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mbakuetshurisprincess · 1 year

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The Garden

AN: Okay wow did not expect to have this many people like the sneak peek of this fic so THANK YOU! I’ve had this account since 2018 so to anyone whose been here since then, I commend you, my writing was pretty bad back then LMAO! This is literally the longest fic I’ve ever written so that's cool. I super enjoyed this Shuri and would love to write more versions of her in the future. If you have any requests, my asks are on. If not just dm me fr fr, i love inspo. Player!Shuri may or may not be in the works, so yeah. And in all honesty I don’t know what the timing of this one is within the MCU.

Summary: Princess Shuri requests your company on a trip to “The Garden”, a secret area the two of you created as teens.

Pairing: Shuri x Reader

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of drug use (weed), kissing.

Word count: 3,635

Suggested listening: Nothing Even Matters by Lauren Hill ft. D'Angelo

The soft buzzing of your kimoyo beads stirred you out of the deep sleep you were in. When the buzzing didn’t wake you immediately, the sensation was turned up and the vibration shook your wrist. You knew there was only one person who could engineer your kimoyo beads to function like that: Shuri.

Knowing that she wouldn’t stop her assault on your wrist, you sat up in bed and answered her call.

“Oh Y/N, good you’re finally awake!” Shuri stated with a slick smile as her holographic body shot up from the beads.

“When did you even have time to do that, Shuri? I’m with you always and you make sure I never take this off.” You mused as you rubbed some sleep out of your eyes.

“That’s not for you to worry about!” She flashed that smile at you again and you felt the familiar tug at your heart.

You loved her smile. It was one of your favorite things about her, and she knew it. Whenever she needed something from you like a model to test out new adaptations for the Dora Milaje’s gear or begging you to spend the night with her even though your room was less than 10 steps from hers. She would flash that smile and instantly get whatever she wanted from you.

She caught wind of the way you were looking at her and sent a wink your way. “Since you're awake, may I come in?”

“I don’t know why you insist on asking, especially when you know I never say no.” You said through a yawn. You got up out of bed and walked over to the door peeking through the wall that led to Shuri’s room.

The two of you had lived like this since you were young teens. Your mother served as Queen Ramonda’s personal guard, hand-picked by King T’Chaka until her accidental death during a routine training drill that you unfortunately witnessed. Your father, grief-struck, took his own life and it left you without anyone else in the world.

Queen Ramonda decided that for your mental health it was best to maintain as much of the reality that you knew and so at 16, you moved in with the royal family. Getting a bedroom built right next to Shuri’s that connected via a doorway. It worked out because you and Princess Shuri were already close friends; having spent childhood running around the palace walls and pestering the cooks for sweets. And spent most of adolescence obsessing over American culture and new trends together.

You and T’Challa quickly formed a sibling dynamic similar to the one he had with Shuri and he felt just as protective of you as he did of her. Your dynamic with Shuri, that was different. As young girls you both valued and enjoyed each other's company, it was often regarded that if you saw one of you, the other had to be close behind.

It wasn’t until you moved in, that the nightmares started. Reliving the memory of your mother's death every night in your dreams left you screaming in your sleep, loud enough for even Queen Mother to hear it from her chambers. But before she could get there, she always found Shuri comforting you. She could still remember the first time she found the two of you like that.

Shuri was sitting on the edge of your bed calmly speaking to you as she stroked your cheek gently. “It’s me Y/N, it's Shuri. You’re okay, you’re safe, I’m here.” The two of you couldn’t have been but 17 and 16.

When you awoke and tears sprung from your eyes, Shuri just pulled you into her and soothed you as she gently rubbed your back. When Queen Mother returned to her chambers she awoke her husband and told him that there was no need to worry about who Shuri would end up with and that Bast had been kind and blessed them with two daughters.

Now at 21 and 20, the Queen's words seemed to ring ever true. While neither of you claimed to be in a relationship, everyone in the palace (and in all of Wakanda for that matter) knew that it was more than platonic love shared between you two. Shuri had never courted anyone and neither had you, and nobody ever questioned it. You knew many people lusted after Princess Shuri but you never questioned where her loyalties lay. You were the one who was with her when she learned of her father's death and you supported her throughout the entire mourning process as you both grieved. You were each other's person no doubt about it.

Shuri hung up the call and walked into your bedroom, flopping right onto your bed. You chuckled as she snuggled deep within your covers, it was normal for her to do that, and expected that you would join her.

You scrolled through the notifications on your kimoyo beads much to Shuri’s dismay as you heard her kiss her teeth. One of her signals that she wasn’t getting the attention from you that she wanted.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” You murmured as you walked towards your bed and sat down on the edge. Your tiny brown sleep shorts and matching cami shirt gave Shuri the perfect view of your back. She admired the two dimples in your back that sat just above your ass and the way that your curves fit your body just right. Her eyes trailed up your back, and your curly hair was pulled up into a pineapple for maximum convenience while you slept, giving Shuri a view of your neck. She couldn’t stand you being so close to her and not touching so she wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you back into her.

You took the hint, got under the covers, and finally laid on your back staring straight up at the ceiling. Shuri’s hand snaked down to find yours and interlaced your fingers in hers. Bringing them to her mouth so she could kiss your hand.

“So, what did you have planned for today, my princess?” You asked with a light giggle as she peppered kisses all over your hand.

“I was thinking,” She said once she had finished “That we go over to the garden and spend the day there today.” She turned to face you anticipating your response.

You turned your head to face her and shot her a “Are you crazy?” look.

The garden was a secret project you, but mostly Shuri had started when you were in your final years of school. After watching the Young and Wild and Free music video, the two of you decided it couldn’t be that hard to grow your own weed here in Wakanda. You tested it all inside of a small house that had once belonged to the gardener but had been long abandoned. It only took a few months and the two of you had grown enough to harvest and test.

And test you did!

Being both of your first times the effects were immediate and apparent, but both of you enjoyed the mood it put you in. Shuri enjoyed how it allowed you to open up to her and her the same to you, many of your most vulnerable conversations were held in the garden. For a year the two of you spent damn near every weekend sneaking off into the garden to light up and talk before going on a movie marathon.

Years later and the tradition had faded. You knew Shuri still maintained the garden and used it occasionally but you only went out there when Shuri dragged you out. The last time was over a month ago and it ended with the two of you being questioned for a long time by T’Challa, insisting that of course, you two were not high. The conversation ended with T’Challa saying that the two of you were terrible liars, which only led to a giggle fit ensuing.

“Do you not remember the last time?” You demanded with a roll of your eyes “What if we get caught by Queen Mother this time?”

Shuri laughed “We are grown! Mother can only say so much, we are our own people sthandwa!”

You let out a groan in response, she knew how much you loved when she called you that.

“Come on, you know you want to come to hang out and relax with me. Do it for your princess.” She commanded with her same trademark smile.

“Fine! But Shuri, I’m not helping you roll anything! You have to do all the work since you want it so badly.” You retorted as you stood up from the bed. You walked over to your closet and looked for something to wear.

“I don’t even know why you would say that, you never roll anyway.” Shuri spoke quietly to herself with a small laugh.

“What did you say?” You called from inside the closet.

“Nothing sthandwa! Get dressed!” She called back with a smirk.

You decided on one of Shuri’s oversized hoodies (that fit you more like a normal hoodie) with a black skin-tight shirt, a pair of black leggings, and a small cross-body bag that held your film camera to wear. So the two of you started your walk down the back palace steps towards the garden. As you walked you admired Shuri’s outfit. She had recently become a fan of American tracksuits so today she wore gray sweatpants with a matching gray zip-up jacket. Under the jacket, she wore a form-fitting t-shirt that accentuated her slender slightly muscular figure. Her short curly hair was styled up as normal and you admired how this new haircut suited her face so well.

She looked edible.

As you two approached the small garden house, Shuri broke the comfortable silence that had developed.

“I’ve made some new improvements to our little getaway, I hope you like them sthandwa.” Shuri held open the door for you and you walked in.

Where once the walls were lined with movie posters and American logos from companies like Pringles, KFC, and Budweiser; they’re now covered with album sleeves from the two of your favorite records. Covers from Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill, and Gregory Porter all the way to recent favorites like Noname, Mavi, and Frank Ocean. You walked deeper into the room and noticed where bean bags and a couch that had seen better days once sat, a new couch (big enough to be mistaken for a bed) and a hammock installed into the ceiling now resided.

You had regarded on your last trip that the place had started to remind you of your joined teen years and Shuri being the girl she was decided that meant it was time for a rebrand.

“Shuriiii!!!!” You gushed “This is too much! When did you have the time to do all of this!?” You ran into her open arms and squeezed her tightly. Shuri smiled and wrapped her arms around you.

You pulled your head off her chest to look up at her as she spoke. “I wanted it to be a space for us again and we don’t have to just smoke here either. I moved all of the plants downstairs and created a new filtration system so it will never smell like smoke and-”

You cut her off by placing a kiss on her lips. She moved her hands to cup your face trying to deepen the kiss. She loved the taste of your lips, the way they parted to let hers in, the way your tongue always battled with hers for dominance knowing it was never a battle you were going to win.

You pulled away from the kiss, a deep red color staining your chocolate skin, she made you blush every time she kissed you and it made her proud to see how breathless she left you.

“Thank you Shuri, I really mean it.”

“You kiss me like that again, we’re not going to leave here for days.” Shuri mused as she quickly swiped her thumb across your plump bottom lip. Your deep brown eyes caught hers and her gaze held you there like that as she looked down upon you with enamored eyes.

You pulled your bottom lip into your mouth and bit it lightly. You hated the way Shuri could get you like this so easily. With just a few words or a persistent look, you turned to putty in her hands. Shuri however adored you like this, the way you were so drunk on lust that you listened to every word she said and followed her directions with little pushback.

You tried to turn away and break eye contact but Shuri caught your chin before you could move. She placed a delicate kiss on your lips before speaking.

“Go sit on the couch, make yourself at home. I’m going to get everything ready, you can connect to the speakers via bluetooth; the name is Y/N.” She let go of your face and left you standing there speechless as she started rummaging through drawers looking for the materials she needed.

“Damn you Shuri.” You thought as you walked over to the square-shaped couch, pulled off your bag, took out your camera, and plopped down making yourself comfortable. You pulled up the bluetooth settings and clicked connect on the one named after you. You kicked your slippers off and tucked your feet underneath you as you figured out what album to pick. You settled instead on the “To Y/N, with love” playlist, the playlist she had made for you years ago that still received monthly updates.

Shuri chuckled as the sounds of Nothing Even Matters by Lauryn Hill rang out through the speakers. She knew how much you loved music when she made you the playlist but hadn’t anticipated how much you would listen to the playlist. When you first noticed she had updated it, you nearly fell out; loving all the new music she added.

“You’re still listening to this old thing?” Shuri asked as she plopped down next to you, she held in her hands a rolling tray, a lighter, and two mason jars filled with herbs and weed respectively, a joint tucked between her lips.

You just hummed along to the words and smiled as you sang to her.

“Now the skies could fall. Not even if my boss should call. The world it seems so very small-”

She finished the line for you.

“Cause nothing even matters, at all. See nothing even matters.”

She took the joint from between her lips and handed it to you. You took it and after examining it for a second you placed it between your lips. Shuri leaned over into your personal space and sparked the lighter bringing it up to the joint and lighting it. You gazed at Shuri through the fire and felt a similar feeling inside of your gut as the two of you made eye contact. You pulled in deeply, allowing the smoke that was invading your mouth to travel directly to your lungs. Shuri pulled the lighter away when she was sure the joint would stay lit but didn’t break eye contact. You couldn’t handle the way she was looking at you, desire plain across her face so you pulled away as you removed the joint from your mouth, turned your head away, and exhaled. Releasing all the smoke in your lungs.

This caused Shuri to smirk, you were always so innocent, she could read you like a book. The way your thighs squeezed together when she held her hand on them for too long or the way you could never hold eye contact. She knew what she did to you and was fully planning to keep it up.

Shuri pulled a paper out of the pack she had and started opening the mason jars that contained her herbs. A comfortable silence had developed between the two of you, as you hit the joint and you both hummed along to Montego Bae by Noname. Shuri was the first to break the silence.

“One of your children asked me when me and you were going to be “princesses together?” when I stopped down to visit yesterday.”

You looked over at Shuri and let out a large laugh “What?”

You knew generally what Shuri was referring to; the orphanage that you volunteered in part-time was located just outside of the palace walls. Queen Mother thought it best for you to have something to occupy your time since Shuri spent large chunks of time in her lab and time away from each other was the key to a healthy relationship. The idea to work in the orphanage came to you after you spent the afternoon with the children, taking photos for the local newspaper. You came that first day and had never left; it made you feel good to help the children, knowing Queen Mother was the only reason you didn’t end up there.

“Mhm.” Shuri nodded, you noticed her hands that were beginning the careful process of rolling. This part always made you admire Shuri, her attention to detail and meticulous technique was a work of art. She looked so beautiful concentrating like that, you reached into your bag, grabbed your camera, and snapped a photo of her.

“It was Adah wasn't it?” You asked with a chuckle as you tucked your camera next to you.

While Shuri didn’t visit the orphanage with you frequently, whenever she did the first person to greet her was Adah. When Shuri wasn’t there Adah normally clung to your side during your daily work and generally kept quiet; preferring to see how the other kids played than actually playing herself. But when Shuri turned up, another side of Adah came out and she shed her shy exterior. Running around, dragging Shuri to and from activities and crafts, determined to show the princess a good time.

The whole of Wakanda was aware of your special relationship with Shuri, the children included. The difference between the two was that children didn’t have the social politeness to know not to ask about when the two of you were going to make it official, official.

Shuri just nodded as she brought her tongue to the paper, swiping it across to dampen the paper. She knew your eyes were following her tongue but let you slide this time without a sly remark. She finished rolling the joint and placed it on the coffee table.

You took another hit, feeling the effects of this new strain throughout your whole body before passing it to Shuri

“I keep telling them they can’t just ask when someone’s getting married.” You said with a playful kiss of your teeth.

Shuri took a deep pull of the joint and looked over at you. “I told her that we would be married within the next three years.”

“You said WHAT?” You shot up straight off of the couch and stood in front of Shuri. “You told my Adah we were to be married within the next three WHAT?”

Shuri simply laughed and took another hit of the joint. “I don’t see a problem with what I said sthandwa. We will be married within the next three years, no?”

“Have the chemicals that you deal with in the lab finally knocked something lose up there??” You playfully tapped on the side of her forehead with your fingers.

“Aht-” Shuri swatted your hand away with her free hand, and she took another hit. “I don’t get what's so wrong with what I said, we will be married within the next three years and have kids within the next five years. What's so insane about what I said?”

“Oh, you’ve lost your GODDAMN MIND Shuri Udaku!” You threw your hands up in disbelief and turned to walk away from Shuri.

“She must have lost it!” You thought to yourself. “Before she asks me to be her girlfriend she declares me her wife?” Truthfully you didn’t have a problem with marrying Shuri, that wasn’t the problem. But to have her declare so matter of factly without consulting you, that gave you a little bit of irritation.

Shuri used the opportunity of your back turning slightly to her as you walked away to grab one of your arms, pulling you closer and forcing you off balance. She used her newfound leverage to pull you into her lap, putting you face to face with her. Her free hand found its way to the top of your thigh and she rubbed lightly sending butterflies throughout your body. You were used to being in this position, it was one of Shuri’s favorites. She said it gave her a perfect view of your beautiful face while still satisfying her need for physical touch.

“Do you not want to be my wife sthandwa?” Shuri asked in a sultry voice, bringing the end of the joint to your lips allowing you to take the last hit.

You turned your head away from her to not release the smoke into her face, but even once you finished you kept your eyes from hers. It was all too much right now, the weed, the way Shuri switched her tone of voice and her hand that was gently rubbing the top of your thigh. Too much to be able to focus on this conversation right now.

Shuri placed the finished joint on the coffee table and grabbed your chin with her first three fingers, allowing her thumb to rest on your cheek and stroke it gently.

“Look at me.”

You obliged her request and made eye contact with the princess, her brown eyes were low and addicting to stare at.

“Be my wife Y/N.”

#black panther #black panther imagine #black panther fanfiction #black panther fandom #black panther fic #shuri udaku #shuri imagine #shuri black panther #shuri x y/n #shuri fluff #shuri x reader #marvel #jc writes

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earthtoharlow · 1 year

Text

Flashing Lights

Jack Harlow x Singer!OC

Series Masterlist

07) Focus

This chapter is part of my one year anniversary celebration, where there’s a new fic every tuesday!

warning: SMUT (:

LIFEOFMONET

liked by urbanwyatt, chloebailey, druski, choycebrown, torikelly, jackharlow, and 678,086 others

lifeofmonet: I’m back.

Go stream “Focus” on all streaming platforms 💙

view all 17,578 comments

user: REAL MUSIC BACK !!!

user: LISTENING RIGHT NOOOOOW!

chloebailey: so proud of you 🥹

user: the honesty and emotion on this record, unreal 🔥

user: drop the album

user: can you focus on meeeeeee

jackharlow: ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

“Lately, I've been a little fed up, wish you would just focus on me”

Jack sang as he reached to turn the radio up as he drove to the airport to pick up Maryse from LAX. She had been doing press all over New York City going to talk show, to talk show to promote her first single, Focus from her debut album. The song has only been out for a week and a half and it’s already topping the charts and constantly playing on the radio.

With Maryse being in NY and Jack traveling to LA and ATL to record his own album. They hadn’t seen each other as much as they would’ve liked. Which is why Jack planned a special date for the two of them tonight.

Jack decided to wait in the parking deck for her so they could have some privacy knowing the paparazzi would bother them in the pick up area. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long, Maryse was walking out the revolving doors, 15 minutes later.

His heart stopped when he spotted her. She looked adorable with her blanket wrapped around her shoulders, huge dark sunglasses and her curls tossed up into a messy bun. Jack stepped out of his jeep and leaned against it, so she could see him. He watched as the smile spread across her face at the sight of him. The closer she got she dropped her suitcases and started running towards him

“Oof” Jack let out as the wind was almost knocked out of him as Maryse flew towards him. Maryse wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed her face against his neck.

God, he missed this girl so much. The two stayed like this for what felt like forever. Maryse soon removed her face from his neck, and grabbed his face with both hands before leaning down and kissing him. Jack moaned into the kiss, while sliding his hands from her waist that was holding her steady to her ass, giving them a slight squeeze. Maryse broke the kiss with a giggle.

“I’ve missed you so much.”

They laughed as they both spoke at the same time.

“C’mon let’s get outta here, I’m taking you out tonight” Jack said as he went to put her luggage in the truck before hopping in the car.

“You are?” Maryse started bouncing in her seat with excitement.

“Yeah, but first nap time.”

“Oh thank god, I’m so sleepy.”

JACKHARLOW

liked by urbanwyatt, lifeofmonet, dojacat, yungskylark, saweetie, cozane, thomaschristmas, and 678,568 others

jackharlow: Stream Focus right now! So my girl can stop dressing like this

user: so precious

saweetie: don't do my bestie dirty like this!

user: supportive boyfriend

user: stars, they're just like us!

user: this picture tho lmao

lifeofmonet: .....?

lifeofmonet: you told me I look cute

dojacat: posting my girl in her airport fit is crazy 😔

Jack couldn’t help but think he hadn’t slept that good in months, might even be years. He knew it was because the woman curled up next to him. Maryse’s body fit so perfectly against him. It was like she was made to be here in his arms.

He gently moved the curls that were falling in her face, so he could admire how peaceful she looked. He smiled at the way she slept with her legs tangled with his and one arm wrapped around his body. Jack would be content if he could stay like this forever. But knowing how long it was going to take her to get ready, she would need to get up now.

Jack leaned down and pressed feather light kisses on her face. He watched as Maryse slowly opened her eyes and stared into his blue eyes. “Well, that’s not a bad way to wake up.” Her voice was slow and dragging as she tried to not fall back asleep. “What time is our date?”

“In 3 hours.”

Maryse’s eyes shot back open. “3 HOURS?! Jack, do you not know me at all? I have to get ready now!”

Jack tightened his arms around her to stop her from getting up. She tried to pull away but soon gave up with a pout. He leaned over and kissed her pouting lips before letting her go.

He watched with a smile as she rolled outta bed to find something to wear.

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“I can’t believe you got me blindfolded. Is this the part where you kill me?”

Jack laughed and rolled his eyes as he continued to walk her up the steps to where they were having their date. He really hoped she loved this because trying to set it up was difficult.

“You didn’t reply, oh god”

“Will you stop being so dramatic? Now be careful this is the last step then I can take this off you”

Maryse stayed silent as Jack carefully walked her to the last set of steps. She could then feel him walk behind her, and rubbed his hands up and down her arm before reaching up to untie the cloth from her eyes. “Ok, open your eyes.”

Maryse slowly opened her eyes and blinked a little to adjust to the light. She gasped as she looked around her.

“Jack…” Maryse was sure she looked crazy as her mouth hung open. She just couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Like it?” Jack asked her nervously.

She shook her head. “No…I love this” she could feel her eyes start to water.

Jack Harlow rented out the whole Getty Museum just for the two of them, but that wasn’t all there were lights on the floor making a pathway to a table set for 2. It was the most beautiful thing Maryse had ever seen. She slowly turned around and wrapped her arms around him. “Jack, I can’t believe you did this! I can’t imagine how long it took you to pull this off!” Standing on her tippy toes to kiss him.

“Last week you talked about wanting to show me around LA since I’m usually only here for work and you offhandedly mentioned that you visit the Getty whenever you’re here because you love art museums so I figured I would do something special for our first date.” Jack told her as he rested both of his hands on the sides of her face and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears.

“You remembered that?” Maryse asked him

“Of course, I remember everything you tell me. Big or small.” Jack replied before walking her towards the table, and pulling her seat out so she could sit down. He kissed her forehead before walking around to his side of the table.

She watched as he pulled the tops covering their plates off. Maryse was shocked to see a full course meal, Salmon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. It looked delicious.

Maryse just shook her head in amazement. She could feel herself getting emotional. She was with Nate for years and he never put this much thought and detail into a date before.

Jack reached across the table and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Stop looking so shocked, you deserve this and more. Now let’s dig in!”

As they ate they talked about everything under the sun, their laughs and conversations echoed throughout the quiet museum.

“Thank you again for those flowers you sent me last week, they were beautiful.” Maryse said to Jack as they were lying on the floor of the museum. Apparently they didn’t have to be out till 3 am so Jack brought blankets and pillows so they could chill until they felt like leaving.

“Beautiful flowers for my even more beautiful girl.” Jack replied as he looked down at Maryse as she was laying in his arms. He watched as Maryse wrinkled her nose up at him, knowing she was going to call him out for being cheesy.

“You’re a cornball”

“You love it!” Jack says before kissing her forehead. “But for real though, I’m so proud of you. I know how hard you’ve been working on your album. You haven’t mentioned it, but I can tell you’re nervous about your album coming out but you shouldn’t be. Focus is already a hit, and your album is going to be a game changer.”

Maryse squeezed Jack letting him know she heard him, before climbing on top of him and pressing her face against his neck. She could feel Jack arms wrap her waist, before moving his hands down and casually resting them right above her ass. Lifting her head up, she leaned down putting their foreheads together.

Jack could see the emotions on her face and simply kissed her lips, assuring her, “You don’t have to say anything.”

Pulling away from the kiss, Maryse spoke in a whisper “You always know all the right things to say.”

“It’s probably a fluke. I think I just say the right things to you.”

Maryse shook her head in disagreement, knowing that wasn’t true and laid her head back down on his chest. It was quiet for a while, the only thing you could hear were their steady heartbeats. Maryse didn’t know it was possible for someone to make her feel the way Jack did. With Jack, she always felt fully cared for. Maybe it was too soon to call this love, but if it was, she completely understood why people go crazy for it. She felt like she was drunk on him.

Maryse’s thoughts were cut short when she felt Jack move his hands up under her dress trying to cop a feel. With her head resting against his chest she could feel a groan rumble in his chest when he noticed she wasn’t wearing any underwear.

“Fuck, Maryse.”

Maryse said nothing as she moved her hips against his, teasing him slightly. She could feel him throbbing in his pants. Not being able to take the teasing any longer, Jack connected his lips to hers with another groan. The sounds of their kisses as they grasped one another were heard in the dim museum. They pulled away from each other long enough so they could pull Jack’s shirt over his head, and so he could unzip his slacks and briefs.

Once all his clothes were off, Jack bunched up her dress around her waist, while Maryse pushed herself up on her knees. Jack could feel her hand grab hold of his thick length steady as she sunk down on him.

“Fuck, baby, you feel so damn good” Jack said in a breathly tone.

All Maryse could do was whimper in response as she gripped his shoulders as she continued to ride him. Jack sat her up in his arms and started attacking her neck with kisses and bites. Sucking along her skin just the way she likes.

The connection Jack had with Maryse was nothing like he had ever felt before. His attraction to her felt off the charts.

He hummed against her skin each time she dropped down into his lap and took him completely. Jack knew they were both getting closer with each buck of her hips. “You take me so well. You were made for this, Maryse.” Jack whispered in her ear

Maryse shivered against him as his hands ran down the length of her back, giving her ass a tight squeeze.

“Such a naughty girl, riding me in this museum.” Jack could feel her clench him tight.

She was getting close with the way her breathing was becoming more ragged and the grip she had on him tightened.

Jack quickly flipped them over and pounded into her hard, making Maryse whimper. He was so close as he pressed kisses against her shoulder. “C’mon baby, cum for me.”

“Jack, please.” Maryse moaned.

“You can do it, baby. Let go.”

The only sounds in the museum were grunts of pleasure as Maryse came, Jack came right behind her. Maryse felt like her senses were on fire, with the way the warmth of his skin engulfed her.

Maryse let out a small sigh of happiness as Jack laid on top of her, chest rising and falling as he tried to catch his breath. They both were in a happy daze for the rest of the night, silently hoping nothing or no one would ruin their happiness.

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

Maryse Monet is finally ready to release her debut album!

In a two bedroom Brooklyn Heights brownstone, R&B star Maryse Monet paces around the living room barefoot, in drawstring shorts and an oversized Missionary Jack tee (Stolen from boyfriend, rapper Jack Harlow) her natural hair in full bloom, while members of her glam team prepare her look for her upcoming appearance on Good Morning America. In three hours, the singer-songwriter was going to announce the title of her debut album; “Ugh, those feels again.” (Dropping March 31st)

Having dropped the lead single, “Focus” the night before which was getting rave reviews from music critics, she still feels anxiety with dropping music.

“Dropping music, to me at least, is like letting the whole world read my diary.” She says. When asked if she ever regrets any music she’s dropped she tells me no.

“No, never. Letting people hear it is a risk, but I believe putting music out into the world is a great teacher to help all my future projects sound better.”

The doorbell rings loudly throughout the house. I watch as the singer leans over the arm of the chair to try and see who’s at the door. Her eyes widen when her manager, CoCo walks into the room holding a bouquet of Peonies. Maryse immediately grabs for them, smelling the flowers. The smile on her face only gets wider as she reads the card. When I ask who the flowers are from there’s a twinkle in her eyes when she tells me they’re from her boyfriend and doesn’t explain further.

The last year has been some sort of Maryse explosion where she went from just being New York’s star quarterback girlfriend to breaking away and becoming a Grammy award winning singer. At 24 years old, Maryse is already a household name. “I’ve really put in the time and work,” she says. “I’m so happy that everything has been, you know, manifesting.”

Growing up with a dad who played guitar and a mother who was a music teacher, Maryse can’t remember a time where music wasn’t part of her life. “Music was playing around the house but I think something outwardly happened when I heard Mariah Carey sing for the first time. I remember getting the craziest chills and goosebumps and I was like, “what is she doing? I want to sing just like that?” I always tell people that music was my first love.”

She then asked me if I wanted to hear her new music. I can feel the tingling excitement build as we sneak away into her home recording studio. As she takes her laptop and plugs it in, she tells me she’ll probably only be about to get through two songs before someone realizes she’s gone missing. Quietly, the r&b star hits play on her upcoming album.

Instantly, a wall of sound hits me. There’s only two reactions you could have to the song. One; saying “Whoooo” and/or Two; fanning themselves vigorously. I was doing both. Her voice was dreamy and hushed, with the song being sultry and slow. This was the type of love song you play to the person who might just last till cuffing season. The one you play with your head stuck out the window as the wind blows in your hair. Maryse was able to play a couple more songs before she was summoned into hair and makeup.

The making of the album has been a long process, she explains, as her hairstylist tries to tame her curls. She started writing the album after returning to dating following the end of a long term and very public relationship.

When we reached out to Maryse's equally famous best friend, Doja Cat, she says the world is finally going to know the real Maryse Monet.

“Everyone knows that she's an amazing musician, but they'll also find out that she’s a real ass bitch, who’s music is going to bring people together and change lives.”

We couldn’t agree more.

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

AN: This might be the longest fic I've ever written, but I really love these two and didn't want to split it into different parts :) I hope this all flows well together. Enjoy them being happy beause drama is coming Thank you for reading and as always tell me your thoughts!

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dragonwritersblog · 16 days

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She Was Like A Sunflower

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UM!!! EP 2 WAS SO GOOD!!!!! GUMMI GOO😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭!!!!!!! Um yeah that's all I have to say, sorry this is late lmao. Hopefully I'll get back to a better schedule soon. Also, trigger warning for child abuse in the first few paragraphs in this chapter as it does go into detail with Jack's backstory. As always I will put (1) when it starts and (2) when it finishes. All I want is for my audience to feel safe so if this is something that you know you can't read please don't feel ashamed skipping this. Stay safe xx.

3. Seven

And I've been meaning to tell you I think your house is haunted Your dad is always mad and that must be why And I think you should come live with Me and we can be pirates Then you won't have to cry - Seven by Taylor Swift

(1)

“Jack! Jack! Get out here you little shit!”

A five-year-old boy whimpered at the loud voice, crouching behind a garden shed in the backyard. He held his breath, begging for the voice not to find him. In his arms he held a small, trembling baby rabbit, its nose twitching in panic as they hid.

“You can’t hide forever Jack!”

The young boy had come home from school, wanting to get into the house and not bother anyone. He had to be good, he will be good! But sometimes, good didn’t seem to be enough. Even when he was ‘good’ they still hurt him…

That was when he saw Luke, kicking a baby rabbit in the front yard. The poor thing was limping, it had probably wandered too far from its mama, now Luke was torturing it for his own amusement. He begged Luke to stop, to do something else, but the teenager had gripped his face and growled at the child to mind his own business. Jack didn’t know why he did it, maybe it was a reflex from the sudden fright he felt, but he kicked Luke in the stomach, leaving the older boy winded. There was nothing but red-hot rage in Luke’s eyes, that’s how Jack knew how much trouble he was really in.

So he picked up the rabbit, ran through the house and out into the back garden, now he was here. He heard Luke’s footsteps on the grass. Jack held his breath, forcing himself to not make any sudden noise. The seconds were achingly long, his heart pounding against his chest as he tried to hear if Luke was approaching or not. The footsteps stopped, Jack squeezed his eyes shut, as though this were all a nightmare and he would be waking up soon.

Unfortunately he was very much awake when a hand grabbed him by the hair and through him onto the open ground, forcing him to drop the baby rabbit. “You think you can get away with that?! Huh?!” Luke mocked, kicking the boy in the stomach as Jack let out a cry. “Come on! Finish what you started!”

“I’m sorry Luke! I’m sorry!” Jack wailed as the teen kicked him in the knees. “It was an accident!”

Luke paused, a sadistic grin creeping on his face as a vile idea came to mind, “Accident? Heh, I’ll show you an accident.”

His eyes darted to the baby rabbit still limping on the ground and marched towards it. Jack looked up from the ground, pushing himself up as he scanned the grass for the rabbit. It was only when he heard a crunch and a distressed squeak did his heart plummet to the pit of his stomach. Luke stomped on the little rabbit over and over again, little squeals leaving it as it writhed in pain. “No!” Jack cried, trying to stand despite his aching limbs. “Luke, stop it! Please, stop!”

Luke ignored him, continuing his attack on the poor creature. Jack tried to stand as quick as he could, the blood rushing to his head as he swayed on his feet. By the time he was fulling standing it was too late. There was nothing left of the rabbit but a mangled corpse and a manic sneer on Luke’s face. The blond teen turned to the young boy, shrugging as it he only flicked a piece of dust off his shirt, “What? It was just an accident?”

Suddenly, Jack didn’t feel the lightness in his head anymore. He squeezed his fists, a rush of adrenaline rushing through his veins as he screamed, running to Luke and tackling him to the ground. The blond wasn’t expecting this reaction, letting out a screech as he felt sharp nails scratch across the skin on his face.

“How dare you!” Jack screamed, not ceasing. “He did nothing to you! Why did you kill him?!” There were stains of red, Luke grunted as he tried to stop the scratching but Jack’s hands were too fast for him to catch. “I hate you!”

When Luke finally caught one of Jax’s hands, did clarity start to fill the young boy, along with the fearful dread. He tried to run, but Luke’s grip was firm and bruising as he stood up. With his other hand, his fingertips tapped against the blood on his face, inspecting it closely. A small chuckle left the blonde, lacking humour and filled with nothing but bad intentions. And little Jack had nowhere to run and no chance to hide now.

“Luke, please don’t do this,” Jack whimpered, trying to pull away from the older boy’s hold on his upper arm.

“Too late,” Luke hissed, his head turning back to the large, ivory house. “DAD! MOM! COME SEE WHAT JACK DID!”

Jack’s blood ran cold. Luke was already a bitter, vile person, but even bad people had to learn their behaviour from somewhere. As for Luke, he had received it from his parents. The only people – other than Luke – Jack feared the most, “Luke, I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

But his cries fell on deaf, ignorant ears. Two adults rushed out the house, a man and women in their mid-forties with scowls that seemed to be printed onto their faces. Luke’s parents, the ones who had also adopted Jack.

The woman let out a sharp, horrified gasp, “You! What did you do to my son?!”

“Little bastard attacked me out of nowhere,” Luke threw the child forward, making him fall forward and land on his palms.

Jack barely had any time to gather himself before a rough hand grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and lifted him up. Luke’s father glared at him, a cigarette hanging up his lips as Jack tried to not breathe any of the smoke being forced down his nostrils. “You think I accept that behaviour in my house?!” He glowered.

“I-I’m sorry sir!” Jack wailed. “But he killed that bunny! He stomped on it till it couldn’t move! I just wanted to protect him!”

“All this over a stupid rabbit?!” The foster mother screeched. “You’re nothing but a little monster! Hurting my boy over a useless rodent!”

Jack’s eyes widened at what she had said. How cold and callous her words were. How she devalued the life of an innocent creature who couldn’t take care of itself. He turned his gaze to Luke, the boy holding a t-shirt his mother fished from the laundry basket and held it to his face. He was still grinning, blood staining his teeth, looking more like the monster that his mother was talking about.

“Get in!” The man growled, dragging the boy into the house again. Jack grunted as his feet scrapped against the ground with the sudden, harsh movement, feeling Luke’s eyes on him as the blonde’s father kept pulling him.

He didn’t stop until the boy was pushed into the kitchen and the door was slammed shut behind him. The man’s grip moved from the back of his shirt to his foreman, nearly cutting off the child’s circulation.

He took the cigarette out of his mouth, “This is what happens to little brats who act out of line.”

Jack gasped, the realisation of why they went inside finally setting in. His foster father didn’t want to risk any prying eyes, any witnesses to see what he was about to do next.

Jack struggled, trying to escape, but the man struck him across the face, his ring leaving a mark in the child’s delicate skin.

The cigarette moved closer to his arm, the young boy crying and writhing. The blunt hadn’t even touched him yet somehow he could already feel it.

The flaming end met his skin.

And Jack’s scream echoed throughout the empty house.

(2)

Jax gasped, sitting up straight in his bed as he clutched his hand to his chest. He scanned the surroundings, even putting a hand to his forearm to feel for any scarring. His breathing slowed, relief settling when he saw that he was in his own room, and that there were no scars to be found. Just an armful of purple fur instead.

He felt a body stir next to him, Pomni had the blankets tucked around her like a cocoon. Jax didn’t mind, he got too warm most nights anyway. He settled back down, sliding and arm round her waist and pulled her close. He felt her chest against his, rising and falling with each breath. He matched his own with hers, letting it calm his racing heart. His eyes began to droop when he heard a small voice.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Pomni asked, peering up at him with sleepy eyes.

Jax sighed, he promised not to lie to her and he wasn’t going back on it now or ever, “Yeah, I did.”

“Are you okay? You wanna talk about it?” She attempted to sit up. He patted his hand against her waist, reassuring her that she was fine where she was.

“It was about my old foster family,” he told her. “Way before I met Winter.”

“Oh, babe,” she tucked her head under his chin, snuggling close. “You didn’t deserve anything that they put you through. I’m so sorry that you had to relive that in your head.”

“There’s nothing you gotta apologise for,” Jax kissed the top of her forehead. “Honestly, I don’t think about them a lot anymore. I know that sounds ironic cause of Luke confronting me back then. But they don’t mean anything to me, they don’t matter…but you do, more than anything.

He felt her lips smile against his chest, pressing a small kiss next to his heart, “You mean more than anything to me too.”

Jax pulled her closer again, feeling his eyes fluttering shut as sleep came for him once again, “Thanks little lady.”

“I am not a little lady,” she mumbled causing him to chuckle, his voice vibrating against her ear.

The nightmare was at the back of his mind, his eyes gazing on the small jester curled up beside him. Luke didn’t matter anymore, his old foster family didn’t matter anymore. Thinking of them never did anything good for him, there was no need to focus on his past when his future was right next to him. He would talk about them if the situation occurred, he didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of secrets, but Pomni was all that mattered. And that was okay.

With one last sigh, he pressed a kiss to her forehead, joining her in a peaceful, blissful sleep. His dreams for the rest of the night were filled with the smiles of a certain brunette.

Another day, another adventure. Everyone already had the same shared opinion of Caine’s adventures, but one of the worst things they all agreed on had to be mentally preparing themselves for whatever it was going to be. It was a process that had each one of them dreading for whatever Caine had created for them. Sometimes they were the most thrilling and exciting experiences they ever had, others were boring and had them wanting to go back to their quarters, but the worst ones had to be when they were left emotionally or physically scarred with the most haunting imagery that would be stuck in their minds forever. They never understood why Caine would create such adventures like those, how could he ever think they were fun?

Jax shuddered, hoping for at least a boring adventure instead of the awful third option. He turned to Pomni – who was busy talking to Ragatha – he definitely didn’t want her dealing with that type of adventure. She had already been through enough as it is. He knew that they were to keep a low profile, but he also knew that Caine was unpredictable. Whatever adventure was chosen, he was going to stick as close to Pomni as he could. The last time they were separated she nearly…

“Good morning my superstars!” Caine beamed, a juxtaposition to the circus members sleepy and dreary attitude. “Don’t I have just the perfect adventure for all of you today!”

“Wow, such a surprise,” Jax grumbled under his breath. The jingle of Pomni’s giggle at his sentence made him smile, making sure it was hidden from Caine.

The pair of dentures didn’t seem to notice, simply continuing with his speech, “I know you all miss your old lives as boring humans, so being the gracious ringmaster that I am, I decided to base our new adventure around one of your earthly activities I heard one of you mumble about – though I can’t seem to remember who said it.”

Everyone gawked at that. Caine so rarely laid any notice or curiosity to what the outside world was like, stuck in a firm belief that the circus was the greatest place to ever reside in. This was the first time that he mentioned basing an activity on the real world, what could he even imagine what said activity involved? But more importantly, what activity did he pick?

“I’ve done the amount of research that I felt bothered to do and created this!” With a snap of his fingers, there was a flash of light and the walls of the tent disappeared. Each member blinked, rubbing their eyes from the sudden bright light. When the brightness faded, they let out a small gasp at the scene around them.

An orange sunset, tall and long hedges and miles upon miles of fresh golden corn. Caine had created a cornfield maze. Other than the vegetable, Jax felt a tingling familiarity at the sight of the maze, the memories of falling asleep with a certain jester and dreaming about his best memories of his past in a place just like this. He looked to Pomni, she seemed to be having the same familiar feeling too. She turned her head to him, her eyes twinkling and her smile sweet. He returned it with the same warmth.

“Your goal is simple!” Caine interrupted the couple’s train of thought. “It will be a race between each one of you! Whoever collects the most corn by the end of the adventure wins…oh I actually haven’t thought about that. Um, what do humans usually win at these things?”

“Oh, well it ranges from a lot of different things,” Ragatha piped up. “It could range from prize ribbons, stuffed toys, sometimes even food. Something that most people can enjoy!”

Caine hummed, tapping a finger against the bottom of his jaw, as though he were deep in thought about a life changing matter rather than a prize for a silly game, “Aha! I’ve got it! The prize can be…water! Everyone likes water! Right?”

Ragatha cringed, not surprised in the slightest from his answer, “Sure Caine.”

“Well then, I’ll you all to get started superstars!” the ringmaster grinned, about to snap his fingers. “Oh I should mention, you’re all going to be separated until all of you have found an exit! Okay, bye!”

“Wait, what?!” Pomni paled, but her question was cut short but the familiar snap of Caine’s fingers.

Jax whipped round, his heart pounding. No, no, no! He promised her he would stay! He promised to protect her! He let his feet run as fast as they would take him, not letting the red and blue woman leave his sight for a moment. But she was quickly replaced by green, towering hedges covered with the yellow vegetable he had to collect.

Jax begin to pant heavily, panic filling him from head to toe. Would she be alright? They hadn’t left each other’s sides ever since they got their memories back, too afraid to let go as if they were afraid this were only another hope filled dream. Was she alright being on her own? What is something happened to her?

He took a breath, smoothing his hands over his ears until they sprung back up, picking up the basket placed next to him. Curse Caine and his sudden stupid rules. It didn’t matter, all he had to do was pick a few pieces of corn and find an exit. Maybe he would run into Pomni as well? Yeah, that’s what he had to focus on. Finding Pomni.

He plucked a piece of the edge, placing it inside the brown woven basket before walking down the path. He would find Pomni…

He will find Pomni.

Knock, knock

“Come in!” a woman’s voice called through the door.

Riley’s wrapped her hand around the knob of the captain’s office door, with it creaking as it slowly swung open. A slender woman with warm, dark skin and brown locs sat at a table, reading through the files on her desk. Ever since Penny and Jack’s disappearance, it had thrown their entire case for a loop. But that was part of the reason why Riley was here.

“How can I help you Agent Reed?” she asked, looking up briefly before returning her attention to the papers.

“Good afternoon ma’am,” Riley stood straight, hands clasped together in front of her. The perfect picture of professionalism. “I’ve just come to receive a warrant to do a search.”

“State the place and case Reed, and I’ll see what I can do,” Rae nodded, sifting through the dozens of notes.

Riley bit her lip, praying this would work, “C&A industries ma’am, for the Penny Reed and Jack Bloom cases.”

Rae paused, the silence was somehow more deafening than Riley ever imagined it could be. The captain placed the papers down, looking back up at red-haired woman, “Weren’t you there a while ago for your case? Something about seeing if a possible witness was involved somehow?”

“Yes ma’am,” Riley nodded. “And I believe that he might be right. Which is why I’m requesting the warrant.”

“It’s also funny that you mention the case for your sister and Mr Bloom,” said Rae.

Riley raised a brow, “What do you mean?”

“We just received word this morning that the files for the missing persons cases that were related to C&A went missing. I was about to make an announcement but as you can see, because of the recent incidents I’ve become more swamped with paperwork that usual,” Rae sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Riley cringed, “It’s really become that bad?”

“Since Jack Bloom was connected to C&A, it’s opened a whole pipeline,” Rae told her. “Apparently, the company is extremely defensive with being accused of these sorts of things, and it’s not the first time someone disappeared on their property on in relation to them. However we haven’t found any proof that they were involved, so we’re still stuck in limbo until we find something to shut them down.”

“That’s why I’m asking for this warrant ma’am. There might be a chance that C&A have these files,” Riley explained. “Some of the cases had this company involved before, right? Not all, but some? Maybe this could be a good chance to see how they were connected to C&A?”

“You sure you got the right plan for this, Reed?” Rae questioned, raising a brow. Her tone was stern but not demeaning in the slightest. “C&A have a pretty tight record. One slip from us and they’ve got lawyers, attorneys, everything coming after us.”

“As long as we have the warrant, we have the right to say we’re allowed to be there,” Riley said. “I’m not going into this blind ma’am, I’ve got a plan and I know what I’m doing.”

“It’s not that I doubt you Riley, but I do know that this case is personal to you. Since it’s your sister going missing as well,” Rae took note of how the redhead tried not to stiffen up at the mention of her sister. “I just don’t want you going into this with wool over your eyes. I’ve been seeing how you and Winter come into work sometimes. Both of you would never stop grinning and smiling at one another, now it looks like you two have become strangers. I don’t want these cases getting to you to the point where you feel like you’re losing yourselves.”

Riley crossed her arms over her chest, gazing down to the floor as though she were a child being scolded. Every time she saw Winter’s face - downed and saddened from the past few months - she wanted nothing more than to kiss every inch of it. She knew Winter wasn’t ignorant to her attempts to avoid anything that attached Penny’s name to it, like retracting a hand from touching a burning flame. But she saw how it was affecting Winter. She knew that she was only trying to help, yet Riley kept turning away, kept refusing any conversation about how she was feeling. It was making things worse, she knew that. Yet the fear of watching Winter tear herself apart from grief and pain had imprinted itself on her mind, and she just couldn’t muster the courage to try and talk to her wife.

One day Riley promised herself, one day I’ll say something. Just…not now.

“Everything is fine ma’am,” she reassured Rae. “These cases are stressful, but not impossible.”

Rae hummed under her breath, fiddling with her ring finger before saying, “Okay, I’ll send to you later today. You better know what you’re doing.”

Riley grinned, a sigh of relief escaping her, “I do ma’am.”

She gave a quick nod to her superior, turning on her heel and grabbed the door handle before Rae called her one last time, “Riley.” The redhead faced her boss again. “I’m serious, be careful with this. C&A aren’t to be taken lightly.”

The captain’s voice was stoic, serious, holding deep truth that Riley was slightly nervous to ask about. But she knew that Rae was right, they had to be careful with this. “I will ma’am.”

With that, she walked out the office, straightening her blazer. She whipped her phone out of her pocket, typing quickly once it was in her hands.

I got the warrant Samual

Be ready

Riley had told her to wait, just until things were set in stone. But Amber had never felt so restless in her life. Here she was, waiting in her living room by her old computer, with both of her daughters out of reach. Was this really what was expected of her to do? Nothing? For god’s sake! Penny was trapped inside a literal video game and she was supposed to wait?! How could any mother simply do that without complaint?!

Amber groaned, burying her face in her hands before standing and walking to the kitchen. She at least had to do something to keep her mind busy, maybe some tea would help. After all, if she had anymore coffee she was sure she would only get more agitated. She opened the cupboards, her eyes roaming each corner before landing on a familiar yellow box. She reached her hand in to fish it out, sighing with slight melancholy when she saw what type of tea it was.

Chamomile, Penny’s favourite.

Penny who completed half of Amber’s heart with Riley. Penny who wanted others to see the best in themselves when they weren’t able to do so. Penny who had gone through hardship after hardship only to end up in a place that forced her away from her family and into a state of terror.

No. Amber wasn’t going to stand by. She slammed the box onto the counter and marched out the kitchen and up the stairs into the hallway. She could figure out a way to help, even if it was just a little bit. When she made it up the stairs, she reached up to a little strong connected to a trapdoor on her roof, pulling on it carefully as a ladder slid down.

Amber couldn’t remember the last time she had been up the attic, it had seemed it had been decades ago since she stored the last childhood memory of the girls up here. But it held what she needed with the plan in her head. She climbed up the ladder, poking her head up through the trapdoor as coughed from the leftover dust from the wooden floorboards. It had definitely been a while since she had been up here. She lifted herself up inside, taking out her phone to turn on her flashlight. Despite the length of time, she knew where everything was placed and kept in here. Time to get to work.

In a few minutes, Amber had packed a box full of long-lost belongings way back from her time, hopefully it was what she needed as she climbed down the ladder and shut the trapdoor. She made her way back downstairs, placing the box on the coffee table once she was in the living room. She placed her hands on her hips, where would she start? She peered down at the box, filled to the brim with gadgets, old software and objects that she and the girls used to use in a time where technology wasn’t so advanced. She picked up a walkie talkie and a string of fairy lights, perhaps she could start with that. Amber had a long way to go, but still, at least she wasn’t waiting anymore.

She just hoped that this would work a little bit, as long as it helped bring Penny home.

Pomni sighed as she picked up another piece of corn, placing it in her basket. She did panic when she was separated from her fiancé and the others, but so far the adventure didn’t seem to be too hectic. Just a peaceful stroll in the fields while picking corn. She smiled, breathing in the fresh air – as fresh as simulated air could be at least. Doing this reminded her of similar activities she, her mother and sister used to do when they were younger. To get away from work, school, chaos, her father. To just have a day where they could focus on making happy memories. Well, it worked.

It almost felt normal, but…she wished this was something she was doing with Riley and her mother. Riley would lift her onto her back for a ride, despite her younger sister’s protests of not being a child anymore yet would still cling to her like a koala. Amber would be pestering the girls in a way to make them smile, perhaps picking up one of the pieces of corn and waving it like a sword as she chased her daughters.

Pomni gripped the handle of her basket, a shaky breath leaving her lips. She missed them so, so much. She just wanted to go home. She wanted to feel the waft of the warm oaky smell that hit her every time she entered her mother’s home. She wanted to be squeezed in one of Riley’s protective hugs. She wanted to explore every area of her childhood home, to make sure that each place was burned into her mind so she would never forget it ever again. “I miss you guys,” she whispered under her breath, despite the isolation of where she stood.

She shook her head, she had to get a grip. Right now she had to focus on completing this adventure so she could get back to Jax and figure out the next step of their plans. Just as she was about to reach for another piece of the vegetable, a small blue butterfly fluttered out from the leaves and stems. Pomni let out a yelp at the sudden appearance, tripping and falling back, the corn spilling out of the basket as it toppled to the ground. She kicked her feet, backing away from the bug – the last time she was near a butterfly she nearly…

She started to tremble at the memory, internally scolding herself for getting frightened by a single insect. But the feeling of the cold water forcing her down, down, down – burning her lungs as the simulated feeling of being unable to breathe wouldn’t leave her brain. Her chest started to heave with each panicked pant as the butterfly inched closer, fearing that it would glitch if it touched her again and send her into another spiral.

It got closer, she shut her eyes, bracing for that painful static when-

“Don’t be afraid.”

Her eyes snapped open, scanning the area. She swore she heard a voice, like it belonged to an older woman. But it was just her and the butterfly.

“It’s not going to hurt you dear,”

There it was again, “Who’s there?!”

“Just someone who wants to help.”

Pomni scoffed, disbelief curling her lips into strained smile, “How can I trust you if I can’t even see you?”

“I’m sorry. I wish you could, but the rules of this game won’t allow you to see my face. Not anymore.”

The jester raised a brow. Here was a voice, a voice so different, so foreign and unlike anything she had ever heard in the circus before. But for some reason, it didn’t seem bad to trust it. Despite it not actually being her, the voice reminded her of the soft tone her mother used to use to comfort her.

Pomni gulped, looking at the butterfly again. It was simply floating there, no threat lingering in the slightest. Maybe, just maybe. She lifted her hand, her face cringing as she turned away, shoulders stiffening in case that glitch did happen. The tiny feet of the bug landed on her finger. Nothing. No pain, no glitch, just the butterfly resting there as it waited for the jester to make her next move.

She opened her eyes, she was okay. She looked up, trying to detect where that voice came from, “Thank you.” It felt silly, sitting in the dirt as she called out for someone she couldn’t see, but sillier things have happened in this circus. She looked back at the butterfly, letting it crawl across her hand, “Sorry for getting scared earlier. You seem like a friendly guy. I’m sure Kinger would like you.”

The butterfly seemed nice, and it was gentle, but why did the one from before glitch? And why was there a voice this time telling her not to be afraid? With each passing day since she got her memories back, more questions kept opening up. She stood up, picking up her basket and placing the small bug inside, “Guess we’ll need to figure you out later. Hope you don’t mind the corn, I don’t want Caine finding you just in case anything happens.”

The butterfly didn’t seem to mind, already laying down on top one of the vegetables like it was a bed. Pomni smiled, lowering the lid and continued her trail. Now this was definitely going to be an interesting story to tell Jax. She just hoped he was okay.

Jax grumbled as he hit another dead end. He had given up picking up corn a long while ago, settling for trying to find Pomni instead. But each path he took only seemed to lead him down the wrong way, as though the map of this adventure was mocking him. He gripped his ears, pulling slightly. “Easy adventure my @ss Caine,” he muttered under his breath. This was just getting tedious now.

He heard a rustle behind him, making him jump like the type of animal his avatar was. Perhaps it was one of the others? Or maybe Caine added a last-minute boss to try and make things more interesting – yet harder for them. But no, instead it was…him?

At least it looked like him, but much younger. He looked about he was no older than three, his hair shorter while wearing soft clothing stamped in little train patterns. What was going on.

“Come on sweetie!”

A new voice rung out. He looked up, a young couple came up behind the boy, reaching out their hands to him. “We have to start the maze!” the woman said, smiling at the child.

“Okay mama!” the young boy giggled, clutching his hand into hers as the wandered further into the maze.

Jax blinked, his feet trailing behind the trio. He felt like a dog on a leash going after them. Who were these people, why didn’t he remember this? Were they his…his parents? But they couldn’t be possible, his parents left him in social services ever since he was, well, the age the younger version of him here was. But then again, his earliest memory was him in a car going to his very first foster home, nothing before that.

Maybe, just maybe. They weren’t like anything like he pictured them to be, they seemed nice to younger him. Perhaps something else happened, perhaps he really used to be loved.

And so, he followed them. Tracing their lefts and rights, wherever they would go. They seemed like good people, laughing at their little boy’s antics and playing along with whatever imaginary game he came up with. He even felt himself smiling, a tear even escaping his eye at the long-lost image of the family in front of him.

Eventually they stopped, the couple sharing a look before starting down the young boy. Jax froze, what was going on? There was another rustle, a small rabbit jumping out of the stems of corn as it ran down the path. “Honey look!” the mother pointed with a grin. “What’s that?!”

“A bunny!” the little boy replied with excitement, jumping up and down on the spot. Jax’s stomach began to churn.

“It wants you to play tag with it,” the father said. “Don’t leave it waiting.”

“Okay!” the boy nodded, taking a few steps but pausing when he saw his parents weren’t following along. “Aren’t you playing as well?”

“We’ll meet you at the end of the maze,” his mother said, her tone loving despite the dread of this situation building more and more. “You’re a big boy now, I’m sure you can do it on your own.”

“Oh yeah, I can!” the young Jack looked so happy saying that, so unknowing of the true danger he was put in. “I’ll see you soon! Come back little bunny!”

He ran off, chasing the small rodent down the path. Jax shook his head, this couldn’t be happening. Why would they let a kid go off on his own?! What were they thinking. As the boy wandered further down the path, the smiles on the parents faces dropped, grief and tearful fear replacing it instead. The man placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly to try and rid some of the guilt that was possibly building inside her.

She nodded to him, taking a deep breath before turning on her heel and walked away in the opposite direction of her son, her husband doing the same. Jax’s heart plummeted, “No, wait!” He cried out, but it only fell on the deaf ears of a forgotten memory. “Don’t do this! Come back!”

He turned in the other direction, that younger version of him was on his own, going after the rabbit in a wild goose chase, to never see his parents again. He chased after him, there was no way this could be true, there was no way.

He saw the boy in front of him, his small form contrasting again the setting sun in the distance. Though this time he wasn’t chasing a rabbit anymore. “Mama! Papa! Where are you!” he wailed, rubbing away tears on his chubby cheeks. “I wanna go home!”

Jax began to shake his head in disbelief, this couldn’t have happened. His parents, they really…left him.

His eyes darted back to where the boy was, but he was gone too, leaving him alone in the field. No parents, no younger him nothing. He was completely and utterly isolated. The rabbit from earlier suddenly jumped out in front of him again, making eye contact with the taller avatar. His nose twitched as the two maintained eye contact, Jax’s eyes blurring with panicked tears.

The rabbit tore off again, leaving him stunned in place, “W-wait! Where are you going!” He chased after it again, just like how his younger self did. “Why are you doing this?! What’s going on?!”

The rabbit didn’t make a noise, it only kept running. Jax did the same, his lungs burning and mind spinning with more questions building as tears streamed down his cheeks. Why was he remembering this now?! How did he even get these memories?! Why him?! Why was this happening to him?!

Why did his parents leave him behind?! Did they just not love him enough to keep him?! But they were crying! They had to have loved him, right? Otherwise they wouldn’t have done that! Or maybe they just couldn’t have them in their lives. He didn’t have a place with them, in the world outside or this world in this game. He was pathetic, useless, he deserved all the bad things that happened to him. HE DESERVED EVERY PAINFUL THING THAT CAME HIS WAY-

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” he screamed, his fingers pulling on the fur on his scalp.

He skidded to a halt, gawking at what was in front of him. His old foster house, where he grew up. It was tattered and broken, the complete opposite to how it looked way back when in appearance, but remained exactly the same with how it made him feel. He sniffed, his hands clutching at his chest as his heart squeezed painfully. There was a reason he was here, wasn’t it? To finally get his comeuppance for every bad deed he caused in his life. For how he acted to others in his past life, to how he treated the others in the circus, and how he hurt Penny.

The house creaked along with the stinging wind that made Jax shiver, as though it were whispering him to go inside. He should go inside. He lifted his foot, about to take another step-

“Jax!”

He stopped, turning back. Pomni’s voice rung out to him in the distance, “Jax! Where are you?!”

She was looking for him.

She cared about him.

She loved him.

Jax smiled, rubbing away the access tears that stained his cheeks. Maybe there was a reason for him to hurt like this, but there was also a reason to keep fighting. Pomni. He looked back to the house, the churning feeling ebbing away slowly though not fully disappearing. Perhaps forgotten things were meant to be forgotten.

He turned on his heel, running back into the maze. He had a jester to find.

The house abandoned once and for all.

“I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again,” said Samual. “This feels just like a movie.”

Riley rolled her eyes as the car pulled up to a corner near the building of C&A. She was fully aware of the déjà vu she was getting, but this time she had the proof in front of her and a case to fulfil. “You go in first and go to the room where the files are. Wait for five minutes then text me to come in,” she instructed to the boy. “If we’re gonna do this, we need to make sure that Jason doesn’t get suspicious.”

“He might be already,” Samual admitted. “After I brought you here, he’s been acting kinda funny.”

“Well we’ll just have to be as careful as we can,” Riley said. “Just do what I told you and come to me if anything happens, I’ve got your back.”

Samual exhaled, mentally preparing himself as he stared at the building ahead of him, “Alright, here goes nothing.”

He climbed out the car, making his way over and inside the tall building. Riley waited until her phone pinged before jumping out herself and making her way over. She did the usual routine of what she would do whenever she got a warrant - go in, check in with the receptionist and have free reign of her search. She took a mental note of how uneasy the receptionist looked when she saw the agent again, Samual was right about Jason being at edge since her last visit. His glass house didn’t seem to be as stable as he wanted it to be anymore.

She made her way to the elevator, checking her phone to see where Samual said he would be waiting for her as the doors shut behind her. As the elevator creaked and shifted as it lifted up, the looming hidden threat of this place started to dawn on the redhead. This company had possibly managed to cover up the disappearances of so many people for nine years, including its own CEO and his wife. And now Penny and Jack were in the belly of the beast as well.

She understood why Rae was so worried with messing up, one mistake could quite literally cost someone their life. Hers, Samual’s, her mother’s, anyone. She had to be careful. The elevator dinged, opening their doors as she stood out and saw Samual at an open door down the hall, signaling for her to come towards him.

Riley nodded, remaining as casual as possible until she reached the room and Samual shutting the door behind her. “Alright, where do we start?” Riley asked, clasping her hands together.

“It should be on this computer,” Samual told her. “Jason doesn’t like keeping stuff like that on his own computer in case he gets caught.”

“So he’d rather have someone else take the fall, how chivalrous,” Riley muttered sarcastically.

“Tell me about it,” Samual muttered. Riley looked over at him with amusement, this was the first time she actually heard him have a bit of an attitude. He sat down, cracking his fingers and rolling his neck as he logged onto the computer. “Okay, I can do this.” He pulled a bag onto his lap, the C&A logo on top as he pulled out a USB. “I snuck into his office the other day. And before you get on at me for doing it before getting the warrant, Jason was gone for the day and it was the only time in the security guards schedule where they weren’t watching his office the whole time.”

“Holy shit kid,” Riley laughed. She should be mad, really she should. But goddamn she couldn’t help but be impressed. “You have guts. So, where exactly are these files in the USB’s?”

“These USB’s have old games codes,” Samual replied. “Sometimes if we have any unfinished demos, we store information in them to make sure other competition don’t try and steal it, to put it in a place where no one would think to find.”

“And if the case files in the USBs, then Jason can carry them around wherever he wants,” Riley finished.

“Yup,” Samual sighed. “Okay, I think I know what to do here.”

In just little time, the kid had managed to open a whole different part on the USB, old coding and files appearing and scattering over the screen. Riley felt as though she had to take a step back from how intense it seemed, but Samual was unfazed a focused, still clicking and typing as though this were as simple as clicking a browser away.

“I got it,” Samual spoke up eventually, turning to Riley and holding his hand out. “You got the other one?”

“Uh, yeah,” Riley reached into her pocket, taking out another USB and placing it into Samual’s hands.

“If we take everything off this, Jason’s gonna get more suspicious,” Samual told her. “I can make copies for you to take back and from there we’ll try and figure a way to get it loaded into the game back at your mom’s place.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Riley agreed, watching him work as she glanced at the door every so often.

It felt as though hours went by, but eventually, Samual had done it. The files were copied and put into the other USB. They had done it. “We got it!” he exclaimed, a small cheer in the back of his tone.

“Looks like it,” Riley grinned, putting the USB back in her pocket. “I gotta get going, before your boss finds out what’s-”

The door slammed open, another feeling of déjà vu and piercing cold fear shooting down Riley and Samual’s backs. “What are you doing back here?!” Jason growled.

Riley sneered at him, crossing her arms as she stood in front of Samual. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, “I have a warrant to check this place out since the files for our cases went missing. And since your name is the main one on Jack Bloom’s case, that means I have to search the place. AKA, doing my job.”

“What gives you the right to speak to me that way,? Jason sneered.

Riley scoffed, “Other than the fact that I’m trying to find people I care about, you don’t get to speak to me that way either.”

“Oh really?” Jason raised a brow. “I’m sure your boss will disagree.”

He stepped aside, revealing the disappointed face of Captain Rae, almost looking tired as she stepped into the room. Riley paled when another face appeared in the door – Winter. “Winter, Captain Rae, what’s going on?” Riley asked.

“We got a call from Mr Wood that you came here under the guise of a warrant to steal game codes for their rival companies,” Captain Rae sighed. “And since I’m your boss, I had to be taken away from work to make sure my agents aren’t fucking up.”

“Excuse me?!” Riley’s eyes widened, appalled as she started at the man beside her boss, who seemed to be getting smugger when Winter spoke up.

“One of the employees here managed to find Samual taking out property from Mr Wood’s office before calling you,” Winter told her. “They were concerned that you were using the cases in order to make C&A look bad.”

“That’s bullshit!” Riley snapped. “My sister is involved in these cases, do you really think I would risk her safety over fucking game codes?!” Riley was treading on dangerous waters, and she knew it. But no one messed with her sister, especially not some big shot who believed he could get away with this.

“And what exactly is in that computer over there?” Jason pointed out, his tone slightly mocking. Riley’s face fell as she glanced towards the monitor. While she was glad that he didn’t know about the spare USB, she knew that this looked really bad.

Samual stepped forward, “It was my idea!”

Everyone turned to him, even Jason – his face darkening.

Samual gulped as he continued, “I wanted to help Miss Riley with the case and decided to do some unethical routes in order to help her. You can even check the USB, the game codes are still there.”

Jason hummed, pushing past Riley as he, Rae and the others made their way to the computer. Riley nearly sighed with relief when the appearance of the game codes was still there. To the others, it looked like normal files that you expected to find at this company. But to Jason, it meant that his secret was still safe. He straightened his back as he turned back to the others, a faux grin on his face, “It seems that I was mistaken. I do apologize for wasting your time Captain Rae. I just wanted this whole mess taken care of, we wouldn’t want to go to court over this after all.”

“No, we wouldn’t,” Rae retorted in a monotone voice. “We’ll be on our way, thank you for your apology Mr Wood.”

The four walked out the room, Jason’s stare burning on their backs as the door was shut behind him. Rae halted, spinning back round as she went face to face with Riley, “I told you not to be stupid!”

“I wasn’t ma’am,” Riley froze, immediately reverting back to the professional position she was back when she was asking for the warrant. “I did as you told me to. Search with the warrant and try to find out what was going on. I didn’t know he was gonna pull that shit.”

“This isn’t a game Riley, Jason Wood can and will do anything he can in order to keep himself and C&A at the top!” Rae hissed. She stepped back, rubbing her temples to dispel the approaching headache. “Did you at least find anything?”

Riley opened her, mouth about to reveal what she found when clarity struck her. How exactly could she explain this without sounding crazy? She almost didn’t believe Samual when he told her about this, so how could she explain this to her captain? And the files still looked the same as they did from the computer, no other person would be able to tell the difference about how they looked unless they had the tech knowledge that Samual did. All it would show was exactly what Jason had tried to frame her about, “No, I’m sorry.”

Rae exhaled sharply, “Next time you’re gonna be reckless, think twice before landing yourself in hot water, Reed.”

Riley lowered her head to the ground, “Yes ma’am.”

Rae sighed turning back on her heel and walked away.

Winter came up behind her wife, sharing the same scowl as their boss, “We’re talking about this when we get home.” She didn’t let Riley say a word, already walking away and towards the elevator.

Riley rubbed her eyes, this was not how she wanted her day to end. Samual came up, fiddling with his ring finger awkwardly, “I’m really sorry Miss Riley.”

“It’s fine kid,” she mumbled. “You just get home and call me if you need me.”

Samual nodded, not wanting to prod any further as he walked away as well.

Riley just wanted to fade into nothing there and then. What type of hell was she getting herself into?

Winter tapped her foot as she waited in the living room, dressed in a pyjama tank top and shorts with her hair tied into an uneven ponytail. Riley was half an hour late. She already had a habit of obviously avoiding a situation, but this was out in the open with how hard she was trying now. Winter groaned, picking up the bottle of wine of the coffee table in front of her and poured it into a glass, she didn’t want to be sober dealing with this.

She let the liquid run down her throat, relieving some of the stress when she heard the door open. Finally.

Riley shut the door behind her, setting down her bag when she noticed Winter eyeing her down, “Where’s Percy?”

“Asleep,” Winter retorted, setting down the glass. “We need to talk.”

“Listen, I know how that looked back there,” Riley started. “But it wasn’t what you think it was.”

“Really? Riley a CEO of a billion-dollar company almost got you fired!” Winter exclaimed, setting down her glass. “What am I supposed to think?!”

“Everything I’ve been doing was to find Penny and Jack,” Riley told her. “And you really think that I would so something like that?”

“Of course not, but you’ve put me in a corner ever since Penny went missing and left me to gather dust!” Winter cried. “Now all of a sudden you’re sneaking into buildings and won’t tell me why, other than to just blindly trust you! Riley that isn’t fair! You have to tell me what’s going on!”

Riley peered behind her, grimacing at the empty wine glass on the table, “Have you been drinking on a work night.”

Winter placed her hands on her hips, refusing to back down, “I only had one glass, you know that’s all I have on work nights. And it won’t be enough for me to be distracted from this conversation.”

“I’m just thinking about Percy, okay?!” Riley groaned. “Sorry that I want to protect our son!”

“Oh please, not everyone is your father Riley,” Winter growled.

The redhead stiffened, her jaw tightening, “Back down, now.”

“No!” Winter shook her head. “You’re hiding something from me and I know it. All I want is to help you, but you act like I’m nothing but an annoyance to you. And now you’re pulling this shit and nobody will tell me why, not even you! You never keep secrets from me.” Winter’s voice broke, clutching the fabric of her tank top on her chest. “You’re hurting so much and it’s killing me seeing you like this. So why?! Why are you hiding things from me? What did I do?! Why are you allowed to protect me but I’m not allowed to do the same for you?!”

Riley wanted nothing more than to cry and bring Winter into her arms. Everything her wife said was true to a fault. She wanted to tell her about Jack, she wanted to tell her all her plans, she wanted to tell her how the grief and fear of Penny disappearing had been eating her alive for the past few months-

Percy’s cry broke her from spiral, alerting the two mothers. Riley sighed, “I’ll get him.”

Winter tried to stop her, “Riley-”

“Winter, please,” Riley’s voice was soft and desperate. “Please. I just want some silence.”

The other woman sniffed, backing away from her wife. Guilt churned in Riley’s stomach as she watched her wife face away, hearing her light sobs. This was for the best, at least she’s safe. With that, she went up the stairs to her crying baby.

Winter curled up on the sofa. Never before had she wished for her brother as she did now.

Jax gasped as the maze disappeared. He was still chasing after Pomni’s voice, but apparently Caine had announced that Gangle was the winner and brought them all back. He nearly fell to his knees when he saw the jester, she was okay.

“Well that adventure was certainly…an adventure!” Caine boomed. “I don’t fully understand your silly human activities, but tomorrow we’ll return to our regular schedule of fun, fun, FUN!”

“Yeah, yeah, great,” Jax said absentmindedly, his eyes still on Pomni as the jester looked at him, relief in her eyes as well.

“Good to hear your positive spirit Jax!” Caine grinned, about to lift his hand and pat him on the back when the rabbit flinched, arms arched over his head to protect himself.

Everyone gaped at that, Jax never flinched. Pomni brought her hands to her mouth, she knew what that meant.

“I, um. Jax, are you alright?” Caine asked, his tone much softer than it usually was.

Jax blinked, everyone was staring at him. He lowered his arms back to his sides, “I’m fine.”

Pomni bit her lip, he was anything but fine.

Even Caine was surprised by the rabbit’s actions, “Uh…right. Anyways I’m gonna…yeah I’ll just go.” The AI floated away, leaving the group in their stunned silence.

Jax ignored them, rushing to Pomni and dropped to the ground, wrapping her tight in his arms. He was shaking like a leaf, whatever he had seen in that corn maze had left its mark on him. She uncurled herself out of his embrace, holding his face in her hands as she lightly stroked his cheek. “Come on,” she held out her hand.

He hesitated for a moment, before his fingers intertwined with hers. She pulled him up, picking up both of their forgotten backets as she led him back to her room. The others were still staring, but she didn’t care. Right now, Jax needed her.

She shut the door behind her, letting him get comfy on her bed as she put the baskets back down and joined him on the red and blue mattress. “What happened?” it was only one question, but he could hear so much behind it. I’m here for you, tell me anything and everything, you’re safe.

“I-I think I saw myself in that maze?” he said. “Well, myself but younger, much younger. And my birth parents were there. I know, its stupid and stuff like this happens sometimes but…why do I remember this now? I thought I was okay with my past. Now seeing them, it only what makes what my foster family did to me even worse.”

Pomni was silent, taking in every part of what he said, “Show me where it hurts?”

He peered up at her, it had been a while since she said that to him. But both of them knew that what she did next helped more than he could imagine. He raised his arm, the same one that his foster father used to burn his cigarettes on. She held it gently in her hands, pressing gentle kisses to the appendage.

Tears trailed down the dried stain on his cheeks, his arm trembling slightly. She was so careful with him, giving him the kindness that the adults who failed him could never give him. “I know this isn’t much,” she mumbled against his fur. “But I love you more than anything. Those people never deserved you. I wish I could erase all the pain they caused you. All I hope than when I do this.” She pressed a kiss to his wrist. “You know that I’ll be with you despite everything.”

His breath staggered for a bit, it was so long since he felt the overwhelming feeling of being genuinely wanted by someone. His hands cupped her cheeks, pulling her closer and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was messy, frantic but neither of them could pull away, they needed each other.

They parted when the need for air was too strong, with Jax holding her close so Pomni could hear his heartbeat. His head was still swarming, spinning. But her simple touch was all he wanted to think about. All that he needed. The bad stuff wouldn’t go away. However for now, this was enough.

“There’s one more thing I need to tell you,” Pomni mumbled.

Jax pushed off her hat, pressing his nose to her hair as he hummed, “And what’s that?”

“Well,” she separated from him again, the rabbit already missing her warmth as she picked up her basket from the maze. Lifting the lid, she picked up the little butterfly as she cupped it in her hands. “I found this little guy during the adventure. But the way I found him? You’re gonna want to sit back for this…have invisible people ever spoke to you in this place before?”

Fairy lights were strung up, an old tape recorder and radio were placed together on the coffee table, and a walkie talkie was held in Amber’s hands. Hooked into the recorder and radio was a large wire leading to the computer. Amber clenched her fists, it was now or never.

She turned on the walkie talkie, “Penny? Are you there?”

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aernx · 11 months

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𓂋˚˖ IT’S A WRAP ! ૪ ࣪˖ 이희승﹙🐋﹚

࣪˖ 𓂃 003. dream on, lee 🥛

You open the glass paneled door, making your way inside your family’s dumpling restaurant. Just as you enter, the familiar sight of people enjoying homemade dumplings engulfs you like the breeze of a thousand winds. The savory aroma of steamed dumplings and distinct chatters from each table welcomes you back after a good six months away from home.

You stride past people enjoying their lunch, making your way to go see your brother behind the counter. “Hey Hyun I’m here. Where’s mom?”

“Oh she’s not here.” You hear your brother snicker before looking at him with an annoyed gaze.

“But here. Give this to Aunty Lee. Those are some new dumplings recipe mom came up with and she wanted aunty’s opinions on them. Say hi to her and Heeseung Hyung for me.” Taehyun shoves you a medium sized container filled with fresh steamed and fried dumplings before pushing you away with both of his hands.

“Yah, Kang Taehyun!”

The distance between your family dumpling restaurant and your home isn’t quite the long journey. You peacefully walked across empty lanes and neighborhood houses before you reach the designated house. Lee Heeseung’s house.

Growing up, Mrs. Lee and you mother has always maintain a close kinship so you and Heeseung has always been exposed to each other’s presence. Yet the two of you just let’s say…don’t get along very well.

You didn’t have a problem with his family, no. In fact Mrs. Lee was practically your second mother and she treated you like her very own daughter. It’s just her son that you can stand. The feeling was mutual. Heeseung hates you just as much as you hate him. Hell maybe he hates you more. But right now you were praying that you wouldn’t meet him. Yet it seems as if the heavens did not answer your prayers when the familiar sight of the boy you dread to see, opens the door.

“Yn?” Heeseung’s eyes widen at the sight before him.

“Heeseung.”

Well this is awkward.

You both stood still for a few seconds before the latter cleared his throat. “I was just not expecting you to be here. Tell me, why are you here Yn?” He tilts his head feigning confusion and you have the urge to smack his annoying face with the container in your arms.

“Those six months without me must’ve been so lonely. If you miss me that much you could’ve told me, princess.” He jokingly placed a hand on his heart and you visibly cringe at the nickname he placed replacing your name.

Heeseung knows very well just how to press your buttons.

“Miss you? Dream on, Lee. This past six months in Japan had been a dream without you. Besides, the only one I’m missing here is your mother.”

As if on que, you hear footsteps approaching the door from inside his house. “Heeseung-ah who’s there?”

You were met with the sight of your Aunty Lee. A smile adorned her features as she sees you by the door. “Yn, sweetie you’re finally home! I miss you so much, darling. Come on, let’s go inside!”

Mrs. Lee welcomes you in with with open arms. She leads you inside her house and you almost miss the way Heeseung rolls his eyes at you. Your gaze meets his for a sliver of second before you poke your tongue at him in response leading him to scoff at your childish action.

ʬʬ.ITSAWRAP.com/chapter03

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ÆRiN’S N⩇TES ᶻz

yah guys i’m srry if it was cringey when hee said “princess” but it’s supposed to be like that bc he’s trying to piss her off LMAO

TAGLiST. open !

@luvistqrzzz @hanniluvi @666eren @txtmetonight @ghostiiess @beomsbeanie @jayujus @lazysmushi @dammit-jjk @lostwonderwall @teddywonss @the-poetic-side-of-me @astrae4 @chaerybae @1-800shutthefuckup @noascats @bzzzanaly @itsactuallylina @r1k1slvr @i-yeseo @youmenotyummy @haechansbbg @mrowwww @rreynca @cherribonbom @whippedforbeomgyu @reivrze @wonqr @taekwondoes @harperwasstaken1 @ahnneyong

nets ! @k-labels @enhanet @hyfenet

#ꜜ 🥟 ꒰ it’s a wrap ! ꒱#heeseung x reader #enhypen x reader #enhypen smau #lee heeseung x reader #enhypen imagines #enhypen #enha smau #enha x reader #enhypen heeseung #heeseung smau #heeseung

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concreteburialplot · 8 months

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Intertwined // 03

03 - when the party’s over

pairing: noah sebastian x nicholas ruffilo

masterlist/intro: here | crossposted: ao3

word count: 5.6k

warnings; alcohol, frat house parties, angst, frat!folio/frat!miserable bryan, inaccurate depictions of college experiences lmao, slight panic attack/ [nonsexual] overstimulation, frat hazing, drowning? but it’s kinda funny, confused jealous sad nicholas, awkward noah trying to rizz, folio has a silly nickname, crying, fighting, lots of internal dialogue, etc, 18+ MDNI

reminder; this is AU, nothing is meant to be accurate or realistic, including family members/names

a/n: don't like it don't read it. don’t be mean for no reason & let others enjoy things thnx :)

NICHOLAS

In the bathroom across the hall, Noah messes with the pieces of his flippy hair that poke out and around his beanie.

In my room, I switch out the jewelry in my gauged ears and smooth out the short-sleeve button up shirt I chose.

The air between us had been somewhat distant and weird for the past 2 weeks since our… mutual activities. Though, I could tell that he was ready to go back to normal, which I do too.

It must just be harder for me to get past it, I guess.

We aren’t even out the door yet and I already regret agreeing to this stupid ass frat party.

He steps into the doorway and leans against the frame. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

“I just gotta brush my hair and then we can go.” I say, still turned away from him.

“Cool…” He trails off, “I’m just gonna chill in the living room.” He thumbs over his shoulder.

“Okay. Sounds good.” I reply instantly, almost before he’s even done talking.

Once I’ve quickly brushed through my shoulder length hair, I grab my keys from the wooden hooks near the front door. “Alright I’m ready to–”

My eyes land on Noah, who’s wearing a black sleeveless muscle tee-like shirt and tight jeans. I’ve seen him in similar outfits a million times before but for some reason right now he looks so different.

“You good?” He chuckles and shoves his phone in his back pocket.

I shake my head from whatever fog is lingering there. “Yeah, yeah, sorry. I must’ve just dissociated there for a sec.” Followed with a fake laugh.

When we pull up to the frat house, it’s packed with cars practically stacked on top of each other. Thankfully I find a spot not too far and claim it as my own.

As Noah and I walk up, I’m in absolute awe. I’ve only driven past this house; I’ve never been this close to it. It’s one of the various neighboring fraternities and sororities that border a huge lake. I can see the lake peeking out from behind the house and it makes me wonder what it’s like during the warmer months. A rush of cold fall wind reminds me that summer break is actually over. I stuff my hands into my jeans and continue towards the entrance.

The house itself is beautiful, it’s massive, white with columns and giant black Greek letters just below the roof. Colorful lights flash through the windows and follow the beat of thumping house music. People pour in and out of the front door and from around the backyard.

Everything about it screams college. It’s exactly what Noah wanted. It’s exactly what Folio wanted. But I hate it already and we haven’t even stepped foot in there.

We step up to the front door that’s being guarded by two muscular men who look like if they flicked us, we’d fall over. They very dramatically step together blocking the entrance. “Who invited you?” They ask sternly.

My heart rate immediately spikes from the interaction. I grab the hem of Noah’s shirt discreetly and tug at it to pull him away, but he surprises me.

“Folio.” He speaks up with the most obvious forced confidence and straightens out his back, pushing his chest out a bit.

Their serious faces break into hearty laughs. The one on the left leans back to see past the right one, “Trout! Your invites are here!”

Noah and I look at each other with stitched mouths not wanting to burst out laughing at Folio’s new nickname. Fishing is about 75% of what comes out of his mouth, it’s no surprise his new roommates have already heard all about it. The other 25% is dedicated to girls, weed, drums, and bikes, naturally. I am sure he’s stoked about the lake that’s quite literally in his backyard for him to fish from any time he wants.

Nick rips through the crowd and he looks… well just like a freshman in a fraternity. He’s wearing some ridiculous helmet with beer cans attached to the sides and a tube to drink from. His tank top is neon green plastered with frat symbols across his chest. The smile on his face is the biggest I’ve ever seen it, even bigger than when he somehow managed to get a 73% on his final where he blindly guessed on every question.

“Yesss! My bros!” He yells excitedly and pummels us in a giant hug. It’s only then that I realize he’s completely soaked in sticky beer.

“Ew, Folio.” I scrunch my face in disgust and peel myself away from him.

Noah just laughs, even though I know the beer on his clean clothes is driving him mad.

“Oh, don’t be a downer Ruffilo.” His words already strung together gives away how drunk he already is.

I pull my phone from my back pocket to check the time. “Nick it’s only 9, how much have you drank already?” I ask loudly over the music.

“It’s part of the like,” He lets out a slurred burp, “The initiation, or whatever. Freshmen have to drink a certain amount. And… I did.” He drunkenly chuckles. Folio never drank much before this and if he did, he was always a lightweight. If he really did drink that much, it’s a miracle he’s even talking somewhat coherently right now.

“Well you really should’ve paced yourself–“ I begin but he cuts me off.

He rolls his eyes. “I should’ve known you’d be like this.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” My brows furrow defensively.

“I would’ve had Noah leave you at home if I knew you’d be like this.”

I know he’s joking but it doesn’t make the tightness in my chest any less.

“C’mon Nicholas,” Noah grabs my shoulders and gives me a little shake. “Loosen up!”

I hate everything about this. It’s so confusing to see Noah this way, he was never like this before. Parties were his worst nightmare – until now apparently.

“Yeah, you guys need to catch up to me! Maybe you’ll have more fun!” Folio gestures for us to follow him to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, there’s a couple frat guys playing bartender, one I recognize to be Bryan, Folio’s mentor.

“Bryan!” Nick runs up to him like a child asking for a toy. “My friends are here and they wanna get just as drunk as meee.”

The dark under eye bags on Bryan are borderline comical. The look in his eyes reminds me of the look that middle aged underpaid cashiers give you when you ask if you can use a coupon. He says nothing and mixes up a concoction that looks like battery acid.

“Here.” He slides two radioactive drinks towards us over a marble countertop. “That should get you pretty fucked up quick.” Then goes off taking orders from other people.

I dip close to Folio’s side, “Why does it look like he works here?”

“The sophomores have to ‘work the party’.” Nick hiccups, “So they stationed him there.”

“Oh.” Noah and I mouth in unison.

“It’s part of the initiation.” He repeats proudly, as if being indoctrinated into some sort of academic cult is something to be so proud of.

I take the time to actually look over the party – it’s packed to the brim. There’s every single kind of college student you could think of, even kids that seem “nerdier” than me and Noah.

Rockstar by Post Malone began blasting through the speakers and a grin instantly spreads over my mouth. A couple summers ago Rockstar was me and Noah’s song, we would blare it on repeat in my shitty car almost every day. We played it so much we got sick of it, and this was the first time I’ve heard it since then. I turn excitedly to Noah but find that he’s gone. I look around where I’m standing, suddenly feeling exposed. Everyone surrounding me is preoccupied one way or another, including Folio which I’ve just realized disappeared too.

Directly in front of me stands the only other person I even marginally know at this party.

I lean across the counter and tap at Bryan’s tattooed forearm. He looks at me and it’s different than he does when I’m with Folio. Thankfully, it’s a lot kinder.

“What’s up?” He asks over the music, leaning closer to me with his ear first.

“Did you see where Noah went?” I nearly shout at him.

He nods over to the couch across the room where Noah is sat talking to a group of what looks like sorority girls – no worse, wannabe sorority girls.

“Trout introduced them.”

What a comically horrible nickname.

My lips fall to a frown, and it feels like my heart has dropped into my stomach. I watch as one bottle blonde traces her fingertips over a tattoo on his arm that I did – the first tattoo I’ve ever done on somebody else and the first tattoo he ever got. For some reason, the sight of it makes me feel sick, like I could throw up right where I stand.

When my gaze finally reaches back to Bryan, he’s ready to tell me the answer to a question I haven’t asked.

“I don’t know where Folio went.”

“Great.” I nod and push away from the counter. “Just…great.”

I figured that we’d come here for a bit for Nick then leave. I didn’t expect us to actually interact – which seems naïve to think about now. Noah practically begged me to come with him to this incredibly obnoxious party, of course he’d wanna stay and participate.

I deflate, grab my cup of toxic chemicals and reluctantly walk over to Noah. I nudge his arm and when he turns, he looks surprised to see me, like he forgot I was here.

“Oh, hey I was just about to find you.” He slurs and throws an arm over my shoulders. “This is Kassidy.” He gestures to the small blonde girl he’s been talking to then gestures to another very similar looking girl. “And this,” He gives me a discreet extra nudge. “is Brooke.”

The girls give me over enthusiastic smiles and I give them a half-wave because that’s all I have left to offer. “Hey.”

“Whatever Bryan made us, is fuckin’ workin’.” He knocks back the rest of his drink. “Do you mind asking him for another for me?”

My brows raise involuntarily at his demand like I’m some butler.

“Here take mine.” I grumble and drop my full solo cup into his empty one.

“You didn’t like it?” He doesn’t wait to already take a sip.

“No.”

“I’m sure they have beer or something else-“

“I’m good. I have to drive your ass home anyway.” I snap and walk past him through the path between the couch and the coffee table. I plop right next to Brooke because I know that’s what Noah was trying to orchestrate, and where else would I go.

Brooke is blonde with what I assume are hair extensions poorly placed over her scalp. Her lips are overly full, like she drew around her lips with a lead pencil. Her exposed cleavage from a lowcut crop top would normally entice me, if she wasn’t so…her.

She tried talking to me, but I must’ve been too boring since she just hung onto every word Noah said instead. When Kassidy and Noah started making out was when she finally left and went to find new prey.

I’m stuck on the opposite side of the couch watching my best friend get his face eaten off by someone who doesn’t even know how to brush her hair properly. It’s been about an hour and a half since we got here, and it’s the exact opposite of “fun”. Maybe it’s because I’m not drinking that I don’t understand the appeal.

Noah or not, I’d rather be home playing Pokémon or Call of Duty or literally anything other than this. Between the blaring music and the belligerent people, the thumping in my chest returns. I run my hands up and down my thighs slowly in an attempt to calm down but the faster my heart races the quicker my hands go. The air seems to be thinning around me and the crowded people feel closer than before. But then when I look over and see Noah kissing Kassidy, I’m suddenly furious.

I’m not sure why I’m furious, maybe it’s because he dragged me here, or because he ditched me after dragging me here, or because both of my supposed best friends ditched me after dragging me to a place I didn’t want to be to begin with.

It’s anger and anger alone that forces me from my seat and quickly past by Noah, knocking his shoulder back abruptly. It’s clear that he doesn’t even fucking care that I’m here or that I’m miserable.

I brush past various sweaty party goers, hitting each shoulder on my way.

“Nick!” I hear a drunken Noah calling after me. He’s gaining on me quickly as his thin body easily passes through the crowd.

“I’m going home Noah.” I yell over my shoulder as I stomp through the crowd.

“What! Why!”

“Because I want to go fucking home.” I turn a corner I think might be an exit, but it turns out to just be another hallway in this massive fucking house.

“C’mooon Nicholaaas.” Noah drags out the words in the most annoying whine. The alcohol is blatantly tinging each word.

“I’m not talking to you when you’re like this.” I shout back harshly through gritted teeth.

I push on a door that I thought was a bathroom just to get away from him, but I stumble into what looks like a movie room. The room is dark with just a flat screen on the wall playing some random Netflix movie and a large couch.

Of course, only in a frat house would they have a dedicated Netflix and Chill room.

Noah staggers in behind me and takes in the room just as I do. He pushes past me, slams the door shut and locks it.

He crosses his arms, “Now you can’t leave.”

I sigh, extremely irritated. “Oh, I’m leaving.” I go to move past him to get to the door, but he steps over and blocks me.

My heart is racing so fast it’s really all I can think about. Everything is too much for me; the earsplitting music, my fuming anger, Noah, how dark the room is, the heavy brick sitting on my chest, how warm the house is, the fucking stupid movie on the tv, all of it is making me lose my fucking mind. My skin’s crawling just being here, everything in me just wants to book it out the front door. I can barely fucking breathe.

All I want to do is leave.

I need to fucking leave.

“Why are you acting like this?” He asks and his tone has a hint of sadness that suddenly makes me feel guilty for wanting to leave.

“Because I’m not having a good fucking time Noah. I want to go home. One of these girly bitches you’re talking to can take you home. Or you can get an Uber, I really don’t care. But I. am. leaving.” I say sternly to his face, my hands fisted at my sides.

Confusion washes over him, as if he hadn’t realized I wasn’t enjoying myself until just now. The confusion only angers me more because if he had even paid a single ounce of attention, he would’ve known I wasn’t having a good time.

He always knows when I’m not having a good time. I don’t know how he knows but usually I can just look at him and he’d just know.

Until now, apparently.

“Oh.” The edges of his mouth wilt downwards. “I just figured you’d hit it off with whats-her-name and…”

“Well, I didn’t. And I want to get the fuck out of here.” I cross my arms over my chest, using my heel to scuff at my opposite shoe.

Noah’s eyes divert to any place other than me in the room and shift back and forth on the balls of his feet. His fingertips fidget with his knuckles as the silence between us grows louder than the music outside.

“I don’t want to go home yet.”

The words feel just like a dagger straight through my chest, piercing my lungs and deflating me completely. I literally just told him I was leaving without him but for some reason hearing him say it aloud is more painful.

“Okay…” I can’t help the way my eyes drop to the ground. “Well, you can stay here then, I guess.”

“I mean if that’s-” Noah stops mid-sentence to pause and tilt his ear to the party noises behind the door. “Do you hear that?”

“Yeah, it’s just party shit.” I wave him off quickly so I can get out sooner.

His brows scrunch up trying to focus harder, “No, No, listen.”

It takes a bit but then I hear it too. “It sounds like chanting? What are they chanting?”

Noah leans towards the door and carefully cracks the door just a smidge in order to hear the crowd better.

“Are they chanting…”

“Trout.” We say in unison and look at each other with widening eyes.

It’s not unlike Folio to get into some sort of competition but this just doesn’t sound right.

“What the fuck?” I crack the door open further and watch as the entirety of the party makes its way through the back door.

We make it out of the room and follow the crowd into the backyard. Noah notices it before I do and grabs my arm, his eyes round and glued on the crowd.

“Oh no.”

“What? I don’t see-” Then I do. “Oh no.”

An extremely drunk Folio being carried over to the lake, frigid in the autumn cold.

“Well, I mean, it’s just a lake, right? It’s probably just part of the initiation shit.” I speculate, annoyed that I have to babysit not one but two of my friends at this party.

“No, no, you don’t understand, we have to stop them.” Noah says urgently. He grabs my hand and starts running towards the dock.

“Stop! Stop!” He yells though his voice isn’t strong enough to reach.

“Wait why!” I call after him, his longer legs crossing the vast backyard faster than I can keep up. My feet crunch various red solo cups that just thrown across the grass. “It’s just water, he’ll be fine.”

“Stop!” He halts where the lake meets the land, and his eyes don’t leave Folio for one second.

“No, no, no.” He mutters between us.

I’m so out of breath I can’t even ask any further questions and double over just to breathe holding onto my knees. When I finally catch my breath and look back up to Noah, he’s shedding his clothes. He yanks off each of his Vans, tossing them into the grass.

“Hey whoa! What are you doing? You can’t go in there!” I stand there useless with the vague feeling of needing to copy his actions. “What’s wrong Noah, can you fucking talk to me?”

“He doesn’t know how to swim Nicholas! We have to get him.” His skinny jeans are already halfway off of him.

“What! What the fuck do you mean he can’t swim?” I hastily slip off my own shoes and begin unbuttoning my shirt. “All he fucking talks about is fishing. What kind of fisherman doesn’t know how to swim!”

“I don’t know, he’s a fucking idiot!” He’s at the edge, waving his arms and whistling but the roar of the crowd drowns him out “But he’s definitely not gonna be able to swim with how drunk he is. Hurry up!”

“I’m fucking going as fast as I can!”

I regret everything about this night.

I’m never going to another party ever again.

As if in slow motion Folio gets thrown in the water with the dock full of people calling out his stupid fucking nickname. Knowing him, he probably had no idea what was going on until he was midair. He lands into the cold water and the party carelessly makes its way back to the house.

We try getting their attention but they’re all so fucked up that not a single one listens. It’s completely still where he was dropped before a struggle erupts with flailing arms and splashing.

“I’m going.” Noah states urgently, regardless of how quickly I can get these tight pants off my legs. He runs in then jumps into full strokes towards Nick.

Once I’m down to my underwear, I follow Noah. I brace myself for the water and it’s even worse than expected. I hiss at the cold but hurriedly begin swimming after Noah. The water is green and murky and all I feel are long, slimy tendrils of seaweed tangling around my legs. I struggle to make it through without getting lake water in my mouth or my eyes but it's pointless.

Noah finally reaches Folio and even from the far distance I’m at, it doesn’t look good. Nick is heavier and stockier than Noah, and Noah can barely lift a gallon of milk. I’m not quite sure what he was thinking, maybe he was relying on some crazy adrenaline strength.

Noah’s got him but he’s a heavy, thrashing, coughing weight in his arms.

“God fucking damnit.” I mutter and push myself to swim even faster. “Is he good?” I yell from yards away.

“No! I need your help, Nicholas!” Noah’s voice is slurred, strained and breathless. That’s when I realize that I’m supposed to be the sober backbone of this operation.

When I reach them, Noah is just barely keeping Folio’s head above water. I assess the surroundings and decide getting him up on the dock would be the quickest option.

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do.” I say, manhandling Folio from Noah. “You’re gonna get up on the dock and I’m gonna try to lift him up to you and then you can pull him up. Got it?”

“Got it.” He nods and swims over the ladder, climbs up and kneels at the edge. “Okay, ready.”

With every bit of strength in my body, I swim both of us over and lift Folio up towards Noah. He hooks his arms under his armpits and by some miracle gets him up on the dock.

I cling to the metal ladder letting myself take a breath for a brief second. When I finally get up to the platform, Folio is on his side violently coughing, desperately trying to get out any water.

Once his hacking calmed down, he wipes the side of his mouth with the back of his hand and squints at us. “What the fuck happened?”

“You were drowning dumbass.” I snap with an eye roll crossing my cold, wet arms over my freezing chest. “Your ‘frat bros’ threw you into the lake.”

I’m suddenly very aware that I’m nearly naked on this dock and while it’s just the two of them, I still feel extremely exposed. I’m not fond of even having my shirt off on a beach day, nonetheless a dip in a frigid lake with a whole house full of strangers just a couple of feet away.

Noah rests back on his folded legs and places his hands on his boney knees.

“Are you okay?” His voice is light, soft, and airy. “We were really worried about you.”

Noah is gentle with Folio even though we just dove into freezing water for him. He’s kind and concerned and it’s the Noah I’m used to. Seeing him this way again swirls a flutter in my chest. I can’t tell if that’s happened before or if it’s new. Maybe it’s something that’s always happened, and I just hadn’t noticed until now? It feels both comforting and extremely daunting.

Maybe it’s just my body trying to heat itself up.

Folio continues to hack several dry coughs but ultimately nods. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I think.”

I can tell he’s still wasted and frankly, I’m surprised he didn’t just throw up Bryan’s mystery concoction when he was coughing up water.

“Okay can we go put our clothes back on now? I’m fucking freezing.” My teeth chatter as a cold gust of wind washes over my body.

We quickly ran over to the shore to put our mostly dry clothes back on, then came back to Folio on the dock. Noah got him to his feet and had him hold onto our shoulders so we could steady him back inside.

The party hollers as we make our way through with a cold and shivering Nick. It strikes an anger right through my spine. It’s a rage I don’t think I’ve ever felt in my life but it’s spreading through me like a bad infection.

I’m in a room of people ridiculing my friend who just almost drowned.

The same people who almost caused it.

And he still wants to be here.

These are the people he wants to be with.

These are the people Noah wanted so badly to come here for.

Folio guides us up the rounded staircase to his room. Since the house is so big and the frat is so exclusive, each member gets their own room. So, luckily for him, nobody else has to see this.

I drop his arm abruptly once inside but he’s too drunk to even notice. He sloppily rustles through his drawers to find clothes to take for a lake-cleansing shower.

“Well, if you’re going to take 5 million years to find a shirt, I’m just gonna dip.” I say more aggressively than intended.

Or maybe it was intended.

They both look at me with confused, furrowed brows.

“Whoa,” Nick slurs, “What fucking crawled up your ass?”

“Fucking nothing, I just want to fucking leave. I’ve been trying to fucking leave for the past hour.”

Noah looks more confused than him, if I wasn’t so angry, I’d even call it concerned.

“You weren’t having fun?”

“Oh my god, I already fucking told you I wasn’t having fun. If you had just been a half-decent friend for two seconds tonight, you might’ve seen that I was not having fun at all.”

My patience had long left me.

“Oh so, I’m a bad friend now?” Noah raises a brow and takes an offended step back.

A frustrated groan escapes my lips, “I just don’t understand why you both want to be here with these people.” I point in the direction of the party. “Those are who did that to you Folio. And you still wanna party with them?”

Nick looks at me like I have two heads.

“Yes? I’m part of this fraternity Ruffilo. This is like… my purpose or whatever.” He says, stringing along his words like they have long pauses between.

My eyes couldn’t roll hard enough. That was quite possibly the most frat-boy thing I’ve ever heard. Maybe this is the right place for him.

“Your ‘purpose’? Are you fucking kidding me with that shit?”

“They weren’t all bad…” Noah trails off while he scratches his arm, and his eyes fall to the ground.

“Oh who? Those whores you were talking to?”

A quiet hush falls across the dimly lit room and Noah’s face looks distraught, his eyes fluttering back down to the carpeted floor.

“What is your fucking problem, Nick?” Folio breaks the silence. He’s still shivering, dripping water everywhere, and holding a pile of sweats to change into after his shower.

“If you didn’t wanna fucking be here, you shouldn’t have come.” He pushes past both of us and exits the room.

Noah’s brown eyes land back on me once we’re alone. There’s a sadness to them that I can’t decipher.

“Well, this is what you wanted isn’t it?” I question facetiously and spread my arms out grandiosely. “This big college experience?”

He blinks at me blankly. “Why are you being like this Nicholas?” He asks softly and it twists some invisible knife in my gut.

“Being like what? You dragged me here!” I drop my arms harshly back to my sides.

“Yeah, I thought you’d have fun.” He scratches his arm anxiously.

“What’s fun about sitting around watching you hook up with dumb sorority bitches?”

The words surprise me the minute they leave my mouth. I don’t even know exactly what they’re supposed to mean and I sure as hell don’t want to unpack it right now.

His brows curve up where they start and knit together. He notices the odd verbiage too.

Fuck.

“Is this because we-“ He begins but my accelerating heart rate can’t bear to even entertain what was about to come out of his mouth. Nor can I bear to hear it.

I can’t hear him say what we did together that morning those weeks ago. I’ve been trying to convince myself that it was just a dream - even though my mind hasn’t been able to let me forget it, nor has it stopped me from wishing it would happen again.

But I can’t hear him say it. That would make it real. And I so desperately want it to not be real.

“You know what?” I suck my teeth. “I’m done. I’m fucking over this. I’m actually leaving now.” I march over to the open doorframe and turn back to him once more.

His hand moves up and down his arm repeatedly as if he’s trying to self-soothe.

“Okay.” He replies quietly and finally looks up at me from where his eyes were locked on the floor. “I guess um. I guess I’m gonna stay and make sure Folio is all right.” He thumbs over his shoulder towards the bathroom. “I doubt anyone’s sober to drive so, I’ll just stay here tonight.”

It feels as though my ribs caved in on my chest; sharp boney splinters piercing the organs they house.

I guess a part of me wanted him to beg me to stay.

But he didn’t.

“Okay.” I nod and head out of the horrendous frat house.

I fight the lump in my throat and the burning in my eyes all the way down the grandiose stairs, through the bustling crowd, down the front steps, over the green lawn, through all the parked cars, until the door slams behind me in my own car. All at once it hits me and the tears unleash. I cross my arms over my steering wheel pressing my crying eyes against them, heaving my sobs against them.

“Fuck!” I scream within the small confines of my car.

I’m crying and frustrated and angry all at the same time. I don’t even really know what I’m upset about. All I know is that my chest aches in a way it never has before, which frustrates me even more. The feeling reminds me of when you’ve been doing math for an hour but no matter how many times you try, you just don’t fucking understand it.

I just didn’t want to party, why am I fucking crying?

Why do I fucking care if my friends are staying and I’m going home?

I try to calm down before leaving but the tears keep pouring out of me. Everything’s blurry on the drive home and I’m grateful I didn’t take a sip of alcohol.

When I arrive home, the house is quiet. Every light is flipped off and there’s not even water droplet of noise. My mom is at her night shift at the hospital and my sister, Stella, is at a sleepover. Whenever I feel like this, I always go sit on one of their beds and talk to them. They always make me feel better even when there’s not much to say. Even though Stella is younger than me, she somehow always knows what to say. In a lot of ways, she’s smarter than I ever will be.

I don’t bother turning on a light and shuffle off my shoes at the door. I circle to the kitchen. When I open the fridge for a water, the light burns my already raw eyes. I take the cold bottle and press it on my under-eye bags then practically slam the fridge door closed. The cold plastic helps soothe some of the swelling.

I scuffle across the hall to my room and the minute the door clicks in place behind me, I let out a deep sigh. I feel water threatening to prickle into my eyes again, but my head is pounding and I’m so fucking sick of crying. I shed all my clothes since they faintly smell like lake and alcohol, and even though I should shower to wash off nasty lake residue, I just can’t walk out the door again. My chest aches too much for me to leave this room.

So, I slip on new boxers and a random Star Wars shirt and get into bed. I slip in from the right side and it immediately feels wrong.

And it sinks in.

My bed is not my own anymore.

It is half mine.

Half Noah’s.

I scooch back onto the left and try to sleep but I toss and turn for an hour and a half. My mind is racing, and it is only filled with Noah. Stuff that shouldn’t even matter.

Is he okay?

Is he still drinking?

Where is he sleeping?

Is he with her?

Does he wish I stayed?

Does he regret not leaving with me?

Does he want to come home?

Is he going to try to get a ride home? Would it be safe?

Did I overreact?

I should’ve stayed to help Folio sober up.

I should’ve just gotten drunk.

Maybe I could’ve had fun if I drank.

I wouldn’t be so upset if I had just drank, right?

I’m only upset because I wasn’t having a good time, right?

Maybe my two best friends wouldn’t fucking hate me right now if I just pretended to have fun.

Is this just what it is now?

Am I going to get dragged to a party every weekend and have to pretend to enjoy it?

Will I lose them if I don’t?

I flip on my side, facing the door and my back to the window. Between me and the door there’s the vast emptiness of Noah’s spot.

The bed feels so… empty without him in it.

I tug the comforter close around me as I’m suddenly aware of the low temperature in the room.

I hadn’t realized just how accustomed I’ve gotten to him being here in the short amount of time been moved in.

It’s nice having someone take up space next to me in bed.

It’s nice having warmth where there used to be none.

It’s nice laughing until my stomach hurts before bed every night.

It’s nice having someone to shut off the lamp when I’m already half asleep.

It’s nice not being alone.

I like not being alone.

I like not being alone with him.

And I don’t know what to do with that feeling.

Next Chapter -> 04 - Snapped Neck

tag list; @ladyveronikawrites @cryingabtab @sinkingteethinwhitenoise @kingdomof-omens @the-hell-i-overcame [comment if you'd like to be tagged?]

a/n; Thank you for the support on this series and on my other series, Virality. I appreciate it more than you know. I love reading your comments and asks, they really validate and fuel me lol. Even though I'm not the best at replying 😅 but i am incredibly grateful for them, thank you.

I hope you guys like this one, please lmk if you do💘

#noah sebastian fanfic #noah sebastian x nicholas ruffilo #noah x nick #noah sebastian x nicholas ruffilo fanfic #nicholas ruffilo fanfic #nicholas ruffilo fanfiction #noah sebastian fanfiction #bad omens fanfic #bad omens fanfiction #intertwined series #concreteburialplot works #nicholas ruffilo rpf #noah sebastian rpf

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dippindaz · 2 years

Note

Had an idea for established the grabber x reader, maybe it's up your alley!

Seems kinda silly, but since he likes to win games, in my head canon he's probably competitive even with smaller things. A scenario where him and SO are playing cards or board games(or even hide and seek 👀) and he has to be chastised for getting too aggressive. Maybe it spins in the other direction and they goad him on purpose, bad winner, getting caught cheating etc, for sexy reasons

A/N: I can’t. I love this so much LMAO. You didn’t say you wanted filled NSFW so I’m going to just be doing partial NSFW. If you want a part 2 with full NSFW just lemme know and I’ll do it when I can :)

The Grabber x GN Reader

Warnings: NSFW 18+ minors DNI, oral male receiving, lowkey acts like a baby over losing a card game lmao, teasing, you edging him, dom reader,

Being Al’s S/O wasn’t always easy. He was emotional, but tried not to be. He wasn’t good at expressing those emotions either. He was always competitive, almost everything was a game he had to win.

Even though this wasn’t easy, it was kind of fun. It let you be competitive as well. To try and beat him at his own games. He hated when you won, he was quite the sore loser. Whenever you managed to get close to wining you’d almost always ‘make a mistake’ and totally accidentally lose.

You didn’t mind ‘losing’ to him. He wasn’t someone to brag or rub it in your face when you lost. The way his eyes would light up and the dorky smile on his face when he won during actual games was just so cute.

It was tiring though, upsetting to an extent. All of your hard work being for nothing. If only you had some way to show him losing wasn’t always so bad.

He had a stressful day today. He just wanted to spend time with you and wind down for the night. So of course, when he suggested the two of you play a game, you knew it was a bad idea. You agreed anyways.

You were nearing the end of a game of poker, he was winning as per usual, but this game you had a trick up your sleeve. You had slowly been raising bid until you both were all in.

He smirked thinking he had won yet again. Placing his cards down, 4 aces and 1 king. A lucky hard to beat hand.

But as he watched your face his heart fell. You began to smile. You smacked down your hand and there it was. A straight all in spades. A hand just barely beating him.

First his eyes were wide and mouth agape, then his jaw clenched and eyes squinted. He angrily swatted his cards off the table, letting them fall onto the floor.

He got up from his chair and was about to pout on the couch. “Sit back down.” You told him.

He mindlessly listened to you, flopping back into the chair. You walked around behind his chair and began rubbing his shoulders. Leaning down to whisper in his ear, “you are such a sore loser, y’know?”

You walked around to the front of the chair and swung one leg over his legs. You were now sitting on his lap, straddling him.

Grabbing the collar of his shirt, you pulled him towards your face. “We really gotta fix that.”

You were confident and demanding in this moment. He, on the other hand, looked like a deer in headlights. You had never been this dominant before, especially not this... seductive.

One hand stayed on his chest, while the other slowly trailed up to his hair. You ran you hand down his hair, grabbed a handful, and gently pulled it. He attempted to make no noise but out came a small, pleasured sigh.

You chuckled and the hand on his trailed down his shirt, slowly unbuttoning it. Once you unbuttoned the last button you slowly pushed his shirt to drop off of his arms.

His breathing was uneven and shakey. His brain went onto autopilot and his hands rested on your hips.

You carefully watched his expression and rolled your hips against his pelvis. He lightly moaned at the movement and tried to guide you to move more with his hands.

However, you didn’t. Instead, you climbed off of him and unbuttoned his his pants and pulled them down. You did the same for his boxers then crawled and sat on your knees in between his legs.

You slowly began to lick up and down his shaft, never breaking eye contact. His cheeks grew red as he watched you. You took his tip into your mouth and his hips twitched upwards, while he groaned.

You took more of him into your mouth, lightly scraping your teeth along him as a warning. At a teasingly slow pace you began to bob your head up and down.

His jaw clenched and he groaned. “Please, speed up.”

You couldn’t help the smile that crawled to your face. He was already begging for you? He was just too easy.

You continued at the same pace for a few seconds after his request and then began to speed up. Your tongue swirled around him and you hallowed your cheeks.

Though he tried to control them, his hips twitched upwards repeatedly. You knew he was close now. The twitching, his breathing, his quiet groans and moans.

You brought him as close to the edge as you could before fully pulling away from him. He whined and his head fell back.

He picked his head up and met your teasing gaze, “you can’t just leave me like this.”

You laughed at his panicked statement. “Oh honey,” you shuffled closer to him, “we’re just getting started.”

#the black phone #horror #horror x you #the grabber #slashers x reader #slashers x you #the black phone x reader #the black phone x you #the grabber x reader #the grabber x you #slasher smut

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cloud-based-and-rainpilled · 9 months

Text

Staged 2 thoughts!! (this will take a Year because I have a Lot of feelings)

tl; dr at the end

Hmmm I don’t see how it’s a love story yet

Staged 1 works well enough on its own but the second season is really essential as a companion piece upping the emotional ante (which is exactly how I feel about Good Omens 1 & 2 lol)

The opening scene mindfuck; The meta! We have reached levels of irony not previously seen possible

Who do I thank for the tacky Zoom interview show background? It deserves top billing

HE DOESN’T WANT THE GOLDFISH TO BE LONELY (metaphor) and then it FUCKING DIES

Celeb cameos in season 1 being all “hey! I like you!” in season 2 like “you are tearing them apart. I hate you. scum

Also the themeing of Michael Sheen and David Tennant being on their own “side” VS everyone else……….. Simon Mr. Writer Sir i see u and unfortunately i am in your walls

The writing feeling less theater-y works for the meta and I’m wondering whether they always had a second season in mind or if it’s just that well written

Was really hoping for a Colin Firth & Hugh Grant cameo ngl :/

The music didn’t annoy me as much this season since it was more of the horn oomp-pah-pah than the piano. Idk maybe my mind just changed

I didn’t know Whoopie Goldberg could be terrifying but here we are (also I forgot her name isn’t Whoopie)

“I think the wizard fucked your ass” ???

Setting up the awards and the baby was peak *pops P* comedy 🤌 Definitely needed since it gets Sad as it goes on

Welsh kink spotted!!! And so fucking blantant I was scandalized

“I’ll shove it up my ass where the rest of the excrement goes” Michael casually asking David to peg him. Nice

More bad magic. More pls and ty

Also moar Nina pls. T’was but a brief beautiful bluster in the wind

Tbh missed a lot of Michael & David’s back-and-forths VS season 1 but I get that’s… the point

Everyone agreeing David is whiney and annoying lmao get wreck’t

Also I forgot they don’t have air conditioning in Englandland ‘cause my man is sweating in every scene he’s in (unless that was intentional in which case… go on…)

The ladies!! That meta ending with the Bechdel test… I see you…

Still love Georgia and Simon’s sister (who I apparently don’t respect enough to google her name); I like Anna now too! She’s got this kinda quiet sarcastic edge I didn’t notice the first time. They all played off each other well in their 3 some (phrasing) scenes

Big amongus sus react that Anna has better chemistry with the two of them than with Michael of which there is literally zero chemistry. Compared to Georgia and David who are just electric with each other it’s honestly distracting

Actual torture watching them break down as other actors play them and drive their friendship apart, it’s fascinating to watch especially on top of it being themselves but, like, not we swear

“Am I your best friend” “No” Fuckin REJECTED !! looser!!!

Oh huh I can see how this is a love story, interesting

The David Tennant fanboy (he is a Real actor I just can’t think of his name) served juicy vomiting SFX realness

“So you’ve made love with him” BROTHER

It took me 87 years to realize warthog and mongoose were in reference to Timon and Pumbah lol <- I am not looking up how to spell this

The bannister being part of the bookshelf why did this make me laugh this hard

Ken Jeong actually reaching into the heart of everything and casually tearing into it Temple of Doom style and leaving everything to ruin lmao

I miss people getting too close to me (feral noises)

Ewan McGregor is cute and I am shallow 🥰

AU where Simon Pegg and Nick Frost did Staged and honestly it would still work aside from being dangerously heterosexual

Simon & Nick doing the Staged 1 back and forth but literally? mmmm that’s sum gud meta

Oh right I forgot the actual writer Simon’s in it too. He’s still good. I like his Zoom tantrum

Jim Parsons unconvincingly looking for his phone after he casually tells David that he and Michael are obviously in love and everyone sees it lmao

David Tennant has the unique ability to make this absolutely insane face reserved specifically for the emotion “oh shit I’m in love with Michael Sheen” which like

I could kill the Good Omens costume department rn I stg take off those fucking sunglasses I’m so mad

Ohhhhhhhh yeah this is a love story

The Frozen snowman being the big bad final boss of cunt, oof you gotta love a good villain

Michael’s monologue the only one not in the kitchen area just breaking down completely I mean *claps until my hands fall off* he put his whole pussy into it. The frustration? The despair? I mean it felt like an audition monologue (in a good way) he walked through the valley in the shadow and death and came back a broken man with a fuzzier beard

CATE BLANCHETT ZOOM SNIPE

Apparently people didn’t like Phoebe Waller Bridge in the new Indiana Jones movie which I haven’t seen but idk I thought she was pretty funny and hot here. *ding*

MOOMIN MUG SPOTTED

The use of travel as a metaphor for feeling stuck emotionally *clenches fist*

“I like silence” *screaming from the other room*

“It’s like gas filling a room” <- fascinating way to describe their dynamic, it’s specifically referring to aimless conversations that snowball and “fill up a room” but it could also refer to the palpable energy between them— like even through the abstraction of a computer screen there’s this magnetic force that’s just riveting, it’s hard to describe

“We haven’t talked about love” > Seen at 2:17 PM LMAO

Michael alone with the black frame lingering shot. Acting and editing and directing choices so simple and on point. everything hurts

Struggling to say goodbye on Zoom physically reaching out unable to leave the frame that whole scene was just. You can just feel the love through the screen, it’s so layered and intimate despite essentially being “No you hang up first”

Zoom wedding! He stayed!!

I wonder if that’s Michael Sheen’s actual best friend. That would be cute

Anna whispering and telling him “nah I know your bestie is literally an hour away but he can’t come over lol” like??? why? let them love each other I cannot handle this villain arc

“I have to bring that one otherwise my tits will explode” Wait wasn’t she drinking earlier though? #ShivRoyMoment

“I was standing outside your job for four hours because I love you” <- dog from Up moment

Yes he is legally a Hobbit

The car window as an abstraction like the Zoom boxes *continued feral noises*

The direction of David putting his hand on the window and Michael walking away only then revealing Anna and the baby far in the background? We’re in 3 dimensions and they are all painful!!

Okay yeah I get it it’s a love story but I thought this was a comedy haha right guys why does everything hurt

It ends on that meta moment between David and Georgia which I can only assume is to set up for the third season although I dunno if that was planned at the time as well. It’s ambiguous but not distracting if they didn’t make another one

tl; dr: Staged 2 is a unique and excellent addition to Staged 1. The added meta textual layer of the other celebrities breaking down their relationship based on Staged 1 allows for a lot of “hiding behind my hands so embarrassed” moments, but also by pitting them against each other, it reveals their actual love for each other through the bickering. Season 1 on its own is a nice vignette of its time but season 2 with it adds a tension and intimacy that really takes both over the top

Kinda dreading watching Staged 3 since it seems like people overwhelmingly like it less than the other two because of the loss of the Zoom format and constant arguing, but I’m already in this far deep so I’ll stick the landing

To wit— awwwwwww, they love each other!

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parkerpeter24 · 2 years

Note

reader runs into peter parker at central park and they keep him company bc he seems lonely. peter points out that reader has two milkshakes, one being the reader’s normal order while the other one is peter’s? and the reader says something like “i don’t even know why i bought it, it just felt… i don’t know. you can have it.” LMAO this is heavily inspired from that one scene out of legacies

okay sorry for being so late and i have not seen out of legacies but sksks hope you like it!! i also made it fall/winter theme because why not it’s the best season so!

pairing: mcu!peter parker x reader

warnings: angst. little fluff in the end tho 👍

nwh masterlist 🕸️

it wasn’t unusual for peter to sit in the park with a camera around his neck and his favourite book in his hands but it was a rare occasion after the spell. it had been what, a month? and peter was yet nowhere near getting back to you as he had promised. the trees were almost deprived of all their leaves and the wind was turning cold as peter flipped through the pages, not really noticing the words.

stupid romance novels. they were just hundreds of thousands of words compiled and nothing else. no feelings. the things that happened in these novels, stayed in these novels.

otherwise you’d still be with peter and he would still be with you.

it wasn’t unusual for peter to feel his eyes well up, sitting alone in the park with nothing to think, no one to call his own. not after the spell.

his cheeks were damp with tears when he noticed the crunching of the leaves, when he heard those familiar footsteps approaching. his head immediately snapped up to look in your direction.

you. were there. in the same park. as peter.

clearly coming from a coffee shop, he noticed two cups of coffee in your hands as you came to a stop three footsteps away from him. he hated the distance. now he understood what people meant when they talked about the good old days. if it was back then, he would have closed the distance between the two of you, held you in a tight embrace.

“hey.. you alright?” you asked, pointing to his tears. his face was devoid of expression, though he blinked twice and nodded towards you.

“i’m fine.” his lips pursed in what seemed like a smile which he was too scared to flash. and he was. if peter was being honest, he was afraid that you’d disappear into thin air if he let the joy surface.

“good.” you replied shortly, rocking back and forth between your heels and your toes, before you added, “i’m sorry if i disturbed you. i didn’t mean to but i felt that- well i don’t really know why, i just didn’t want you to be alone. it’s almost the jolly time of the year.” you chuckled softly.

peter remembered how excited you were every year about christmas, only for the desserts though.

he smiled at last, wiping his eyes gently with the hem of his sweater, “no, i’m better now.”

you smiled at him, “what were you reading?” it was unlike you to be so intrusive. you wondered why you were taking such interest in a random guy sitting by himself. for all you knew he could be a serial killer.

but he seemed too cute to be a serial killer.

“oh. it doesn’t matter, it’s stupid.” he replied, turning the book close so that you could read the title, “you taking those somewhere?” he pointed at the two cups in your hands.

you looked down as if to check what he’d meant by that, “these? no, they’re just for me.” you chuckled sheepishly.

“both of them? you must really love caffeine.” he chuckled softly, making your cheeks heat up further, even in the cold.

“i don’t actually know why i got two.” you admitted, “it seemed natural.”

peter looked curiously, “which one is yours?”

you pointed out the one in your left hand, “the mocha.”

“and the other one?”

“americano. um, i don’t really know why, i don’t really like strong-”

“i do.” peter interrupted, “it’s my usual order.”

your heart skipped a beat for some reason, and unbeknownst to you, peter’s did the same.

“you can have it.” you held it out for him and he immediately wrapped his fingers around it, knuckles brushing against yours as he did.

“thanks, (y/n).” he nodded, a shade of red covering his cheeks.

“of course, pete.” you smiled, watching as he took a sip from his coffee. a silence fell between the two of you and hated to break it but it was getting late, “i should probably go now.”

the brunette stood up from the bench, “right. i-i’ll see you around?” he asked nervously but to his relief, you nodded quickly.

“we can get another coffee.” both of you shared a smile.

peter watched you leave the park, packing up his own stuff to make his way back to the new apartment and the fact that you two never exchanged names never really crossed either of your minds.

taglist | masterlist 🕸️

@httphollands @the-girl-in-the-chair @spideyspeaches @prancerrparkerr @usergarfields @theglitterymess @quaksonhehe @lowkey-holland @starlight-starks @piscesparker @incorrectsourwolf @wildxwidow @blankspaceblankday @raajali3 @kelieah @arvinsvintage @parkersdahlia @icarusafety @uwiuwi @tommyfroggie @saturnpeter @ellabellabus07 @comfort-reads @holland-styles

#peter parker #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker angst #peter parker fluff #peter parker x y/n #spiderman x reader #spiderman x y/n

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sassy-ahsoka-tano · 2 years

Text

My Baby Girl

Character/Fandom: Austin Butler

Requested: Yes - anon(s)

Prompt: You’re pregnant with Austin’s baby. This is the whole shebang, friends, from the test all the way to the birth. [ Fem!Reader ]

TW: Pregnancy stuff, body negativity/self-shaming, probably pregnancy inaccuracies lolol

Rating: Pg || Word Count: 3275

A/N: Pregnancy fics are...not my specialty 😅 I gotta be honest w y'all the smutty stuff is way more my speed lmao. but hopefully, this isn't too horrible. i am so sorry if you don't like the baby's name but it's the only one i could think of to make sense. Requests are open, as always 💕

🦋 mila

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

You nervously tap your foot as you sit on the couch and wait for Austin to get home. He’s been out doing press for “Elvis” for the last few hours, but you have something incredibly important to tell him. It's something that can't wait. You grip the tiny white stick in your hand like it's a lifeline. In some ways, it is. Or will be someday. You hear the door open and the scuttle of Austin’s feet as he comes into the house. You gulp and call his name.

“Austin, baby,” you say, your smile faltering even though you don't mean it to. “I have something really important to tell you.”

He comes into the living room, looking sexy as ever. But also tired. You momentarily think about telling him another day but decide against it. He needs to know now. He kisses you quickly and then sits down on the couch.

“What is it, love?” he asks, rubbing circles on your hand with his thumb. You bite your lip nervously and take a deep breath.

“I’m pregnant,” you spit out and wait anxiously for his response. He's silent for a minute, staring at you without any expression. Within a matter of seconds, a smile begins to break across his face. You breathe a sigh of relief and smile back at him. He says nothing but gestures to your stomach.

“Can I…”

“Of course,” you respond. “Although I don’t think you’ll feel anything quite yet. I just took the test today.”

He places his hand on your stomach anyway, spreading his fingers out, and just taking in the fact that you're going to have a baby together. Your own baby.

“Are you happy?” you ask.

“I’ve never felt happier in my life,” he replies.

He leans forward on the couch and gently grabs your face with both hands, bringing your lips to his for a soft kiss. When you pull back, he starts showering your body with kisses. He kisses your forehead, your cheeks, your neck, and all over your face. Somehow, he ends up on top of you on the couch. You wind up giggling and trying to push him off of you. He finally stops and looks down at you, hovering over your body. He brushes a piece of hair behind your ear and his eyes flick to your lips for a brief moment. Your heart flutters.

“You’d better get off of me,” you say, laughing. “This is how we made the baby the first time.”

He smiles and kisses your lips one more time.

~ 6 weeks in ~

It's been roughly six weeks since you first told Austin you're pregnant, and things have been going very nicely. Even though you aren't showing yet, you're constantly looking in the mirror trying to see some evidence of your baby growing inside you. It's finally the day of your first appointment and, like a good baby daddy, Austin is tagging along.

You're nervous waiting in the office but having Austin there holding your hand and grinning from ear to ear like an idiot is certainly helpful. Finally, the doctor calls you back. She runs some tests, confirms that you are pregnant, and does an ultrasound. You grip Austin’s hand while the doctor moves the instrument around your skin trying to find the tiny sweet-pea-sized baby growing in your belly. You gasp when you see a tiny white dot floating around on the screen.

“Ope, there’s your baby!” the doctor says excitedly. You smile up at Austin, and he kisses the top of your head. He walks close to the monitor and puts his fingers up to the tiny being as if he can touch it through the screen.

“It’s not even the size of my hand and I already love it more than anything,” he whispers, and you smile.

~ 3 months in ~

Roughly 16 weeks later, things have started to get slightly more annoying, and you are definitely showing. You can already see stretch marks appearing. Your feet are swollen more than usual, and you feel like a big lumbering oaf. You can't imagine what's to come if this is only the first trimester. Your belly has started to grow rounder and stick out, but not big enough to look pregnant yet.

As you stare at yourself in the mirror, you just feel fat and ugly. You try not to pay attention to it, knowing that it's only going to get worse. But some days you just can't take it. This is one of those days. You and Austin are supposed to be going out for dinner, but you can't fit into any of your best clothes. Everything is so much tighter than it used to be, and you're in no mood to be uncomfortable.

Panic rising in your chest, you start to throw clothes out and onto the ground. You dig through your neatly folded clothes and make your closet a huge mess. Austin comes into the closet while you're in the middle of trying to desperately and angrily stretch out a shirt to fit your pregnant body.

“Baby, what’s going on in here?” he asks, holding his hands up to stop you from struggling. Once he gets the shirt away from you, you collapse onto the piles of clothes and start to cry profusely. He gets down on the ground next to you and pulls you into his lap. You cry and cry, grasping onto his shirt for stability of some kind. He rubs your back calmly.

“Shhh, shhh, baby, everything’s alright. Everything’s gonna be just fine, my love,” he whispers softly, pressing kisses to your hair. You sniffle, looking up at him through tears.

“Now, do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” he asks, brushing your hair out of your face. “I’m always here for you, you know that.”

“I hate myself,” you say, and the tears start to come again.

“No, babe, what do you mean? How could you hate something so perfect?” he asks. “There’s nothing to hate about you. Not one thing.”

“Yes there is!” you wail. “My body is hideous. I have stretch marks everywhere, and I’m getting fat and swollen. None of my cute going out clothes fit, and it’s only going to get worse from here. It’s like everything I was ashamed of before is blown up three times as big now.”

Austin shifts so he can reach your face. His finger slides under your chin and tilts your face up to his. He wipes a few tears from your cheeks and then leans down to catch your eyes. Even though you're too embarrassed to look at him, when you accidentally make eye contact you can't break away from his beautiful blue eyes. They're so filled with love that your tears almost stop immediately. You sniffle again and reach out to touch his face with a finger.

“I love you,” he says. “I love you more than anything in this world, the next one, or any other universe that might be out there. Because you are the most beautiful thing in any universe. Do you know how lucky I feel every single day that I’m with you? That I’m with someone who is so incredibly out of my league?”

You scoff, wiping snot from your nose to prove that he's wrong.

“Don’t do that. Don’t downplay yourself like that, love. You are beautiful, you are strong, and you are damn sexy. I’ll love you no matter what you look like. But it doesn’t matter, because you’re always beautiful to me, inside and out. You’re everything I could possibly have asked for in a partner, and in a mother for my baby. And I just know our baby will be the most beautiful baby in the world, cause it’s gonna look like its mama.”

You've stopped crying, in awe of the words he's saying to you. How could anyone be so giving, so selfless, so kind?

“But I’m just gonna get fatter,” you say. “And then I’ll be fat after I have the baby and…”

“Shhh,” he interrupts you. “You’re really gonna make me go through all the things I love about you? I’ll do it.”

He leans over to grab your foot. He presses a kiss to the top of it.

“I love this foot,” he says before pressing a kiss to your shin. “I love this leg.”

He moves up your whole body, kissing every part of you and following by saying how much he loves each section of your body. He’s finally reached your lips, and he slies his hand around your neck, bringing you to him. He kisses you firmly, holding onto you as strongly as he can.

“Goddamn do I love those lips,” he says with a smile, and you giggle. His head bends down, and he moves your t-shirt off of your stomach to press three kisses on the swollen skin.

“And most of all I love this tummy,” he says, laying his head on it and looking at you. “Because it’s carrying our baby. Our love. The biggest way we can show it off.”

You run your fingers through his hair with a weak smile. Suddenly, you feel a sharp pain in your stomach and yank on Austin’s hair with a gasp. His head flies off your stomach and he stares down at your tummy in shock. Your mouth falls open.

“Oh my god!” you shout.

“Was that….”

“A kick! I think,” you finish his sentence. You both pause, waiting to see if it will happen again. It doesn't and your smile starts to fade. Austin gets down close to your belly again.

“Hey little baby, mommy and I would really like to feel you again. Can you say hi?” he mumbles against the skin and then replaces his cheek. You both stare at each other for a minute and then another kick comes. Your hands fly to your face, and you squeal. Austin sits back up and kisses you passionately, smiling the whole way through.

“See, look how amazing your body is, babe,” he says, gesturing at your stomach. “You’re literally growing a tiny human being in there. There’s nothing more amazing than that. God, I can’t wait for him to get here.”

You shake your head in disbelief.

“I’m sorry…him?” you ask. “No, no, no it’s gonna be a girl.”

“I’ll love it whatever it is,” Austin responds, leaning in for another kiss. “But it’s gonna be a boy.”

You playfully smack him.

“Now get up and get that sexy body dressed. You need food, baby,” he says, standing up and offering you a hand.

He helps you pick out your outfit and showers you with compliments the entire time. You climb into the car and leave for the restaurant. You sit with a smile on your face, gently rubbing circles on your stomach. A thought suddenly occurs to you.

“What should we name it?” you ask.

“Shouldn’t we wait until we know whether it’s a boy or girl?”

“Well, we could prepare for both and then choose when we know.”

“Alright…”

Silence falls as you both try to think. Finally, Austin speaks up.

“How about Lisa for a girl….and Dallas for a boy?”

You think for a second.

“I like Dallas. And Lisa…as in Lisa Marie?” you ask.

“Well, we don’t have to use Marie too, but it’ll always be a reminder of this time in our lives. The happiest time,” he says, reaching over to grab your hand. You intertwine your fingers into his and smile.

“Alright…Lisa it is.”

~ 8 weeks + some change in ~

You're huge. Almost nine months into this pregnancy and all of the worst symptoms are starting to hit you. You can't fit into any cute clothes and don't want to try. Everything aches, and you have to get help to stand up after sitting down. You can't get comfortable at night and are sweaty all the time. The little baby is kicking like crazy, angrily and frantically now. Not to mention that your cravings are going crazy. You can't remember the last time you ate something that a normal human being would eat. Today, your craving is potato chips….on ice cream. But not any potato chips or any ice cream. You have to have chocolate ice cream and Ruffles salted potato chips. You come down the stairs like a ravenous beast.

“Austin,” you practically growl.

He looks up with concern at your urgent tone. You're gripping the banister to the stairs, white-knuckled.

“I need ice cream and potato chips,” you say desperately.

“D…do you need it now?” he asks, almost afraid.

You curl your fingers deeper into the wood and grate your teeth.

“Yes, now,” you hiss. You don't mean to be mean, you can't help it. It literally feels like your entire body will die if you don't get ice cream and potato chips right that second. Austin jumps up and immediately gets the keys to the car. He knows the drill at this point. You feel horrible for constantly for putting him through so much and being rude about it, but your body is literally fighting you.

“What brand?”

“Ruffles chips. I don’t care about the ice cream.”

He starts to run out the door, but you call him back.

“Thank you. I’m sorry. I love you,” you say with a small smile. He returns a quick smile and then rushes out. While he's gone, you veg on the couch and flick through the tv stations, feeling irritated. You try to take deep breaths and remember not to take it out on Austin when he gets back. You really are like a voracious wild animal and jump out of your seat when the garage door sounds. You run out to the car to meet him and snatch the grocery bag from his hands. By the time he’d come inside behind you, you're already tearing the bag of chips open. He gently takes it from your grasp.

“Hold up there, tiger. Let me put it in a bowl will you? Jesus,” he says, shaking his head.

“Sorry…I just…I need it so bad,” you whine.

“You know there was a time you said that about my-”

You hold your hand up.

“Not now, Austin. Don’t even.”

He scoops your ice cream into a bowl and arranges the chips in a little circle on the top. You appreciate the effort and feel terrible that you're about to absolutely demolish it in a matter of seconds. He hands it to you, and you snatch it, running back to sit down in the living room.

“Thank you. I love you!” you yell between bites of food.

“No problem, baby. I’m glad I can make you happy. I love you, too.”

~ that night ~

It's the middle of the night when you groan yourself awake. You roll around for a few minutes, clutching your stomach. Somehow, you're able to fall back asleep for a few hours but are awoken again by intense pains. It is like nothing you’ve ever felt before. You figure it's just pregnancy pains until you stand up to go to the bathroom, and they intensify.

“Owwwww!” you shout, tensing what feels like every muscle in your body.

“What’s wrong, baby girl?” Austin has turned over in his sleep and is peering at you through the dark.

“Austin, grab the bag,” you say, already waddling to the closet to get dressed.

He bounces out of bed and grabs your pregnancy panic bag. He helps you hastily get some clothes on, you hold onto him as you somehow get down the stairs. You are breathing in and out, trying to make it through the pain. You've had to stop a few times to rest and catch your breath. But eventually, you make it into the car and Austin is zooming to the hospital. He's holding your hand and driving with the other, which is making you nervous. Not to mention that he is most definitely speeding.

“Honey, could you slow down?”

“Sorry, sorry,” he says, slowing down immediately. You smile painfully and squeeze his hand.

You arrive at the hospital and Austin helps you out and inside before he runs back out to find parking. The nurses help you into your hospital gown and get you ready and comfortable.

“Oh dear,” one of them says, and you sit up panicked.

“What? What?” you ask. It never seems good when medical staff say things like that.

“Honey, you’re going to give birth very soon. Did you call the hospital when these pains started?”

“No they only started less than an hour ago.”

“Well, you must have slept through them, then. Becuase you are extremely dilated,” she says, shaking her head. “Like less than an hour dilated.”

“I-” you stop in your tracks, realizing that the first bout of pain you felt had been the beginning of your labor. You sit back and try to relax, thankful that it probably won't be much longer. Austin comes running in with wild hair and a half-zipped jacket. You try to laugh at his wild appearance but it just turns into a groan.

“Are you alright? How are you doing? Can I get you anything?” he asks rapidly, searching your body all over to make sure you actually are doing alright.

“Yes, thank you. I’m fine. I just…want it out,” you hiss.

He sits down in a chair that's been pulled up to the side of the bed and holds your hand softly. You squeeze his fingers and breathe through the pain for the next hour or so until the nurse finally says it's time. She helps you sit up a little and more people in white lab coats and scrubs come rushing into the room.

“Okay, the baby is crowning,” the doctor says, and you grip onto Austin’s hand.

“You’re doing great, baby girl,” he says, smiling and holding your hand between his fingers. You hiss out breaths as you begin to push with the doctor’s guidance.

It's definitely painful, but everything is going so fast that by the time you realize the baby is out, you're already starting to lay down. The doctors help you finish the birthing process and then take the baby to clean it up and run tests. You and Austin have chosen not to know the gender of your baby beforehand. Even though there is sweat all over your forehead, Austin brushes your hair back and kisses the hot skin.

“You did so good, mama,” he says quietly and smiles. “I love you so much.”

You weakly smile back. After a while, one of the nurses returns with a little bundled blanket. A pink bundle.

“Congratulations!” she says. “It’s a girl!"

You smile, trying not to let the tears in your eyes fall as you accept the tiny thing into your arms. Austin is sitting on the edge of the bed with his arm around your shoulders. You stick your finger out and your baby hooks onto it with a hand.

“Little baby Lisa,” you say, smiling breathlessly.

“She’s beautiful,” Austin says, gently touching her forehead. He rubs a thumb on her forehead and leans down to kiss her. “I love you. And I love you.”

He angles his head to give you a kiss. You smile into it and when he pulls back, you gently touch his cheek.

“I love you too.”

“My two baby girls,” Austin says. “The lights of my life.”

He kisses your forehead again and then you both look back to the sleeping baby in your arms. Your baby girl.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

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