious, though, that Sans had never asked Papyrus to call him by the well-deserved title. Papyrus had only ever called him “brother” and Sans called him “bro” in response.

Oh, stars! Did Sans think Papyrus didn’t want to call him Dad? Was he hurt about it? Papyrus had learned quickly over his short lifetime that even when Sans was hurt, he would pretend he was fine for some stupid adult reason. Was he secretly disappointed that Papyrus only thought of him as a brother all this time?

How could he not have noticed? If no one had told him the secrets of dad-ness, how was Papyrus supposed to know? With this new wisdom, he couldn’t let that stand any longer. He had to set it all right!

“Hey, Pap!” Sans hailed as he waded through the snow, his grin weary but no less genuine. “Did you have fun?”

Lighting up, Papyrus whirled around to face him and, now ready to demonstrate his new regard for Sans’ feelings, charged and flung himself at him for a hug. “Dad!”

With his arms tight around his brother’s neck and his face tucked into his shoulder, he didn’t see the way Sans’ smile froze or the startled looks Hedda and Capra’s parents cast their way. As he gingerly returned the embrace, Sans forced an uncertain laugh.

“…Bro? You ready to go home?”

“Yes! Ooh, can we have oatmeal tonight? Can we? May we?”

Maybe Papyrus hadn’t realized what he said. Maybe it was a fleeting, random aberration, Sans decided, like calling a tutor “Mom” by mistake. Shouldn’t he have corrected himself already, though?

“I guess breakfast for dinner couldn’t hurt,” he answered, rolling with the changed subject. He wouldn’t comment.

“With chocolate syrup?”

“Heh, sure thing, buddy. We can’t miss oat on that!”

Papyrus groaned, shoving into his side in annoyance, though he didn’t resist when Sans promptly slung an arm around his shoulders to give him another affectionate squeeze.

That would have been the end of it, Sans thought, if it hadn’t been for Papyrus’ call at dinner:

“Dad, we’re almost out of milk!”

And after dinner:

“Dad, look at the puzzle I drew in school!”

And at bedtime:

“Da-a-ad! Dad!” he appealed to Sans down the hall, following it with a small, self-satisfied giggle as if he had just done something particularly clever. “I’m ready for my story and tucking in!”

Was this…some attempt at a joke? If so, Sans wasn’t sure of the punchline. Eye sockets narrowed in bewilderment, he slowly eased into his usual perch on the edge of the bed. Snuggled into his blankets, Papyrus beamed at him in anticipation as he picked up the book.

Sans opened it, read the first two lines aloud—and then promptly gave up. With a shake of his head, he propped the book face down against his leg. “Papyrus, what’s gotten into you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been talkin’ to me weird all night. Why aren’t you just using my name?”

Judging by the expression that came over Papyrus’ face, this was clearly not the reaction he was expecting or hoping for. Confidence faltering, he scrambled upright in bed, displacing the carefully arranged blankets. “I—No, but I am! That’s what I’m supposed to call you!”

“‘Dad’? Why would you think you gotta call me that?” Fingers subtly tightening on the book, he lowered his head. “Was someone teasing you for not having one?” That would be some well calculated cruelty.

“No, no, see, that’s just it, I do have one! I do ’cause I’ve got you!” Papyrus protested. “Hedda asked me if I didn’t have a dad so I asked her, ‘What’s a dad?’ and everyone said it’s a monster who teaches you things and scolds you for trouble and makes you happy when you’re not and takes good care of you, with lots of hugs and niceness! So I said I do too have a dad, and it’s my brother, so I can call you both, can’t I? ’Cause I thought you might be sad about me not calling you that, ’cause that’s what you are, so I thought I ought to call you that so it’ll make you happy!”

Blinking through this slew of information—rather impressively fit into one breath—Sans reeled back slightly, stammering. “Papyrus, I…I’m not your dad.”

“But you are,” he insisted. “I know you are. There are rules and everything and I checked them for you. You act just like a dad’s supposed to!”

“Okay, well—thank you, but acting like a dad isn’t the same as being a dad.” Sliding the book off to the side, Sans weighed his words. “Listen, Pap. I really love you; I love you with my whole soul.”

The doubt on Papyrus’ face was swept away with delight at the familiar words. He loved this guessing game. “More than ketchup?”

“More than that.”

“More than space books?”

“More than that too.” Twisting, he scratched his free hand gently over the crown of his brother’s skull. “More than gold—”

“And your trombone? And your best jacket?”

“And my slippers, and even more than sleeping—though I love those a whole lot too. But you had a dad once and it wasn’t me.” He smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eye sockets. “He was our dad, for us to share.”

Eyes round, Papyrus peeked past Sans’ outstretched hand. “But I don’t remember him.”

“I know. It was a long time ago…I don’t really remember much either, but I know someone was there in our lives back then. Who else would it be?”

“Oh.” Picking at a loose thread on his blanket, Papyrus considered. “Did he love me as much as you do?”

“Heh, I’m sure he did. Who wouldn’t love a cool guy like you?”

“So where is he then? Why doesn’t he live with us? The other dads live with Hedda and Chiff and Capra!”

Sans wavered, digging his toes into Papyrus’ worn carpet. How could he explain it in a way Pap would understand when most of his own ideas were fog, faint hopes and guesswork? His next word was more of a sigh. “Well…he probably thought it would be better for us to strike out on our own. Prove how strong and independent we can be without his help.”

“Oh! We’ve done that right, haven’t we? I’m super-duper cool and you take care of me just as good as a dad could!”

He was a sorry substitute, nothing more, but Sans was already aware that putting himself down in front of Papyrus would only upset him. He wouldn’t mention it. “Yeah. So all we would have to do to make Dad proud is keep going on the way we are now. We’re…doing alright without him, aren’t we?” The last thing he wanted was to create a new sense of loss for something that was little more than a whisper.

“We’re more than alright, Sans!” Papyrus reassured him, a balm on Sans’ soul as he reached to squeeze his hand. “We’re great! If he comes to visit someday, so he can know how good we’re doing, everybody in Snowdin will be able to tell him so! Wait and see!”

“We may be waiting a long time for that, Paps…years, probably.” His voice fell a shade softer. “Or forever. I dunno.”

“Well, we can still be great in the meantime! I can be patient and be happy at the same time, as long as you’re with me!”

“Heh…you really are the coolest.”

“I know! And whenever Dad comes, if he comes, he’ll see that.”

“Maybe. Maybe.”

#undertale #fanfiction #sans #sans undertale #papyrus #papyrus undertale #babybones #big brother sans #surrogate sans #sans raised papyrus #confusion #misunderstandings #explanations #fluff #brotherly love

[valkyrieofthehighfae]

Chapter 4

Warnings: Brief smut, mentions of needles. 18+ only y’all!

Word Count: 3.9k Join my taglist here Tagging: @mcu-padawan​ Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 I used the song “Bad Girl” by Avril Lavigne for V’s song of choice!

Sunlight streamed into my room, the brightness making me groan in disgust and pain, rolling over to bury my face in my pillows, cursing tiredly into the soft, cushy material. The beeping of my comm from across the room drew another curse from my lips and I sat up, my hair falling into my face, and I practically crawled out of bed to get the damn thing.

“Hello?” I croaked, throat scratchy and dry.

“Oh, you’re alive. I thought you might have died in an alley somewhere considering you never showed up last night.”

Oh shit. I had forgotten that I was supposed to go to the Crypt last night after drinks with the gang. I closed my eyes and swallowed thickly, wincing at the annoyance in Grave’s voice.

“Sorry, I lost track of time last night. I don’t even remember getting home.” I muttered, taking my comm with me to the ‘fresher so I could get some water and pee.

“You better be here tonight, Baby Doll. If you’re not, we’re gonna have problems.” Grave growled before disconnecting the transmission. I was too hungover for this shit and just wanted to crawl back into bed, feeling like death, when I caught something written on my arm. It was Crosshairs’ private comm channel and I felt my cheeks warm up again as I looked it over with a slight smile. I needed to write it down on paper so I could shower and try to feel less… death like.

“Astrid, you up?” Koyi croaked, shuffling into the room, bleary eyed and still in her bodycon dress from last night.

“Morning.” I yawned and took a drink of nice, cold water, passing the cup over to her.

“Who dared call this early? Your comm woke me up from my place on the floor by your couch.” She groaned, going for my shower.

“Take a wild guess.” I grumbled, taking a seat on the nice, cool floor of my refresher. Koyi groaned angrily at the mention of Grave, pulling a face. “I was supposed to be at the Crypt last night and I got so caught up with Crosshair that I lost track of time. And, uh, apparently how we got home because I don’t remember that shit at all. But yeah, he’s mad that I didn’t show last night and said I better be there tonight.” I grumbled while laying down on the floor, pressing my cheek to the cold marble.

“Ugh I hate Grave so much.” Koyi groaned from my shower, the sound of the water hitting the shower door enough to make my head throb.

“Right now? So do I. And I hate the shower, the water hurts my head.” I closed my eyes, wishing my head would quit pounding.

“You’re a medic, don’t you have some banana bags on hand?”

I shot up far too quickly at her words: she was right, I actually did keep a stash of IV supplies here just in case of stuff like this. I just had to find the will and motivation to get up and actually get them. I felt like a dumbass for not remembering that sooner, that would be the perfect pick me up for this nightmarish hangover. With a moan of discomfort, I pushed myself up to my feet and trudged off to go get them, waiting for Koyi to hurry up and get out of the shower so I could hook her up.

Twenty minutes later, we were dressed and headed to this little pizza joint near Koyi’s tattoo parlor, dying for a good slice of pizza to help chase away the last dregs of this hangover that the banana bag didn’t touch. My stomach was growling loudly at the thought of getting something good to eat, making Koyi start laughing as we walked in through the doors.

“Oops. My bad. Guess I’m more hungry than I thought I was.” I laughed as well, wincing a little, mortified by just how loud it was. We snagged an open table in the back corner, our usual waiter already putting in our order for us.

“So are you gonna comm that cute guy you were with last night?” Koyi plucked a breadstick from the basket and took a bite.

“Crosshair? I dunno… I’m in a relationship. I shouldn’t have even flirted or danced with him last night.” I grabbed a breadstick as well, but pulled at it instead, chewing on my lip.

“He was really into you! I’m telling you, you need to break up with Grave and give this guy a shot! He’d treat you a lot better than Grave does.” Koyi pointed out smugly and took a sip of her drink.

“Oh please, he was just hoping for an easy hookup. Look, I know how you feel about Grave, and I’m sorry you guys don’t like each other, but that’s who I’m dating. End of story.” I snapped, finally growing tired of her nagging at me about Grave.

“Okay. Sorry. I won’t bring it up again.” Koyi gave me a wounded look, frowning deeply at my harshness.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean -”

“Whatever, you’re right. You’re gonna do what you’re gonna do, and you’re gonna date whoever you’re gonna date,” She got up and went over to Stetson, asking for her food to be brought over to her parlor. “I’ll see you later, Valkyrie. Let me know when you’ve pulled your head out of your ass.” She walked out in a huff and I sighed. She was really mad if she was calling me Valkyrie instead of Astrid.

“Everything okay with you and Koyi? I never see you guys fight, like ever.” Stetson asked, setting my order down and dropped into the empty seat across from me.

“Yeah, I guess.” I looked down at the pizza, not hungry anymore.

“Is it about Grave again? Cuz that’s the only time I see you guys ever get tense with each other.” He leaned forward, brows knit together slightly, worry on his face.

“Yeah. Yeah, it is. I know she’s concerned, I’m not trying to downplay that, it just gets old hearing it all the time when I’m home on leave. When I’m home, I don’t want to get a talking to about who I’m dating. I hear it from Ivar, who thinks Grave and I aren’t even together anymore and is constantly trying to set me up with guys, and Koyi, who makes jabs and other comments.” I forced myself to eat something so I wasn’t overly grumpy later when I went to the Crypt to see Grave. Stetson squeezed my shoulder kindly before getting up to run over Koyi’s order to her, leaving me in the main part of the parlor with my thoughts. Koyi was right, Grave wasn’t exactly boyfriend material; he never reciprocated when I told him I loved him, he would always change the subject or distract me with other things. And I swore he had something going on with the new girl, Candy, but I didn’t have any definitive proof and I trusted him, so maybe it was just me being jealous.

Ugh I should just… end things. Get it over with already. I sighed heavily, setting the half eaten slice of pizza down on my plate. This was just ridiculous, what was I doing with my life? Leading two different lives was utterly exhausting and I wasn’t sure I could keep up with it anymore, I was going to have to pick eventually and as much as I loved dancing, I would pick my boys in the 501st any day over being a dancer. I’d come to really love these guys dearly already and had been accepted into their little family.

I let out a soft grunt of annoyance when my comm lit up and hit the flashing button to answer it, trying not to sound annoyed when Fives and Hardcase’s voices immediately launched into talking about something about karaoke night.

“Okay, hold on, one at a time, I don’t speak gibberish.” I finally barked, gritting my teeth when a couple of the other customers shot me an irate look.

“It’s karaoke night at the 79’s tonight! Are you coming?” That was Hardcase speaking up.

“No? I have plans that I missed last night cuz I was too busy drinking with you lunatics. Besides, you know I don’t sing.” I lied through my teeth about the singing. I could sing like no one could believe but I got stage fright when it came down to it. Singing in front of people was one of my biggest nightmares.

“Oh come on Valks! Come join us!” Fives pleaded and I could just picture him pouting.

“Not tonight, okay? I’ve gotta roll. I’ll see you guys later.” I disconnected the comm and got up so I could head out to the Crypt. “Later Stets! Left your tip on the table.”

                                                           ~*~*~

  The Crypt was supposed to be like home, but walking in those doors, I sure didn’t feel like I was coming home. I felt as if I were walking into a tomb, the dark and dreary feeling weighing on my shoulders. Something wasn’t right, I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. Some of the other girls were sitting at the bar, pity flashing across their faces for a brief moment before looking away from me, focusing their attention anywhere else but on me as I walked past them. I could feel my stomach clench with nerves, my palms sweating as I slowly made my way to the room Grave and I would share while I was here on leave. Soft moans and the wet slap of skin on skin left me feeling ill as I reached out with a trembling hand to open the door, seeing Grave fucking the new girl. I didn’t make a sound, just shut the door and went to the dressing room, throwing my crap into a bag.

“Baby Doll?”

I didn’t even have to look back to know Daisy was hovering nearby, her face drawn and worried like it usually was when she was uneasy. “I’m fine Daisy. I already had a feeling something was going on, I was just trying to deny it. Good luck. I fucking quit.” I zipped my bag up and hitched it over my shoulder. My gut feeling was right, Koyi was right, Stetson and Ivar were right... and I was a fuckin’ dumb ass. “And you can tell that wastoid that I’m done.” I called to the other girls who were trying to act like they weren’t listening in over at the bar and walked out. I couldn’t fucking believe that I had gotten played like this. I mean, I could believe it, but at the same time, I was having a hard time wrapping my head around it. Tears burned in my eyes as I hopped into my speeder and headed back to my apartment to dump off this crap and so I could get ready for karaoke night after all.

“Koyi? You were right. I’m sorry. I caught him fucking the new girl, so I quit. I’m going home to change and then I’m heading to the 79’s for karaoke night cuz why the fuck not?” I breezed through my front door, locking it behind me and threw my bag of clothes from the Crypt across my living room, nailing the wall with a dull thud. He wanted to break my heart, then I was going to dress up and go have some fun tonight because I fucking earned it after putting up with so much these past few years.

Stupid son of a bitch. I hope his cock shrivels up and falls off. I stood there in my closet, staring hard at all of my clothes, trying to decide on an outfit. I wanted something easy to move in but still showed off every single curve I had. If Grave decided to show his face tonight, I was going to make sure he regretted ever using me and discarding me like trash. Now I just had to find the right outfit. Nothing was catching my eye so far, though. A flash of red drew my attention towards it and I smiled when I plucked the cute bright red mini dress off the rack and settled on that and a pair of strappy red heels to match. I grinned happily and quickly did my hair, giving myself some loose curls and studied myself closely. Everything looked perfect and I couldn’t wait to show off.

Perfect, I think I’m ready. I grabbed my leather jacket and took off, wanting to surprise Fives and the others since I’d said I had plans. Eyes followed me as I walked out of my apartment building and flagged a speeder down so I could get to the 79’s, smiling sweetly at the driver.

“Thanks for the lift doll.” I purred when we arrived, tipping him and blowing him a kiss.

“Damn, you’re not playing around tonight, huh?” Koyi was grinning widely as she practically skipped up to me.

“Nope, I’m definitely not playing around. I’m gonna have fun and I might even bring someone home with me tonight.” I chirped, smiling at some of the clones we passed, all of them whistling in appreciation. Koyi and I broke out into giggles as we entered the bar, weaving through clones and other civvies to get to the bar for drinks.

“Hey! Could we get four shots of Trandoshan tequila? Thanks!” I took the shots and passed two of them over to Koyi, toasting my best friend before downing them in rapid succession. “I think I’m gonna sign up to do karaoke tonight.” I glanced over at Koyi, reaching for the stylus so I could jot my name down, Koyi squealing with delight.

“You’re going to actually sing? You? In public! Oh I have to record this!” She was giddy at the thought and ordered us a couple more drinks so we could take them with us to find the 501st guys. Koyi spotted them first and tugged me with her as we weaved through the crowd, Fives and Echo immediately shutting up when they saw us.

“Holy -”

“Valkyrie?!” Jesse and Rex’s jaws dropped in shock, Cody smirking as he looked me up and down with interest. Two other clones I vaguely recognized nudged a couple other guys, nodding our way and I blew them a kiss, grinning.

“Hey guys. Plans fell through so I figured we’d join you.” I chirped, allowing Cody to pull me onto his lap, his arm warm around my waist. I draped an arm around his neck, toying with the hair at the nape of his neck with a playful smile tugging at my lips as he leaned back into my touch with a soft groan.

“And she’s gonna sing!” Koyi crowed, practically dancing in Echo’s lap. I rolled my eyes but smiled when the guys cheered excitedly. I’d always been teased for my humming when I worked, Kix always asking if they’d ever get to hear me actually sing, and tonight looked like it was gonna be the night.

“We’re allowed to record that, right? Cuz I am gonna wanna remember this night. Plus Kix is gonna be bummed he missed seeing it in person.” Fives joked with a loud laugh. As I opened my mouth to retort, my name was called to go up and sing my heart out. I slammed my drink back and got to my feet, my legs shaking as I made my way up there, hands trembling as I took hold of the mic. I swallowed thickly, forcing a smile onto my face as the music began and took a deep breath, trying to steady myself.

“Hey, hey I'll let you walk all over me, me. You know that I’m a little tease, tease, but I want it pretty please, please. You know, you know, you know I’m crazy. I just wanna be your baby. You can fuck me, you can play me. You can love me or you can hate me. Miss me, miss me, now you wanna kiss me,” I began to really get into the song, swaying my hips and dancing along to the beat. “Choke me, 'cause I said so. Stroke me, and feed my ego. I’ve been a bad girl, don’t you know? Come get it, now or never. I’ll let you do whatever. I’ll be your bad girl, here we go.  Miss me, miss me, now you wanna kiss me.” I had all eyes on me, people dancing along and cheering, Fives and the others the loudest of all my admirer’s. I could feel my cheeks heating up at the applause and focused my gaze on Rex, who was watching with an intensity that had my stomach clenching with desire. He took a sip of his drink, smirking just slightly, and leaned over to say something to Cody, who nodded in response, his eyes never leaving me.

“Baby, you know I want a little taste, taste. So let me take you all the way, way. You know you’ll never be the same, same. One night, you won’t forget the rest of your life, so come on over to the wild side. Buckle up, and baby, hold on tight. Miss me, miss me, now you wanna kiss me. We both know that you love me 'cause I'm so bad. Choke me, 'cause I said so. Stroke me, and feed my ego. I’ve been a bad girl, don’t you know? Come get it, now or never. I’ll let you do whatever. I’ll be your bad girl, here we go.  Miss me, miss me, now you wanna kiss me.” I was looking right at the two, putting on a show just for them. It was as if everyone else had faded from the room, I was so focused on Rex and Cody. “I've been a bad girl. I've been a bad girl. I'll be your bad girl. I'll be your bad girl. I've been a bad girl. I've been a bad girl. I'll be your bad girl. A fucking bad girl! Choke me, 'cause I said so. Stroke me, and feed my ego. I’ve been a bad girl, don’t you know? Come get it, now or never. I’ll let you do whatever. I’ll be your bad girl, here we go.”  The sound of applause brought me back into focus, realizing I’d finished the song. I quickly walked out of there, my heart pounding against my chest with adrenaline and glee.

“Hey! You killed it up there!” Koyi found me and dragged me back over to the group. “I recorded it. Sorry not sorry, you are amazing and should be heard by the world.”

“Of course you did. Could you not share it, please?” I grumbled, shooting her a look.

“Too late, she’s already sent it to us.” Fives cut in with a smug grin. “I’m gonna listen to this all the time. Seriously, how could you hide those pipes from the rest of us?”

“It’s not that big of a deal. Drop it already.” I groused, tossing a crumpled up napkin at him. “I’m gonna go get a drink.” With a muttered curse, I went to go to the bar when Rex dropped a hand on my shoulder.

“I’ll go with you. I could use a new drink myself.” He chimed in, moving his hand to my lower back, gently pushing me through the crowd towards the bar. “You really do have a nice voice. It’d be nice to hear it more often.”

“Thank you, Captain. I, uh, usually don’t sing in front of other people. I get nervous and then clam up. Generally I have to have a little liquid courage in my veins first.” I chuckled, taking a seat at the bar. “You and Commander Cody seemed rather… invested in the song. Did I spark some interest?” I teased him, half hoping that maybe I had caught their attention. I could get behind the idea of a threesome with Rex and Cody, it would certainly be quite the ride.

“Baby Doll, there you are!”

My back stiffened up at the sound of Grave’s voice behind me, his hands going to my shoulders and I jerked away from him, getting up and stepping beside Rex, putting as much distance between us as I could.

“We’re done, Grave. I don’t know why you’re here, but I don’t want anything to do with you.” I snapped, yanking my arm back when he reached for it.

“You heard my medic, leave her alone.” Rex got to his feet, setting his whiskey glass down. “She doesn’t owe you shit and you have no business harassing her, so step off. Now.” There was a growl to his voice that sent a jolt of white hot fire down the length of my back and into the pit of my stomach, pulsing down between my thighs.

“This doesn’t involve you, clone. This is between me and her.” Grave spat, not even looking at Rex as he spoke. “Baby Doll, c’mon, come back with me. I need you, babe.” He was pleading now, begging me to come back to the Crypt.

“No. I have nothing to say to you. I’m done, I’ve been done. Fuck off, Grave.” I slapped his hand aside, lip curling into a sneer.

“You stupid slut, should have known those rumors were true.” He snarled with venom dripping from his words. Next thing I knew, Rex was slamming a fist right into Grave’s mouth, sending him stumbling back into Cody, who had come up to see what was taking us so long. Cody immediately had Grave by the scruff of his shirt and tossed him aside with a snarl, glaring daggers at Grave.

“Hey, whoa, no! He’s not worth it!” I quickly stepped in, resting a hand on Cody and Rex’s biceps, not wanting them to start any fights. “Come on, let’s just go back to the others.” I pulled my lip between my teeth, looking back and forth between the commander and my captain anxiously.

“Come near her again and I’ll break your jaw.” Rex warned him before grabbing his whiskey and my hand, leading us back to where the others were. Koyi and Echo were nowhere to be found while the others continued to crack jokes and drink, Hardcase getting up to go sing while Fives and Jesse laughed about his enthusiasm, cheering their brother on. Rex pulled me into his lap, arms wrapping around my waist, holding me to him somewhat tightly and pressed his lips to the nape of my neck in a fleeting kiss.

“Where’d Koyi go?” I called over to Fives with a slightly puzzled look.

“Her place with Echo.”

“Oh. Oh! Oh. Damn, get it girl.” I shook my head, laughing when I realized what he meant. “Well, if that’s the case, I’m gonna head home, too. It’s been a long night and I have some better alcohol at home I want to get into. See you guys around.” I carefully detached myself from Rex’s lap, shooting him a smile. “Hey, no bar fights okay? Just leave Grave alone if you see him hanging around.”

“I’ll walk you home,” Cody offered quickly, getting to his feet with a nod to his guys. “I’d feel better knowing you got home safely just in case.”

“That’s sweet of you, thank you Commander.” I took his offered arm and bid farewell to everyone else.

“I’ll tag along. It’s on the way to the barracks and I’ve got some paperwork I should finish up.” Rex polished off his drink and fell in step with Cody and I, the two of them keeping an eye out for Grave as we left the bar.

#Kat writes #alcohol tw #18+ please #Fives x OC #Fives x Valkyrie #eventual friends to lovers

[ouronlyangelhes]

Still The One: Harry Styles One Shot

Hope you love it! Send me requests as always or send me an ask if you just wanna talk about Harry!

Harry has always been a kind-hearted, genuine, and full of love kind of guy. And he has always done everything he could to show you that love, he has been no different with your children. With 4 children all under the age of 8, your house is very rarely calm. The lowkey calm life you had once known was no longer. You wouldn’t trade it for anything, your children are everything and more to you. It’s just sometimes you miss those days when it was just you and Harry.

Those nights you didn’t have to be home at any certain time because you had to relieve the babysitter, those nights when you could go out and be as wild and crazy as you wanted and not have to worry about getting up early to take your children to school.

Maybe it was selfish of you to feel this way, but you couldn’t help it. Your youngest child is 6 months old. You loved your children, but this last pregnancy had been way harder than the others and it was safe to say your days of having any more children were over, at least in your mind.

Harry was due home from the studio any minute. You loved it when Harry came home. Whether it was from the studio, the grocery store, or a couple weeks away. You never got tired of seeing his smiling face walking through the front door of your home.

“Daddy! Daddy!” Your eldest called out as soon as she heard the front door open.

“Hi sweetie, have you had a good day?” He asked as he picked her up.

“Yes. I drew lots of pictures and colored. Here, I made this drawing for you.” She said as she handed Harry the picture she had made him.

“Bub, this is beautiful. I will put it on the fridge with the others.” Harry said as he studied the drawing she had made for him.

The next thing you knew, your other two kids were rushing down the stairs to hug Harry. His attention was a hot commodity that sometimes you felt like you missed out on. You had no doubt that Harry loved you, sometimes you just felt a little invisible in your household.

You weren’t a small child that spent her days drawing pictures for her father, you were a tired and busy mother who was trying her best. You didn’t want to seem needy, you just wanted Harry to have the same excitement to see you that he had for his little ones.

You heard footsteps going up the stairs and you knew Harry was most like checking on his littlest one that was having her nap.

After a while, Harry finally made his way down the stairs to you.

“Hi love. She’s so precious when she’s sleeping. Part of me wanted to wake her up but I know better than to do that at this point.” He said talking about your youngest who was not the easiest to put down for a nap.

“Yeah, she’s not exactly the easiest to get to sleep.” You said.

“What have you been up to today?” He asked.

“Nothing too crazy. Just made lunch for the kids and they’ve been coloring and being all artsy today. I know they get it from you because that is definitely not from me. How was the studio?” You said.

“It was alright. I didn’t get as much done as I had hoped but that’s just sometimes the way it goes.” He said as he grabbed a water from the fridge.

“Are you alright? You seem a bit off today.” He asked. You didn’t seem like your normal bubbly self to him and that was causing him some concern. He knew it wasn’t an easy task to have to chase around 4 small children but somehow you managed to it with such grace. He knew that you were busy and probably in need of a little break.

“Just a little frazzled is all. I don’t know this is gonna sound awful but sometimes I just miss the old days. When it was just me and you. When we didn’t have to chase around the little ones and we could just go wherever the wind took us. I miss that. And I’m not in any way saying I don’t absolutely adore our children because you know I do, I’m just a little burnt out is all. Sometimes I just feel so small. I feel that the kids are all you see me for anymore and I’m just the one you call when you want another baby.” You said as Harry was stunned by your words.

You hadn’t meant it in a spiteful way, you were trying to communicate how you were feeling.

“I don’t know what to say to that. How could you honestly think that the only reason I’m around is because I use you to have kids? That’s so beyond hurtful I don’t even know what to say. I am sorry that you feel that way but I feel like I’ve made my love for you as obvious as possible since day one. My goal is to never make you feel unseen or small. But maybe you’re right, maybe we do need to have some time without the kids and just reconnect.” Harry said to you.

You were happy that he suggested having some time away from the kids.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for everything to come out so harsh. I guess I’ve just been keeping all of these feelings in just because I didn’t want to sounds cruel for wanting some time for us.” You said trying to get him to understand your perspective.

“You’re not cruel love, you’re a lot of things but cruel wouldn’t ever be one of them. I don’t blame you for the way you’re feeling, I don’t want you to apologize for being a little overwhelmed.” He said as he hugged you.

“Thank you. Thank you.” You said as you hugged him tighter.

The rest of the evening was spent making dinner, reading your kids a bed time story, and tucking them into bed.

“I spoke to mum today. She said that she would be cool taking the kids for a couple days. She loves spending time with them and I know the kids enjoy going over there. She said she’d watch them for as long as we wanted.” He said as he crawled into bed next to you.

“That’s sounds great. Thank you for calling her. I really appreciate you making all these efforts to get us some time together.” You said to him.

“Of course. I miss time with you too, it is much needed I think.” He said as he turned out the lamp on his nightstand.

The next day was spent packing the kids up and taking them over to Anne’s to spend a couple days. You were beyond excited to have some days alone with Harry and you knew that Anne loved spending as much time as she could with her grand babies.

“Thank you again for watching them. We really appreciate it. Besides, they love coming over here. I know that you spoil them.” You said as you stood in the doorway.

“Anytime! You know I love them! And besides we have fun together. We do lots of baking and crafts. It’s the best. And besides, you two need to make time for each other. It’s so important. I know it’s hard with four, but it’s worth it.” She said as she looked down at her smallest grandchild that was in her arms.

“Thank you again.” You said as you walked out the door.

“So are you going to tell me where we are going or are you going to keep it a secret the whole time?” You said as you got in the car.

“I know that you get a little antsy with surprises so I guess I’ll go ahead and tell you now. I remember how much you loved Italy when we went and I made us a reservation at that hotel you loved so much.” He said as he watched your eyes light up.

“Italy?! I am more than okay with that. Talk about surprises!” You said as you noticeably got more excited.

Harry even after all this time, still knew just what you liked. It was like he was inside your head and could guess exactly what you needed. Who wouldn’t want to jet set away to Italy for a few days?

After your plane landed, the two of you made your way to the hotel. You had come here around 3 years ago and absolutely fell in love with the city and the hotel. The sights, the architecture, the food, all of it had become something that you loved.

“So I was thinking we could head to the hotel, drop our stuff off and go get something to eat. Or if you want to take a nap or something before we do that we can. It’s up to you.” Harry said as he smiled.

“I don’t need a nap, I think I’m running on excitement for being here at this point. I’m good with going to grab dinner.” You said as you looked out the window of the car.

“Do you want to go to the usual spot or adventure and see what we come across?” He asked you.

“The usual. We have plenty of time to get adventurous later.” You said.

You went back to the hotel, freshened up, and the headed out to grab dinner.

“Thank you again for doing this for us. I really do appreciate it. I know I’ve said it a million times already but this time with you I never take for granted. I really just love us.” You said as you took a sip of your wine.

“I really love this time too. I’m glad just to be here with you and just not feeling rushed. We can enjoy Italy and have some fun. That’s what it’s all about.” He said.

After dinner, the two of you walked around a little bit before heading back to the hotel.

“You wanna know when I knew that you were the one?” Harry asked you.

“I thought you said it was on that trip to Holmes Chapel where I met your mum and Gemma for the first time.”

“Well that was the first time I told you I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. The moment I know you were the one was after our third date.” He said.

“Shut up.” You said not sure if he was trying to butter you up.

“I’m serious, as soon as the date was over and I dropped you off I knew that I would be a complete fool if I let you walk away and I missed out on getting to be lucky enough to love you.” He confessed to you as you got in the elevator in the hotel.

“How come you’ve never told me this before?” You asked.

“I dunno, I guess I just didn’t wanna seem too cheesy. Because I know how you are with cheesy and I didn’t want to make you hate me for that.” He said as he laughed.

“Well, I guess you know me too well then.” You said as he took the key card out of his wallet and opened the door.

The rest of the trip was everything and more. The two of you got to catch up and reminiscence on old times. While also realizing how great this trip was, you did really miss the craziness of your life. You missed hearing the little feet latter around the kitchen floor in the morning, and the begging for one more story at bedtime.

Even though sometimes you were beyond tired and felt like everything was impossible, you wouldn’t trade this life you and Harry had built for anything in this world. You loved the crazy and he did too.

#harry styles fanfic #harry styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles writing #harry styles au #harry #harry styles one shot #harrystyles #harry styles series #harry angst #one direction one shot #one direction imagine #one direction writing #one direction

[comicteaparty]

July 20th-July 26th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from July 20th, 2020 to July 26th, 2020.  The chat focused on Ring Spell by Artem Ficta.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Ring Spell by Artem Ficta~! (http://ring-spell.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until July 26th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Feather J. Fern

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? I like how it seems lighthearted at first, but knowing Artem it's going to drop the ball on us really soon haha.(edited)

Also I always love how the backgrounds are, they look great.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Hahah, it's a shame I didn't get one more update up XD Thank you so much, Feather~!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

well, the CTP is gonna run for the rest of the week...

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

I can't finish the next 8 pages by then XD

My guess is they'll be up the week after next

RebelVampire

For the beginning, I'm with Feather and I like how quickly the comic transitions from just lalala happy school to oh wait there's weird shit going on. I really like stories where the status quo is quickly ripped out from under your feet. My favorite moment in the comic so far is probably the most recent scene when we get to see Lyall's apartment and ya know, Claire starts dropping all these bombshells on us. The scene is the epitome of "Well that escalated quickly" and its just loaded with so much info to unpack. My favorite character right now is Claire. One because she seems the most sensible and mysterious, and two because I love Claire's hair so much and I'm so jealous and want such floof beautiful hair. ;3; As for characters I like see interacting the most, probably Claire and Lyall and they have some really good banter and a relationship, insofar, that's just kind of hilarious in its brutal honesty. A close second for me is Claire and Tasha as it quickly switches from happy smiles to probably most likely to have a catfight in the hallway.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Catfight in the hallway, lolol. Makes me want to draw them dressed like cat girls XD

RebelVampire

No not that sort of catfight

probably

O_O

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

comic turns into a catgirl fetish comic

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

1. I like how the first word is Zenchav which was the title of the comic this is a hard reboot of XD 2. My favorite moment was Lyall sticking his hands up Damon's shirt XD I really like how it was drawn and it's the most Lyall thing ever to do. 3. My favorite character overall is Damon, although it's probably Lyall at this point in the story. But I like them all of course XD 4. Damon and anybody, lol. I like when I get to draw him XD 5. I've been trying out a new shading style with this since I almost exclusively just hard shaded before, so it's nice to be branching out a bit and trying some new things. The Intro page is probably my favorite atm.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Theory: Lyall sticking his cold hands up Damon's shirt is how he drains Damon's energy, because secretly he's the witch.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Oh no! XD that would be a twist!

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Oh snap!

mathtans

Hmmm, so we ship Claire and Tasha then?

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

I don't not ship Tasha and Claire >v>

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Drew that picture of them

RebelVampire

We should indeed all suspect Lyall. I mean no parents, lives alone, yet somehow affords everything? That's witchery.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

How does he afford all that stuff

does he sell drugs on the side or something XD it is suspicious

mathtans

1. I'll mostly echo everyone else here in terms of the start seems pretty straightforward and makes one wonder how the teaser page fits into it all. I'll add a remark on the subtle details of world building, like you've got your digital alarm... and dude straight up has a TAIL, and it's like, no comment, that's normal too.

2. Favourite moment was probably recruiting Claire into the cosplay skit. It's like, hello new person, oh you want to associate with us? Then you need the proper accessories, and Claire's all 'Um, I'm not sure... prop weapons? Uh, okay then...' Cosplay is a force to be reckoned with. (nods)

3. Fave character... yeah, may have to echo Rebel here and go with Claire. Possibly because she's the first chapter name, and like the reader is coming into this new situation, so can get behind her trying to figure it out... but also because I'm big on the time/space bureau stuff and that sounds like a cool job to get.

Damon has a cool cane and has the mysterious ailment afflicting his cosplay though, so he's my fave guy at the moment. (Werewolf blood? Moon thing? Dunno.)

4. I honestly do like the Tasha/Claire interactions the most, because each of them seems to have something to hide, and so you're kind of wondering if and when one of them might slip up. The other girl interrupting with the paint was classic, and I felt it helped break tension. The ship picture (which I imagine won't show in the log) is kind of representative of that with the chessboard too, like they're making moves against the other (though I'm not yet convinced that one is a witch, could be a setup).

Of course, I'm very biased towards the yuri, so grain of salt for my opinions and all. And while the ship was a humour comment at first, I think I'm more into it after seeing a "catfight" could play out.

All that said, the Lyall/Damon interactions are equally good. Lyall's perversion sometimes saying the quiet part out loud.

5. I recognize the art style, have read some of the work before (under different name). Always find the hair impressive, like here you get the impression of each individual strand except that's not actually what's drawn... you can still see the neat ears, Claire having some strands that fall in front of her too. The shading is really good too, like definitely shades of grey, not just black and white.

Kind of echoing the author there, but I can see it.

I'm so bad with themes and need to charge computer, will be back later. o.o

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

I love all this input Math, thank you ;3;/

RebelVampire

@mathtans You have no idea how happy I am that someone noticed the tail that nobody seemed to comment on.

RebelVampire

What I like about the art is how clean and crisp everything is cause mmmm that sexy lineart you can just paint bucket when needed. <3 I like that the comic explores the idea of having someone you've known your entire life possibly be evil. Cause it opens up a lot of questions. Like should you doubt? Should you trust? And at which point have you hit the point of betrayal? So I'm glad we'll get to see a bit of this tackled as Lyall and Claire look for evidence. As for the overall story, I like that there's just lots of questions going on. It's a theorists dream. But I find the more mysteries a comic has, the more engaging it is. Because even when you know the answer, it's interesting everytime to see the characters reach that answer. As for the comic's strengths, see the above and the art. It's super pretty and clean to look at, has some fantastic emotive faces during the more comedic moments, and there's just lots to theorize and look forward too. ;3;

Now I will proceed to weep as someone who beta read the script and actually can't theorize cause I just know .

mathtans

Others may have noticed but not been sure what to say? (Does the tail turn into the cane?)

6. Ok, themes... could be a theme of belonging in there. Like Claire being accepted into the group, like Lyall wondering if she's only talking to him to get to Damon, that sort of thing? Then there's the idea Rebel raised of thinking you know someone but not necessarily knowing them.

Of course, there's also credibility, like maybe Claire is simply an escaped mental patient with really good hacking skills to get herself in the school and apartment. Because that's quite the tale she spins. (Though Lyall had heard of the organization? Or he's pranking her, bit hard to know for sure.)

7/8. The story's been setting up a number of things in the background, I feel. Which can be a strength, as we're learning more character items first. Though Claire's latest revelation I'm really jazzed about, because the idea of time travel (times when demons weren't supposed to be) and personification (Earth as a female entity) are right up my alley. So that's cool.

Also Lyall apparently has a strange aura to go with Tasha's strange energy? Maybe the witch is jumping bodies. Maybe we should ship Lyall/Tasha.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Oh my gosh, loving these ideas!

I don't want to give spoilers but I think I'll answer the tail thing cause I never really meant for it to be a mystery It's just tucked into his pants when he's in public is all. That's why he's wearing the track suit for the school and not the standard school uniform, cause the pants are looser.

although it turning into the cane could have been hella cool(edited)

now I'm a little bummed I never thought of that

But the cane has other purposes

mathtans

I didn't really think it was a big mystery, and that explanation makes sense. (So I suppose it could be not normal, only normal for Damon's friends... demon prejudice otherwise?) Ok, so the cane is where he hides his stimulants to keep awake until the full moon.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. What are your theories about Damon’s past? Why is he concerned about when the full moon is? Additionally, what do you think was meant about Damon and Xerfonos being the same age but not being twins?

10. Do you think Claire is right that Tasha is the witch Cadence? If so, how will she prove it? If not, who else could it be? Also, what might this all have to do with Tasha’s concern about Claire being the mysterious Draco’s student?

11. What do you think Cadence ultimately wants from Damon? Why would this compel the Earth, and by extension Apus, to protect him? Also, even if the characters find Cadence, can she actually be stopped?

12. Why do you think Lyall reacted so strangely to Claire mentioning Apus, and why do you think he’s so sure Apus wouldn’t care about protecting Damon? Do you think Lyall can trust Claire even for the long term?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

9. I mean, Damon seems to be a demon, but he's cool with being in our world, so... maybe he was born of a human/demon pairing? Or he was adopted by humans when he was a baby and simply given the same birthday as Xerfonos. I'm guessing the full moon has more significance than merely to werewolves (unless Damon needs to bite a werewolf to regain strength idk) and so it would help him.

I will say that initially the "same age" thing didn't phase me because there's more than 9 months in a year, plenty of time for having a second kid born in the same year. But now that I'm debating the adoption angle, maybe there's more to it.

They're not twins... they're TRIPLETS! Dun dun dun. Anyway.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

they could also just not be twins due to a date technicality like one was born right before midnight and one was born right after

but yeah the adoption angle would explain a lot

mathtans

10. I don't think she's right about Tasha, or if she's right, not in the way she thinks. Because we've seen some from Tasha's perspective and she didn't seem to be the person in charge of whatever. In terms of proof, I guess she could see if Tasha would cosplay as a witch? And if the shoe fits? But yeah, maybe the witch is jumping between people like I mentioned earlier, or is not actually there yet, like APUS got the date wrong or something. Maybe Tasha's also trying to protect Damon from the witch (hence trying to give him that new name) but it's a rival organization?

I mean, technically still twins in that case, just not having the same birthday. (If Feb 29th enters into it, it gets even weirder.)

Actually, why wouldn't Claire use Damon's given name? Maybe her organization doesn't know everything it thinks it does?

Anyway, just had time for some random thoughts. Back later tonight.

mathtans

11. Cadence may just want him to keep living so that she can keep siphoning off energy. (Thus perhaps APUS wants him dead, it's not about protection?!) Or maybe Cadence wants a sweet cosplay. (Probably not.) Of course, it might be that if she's a free floating witch, she wants his body. Maybe she can't be stopped, but could be redirected?

The Earth aspect is one I haven't really been able to figure out yet. (Are pavonis a type of pasta?) But maybe there's a destiny or something that Damon needs to fulfil first.

12. Lyall could have been pranking, but maybe he knows a different organization like that... or maybe that's the name of some mystery file on his computer that he hasn't been able to open because the Cadence inside him hasn't revealed the password, oooh. I think Lyall can trust Claire (assuming she's not a raving lunatic) and she might even need him to provide better cover (she didn't seem to even know what apartment she was in)... but that's short term. Long term is another question, if she starts getting Apus directives saying to do things he wouldn't agree with.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

This is all so interesting ;3;

Pavonis as a type of pasta, lolol

mathtans

I'm glad it's more interesting than rambly.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Nah, I love it XD I'm afraid I'd give spoilers if I said anymore lmao

RebelVampire

My theories about Damon's past are that he's a werewolf. And that something about being a werewolf has changed how he ages compared to Xerfonos - thus why they're the same age but not twins. Granted I guess they could also just be half brothers who have a shared father who said, "Man I should knock two girls up at once." But werewolf sounds more interesting. No I think we've established Lyall is clearly the witch. He is too suspicious. Tasha probably is a super secret agent or something, hence the suspicion. Maybe Apus is into some shady shit that Tasha knows about, especially Draco, so she doesn't want them jumping in on everything. As for how proof, she won't. Cadence will reveal she's Lyall when the most damage can be caused and Claire will weep her career as a detective is through. Cadence might just think Damon is hot. Although I think Damon has a grand destiny ahead of him, and Cadence wants to interfere with that destiny while also bulking up on some of that tasty werewolf energy. Also, can Cadence be stopped? Probably. But definitely not by these chumps right now. XD Lyall reacted strangely cause that was the Cadence in him going oh shit and kind of taking over. And sure, Lyall can trust Claire to never figure out its him. Sorry Claire, you hot, but clearly aren't noticing some stuff.

mathtans

I hadn't considered the "same father different mothers" angle. O.o Maybe it was a sperm donation sort of thing though?

As to Claire, maybe Tasha will be nice enough to buy Claire ice cream and give her snuggles once she realizes the error of her ways.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Tasha and Claire will get to snuggling at some point I'm sure XD

The same father with different mothers sounds most probable

of what's been mentioned at least

mathtans

I mean, time travel could also be involved. What with Apus.

Maybe Claire is Damon's daughter and she's trying to protect her own existence.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Maybe Claire is Xerfonos' mother

Wait, I don't think that'd work out lmao

Daughter would be way more probable

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

I look forward to getting a bit further into the story XD it's still pretty early on atm and there's a lot of really good scenes later. I don't feel like we've really gotten to know Damon yet either

RebelVampire

I am looking forward to seeing people's theories as the story continues and pieces fall into place. It will be interesting to see the routes people take with the ideas of what the answers are going to be. My final words are just read the comic. O_O

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I didn't end up having any brain power to write responses over the week, but I really enjoyed Ring Spell. Damon and his brother are cuties, Claire seems very capable, and I can't wait to find out what Tasha's motives are. I'm real excited to see how the themes of magical marital vows come to the forefront :3

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Thank you~!

mathtans

Busy weekend was busy. Looking forward to seeing how the Apus thing fits in, like is Claire even from their time period? Will Lyall spill all the secrets? Will the ships happen? I'm so behind in all my reading but I've flagged it to check back when I can.

There was also the bit at the start implying knowing people from other lives, but the time travel possibilities make that weird. And I guess there's also the question of whether a Ring will have a Spell on it. Like, maybe the witch doesn't know she's the witch while she's wearing a ring? Or they have to get her to wear a ring? Here I am guessing again. ^^

14. To conclude, all the best with it, looks like a good setup. I do enjoy the art style too.

Also I guess congrats on being the finale CTP? Nice that you got it in there. Good initiative.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

Thank you so much Math~!

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Ring Spell this week! Please also give a special thank you to Artem Ficta for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Ring Spell, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://ring-spell.com/

Artem Ficta’s Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/artemficta

Artem Ficta’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtemFicta

#ctparchive #webcomics #indie comics #comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic bookclub #webcomic book club #comic tea party #ctp #ring spell #artem ficta

[muthaz-rapapa]

Possible Precure Concept # 4

Phantom Thieves

As promised, here it is.

The idea popped into my head a few months ago. Can’t remember whether or not Yuni made her first appearance at that point yet but whatever.

So! Picture it. A Precure team completely composed of kaitou who go about purifying corrupted artwork/valuable treasure and fighting villains aiming to “taint” the world in desolate colors or something like that (is that too Smile-like? that’s too much like Smile, isn’t it?).

No, you are not wrong. It takes inspiration straight from Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Saint Tail and maybe even a little bit of Persona 5 even though I’ve only watched like the first 6 episodes of the adaptation and never played the game (I can see why it’s so popular, though).

Anyways, I just thought it’d be cool to see Precure’s take on this concept. I wasn’t even deterred when StarPre brought out Blue Cat because it’s not like Toei doesn’t recycle stuff from past seasons.

However, there are several things I believe that can keep it off the consideration table. Like...

1) The one or two people who think it might suggest to kids to become criminals.

......Honestly? Honestly, if you steal only from the dirty rich, then I am absolutely FINE with that. Seriously, have your fun and EAT THE RICH!!

Ok, j/k, j/k except not really but the thing with phantom thieves (besides the fact that they are largely fictional) is that...there’s a sense of romanticism that sets them apart from other types of outlaws. At least the ones I came across, they mostly use trickery and cunning (and their charm) but rarely do they ever resort to violence or worse to get the job done.

And in some cases, the thief may have a noble motive for committing the crimes (like how Yuni did it to reclaim the resources for her home planet but donated everything else to the poor). I think that’s why phantom thieves are so compatible with the magical girl genre.

Because you know the MC is actually a good person performing a heroic deed but at the same time they’re operating well outside of what’s legal. And that’s what makes the story all the more thrilling to follow.

You want them to escape the police. You want them to steal the target. You want them to succeed because at the end of the day, they are not the villain.

That’s exciting, isn’t it? :D

...but hey, y’know...if the writers are afraid of the wrath of a few individuals who take a children’s anime way too seriously then that’s their call. :P

Pretty sure there’s no one that paranoid though...maybe... I dunno.

In any case, we can all agree it’s an interesting pitch, yea?

Yea. Next concern then.

2) It’s already been done.

On top of that, old favorites like KKJ and Saint Tail have the edge of nostalgia supporting them which will inevitably lead to the silly argument of “who did it better”.

Not that that’s ever stopped us before. I mean, look at KiraPre. At the start of its run, it drew tons of comparison with Tokyo Mew Mew but still became a very successful and beloved season among Precure fans.

So really, there is no issue there (in fact, the more magical phantom thieves, the merrier) because the story is likely always going to be different.

Which brings me to my next point...

3) Narrative

Among the majority (or perhaps, the more traditional?) of magical girl series, the plot is usually “normal girl obtains magical powers to fight evil and save the world”.

The plot is simple. The story isn’t.

The story is how you tell the plot.

Which makes comparisons between different series almost kinda pointless because no story progresses the same way as another does nor would they have details that are exactly alike.

Especially if Toei one day decides that it wants to take a shot at this idea for their cash cow franchise, then they already have a striking appeal the two aforementioned titles don’t: a team of phantom thieves.

Granted, that’s easier said than done.

Even though I’m proposing it, I can’t deny it might be hard to pull off well.

I dunno. I’m always under the impression that phantom thieves work better alone (their non-action accomplices aside). Less things to worry about on their end, less things to trip them up.

But why not take on the challenge? If you can manage to get a bunch of colorful personalities and/or headstrong egos to cooperate on big “heists” together, that would be pretty impressive.

Plus, let’s not forget that Toei has 16+ years of trumpeting the magic of “friendship and teamwork” under their belt with 50-so episodes spanning each year-long season to boot. Planning and writing fleshed-out character arcs and group development should be their forte by now.

Admittedly, they’re not always perfect at it but the point is, this is not unfamiliar territory for them.

Of course, there’s a lot more to a story than just its main cast and what razzle dazzle effects they can do. You also need good supporting characters, antagonists worth our attention, interesting (and in this case, clever) one-shot fillers, the usual one or two unexpected twists and perhaps most importantly, a solid narrative theme to work with.

“Phantom thieves” are a motif, not a narrative theme.

A motif is something that helps explains the theme (or message) the show wants to convey.

Like “hope versus despair”, loneliness, love (this one’s been broadly overused but yea, it is one), etc. Those are all themes.

Unfortunately, I can’t think of a theme that would correspond well to “phantom thieves” as motif at the moment.

Hmmm…maybe “justice”?

But what the heck, I’m not part of the writing staff. This is their job to think up, not mine! xP

…still, I think it’ll require a good amount of brainstorming if you really want it to turn out good.

Um…what else?

I guess, just smaller things like whether to use “Cure ______” or “Kaitou _____” because a stock trait of phantom thieves series is that they like to announce themselves as “Phantom Thief so-and-so”…so I’m wondering if the Cure title will even matter?

It feels less like a Precure show if the girls don’t actually call themselves “Cures”, doesn’t it?

Uuuuuuhhhhh…oh yea!

For every phantom thief, there is usually always a detective chasing after them and maybe even a rival thief that comes in later during the story.

I think it’d be a fascinating twist if the detective was a girl in the same class as the starter Cure(s) who ends up befriending said Cure(s) not knowing she’s (they’re) the same as the thief(s) she’s trying to catch. Then the reveal happens at the worse timing (ep 30ish) but she makes the decision to protect the Cure(s)…by becoming a Cure herself…and you can guess at what happens next but it’s pretty predictable. She comes to terms with it and drops her day job to become a magical girl and steal for the sake of good.

..Yea.

As for the rival part, I’m still really pushing for opposing Precure teams. Ideally, a two-against-two scenario where they (maybe one-sidedly) compete to see who can purify the most monsters until circumstances push them to see they’re better working together.

…lol, I dunno. It may not work with the principles of Precure in general but I’m just having a lot of fun right now thinking all this up. xD;

So yea, that’s another big one to add to my Precure wishlist.

If it becomes reality someday, I’ll…well, I’ll definitely not stop screaming for the next five years, that’s for sure. xDD;;;

#jfc tumblr ate my post up like more than 5 times! #do your job staff! D:< #precure #precure concepts #precure concept post collection

[cakesunflower]

Reach For You [Dad!Calum AU] Ch. 4

Previous Chapters: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Chapter 4

ASPEN COULD FEEL her bones rattling under her skin in mild panic as she waited for that inevitable knock on her door. The nerves in her body were standing on their ends and she kept fiddling with her nails, her eyes darting towards the door every few seconds. Calum and Luna were sitting on the couch, lost in the world of Scooby-Doo while Aspen waited for her brother and his family to arrive up the elevator.

The second she had answered the buzz and heard her brother’s voice, Aspen felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. She had completely forgotten that she had invited Richie and his family over for spaghetti Sunday this week, and now he was going to walk in and see Calum and Aspen could only hope that her brother could keep it together. He knew the circumstances of what happened between Aspen and Calum better than anyone, but that didn’t mean Calum was in his good graces. Calum wasn’t exactly liked by Aspen’s family, by mere association, and she had yet to tell them that he was seemingly back in their lives. Hell, it had only happened yesterday. She still needed time to adjust.

The knocks sounded and Aspen had to take a preparing breath as she unlocked it, opening it so her seven and five year old nieces could run in. “Hey, Penny,” Laila greeted with a quick hug and smile.

“Hi, sis,” Richie stepped up with a kiss to her cheek, smiling as he stepped inside. “How’s it goi—”

Richie’s words cut off as his green eyed gaze wandered over Aspen’s shoulder, and she felt her breath freeze in her lungs when the smile on his face disappeared as quickly as it came. Oh, God, Aspen let out a shaky breath as she shut the door, her body tensing as she waited for whatever the hell was about to happen.

“This is my daddy!” Aspen heard Luna enthusiastically introduce, turning around to see her on her feet as she held Calum’s hand to pull him up as well. Luna was grinning widely, her gaze innocently going around at her cousins, aunt and uncles.

The scene was just. . . Awkward.

Aspen’s nieces, Mariam and Nadia, seemed to be in awe at the new man in the room, smiling up at him in wonder. Meanwhile, Aspen saw the looks on Laila and Richie’s faces. Saw the surprise and disbelief on Laila’s, and the incredulous outrage that was scowling at Richie’s features as he took in Calum. And after offering the little girls friendly smiles, Calum’s gaze met the two adults, and Aspen watched as his smile left his face and his features transitioned into one of cool stoicism. His shoulders squared and chin lifted, regarding the two of them, but his gaze was hard as it settled on Richie. Aspen guessed he could sense the hostility her brother was radiating.

“What the fu—” Richie cut himself off, exhaling sharply as his glare remained fixated on Calum. He pressed his tongue to his cheek, eyes glancing at Calum then Aspen, who pursed her lips and swallowed, before looking back at Calum. “What’re you doing here?”

The irritation was obvious in his voice and Aspen took a few tentative steps towards the group gathered in her living room. “Girls,” Aspen hastily started, offering the three young girls a small smile. “Why don’t you go into Luna’s room and play until the food’s ready, okay?”

They were gone with giggles and stomping of their light footsteps, taking all of the lightheartedness with them as they went. In hindsight, Aspen figured she should’ve kept the girls around so everyone would control their tempers—but if they couldn’t, the little girls didn’t need to be around for that.

Richie’s sharp gaze was now on her. “What the hell is he doing here?”

“Good to see you too, Rich,” Calum’s smooth voice drolled, bland with a quirk of his brow. His hands were back in the pocket of his jacket—it seemed like some kind of defense mechanism to Aspen. Like he was guarding himself from those around him. Calum’s eyes flickered to the dark eyed woman next to Richie. “Hey, Laila.”

She offered the smallest of smiles, giving him a nod. “Calum.”

Being able to tell that Richie was getting agitated, Aspen took in a breath as she faced her brother. “He’s Luna’s dad, Richie.” She saw the irritated look flash across Richie’s face, and as much as Aspen didn’t entirely want to defend Calum, she needed to appease her brother. If he got too angry, he may say something nobody needed him saying. Besides, wasn’t he the one saying the other day that he thought Calum show know about Luna? What happened to that? “She wants him around and he—he has the right.”

“Are you serious?” Richie scoffed out a humorless laugh, his glare directing towards the Australian as he shot Calum a disgusted look. Okay, so maybe his irritation was stemming purely from his dislike of Calum. Still didn’t make much sense, in Aspen’s opinion. Richie wanted her to tell Calum, now he was pissed that he was actually here. “You’re gonna keep him around after—”

Aspen’s eyes widened as Laila subtly smacked Richie’s back, hindered from Calum’s view, as both women warned, “Rich.”

Calum’s eyes narrowed, looking between the three people as his lips curled upwards in irritation. He was missing something and he knew that, but Calum was suddenly all too focused on the hostility he was receiving from Aspen’s brother. What the fuck had he done? He was the one who had been left in the dark about everything. “After what?” Calum taunted, the hard edge back in his voice as he jutted his chin out, eyes challenging. “After she ran out on me? I didn’t do shit, mate, so stop making me out to be the bad guy when that’s obviously your sister.”

Aspen’s lips parted at Calum’s words, staring at him with widened eyes. She was trying to defend him and he was going to turn around and bitch her out? Indignation fired up her skin, but she also knew he was right. Beyond right. But it was hard to argue when there was more to the story one party member was completely unaware of and couldn’t be informed of it.

Clenching her jaw, Aspen’s hands formed into fists as she shot Calum a look, hoping to contain her own frustration. Richie’s eyes narrowed at Calum’s words and Laila shared a look with Aspen, and the latter knew she had to diffuse the situation. She was irritated with Calum yet she couldn’t bring herself to kick him out right now. Luna would be upset, and Aspen was always going to put her daughter above anyone else’s feelings and circumstances. Luna wanted Calum here, and no matter Aspen’s qualms and struggles, she couldn’t put that above Luna’s desires.

“Alright, listen,” Aspen spoke up after a sharp breath, her tone steady and firm and sharper than she thought she could manage as she looked between Richie and Calum. “Tonight’s not the night to discuss everyone’s issues, alright?” Looking at her brother, Aspen sighed. “Richie, I don’t know what’s up with you since the other day you were all for it but trust me, it’s hard for me, too—” she didn’t dare look at Calum as she said this as her brother huffed. “—but we’re doing this for Luna, okay? It’s something we’re just going to have to adjust to.” Her gaze flickered to Calum, trying not to bristle at the stoicness he was one against was showing. The fact that he was so openly guarded when Aspen just didn’t remember him being so was unnerving. “You and I’ll have a talk about this. . . Situation this week or something. For now—” Aspen shot both men a look. “—Just act civil. For Luna’s sake. Please.”

That seemed to do the trick. Richie took in a deep, calming breath and Calum rolled his lips into his mouth briefly before offering a single nod. Aspen looked between the two men once more, her eyes lingering on Calum with his hands in his jacket and shoulders squared and the muscle in his jaw jumping.

Aspen sighed. This should be fun.

                                                              *****

If it weren’t for Luna, Calum probably would be out of this apartment by now. But his daughter, in a matter of just under forty-eight hours, had Calum wrapped around her finger, so he stayed. He stayed in Aspen’s apartment for spaghetti Sunday, and while he was amused in watching Luna twirl up heaps of pasta on her fork before eating it, his body felt tense because of the pair of eyes on him.

Calum had met Richie, Aspen’s brother, and his now-wife-then-girlfriend Laila back when he and Aspen were dating. They had gotten along, were cool with each other, but now Richie was treating Calum as if he was some dick who broke his sister’s heart and Calum was at a damn loss. He was the one broken up with. He was the one who was left behind. He was the one who had a daughter kept secret from him. So why the fuck was he being treated like he was the one who did something unspeakable?

As Calum stepped out of the hallway bathroom after dinner was over, he was stopped all of a sudden with Richie blocking his way. Calum exhaled through his nose, wanting to keep his irritation at bay because he needed to be civil. For Luna. “So you’re in the picture now?” Richie asked, looking and sounding every bit of unimpressed as he was. “Just like that, you’re suddenly running for Father of the Year?”

Calum’s jaw tightened as he looked into the green eyes that were similar to his daughter and her mother’s. “I’m just tryin’ to get to know the daughter I never knew I had, Rich. Why is that such an issue for you?” Then, remembering Aspen’s words, Calum scoffed. “You wanted Aspen to tell me. Why the change of heart?”

“Luna should be able to know her dad.” The thirty-one year old’s eye twitched slightly, the irritation bringing a frown to his face. “But I also don’t want her to get hurt.”

Offense took over Calum as his eyebrows drew together indignantly, leaning back slightly as he demanded through insult, “You think I’d hurt my own child?”

Richie’s eyes ran over Calum, indifferent to what he sees in front of him. “I dunno what you’re capable of,” he responded, his words utterly flooring Calum as he momentarily forgot his mission to remain stoic as he blinked in disbelieving surprise. Was this guy on something? Calum would never dream of hurting Luna. The mere thought made him nauseous.

“Look,” Calum frowned, shaking his head once to push away the curls falling across his forehead. It did nothing. “I’m here for Luna, alright? I missed out on four years of her life and I don’t plan on missin’ anymore.” He scoffed, his frown deepening as he gave a one shouldered shrug. “I’ve no idea why you’re treating me like I’m some kind of enemy, but I can assure you I’m not. ‘M just a guy tryin’ to have a relationship with his daughter. That’s it.”

“That’s it?” Richie repeated questioningly, the suspicion still present in his voice as he lifted his chin slightly, gaze roaming Calum as if he was going to find some kind of deception. “You don’t—you’re not trying to get Aspen back?”

Before he could stop himself, Calum felt his eyes widen at Richie’s inquiry, the air rushing out of his lungs in bewilderment as he blinked quickly in incredulity. When the hell had he given the impression that he wanted Aspen back? He may be conflicted about what he felt towards in regards to either wanting to forgive her or just hate her for keeping Luna from him, but whatever he may have felt for her was gone. Buried deep. Calum was positive those feelings for Aspen were nonexistent. He was sure those kinds of feelings weren’t something he was capable of feeling again for anyone.

He almost wanted to laugh at Richie’s question, certain that the man in front of him was joking, but then he saw the serious look on his face. One that told Calum that Richie was honestly wondering if getting back together with Aspen was some kind of plan he was trying to work. Calum didn’t even want to give that possibility a second’s worth of consideration. Not after what she’s done.

“No,” Calum responded with a frown and a shake of his head, hoping he was being clear in what he thought of Richie’s words. “‘M only here for Luna. As far as Aspen and I go. . .” He exhaled sharply through his nose. “We’re going to give this co-parenting thing a shot. That’s the extent of it.”

He expertly ignored the sharp pang of pain that shot through his chest.

Richie stared at him for a couple of seconds longer before his expression relaxed somewhat, seemingly satisfied with Calum’s answer. “Good,” he nodded, though there was still a hint of a frown between his eyebrows. He stepped back, turning around to head back down the hallway. “Aspen doesn’t need that from you.”

Calum felt the blood in his veins fire up a bit, his jaw tightening as he said to Richie’s back with a sharp, “She broke up with me, you know.” God knows the sting of it was still present in his bones. Ignoring it over the past few days was getting to be hard, but Calum would try his damndest to do so.

Richie didn’t bother turning around. “Doesn’t mean you were the only one hurting.”

tags:  @crownedbyluke @gotta-try-something-new @rishlo @bitchinbabylon @calistajs @ghstofcalum @dxmncalum @letsfxckindance @unsexilexi @calumthoodsyonce @grreatgooglymoogly @therainydays4 @sadbreakfast-club @lifeakaharry @codycasperky2 @biggestslutforcalum @complete-trash-101 @kinglyhemmings @hemmomfg @friendly-neighborhood-michelle @cxddlyash @checkeredcalum @lovelettercalum @nostalgia-luke @captain-what-is-going-on @slimthicccal @kaytiebug14 @bloodytbs @miahelizaaabeth @ghostofhood @elsysoza @writing-in-riverdale @tourettesboi @angelbbycal @bbteamlove @xoforeverx @stfujace @thebodaciouscth @helplesshood @runawaywithme-xo @lietomemyvalentine @emma070900 @cosmixcalum @babygirlcashton @calumamongmen @5sos-stan4lyfe @ihatemyself21 @lipstickstainfading @crystalisinfinite @misskarynie @wrappedaroundcal@wcstethenights @michealcliffturd @akacalciumhood @clum-thomas @poppedpins@dollbitxhes @5saucewho @hearts-to-the-sky @booklove-2 @walkedhomealone@andreabjoerg @qualitylu @softboycal @early-thoughts @5saucefanfic @dher216  @all-i-want-is2b-loved-by-you @babyloniancal @xlov3quotingx @aybbblondie @rexorangecounty @flowerchild8341 @romanticalumhood @kaxseychill @babyloncalm @calistheloml @calumh-excess @egyptiangoldhood @irwinkitten @asht0ns-world @visualm3nte @xhaileyreneex @cal-pal-cuddles @invisiblexcth @soulmatecashton @gettingjillywithit @cliffordcntrl @mermaid-merrick @dannisos @cals-babylons @mysteriouslycali @calsxmas @sassy-asht0n @hoodcentral @cathartichaoss @inlovehoodx @gigglyirwin @grinchluke @bearsbitxh @thepixiedreambitch @calumhoodless @dancingonanemptywallet @antisocialbandmate @sunnysidesblog @escap0-with-me @rosa-aurum @thewhitestbitch-u-know @rosecoloredash @biwriting @isitbalsamic 

#calum hood #calum hood one shot #calum hood blurb #calum hood blurbs #calum hood angst #calum fic #calum hood fic #calum hood fanfic #calum hood imagine #calum hood imagines #calum hood fanfiction #5sos #5 seconds of summer #ashton irwin #luke hemmings #michael clifford #5sos fanfic #5sos fic #5sos fanfiction #5sos one shot #5sos blurb #5sos blurbs #5sos imagine #5sos imagines #ashton irwin one shot #michael clifford blurb #luke hemmings imagine #ashton irwin blurbs #luke hemmings blurb #michael clifford one shot

[fleverian]

description is under keep reading

When I start losing motivation to draw I start going through some of my older sketches and making myself finish them. Some of these are from older works I had started, I had them sitting around for so long that my artstyle had completely changed and I scrapped most of what I had done. The girls in red and blue are redesigns of these https://iwanttounlive.tumblr.com/post/185692062904/cardinal-and-blue-jay-some-old-ocs-of-mine-i-drew The designs for the two guys started out like this https://iwanttounlive.tumblr.com/post/190767641099/some-older-drawings-that-im-posting-here-just

  It was such a while ago that I drew them that they changed a lot. I didn't put much thought into the world they inhabit, but I've tried to come up with a bit of a backstory, I mainly just drew these to get myself drawing again. I don't have names for them, so any suggestions are welcome. I'm gonna refer to them by their main colors. Some people in their world have superpowers due to a rift between dimensions that happened years ago (idk how many 100's 1000s i dunno) Purple comes from another dimension. His world (magic and such is possible there) was attacked by a great evil (also haven't put much thought into what) and a lot of it was destroyed. Him and maybe some others were trying to escape, someone used magic to open a portal, they were trying to escape to another part of the planet but somehow opened a portal to another world. (also don't know how that happened) He was the only one able to escape through because they were attacked at the last minute. At the same time he made it through the portal an enemy shot magic at him and he was frozen in crystal or something. The portal closed at about the same time and cut his arms off, sort of like in Bioshock Infinte how Elizabeth loses her finger to a portal closing around it. So he made it to another dimension but was trapped in crystal. Where he ended up was in a cave underground. The portal closing left sort of a rift. Many years pass. Energy or cosmic space magic or some other kind of plot device from between dimensions or the space between dimensions slowly leaks through the rift over all those years. Over time people in this world start developing superpowers because of it. The closer to the rift the more people there are that have powers. There are groups of people who team up to be heros or and others more like criminals, they haven't had any significant villians, YET. Purple's power is telekinesis. It's not very refined yet, mostly just blasts of energy able to move objects, and push back enemies. In his world magic is mainly manipulated using hand motions, or channeling the energy into your hands, the telekinesis he uses he feels is somewhat similar to it. But he has trouble controlling it without the use of his hands. He has to learn to control it more by picturing it with his mind and such. The prosthesis he wears don't really help with using his powers, he finds it easier to use more powerful attacks without them. Purple's kind of a quiet guy and soft spoken. He can be kind of depressing and is struggling to adapt to the new world he's living in. Teal (i think that's what that color is) is the son of a rich business man. He is home schooled and is quite smart. His father hires teachers to tutor him. He doesn't have much interest in his school work, but finishes most of it quickly so he has a lot of free time on his hands. His father doesn't pay much attention to what he does, so he spends most of his time causing trouble and is a bit of a delinquent. He acts smug and confident but is actually kind of insecure and doesn't really have any friends. His power is illusions. Able to cause people to see things that aren't there or not see things that are. He can use it on a few people at a time, and is working to increase that number. At some point he finds a cave beneath the city he lives in, he finds Purple trapped in crystal there and finds a way to release him. They both notice the slight rift (and I guess that would be a plot point at some point, where they realize that's the reason people have powers) Purple stays with him at his mansion and they become friends. Teal buys Purple the prostheses. They eventually become vigilantes and fight crime together because Teal thought it would be cool. Red and Blue are the only ones I have come up with hero names with. They are Cardinal and Bluejay, because that's what their costumes and designs are based on. Both of them are adults and have licenses to be heroes, It's their jobs. They have endorsements from brands and such. They are pretty popular and have their own merch. Most of the people in Blue's family have powers and it kind of became a business. Her parents always wanted her to carry on the family legacy, and be a hero like they are. She trains hard and want's to make them proud. but was never really sure that being a hero was what she wanted to do. She is more of an introvert and doesn't like the spotlight, but she doesn't want to disappoint her parents. Her power is floating/wind manipulation. She can sort of float for short distances, and control wind. Red was an orphan who was adopted by Blue's family due to to her similar power to Blue's. Her power is flight. Blue and Red are like sisters and care about each other a lot. They have been trained together since they were kids. Blue feels somewhat overshadowed by Red though. Red is naturally talented with using her power and is a great fighter. Blue has to train harder and focus more with her powers and fighting in general, and feels like she isn't good enough. She feels sort of jealous of Red but doesn't want that to cause a rift between them. Red is very outgoing. She has a bubbly personality and can be a bit of an airhead. She isn't good at reading people's feeling and hasn't realized Blue feels like she outshines her. She loves her sister a lot and considers her her best friend. The last two I haven't come up with too much for. Brown and Pink are the youngest ones of the group. They have gone to school together for years. They are good friends now but weren't always. Brown used to be more of the stereotypical popular girl and was kind of snobbish. She can be rude and has a bit of an attitude still. Pink is kind of a weird girl. Not quite the LOL SO RANDUM type but more of a reserved version of that character type. She kind of does what she wants and doesn't care to much what others think of her. The two of them become friends somehow eventually. They also become somewhat of vigilantes. Brown's power is portals. They work somewhat similar to the game Portals, but she can make them on any surface. She has to of been to the place though. She can leave unactivated portals in places to use for later. They won't open unless she makes a second one go with it. She can make a numerous number of them but she has to keep track of them mentally so the doesn't accidentally open a portal to the wrong one. She takes pictures of all the places she leaves one and makes lists of them to memorize. Say she leaves portal 1 in a body of water, when the opens it's portal 2 she can flood a place with it. Same with fire and such. I think her portal powers will eventually help in solving the problem with the rift, or she may develop a way to open portals between worlds. Pink's power is strength. But it's too powerful and she has almost no control over it. She wears those soft cushion like things on her hands and feet most of the time to keep her from breaking things. As her hero persona she can remove them and go berserk. I think eventually they would have villains and such they would fight and an overarching plot, but I haven't come up with much of that. I do have a few more hero's I sort of have ideas for though.

#ocs #original characters #my art #my characters #superheros #heroes #powers

[joyful-soul-collector]

Amazing, Actually

Chapter 6: Scene 7 (Click here to read previous scenes!)

Last scene for this chapter guys! Hope you all like it!

Jace and Kita did their homework, Kita not-so-stealthily making sure Jace ate a healthy, filling snack. When they finished, Kita suggested Monopoly and each were in the middle of searching for a lost die when Kita’s parents walked in the door.

“Hey Papá! Hey Dad!” Kita called, her hand grasping under the couch. Jace looked up and hit his head on the bottom of the table where he was searching. He crawled out, rubbing his scalp as he stood.

“Hey Mr. and Mr. Mills. How goes it?”

“Jay, how many times have we told you to just call us Frank and Jose?” Frank said. 

Frank was a tall man with curly red hair, and evergreen eyes. His face had freckles scattered about his nose and cheeks, and his teeth were straight and white. Frank always seemed to be smiling, and it took a lot for him to get angry. Jace always liked that about him. Frank put down his keys and bag, while Jose shuffled through some mail.

“I think at least as many times as I’ve been here. Force of habit, sorry,” Jace said. 

“No no, it’s quite alright Jay. How was school you two?”

“Fine,” they both answered.

“Did you finish that late assignment Kita?” Jose asked in his slightly Spanish accent. Jose was a dark-skinned man with hair almost as black as Jace’s, had it not been for the few gray streaks. Jose was almost the complete opposite of Frank in terms of personality. Jose was straightforward and strict, and he didn’t smile nearly as much as Frank. But that just meant that when he did smile, it was much more special.

“Yes Papá,”  Kita answered.

“How was your weekend Jay?” Frank asked.

“Fine. Boring even,” he lied.

“Well, I hope your first day back was better,” said Jose.

“Eh, it was alright. Much better now that I’m home,” Jace said with a crooked grin. Frank beamed widely at the last word, and Jace could’ve sworn he saw a small smirk from Jose.

“Alright. Well Jose is going to make dinner, and I’m going to head to my office and work on some things for the shop,” said Frank. He walked over and hugged them both, which made Jace’s heart swell, and then walked into the hallway to his office.

“You two both finished your homework?” Jose asked sternly. 

“Yes Papá!” Kita groaned. 

“Just checking, mija. Go finish your little game, the surprise will be ready soon.” 

So Mr. Mills is in on this too? Jace thought. He watched Jose for a few moments as he took out a few cooking supplies and ingredients from the cupboard.

Jace turned to Kita with a small smile.

“So, the surprise is dinner?” 

“Dammit. You weren’t supposed to figure that out.” They sat back down at the table, Kita holding the no longer missing die.

“Not much of a surprise, considering I have dinner pretty much every time I come over here,” Jace said.

“Oh hush, it’s not dinner that’s the surprise, it’s what’s for dinner.”

“Ooooh, how mysterious. What is it?”

“What part of ‘surprise’, do you not understand?”

“The part where I’m supposed to wait and find out,” Jace whined. He laid his head on the table, pouting with his lip stuck out. “Waiting is the worst.”

“Yeah I know the feeling, as it’s been your turn for the last five minutes. Just roll the die!”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. I swear if I get into jail again I’m going to throw something.” He rolled the die and made his car piece jump a few spaces to Chance.

“You’re way too passionate about Monopoly,” Kita said.

“Shhhh I’m drawing a card.”

“Why does that require me to shut up?”

“I don’t know! Quit poking holes in my arguments!”

“You’d be a terrible lawyer.”

“Good thing I don’t plan on being one, that shit takes way too much schooling.”

“True. But, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

Jace actually thought about this a lot, so he had an answer ready. 

“Well, I want to go to college, but I don’t know if that’s really an option. I’m keeping my grades as high as I can and I’m saving up a lot and I’m trying to get a full ride literally anywhere, but I mean who knows how well that’ll work out. If I can get into college, then I don’t really know what I want to do after. Maybe like an office job or something. That’d be nice. I’m not really picky. If I don’t end up being able to go, then I’ll just keep the job I have at the movie theater. Start working full time.” 

Jace sighed, and drew his pencil out of his pocket, gently scraping the sharp end along the familiar path down his thumb. “How about you? What do you want to be?”

“Pfft, I don’t know,” Kita said, rolling the die and moving her battleship piece up a few spaces. “I’ll probably end up at the bakery. I’m going to college, and I was thinking that being a detective would be cool, like for the police, but I dunno. They’re both good options really.”

“Oooh, a detective. You gonna catch all the bad guys Sherlock?”

“Heck yeah I am! The game is afoot!”

They spent the next hour still playing Monopoly, but not really paying attention to the game. They talked mostly about the future. What they would do when they grew up, what things might be like, what kind of crazy thing that might happen that could change the whole world. Jace thought aliens might come to Earth, but Kita thought that some sort of sea creatures would walk on to land and be the new superior being.

But it wasn’t all big picture; they talked about what pets they want, what kind of house they’d like, even whether or not they would want houseplants. Jace was just explaining to Kita why the ridged butter knives were better than the flat edged ones, when he suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

There was an incredibly enticing smell coming from the kitchen. The scent immediately made him think the word “warm”, but it also smelled like garlic and onions and spices and… tomatoes. 

“WAIT wait wait wait wait wait wait--”

“I’m waiting, Jace,” Kita interrupted. 

“Is that--Are we-- is he making tomato soup?” Jace asked her eagerly, pointing to the kitchen.

“Huh. Is he?” Kita said sarcastically. “Wait, isn’t that your favorite food? How completely random.”

“Yeah, random,” Jace said, rolling his eyes. “Has he been making that this whole time?”

“Probably. You know Papá hates making food from a box or a can. Says it’s ‘not authentic’, so he just made it from scratch.”

“What!? He didn’t have to do all that!”

“I wanted to,” Jose’s voice came from behind him. Jace turned around to see him holding two steaming bowls. Jose’s eyebrows raised slightly at the eager look on Jace’s face, and set he the bowls down in front of them.

“Thanks Mr.--I mean Jose,” Jace said as his stomach rumbled in anticipation. 

“You’re welcome, Jay. I’ll be back with Frank in a moment.” Jose disappeared down the hallway. Jace stirred his soup, blowing on it. 

“That’s so nice of Jose. And of you! God, you guys are so awesome.” When he ate a spoonful, the flavor spread over his mouth, filling him with warmth. The soup was creamy and thick, tasting even better than it smelled. “This is the best surprise,” he said, sighing happily. 

“You are so unbelievably easy to please Jay,” Kita said with a laugh.

“Really? I always thought the opposite,” said Jace.

“Pfft, Jay you make the biggest deal out the smallest things.”

“Jee, thanks, nice to know I’m a drama queen.”

“No, I mean when we do something small for you, you act as though it costed us the world. Like we’d spent a thousand dollars or a month in order to do something for you. I just thought it was nice.”

“Nice?” Sounds more annoying, Jace thought.

“Yeah, I mean it’s just nice that you say thank you. It’s not like there’s a surplus of people who do that.”

“Oh, heh, I suppose. I guess I just don’t really need a lot to be happy.”

Frank and Jose came out of the hallway and Frank kissed Jose on the cheek as they sat down at the table.

“Is it good?” asked Jose.

“Soooo good,” Jace answered. “Am--” 

“Amazing, actually?” Kita interrupted. 

“…I do say that a lot don’t I?”

They spent the next hour or so laughing and talking and eating together. Jace felt his heart swelling with happiness with each passing moment. He was warm, his belly was full, he was with Kita and Frank and Jose, and his horrible weekend and moment with Clay were the farthest things from his mind, and everything seemed to finally be okay.

“Oh hey, it’s almost seven! We better get you home, Jay,” said Frank suddenly. 

The happy balloon in his chest deflated, making his lungs feel as though they were being squeezed tightly.

“Oh. Right,” Jace said, his voice suddenly feeling hoarse. 

He’d forgotten for a moment. Of course things couldn’t just stay like this forever. Have to go back to reality at some point, Jace thought as he cleared his empty bowl. He and Kita went to her room to pack up his things.

“Hey, so you’re still coming for Halloween tomorrow right?” Kita asked.

“Yep,” Jace replied tonelessly.

Kita opened her mouth, and then closed it again, instead turning to grab Jace’s notebook from off her bed. Jace took a little more time than needed to pack up his things; he really didn’t want to leave. Kita let him dawdle, knowing how he felt, and Jace appreciated that. He kept looking around as though worried he wouldn’t see this place again, even though he knew he would be back tomorrow. After spending almost a two minutes tying and retying his tattered sneakers, they finally walked to the car.

With each minute they spent in the car, Jace could feel the familiar anxiety in his shoulders returning. He held his backpack close to his chest, hugging it like it was a lifeline. Dread was like a creature, crawling up his back and infecting his veins with anxious venom, making his muscles tense up so much it hurt. He knew he wouldn’t be able to relax until tomorrow, when he went back home. 

To his real home.

They arrived at the motel, the car stopping just outside his room. Number nine, ground floor.

“Oh I forgot! Jay, I brought you something from the bakery, I think it’s in this bag here…” Frank said and started rustling in the bag in the passenger seat. He drew out a muffin, much like the one Kita gave him on the bus, only instead of little dots of blueberry juice, the dots were a reddish pink. “It’s raspberry, I remember you liking those ones, right?”

“Yeah, I love those ones! Thank you Mr.--I mean Frank. You guys are being way too nice today.” 

“You’re welcome Jay. I’ll see you tomorrow for Halloween! Don’t forget to bring your costume to school with you.”

“Thanks Frank. I’ll see you.” Jace opened the car door, still holding the muffin, and Kita walked with him to his room. They stood for a moment outside his door, before Jace saw a flash of movement to his left, and Kita slammed into his ribcage.

“Gagh! What are you--” He cut off. It took him a moment to realize she was hugging him, not attacking him. “Jesus, I didn’t know someone could hug so violently.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her closer.

“Sorry.”

“You’re fine.”

“But you’re not.”

“Sure I am.”

“You’re lying.”

“No I’m--”

“Yes, you are.”

“…I don’t know if I am.”

“If you’re okay, or if you’re lying?”

“Both. Neither. Can I get back to you on that one?”

“Sure.”

There was a silence, where they both just stared at the metal nine on the door.

“You know that just squeezing the life out of me doesn’t make it so I don’t have to leave, right?” said Jace.

“Shhhh, I don’t care right now,” said Kita. 

“Don’t worry about me. I’m going to be fine,” Jace said, lowering his head slightly so as to look her directly in the eyes.

“I know,” she said. She squeezed him tighter, enough to make Jace worried his ribs would crack, then released him and waved goodbye, jogging over to Frank’s car.

Jace unlocked the door, and went inside.

He sighed as he flicked on the lights. Nobody was there. The only sign anyone lived here were the ruffled bed sheets and the empty bottles still lying on the floor. He probably could’ve stayed at Kita’s a little longer if he’d known no one would be around to meet him. But he could hear the car driving away.

Now that he could have a light on, he could see the room much more clearly than he could that morning. A lamp, the alarm clock and a motel phone stood on a small table between two beds, one being his parents, and the other his own. The walls were a sickly yellow color, and while the floors were carpeted, they still felt rock hard. A mini fridge stood to the right of a wooden dresser which had a TV on top, and to the left of that dresser was the entrance to the bathroom. He shut the door and put the muffin on the table next to the alarm clock.

He turned and tossed his backpack onto his bed before flopping down on it himself. He regretted it immediately as the hard mattress almost knocked the wind out of him. 

“Ouch,” he said to the room. He stared at the cracking ceiling for a moment before remembering that he was supposed to call his mom to let her know he was okay.

Jace sat up and started dialing her number into the motel phone, and it rang twice before she answered. 

“Hey baby, you made it home?” she said sweetly. Jace could hear the bustlings of the diner in the background.

“Yeah I did. Just calling to let you know I’m okay,” Jace said. He drew out his pencil and started twirling it in between his fingers.

“Thanks honey. I have to go in a second, but how was your day?”

“Great.” Only half a lie. “It was just a normal day. Nothing really important.” A whole lie.

“That’s good. You went to Kita’s right? Did you--”

“Yes, I had dinner. I always have dinner at her house, you know that.”

“Just checking dear. I’ll be home around ten tonight. Make sure you don’t stay up too late, I want you sleeping when I get home okay?”

“Okay. Bye mom.”

“Bye hon.”

End Chapter

Tag List: @timetravelingpigeon @alexis-writes-sometimes @txintedsxint @purpleshadows1989 @gabbysmadness @thescholarsninja @danger-writes @midnight-dancer-daydreamer @musicofglassandwords @sunlight-and-starskies @panic-at-my-sexuality @edenbooknerd

#writing #writeblr #writers #creative writing #original writing #original #original character #original story #amwriting #scifi #scifi writing #slice of life #contemporary fiction #contemporary romance #romance #romantic #wip #oc #ocs #fluff #angst

[trauma-13]

You know the drill. All them asks. 😈 (is this deja vu?)

You got it dude!! (It is...cause I fucked up 😂)

The meaning behind my url:

Trauma because it's my favorite area of nursing.

Princess because I'm a fuckin princess.

93 because the year I was born.

A picture of me:

If you look hard enough you'll find one on here. Also my icon is me soooo.

How many tattoos i have and what they are:

Oh good lord. I have quite a few....

1. Mom's last name on my left wrist.

2. Flowers on my right foot.

3. Tribal-ish heart my brother drew on the back on my neck.

4. Walt Disneys signature on my left foot.

5. Mickey and Minnie behind my ears.

6. A prior dogs paw print on my left ankle.

7. A dandelion on my right shoulder blade with music notes.

8. My dog, Axel, paw prints on my collar bones.

9. A moon on my right ankle.

10. A semi colon on my right wrist (ulnar side)

11. A arrow on my right wrist (radial side)

12. A humming bird on my right forearm.

I think that's it... for now...

Last time i cried and why:

I dunno, honestly. I cry frequently hahah

Piercings i have:

Labret/Monroe

Ears gauged to a 00.

Traugus both sides

Right sided daith.

Nipples.

Favorite band:

Sooo many. Currently imagine dragons.

Biggest turn offs:

Bad hygiene, liars, cheats, narcacists.

Top 5 (insert subject):

???

Tattoos i want:

Too many to list, honestly.

Biggest turn ons:

I'm a big physical touch person, so basically anything where I'm being touched.

Age:

26

Ideas of a perfect date:

Doing something totally new that neither of us has experienced.

Life goal:

Pediatric ICU trauma nurse, be a mom, be a good wife.

Piercings i want:

Maybe my left daith. Probably a 2nd lobe hole.

Relationship status:

Very happily engaged.

Favorite movie:

Steel magnolias (the old one), Moana, Mean Girls.

A fact about my life:

I'm a nurse, I work in the ER and medsurg/tele, I have 2 doggos, and 2 kittens, I'm practically married at this point, I live on the surface of the sun.

Phobia:

Spiders, failure.

Middle name:

I'ma pass on telling the world that.

Height:

5'6" with shoes on.

Are you a virgin?

Naaah.

What’s your shoe size?

Between 9-10 depends on the shoe and brand.

What’s your sexual orientation?

I am bisexual, however I'm in a heterosexual relationship.

Do you smoke, drink, or take any drugs?

Drink yes, no to the others.

Someone you miss

@car-one-responding

What’s one thing you regret?

Suffering in an abusive relationship because I didn't think I had a way out.

First celebrity you think of when someone says attractive:

Chris Evans.

Favorite ice cream?

I'm honestly not a big ice cream person, but we have some delicious basil-lime sorbet from a local store that I'm obsessed with.

One insecurity:

Weight.

What my last text message says:

"I re sent it. Just delete the other one I guess? Lol" from @car-one-responding in reference to this cause I done FUCKED IT UP.

Have you ever taken a picture naked?

Mmmmhhhhhmmmmm.

Have you ever painted your room?

Not recently at all, but as a kid yeah.

Have you ever kissed a member of the same sex?

Yep, couple times.

Have you ever slept naked?

I usually do.

Have you ever danced in front of your mirror?

Almost every day hahah

Have you ever had a crush?

Duuuh, who hasn't hah

Have you ever been dumped?

Aldo duuuh.

Have you ever stole money from a friend?

Nope. I'm a very honest person.

Have you ever gotten in a car with people you just met?

Hmm. Probably.

Have you ever been in a fist fight?

Does patients attacking count?? I didn't punch, but I got punched.

Have you ever snuck out of your house?

Yep.

Have you ever had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back?

I think just about everyone has.

Have you ever been arrested?

No. Im from a tiny Town where my dad was a cop, mom was a nurse. So everyone knew me.

Have you ever made out with a stranger?

No I don't think so.

Have you ever met up with a member of the opposite sex somewhere?

Like...in a sexual way? Or like hung out? If so yes to both hah

Have you ever left your house without telling your parents?

Yeah, however I'm a pretty open person. I usually tell my mom where Im going. She raised me as a single mom, and I had a lot of freedom as long as I was open and honest with her. That's just transferred into adulthood.

Have you ever had a crush on your neighbor?

No. But I purposely became friends with an old neighbor cause he had a cute ass dog named Max.

Have you ever ditched school to do something more fun?

Yep. Got busted too haha

Have you ever slept in a bed with a member of the same sex?

Uh huh! It's called sleep overs, duh aha

Have you ever seen someone die?

Unfortunately, that's part of my job. Not everyone gets saved in the ER. Plus in the hospital where I work there is a very large group who has very strict rules about death, so frequently we admit people to die either to the floor if we suspect it'll be a couple days, or the ER if we think it'll be quick. Death can be a beautiful process, or it can be horrific, and traumatizing...just depends how ya look at it.

Have you ever been on a plane?

Yeah quite a few times!!

Have you ever kissed a picture?

Honestly what little girl didn't kiss a picture of Leonardo DeCaprio...

Have you ever slept in until 3?

Bro I'm a mid/nightshifter. Weird sleep schedules are my life.

Have you ever loved someone or miss someone right now?

Weirdly worded question. But yes I have loved, yes I do miss people.

Have you ever laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by?

Yes!! It's one of my favorites. I also love to watch the stars.

Have you ever made a snow angel?

Yeah!!! It's super fun!!

Have you ever played dress up?

Yeah!!

Have you ever cheated while playing a game?

Queen of attempting to cheat at games and failing miserably 🙋‍♀️

Have you ever been lonely?

Mhmm. Side affects of working away from my family.

Have you ever fallen asleep at work/school?

I'm forever sleepy, so yeah.

Have you ever been to a club?

Yeah couple times!

Have you ever felt an earthquake?

Once as a kid. I don't remember much of it besides it waking me up, and I woke up my mom because I didn't know what it was. I was maybe 7?

Have you ever touched a snake?

I love snakes. They're such cool animals.

Have you ever ran a red light?

That may or may not be why I didn't have a drivers license for 3 yrs.

Have you ever been suspended from school?

Nope 😏 I did get temporarily kicked out of nursing school and fought my way back in though. That's a tale for another time.

Have you ever had detention?

Once, for chewing gum.

Have you ever been in a car accident?

Yeah, nothing serious though. *knocks on all the wood*

Have you ever hated the way you look?

I feel like everyone has, unfortunately.

Have you ever witnessed a crime?

1. I live where I live, it's a regular occurrence. We don't carry a gun for no reason.

2. Used to work in the heart of the ghetto.

3. Used to live 5 mins from there.

Safe to say I've seen a crime or two.

Have you ever pole danced?

One drunken Halloween, yes.

Have you ever been lost?

Physically not emotionally? Yes to both haha

Have you ever been to the opposite side of the country?

I have yeah!!

Have you ever felt like dying?

Yeah, on quite a few occasions I don't talk about.

Have you ever cried yourself to sleep?

Yep.

Have you ever sang karaoke?

Again, drunken Halloweens.

Have you ever done something you told yourself you wouldn’t?

Im sure I have.

Have you ever laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose?

Yes I have, it's not fun.

Have you ever slept with someone at least 5 years older or younger?

Hmm.....I don't actually think so.

Have you ever kissed in the rain?

Yes!!

Have you ever sang in the shower?

Every single time.

Have you ever made out in a park?

Mhmm!

Have you ever dream that you married someone?

Yes, and I'm marrying him in a little over a month.

Have you ever glued your hand to something?

My other hand hahah

Have you ever got your tongue stuck to a flag pole?

No..but not for lack of trying.

Have you ever gone to school partially naked?

Uh, no haha

Have you ever been a cheerleader?

Nah, I was a band geek.

Have you ever sat on a roof top?

Yes, it's a great time.

Have you ever brushed your teeth?

I want to say "who hasn't" but we all know there's those people who haven't...

Have you ever been too scared to watch scary movies alone?

Sometimes, yes.

Have you ever played chicken?

Not huh.

Have you ever been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on?

Probably so.

Have you ever been told you’re hot by a complete stranger?

Yep.

Have you ever broken a bone?

A few yeah. My nose, jaw in 3 places, my tail bone, my ankle.

Have you ever been easily amused?

Have you met me....

Have you ever laughed so hard you cried?

Like 45 mins ago hahah

Have you ever mooned/flashed someone?

Yep, regularly occurs in my house.

Have you ever cheated on a test?

Probably way back in the day, but I don't remember anything specific. I'm a pretty honestly person, so if I don't know it, then oh well.

Have you ever forgotten someone’s name?

Every fucking day of my life!

Have you ever met someone who didn’t seem real?

Not quite sure...?

Give us one thing about you that no one knows.

Once upon a time, I was like 13 or 14. I was hanging out with my mom while she cooked dinner and eating a carrot. I suddenly sneezed. I then had a carrot chunk stuck in my sinuses. I could feel it, but mom didn't believe me. So for 3 days straight I blew my nose constantly. And I finally got the carrot chunk out.

#asks #fun times #dont sneeze while eating a carrot #ask me things #meee

[crystalninjaphoenix]

The Self-Indulgent Holiday Special

The best way to celebrate a holiday is clearly to write a thing where your persona meets the characters made by your favorite YouTuber. Trust me, I’m an expert. 100% real authority on writing

‘M posting this super late at night after I felt the sudden need to write it, so forgive any mistakes I may have made. Also if you give me any sort of trouble for putting myself in the story.......whatever. It’s nearly 2019, I’m ignoring the connotation of cringe

There’s a rooftop garden in the city. Trees and flowers of all kind, just sitting on top of a ten-story building. Of course, it being the middle of winter, most of the plants had died out, though there were some stubborn coniferous trees and red flowers still growing. An iron railing surrounded the garden, keeping people from falling off.

Sitting on a wooden bench, looking over the setting sun, is a girl. Or, not a girl. They weren’t quite sure in recent times.They have red hair, vibrant and shoulder-length. They wear a set of glasses—they have multiple, and had decided on the black pair today. The evening is cool, but not cold, so she’d forgone her coat and wore what she usually did: a blue hoodie with a bright yellow smiley face in the center. By her side is a purple backpack, containing, as it usually did, her laptop—complete with headphones and mouse—the book she was currently reading, and her bag of colored pencils. They sit on the bench with their knees pulled close, their black sketchbook propped so that she can draw easily. She had some ideas she needed to get out.

“Hypocrite.”

It always surprised her, even though she knew who it was and what he wanted. She turns and sees Abyss, one of her characters. He looks like he always does, silver hair, red old-fashioned coat, brown eyes with stars in the pupils. He's staring at her, but that was to be expected when one didn’t blink. “Why do you say that?” she asks.

Abyss rolls his eyes. “You tell me I can’t visit this set of universes, at all, 100% forbidden, and now you’re here. Drew yourself up a portal. Therefore, hypocrite.”

“This is different,” they explain.

“It always is with you, Ms. Creator.”

Honestly, when they created a character with the ability to jump universes, she hadn’t expected to ever actually meet him. Hell, for the longest time, they hadn’t realized any of their ideas could spawn another world. But that was irrelevant. Abyss, though annoying and way too powerful for anyone’s good, isn’t antagonistic toward her, not anymore at least. “No, I mean, it-it really is different this time,” she insists. “This world in particular, it’s...I-I mean, it’s not mine, I don’t-I don’t think I can count it that way—”

“Hmm, I thought I recognized the feel,” Abyss interrupts. “This universe has your stamp on it.”

“They’re, um, not my characters—”

Abyss laughs. “That’s never stopped you before. You have your own little versions of worlds scattered all about. I never would’ve met Dani if you didn’t get obsessively attached to stories you like and made your ‘headcanons’ into your ‘canon.’ What’s so different about this one, this multiverse?”

She frowns. “I think it’s that...the creator of the original, he’s not-not, like, distant. I see him as a person and not as a-a-a, I dunno, a faceless maker of content. And all the people who are, like, inspired by his work are, they’re, like, people I know, you know? It’s really a community...like they say. And it feels mo-more special...personal, I guess.”

“I see...” She knows that Abyss is lying. She knows him better than anyone else; she’d created him, after all. He struggles with empathy, though he’s learning. And the idea of community, that you could somehow relate to people all around the world based on this one thing...it was a very empathetic, human experience. “Ah, would you look at that,” he says. “You plan this? It’s why you showed up here, isn’t it?”

They look up. The rooftops of the city had been empty a moment before. Now, there’s someone running across them, expert parkour-style. He’s wearing a red and blue jumpsuit, and a hood hides his face from view. But they know who it is. “I mean, I kinda planned it,” they say. “I wrote that this was a regular thing. And I decided to show up here at this moment, so...”

“You have a little crush on a fictional character? I understand that’s something that can happen.”

“What?! No! He’s like twenty-eight. I’m nineteen. I don’t do that. I just...friends are nice too.”

“Yeah...they are...” Abyss nods. “I’m starting to get that. So, I’ll leave you to it.” There's a flash of dark blue, and he’s gone, leaving nothing but a blue mist-like substance that quickly disperses.

“Hey there!” The man in red has landed on the rooftop with the garden, and caught sight of the artist sitting on the bench.

For a moment, she thinks the words will get caught in her throat like they always do. But...she knows him. He might not be her original character, but he was her version. “Hi,” she says. “You’re, um, Jackie, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am!” Jackie puts on a dramatic voice, and strikes a pose. “I’m the one and only Jackieboy Man! Protecting the city from crime, day and night!”

“I know,” they say, laughing a bit. “I’m-I guess you can say I’m-I’m-I’m a fan. My name is—” they hesitate for a moment. Should they give him their real name? Most of their characters know them as Brigid...but people had started calling them a nickname, of sorts, since they started becoming more active in the community. It feels...right, somehow, to use that instead. “I’m Crystal.”

“Crystal, huh?” Jackie tilts his head. He gives her a warm smile. “That’s a nice name. A, uh, fan, huh? I don’t really deserve that, you know. I’m just a guy in a mask and jumpsuit.”

“But you’re, like, a superhero!” Crystal says. “That’s so cool!”

“Well,” Jackie’s eyes light up. He thinks it’s very cool indeed. “I guess, but it’s not like I have powers. My friend—I mean, I have friends just like anyone else. I’m trying my best.”

“But a lot of people, um, you know, they don’t do the things you do. Even if-if they can. So, that you’re trying, you know, that’s important.”

Jackie considers this for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right. I can see that. Have a good night, Crystal.” He starts to turn away.

“Wait!” Crystal stands up, fighting down a surge of panic. “I just—um—I’m—did-did-did-did you know it’s Yule today?” She cringes internally. Stupid stutter.

“Really? Christmas isn’t for another few days.”

“No, it’s the winter solstice. The twenty-first. That means it’s Yule.” She feels her face growing hot. Unconsciously, she starts picking at the binding of her sketchbook. “It’s a, uh, pagan holiday. I’m Wiccan. I mean, I don’t practice it as much as I should, but if there’s any religion I can say I’m a part of, it’s that, you know? My-my family doesn’t celebrate it. And I mean, I love our Christmas celebrations, and the season is-is great. But I’d like to celebrate it and I was thinking—I mean—um—you seem nice. Can I, like, be with you? Like, hang out? I mean that!”

This couldn’t have gone any worse if they tried. They fully expect Jackie to just walk away. But, to their surprise, he stops, and consider. “That...maybe...” he muses. “...I mean, I can’t take a civilian out on patrol. But my friends are having a get-together tonight. I wasn’t expecting to be able to make it...but the question is, can you be trusted? I’ll be taking off my mask.”

“That’s fine!” Crystal assures him. She knows all the details anyway; she wrote his backstory, after all. “I won’t even be in this wor—in this town for long.” Yes, great idea. Tell your local superhero you’re a universe-hopping artist/writer with the ability to make anything with the power of drawing and words. He may or may not think you’re crazy, honestly hard to tell.

Jackie smiles, relieved. “In that case, feel free to come along. Though, my friends probably won’t be that happy about it. Don’t worry, I’ll convince them. Now come on!”

Smiling to herself, Crystal grabs her backpack and hurries to catch up.

The house looks exactly like she’d pictured it. A regular suburban sprawl with a big yard and two stories. Much bigger than her own, which was much too small for five people, two cats, and a tortoise.

“Ready?” Jackie had changed into his civilian clothes, ducking into an alleyway with a “no peeking!” Like she had any interest in things like that. Now, in his comfortable red hoodie and completely mask-less, he leads the way up the path and knocks on the door. A moment passes, then it’s opened by a man with a face just like his, hidden mostly under a gray baseball cap. “Jackie!” he says, excited. “We thought you weren’t coming!”

“Decided the city was safe enough for one night,” Jackie shrugs. “Oh, and I brought a friend!” He stands aside, and gestures at Crystal.

“Oh! Uh, hi. I’m Chase.” Chase can’t hide his surprise, though he’s trying his best. “We...weren’t expecting anyone else. We weren’t even expecting Jackie.”

Crystal laughs nervously. “Yeah, it just sort of...happened. It’s Yule.”

“Huh. Well, you’re welcome inside. Come on in!” Chase stands aside, allowing Jackie and then Crystal herself to enter the house.

Crystal’s eyes widen at the sight, and they can’t stop a small gasp from escaping their mouth. It was...all of them. It's kind of trippy, actually, seeing five versions of the same person, wearing different clothes, standing with various postures. Like that one project they tried to do in senior year film class, where they played all the characters. They never got around to finishing it, mostly because about a third of the footage went missing somehow.

“Hey everyone, Jackie’s here!” Chase announces.

“Ah, Jackie! We thought you weren’t making it tonight!” If she couldn’t tell from the glasses, the voice is a dead giveaway for who that is.

One of them waves. The clothes and the silence are also dead giveaways.

“Who’s the kid?” Process of elimination leads to the obvious conclusion for the last one.

“Oh, uh, guys, this is Crystal,” Jackie introduces her. “I ran into her on patrol, and she said she was a fan, and so I invited her to come.”

“They,” Crystal whispers, forcing the single syllable out.

“Hmm? What was that?”

“I’m, uh, good with ‘they’ too. If you don’t mind. ‘She’ is good too. But, um, just...so you know...” Crystal trails off. It’s the first time they’d ever, in person, made that point clear. She’d never even told her family. The only people who really know are the people who read her blog description and maybe some people on Discord.

“Well, okay then!” Jackie smiled. “Don’t worry, I get it.” She knows he does. This is a world where her headcanons are canon. And damn the canonicity of the SP playthrough, a queer hero is cool. And maybe...there were personal reasons why she thought that, but...it doesn’t stop it from being cool.

“Yeah, okay, whatever makes you comfortable. I’m Marvin, that’s Henrik, call him Schneep, and Jameson. You already know Jackie and Chase.” He points out each one as he says their names. “Feel free to make yourself at home.”

“Hey! Who’s the host here?” Chase sounds indignant. He turns to Crystal. “Feel free to make yourself at home.”

Schneep and Marvin roll their eyes in perfect unison.

Jackie gasps dramatically. “Snacks!” He runs towards the coffee table, which holds a variety of sweet and salty foods. “We got chips, we got chocolate, we got other foods starting with the letter C...”

“Hey, dude, can you leave the plain candy bars alone?” Chase asks. “Bobby’s allergic to nuts so she wants those.”

“The kids—I mean there’s a kid here?” Crystal asks.

Chase nods. “Yeah, I, uhm, got my kids, Bobby and Trevor, for the weekend. They’re in their room right now, but they told me they might come down later.”

“That’s cool,” Crystal says. “I like kids. I’m kind of good with them, I think. I mean, my sister is better, kids just love her.”

“Chase, if you ever need a babysitter, I think they are volunteering,” Schneep says lightheartedly.

“What?! I—uh—no, I can’t. I won’t be in town for long, I’m just here for Yule.”

“Isn’t that, like, a witch holiday?” Chase asks.

Jameson shakes his head, then makes some quick symbols with his hands. Not for the first time, Crystal wishes she’d fully learned sign language. Even ASL could help in a situation like this. The others understand, nodding.

“Pagan, huh?” Marvin plops down onto the couch. “Interesting. What made you choose that?”

Crystal thinks. “It seemed...the most right. It makes the most sense with my...worldview. And I like magick. That’s the kind with a K, but if regular magic existed I’d like that too.”

Marvin chuckled. “Well, keep your hopes high, kid.”

Crystal smiles softly. She feels a bit...giddy inside. Marvin was her second favorite, and here she is, talking magic with him. Kinda. More dancing around the subject. But it would be weird to let on that she knew everything about these guys.

Time passes. The five fall back into their comfortable back-and-forth banter, the sort Crystal loves to write. Hearing it come to life, and more importantly, actually sounding like something they would say, made Crystal feel full of joy. But even more so, the fact that these five characters who she’d held so close to her heart seemed to incorporate them into their dynamic so easily...even though Crystal was just jumping into conversation occasionally, they felt a ball of light and fuzziness inside themself.

Eventually a small brunette girl and a tiny blonde boy came out and joined for a while. The two are greeted with familiar enthusiasm. Bobby and Trevor are clearly well-known and well-loved among the group. After a while, Chase herds them back upstairs for bedtime. Marvin and Schneep get into a competitive Mario Kart race, which ends in controllers being thrown across the room. Jackie convinces everyone to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming for a while. The snacks are devoured. Then, it’s one o’clock.

“We should probably all go to bed soon,” Schneep says, looking at the clock.

“Oh, so says you, Mr. All-nighter,” Marvin laughs.

“I have work to do! You have no excuse and needs your rest!”

“Except you have a day off tomorrow, so you have no work and also no excuse,” Jackie points out.

Jameson signs something, and Crystal vaguely recognizes one of the signs, though she doesn’t remember the meaning. Luckily, the others are not so inhibited. “Alright, dude,” Chase says. “You want us to walk you there?”

Jameson shakes his head. “Are you going home?” Crystal asks. When Jameson nods, they continue, “I should probably go to. You, um, don’t mind if I walk with you...for a bit? Not all the way?”

After a moment of consideration, Jameson nods. A chorus of goodbyes follows the two of them out the door.

It’s dark. Crystal can’t help but be a bit scared, though she knows that with her sketchbook and pencil in hand she’s well-prepared for any threat. If she has enough time to draw something to defend herself, that is. Jameson doesn’t seem worried. Then again, he’d faced worse than street criminals.

Crystal tried to think of something to say. Come on, this should be easy. JJ is their favorite, and they really wanted to talk to him. But...this was good too. The two of them walk in silence, but it’s a companionable type of silence. Crystal isn’t really comfortable with being the shorter one of the two, even though they’re shorter than most people. Maybe because they’d always thought of JJ as the small one, even though his height is basically the same as the others, give or take a centimeter or two.

Still, Crystal has something they need to say. “Can I call you JJ?”

A nod, accompanied by a friendly mustache wiggle. Crystal laughs. “Thanks. I...” she swallows nervously. “I just want to say I’m sorry.”

JJ looks at her, confused. “For all you’ve gone through, I-I mean,” she elaborates. “It’s-it’s awful and-and-and you’re so nice, um, you know? So you didn’t deserve it.”

JJ can’t hide his confusion. He’s stopped walking, directly under a street lamp. It was very dramatic. He knows that Crystal can’t understand BSL, but he makes some vague gestures that she takes to mean, what are you talking about?

“I know a lot,” Crystal says simply. “And I...have my own demons to face...actually I, um, just realized that one of her names also starts with A.”

Jameson’s eyes widen. He starts to gesture again, but Crystal shakes her head. “No, we—um, I don’t want to. Not now. And you’ll-you’ll-you guys’ll probably never see me again. I need to go back home. I have stories that I need to work on. But...I’m really sorry.” She feels tears in her eyes. “I’m really so sorry.”

Still confused, but understanding a bit more, Jameson nods. Crystal gives a watery smile. “Goodbye. Tell the others I said bye too.” She turns to leave, but JJ taps her shoulders. He spreads his arms wide, almost questioning. “I...don’t do hugs,” Crystal explains. “Not always. But, um...this is going to sound weird, but give me your hand.” JJ complies. Crystal grabs it with both of her own hands and squeezes tight. “This is the same thing to me,” she explains. “But it feels better. You don’t mind, do you?” JJ smiles, shaking his head.

After a moment, Crystal lets go. She backs away. “Goodbye!” she calls one last time. JJ waves. She turns and dashes away, eventually turning down an alleyway.

The downside of her creations coming to life? It makes the painful parts of their stories so much harder to write. Crystal can feel a hard knot of guilt and sadness in their chest. But without despair, there can’t be any bliss. Without struggle, there would be no peace. And they always ended stories on a hopeful note. They always wrote a happy ending that made everything worth it.

The creator presses her pencil to a fresh sketchbook page and quickly draws an outline of a door. It’s familiar to her, a white rectangle with a silver doorknob. When she looks up, it’s embedded on the nearby wall like it’s always been set there. She steps forward, pulling it open. On the other side is a well-lit basement room, a bed and two overflowing bookshelves, tan walls hidden by posters. She crosses through, closing the door behind her. It fades away.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #jackieboy man #chase brody #marvin the magnificent #dr schneeplestein #jameson jackson #antisepticeye #self indulgence #self insert #brigid writes fanfiction

[ramblinganthropologist]

Writober 2020 - 15 (Roots)

Summary: Lucy notices a few things about her partner one busy day. Like that she needs to dye her roots... and that she likes her. Good luck with that one, Lucy.

(Sunburst idol unit)

---

Where was she?

Lucy frowned as she stared out the window. Outside it was a busy city street in Tokyo. People were going about their business, students were procrastinating going home, and there was a sense of energy that sunk deep into the crosswalks as they passed. The city was alive with activity, and it hummed as she tapped her fingers on the counter.

No notifications on her phone...

She was sitting in a lolita-style cafe, her favorite. Her tea was cooling in front of her, her slice of cake untouched. It had been almost a half hour since she had gotten there, and soon her partner was going to be twenty minutes late.

“She better not have forgotten...” Lucy sighed and sipped at her lukewarm tea. “Maybe I should call her?”

Her hand stretched to her phone, but then it stopped as if she had been electrocuted. She drew it back, frowning. For some reason, the thought of actually calling the other girl made sparks shoot through her body.

That was new...

“Poor thing, she looks like she got stood up.”

“She's so cute too, whatever guy she's waiting for is nuts.”

The whispers reached Lucy's ears. Two of the cafe's waitresses were whispering to each other, their eyes in her direction. She felt her face color as she looked back down at her phone screen. Not only was it rude, it was factually incorrect.

She was on a work meeting... only her collab partner wasn't there.

“Where are you, Ray?”

This wasn't like the other idol. Loud and abrasive though she may be, the punk rocker tried to be punctual. Sure, she was sometimes ten minutes late because her brain (her shitbrain, in her own words) made her mess up the time. But usually she called if that was the case, yelling an apology as she dashed to their meeting spot.

So... why wasn't she doing that?

Lucy peeked out the window again, hoping to see the familiar head of pink hair bobbing through the crowd. Ever since she had dyed it, Ray was even easier to spot in a crowd. However she didn't see the bright, obnoxious color, nor did she spy the familiar frame of one of Tokyo's more famous performers. Unless she was hiding behind a truck, she just wasn't there.

The clink of a plate drew Lucy's attention from the window. One of the waitresses had approached her table, bringing a small pink cupcake with her. She smiled in a sympathetic way as she backed up from the table, the hem of her frilled apron making soft sounds as she did.

“It's on the house, dear. We're so sorry to see your date didn't work out.”

Her face went absolutely scarlet as she looked from cupcake to waitress. “N-no! It's not...”

“SHIT, SORRY I'M LATE.”

The abrupt English caused pretty much the entire cafe to turn. Someone was standing in the doorway, breathing hard as they leaned against the frame. Sweat was dripping down a dark brow, almost as if they had run the entire way.

Ray was in her school uniform and the ribbon was about to come completely untied from her neck. It took her a few seconds to straighten up, and then she mopped off her face with the back of her large hand. Then she smoothed back a loose strand of pink hair as she assumed her full, imposing height of 192cm.

It was a miracle her head didn't hit the frame.

Lucy shook her head, but she smiled all the same. “We speak Japanese here, Ray.”

The other idol rubbed her undercut as she nodded. “Yeah... my bad.”

She held up her other hand as she switched languages. “Sorry for scaring you, folks.”

Her oddly accented Japanese combined with her appearance set whispers as Ray crossed the cafe to where Lucy was sitting. She slid into the other side of the booth, nodding as the frazzled waitress handed her a menu. After her order was put in for a soda and the biggest slice of chocolate cake they had, they were alone.

She should've been mad... but it was kind of comical.

Lucy sipped at her tea as she watched Ray settle in. “You're about to lose your ribbon.”

“Shit, you're right.” The idol fumbled with it for a few seconds until it was clumsily tied. When she bowed her head, Lucy got an eyeful of a line of dark among the pink. There had to be at least a few centimeters there if she was guessing right. That equaled about a month, maybe two, since she had dealt with it.

Was not dealing with your hair punk? She didn't know, she was lolita.

“Anyway, why were you so late? You didn't text me.”

Ray finished tugging at her ribbon a few seconds later. One side of the bow was longer than the other, but it was going to stay on. “Oh... the teacher asked me to retake a test. She didn't believe I actually got a perfect score on the math midterm so I had to take it in front of her and the principle.”

Lucy frowned. “And?”

“I fucking killed it, no surprises there.” And then she flashed one of her rare grins, the ones that made her eyes light up like traffic lights. “She was so fucking pissed but you can't argue with the results. Principle's pretty tired of her shit so I dunno what's happening there.”

The words didn't register. Lucy was too focused on the pounding of her own heart. Something about the way Ray smiled was doing terrible things to her stomach... or maybe it was the tea. Could tea give you indigestion?

“Hey, you ok?”

She stood from the table, heart still pounding. “Excuse me, I need to visit the restroom.”

And then Lucy left, heading for the bathroom without saying anything more. Once she was locked in the stall, she rested her forehead on her knees. It felt like her heart was about to beat out of her chest any second.

What the hell was in that tea?

She took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself, but her thoughts kept going back to the table. Ray, with her messy hair and bright eyes smiling at her with almost childlike glee. Her partner, with her brilliant shitbrain and inability to tie ribbons to save her life. How she would've done anything to see that smile again...

She couldn't get her out of her mind.

“What's wrong with me?” she pressed her forehead, head spinning. Her thoughts kept going back to the girl at the table waiting for her and that look of concern that had been painted all over her face. Worst of all, her heart kept pounding.

If she didn't know better...

Lucy sat up suddenly as a cold shock filled her body. The pieces started falling into place, but the picture they created was so foreign that she could barely believe it. She didn't want to, but it was hard to argue with the evidence. Either she was having a heart attack and was about to die in that stall or...

“I can't... have a crush on her.”

Speaking it made it real. Lucy stared blankly at the floor as the realization washed over her in waves. It caused her to sit back against the toilet seat as she stared at the door. She... had a crush on Ray Jones. It was as simple as that.

Simple... and not simple at all.

Her thought process was interrupted by the creak of the bathroom door. Someone had entered, and their heavy-sounding feet stopped by the sinks. Lucy watched their feet, stomach sinking as she recognized those boots. Only a few people could wear shoes that big...

“You ok in here? Need medicine or something?”

Ray's voice was unusually soft and filled with concern as she stood at the sink. Lucy had no doubt if she asked, the other idol would go get her something to help with her stomach. Sadly, no medicine would help with this... and neither did her presence.

But it was rude to turn a collab partner down.

Lucy straightened up and left the stall after flushing. She met the idol at the sinks and carefully began to wash her hands. As long as she didn't look the girl in the eyes, she didn't feel the sensation welling up in her stomach.

Luckily, Ray was tall. That wouldn't be a problem as long as they were both standing.

“I drank a lot of tea waiting for you, I'm fine.” She dried off her hands. “Let's get back to business, I have a lesson at  5 and you have to prepare for your show recording.”

Ray chuckled for some reason as she washed her hands with much less finesse. “Whatever you say, princess.”

Lucy's stomach churned uncomfortably as her face heated. “Also you need to dye your roots. They're starting to show.”

She should've gotten to the door first, but her partner's legs were far longer and trained. It was almost infuriating how smooth the idiot looked when she opened the door for her. There was no way Ray didn't notice how red her face was getting... she was enjoying this.

Damn it all.

“Thank you.” She stepped through stiffly, feeling the other idol fall in step behind her. People were looking at them as they headed back to the table. Both their orders were there now, which meant they had something to focus on.

Ray was still smirking as she slid back into her side of the table. “Also, I'm 6'4”. Nobody's going to see my roots unless they're on a ladder.”

With that, she sipped at her soda with a sort of cat-like contentment. Lucy was left tongue tied, frustrated, and working on a crush she hadn't even realized she developed. Part of her wanted to strangle the other idol... but another part wanted to hold one of those large hands. It was a weird place to be in, so she settled on picking at her cake.

Working with her was going to be impossible now... why couldn't she just hate her? Liking someone was so much more complicated...

#ramblinganthropologist's writing #writober2020 #Sunburst Idol Unit #Ray Jones Sunburst Idol Unit #Lucy doesn't have a tag she isn't Sunburst