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criticallyacclaimedstranger · 3 years

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Fic: So Close Yet So Far Away

Fandom: Triple Frontier

Ship: Frankie Morales x Jay 'Lady' Ray

Warnings: Language, talk of sex, throwback to sex, Pope is a crude asshole. Yearnnniinnngggg.

Summary: Lady and Pope get into an argument and Frankie sorts her out. Cue some elite level yearning.

A/N: HAHAHA I wasn't even meant to write this today but I woke up with this on my mind and I just had to because they're my BABIES. This is an instalment in the Frankie x Lady series and takes place back when Lady was in Frankie's squad, before they were an item.

Jay should have known better than to ask about everyone’s weekend. She just wanted to make small talk while they got prepped for a field exercise. She wasn’t ready to hear about their night out on Saturday, how Santi, Frankie, and Benny all scored some willing chicks, Will only missing out because he had a girlfriend, not because he didn’t pull.

All the while Jay was stuck with her family, listening to her mother go on about how she was too good for the army, she should leave while she was still alive, get a normal job, marry, have kids… She could have been out with the guys, maybe get lucky herself and if not, at least have a fun night. Get drunk instead of sad.

And now she finds herself listening to Santi talk about his one night stand, not giving Benny a chance to talk about his, while Frankie, quite characteristically, clammed up about personal stuff.

“Nutted her so fucking hard and all she did was beg for more,” Santi brags, “best fuck I had in ages…”

Jay’s been in the military since she was 18. She knows how soldiers talk, she’s heard it all, she’s participated in the crude joking, she’s not put off by it. But on this Monday morning, while the squad is assembling their equipment, she doesn’t want to hear it.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Pope, do you fucking have to talk like that?” she barks, unable to hear one more word about his sexual conquests. The rest of them cease their activities in wait for Pope’s reply. Working so closely together, sometimes spending weeks cramped up on assignments builds close bonds but also breeds discord. It’s normal to be at each other’s throats from time to time but it’s rarely Jay who flies off the handle.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, My Lady,” Santi replies with a smirk, his voice at its most velvety. “I meant I made passionate love to her all night – “

“You are so fucking disgusting, you know that?” Jay hisses. “Just shut the fuck up about the whole thing, nobody wants to hear about it.”

“Clearly not you,” Pope drawls, quick to anger. In the corner of her eye, Jay notices Will shake his head at him. Don’t engage, bro, just drop it. But Santiago Garcia is someone who doesn’t let things slide when he’s in gear.

“When was the last time you got laid, Ray? You need to get those pipes cleared out. Get some d.”

When was the last time? Too long ago. She does have an itch but last time she scratched it, it just didn’t feel right. She had the same feeling of detachment as she experienced just now when she heard about last Saturday night, particularly the fact that Frankie got laid.

It’s not that she’s jealous. She’s just more comfortable with the idea that Frankie doesn’t sleep around with anyone.

“A dick isn’t going to solve my problems, Santi, unless it’s a big one up your sorry ass,” she snaps, a rude laugh from Benny telling her she scored a point. Staring hard at Pope, whose ridiculously handsome features show an obnoxious amount of amusement, she knows that he won’t budge until he’s drawn metaphorical blood.

“Just name the time and the place, Ray, I’ll be there. Will you?”

“Okay, knock it off.” It’s Frankie, of course. The voice of reason. “Redfly’s gonna be here any minute and I don’t want to do extra laps just because you two can’t play nice.”

Frankie always has that calming effect on her, even now when she’s inexplicably mad at him for having fooled around with some random girl he picked up at their usual dive. Is there a possibility of her being there again in the future? Jay doesn’t want to think about it. Right now, she focuses on the sense that Frankie’s words make. It’s not worth it. Santi’s not worth it.

“Just stay away from me, asshole,” she warns Santi before going back to her kit. The tension in the room eases and Benny, who’s closest to Jay, gives her a brief pat on the back and a nod that says Good call. She hears Frankie murmur something to Santi behind her back, then Santi’s mutter: “She on the rag or something?”

That does it. Jay throws down her backpack and spins around.

“You say that to my face, you piece of shit,” she growls, taking a step forward. Her body is quivering with pent up rage in need of an outlet and knocking Pope on his ass would serve as an adequate one.

“Jay, he’s not worth it,” Benny tries to placate her but she barely hears him. Her whole focus is directed at Pope and his shit-eating grin. He says one more thing…

“Got your panties in a twist?”

She lunges forward but doesn’t make it to Pope as several hands grab her and hold her back.

“Hey, hey, hey!”

“Calm the fuck down, Ray!”

“Crazy bitch – “

“You’re on really thin ice, too, Pope! Shut that motherfucking mouth of yours!”

Benny is physically restraining her as she practically vibrates with desire to beat the crap out of Santi, who’s held back by Frankie.

“Ray, he’s not worth it,” Benny tells her. “Take a walk. Smoke. Calm down. He’s an asshole.”

He’s right and Jay knows it. Mustering up all of her willpower, Jay rolls back onto her heels, straightens her back, and squares her shoulders. Without looking at anyone, she turns around and stomps out.

Frankie finds her by the vehicles, in the backseat of a Humvee. Her fore and middle fingers are rubbing against her thumb: she’s quit smoking but is clearly wishing she had a cigarette right now. Frankie climbs into the backseat from the other side and pulls up a pack from his pocket, offering it to her without words. Jay hesitates but eventually takes one and leans closer to him when he flicks open his lighter. Frankie can smell the anger on her, a sweaty tightness that radiates from her muscles. She sits back, inhaling deeply before exhaling in a frustrated puff of smoke.

“Fuck,” she mutters, “I don’t wanna die because of these.”

“I thought you quit?”

“I did.” She throws him a glance and a grimace before flicking the cigarette out through the open door. “I thought you quit as well?”

“I keep them around for emergencies like this,” he shrugs. Jay looks pointedly at him.

“Then you haven’t truly quit, have you?”

He loves it how she puts him on the spot like this, provokes him, forces him to reconsider, change his way of thinking. She always does it with such ease, sometimes with a teasing glint in her eye. She just makes him want to be a better person.

“I guess not.” He throws her a small smile that goes unreciprocated. She stares into the back of the seat in front of her, lips tight. Frankie would love to just sit here in silence and let her lead, let her open up in due time, but he knows that if they don’t join the others soon, Tom is going to make a scene.

“Pope’s an asshole,” he states. Jay scoffs but says nothing. “But what’s up with you? You usually don’t let shit like that get to you.”

Her nostrils flare and he sees the muscles of her throat flex. Eventually, she parts her lips to speak, her voice strained.

“I spent the weekend with my dear mother, my brother, and his family. And you know what mom’s like.”

Frankie nods. Yes, he’s heard about Jay’s mother and the dislike the woman has for her daughter’s career choice. The older brother is married with one kid and another on the way and he, of course, is a saint, a pinnacle of human achievement, his children the very essence of what makes a successful life, his wife the perfect picture of Woman.

Jay suddenly twitches, then kicks at the seat in front of her.

“Fuck!I hate this fucking shit!”

Frankie refrains from putting a hand on her shoulder, no matter how much he would like to. He might end up with a broken nose.

“I cut her off,” Jay says tonelessly. “Completely.”

“About fucking time, Jay.” He’s been waiting for this to happen and he wants to tell her that he’s proud of her but it’s not his prerogative, no matter how much he would like it to be.

“Yeah,” she agrees, still not looking at him. “I kept hoping that she’d get her shit together but…” Her voice trails off and she swallows hard. “Fuck. I miss my dad.”

“He’d be proud of you,” Frankie assures her, biting off the endearment that threatened to escape him. Mi amor. Querida. He wants to be able to call her that, wants to be the one she’d come to with her sadness. Wants to be the one to call her mother and tell her to go suck an egg.

“You should’ve called,” he tells her but she only shakes her head. Stubborn as a mule.

“You were out. I didn’t want to ruin your night.”

It had been ruined the moment Santi laid eyes on the company of three young women by the bar. He had zoned in on the curvy brunette and Benny had picked the fiery redhead, leaving Frankie with the blonde. He didn’t want her, didn’t want any of the others, but he had fallen for the peer pressure and for every drink, he figured it could be a good idea to get laid. The girl was pretty, funny, nice. She had a hot body and was clearly willing. They had gone to her place and he had treated her like he would treat every woman he slept with: he ate her out, giving her several orgasms with his tongue before even thinking about putting his dick in her.

She had insisted on riding him. Frankie didn’t mind but as she bounced on his cock, her round, heavy tits jiggling in front of him, he didn’t see her face anymore. No, it was Jay all along, Jay’s long, lean body on top of him, Jay sinking down on him, her slick, hot pussy swallowing his cock while he swallowed her moan. The fantasy had become so real that he had to wrangle the woman off of him and take her from behind instead.

He left in silence once she was asleep, crept out like an asshole, a coward. He usually asked a woman if she wanted him to stay, he had once upon a time enjoyed having breakfast the next morning, sharing kisses when he finally left. But now, it all felt like cheating.

“You wouldn’t have ruined the night,” he tells her quietly. “It wasn’t that good.”

“The night or the sex?”

“The latter.” His ears are burning and he refuses to look at her.

“Too much to drink?” There it is: that sweet, amiable little taunt she saves for him only – or at least he hopes she does. He’s never heard her speak like that to any of the other guys.

“Wrong girl.”

Jay turns her head and looks at him. The distance between them in the backseat seems to shrink and grow at the same time when he returns her gaze. The hairs at the nape of his neck rise when he loses himself in the fathomless ocean-blue of her eyes.

He has to kiss her. He mustn’t kiss her.

“Are you two done with your fucking therapy session?”

Both of them startle when Tom shows up by the open door on Frankie’s side.

“I have an exercise op to run and I don’t have time to wait for you to feel quite ready, Ray,” he adds before slapping his hand to the roof of the Humvee. “Get your asses in gear.”

He leaves without having noticed anything. Frankie wonders how it’s even possible. Didn’t Tom feel the air crackle with electricity? Didn’t he hear how hard his heart was beating?

Jay gets out of the vehicle and slams the door shut, and Frankie follows suit. As they walk back, keeping a distance of two feet between them, Jay murmurs a Thank you, Morales to him.

“Sure,” he replies easily, forcing himself to sound neutral. “I got you, Ray.”

#my fic #triple frontier #francisco catfish morales #francisco frankie morales #frankie morales x ofc #frankie morales x lady

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bitch-butter · 3 years

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(Modern!AU Webgott idea. Longish? Will eventually be called true bluish light. Tell me if this is interesting lol

Rated C for mentions of Joe's poor COVID protocol)

* * *

The blackout curtains that hung over the single window in the somewhat narrow bedroom were intensely effective, shrouding the occupants of the bed in a heavy darkness that even the daylight outside could not permeate. The still potent smell of sex lingered over the room, sweat and saliva and everything else casting a gross and homey aroma over the rumpled sheets and discarded clothing along the floor. Just around the edges of the curtain was a thin, white glow, but beyond that absent suggestion of light the room remained dark and still, as though nobody was there at all.

Pulling in a deep breath, Joe admitted he really shouldn’t have been there.

Shouldn’t have stayed the night, at least, if anything for the sake of his own reputation. He’s not typically one to go full spoons with a stranger (or, practically a stranger) no matter how good the sex had been, and he’s definitely never been one to spend the night somewhere that is not his bed. He’s spent years crafting his bed, has read actual magazine articles about how to create the best, most comfortable space, and after many years of hard work he is lucky enough to have created what many have called the Coziest Place in America. Suffice it to say, he does not like to spend a night in someone else's bed and he doesn’t think he needs to apologize for it.

This bed isn’t the worst, though.

And the guy that came with it wasn’t the worst either, he had to say. Joe had been ready to delete the app that led him to this guy and his bed, but it’s funny what a ‘ping’ on a lonely Friday night after nearly a year of no sex could do. Turns out that celibacy has made him into a fucking cuddler.

He’s not all that sorry about it. Keeping his distance from contact with other humans has handily prevented him from catching COVID thus far, and not everybody in his circle can say the same thing, as Tab had caught it first out of all of them via an ill-timed jaunt to Miami and Lip had had it twice now by virtue of his shoddy lungs and over-eagerness to lend a hand to people in his building. But a year is long, and half a bottle of cold Kim Crawford accomplished a lot at diminishing his capacity to give a shit about anything other than getting some attention on his dick. As long as the guy had sworn he tested negative, which he had, and Joe himself had tested negative, which he was, he saw no reason not to waltz into a total strangers apartment to merrily screw for as long as they both could stand to.

And it turns out this guy can stand a lot.

Joe has to admit at least half the reason he spent the night was that he actually was exhausted by the sheer voracity of their fucking. They oughta hand out medals for this shit, or something.

He finds himself smiling as he lets his mind wander over their earnestly passionate exploits of just a few hours past, and proceeds to let his eyes linger on the form of his companion. Though the room outside the warm enclosure of the blankets is a little cool the guy has one bare leg stretched out along the sheets, pressed up tightly against Joe’s own blanketed legs, with the remaining covers bundled against his chest. Resting mostly sideways on his belly, his face is turned towards Joe in sleep, mashed into the pillows and yet somehow managing to look as effortlessly gorgeous as he had looked in his photos on the app. His body moves with deep breaths, the steady inhale and exhale in combination with the sheltering warmth of the blanket nearly lulling Joe back to sleep.

Nearly.

He needed to get up, at the very least to find his phone and check the time. As carefully as he could he extracted his body from the tangle of covers, stepping lightly onto the carpet with his eyes on the other guy's face all the while, mindful not to disturb him. The night before he hadn’t even bothered to check his messages before passing out, and as such headed straight for the amorphous blob of his pants that rested just a foot away from the bed, crouching and reaching into his back pocket to grab his phone.

He hadn’t told Babe where he was going, as he’d only gathered the stones to go circa 11p.m. and he figured Babe was either asleep or performing his Getting Ready to Fuck routine and wouldn’t want to be disturbed. He almost feels sorry for Babe, who had loved the idea of dating a future doctor until this year when the sexiness of it was side-swiped by the actual danger the position entailed. As such, the Getting Ready to Fuck routine had an extra layer of manic energy to it, and Joe knew better than to try and pull Babe’s attention away from the hours preceding Gene’s rare, rare, rare visits to the apartment.

Even so, the amount of message icons he was presented with was unexpected to say the least.

He raised his eyebrows, nearly humming in interest as he noted the time. Jesus Christ, these blackout curtains are really worth their salt if it was nearly noon.

Tapping into his messages, he found a trickle of anxiety rolling down his spine.

FRI AT 11:42PM

Babe

Hey where r u?

I gotta talk to you

SAT AT 12:00AM

Babe

Are you coming back?? Srs need to talk

Feb 5 12:00AM

Missed call/Mobile

Babe

SAT AT 12:02AM

Gene Roe

Hi Joe, it’s Gene. idk if i gave you my number?

Trying to get a hold of you, call/text when you get a chance

Thanks

SAT AT 12:20AM

C h u c k

Babe is trying to find you

Feb 5 12:30AM

Missed call/Mobile

Babe

SAT AT 12:50AM

Speirs Ron

Why am i getting texts at 12:45 at night asking me to find you?

Well, something is fucking happening. And he’s at least 100% sure he wants no fucking part of it because any drama that starts after 11p.m. is the drama of the goddamn devil.

Fighting not to heave an enormous sigh, Joe reluctantly acknowledges that he should pull his clothes on and get out of here if there really is an emergency in the vicinity of his roommate. Looking back over his naked shoulder Joe tries to catch a glance at the guy in the bed, at the length of his bare leg in the semi-darkness, and the angle of his shoulder protruding from the blankets where he curled. He’d happily get back in that bed and go another round or five.

As though alerted to Joe’s presence by the cosmos, his phone begins buzzing in his hand. Huffing in annoyance, he attempts to reject the call at least until he can get out of the room, but throws himself off kilter and bangs his elbow into the bedside table, jostling a glass of water and a pile of paperbacks.

“Shit,” he curses, grasping at his elbow and shooting a glance back to the guy, whose eyes are already open and alerted to the noise.

Damn it.

The guy blinks slowly, bleary, for a moment before pulling his face from his pillows and angling up onto his side. “Hi,” he greets softly, running a hand through his mussed hair.

“Hi,” Joe nods back, grimacing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

The guy shakes his head, looking for all intents and purposes like he means it. “Not at all,” he sniffs, meeting Joe’s eyes in the darkness with a still-sleepy smile. “What time is it?”

“Oh man, it’s like noon.”

Furrowing his brow, the guy nods back before shooting Joe a wry smile. “We tired ourselves out, huh?”

Joe laughs, seeing his phone light up in his hand with a new message. “Speak for yourself.”

At the interested quirk of the other man’s brow Joe hastily gives a shake of his head and stands. “I’ll get out of your hair quick, no worries, just be a minute.”

The guy frowns, sitting up in the bed to let the blankets pool around his hips, hands coming to rest between his legs. “Oh, well, don’t feel like you have to.”

Joe pauses, pants in hand. “Oh, it’s not -”

“I mean, if you want to go then for sure, but like…” the guy waves a hand, pursing his lips before smiling and coughing out a laugh. “Are you hungry? I have eggs, I can make you something before you go.”

He hesitates, eyes pivoting from the guy, to his phone still in his hand, and back to the guy and his open, expectant face. After a moment, he clears his throat. “You know, I could eat.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I could, could you?”

The guy smiles, and even in this mostly dark room Joe can see he has dimples and has to hold himself back from practically swooning, cursing his half-drunk self of the night prior for not remembering exactly how attractive this guy was. “I could use some coffee, is what I can use,” he says, stretching his arms over his head, and Joe is treated to the sight of his bare, bitten up chest. Usually he doesn’t take much notice of his partner's body hair, but as he lets his eyes trace over the guy's chest and legs as he moves to stand he finds himself clearing his throat and getting a little warm along his neck.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” he responded distractedly, pulling his eyes away from the luscious sight of the guy's ass as he bends to retrieve his underwear and instead moving to put his own on. After a second thought he pulls on his shirt as well; might do him some good if he finds himself flushing up at just a glimpse of this guy's ass.

As he slips his shirt over his head, the guy turns to him with a bit of a sheepish look on his face. “Can I admit something?” he asks, lips scrunched.

Joe pauses, still grasping the hem of his shirt. “What?”

“I…” he starts, before chuckling somewhat awkwardly. “I don’t totally remember your name...”

A fair bit of relief surges through him at that, and Joe finds himself huffing out a laugh of his own, and adds another one at the half-embarrassed and half-expectant smile the guy gives him. “Can I admit something back?”

“What?”

“I don’t remember yours either.”

The guy's eyes widen minutely, before he tips his head back and laughs, nodding gently as he rubs a hand over his face. “Is it bad manners to say that’s a relief?”

“I think it’s alright as long as neither of us care,” Joe said, pushing his hair back, before stepping up to the guy and extending a hand. “I’m Joe.”

The guy grasped his hand in a sure grip. “David,” he replied with a little shake of their hands, before leaning in and pressing a dry kiss to Joe’s cheek. “Nice to meet you.”

Joe turned his face into David’s, catching his lips in a tender, if chaste, kiss. “Nice to meet you.”

#webgott #modern!au #it's my personal hc that joe not only loves to be in bed but is Very particular about it #mentioned:baberoe #this AU sponsored by Kim Crawford

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bakugou-jpg · 4 years

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“Breathe” [Kuroo x reader] Karasuhoes server collab

Hello, hello, helloo !! This is my part of the karasuhoes server collab, the masterlist to all the other amazing and beautiful stories the other wrote can be found here so make sure to check those out too :)

This was really fun to participate in and i’m very glad to have been able to be part of such a fun little community🥺 Hope you guys’ll enjoy this thing i made !

Also pLEASE forgive the fact that this banner is pretty bad. I forgot that i had to make a new one and made this one at camp, but i’ll replace it soon with a better one😭🤣

Prompt: “Hey, just look at me. Breathe.”

Warnings: TW:some sort of panic attack

Words: 3407

____________________________

Breathe

Dating Kuroo was like running away from the rain late at night after coming back from a big city by train. Getting out of the train and walking onto the platform only to notice its raining pretty hard, the noise of the droplets hitting the ground echoeing in your ears.Counting down from 5 to 1 before bolting off, the sound of shoes hitting the wet pavement being somewhat pleasant while laughing and screaming at the same time before rushing into the car being absolutely soaked. Sitting in silence for a few seconds, catching your breath before bursting into laughter.

Its the smell of gasoline late at night while looking at him through the car windows as he's pumping gas into the car, staring off into space for a moment before snapping back to his thoughts and catching you staring. Smiling in response and shooting a wink at you.

Dating Kuroo, was so much fun and comforting. There was no one who could make you laugh at silly science pun pick-up lines like he could, no one who knew your exact order at every single restaurant like the back of their hand and especially no one who knew how to hold and kiss you just the way you liked it like Kuroo did.

The two of you met in highschool, his third year and your second. Being friends with your neighbor, Yaku, seemed to have its perks especially after tagging along with some of their games and catching the attention of the rooster.

A couple of dates, victories, anniversaries and a ring on your finger later the two of you were sharing an apartment together.

Kuroo had a great job, one that paid quite well and allowed the two of you to go on vacation abroad a couple of times. You were still in college, finishing your last year of school and starting work at a place you had your internship at which happened to offer you a job afterwards at. It felt too good to be true, all of it.

Coming home from a rough day only to find a freshly made meal waiting for you on the table, waking up to find your head locked in between an arm and a leg wrapped around your lower back because he once again used you like a body pillow and had his own head pushed between a pillow, finding little knick knacks on your desk he bought cause they reminded him if you and solving the who's doing the dishes part with rock-paper-scissors but when you lose he'd still be by your side drying everything off.

Hours worth of paragraphs could be written about how fun and loving domestic life with Kuroo was.

"(Y/n)? I'm home!"

With his tie loosely hanging around his neck, the top buttons of his shirt open and one of his shoes slightly untied Kuroo had entered the house. His face was adored with a few droplets of sweat mixed with rain from outside after having ran from the car towards the front door, not wanting to get wet and all.

It was usually you who came home later, but today Kuroo was out of town and had a long drive home so he hadn't been able to be back for dinner on time.

It didn't take long until he had kicked off his shoes and got rid of his blazer, throwing it on some boxes so he could "clean it later".

He scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion, wondering about the reason why you hadn't greeted him yet. Normally you'd be calling out for him immediately or, if it had been a particularly hard and long day for him, you'd be by his side in a second taking him into your arms while running your fingers through his hair.

Perhaps, you went out to go to the shop or your parents? No, your coat was hanging on the coatrack with still fresh droplets of rain on it from outside and your shoes were neatly placed underneath it.

"(Y/n)..?"

Kuroo entered the living room, socks softly dragging over the smooth wood floor of the apartment. While he was busy taking off his tie, leaving him only in a blouse with rolled up sleeves, he could notice how there were two bags of groceries scattered over the kitchen counters. It seemed as if you hadn't bothered to even notice one of the peaches had rolled onto the ground and how it seemed that one of the eggs cracked.

Kuroo scanned the living room, noticing how you probably didn't even plop down on the couch after he left the apartment . Everything was still the same, empty cup that once contained his vitamin juice still there and the cushion he used to playfully hit you on the head with still on top of the head rest.

"Hey, babe? Are you home?"

Once again there was no reply and all he could hear was the soft buzzing of the dishwasher in the kitchen.

Perhaps, you were asleep? Or showering, maybe you were cold after going through the rain and were soaked so went to shower immediately which would explain the hurry.

A small grin made its way onto his face as he hopped off into the bedroom in his search for you.

He tiptoed to the bedroom, sneaking his way into his most treasured room of the apartment, being very careful that if you were to be sleeping he wouldn't be waking you up and could just look at you for a few seconds because god did Kuroo love the way you looked oh so peaceful and soft whenever you slept. It was a sight he could never get enough of, even if there might of have been some drool on the corner of your mouth.

Kuroo softly pushed the door open, a slight creak could be heard through the door but it wasn't too loud. The curtains were closed, perhaps you really were asleep? He was sure you had opened the curtains this morning which was something that had woken him up abruptly.

"You sleeping, baby?" His voice spoke softly before he made its way inside. Once his eyes had gotten used to the light, he could see how your clothes were scattered over the ground. It seemed like they were a bit wet, meaning you had been in the rain on your way back, and they left a trail towards the bathroom door.

It didn't take long before the edges of his mouth stretched out into a smirk and in a split second he had marched towards the door, his ear against the white wooden surface to pick up any sound coming from inside. "(Y/n)? I'm home, can i come in?" Kuroo called out, knocking softly while his other hand reached for the knob.

Kuroo lost the sense of privacy between the two of you a long time ago. I mean you two had seen each other naked before, what more was there to hide? You'd be taking a shower and he'd casually walk in to use the bathroom or the opposite way of course. You even caught him walking into the kitchen butt-naked in the morning. It was..interesting.

He'd always be able to walk into the bathroom while you were there, no matter what you were doing. Nobody else had the key to your apartment and if Kuroo brought someone home he'd always send you a text beforehand to avoid any embarrassing moments.

..so why was it locked now?

At first Kuroo didn't think much of it, maybe you did it on accident?

"(Y/n)? Are you okay..?"

His voice was laced with worry but ,once again, there still was the possibility that you had locked it on accident. He did it too sometimes, it was a reflex from when he lived at home that sometimes randomly resurfaced.

Though, Kuroo couldn't hear any water running..but you had to be inside since the door was locked after all..why weren't you responding?

Did u slip and fall? Were you okay?

Kuroo could feel how his chest tightened and all feeling he had in his upper body sank to his toes. His hands were sweaty, the loose tie around his neck suddenly feeling way too tight for his liking.

He leaned his forehead against the wooden door and started fiddling with the doorknob, hoping you'd atleast respond with a whimper or maybe a knock back. After all, you'd still be okay..right?

"..H-hey, baby can u open the door for me? Can you do that? I'm coming in okay?"

Although the door was locked, there was still a way to come inside from the outside. You see, though it was very tiny, there was a little button at the bottom of the door knob you could twist if you used something thin, like a coin or keys.

Kuroo found out when the two of you were roughhousing. He was obviously winning, after all the man had years of volleybal behind him and still worked out frequently. But, he had a weakness that would give you just a few seconds to get away and that weakness were his sensitive sides. It only took one pinch of your fingers and he flinched and started cackling, something which allowed you to run towards the bathroom while locking yourself up.

You thought you were safe, a feeling of pride washing over you and you settled yourself on the closed toiletseat. Everything seemed to lead to you having won, but the simple click of the doorlock turning made your heart drop and a few seconds later Kuroo stepped inside with a devilish grin on his face and a penny in between his fingers.

Long story short, you were absolutely screwed.

"Shit, shit, shit, fuck, fuck.."

Trashing through the drawers, Kuroo hurriedly looked for something he could use to open that damned lock. Within seconds, he fished out a very tiny key out of the nightstand and was quick to make his way towards the bathroom door.

"I'm coming in now"

...

"(Y/n)..?" Kuroo muttered, a wave of relief washing over him once he saw that you appeared to be okay physically. A second wave of worry washed over him the moment he saw your tear stained face looking up at him.

The sight of you sitting on the cold tile floor, your bathrobe hugging your body and your still slightly damp hair dripping some water on the floor was something he didn't expect to see. You were sobbing at this point, only now did he notice how you were hiding one of your hands from his sight. It killed him, seeing you like this, especially since he didn't know what happened and countless of possibilities ran through his head..why didn't you open the door?

Kuroo quickly rushed to your side and wrapped his arms around you, burrying your face into his shoulder while sitting down. He couldn't care if his suit got wet or if his head bumped into the sink, all he wanted right now was to hold you and help you calm down as he could hear how you slowly started choking on your sobs and hyperventilate.

He backed up a little, giving you some space to breathe and softly rubbed your back. "Hey, hey, its okay..I'm here now, its okay. Ssshh, its okay baby." Kuroo whispered, a voice oh so soft and comforting that always pulled at the strings of your heart. A voice that felt like a warm cup of chocolate milk with marshmallows that started melting.

At this point you were shaking, the clear thoughts you once had turning into a mushy blurry mess and all you could do was cry and panic. You wanted to go away, wait no you didn't. But you did, you could run, you shouldn't. Maybe you should leave without saying anything, wait no no what were you saying. Fuck it was getting hot-

“Hey, just look at me. Breathe.”

Breathe.

Kuroo was holding your face in his hands, basically forcing you to keep your attention to him and him only. His thumbs caressed your cheeks, wiping away the tears that were leaving your eyes like niagra falls. The way his warm hazel eyes peered into your own with such love yet worry made your head start clearing up. His touch was comforting, it was okay. Everything was okay.

Pulling away from him, you dug the arm you were hiding further into your lap. "Tetsurou, i..I, i'm really..Fuck" You cursed under your breath while throwing your head back, bumping it into the wall behind you while taking a deep breath. The way Kuroo's eyes were stuck onto you, felt like a thick smoke cloud. You couldn't get rid of it and it was killing you slowly, you wanted it gone yet it made you feel at ease in a way.

The bathroom suddenly felt a lot smaller and you suddenly realized why you were crying in the first place, old worries resurfacing and tears prickling at the corner of your eyes. Unconciously, you started pulling your hand closer and closer to your body, something which didn't get unnoticed by Kuroo as you felt his hand slowly reach out to it and wrapping around it.

"I-i'm so sorry.." You whimpered, a fresh new wave of tears falling down your cheeks.

It took awhile for him to register what exactly was going on, especially since he was confused about why you were hiding it. He didn't even understand what exactly it was what he was looking at at first, but within seconds his mind put two and two together.

Staring at the three pregnancy tests in his hand, Kuroo's mind immediately went blank. The world around him disappeared, and all he could look at were the three different sticks that had either a || , ++ or read postive on it.

The thick silence was choking you up even more, the bad outcomes you imagined in your mind that you on life didn't hope to become reality suddenly feeling way too close to you. Maybe you really did have a reason to cry.

Kuroo slowly adverted his eyes from the sticks in his hands to you and he felt his heart hammer in his chest. "You..you're pregnant? Like, a baby, your- no OUR baby, growing inside of you. Do you..want to keep it?" He questioned, his hand reaching out for your own. The soft squeeze he gave once you accepted it made you feel at ease, the bad thought drifting away slowly again.

You nodded your head at his question, adverting your eyes to his chest. The world around you had stopped a long time ago, it was just you in the bathroom. The moment you had gotten home you didn't even bother to put the groceries away, the screaming in your head getting louder and louder with the minute becoming truely agonizing. The words 'You're just late' repeating over and over again getting louder with the second as you got closer to the bathroom.

At first you postponed it, taking a shower first and taking your absolute sweet time with it while scrubbing and scrubbing your skin as if you were trying to scrub away the panic that boiled in your chest. After having been in it for around 30 minutes you forced yourself out, not wanting the water bill going up just because you were feeling like a coward.

Peeing, had never been so difficult in your life. It wouldn't, you couldn't. It frustrated you extremely, never in your life had your bladder given up on you the most and when you needed her most she decided to let you down.

The minutes that followed were probably the worst. It felt like hours had passed, your reality slowing down like in an action movie when they'd shoot bullets at someone and they'd barely dodge them. Even after hearing the beep of one of the pregnancy tests, the more expensive one, had echoed through the bathroom you waited for atleast another 40 minutes before looking at it.

The truth is, Kuroo and you talked about a lot that involved your future. Kuroo always talked about how he wanted to buy a house, a big one with a beautiful garden where you could keep pretty colorful flowers and gaze at the stars at night. One with a porch and of course a swinging bench where the two of you would sit when you're all old and wrinkly with an old dog sitting at your feet. He'd talk about how he'd just know how good you'd look at your wedding, already talking about how he'd kiss you at the altar like he had never kissed you before.

All of those plans, plans for the future.

..yet there were never any words about kids.

The two of you weren't exactly too young anymore, after all you were responsible adults now, but you didn't except that if you were to ever have kids it would be right now. You weren't even sure what Kuroo thought of being a dad himself.

"I-i'm gonna be a dad? I'm actually gonna be a dad? We'll have to buy a house!"

With another nod of confirmation coming from you, Kuroo bursted out into laughter. It was a type of laughter you had enver heard before,if you were honest. It wasn't like his usual cackle, in all honesty it sounded more like a serial killer in a movie that was absolutely nuts and laughed wholeheartedly. You weren't even sure why he was laughing, heck Kuroo didn't even know himself.

The relief that had washed over him the moment he finally cleared his head was immeasurable. You were okay, like actually okay, and he was gonna be a dad? This was the first and last time he was happy about you crying. Fuck, he could even feel his eyes burn slightly.

Kuroo looked at you for a moment with a big grin and you could see how ecstatic he had gotten all of the sudden. The joy he held in his eyes was something you last saw when you proposed the idea of living together but even that wasn't on the level as this.

It didn't take long before you started mimicking his smile, all of the bad emotions gone within a second. The tears that once spilled out of your eyes due to panic and the uncertainty you felt not too long ago, had turned into ones of relief and happiness.

Before you could even comprehend about everything that was happening, Kuroo had grabbed the fabric of your bathrobe and pulled you closer to him. His lips immediately met yours, your noses slightly bumping into each other in the process but at that moment it didn't matter. The way his lips moved against yours made your knees weak and made you want to hold onto it forever. With his hand cupping your face, Kuroo only deepened the kiss before he pulled away again and rested his forehead against yours.

The two of you gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, no words exchanged, but with the way Kuroo was looking at you with the softest look he didn't have to. His thumb softly caressed your cheek and you could hear the way he sighed in relief as if breathing out all of his worries.

With another soft kiss to your lips, this time merely a peck but still comforting Kuroo held you close in his arms. His face burried into your freshly washed hair and his nose pressed against your temple. His mouth ghosted over your ear and you could feel his warm breath on your skin.

"..thank you"

Maybe agreeing with your friend that coming along to his volleybal practice hadn't been so bad after all, you'd have to thank Yaku properly once he came back. Meeting Kuroo really might of have been the best thing to happen to you.

Neither of you knew what the future would hold at this point and in all honesty it was quite scary, but you had Kuroo and Kuroo had you. You two didn't know how to actually prepare for such a big step in your life and along the way there were many doubts.

But coming home late at night to find Kuroo slow dancing with your daughter to an old song on the lp player, his face in awe as he looked down at how the girl on his hip that held onto her father's hand slowly started dozing off due to all the swaying might of have made you realize that sometimes,

Some things should just be left unplanned.

#kuroo x reader #kuroo x y/n #kuroo x you #kuroo imagine #haikyuu imagine #haikyuu!!#kuroo tetsuro #haikyuu fanfiction #karasuhoes

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soulwillower · 4 years

Text

teach me how • bill denbrough

(bill denbrough x reader smut)

requested: BSJFOSKD bill teaching inexperienced reader how to masturbate? 🥺 + hi!! would you mind doing a soft dom bill w the “i want the neighbors to hear you scream” prompt?? i get you’re probably super busy but if you have time :) thank you soo much!

warnings: swearing, smut, masturbation, oral (fem receiving), dom bill, hes soft tho, a lot of dirty talking, or like. bill telling the reader what to do, dont know, fluff at the end, unedited mwah

[losers + reader are 18+.]

2.4k words i think

♡

it was peaceful, for once.

your house was silent, the only real noise being the patter of the persistent rain on the side of your house and the storm gutters filling with water. there was also bill's calm but filling presence, one foot away from you, sprawled on your bed. your best friend.

"what should i even do while they're gone?" you mumble, breathing in the scent of bill, even as he lay decently separate from you. your parents had just left for the weekend a few hours ago, and bill was over keeping you company. your stomach flutters as you watch him smirk at you. "i-i don't know. w-we can have a party." he suggests, but you shake your head profusely.

"no way in hell, denbrough. i'm not letting the trashmouth, mike, or you throw a party in my house. i know better after the halloween incident." you state, giving bill a pointed look. he laughs, a melodic and beautiful sound - the kind of sound that you want to hear for the rest of your life.

"you had fun, y/n. d-don't be so lame." he teases, no bite in his words. "i g-guess that you can do a-anything. i m-mean, eat whatever you w-want, walk around naked, y-you can even have s-sex in the living room. or the k-kitchen- or your p=parent’s b-bedroom!" he says teasingly, a smirk on his lips. his grin so hot that you groan, but his words make you even redder.

"bill. that's disgusting. and you know i don’t have anyone to be having sex with. especially in my parents bed!" you say, a disgusted look on your face. he laughs again, flipping sideways to look at you and rest his head on his chin. he's so fucking charming, you swear he's going to be the death of you.

"f-fine, then. m-masturbate in your o-own room, i guess. b-boring." he says sarcastically, a cheeky grin on his face. you want to shove him, to roll your eyes, and to call him an idiot, but something inside you makes you feel the need to blurt out, "i wouldn't know how."

his eyebrows immediately shoot up and he wheezes, "wh-what? wait, wh- are you s-saying you've never t-touched yourself?"

you turn red as you shrug, "i- i just... i'm not sure what to even do."

he just shakes his head in surprise. "but you - how could you - so you've never, l-like.. y-you've never-"

embarrassed, extremely embarrassed, you shake your head. "no." you say, looking into your lap, "i just feel like i won't be able to do it right, like. like i need a guide." you say, and the air falls static. t

he rain on your window simultaneously fades and becomes impossibly louder as bill shrugs in a forced-casual manner.

"i mean, i know how to d-do it. n-not that, i'm l-like, s-s-suggesting that i-"

you look at him and cut him of, "can you show me?" you ask and his mouth snaps shut. his cheeks redden but he nods, again trying to look casual, and you think there is nothing, nothing casual about this. but you really love it.

"y-yeah, y/n. n-now?" he mutters, eyes skimming your body and already making you shiver. you feel nervous but you definitely want it. "yes, if that's... if that's okay." you mumble.

he grins, "o-okay. a-anything for you, y/n."

you sigh with a small smile but then it gets silent again. "so... um, how do i- how do i start?" you ask, already feeling aroused as bill leans up on the bed, watching your splayed body on your bed in front of him as if taking in every single feature.

you feel yourself flush deliciously under his hungry gaze.

"w-well, you have to be c-comfortable." he says, biting his lip as he looks at you. you shrug, slightly unsure and only guessing what he means. so in a surge of confidence you peel your shirt off, leaving you in a sheer bra.

his eyes widen and he lets out a staggering breath, giving you butterflies - because nobody has ever looked that way at you before.

"f-fuck." he whispers quietly before nodding. "good, y-yeah, okay now just... t-take your f-fingers and...touch y-yourself where it feels good." he mutters lowly. you know you're dark red so you shut your eyes, hand slowly snaking down between the valley of your breasts to your shorts, rubbing yourself over them.

it starts to feel good and you apply a tiny bit of pressure, the sensation making your hips buck slightly and a small moan to escape your lips. you don't even have time to feel embarrassed because bill's speaking up, making you open your eyes.

"fuck, yeah. th-that's - that's g-good, y/n." he mutters, staring at you while you slowly rub yourself over your shorts. "j-just like that."

his words make you ten times wetter, you can feel it as you whimper and he shifts slightly next to you as he watches. "and if y-you're feeling l-like it, then y-you t-touch yourself u-under your c-clothes." he says it so lowly, as if he's intently focused on your body, that you again feel that surge of confidence that bill brings out of you and you bring your hands to your hips, slowly pushing your shorts and panties all the way off, letting out a shaky breath as they hit the floor.

"holy shit." bill mutters quietly and you can't look at him, instead shutting your eyes as your fingers find their way down to your center. he definitely wasn't expecting you to take them all the way off.

"s-start with o-one finger." he says and you immediately obey, your finger swirling slowly in your heat, feeling how slick you've become and gasping as you nudge your clit. bill hums, "yeah, baby. th-there you go. that'll feel g-good."

his words egg you on and you're slipping a finger inside yourself, gasping at the feeling as you clench around your finger, your thumb rubbing your clit lightly. you whimper as you realize that you love having bill tell you what to do - it makes it all so much hotter. you thrust into yourself slowly, bill mumbles, "a-add another when y-you're ready."

so you do after a few pumps, fingers so slick with need that they slide in with relative ease. you start to pump into yourself and the small, "good g-girl" that escapes bill's lips almost makes you scream with pleasure.

your eyes open at his words and you see that his cheeks are red, eyes dark with lust and his mouth parted while he watches you fuck yourself. your eyes trail down to his sweats where you notice a large bulge, making you moan slightly louder as you thrust your fingers into yourself. is he turned on by this? the thought makes you ache with need.

“d-does it feel good?” he asks lowly and you bite your lip, unable to comprehend how incredibly turned on you are by him right now. “y-yes, bill. fuck.” you mutter as you pump yourself.

the feeling is unlike anything you've every felt before, and it feels like a slow, pleasuring burn that makes your toes curl and your breath hitch. you're embarrassed slightly by the noises that escape your lips, so you try to keep your mouth shut as you move against yourself, the feeling like a coil wrapping tightly in your stomach making you gasp quietly.

his hum is low and deep as he watches you, eyes lidded low with lust. you can't help the small whimper you let out from being under his attention, especially so vulnerable.

your legs involuntarily squeeze shut and he tuts softly, hands shooting out to pull your soft thighs apart. when his fingers touch your skin, you immediately shiver - he hadn’t touched you this whole time. to do this, it's one thing. but to have bill touch you... you groan in need at the thought.

"bill, please." you whimper, your fingers suddenly not enough. he groans quietly and you lock eyes with him, your legs quivering as you continue to pump your fingers into yourself. "c-can you? please." you blush as you realize how needy your words are. he may not want to do that, anyways.

but then you don't care how desperate you sound when you see the look that falls onto his face at your words.

"well, s-since you asked so n-nicely..." he starts, sinking slowly to his knees on the ground next to the bed to be closer to your body. you prop yourself on an elbow, watching him as he gently takes your hand, pulling your fingers slowly out of you. it makes you whimper.

he grins, a glint in his eyes as he pulls your fingers into his mouth, quickly swiping your wetness from your fingers with his tongue then letting your hand drop to the mattress.

he groans at the taste, biting his lips. you're impossibly wet now, his actions nearly enough to set you over the edge already because holy fuck, that was the hottest thing you've ever seen.

he slowly pulls you by your legs so that they hang off the bed, his breath close to you and making you squirm.

"what do you w-want, baby?" he asks, hands slowly caressing your thighs. you buck your hips into the air, nervous but impossibly desperate to feel that feeling you were so close to achieving earlier. "please, bill. please touch me." you mutter, squirming under him as he smirks.

he says nothing, instead dragging a finger up your heat. you squeal in pleasure as his finger rubs at your clit, your toes still curled in pleasure. he watches you as he slowly slides a finger into you, pumping immediately.

he only gives you a few seconds before he’s slipping another finger in, filling you more than your own fingers did and making you moan out blissfully. “bill.” you mutter, fisting the bedsheets and he fucks you with his fingers. your legs start to shake as he rubs your clit with his thumb and you slap your hand over your mouth to stop the yell that threatened to leap out of your throat.

he tuts at you softly, "none of that, b-baby. i want the n-neighbors to hear you scream.” he mutters, leaning up to kiss your cheek as he picks up his pace, thrusting his fingers into you and making you gasp. you turn red at the cheek kiss and you obey him, pulling your hand from over your mouth and gasping in pleasure as his lips press a wet kiss your clit.

bursts of pleasure course through your body, spreading from your center all the way to your fingers and toes, your fingers finding purchase in bill's red hair. "fuck, bill." you emit loudly, your voice echoing through the empty house. he sucks on your clit, kitten licking it as his fingers brush up against you and you feel that tight coil again, very quickly becoming stronger and stronger.

as he hits a new angle inside of you, you moan loudly, concerned that if it weren't for the rain outside, your neighbors might actually hear you. the thought has you turning red as bill moves his fingers expertly in and out of you, his tongue flicking against your clit.

you clench around him and this time it feels different - it almost feels like the moment before you drop on a huge roller coaster but infinite times better. your breath comes out in ragged moans, "b-bill, i think i'm going to-"

"c-cum, baby. y-you've worked so h-hard." he whispers, pulling his lips off of you and pumping into you in the most perfect way that has you moaning loudly.

and then he's pressing a searing kiss to your lips.

as his fingers curl inside you, you hit your high, whimpering into his mouth as you fleetingly realize that him kissing you for the first time is what made you cum.

but you're clenching around his fingers as waves of pleasure roll through you, whining his name against his lips in bliss. it feels better than anything you've ever felt before, and bill being the one to get you there makes it all the more incredible. you whimper as you clench slowly around his fingers, your orgasm drawing out from the intensity of it.

his fingers slow to a stop as you come down from your high and he presses a kiss to your lips as he pulls his fingers out of you slowly, watching your face contort in pleasure with a smile on his own cherry lips.

as he sits back on his legs, you stare at each other out of breath and you have to gulp for air, feeling completely satisfied and fucked out. that was fucking incredible. your eyes drop down his figure and you start, “do y-”

but bill gently smiles, standing up. "th-thats for a-another day, y/n." he mutters with a soft shrug, grabbing the sweatshirt he'd tossed to the floor hours ago when he'd first arrived and helping you pull it on.

it smells like him and your stomach gets butterflies as he slides your underwear up your legs. you sit on the bed and he smiles softly at you, his cheeks slightly pink as his hand falls to your cheek. his hair is messy and falls into his eyes, and you love it.

"u-um, i like you. l-like, a lot." he says bashfully and you smile. his thumb rubs your cheek and you can't help but press your lips against his in a slow, meaningful kiss. you blush as you taste yourself on his lips.

"i like you too. a lot." you add, giggling as he smiles. "th-thats good." he states, "because i-i'm about to c-come up there and k-kiss you some more, and that'd be a-awkward if you d-didn't."

you laugh, rolling over to make space for him and yelping slightly as he lightly smacks your underwear-clad ass. he lays down and immediately pulls you into him, half your body over his as he lays on his back. his eyes close and you nuzzle into his neck, his scent surrounding you.

you feel warm inside.

you perk up as a thought pops into your head. "wait, this means maybe i will have someone to keep me company while they're gone." you say into bills neck and you beam as you feel his chest rumble with laughter.

"c-can we have sex in y-your parents' room?" he jokes, poking your side. you smack him lightly on the chest, leaning your head up to look at him. "no, bill! stop!" you hiss, giggling as he laughs at you, eyes full of adoration as he watches you move around.

he pulls you in to a deep kiss, holding you against him and you sigh happily. "i really l-like you, you know." he mutters into your hair. you smile tiredly, "i like you more, you asshole." the only other noise after that is the rain on your window and the soft beating of bill's heart against your ear.

#bill denbrough x reader #bill denbrough smut #losers x reader #prompts fic #requests #richie tozier smut #eddie kaspbrak smut #stanley uris smut #richie tozier x reader #eddie kaspbrak x reader #stanley uris x reader

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cherry-flavoured-thot · 4 years

Note

Plz all the obey me bois Anything u wanna write I just lov them so much (And they're not pokemon lmao) Beel is bae

beel been putting the obaby in obey me since he appeared. have some random soft pieces

Lucifer returned late that evening, to the point where he expected nobody to be awake when he returned, which wasn’t unusual, a meeting would drag on for sometime and he’d return long into the night to a mostly silent home. He had told you he wouldn’t return until late and asked you not to wait for him, yet despite him asking you this he still ends up finding your sleeping figure on the couch in the lounge where you clearly had been waiting for him.

“Whatever am I going to do with you?” He questions to himself softly, accompanied with a small sigh. He debates to himself what to do with you, whether he should lightly shake you awake, attempt to move you but risk disturbing you, or simply allow you to sleep where you were. He decides that he does have the heart to do so, opting to find you a blanket and placing it over you. “Rest well.” He murmurs, placing a ghost of a kiss on your forehead before leaving you to rest.

Mammon isn’t exactly sure why he’s the one who has to babysit your drunk ass when Asmo was the one who got you drunk in the first place. Not that he was complaining at this point, you were surprisingly cuddly when you were drunk personal space seemed to be lost concept on you. You’re leaning on him, face flushed red, you had been babbling on about random things earlier that made no sense but now you were oddly silent.

“You know what Mammon?” Never mind. He doesn’t reply, just waiting in silence to see if this time he’ll understand the slurred words that fall out of your mouth. “Sometimes I can’t tell whether you like me or not, but I don’t… I don’t really care, because I like you a whole lot. Don’t tell anyone else but you’re my favourite person.” Your words trail off, silenced by a loud yawn, eyes starting to close. Mammon is left to register your words as you fall asleep on him, after turning about three varying shades of red, he looks to your now asleep form.

“Stupid human, you’re my favourite too…”

Leviathan didn’t even hear you come into his room, he was so focused on the game he was playing that nothing else could catch his attention. Rather than scaring him you decided to wait until his match finished, when it finally did he placed the controller down and twisted in his chair to grab a drink only to see you standing there smiling at him. Despite you not doing anything but standing there, he still ends up being startled almost jumping completely out of his chair.

“H-how long have you been standing there?” His question is met with a voice crack half way through his sentence, you simply shrug, smile not faltering, it’s in this moment he notices the excitement in your eyes.

“Five minutes. Anyways guess what?”

“What?” You quickly pull out two tickets that were hiding behind your back, with a little leap of excitement.

“I got two tickets to that live show you were talking about!” This time he leaps in excitement, his entire face lighting up.

“Whoa no way! Let me see!” You hand them to him and he examines them, before letting out a small cheer. “They’re legit and front row too! You’re like the best human ever!” He impulsively pulls you into a hug, but quickly retreats from your arms, completely red when he realizes what he did.

Asmodeus loved the fact that you and him both had matching colored nails at the moment, and he loved the benefits that came with that factor. He can ask to hold your hand, with the excuse that it only makes sense for you to do so when your nails are matching. He can make you wear similar colored outfits to him when you go out together and blame it on the nails.

But his favourite thing was that he could use them as an excuse to steal you away from the rest of his brothers, that he could claim that you and him needed to re-do your nails together and you’d go along with it, allowing him to have you all to himself, even it’s for just a moment.

Satan was really trying his best to not only ignore you but look at annoyed with you at the same time, but it was really hard you continued to slide notes to him with cute little drawings of cats on them. Despite him telling you to stop it, multiple times, and that he was trying to focus.

“Are you two passing notes?” Satan takes in a deep breath, of course the teacher had to notice you sliding him what would be the sixth cat drawing, which was of a very cute fluffy cat but that’s besides the point.

“No, they’re just passing notes to me.” You look slightly betrayed at him throwing you under the bus, but you don’t seem too bothered by being called out by the teacher nonetheless.

“(Name) care to read out your notes to everyone else?”

“Well they don’t actually say anything, they’re just drawings of cats, but... meow? I guess.” Satan’s head is in his hands, mainly so the teacher doesn’t catching him smiling at your antics.

“Detention.” Satan looks up and mouths ‘i warned you,’ with a small smile before the teacher speaks up once again. “For the both of you.” Satan is no longer smiling but you’re now resisting the urge to laugh.

Beelzebub knows that in the back of his mind, that Lucifer is not going to be pleased if he walks into the kitchen to find it in the state it’s currently in. Not that it was intentional but, there’s flour everywhere and egg on the ceiling, as well as a pancake that you tried to flip in the pan but ended having it stick to the roof. And there’s a hole in the roof from where he tried to do the same thing, which he knows he’s not going to be able to fix before Lucifer gets home.

But he doesn’t really care, because in the middle of the kitchen you’ve toppled over, laughter erupting from you to the point where you’re almost in tears. It’s such a funny sight that it makes Beel laugh too, any worries he has are washed away by the sound, seeing you so happy makes him happy too, happy to the point where he doesn’t mind that the food he was promised is currently lodged in the ceiling.

Belphegor was both annoyed and amused, on one hand you didn’t agree to come lie in bed with him because you had homework to do, on the other hand you had decided to do it in his general vicinity and the noises of confusion you were making as you struggled to figure out were rather funny. Especially because he had no idea how you were getting some of the answers you were getting either but he knew most of the right ones.

“The answer is 72, I have no idea how you got -6 either so don’t bother asking me.” He speaks up, deciding that he wants you to hurry up and finish with your work, you turn back to him, expression morphing between confusion, curiosity and something between the two.

“I- you- how?”

“Who cares? Now please tell me you’re finished with your homework.” You mutter something to yourself, wonder why he hadn’t helped you sooner, which he chooses to ignore, before quickly scribbling down the answer.

“I guess.”

“Then hurry up and come lie next to me.”

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akakeiiji · 4 years

Note

ayo its me your bff and hERES MY MF REQUEST BRO 😤💕 so can i request a bokuto hc where he's baking with his s/o but she can't cook. She keeps trying to eat the batter tho and its all fluffy hehe i hope i dont mind ily u dumb hoe tf

LMAOO SUUNI YOU DUMB DORK ILYT (fun fact: this request was based off of smth that happened to her irl)

THIS CAME OUT MORE CRACK-LIKE THAN FLUFF BC I LITERALLY CANNOT WRITE RN, I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND LMAOO

-`,✎ Bokuto baking with an S/O who can’t bake

Nobody could blame you and Bokuto for your sudden desire to bake

After the plethora of Tasty videos you two binge-watched, it was frankly inevitable

So, despite it being 1 in the morning, you and your boyfriend rushed out to the nearest 24-hour store to buy ingredients for the easiest recipe you found

Chocolate chip cookies seemed fairly simple enough so you hoped your chances of messing up were reduced at least a little bit

You two would be the only people at the store and the lone employee there would just be so confused because it’s 1:30 in the morning and the Black Jackal’s wing spiker just burst into the store wearing matching owl pajamas with you

You two had to buy almost all the ingredients because the only ones you guys had in the house were butter and eggs

Yeah, you don’t really cook much

You two moved in together just recently but were never able to actually do something like this before

Bokuto was always busy and you frankly didn’t trust yourself enough not to burn down the building, so this was a first for you two

When you two got home, you started immediately, not even bothered by the late hour

The kitchen was already a mess after only 5 minutes

Bokuto accidentally plopped the flour bag down on the counter too hard and a bunch of flour exploded everywhere

Then you accidentally broke two eggs when you lost your balance after laughing too hard at the sight of Bokuto with said flour all over his face

But you were not deterred, nothing was going to stop you two

You weren’t going to let your clumsiness and inexperience hold you back, you could do this

“BABE STOP THAT’S SALT NOT SUGAR!”

Okay, you couldn’t do it. Not on your own at least

To your surprise, Bokuto was actually pretty capable in the kitchen

“Bokuto, you never told me you baked!”

“Oh yeah, I always did with my siblings before.”

I’m soft, big brother Bokuto is my shit

He was still a mess though, a capable one yes, but a mess nonetheless

He kept ignoring the recipe and just went with his guts which freaked you out

You started panicking when he started eyeballing stuff, you kept insisting on using the measuring cups but Bokuto was all like “Pfft, it’s fine, it’ll work out in the end.”

He would just throw everything in the bowl in a seemingly random manner but he was still confident that everything would be fine

You helped with the little things like mixing or cutting up the chocolates but you spent most of your time watching Bokuto’s unconventional baking techniques

He’d smear a bit of batter on your cheeks while you were focused on reading the recipe on your phone, worrying over how you two didn’t do anything the recipe called for

“Hey hey, (Y/N) relax okay? Let’s just have fun!”

The kitchen looked like pandemonium afterward but the batter actually looked good

“Okay, open wide!!”

“KOU IT TASTES GOOD!”

“YAY!!”

You two are so loud, I swear, the neighbors are so tired of ya’ll not like that, this is pg bruh

You and Bokuto probably ate a third of the raw cookie dough, and you probably ate 3/4 of that portion

BOKUTO HAD TO PRY THE BOWL OF DOUGH AWAY FROM YOU I SWEAR

You kept snatching little bits of dough while you and Bokuto were putting them on the baking pans

“If you keep eating the dough then we won’t have any left to bake!! Stop!!”

“I can’t help it! It’s so yummy.”

He’d lift the baking pans up over your head, far from your reach and run to the oven as you chase after him, fruitlessly trying to grab more dough

Once they were in the oven, Bokuto was practically bouncing with excitement

He’d squat in front of the oven and stare at it for a while, grinning happily

He’s so happy because he made it with you i’m dead

You two start cleaning up while waiting for the cookies to bake and it somehow ends up with you two having a mini food fight

You two ended up throwing handfuls of flour at each other and made an even bigger mess

By the time the cookies were done, you and Bokuto were still cleaning up and there was still flour all over you two

BOKUTO WAS SO EXCITED THAT HE ALMOST GRABBED THE PANS WITHOUT AN OVEN MITT

Thanks to you, the crisis was averted, his coach would have strangled him if he ended up burning his spiking hand

The cookies smelled divine though

“Gordon Ramsey who? Sorry, we only know Bokuto Koutarou.”

Bokuto literally just randomly threw ingredients into a bowl but the end result still came out great, which you really couldn’t wrap your head around but that wasn’t important

What was important was the scrumptious cookies waiting to be devoured

After taking a billion photos for Bokuto’s Instagram, you guys finished all the cookies in less than an hour

WHICH IS SAYING SOMETHING BECAUSE THERE WAS A LOT OF THEM

You two ended up falling into a food coma and fell asleep on the couch, flour still visible on your clothes and hair

You two were a mess, to say the least, but you really made a good team

“We should join MasterChef.”

“No, Kou, it wouldn’t be fair to the other teams.”

“True, we’re just too powerful.”

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doctor243 · 4 years

Text

Twice Shy Part 2

Yeah um.... so turns out I did have an idea for a second chapter of that one-shot that I did, so it turned into a two-shot....

Summary: Tony notices some nice surprises and decides to investigate.

Pairing: TonyxNat

Words: 1324

Part 1: Please read it before this for context

Tony was never accused for being oblivious. On the other hand, Nat’s subtlety was her occupation.

In the days following his episode in the meeting room, Tony noticed a few changes in the compound. They weren’t…significant things per se, but they did appear to be special differences. When he woke up the morning after to a throbbing headache, he found some Advil on his bedside table with a glass of water, although he had no memory of placing those items there. When he entered the kitchen, he found large amounts of bacon and scrambled eggs that, judging by the dishes in the sink, everyone else had already partaken of already. When he sat in the meeting room waiting for their daily accords meeting to start, he was informed by Jarvis that “Captain Rogers has been called away for a personal emergency and will return in a few days.”

A little stunned by the sudden freedom he had, he strolled around the compound, unsure of how he should occupy his time during the next couple of days. He considered looking over the amendments that they had made to the accords, or creating a new suit in his workshop, but neither held any sort of appeal to him at the moment.

Throughout the day he noticed even stranger things. He had headed back to the kitchen for his special cookie and was pleasantly surprised to see that his cookie jar was unusually full (they were good cookies and his teammates tended to leech off of him). Odd. The pot in the coffee machine was still full, even though he swore he had had three cups a cup during breakfast. When he finally did venture into the workshop to find something to do, he could swear that his bots were on their best behaviour since…since ever. Dum-E was frantically sweeping away at nothingness and U was ever by his side waiting for an order. Butterfingers just stayed still, which was extremely uncharacteristic of him. Tony looked around suspiciously – it was time to conduct an experiment.

He had a hunch, now he just needed proof.

“Jarvis, honey,” he called out, as he stood up to leave the workshop. “Could you send me the location of all my teammates?”

“Certainly, sir,” his loyal companion replied.

He found Clint in the gym, and strolled past, giving him a short wave.

“What’s up, Tony?” he asked without putting down the dumbells.

“Oh nothing, just taking a stroll,” Tony replied nonchalantly. “Y’know,” he paused as if in thought. “This gym is really messy. I should get someone to come and clean it up.”

Clint chuckled. “Yeah, you should.”

The mechanic smiled and turned away. He found Rhodey in the Library, reading the newspaper.

“Hey, Honeybear,” Tony smirked. “You hungry?”

“Nah why?” Rhodey replied, looking up from his reading fondly.

“I don’t know, I’m really in the mood for some pasta tonight.”

“Well,” Rhodey laughed. “Don’t go anywhere near the kitchen, you might start World War III.”

“Hey!” Tony pouted. “I’m not that bad at cooking.”

“Tell that to the contractors you have on your payroll to replace your kitchen every month.”

“I will,” he turned, heading off. “I’ll even cook for them.”

Natasha was in the kitchen peeling an orange. Bingo, he thought.

“Eww,” he scrunched his face in disgust. “Is that an orange?”

“No, it’s a purple,” the Black Widow smirked at him. “Why? You got a problem with fruits?”

“Not all fruits,” he replied, opening the fridge, and feigning a search for something. “I just hate oranges.”

“Why?” she questioned, popping a slice into her mouth. “Did one try to steal your tech?”

“No,” he emerged with a Mars bar, shrugging nonchalantly. “I once ate an orange that had gone bad, and now I hate all oranges. Also, they’re the colour for the worst hockey team in the league, but that’s a different story.”

“Can’t wait to hear it,” she replied, popping another slice into her mouth.

Tony just grinned.

The next morning, Tony headed to the kitchen, deliberately passing by the gym. Sure enough, it was still a mess, and last night, no pasta was to be found for dinner. They’d ended up ordering Thai food, which he didn’t mind at all. However, when he entered the kitchen, sure enough, a pot of coffee and a breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs awaited it, and all the oranges in the fruit basket were gone. There must have been at least 10 in the basket, but now there wasn’t a single trace of the fruit. He smirked. Hook, line, sinker.

“Widow,” he called when he found her in the 3D training room during her break. “You busy?”

She looked over, wiping the sweat off of her face with the towel around her neck. “Nope,” she took a sip from her bottle. “Just taking a break. What’s up?” Her hair was getting a little longer, and she now had it in a short ponytail.

“Well,” he smiled, stepping closer to her. He looked into her eyes and his heart grew three sizes, threatening to impale itself with the shrapnel. “I wanted to talk to you about some missing oranges.” His voice lowered.

She showed no outer reactions to his statement, but coolly replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s alright,” his smirk grew, and he took another step closer. “Perhaps you could tell me who’s been making breakfast these past couple of days.” Another step. “Or who put the Advil by my bed?”

He could sense the internal debate within her, and he knew she was debating or not whether to admit to these secret Santa acts. “What Advil?”

“Oh was that not you?” He feigned ignorance, pulling out his phone. Oh my sweet, sweet Natalie Rushman. “Oh wait,” he continued when the holographic video from his phone popped up. “Is that you…scolding my bots?” His smile widened as he watched her fight down the blood that was rushing to her face while she watched the video of her pointing and speaking to Dum-E, U and Butterfingers while they looked…remorseful? “Let’s listen to the audio shall w-”

Natasha’s hand shot out and grabbed his.

“Stop.” Her face was completely red now. Good grief she was so frickin’ adorable. Tony smiled at his victory. He could have just checked all of the security footage, but finding out things the old school added a certain thrill to the search.

“I’m sorry,” she huffed finally. “I won’t do those things anymore, if it bothers you.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Tony said quickly. “I never said it bothered me.”

She turned a suspicious eye to him.

“I wanted to thank you,” he smiled warmly. He opened his arms, inviting her in for a hug. He’d have pulled her in, but he was still concerned for his physical well-being if he crossed the line of physical boundaries. “Nobody has tried so hard to make me feel better for a very, very long time.”

She eyed him for a few seconds before succumbing and hesitantly going in for the hug. “I know what it’s like to have nightmares, Tony,” she whispered.

“Thank you,” he whispered back, breathing in the scent of her hair and sweat, finding himself surprisingly calming down. That was unusual – he always pushed down a panic attack, or focused on something else, but never really, actually, calmed down. He closed his eyes and hugged her tighter. This woman was tugging at areas of his soul that he never knew existed. He was probably fucked. “It was really sweet of you.”

She just responded by reciprocating the tightness. They stayed that way for a while, relishing in each other’s company. Natasha, the heart of the team, trying her best to heal Tony, the mind of the team.

“You really didn’t have to throw away the oranges though,” Tony mused.

“Shut the fuck up,” Nat grumbled and just burrowed her face deeper into his chest.

So I really wanted to write something where Natasha was trying to make Tony happy, but she’s awkward and doesn't...really...know...how???? so she just does anything she can and tries not to get caught if things go south she has plausible deniability.

Tags: @littlemsstark3000 @black-ironwidow @ironwidow @ironwidoww @natashastark3000 @natashastarkotp @natasha-romanoffs-thoughts @natasha-romanoff-deserved-better

#iron man #black widow #marvel #mcu #scarlett johansson #Robert Downey Jr #ironwidow #tonynat #tony stark x natasha romanoff #tony x nat #fluff #major fluff #sweet nat being awkward #tony stark needs a hug

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mewhenhorrormovies · 4 years

Text

Prompts

Fluff~

“Can you please cuddle with me?”

“Is that my hoodie?”

“Let’s go dance in the rain!”

“You make me the happiest person alive.”

“You make me better than I was before.”

“Thank god I’m yours.”

“You put a new heartbeat inside of me.”

“Trust me. As long as I’m here, nobody will hurt you.”

“You’re my one and only.”

“Your my first, my second, and my last choice.”

“You mean the world to me.”

“Are you wearing my flannel?”

“How’d you sleep, love?”

“Pumpkin, your crushing me.”

“Pillow fight!”

“This is WAR! That’s right, I’m going to act like a child!”

“Give me a piggyback ride!”

“How about I just tickle the answer out of ya?!”

“Five more minutes.”

“Come get in bed! I need attention!”

“You always have to have the attention don’t you?” “Duh!”

“I need your love and affection! All of it!”

“Your mine. All mine.”

“Yours. All yours.”

“I won’t ever leave your side.”

“As long as you’re by my side, I can do anything.”

“You are my hopes and dreams.”

“I love you, more than you could know.”

“You’ll never be alone.”

“I’m yours. From now till the end of time.”

“I’m cold! I need hug.”

“Pwease? Just one hug?”

“The sunset is prettier than ever.”

“If we make it out, I promise we will live a normal life, get married and have children.”

“Now kids! Your mother is tired, why don’t you go play with Uncle ____?”

“I love you. And our precious little daughter too.”

“I love you more than my own life.”

“Id give up all my cookies, just to get one kiss!”

“I know it sounds weird but...would you possibly like to meet again?”

“I think I fell in love.”

“You’re so in love.”

“Sorry my dude. You fell hard.”

“Aww! I totally ship you two!”

“I bet they’ll kiss by tonight!” “Your on”

“HA! In your face _____! Where’s my money?!”

“You bet on us?! I can’t bel-never mind I can totally believe it.”

“Awww! My little cuddle bear is blushing!”

“How cute! I made My Prince turn red!”

“Just kiss already!”

“FINALLY! Took you long enough!”

Angst~

“Why would you just leave me?!”

“I can’t believe it...after all this time?!”

“Did you ever love me? Dammit, DON’T LIE TO ME!”

“You promised! You PROMISED you would always be there!”

“What happened to always and forever?! What happened to your one and only?”

“Are-...are those cuts?”

“KILL ME! If you’ve ever been my friend KILL ME!”

“Get out! Get out get out get out!”

“I hate you! Leave!”

“I-I didnt...no! It wasn’t supposed to be you! Anybody but you!”

“We’re just kids! Why?! Why so much death, so much pain, so much fighting?”

“We were only kids, thrown into an adult war. And now we’ll never recover.”

“IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME! I was supposed to die, not them!”

“Come on, come on. Breathe, come on BREATHE!”

“You liar, be honest or so help me I will drag you to hell!”

“I’m sorry! I only ever loved you, I tried...”

“Please! Open the door, I’m sorry! Please...”

“Don’t leave! I-I didn’t mean it!”

“It’s too late! You already said it, you can’t take it back!”

“Can you hear me? I really miss you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you...but everybody says your happier...”

“What about me?! What if I’m not happy?!”

“Who cares about everybody?! What about me?”

“Nobody needs me...” “I do...”

“Nobody loves me! Nobody cares! I’m better off gone!” “NO!.....I-I loved you...”

“They’re gone! They’re gone and it’s your fault!”

“I did this! I-I killed them!”

“Y-y-you guys need to l-leave! I’m d-dangerous!”

“Nothing compares to watching a friend die right before your eyes.”

“I don’t belong! I shouldn’t be here!”

“No...why?! Why did it have to be them?! Why didn’t you save them!? HUH?! WHY?”

“Kill me.”

“I hate you. More than anything.”

“You’re dangerous...you can’t come with us.”

“We made it...but at what cost?”

“Do you see these?! These are cuts!”

“I said get away!”

“Go away! I don’t want to talk!”

“Don’t touch me!”

“Don’t even think about me!”

“Don’t touch me!”

“You killed them...so now I’ll kill you.”

“It’s over. They’re gone, they’re not coming back.”

“I miss you. And I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry...your gone and it’s my fault.”

“You said forever! Who knew forever was so short.”

“Don’t you yell at me!”

“Don’t you dare blame this on me, you twat!”

“Get back here and listen when I’m talking to you!”

“Don’t walk away from me, you git!”

“Touch me again, see what happens.”

“Don’t call me again.”

“Go. Away.”

“DON’T! LIE! TO! ME!”

“The future rests in your hands now...”

“Take care of everyone...I won’t be there anymore.”

“She was our hope! She was the only thing that kept us going and she’s gone!”

“She sacrificed herself for me...”

“So many have sacrificed themselves for us to get here...friends...family.”

“Boys....I love y’all...don’t forget me...ple-........”

“Is it over...?” “This is only the beginning.”

Random Silly Prompts~

“I’m a simple woman. I crave one thing...C H A O S.”

“Bite my rat sass.”

“Uh oh, here we go again.”

“Come on, let me sing you old crooked nose, slimy grandma.”

“Hey guys, Whats u-” “Go stuff an egg up your nose.”

“What are those?!?!”

“Wait, you remember vines?”

“Was that a vine reference?!”

“Welcome home, boys.”

“Welcome home, girls.”

“Welcome home.”

“We did it. We made it.”

“I don’t give a rats sass about yo day.”

“Ew, you’re reading?” “Gross, your breathing?”

“Nasty, your writing?” “Disgusting, your living?”

“Hey, don’t play dumb with me!” “But he’s not playing. He’s actually dumb.”

“Nobody has managed to kill me yet. Few have tried and succeeded but not for very long. I always come back.”

"I'm not even sure she's entirely human."

"I don't care about your Bee Movie opinions, go to sleep."

“Don’t be such a jerk.”

“I have made the inference that you are actually a bully.”

“I’m a bad bitch you can’t kill me!”

“They would disagree but in reality they have no idea what they’re actually doing.”

“Thank the devil, I thought you were serious for a second there.”

“I made a bet. I lost. It’s simple as that.”

“Shut up, buckle up, and hold on tight.”

“Well this turned into a giant cuddle pile.”

“Trouble is my middle name. I thought you’d know that by now.”

“stop staring before your eyes fall out of your head.”

"I swear to the devil you have the attention span of a Boston terrier puppy with ADHD and ADD on crack. You don't listen even if it would save your life!”

“If everyone would just stop shucking panicking for five seconds and act like they still have a lick of sense left, we might actually be able to get something done here.”

“And, I'd love to be sorry for everything but we all know that I've done much, much worse.”

“Every time you sleep, you are practicing your death.”

“I guess its time to throw logic out of the window.”

“We must remain calm.” “I can’t remain calm. I’ve never been calm.” “Okay, well then remain not screaming.” “Remain not externally screaming. Okay. Got it.”

I found a few on Tumblr but I forgot from who! I’m so truly sorry, if you know who then please tell me so I can give them credit.

Also, please send me request! You can say ‘section 1 20 and 47’ or ‘fluff 2 and 10’ or ‘7 and 27 from Angst’ whichever just please send requests

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hrina · 5 years

Text

Hanging by a Thread (Thank God for Sewing Needles II)

PAIRING: Harry/Y/N RATING: R WORD COUNT: 9.4k REQUESTED: yes!

hi everyone!!! i finished my last exam not even a week ago, and i’m so excited to start writing again! think of this sequel as me extending metaphorical olive branch, lmao 😘 i worked really hard on this piece, and im v happy with how it turned out! this little series honestly feels like my baby lol. as always, if u like it, please don’t hesitate to leave me some feedback! and here is where you can find the rest of my masterlist. enjoy! 💕

p.s. thank u to the ppl who acted as my betas!!! @yes-daddy-i-willl, @harryonstage and @smokeinherperfume i appreciate u sm!

~*~

The past few months have probably been the best of Harry’s life.

Of course, he’s still got his challenges—snooty events filled with pretentious people, a mother who is just a bit too difficult to please, a schedule that leaves very little room for relaxation and leisure.

But all of that means nothing when he gets you to laugh at his corny jokes and stroke his cheek with delicate fingers. There have been negatives in his life, sure, but they’re greatly outweighed by the newly-offered benefits that accompanied his confession the night of the gala.

Benefits which he’s currently enjoying.

“Fuck, pet,” Harry groans, gripping your hips tightly as he drives into you from behind. Your skin slaps against his, and the obscene sound only adds to the growing fire in the pit of his stomach. His eyes rake up your naked body, from the round perk of your ass to where your fingers are fisting tightly at the silk sheets.

Harry’s pace nearly falters when he realizes just how many times he’d dreamt of having you like this: wrapped snugly around him, in his bed, moaning out his name like a prayer. He digs his fingers into the plushness of your hips, groaning low in his throat when the tip of his cock reaches even further inside of you. Your velvety walls flutter around him and you bury your face into the mattress, whining loudly.

“You’re so deep,” you choke out, subconsciously beginning to move in harmony with him. Each time he drills forward, you push back, and it makes a deep, guttural sound echo in the back of his throat.

“Fuckin’ love this cunt,” Harry swears, wrapping his arm around you so that he can cup your pussy; his fingers split apart around where you’re both joined, and he grinds the heel of his hand into your clit.

You squeal, trying to simultaneously escape the contact while pressing back against him. The both of you are ravenous, hot and sweaty. Harry drinks you in, running his free hand down your soft side, from your shoulder to your thigh. He doles out a quick, sharp spank to your ass, and you moan in affirmation, wiggling your backside to encourage him.

“Knew you’d like that,” he grins, giving in to your pleas. “Always did love it when I pushed you, yeah?”

“Yeah,” you pant, squeezing your eyes shut. Harry has stilled now, allowing you to control the pace at which his cock fucks into you. You work your hips along his length, purposely clenching around him and giggling innocently when he groans. His hands fly out to your waist, steadying you so that he doesn’t lose it and cum right then and there.

“That’s not fair,” he growls, pinching your skin in admonishment. “Don’t wanna nut off just yet, love. Want you to cum with me.”

“Keep doing what you’re doing, and I will,” you moan.

Harry smiles, his fingers finding your clit once more; he rubs quick circles into the nub as he takes back control, beginning to pick up speed again. The wet sound of skin against skin grows louder with each thrust forward until it’s drowned out by your sharp gasp.

“That’s it,” Harry coaxes, watching with dark eyes as the muscles in your back tense up. “Cum for me, darling. Give me a good one.”

His words are enough to push you over the edge, and you cry out as your orgasm washes over you. Harry grunts animalistically, throwing his head back when your cunt spasms around his cock. The heavenly sensation sets him off as well, and he releases a string of creative curse words as his mouth pops open and his eyes flutter shut. The knot in his pelvis explodes, and he hunches over you as he shoots hot ropes of seed into the condom.

For the next few moments, there’s only heavy panting and the shuffling of limbs. And then you laugh quietly, lifting your head from the bed and gazing up at him with twinkling eyes.

“That was really good,” you murmur; your lips curl up into a small, satisfied smile. “Even better than last time, and I didn’t think that’d be possible.”

Harry chuckles, pulling out of you slowly with a devious grin. “I’m full of surprises.”

You snort and push yourself up onto your knees. Your thighs shake a bit—something that doesn’t go unnoticed by him—as you turn around to face him. He’s in the middle of peeling off the condom, but you slip your fingers beneath his chin, angling his face up. He’s sporting a lazy, post-coital smirk, and a light sheen of sweat is apparent on his forehead. Without saying anything, you lean in, capturing his lips in a soft kiss. He sighs happily.

“I’m going to go pee,” you tell him, mumbling the words against his mouth. “And then I wanna cuddle. Is that cool with you?”

“Very cool.” Harry nods, and you grin. You slide off the mattress, your knees quivering slightly as you take a step toward the washroom. Harry bites his bottom lip, watching the way your ass jiggles with the movement and trying to quell the barbaric voice in his head that spurs him on.

He shrugs to himself. Fuck it.

A moment later, you feel a sharp smack on your bum, and you shriek in surprise, your hands flying down to shield the abused skin.

“Hurry,” Harry teases, beaming stupidly when you turn to shoot him an affronted look. You cackle and quickly speed away before he gets the chance to deliver another blow.

~*~

“Christ, woman,” Harry utters, tipping his head back against the wall of the small closet.

He’s not quite sure what’s come over you; fifteen minutes ago, you’d both been joking around, bumping hips while you raced to see who could fry an egg the fastest. The kitchens of the palace were quiet, with all the staff having gone home for the night. Harry knew that nobody would be down in the basement at two in the morning, and that’s why he’d suggested a little competition.

But now, he’s here: trapped inside a small storage room with his hands wound in your hair and your lips wrapped around his cock.

He really doesn’t know how you both ended up here. He vaguely remembers you laughing victoriously, sliding your fried egg onto a free plate and sticking your tongue out at him as he pouted. You’d won, and you’d celebrated by switching off the burners on the stove and grabbing his hand, pulling him into the nearest secluded space before kissing him frantically.

And now your tongue is laving up his shaft and you’re giggling softly to yourself while he grunts in pained delight.

“You gonna cum soon?” you whisper, pulling off of his cock so that you can press a quick kiss to his hip bone. Your hand doesn’t cease its movements along his dick, continuing to stroke him languidly. Harry nods, his lips parting slightly as he feels his thighs tense in anticipation.

“Don’t stop,” he breathes, rubbing his thumb against your temple.

You smirk slightly, opening your mouth and tapping the head of his cock a few times against your bottom lip. You stick your tongue out, dipping it into his slit, and then Harry’s groaning far too loudly as he comes undone. You catch every drop of his release, swallowing enthusiastically before pressing one last kiss to his tip and tucking him back into his pants.

Harry’s out of breath when you stand back up, and he watches with tired eyes as you purse your lips to hide a proud smile. You yelp quietly when he grabs your face in his hands and plants a passionate, bruising kiss onto your mouth. Your fingers wrap around his wrists to keep him close, and for the next minute or so (which then bleeds into the rest of the night), all he can think about is how hard he’s fallen for you.

~*~

“We’re going to freeze to death, Your Lavishness. I hope you know that.”

“As long as we’re together, right?”

You scoff and roll your eyes playfully while Harry just grins at you. Two towels and a few blankets are bundled up in his arms, and you’ve got an extra few coverings draped over your left shoulder. You walk side-by-side, trying to appear as casual as possible whilst strolling through the basement halls. Harry nods graciously whenever a staff member from the kitchen passes you by.

You finally reach that same little nook in the wall. Harry peers around, making sure that no one is watching before he ushers you through the narrow door. You cough quietly when you step into the dark, dusty stone corridor.

“Ever think about renovating?” you joke, fumbling for your cell phone so that you can illuminate the way. You jump slightly when Harry’s right hand falls to your hip, guiding you along. Your cheeks warm at the contact and you smile to yourself, grateful that he can’t see your face from where he’s following behind you.

When you both finally reach your destination, you don’t miss the chill that bites at your skin (but of course it’d be a bit cool; it’s nearly February, and there’s a massive hole in the ceiling of the cave).

“We’re going to freeze to death,” you repeat. Harry shakes his head and laughs quietly. He makes his way over to the small pond in the middle of the cavern, dropping all of the fabric in his arms onto the ground. You snicker and do the same. Together, you both splay out the blankets and towels so that you’ve got a massive covered space onto which you can settle down. Once you’re just about finished, you stand back up, placing your hands on your hips and observing your handiwork.

“’S good, I reckon,” Harry says, smiling up at you. You return his dopey expression before crossing your arms over your body and tugging your shirt up over your head. Once you’ve successfully freed yourself of the material, you glance shyly down at him and bite your lip to conceal a giddy grin.

His eyes have gone wide, and his jaw is locked tightly in place. You cock an eyebrow, shooting him an expectant look.

“I thought we were getting naked.”

“Bleedin’—,” Harry doesn’t finish his sentence, instead scrambling to his feet. His fingers fly to the first button on his shirt, and he makes quick work of undoing each clasp. You watch with excited, hungry eyes as the expensive white fabric falls to the ground.

The two of you remove the rest of your clothes, shedding your pants and undergarments frantically. You’ve just unclipped your bra when Harry stumbles over to you, wrapping his arms around your waist and pressing his lips to yours. You both giggle into each other’s mouths, nearly tripping over a fold in the blanket below your feet.

“C’mon,” Harry murmurs, gently flicking your chin with his index finger. “I’ve already got goosebumps.”

“How unfortunate,” you reply dryly. “Whose brilliant idea was it to go skinny dipping in the middle of January?”

“It was brilliant, wasn’t it?”

“Shut up.”

Harry grins boyishly at you before pinching his nose dramatically and leaping straight into the pond. Your jaw drops, and you dodge the droplets of water that have gone flying thanks to his theatrical display. Harry’s head appears from beneath the surface and he stands up, splaying out his arms as though he’s expecting some sort of praise. The water reaches just beneath his pectorals.

“How is it?” you ask nervously.

He shrugs his shoulders. “It’s actually fine, love. C’mon in.”

And he honestly doesn’t look cold or uncomfortable, so you take his word for it and jump in.

You soon realize that you’ve made a grave mistake.

“Holy fuck!” You shriek as soon as the water surrounds you. It’s freezing.

And Harry’s grinning.

“You dick!” you accuse, splashing him before wrapping your arms around yourself in a pathetic attempt to keep warm. “How did you manage to keep such a straight face?”

“It’s one of my many talents,” Harry replies smugly, and you scowl. You’re about to splash him again, but he quickly wraps his fingers around your forearms, stopping you before you succeed. “Smile for me,” he tells you, pressing his forehead against yours; he’s beaming like an idiot.

“Fuck you.”

“If you insist.”

You squeal with laughter when he grabs your thighs, wrapping them around his waist with ease. You’re still as frozen as ice, but Harry’s body heat is radiating off of his skin and lessening the chill.

“The water’s so cold,” you tell him, a mocking lilt infiltrating your words, “I’d be surprised if you were able to get it up.”

“Is that a challenge?” Harry asks, the corners of his mouth quirking up slightly. His eyes flick downward for only a moment, and he wiggles his brows at you. “’Cause you seem to be doing just fine.”

You follow his gaze, only to find that he’s staring at where your nipples have hardened and pebbled from the low temperature. As if to prove his point, Harry pinches one of them softly, and you yelp, batting his hand away.

“My boobs aren’t the same as your dick!”

“Right about that, love.” Harry snickers. “They’re much, much better.”

“You’re—,” you break off when he ducks his head, beginning to pepper soft kisses to the skin of your neck. “You’re too cheeky for your own good.”

“But you like it,” Harry laughs hotly into your throat, squeezing you closer to his body. His lips are soft as they sponge pecks along your jawline, and you can’t stop the content sigh that escapes your mouth. You jolt slightly when you feel him begin to stiffen against your thigh, and your eyelids flutter shut.

“I’ll be damned,” you murmur, mostly to yourself. “You’re hard.”

~*~

When his sister had told him that there were ongoing preparations in the ballroom for the dinner, Harry hadn’t expected much. Perhaps a few members of the staff polishing the floors and dusting off the walls. He’d tried to wean more information from her, but Gemma had simply pursed her berry lips and shot him a look, as if telling him to go see for himself.

Once he pushes through the grand doors of the hall, however, he finds that his predictions had been very, very wrong.

There are several dozen employees milling around, setting up tables with crème-coloured sheets and sparkling silverware. Matching chairs are brought out and arranged in groups of eight around each placement. Harry looks to his right, watching as a team of individuals work together to roll out a velvet red carpet and smooth away any bumps and folds; the material spans from the very top of the staircase to about a quarter-way down the length of the room. There’s a tinkling sound from above, and Harry cranes his neck, his eyes going impossibly wide at the sight.

Oh, God.

They’ve brought out the good chandelier.

He hears a familiar laugh to his left, and his gaze falls on his mother, who is chatting casually with—of course—Marina.

“Mum!” Harry’s voice is uncharacteristically high as he makes a beeline in her direction. Anne catches sight of him and waves him over warmly, holding out her arms as he approaches.

“Hi, dear,” she says. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Harry rushes out, forcing a smile (though he’s pretty sure it resembles more of a grimace). “Hi, Marina,” he greets the other woman.

Marina curtsies deeply, brushing her short black hair away from her face once she straightens back up. Today, she’s wearing a red dress with a slightly puffy petticoat and thick straps that rest on her shoulders. Naturally, her lips are painted the same shade of red, and when she beams happily at him, there’s that same smudge of lipstick on her teeth.

“Er,” Harry gnaws on the inside of his cheek, shuffling a bit awkwardly. He directs his next words to Marina. “Do you mind if I borrow my mum for a second?”

“Take your time.” She nods and curtsies yet again as she makes her exit, her short black heels clicking on the shiny floor.

Once she’s out of earshot, Harry turns to his mother, trying to decide how to properly articulate his thoughts. “Mum…,” he starts, but then his mind goes blank. Eventually, he sighs and regresses to the simplest question possible. “What’s all this?”

“What on Earth are you talking about?” Anne places a dainty hand on her chest as she laughs. Harry mimics her, though his chuckle is far less carefree, and he knows that he must look absolutely lost.

“I just—,” he gestures to the commotion around the ballroom, “Is this all for my birthday?”

“You only turn twenty-five once, love,” Anne smiles, one of her eyebrows kinking up amiably. “I just wanted this dinner to be special; plus, it’s only a few weeks away! I thought we could get a head start on the preparations.”

“And I appreciate that, I really do,” Harry says quickly. He reaches for his mother’s hand and gives it a light squeeze. “But don’t you think it’s all a bit…too much?”

“Nonsense,” Anne chuckles, placing her fingers on his biceps and giving his arms a few reassuring taps. “It’s your birthday, dear. And it’s quite the milestone, too. Won’t you give a poor mother the opportunity to arrange a nice dinner for her son?”

Harry smiles slightly, leaning in and kissing her cheek. “I’m sorry,” he says once he pulls back. “I—thank you for all of this. I’ll let you get back to it.”

She beams and nods. Harry returns her expression, but his chest is tight and there’s an anxious knot beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. He backs away from his mother, and his grin slides from his face as soon as he turns around. His feet carry him out of the ballroom quickly, and he pauses just outside the double doors to gather his thoughts.

She’s good.

Harry shakes his head, running his hands through his dark hair. He subconsciously begins to fiddle with a strand that curls right below his ear, twirling it around his index finger.

The dinner is going to take place in just over two weeks, and he still hasn’t told you how he truly feels about you.

A maid pushing a cart of cleaning supplies passes him, bowing her head dutifully in greeting. Harry does the same and tries for a smile, but it’s not sincere.

He’s pretty sure that he’s fucked, and unless he can come up with a quick yet effective solution, that’s how it’s going to stay.

~*~

When Harry phones you later that night, you’re hunched over your bathroom sink, scrubbing the remnants of a charcoal exfoliator from your face. You accept the call and immediately put it on speaker, squeezing your eyes shut and bending back down so that you don’t drip water onto the floor.

“Hey,” you say over the sound of the faucet. “Sorry, I’m just washing my face.”

“How very sophisticated of you.” Harry’s voice is deep and thick, as though he’s only minutes away from falling asleep. You laugh quietly and rub your palms over your cheeks one last time before turning off the sink and reaching for the small towelette next to you.

“Okay, I’m done,” you tell him, pressing the soft fabric against your skin to dry off. “How was your day?”

“Was alright,” Harry says simply, and though you can’t see him, you know he’s probably shrugging his shoulders. “Found out that Mum’s throwing a massive dinner for my birthday—I tried telling her that it was all too much but then she pulled the whole ‘it’s a milestone’ card.”

“It is a milestone.” You smirk, and Harry groans.

“Christ, you sound just like her.”

You giggle, wiping any excess water from your hands before chucking the small towel down onto the counter. “I think it’s nice that she wants to do this for you,” you say, reaching for your phone. “Before her diagnosis, my mother threw me a huge party for my twenty-first birthday. It was actually a lot of fun.” You smile fondly at the memory.

You make your way into your bedroom, tossing the device down onto the duvet and pulling your shorts down your legs. One of the straps of your tank top has slipped off of your shoulder, and you quickly yank it back up before tugging at the covers and sliding into bed. You set your cell phone onto the pillow next to your head before reaching over to flick off your lamp. A moment later, everything is dark.

“That sounds nice,” Harry replies; you can hear the smile in his voice.

“It was,” you agree. “My uncle’s turning fifty this year, and I’m pretty sure she’s already planning something big for him. She wants it to be a surprise, but I don’t know how well that’s going to turn out, considering she’s staying with him. It’s kind of hard to pull a fast one on your sibling when you’re both, like, living under the same roof.”

Harry snickers, and you bite your lip. “Sorry,” you tell him, squeezing your eyes shut. “I’m rambling.”

“No, no,” Harry says. “It’s okay, love, I don’t mind. How was your day?”

“Same old,” you hum. “But it wasn’t too hectic, which was nice. Although…,” you grin deviously, “I did get a call around noon asking if there was space for a very last-minute booking for tomorrow.”

Harry chuckles sheepishly. “I’m a bit of a procrastinator, alright?”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Piss off.” He laughs, and you join in. After your giggles have trailed off into silence, he speaks again. “Can I take you out for ice cream tomorrow night? I can wait while you close up.”

“You won’t have to wait long,” you jest. “You’re my last appointment.”

“Really? Brilliant, then.”

You snort quietly, unable to stop a smile from curling along your lips. You turn onto your stomach, folding your arms over the pillow and settling your head down over your wrists. The screen of your phone has gone dark, but you still stare at it dreamily, wishing—more than anything—that you could have Harry laying here, instead. You can picture his boyish grin, his sparkling eyes, his messy hair. He’d probably want to cuddle and force you to spoon him, and you’d pretend to protest for a few moments before inevitably giving in.

“I miss you,” you say softly, the words hanging in the still air of your room. There’s a beat, followed by a second of shuffling on the other end of the line, and then Harry sighs.

“I miss you, too.”

You purse your lips.

“I just saw you a couple of days ago,” you say plainly. You’re trying to make light of your words, trying to disguise the painful pressure that’s suddenly formed in your chest. “It’s kind of stupid that I’m already missing you, isn’t it?”

“No,” Harry tells you. The sincerity in his voice is nearly tangible. “No, it’s not stupid at all. I promise.”

You nod, reaching back to pull the duvet up over your shoulders. Harry exhales quietly, and you close your eyes as you ask, “You tired?”

“A bit,” he purrs. “You?”

“Same.”

Harry hums faintly. “You should get to bed, darling. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah,” you say, inhaling deeply. “Goodnight, Your Lavishness.”

He chuckles. “Goodnight, my love.”

~*~

“I really like this pattern on you.”

“Find it sexy, do you?”

“Honestly, yeah.”

Harry groans. “Don’t do this to me. Not here.”

You flash him a wicked grin, running your fingers up his thighs and batting your eyelashes innocently. You’re on your knees in front of him, and your behaviour isn’t making it any easier for him to keep himself in check. He’s fully aware of the handful of stoic men standing just outside the door, and as much as he would love to show you off, he’s decided that he wants your moans to be reserved for his ears only.

“We could be quick,” you murmur, hooking your thumb into the dip of one of his pockets. “I could be quick.”

“You’re killing me,” Harry says, grimacing dramatically. You giggle quietly, securing a sewing pin in place and pushing off from your knees. Harry holds out his hands and helps you stand, and you curtsy teasingly once you’re properly on your feet.

“Thank you, Your Lavishness.”

He just smiles, folding his thumb beneath your chin and guiding you into a long, sickly sweet kiss. You cup his cheeks in your hands and grin against his lips, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear with your pinky. Harry’s free hand falls to your hip, and he pinches your skin lightly over the material of your jeans. He laughs when you squeak and stiffen.

“Let’s go,” he tells you, peppering a few kisses to your forehead and along the bridge of your nose. “Gimme just a minute to get changed and then we’ll be on our way. I’m craving some of that cookie dough ice cream.”

You throw your head back and make a delighted sound. Your fingers run along the fabric of his lapels, tracing the design of vertical red and black stripes. “That’s the best one. Didn’t know I’d gotten myself a man of taste.”

“A man of impeccable taste,” Harry corrects. You snicker.

“Let’s not push it.”

~*~

“Oi, you had yours!” Harry lifts his ice cream cup out of reach when you try to jab your spoon into the cold treat. You laugh loudly, the sound echoing through the staircase of your apartment complex. Your place is located on the third floor, and you and Harry had both agreed to take the steps rather than the elevator (Harry’s telling himself that it’s because the pair of you need to work off the calories you’d just ingested, but in reality, he knows that it’s only because it allows him to spend a bit more time with you).

“I can’t help it!” You protest, grinning widely. “It was so good, I’m addicted now.”

“That sounds an awful lot like what you said after you first fell into bed with me.”

“Oh my God!”

“I’m joking, bleedin’ hell!” Harry races up the remaining few stairs while you chase him, swatting half-heartedly at his bum. You’re both in stitches and out of breath when you reach your door, and you fish your keys out from your purse while trying to curb your laughter.

Eventually, you manage to unlock the entrance. Harry’s still wheezing quietly when you tumble through the threshold and into the front hallway. You quickly remove your shoes and hang your purse and jacket against the wall before ushering him to do the same.

Your keys jangle when you set them down onto the kitchen counter. Harry takes a seat at the small island in the middle of your kitchen, placing his elbows onto the smooth surface and digging his spoon into what’s left of his ice cream.

“Want something to drink?” you ask, already beginning to rifle through your cabinets for glasses.

“Water’s fine, love,” he replies. “Thanks.”

“All that cookie dough got you thirsty?” You quip, shooting him a lopsided smirk. Harry chuckles when you slide a glass of water over to him. He picks it up and takes a hearty gulp before holding out the remainder of his dessert.

“Here,” he says. “Finish it off.”

“Are you serious?” Your face splits into a grin, and he can’t help but to return your happy expression. Your smile is just so goddamn contagious.

“I’m serious,” Harry affirms, laughing softly. “Take it, go on.”

You squeal joyfully, circling the island so that you can accept his offering and simultaneously press your lips to his. The action catches him a bit by surprise but he definitely isn’t complaining. You pull back slightly, littering small pecks against his Cupid’s bow and letting out dramatic smacking sounds with each kiss.

“You’re the best.”

“Am I?”

“Mm-hm. The finest man I’ve ever met.”

“Oi. Better stop that before I take you to bed,” Harry warns, feeling his cock give an admonitory twitch in his trousers. You simply smile, licking a scoop of ice cream off your spoon before flashing him a mischievous look.

“Is that a promise?”

Fifteen minutes later, you’re sat in his lap, your hips moving in slow undulations as his hands stroke up and down your back. Harry feels you shiver beneath his palms; his hands are a bit cold, contrasting dramatically with the warmth of your skin beneath your knitted sweater. You cup his face sweetly in your hands, your lips moving unhurriedly against his. He’s not sure if he wants to get you naked or if he wants to just stay like this, with his fingertips dancing along your skin and your satisfied sighs floating in the air.

“Do you wanna fuck?” you whisper, and Harry freezes, because…no.

He doesn’t.

He doesn’t want to fuck. He doesn’t want to make you cum and then pretend as though his feelings don’t run so much deeper than what’s been established. He wants to be able to whisper words of adoration against your skin and profess his feelings for you after the whole ordeal is over. He wants to tell you how much you mean to him. He wants to finally end a bloody phone call with, “Love you, bye.”

“Actually,” he grunts, his voice slightly hoarse. He places his palms on the cushions, pushing himself up a bit. “I was kind of hoping to first talk to you about something, if that’s alright.”

“Sure,” you reply easily, shrugging. You brush a strand of hair away from his forehead and poke the space where his dimple usually appears. “What’s up?”

“I told you about my mum throwing me that birthday dinner,” Harry starts, and you nod. “And I was just wondering…would—would you wanna go?”

“Okay,” you say, but Harry knows that the true intentions behind his request haven’t fully settled in.

“No,” he says slowly. “I mean…would you wanna go…as my date?”

You tense.

“As your date,” you repeat, as though checking to make sure you’ve heard him correctly.

Harry nods, chewing on his bottom lip anxiously. You sigh quietly, sitting back a bit and running your fingers through your hair. The expression on your face is indecipherable, and Harry thinks that seeing you wear a mask of indifference is far worse than any amount of anger that could warp your features.

“Harry…,” you begin softly. Your eyes are sad, and he already knows where you’re going with this.

“You like me, don’t you?” He rushes out, nearly biting his tongue in his haste. When you hesitate, his heart drops into his stomach. “Don’t you?”

“I do,” you whisper; there are tears slowly gathering along your waterline. “I just—I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“For what?” He questions, nearly begging. “How’s it any different than when I took you to the gala?”

He doesn’t understand. It suddenly feels like someone has set his whole world on fire, and he can’t do anything but watch as the flames mount higher and higher and burn everything to the ground.

“It’s very different and you know it,” you say thickly. Air escapes from your mouth in a trembling exhale.

Harry wants to argue, but he recognizes that you’re right. The circumstances aren’t the same. His intentions aren’t the same. And he knows that the potential repercussions won’t be the same, either.

“I’m not ready to be in the spotlight,” you elaborate; your voice wavers slightly. “I—I’ve seen how the world works, Harry. They’d tear me to shreds.”

“It’s none of their business, is it?” Harry tries again, reaching for your hips, but you quickly slide off of him and stand up.

He watches as you step back, trying to put as much distance as you can between the two of you. It makes his chest ache, and he feels like he’s choking, his throat closing up when he tries to regulate his breathing.

“It’s not,” you agree, sniffling gently. “But that doesn’t stop them, does it? And what about your mother? Your sister?”

“Gemma loves you,” Harry implores. “C’mon, love, you know that.”

“And Anne?” Your laugh is hollow as you shake your head sadly. “I’m no idiot, Harry. I know that she’s got her own opinions, and I don’t think she’d be very happy to hear that you’re fooling around with someone like me.”

“What do you mean, someone like you? What—?”

“Someone normal! Someone average.”

“Average,” Harry echoes; the word tastes vile on his tongue. “Love, you’re—you’re anything but average.”

“That’s not how she’ll see it,” you tell him, hugging yourself tightly.

Harry’s heart is pounding erratically beneath his ribs. He places his palms on his knees and stands up, hoping that the abrupt move won’t scare you away. He’s half-expecting you to take another step back, but his veins flood with a touch of relief when he sees that you’ve stayed rooted to the spot.

“You’re not average,” Harry insists, raking his fingers through his hair. “And I’m not just ‘fooling around’ with you, Y/N, I’m bloody in love with you!”

And then it’s there, out in the open, available for you to dissect and analyze as you please. Harry’s eyes widen slightly when he fully processes his words, but it’s too late. The syllables hang in the air like dusty cobwebs; Harry feels like they’ve been printed out onto a piece of parchment and taped onto his forehead. You’re staring at him with parted lips and terrified eyes, and when you choke on a sob he wants to punch himself in the face.

“Stop,” you croak, shaking your head and holding up your hand. “Please just—stop.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry says, but it feels like he’s underwater, the words wobbling from his lips and muffled in his ears. “I didn’t mean to—”

“No, I’m sorry,” you say, wiping at your wet cheeks with the back of your hand. “I just—I can’t do this right now. It’s not a good time.”

“Is everything alright?” Harry’s brows cinch together.

You wave off his concerns, trying to speak through your tears. “Everything’s fine. But I…I need some time alone right now, Harry. I’m sorry.”

He nods dejectedly, swallowing down the lump in his throat.

“’Course,” he mumbles. He’s trying to hold in his own emotions, but his eyes are itching with sadness and humiliation. “I’ll go.”

“I’m sorry,” you repeat, a fresh wave of tears spilling over your waterline. You cover your mouth with your hand to keep your cries at bay as you watch him walk away. “I’m so sorry.”

Harry doesn’t respond, because he doesn’t have to; the sound of your front door opening and closing rings louder than anything that he could’ve ever said.

~*~

“Hey.”

Gemma knocks after she’s already opened the door, which Harry finds silly. He turns over so that he doesn’t have to face her, instead giving her a wonderful view of his back, which is covered in a periwinkle silk pajama top. He grunts softly as he pulls the duvet up his body, clutching the luxurious fabric to his chest and smothering the left side of his face into his pillow.

“Hey,” he croaks back.

Gemma bites her lip before deciding to take the plunge. She slips through the gap in the door before shutting it quietly.

“You weren’t at the brunch,” she states. “One of the duchesses asked about you, but Mum said you weren’t feeling well, so…I just wanted to check in.”

“I’m fine,” Harry mutters. “Thanks.”

Gemma hesitates before barrelling through, because she’s never been one to avoid a problem.

“Did something happen?” she asks gently. She knows better than to confront him with a hard tone, because her brother has always been a sensitive grump. When he gets like this, it’s very easy to say the wrong thing and have him close up quicker than a beartrap. So, she chooses her words carefully, speaking them with delicate prose and never pressuring him to answer. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s nothing.” His reply is muffled and monosyllabic. She’s about to give up and leave, but then he adds, “Just did something stupid, that’s all.”

That’s a good sign, Gemma decides, and she presses subtly.

“I’m sorry things are hard right now,” she starts. “If you need to vent, I’m here.”

“It’s alright,” Harry shakes his head slightly. “Don’t wanna waste my breath. It’s been a week, and she’s not called, so I’d say it’s a lost cause.”

“‘She’?” Gemma questions, taking advantage of her brother’s small slip. “Are you talking about Y/N?”

The stiffening of Harry’s shoulders tells her everything she needs to know.

“Did something happen with her?” Gemma probes, digging deeper. She understands that she’s treading far too recklessly; if Harry’s worries are uncharted waters, she’s navigating with a flimsy paper sailboat. Still, she persists. “Is she alright?”

“She’s fine.” Harry sighs before adding, “Least, I think she is; I dunno. She’s refused to talk to me, hasn’t she?”

“H,” Gemma says quietly, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temples. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Harry grumbles, curling into himself, and his sister knows that he’s through with their conversation. “I’m done talking about this,” he states, as though he needs to drive home his point. Gemma steps back and nods, even though she knows that he can’t see her.

“Alright,” she concedes. “I’m sorry, I won’t pry.”

“It’s fine,” Harry replies, his voice low and scratchy. “Can you please tell Mum that I’m still feeling shitty?”

She nods, because it technically wouldn’t be a lie.

“H,” Gemma calls out once she’s got one hand on the doorknob. “I wouldn’t worry too much, you know. She really fancies you; I can tell.”

At that, Harry peers over his shoulder, gracing his sister with his side profile. His eyes are inquisitive, and his lips are pursed into a fine line as questions whirl around in his head. He eventually settles on the simplest query imaginable. “You knew?”

Gemma snorts. “Of course. You lot really aren’t too subtle with how you ogle each other.” She pauses for a moment. “Pretty sure Mum’s caught on, too, but you know her. She likes to wait for confirmation before jumping to any conclusions.”

“Mum knows?” Harry’s voice rises an octave; his sister shushes him.

“Relax,” she says, “She hasn’t thrown a fit about it—at least, not to my knowledge. You really are quite dense, aren’t you?”

“Piss off,” Harry grumbles, but—to her surprise—he doesn’t turn back around. In fact, Gemma thinks that she may have even seen the hint of a small, relieved smile pull at his lips. She nods soundly before pulling open his bedroom door.

“You can mope around for the rest of the day, but tomorrow I want to discuss with you the guestlist for your dinner.” She fixes him with an expectant glare. “I’m assuming you want me to leave Y/N’s name on it, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Harry echoes. There’s a hollowness to his voice, but also a hint of something else—gratitude, maybe.

“Gem,” he speaks up quickly before she can disappear. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Gemma replies. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

And then she’s gone.

~*~

Your day starts off exactly how it had the day before…and the day before that…and the day before that.

You wake up and for the first minute or so, you’re blissfully oblivious. You stretch and squeak and sigh contentedly when your joints crack. The past few mornings have been unusually nice, and you relish in the sunlight that streams in from your window. The space beneath your blankets is warm, and you wiggle your toes to urge some feeling back into your feet. A few inches away, your phone is charging on your bedside table (you know that you’re not supposed to leave it plugged in for the entire night, but it’s easier that way).

And then the memories from a week ago come rushing back, and you feel like you’ve been punched in the gut.

I’m not just ‘fooling around’ with you, Y/N, I’m bloody in love with you!

You squeeze your eyes shut, groaning loudly and burying your face into your pillow. If you could somehow strangle yourself with your own two hands, you would. You deserve it, anyway, you think.

You remember the night before everything had crumbled, when you’d asked him over the phone if it was stupid that you were missing him after only a few days apart from each other. Even then, the pair of you had been messaging back and forth and clinging to some sort of communication. You hadn’t been truly prepared for what it would be like to not speak with him at all for a full week.

You despise it, though. That’s a given.

You roll out of bed and decide to take a quick shower before pulling on your clothes for the day. Under the warm spray of the water, you soap up your body and watch childishly as the white lather drips from your fingertips. You hate that it reminds you of the way Harry would constantly shake out his wet hair whenever you both crept away to go skinny dipping. After the first instance, you’d both agreed to make it a habit, and you’d stuck to the resolution with a worrying amount of willpower.

You shake your head free of the recollection, quickly rinsing off and shutting the water.

As you rifle through your closet, your eyes land on the red gown you’d worn to the gala all those months ago. You freeze, trying to compose yourself. The lump in your throat proves difficult to swallow but, nonetheless, you manage. With a gentle sigh, you tear your gaze away from the ruby-coloured fabric and settle on a plain white V-neck and a simple navy blue cardigan.

You’re in the middle of tugging your jeans up your legs when your phone chimes with a notification. Leaning over, you unlock the device, and you swear quietly upon discovering that it’s a reminder from your calendar.

One week until His Royal Lavishness’s birthday!

You’d added a few emojis after the exclamation point, and with each party hat, balloon, and crown that your eyes skim over, a new crack forms in your armour. You quickly swipe your thumb to the side and disregard the reminder, turning off your phone and clearing your throat when the screen goes black.

That’s enough of that.

~*~

You’re just pencilling in a follow-up appointment for your last client of the day when the small bell above the entrance of the shop jingles pleasantly.

“I’m so sorry,” you call out politely, keeping your gaze trained on your computer screen. “I’m about to close up for the evening.”

“Of course, dear.” The woman’s voice carries a delicate lilt, and your eyes widen in shock. “This will only take a minute.”

Anne is quite literally glowing when you meet her gaze. You stand abruptly and bow your head, feeling a warm flush creep up onto your cheeks. “Your Majesty,” you say quickly, feeling your heartbeat accelerate beneath the cage of your ribs. “Hi, hello. Good evening. How are you?”

You’re rambling, and you couldn’t be more embarrassed. Anne laughs softly.

“Enough of that, darling,” she tells you. “Come here. Give me a hug.”

“I—okay, sure.” You gnaw anxiously on your bottom lip as you slip out from behind your desk. She holds her arms out and flashes you a warm smile. Despite the tension in your shoulders, her embrace is calming, and you feel yourself relax in her hold. She smooths her palms up and down your back and tilts the two of you from side to side. You giggle.

“How can I help you?” you ask, glancing nervously as a handful of men pile into the store. They’re all wearing black suits and dark sunglasses, and a coiled wire hooks a small device into their right ears. Their faces are unreadable, but being around Harry so often, you’ve learned that they’re fully capable of cracking a joke or two when the situation allows for it.

You shake your head slightly, trying to eradicate all thoughts of Harry from your mind. Now isn’t the time.

“Just felt like paying you a short visit,” Anne answers, pulling back and staring at you with piercing green eyes. You try to avoid shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. Not only does it feel like she’s peeling back every layer of your being, but her irises are identical to those of her son.

“How’s your mum?” Anne continues, oblivious to your internal turmoil.

“She’s good,” you reply, nodding. “Doing better than ever. How are you? How’s your family?”

How’s Harry?

It’s the only thing you care about, the most pressing question on the tip of your tongue. But you clamp your mouth shut before the words can escape, reeling in your yearning and trying to keep a level head. If you were alone with her, you might have dared to ask. But standing in front of several resigned, apathetic—and frankly, intimidating—men, you feel far too naked already.

“I’m doing alright.” The queen’s lips quirk up into a small, clever smile. “I’ve got nothing to complain about, really. Gemma’s wonderful, but she says she misses you. Harry does, too.”

Your eyes drop to the floor and stay there; you’re too ashamed to meet her gaze. Anne notices your sudden apprehension—humiliation is written all over your face. She steps forward, her fingertips brushing your wrist before she sets a comforting hand onto your arm, just above the crook of your elbow.

“I’m not one hundred percent certain of what’s going on with you and my son,” she starts. Your heart plummets, and your shoulders tense up as she continues. “But I do know that you haven’t been coming around as much, recently. And—coincidentally—Harry hasn’t been in too much of a chipper mood these past several days.”

You gulp.

Anne holds up her hands in mock-surrender. “I know it’s none of my business,” she says gently. “But I…I would like to see the two of you on good terms again. You lot were quite precious, if I’m being honest.”

You laugh softly, but it feels like there’s an elephant sitting on your chest. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” She smiles. “And just know that you’re always welcome to attend Harry’s upcoming dinner, whether you want to or not. I hope to see you there.”

You flash her a small smile, gratitude and pain evident in your expression. Anne pulls you in for one more hug before bidding you goodbye, and you watch with stinging eyes and a tight throat as she exits the shop. The room suddenly feels impossibly tiny, and you glance quickly at the walls to make sure that they are, in fact, not closing in on you.

When the last of the queen’s guards slips outside, you’re left alone, standing in the middle of the small lobby and trying to keep yourself from falling apart.

~*~

Harry’s admiring himself in the massive, three-faced mirror in the corner of his bedroom when the door cracks open slowly. He watches through the reflection as Jeff pokes his head into the room while tightening the black tie around his neck.

“H,” he says gruffly, his expression unreadable. “You’ve got a visitor.”

Harry nods at him and leans in, skirting his thumb along the corner of his lips to make sure that there’s no excess lip balm gathering along the edges of his mouth. There’s a dull pain thrumming beneath his sternum, but it doesn’t worry him as much as it normally would. In fact, he’s pretty sure it’s one of the side effects of a broken heart.

He had been trusting that this past week would be easier without you, but his hopes were dashed quite rapidly. Everything reminded him of you.

He’d scrolled through his phone for hours, one night, reading over your previous conversations and trying not to let his tears drip onto the screen. He hasn’t even touched the playlists you’d previously shared with him, knowing that he’ll end up associating every song with some part of you. He’d lied to his mother about feeling sick for five days straight, but he’d finally called off the ruse when she’d declared that she was going to head into town herself and return with some medication. And he hasn’t been back down to your “spot” since the night everything went to shit, leaving the small cave abandoned and alone.

Harry sighs. He’s obviously no good at dealing with breakups.

Does this even count as a breakup?

He honestly doesn’t know.

He’s fiddling absentmindedly with the lapels of his pinstriped suit when a slight movement in the mirror catches his attention. His breathing stops, and his eyes grow unfeasibly wide as he watches someone step into the room.

Speak of the fucking devil.

“Hi,” you say quietly.

You’ve definitely achieved a perfect score with your outfit, decked out in a pretty black dress that reaches a few inches above the knee. The long sleeves are lacy and end right at the crook of your arm, leaving your shoulders bare. In one hand, you’re gripping a small silver clutch; in the other, there’s a bright yellow gift bag with blue tissue paper sticking out of the top. Harry watches you shuffle nervously in your black, strappy heels, his heart hammering wildly beneath his ribs. You’re gorgeous. You’re absolutely beautiful.

And you’re here.

“Hi,” he chokes out, meeting your gaze in the mirror. He quickly realizes, however, that he’d very much prefer to see the real thing, so he spins around and faces you properly.

You approach him slowly, stopping when your bodies are only a few feet apart.

“How are you?” you ask, gnawing anxiously on your bottom lip. Harry opens his mouth to respond, but then you shake your head and squeeze your eyes shut, seeming to silently reprimand yourself. “Sorry. Stupid question.”

And then you’re thrusting out the hand that’s carrying the gift bag, the action robotic and abrupt. The sheer blue tissue paper crinkles with the movement, and for a few long seconds, it’s the only sound in the room.

“Happy birthday,” you whisper, the words feeble as they roll off of your tongue.

Harry clears his throat, tucking a curl behind his ear and gingerly taking the present from you. He tries to ignore the way his skin tingles knowingly when his fingers brush against yours. “Thank you,” he murmurs, gently toying with the edges of the bag.

“You can open it,” you tell him, and Harry’s worried that your lip is going to split open from how hard you’re biting down on the soft flesh. You continue, beginning to ramble. “I wasn’t really sure what to get you, because how do you shop for someone who’s already got everything, you know? So, I—,” you shrug, “I just figured I’d make it myself.”

He pulls the tissue paper to the side, fumbling for a fleeting second before his hand bumps into something soft. Harry grasps it and pulls it out, studying the object carefully.

Clutched in his fingers is a small throw pillow, no bigger than his hand. It’s rectangular in shape and ivory in colour, so pale that it’s almost white. Along the edges, you’ve carefully sewn a simple lace trim. And in the middle, embroidered in red, the word LOVED stands out in capital letters.

Harry stays silent, admiring your handiwork. It’s clear that you’ve dedicated a lot of time and effort into the cushion—each stitch is perfectly placed, and the needlework is meticulous and nothing short of impeccable. He runs his fingers along the lace border, marvelling at the softness of the material. There’s a lump in his throat, and try as he might, he can’t seem to swallow it down.

You take his silence as disappointment.

“I thought you might like it,” you say hastily, playing with the silver bracelet on your wrist. “I know you’ve got those pants with that same design—and you wear them all the time—so I just assumed…yeah.” You catch your breath, fixing him with a fretful look. “You hate it, right?”

“No,” Harry says immediately, his head snapping up. He stares into your eyes, shaking his head earnestly. “No, not at all. It’s—it’s incredible. Truly.”

“I just thought you should have something else,” you start, swallowing heavily. “Something else that reminds you of—of how loved you really are. Anne loves you; so does Gemma.” You inhale shakily. “And so do I.”

The little bit of air residing in Harry’s lungs is quickly lost when he processes your words. His breathing hitches quite audibly in his throat, and he studies you with intense, piercing eyes. You stare right back, and he finds nothing but sincerity beneath your gaze. He’s never seen you so vulnerable.

“You do?” he asks, but the question actually sounds like more of a statement. You nod vehemently—your eyes shine with unshed tears—and bless him with the confirmation that he needs to hear.

“I do.”

And then he’s kissing you, and you’re wrapping your arms around his neck and whimpering against his lips and trying to get as close to him as possible, and everything is perfect. Harry’s got your face in his hands, your mouths convening with a bruising force. He swallows down your soft cries of relief and fights to keep his own tucked away. Your fingertips dig into his back and you pull him in until there’s not enough room to slip even a piece of paper between your chests.

When you both finally break apart for a much-needed gulp of air, Harry presses his forehead to yours, squeezing his eyes shut. He’s trapped in his own head and then promptly wrenched from his thoughts when he realizes that you’re speaking.

“I’m so sorry,” you’re prattling; he doesn’t miss the crack in your voice. “I just—I needed to think. I’m sorry it took so long; it’ll never happen again—”

“Shh.” He soothes you, stroking your cheekbones with his thumbs. “It’s alright, love, I promise.” He shakes his head, chuckling in disbelief. “God, I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” you confess, playing inattentively with his hair. You reach up to wipe a smear of lipstick from his mouth. The plum colour stands out against his pink lips, and he nips teasingly at the pad of your finger, making you giggle softly. A long beat of silence ensues, and neither of you bother to break it, basking in the solace of the other’s proximity.

Eventually, you’re the first to speak up, but your voice is gentle, as though you don’t want to disrupt the serenity in the room.

“Thanks for leaving my name on the guestlist, by the way,” you murmur. “I would’ve looked really stupid, otherwise, just standing outside with a gift bag and this whole speech ready to go along with it.”

He snickers, shaking his head. “Was praying you’d show up. Last hope and all.”

“I’m here,” you tell him, squeezing his shoulders. His warm breath fans out onto your chin—a gentle reminder that he’s here too—and you sigh in delight. “You look so handsome.”

Harry can’t keep the smile off of his face. “Thank you. I’ll give your regards to the tailoress, yeah?”

You chuckle bashfully.

“You look absolutely magnificent,” he continues, his words keen and ardent. “Took my breath away the second you walked in. Can’t believe you’re mine.”

“I am.” You nod, pulling back and gazing up at him with heartfelt eyes. His palms find your cheeks again, and he feels your jaw move beneath his touch as you speak. “I love you, Your Lavishness. I’m yours.”

And Harry really doesn’t know how to convey his newfound joy, so he just kisses you again.

~*~

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unofficialkfamtranscripts · 4 years

Text

King Falls AM - Episode Thirteen: Crop Circle Jerk

View on Google Docs Summary: November 1, 2015 - An emergency at Libbydale Farms has Deputy Troy and King Falls AM on high alert. Mysterious lights? Check. Crop Circles? Check. Intergalactic Gang War? Stay tuned to 660 on the AM Dial to find out.

[podcast intro music]

[S&B show intro]

Ben Good evening! You’re listening to King Falls AM – that’s 660 on the radio dial.

Sammy Folks, we are jumping right into it tonight. We got Deputy Troy on the line, live from Libbydale Farms. Hey, Troy, can you hear us alright?

Troy Loud and clear, Sammy. Heard you real fine, too, Ben.

Ben [muttered] Suck an egg.

Sammy Okay. So, Troy. Tell the listeners what you just told us right before we went on air.

Troy Ladies and gents, in all my years— and I mean all of ‘em— I ain’t never seen anything like this! Not even comparatively close to what I’m lookin’ at right this instant. [faint sounds of police radio in bg]

Ben POINT. GET TO IT.

Troy Gosh darnit, Ben. I’m trying to sell the magnitude of what I’m feastin’ my eyes on!

Ben Who even knew you could see Libbydale Farms from so far out in the Kiss Ass Sea aboard the SS Backstabber.

Troy You know G-D well I’m not on a ship nor would it be called the SS Backstabber if I were. Don’t be so damn sore, Ben! Everybody knows I’m sorry! Plus- [kinda shyly] I reckon my ship be called the- USS Super Badass.

Sammy *pointedly clears throat* Troy. Ben. Let’s put our differences aside and let’s get to the matter at hand. So, Troy, you’re live at—?

Ben & Troy Libbydale Farms…

Troy & Ben I’m trying to talk!

Sammy GUYS!

Troy A-a-as I was sayin. I’m out here at the farm and out past the barns just hours ago, Old Man Libbydale called us in, and acres upon acres, boys, have been De.Stroyed out here.

Ben [accusingly] Where were yoouu, earlier this evening, Troy?

Troy Using my keen detective skills and ninja-like mental agility, I can see you’re trying to place me at the scene of the crime, little buddy. However Ol’ Troy was sawin’ logs next to the Mrs. before. my. shift.

Ben While crimes are being committed? *scoffs* Typical.

Troy Now that’s a low blow just be—

[shouting over each other] Ben NO! NO! Troy —low my pistol belt— Ben YOUU— N— TROOYY!— Troy — Ben come on— Ben — T— OHH Troy — this ain’t about the farm— Ben [mocking] OHH YEAHHH- OHHH YOU’RE SOOO— Troy — and you know— Ben —GOOD AT FIGHTING—

Sammy GUYS! GUYS! [“break it up kids”/dad-voice] I understand there’s renewed intensity between you two, but Ben, as co-host of this show and a respected journalist— put it away. Troy, you’re the first friend of the Sammy & Ben Show and a deputy sheriff. You guys don’t have to be best buddies, but let’s please report- on the news story- at hand.

Troy Couldn’t have said it better myself, Sammy.

Ben [hissed] Jesus.

Sammy So, Troy. Old Man Libbydale called you out— Acres of his lands destroyed. How so?

Troy Y’all ain’t gonna believe it, but you know I always shoot you straight… Two words: Crop. Circles.

Sammy [incredulous] Crop circles?

Troy It’s like a live action Led Zeppelin album cover as far as the eye can see! Big ones, little ones. The craziest damn designs you ever could imagine.

Ben Troy, I assume you and the rest of Gunderson’s thugs— I-mean-”deputies”— inspected the circles, and the surrounding areas, for man-made tools? There have been stories that men with boards tied to ropes can replicate what people believe crop circles to look like. Bending the crops at the right angles, etcetera… did you find—

Troy Didn’t find anything, Ben. Not a board… not a footprint… nothin’ but hunched over crops.

Ben So you think—?

Troy Oh, there isn’t a doubt in my mind it’s from the UFOs or those lights. I mean, whichever you wanna call it. No man made these! And in just a few hours to boot!

Sammy Okay. So, has this ever happened here before, Ben?

Ben No! Nor abductions! Not even lights being so close to town. The past few months- have been a hotbed for extraterrestrial activity— it would seem.

Sammy “It would seem”? So you aren’t certain?

Ben *scoff/laugh* I only said “it would seem” so you wouldn’t get all defensive about it.

Sammy Okay, alright. Well, as much as I hate to say it, I definitely feel there’s a lot more than meets the eye here in Kings Falls.

Ben I’m not one to say “I told you so”… But I DID tell you so!

Troy Just so everybody out there knows: Libbydale Farms is private property. So, unless you’re doing the dairy farm tour in mornin’, this is not an attraction for looky-loos. There is an official investigation still ongoin’ here. Plus, don’t nobody need another person gettin’ snatched up by the Martians either.

Ben *smug snort* Martians are from Mars, Troy. They aren’t representative of all extraterrestrials?.

Troy [defensive] Whatever— Ben Nye the Science Guy. I’m headin’ out to the field again. I might not be smart as Ben about the aliens and such, but I can definitely sniff out a spot where the Williams boys will come lookin’ for Mischief and Mayhem. [click]

[dial tone]

Sammy Deputy Troy, folks. Now, I didn’t realize you and Troy were still so angry at one another, Ben. You can’t let that hostility clou—

Ben THANKS, DAD! — We’re just gonna take a break to hear from one of our fine sponsors. Maybe Sammy here can talk to me about the birds and the bees after we get back.

Sammy [quietly] Maybe…

[disquieting, melancholic piano music]

Soft, disquieting voice What if what you thought wasn’t really what you thought you thought? … Ever think of that? … Here at the Institute of Science, we can help you become what you’ve always wanted to become… A better you, for a better mankind! Call us today for a free brochure and a C-meter reading. That’s “C” as in “cat.” … We’re coming King Falls… Be well! … And be ready.

[piano fades out]

[S&B theme]

Sammy You’re listening to King Falls AM and we are opening up the phone lines to you. 424-279-3858.

Ben We’ll be talking about the apparent crop circle- situation at Libbydale Farms. As well as if any of you out there have had any experience with this phenomenon.

Sammy So give us a call or tweet us @kingfallsam. So, you’ve heard our story, now let’s hear yours.

Ben Line 3.

Sammy Good evening, you’re live with Sammy and Ben.

Cynthia Good evening? For who? Certainly not King Falls!

Sammy Hi, Cynthia. How ‘bout you tell us how you really feel tonight.

Cynthia Weellll, to be honessst, I’m a little rattled over these gang signs the aliens are leaving on our turf. Literally.

Ben Cynthia— there is no way to tell if those circles are- angry orrr happy! even. They’re *huff/laugh* just symbols.

Cynthia So’s a swastika, Ben Arnold. Get your head out of your tuchus!

Sammy Okay, obviously, we aren’t trying to raise alarms here, Cynthia. It’s just, uh— it’s an interesting story. Especially here in our backyard. Would you not agree? Uh, you know, it’s not every day you can see this kind of handiwork – man-made or otherwise.

Cynthia You two sound sooo happy. We’re getting tagged in an intergalactic war and all of us in the Falls are sitting around at ground zero.

Ben I- don’t think that’s fair t—

Cynthia That’s the problem! You just. don’t. think! It’s all Tim Jenson’s fault, I just know it. We didn’t have any flying saucer, land-tattooing bedlam before he chased those lights.

Ben He didn’t “chase” anything! He was driving from work and called to report on a breaking news story.

Cynthia Watch your tone, Ben. I’ll buy one of those rabid, disease-ridden sugar flyers and toss it in Lake Hatchenhaw. just to spite you!

Sammy Goodnight, Cynthia.

Ben Sugar glider. And- they are. illegal.

Cynthia So are illegal aliens, but you’re just getting ready to throw ‘em a parade! I can’t! I just can’t! [click]

[dial tone]

Sammy Heh, alright, uh… Line 12, you’re live on King Falls AM.

Emily Hi, Sammy! Hi, Ben!

Ben Emily! I–I didn’t realize you were back in town!

Emily I just got back. I was listening on the way in! My mom and I actually drove by the farm and saw all the commotion over there. Police; reporters— big lawn-mower thingies…

Ben Lawn mowers?

Sammy Uh, y’ know, if you don’t mind me asking, Emily, why were you out of town?

Emily Oh, I flew out to Buford, Wyoming,[1] for the annual small town librarian expo! And I had my mom pick me up from the airport since— Ben was on the air.

Sammy Wow. So you guys are in the taking and picking up from the airport stage of yourrr—

Ben Friendship. Is that the- word- you’re- searching for, Sammy?

Sammy [kinda smug] Thaaat was exactly the one, Ben.

Emily *soft laugh* You guys are so silly. But I just wanted to say “hi” and tell Ben I’m back home now!— Oh! And starting next week, I’ve got a whole bunch of fun activities I learned from the expo to start doing at the library! Hopefully we can get some of the scared kids back now.

Ben I’ll call you later, Emily.

Emily Goodnight, Ben! Night, Sammy!

[click, dial tone]

Sammy Emily Potter, ladies and gents. King Falls Librarian and Ben’s… Friend.

Ben [shyly] Yeah-yeah… Lucky Line 1, you’re on King Falls AM.

Greg Hey, guys! It’s Greg Frickard!

Sammy Hi, Greg! You know, we appreciate you running the ads on the show, sir. It’s so nice to meet youuu… uh, over the phone, of course.

Greg Thanks, Sammy! I— think— we’ve- talked before, and uh, glad to run the spot! Me and Granny Frickard love the show! You should hop on down to the Froggery and we’ll hook ya up!

Sammy I might have to take you up on that offer, Greg!

Greg We’d love to have you! You too, Ben…

Ben Greg, you’re a lifelong King Falls resident… w-we’ve been talking about the crop circles out at –

Greg Oh I know. I’ve been listening, but— I was actually calling about- sssomething else— if that’s okay.

Sammy Uh, yyyeah. Sure thing, Greg. What’s on your mind?

Greg Well, I heard Ben and Miss Potter a second ago and they made a— declaration of friendship? Is that correct?

Sammy Oh! U-uh. Is- this about Emily?

Ben [suspicious] Did you- call before, when Emily was in the studio, Greg?

Greg Uh, noo… *nervous laugh* that must have beeeen… somebody else. But is that true, Ben? Are you and Miss Potter just friends?

Ben [terse] Good friends. *tsk* Close. Friends… Real close.

Greg Huhhh! … Well th- okay! That’s all I needed to know! Thanks a million, buddy.

Sammy Hey— Greg. You didn’t have a comment orr—

Greg Oh, no, no! I j— *chuckles* I don’t know the first thing about crop circles and— what-have-you. Uhh, it’s real interesting and all! but- Miss Potter’s lovely voice just… [sighing dreamily] speaks to me. I always just assumed that Ben and Emily were… “bf” and “gf” respectively, *laughs* but… if that’s not the case, thennn…

Sammy Ben? You okay?

Ben I don’t like putting our— personal lives out there in the public eye…

Greg Well, gee, Ben, I’m— only asking because ifff you’re into friendship with the lovely Miss Potter, and— I’m afraid, uhhh, I might just have to be into courtship. *chuckle* Granny wants to see me married before going into the great By-and-By—

Ben Bye-bye to you too! Greg. Looks like we lost line—

Greg I’m still here, pals! Now about that thing—

Ben [click, dial tone] Line 7, you’re on King Falls AM?

Sammy Did you just hang up onnn—

Ben I would never. LINE 7.

Herschel I’d like to place a complaint, rrright this instant.

Sammy Herschel?

Ben Is everything okay, Mr. Baumgartner?

Herschel Would I call into you nincompoops if everything was hunky-dory?

Ben I guess not… No.

Sammy So, what seems to be the issue, Herschel?

Herschel All this yackin’ about G-D UFOs and crop circles, for starters. Makes my damn d[bleep]k itch.

Sammy Sir! This is—

Herschel Did you call me to tell me what to think, comrade? Or did I call you to talk about an issue?

Sammy Please continue, Mr. Baumgartner…

Herschel Thank you. So, I’m out on the lake tonight— got up brright and early, so I could make sure I got my special spot.

Ben “Got up early”? It’s— just now a little past 2…

Herschel You the sleep police?! Ya little bastard… I thought not.

Ben Sorry, Herschel.

Herschel So I’m trollin, out on the… well. That parts Top Secret, boys. But I’m trollin, so I don’t scare the bigguns away, and those g[bleep]ddamn sons of b[bleep]chin’ rainbow lights start blowin’ through the sky. Looked like Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat[2] was fightin’ that big Jap lizard!

Sammy Godzilla? Please don’t use derogatory wor—

Herschel McCarthy[3] would’a skinned your ass alive, you Red[4] sack ‘a sh[bleep]t! Can I tell my story?!

Sammy Of course, I’m just asking you not to—

Ben [quickly] I’m on the button. Sammy. Heh. Herschel’s gonna Herschel!

Sammy Okay. So, you saw the lights tonight…

Herschel Saw ‘em? Hell. They scared the literal piss out of me. Got a trickle down my Carhartts[5] look like the state of Florida. I’m out here naked as a jaybird! Not a fish in sight.

Ben I’m sorry, did you just reference a musical, Mr. Baumgartner?

Herschel Oh, just ‘cause I like some colorful metaphors, means I can’t be refined, Ben?!

Ben I wasn’t— I didn’t– im-imply— I’m-I’m just saying—

Herschel [softly, for Herschel] Ol’ Mrs. Baumgartner, (god rest your sexy soul, Edna), used to love those hippy-dippy singing plays. And I’d do anything to keep in those pants, fellas.

Sammy Oh, god.

Ben Awww. [pleading] Can we get back to the lights?

Herschel That Edna. Oh, lemme tell ya… Oh! Uh, yeah– the damn lights! Yeah, so, I saw ‘em. What the hell else am I supposed to tell ya about it?!

Sammy Well, you were calling to complain about them, I’m sure.

Herschel That’s right! I’d like to report that no-good drunkard! Cecil Sheffield! Called that cumbersome ass-wart damn near 15 times to come bring me a pair of skivvies to no avail! Avoiding my calls and his duties as the co-winner of this damn boat!

Ben It’s— so late, Mr. Baumgartner. I’m-I’m sure he’s sleeping now.

Herschel You would take up with him!

Sammy W-well, Ben’s just sayin’ that he isn’t avoiding you so much as he’s, you know— probably asleep.

Herschel Sleeping one off! Soggy son of a b[bleep]h. He knows if I ring the special line, it’s a damn emergency.

Ben So, you guys have made up?

Herschel Made up my ass! If he’s gonna be “co”-anything with Herschel F. Baumgartner, that tally-whacker’s gonna have to keep up his end of the bargain.

Sammy To be at your beck and call in case you… soil yourself…

Herschel Don’t be crass!

Ben So, you guys are actually sharing the boat? That’s awesome! I figured you only—

Herschel I ain’t sharin a damn thing with that son of a b[bleep]h! Stop stirrin’ the pot or I’ll make what Charlie did to John McCain look like foreplay, Ben Arnold!

Sammy So, to the point. You’re calling to complain about Cecil because he’s sleeping through your time of need?

Ben But! He is corroborating seeing the lights, Sammy! That’s a big deal.

Herschel Just have an intern or something bring me some britches and stop fiddle fu[bleep]ing fuss! 32 long! I’ll be at Begley’s. He’s probably peering out his window lookin for a damn show… I don’t like beige! [click]

[dial tone]

Sammy You’re on King Falls AM with Sammy and Ben.

Riley Please hold the line for Mayor Grisham.

Sammy This again?

Ben *groans*

Sammy You know, I wonder, do you wake him when we say special keywords, or…?

Riley Mayor? You’re on with Sammy and Ben.

Grisham Sammy. Ben. I hate to rain on your little topic of discussion tonight, but let’s shut it down. It’d be much appreciated.

Ben What??

Sammy The always-fair, Mayor Grisham, folks. Remember this come election time next year.

Grisham Do you think that a public servant should have to call the local “Tom & Joe Chucklehut Show” to ask them not to jeopardize a police investigation?

Sammy Do you ever call Channel 13 and tell them what to report and how? We are a topical late night talk show, Grisham.

Grisham Mayor.

Sammy I didn’t vote for you.

Grisham Fair enough. I don’t expect you to respect anything but your own pathetic grab for ratings. Now, regarding Channel 13—

Ben Sorry, Mayor. Obviously, Sammy is flustered. He wouldn’t have used such a bad example if he was thinking straight—

Grisham The answer to your question, Sammy, is no. I wouldn’t call in and tell a reputable news agency how to do their job. BUT, amazingly enough, I continue to have to ask you to stop your rhetoric— seemingly once a month or so. Interesting, don’t you think?

Ben You do realize the only people that watch Channel 13 are drunks that can’t find the remote and animals left alone with the TV on, right?

Grisham Whatever helps you sleep better, Ben. I can tell you for a fact that, right now, Storm Sanders is probably not working a “local yokel” interview and digging up the muck. He’s reporting on city ordinance 29.44371.

Ben Storm is knee deep in a barrel of backyard bathtub hooch during commercial breaks.

Sammy So, Mayor. What is this ordinance? Ya know, since we aren’t reporting the news to your liking, give us a glimpse into what works for you.

Grisham The add-on to the local YMCA? The new menu over at Rose’s! I’m not paid a handsome salary to do your job.

Sammy Oh, right! I forget you think you can dictate what we report on, for free.

Ben Sammy… they’re destroying the crop circles! That’s the ordinance!

Grisham There’s hope for you yet, Ben. Don’t go down with this ship. I’ll put a good word in for you elsewhere.

Sammy You son of a b[bleep]h! You’re destroying the crop circles?! That could be the only thing that brings Tim Jenson home!

Grisham Don’t bring Tim Jenson into this! The city is paying Libbydale Farms a fair share for their remaining crops! But it is in the public’s best interest to mow down this batch of mischief accordingly! Especially after this broadcast.

Sammy *derisive scoff/laugh* You are despicable.

Grisham These affairs aren’t your business to ramble on about… Do the weather! Talk about traffic! I mean, I filled those potholes! Stop making trouble!

Sammy Freedom of the Press. When your assistant isn’t typing out our every word, maybe have her look it up and tell you all about it.

Grisham I can’t wait to hear about it! And here’s a little phrase for you to look up too! OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE.

Sammy Uh-huh.

Grisham Do you think using your connections to officers of the law to report on “breaking news” is fine and dandy, Stevens?? *sniffs* You are perverting the course of this case. Things— especially ongoing issues— aren’t meant to be talked about until all the facts are out there! And you— *sniffs* IDIOTS are playing on the scene, reporting with your bagel-eating buddy! who happens to be a cop.

Ben *scoffs* ‘s not my buddy.

Sammy BEN.

Ben I’m not throwing you under the bus, Sammy. I just hate Troy.

Grisham So, the moral of the story would be, gents… some things require couth. Some things require kid gloves when handling. And most things don’t need to be aired in the public for ratings and entertainment. A perfect example being how, I’m sure Sheriff Gunderson will handle Deputy Krieghauser on his own, for calling into this joke of a show with police business constantly. Doubt you’ll see that done during a press conference.

Ben Uh… is that… really necessary, sir?

Grisham This show is a breeding ground for incompetence, and you’re now dragging your pals down with you. Straighten Up and Fly Right.

Sammy Troy doesn’t need to be punished for you to make your point, Grisham.

Grisham Out Of My Hands… I’ve already had Riley send my opinions on it over to the good sheriff! Now again, I ask you: pick a different topic of discussion. Maybe one that won’t lead to the continued pain and misery for all those around you. Night night, fellas! [click]

[dial tone]

Sammy [quickly] I’m gonna call Troy.

Ben Umm, uh *nervous stuttering* W-we’ll be back after this— King Falls. We’ll- we’ll take some- calls about uhh… *helpless scoff* I guess we’ll- see…

[KFAM outro]

[CREDITS]

References

[1] Buford, Wyoming - “America’s Smallest Town”, Buford is mostly just a convenience store/gas station. The population was 1-2 from ~1995 until it was completely abandoned in 2017.

[2] Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical comedy with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis.

[3] McCarthy - Joseph Raymond McCarthy was a Republican U.S. Senator from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of the “Red Scare”, a period in the United States in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He is known for alleging that numerous Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere.

[4] Red - Communist

[5] Carhartts - Carhartt, Inc., is a U.S.-based apparel company founded in 1889. Carhartt is known for its work clothes, such as jackets, coats, overalls, coveralls, vests, shirts, jeans, dungarees, fire-resistant clothing and hunting clothing.

#king falls am #king falls #kfam #sammy stevens #Ben Arnold #kfam transcripts #kfam ep13 #troy krieghauser #cynthia higgenbaum #emily potter #greg frickard #herschel baumgartner #mayor grisham

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brandtmax · 4 years

Text

welcome back to gallagher academy, soo-yun ‘maxine’ brandt ! according to their records, they’re a first year, specializing in research & development; and they did not go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of ( sugar-free mints, a messy low bun, wisps of hair alongside her face, the end of a pen between her teeth, the patek philippe calatrava 4897r-010 in rose gold, off-white pants in every fabric ). when it’s the ( virgo ) ’s birthday on 08/23/1997, they always request their japchae from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation.

henlo it me again i hope u guys aren’t sick of me yet bc i have a new bby named max! i’ve written a lot™️ so brace urself but it’s worth it ( i think ) + trigger warnings: death and alcohol dependency under the cut xxx

the basics

full name: soo-yun ‘ maxine ’ brandt

nicknames: max — just max

age: twenty-two years old

birthday: august 23rd, 1997

gender: cis female

preferred pronouns: she / her

sexuality: bisexual

major: research & development ( formerly a b.a. political science degree from yale university )

known languages: english ( native ) / german ( native ) / korean ( native )

background

nationality: american

birthplace: new haven, connecticut, new hampshire

current location: gallagher academy, roseville, virginia

financial status: upper class

religion: non-theistic

appearance

eye color: brown

hair color: black

height: 5′8.5″

notable features: curly hair on lazy days, rosy cheeks

usual mood and expression: calm, furrowed eyebrows whenever her eyes are on work; lethargic and irritable when she’s overworked ( or without alcohol )

family

birth order: second born

parents: soon-bok ‘ vivian ’ jang and stephen brandt ( d. 2018 )

siblings: min-jun ‘ parker ’ brandt ( b. 1995 ) & georgia ‘ gigi ’ brandt ( b. 2001 )

significant others: chris harmon ( 2013-2015 ) / ava carrillo ( 2015-2016 )

her story so far (this is so long n serious lol)

soo-yun 'maxine' brandt was born and raised in new haven, connecticut, to jang soon-bok ( vivian ), a surgeon, and stephen brandt, a ( n allegedly shady ) criminal justice lawyer.

the brandt siblings were raised like any other blue-blooded, very strict but loving household ( strict = mom / loving = dad )

brandt house rules: get straight a’s, follow the 12 am curfew and don't bring anyone home that you know you’d get disowned for. follow those three rules, and you can do whatever you want.

there was pressure for the brandt siblings to be academically accomplished, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. they were well-tutored, semi-popular, attractive teenagers, which were common in new haven, and everyone knew they were destined for ivy league.

in high school, she dated chris harmon, and it was the kind of relationship that could only be described as the personification of a kinder egg. sweet on the outside, a waste of time and money on the inside.

which is fine; it took max about 2 months to get over it when they broke up halfway through senior year, because neither of them thought of their relationship going far. the joy of getting into yale ( already expected ) trumped the feeling of losing a boyfriend. she even bet parker $5,000 she'd get early admission. she won.

during college, she had an on-off relationship with ava carrillo for a year, which inevitably became a permanent off. it turned out that it wasn't a good idea to throw herself into a committed relationship the minute she stepped foot into yale. max never had the time, and ava didn't have the patience. at least she tried it tho !

things seemed to be on the up and up for their family, and the worst thing max has ever been through is being awake for 24 straight hours to prepare for a final presentation. but ! you know what they say about the calm before the storm.

( tw: death ) on december 18, 2018, their father unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack during a layover flight in new york. the brandt family was at home when they heard the news. needless to say, they had a quiet christmas and new year.

the family tried to move on as best they could, but the siblings knew their dad's death irreversibly changed their mom. they have a rocky relationship to begin with, the siblings always feeling like vivian never wanted to become a parent and only did so for their father. they have absolutely no mother-children bond, and it got worse when stephen died. being the older brother, parker took it upon himself to take care of vivian, balancing that with running the home stretch with his undergrad degree.

on the other hand, maxine still had a few years left at yale. no amount of therapy helped her cope with the loss of her father, the way her mother seemed to become a shell of herself, how parker had to break the momentum of his career to be there for their mom, and the constant pressure to do good academically.

( tw: alcohol dependency ) it started with buying bottled moscow mules because she didn't like how beer tasted, and she wasn't dumb enough to go straight to hard liquor. just one to take the edge off whenever stacks of coursework became too much, or when her mother would send her an email talking about her day, and she didn't have the courage to read it. then it went from a one, two, three-time thing to a whenever-i'm-upset thing, which slid into a whenever-i-feel-like-it thing. after a while, it became a daylight thing where she would add a splash of soju ( or whatever ) to her lunchtime drinks, and she genuinely thought it was just a funny idea at first. max wasn't the only day drinker in her social group, anyway. she found it acceptable, no different than how other people would pound red bull every 6 hours like it's their life force. it was manageable for her since she was able to schedule when she'd be indisposed, and she still can.

parker had ( and still has ) no clue. despite the two being close, max spared him the burden of having another thing to worry about. as long as she can control it ( or she thinks she can ) then nobody had anything to worry about.

eventually, both maxine and parker were offered the opportunity to join gallagher academy, with parker in line to graduate with honors in global affairs and maxine, not far behind with her own impressive academic portfolio in political science.

though really, her acceptance into gallagher has less to do with her published papers ( still impressive, tho ) and more to do with her covertly helping her father win cases by doing some expert sleuthing, strategizing, witness dispatching + discrediting, sexc breaking and entering, and good, old-fashioned manipulation !

it was something they both wanted; to be a part of the bigger picture in the world, but they knew they couldn't leave their mother alone. parker, who chose to make the sacrifice, let maxine go and stayed behind to take care of vivian.

( but if we’re honest, maxine would’ve left for gallagher regardless if parker was coming with her, but she’ll never tell him that )

despite the guilt and telling parker she wasn't going anywhere ( cough ), he insisted on her taking the once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of something they never knew existed. he knew they were going to end up resenting each other if they both stayed. at least one person in the family should be doing something that made them happy.

and so max dropped out of yale and left for roseville, even though she hadn't thoroughly planned out her career trajectory.

she’s eager not just because of the school, obviously. she can't handle going back to their childhood home and seeing how hollow everything is. plus, the immense anger and denial she feels over her dad’s untimely death has no place in new haven anymore.

she promised parker she'd make it up to him, though. somehow, someday.

who is this b*nch

max is relatively easy to get along with, tbh !

she’s a mood matcher; meaning if you’re nice to her, then she’s nice to you ( and if you’re gonna be a punk bitch, then she’ll be a punk bitch right back )

she’s a lil spoiled, lil sheltered, and lil ignorant but her general friendliness makes up for it, she’s the type to be friends with ( almost ) everyone

internally: perfectionist to the point of being ruthless, first place is the only acceptable place, meticulous, neurotic, workaholic, overachiever, if you’re not useful then what’s your purpose?, slightly egotistical, etc etc

externally: caring, protective, and supportive mom friend who just wants people to get their shit together because inadequacy is unacceptable, fixer, likes to dip into different social circles, consciously makes the effort to be more patient with people

she’s incredibly ambitious ? morally ambiguous ? slightly self-serving and self-involved ? her father’s a criminal “justice” lawyer whose clientele doesn’t exactly consist of the beacons of society so... she learned a lot of lessons about how you can win any case in the courtroom if you’re smart enough to a ) make a good story, b ) get the fitting evidence by any means necessary, c ) discredit and discard the necessary people, and d ) be charming and persuasive enough to rock the jury

she’s actively trying to be more open-minded and assimilate to a diverse group of people because back in yale she was definitely in a wasp bubble, and admittedly there are times where she will come off as super snobby without meaning to and tbh sorry about it

she’s still an extremely sociable person because yale also taught her how to network like a motherfucker, and how it’s important to know / be friends with everyone

honestly, intense people turn her off ( both positive and negative ) a little because she can't handle concentrated personalities in one sitting

even though she’s a little intense herself sometimes but it’s fine, we love hypocrites in this house !

neat freak ? but honestly who doesn’t like a friend who squeegees the shower every day and has a tiny can of lysol in their bag and an aroma diffuser with three ( 3 ) oil blends

she’s like... weirdly aggressive sometimes and most definitely has anger issues ( still in denial over her father unexpectedly passing away and getting stuck with a mom who doesn’t like her own children very much )

but also, she’s just agro in general and has a number of physical hobbies. she’s an ice skater, equestrian, a soulcyclist, and a kickboxer. she can fite.

she’s not the type to make fun of herself because she's not at a point where she sees qualities in her that are okay to laugh at ( unless you’re tight )

keeps her negative juju to herself because she’s a very private person

will prioritize work over play because she'd hardwired like that, but that doesn't mean she's anti-fun ( clearly )

definitely needs to loosen up a little that doesn't involve alcohol... jenga perhaps ? or actually try therapy again ?

very effectively sneaky about her growing alcohol dependency ( sugar-free breath mints, brushes her teeth + uses mouthwash after every meal )

dry sense of humor

at all times: wears a 1-carat, emerald cut, pavé diamond ring ( family heirloom ) + carries her trusty black hydro flask with her ( 24 oz. ) and no one is allowed to drink from it !

her signature scent is le labo bergamote 22 🤍

hmu on my discord @ tin#0697 for plottage !

#gallagher:intro #death tw #alcoholism tw #alcohol dependency tw #ps when u see a typo #just close ur eyes

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otherworldliness · 4 years

Text

I R O N M O U N T A I N

I walked up to the pens through the canted storm glow into the cathedral of dust the horses built over themselves with the wind and their circling and their eyes blazed that orange like the day's last light into the arena and threw their shadows around them and flickered and I got the work because how I edged up to the black and white one that likes to be a ass sometimes and I walked him down with him feinting side to side to side while his mane got all tangled in the glowing gusts and I stretched out my arms and backed him until he was in the corner but he didn’t run and I spoke to him and touched his neck flicking and nervous like lightning and when I got my arms gentle around his face and held it to my chest I could whisper to him there and I kept whispering until all suddenly the winds died down in him and the storms stilled and all their voices went quiet I can’t always make it happen like that but sometimes I can Mr. Moses walked up to me all

who the fuck are you and I said

hey Boss and he looked at me for a few seconds and he said

you run a saw and I said

sure can and he said

good I don’t need no more cowboy wahoos round here and I said

y’all got a room and he said

feed these horses and come up to the house and I said

OK Boss

at the headquarters Mauricio had Chile Colorado stewing in the big pot on the stove and he turned and looked at me and knew who I was but I gave him the sign and he acted like we were strangers nobody else was there from before Mr. Moses was drinking a beer and he said

what’s your name and I said

Major and he looked at me like what kind of name is that but he shook my hand and said

Major I’m William Moses and I said

good to meet you Boss

and he introduced me to Mauricio and Mauricio shook my hand and smiled at me and Mrs. Moses was in the living room reading the Sunday comics and listening to Emmylou on the record player and I knew right away we’d be pals Moses put me in the same room I used to share in the summers with John when the ranch was ours and I put my bag down on the boards of the floor and pulled the silver raven out of it and put it under the loose board so I could dream but then I remembered you and I had to sit down on the bed real hard and hold myself to keep all of my secret night from spilling out

I got up in the morning dark and turned the light on and the room was cool from the windows being open and the late August dark coming in and I pulled on my pants and shirt and boots and walked into the kitchen where Mauricio and Mr. Moses and another man stood smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee around the table and Mrs. Moses had a skillet full of eggs and sausage and their cigarette smoke whorled up around the tines of the elk antler chandelier over the table and Mrs. Moses said

Major this is CB

and I shook hands with the man who was skinny and tall as a Sotol bloom and Mr. Moses turned to Mauricio and said

you know the old fence at the west end with all those holes and Mauricio said

yessir and Moses said

why don’t you and Major go out there and fix that up we’re gonna need to move the mares over there pretty soon and Mauricio said

will do

the truck bumped along the road with the windows down and the morning light in the dust behind us bluer than prayer and Mauricio said still looking up over the road

I heard about Elle and I said

oh and looked down at the knees of my blue jeans because how there was always a silver knife chopping around in my heart and he said

I’m sorry Major are John and your parents OK and I said

we’re all about making it and he said

do they know you’re here and

my voice went away and he put his hand on my shoulder and took his old felt hat off the dashboard and put it on and I whispered

I’ll tell them

and we got out of the truck and he handed me some Mooremakers and we cut all the old wire down off the fence and rolled it up and put it in a big blackred mess on the bed of Mauricio’s truck and it scourged our shirts and raised up dark rusty scars and we pulled out the bright lines of new cable across the expanse and tied them onto the far H brace and hooked up the comealong and stretched them off the ground and made it where you could tap them and they’d sing wavy as Hank’s yodel and we tied them off to the close H brace and slicked them up to the posts and stays and Mauricio sang and two Prairie Falcons called down at us from where they held at the edge of a cloud

Mauricio and I redid fences for a month before Mr. Henry visited the ranch for the first time it was hot in the day and our sweat puddled into our shirts deep to where the Tiger Swallowtails landed on us to water I didn’t know Mr. Henry was coming and on the way back when Mauricio turned up the big hill to the main house my heart started flutterskipping because how I hadn’t been there since you were still here and the world wasn’t so full of all its black horse music and my heart still sometimes had doe deer lain down in the shadows of its trees like secrets I whispered

where are we going and he said

to say howdy to Mr. Henry

I looked up the hill and didn’t think I could be there but he said

he’s not a bad one Major

we pulled up into the gravel lot and the house swept out from us like a white bird to the cliff edge and the oak trees swayed huge around it in the light wind

Mr. Henry and Mr. Moses sat on the porch looking onto the valley below and when Mauricio and I walked up Mr. Henry stood and shook my hand and he said

James Henry and his voice was deeper than bullbellow and I looked up and said

Major

he looked at people that slow way like he actually saw them and his eyes were quiet and held me strong so that none of the ocean of night inside me had to leak out even though I was at our house and he turned to Mauricio and shook his hand and while I sat there and Mr. Henry and Moses talked I could feel your words coming off the white stucco walls touching my face like quail down but I couldn’t hear what you said even though I tried and Moses said to me

Major

and my eyes startled up I’m always getting woken up from something and he said

Mr. Henry wants to know if you can cut some firewood for the house and I said

yessir and Mr. Henry said

good then I’m going to go take a drive around the ranch but you all come back up for some dinner a little later tonight

Mauricio drove and CB was with him up front and Moses and Mrs. Moses were in the backseat and I rode in the bed with the dogs and Rhett was up close at my legs with his long coat and his warm and they were playing the country station out of Stockton in the cab and it came out of the yellow glow of the radio and deer floated over the fences like spirits under the high beams in front of us as we moved up through the smell of piñon smoke to the house that was shaking beneath all the weight of night and there was the first chill of autumn and the truck stopped and the dogs poured out of the bed in front of me in a falls and circled round Mr. Henry’s big lab whining and pawing and I said

come on there pups

and jumped down and Mr. Henry had the long table on the porch set and a fire in the hearth that was wide so I could of lied down in it and the mouths covering the walls moved in the flickering light like they were trying to say something but no sound came out but I tried to read what they said but they all spoke different and I couldn’t see long enough to tell but Mr. Henry sat at the end of the table smoking a cigarette and drinking wine and when he greeted us he buried the dark under the deep of his voice

evening

and he shook hands with us and gave Mrs. Moses a hug

Sharon I’m sorry my wife couldn’t help you out of being the only woman at the table and she said

please I’m used to all these men

and he poured us glasses out of an old bottle and it was wine that was like a velvet blanket and I said

thank you and he said

sure thing Major and the dogs trotted back and forth silently along the edge of light and Mr. Henry said

Major can you get the steaks off the smoker and I said

yessir

he’d cooked good thick steaks and he scalloped potatoes inside and made a Caesar and I liked that he was that kind of man that made friends with the people who worked for him and while we ate the dogs came one by one and laid down in the firelight that stayed bright because of how CB was nearest the hearth and kept throwing logs crushing onto the coals when it burned down and once I saw Mr. Henry watching the walls like he could see the mouths too but I wasn’t sure

Mr. Henry walked into the headquarters before leaving and said

you all got anything needs to go to town and Moses said

no sir and I said

give me a second and he said

I’ve got five

and I ran into my room and took out my book and wrote tell mom I’m ok on a page and tore it out and put it in an envelope addressed to John and ran back out and gave it to Mr. Henry and I said

thanks and he said

sure thing Major

I cut out the fire killed oak for three months I only cut the best trees when it was that right point of evening when the wind was always just right and the light would turn purple and flow down through the hills like water but I stopped cutting before any night got into it and then I hauled the wood down the mountain because that’s how he asked and I took the trunks and the thick boughs that hadn’t got burnt up but just got killed and I logged them and the logs that weren’t rotten I split and stacked and I got ten cords up against the adobe wall of the house before the night that I was out with Mr. Henry and Moses by the fire and everybody else was gone in and the first cold front of the year slid down over the land and sent the sparks from the fire spiraling southward about our legs and against the canvas of the coats we had on to keep out the shards from the cold and the Iron Mountain hulked further south still and we watched it pull the stars down close to it but it always stayed dark even though it took more of the light than we could and Moses was asleep in his chair so that it was just me and Mr. Henry and we’d drunk enough whiskey where our eyes turned to amber and opened up and could see the ghosts of the iron oaks up there swaying in the wind like silk and glowing darkly and he said softly

can you see them Major and I whispered back

yessir

do you know why you see them and I said

no sir

I want you to cut some logs from it

how I asked

I don’t know he said and I whispered back

I think I can figure it out maybe and he said

I think maybe you can too

I moved to the little cabin off from the main house and I forgot the silver raven but it didn’t matter because I didn’t sleep anymore anyways because the day was too bright to be able to see the ghost oaks and I kind of stole Rhett from CB not like I did it but Rhett just started sticking with me and CB didn’t care because of all the other dogs stuck with him Mr. Henry told Moses how I was going to just report to him and Moses said

and I went up to the hills over the main house at night and tried with my chainsaw but it was like passing through air and I tried with my axe but it didn’t work either I kept going back but I didn’t know what to do and one day I got real sad and went down into the valley where the red oaks all bent like fire in the gusts of autumn and I strung all the biggest trees together with spiderweb to make a machine because I was trying to listen to heaven so I could hear you again but in the nights when I put my ear to it everything got all drowned by the clamor of God up there drunk and murmuring to himself in the dark and running into furniture I just wanted to hear you say goodnight like you used to I just wanted you to tell me again that I’m your good little brother and how you lovemelovemeloveme but I couldn’t hear you and the wind kept blowing and I laid down on the cold ground not remembering anything anymore except that you were here and now you are gone

I can’t figure out how I said into the receiver and he said

you can take a while and I said

alright and he said

just don’t worry too much about it and I said

OK I won’t and he said

are you doing alright out there in the cabin and I said

yessir Rhett stays with me and we keep that stove burning so it’s warm and he said

who’s Rhett and I said

he’s that red merle Aussie and he said

alright then Major I’m glad you’re keeping up I’ll see you all out there afterwhile

after we finished up dinner Moses asked me if I would shoot a deer in the morning early because he wanted to have some backstrap for when Mr. Henry came the next week and I said

I don’t have a gun and he said

you can use that 30 aught 6 I’ve got over there in the cabinet and I said

I’ll be up early

I walked down from my cabin later that night to the headquarters to grab a beer and when I opened the door into the kitchen CB was standing in the refrigerator light taking out a bottle and he said

you want one and I said

yes please

and he popped the tops and we sat down at the table in the dark and I said

where you from CB and he said

I grew up down 90 outside Sanderson and I said

so you’ve been out here the whole time and he said

I’ve been here for a while but not the Iron Mountain for long and I said

you’re family out there in Sanderson and he said

used to be but my dad died and my mom kind of split off after that I don’t really know where she is things fall down on this land kind of hard some times

and we sat in the dark and drank in silence for a while and he got up and the light spilled out of the refrigerator into the kitchen again and he got two more beers for us and I said

you know where the trapper piles up the bodies and he says

yeah what of it and I said

them all piled and stinking those bodies they’re all through us

but I could tell maybe he knew but he wasn’t going to say and he said

how old are you

and I said 18 but he knew that was a lie

he went and got us each another beer because we were drinking too fast and said

time for bed

yeah I guess I better

I’ll be around 5:00 to get you

and I shook his hand and walked up the trail to my cabin

the cold was ringing when I woke and I got up and put some kindling onto the coals in the stove and stacked some logs on that and blew the fire going and I put on my thermals and my pants and a shirt and zipped my coveralls on over everything and there was a knock at my door and Rhett stirred up whining from my blankets with the fire flicker in his eyes and I said

come on in

and CB walked in and said

morning and his voice made fog inside my room and he patted Rhett’s head and I said

howdee

and he poured me some coffee out of his Stanley and I pulled my gloves on and grabbed the rifle and slung it onto my shoulder and shut Rhett in the cabin and we drove out a ways and parked the truck and walked up onto the mountainside and CB said

you stay here and glass the valley and I’ll go around and watch that other side and I said

shoot a doe if you can

I nodded and lay down in the grass and watched out as the light came I kept having to switch my hands holding the binoculars because of how fucking cold it was and every time I stuck my right hand in my pocket I could feel the extra brass shells banded together to keep them from ringing

deer come out in the morning because of how they are the same color as it and you have to watch so careful because it’s like trying to see water in water but I finally got my eyes right so that I could see an old doe come through the dim and I took off my glove and switched the safety off and put the cross on her neck and the shell cracked open and the bullet went hurling out away from me to her

CB walked around from the other side of the hill when he heard the shot I don’t like killing deer because afterwards I can hear all that low thunder out of death’s horn and I try not to hear it but I can’t not after I brought it and I remember you telling me how it was what made the dogs whine in their sleep and how every now and again it gets loud so that car alarms go off in the streets I don’t like hearing the sound from it CB walked up and said

that’ll do

and we put a rope through her back ankles and pulled her up from the bough of an oak and cut her guts out and left them where they fell grey and steaming on the ground for the coyotes and CB said

Mauricio will make us some chili tonight and I said

hope so

and then I looked down at the bloody knife and I threw up on the dirt and CB just shook his head at me but I wiped my mouth off and got up and CB dropped the doe into the grass under the tree and I picked her up and put her on my shoulders and he said

come on crazyass

and we walked back up to the truck and I put her in the bed and her eyes turned to frost from the inside

the next evening I was walking water line and I heard the elks bugling at each other and I looked but I couldn’t see them because how the grey was down on the earth but then all of a sudden I saw first one and then another big bull come out from the clouds and when they walked their antlers tore up the fog so that they dragged all these ribbons of emptiness behind them through the air and I knew how to cut the ghost oaks I don’t know how but I just knew and I ran back to the truck and drove to the house and I ran in past Mrs. Moses and she said

where are you off to

but I ran past and into the room and I pulled up the floor board and took out the silver raven and I went and jumped in the flatbed that had the welder on the back of it and I drove it over to the barn and I got my chainsaw and filed all the steel teeth off it and I cut the raven into little pieces with the torch and welded them onto my chain and filed the lumps sharper than the moonlight and then I went and sat by the forest and time changed I watched the sun rise and fall and rise and fall until I lost count

I got so skinny sitting there all those days I needed the milk of your voice I needed the warm bread of your words but finally I saw the night anchor pulling across the world and it caught on the Iron Mountain and the dark stayed and I took my saw onto the hill and found the stand of ghost oaks all dark and gusting in the wind and I walked to them and pulled the saw going and set the blade against one and blue sparks burst like little galaxies everywhere and the sparks went through me like I was the one that wasn’t there instead of them and I worked the long night through and I had to keep going back and welding on more teeth because the silver wore down so fast but I cut a little stack and laid it invisibly next to the other logs by the house and at the end I fell asleep beside the wood and Rhett was sleeping there too and the night closed all its eyes and came over close and lay down against us to keep us warm

I mailed Mr. Henry a letter

I figured out how to cut it

I made a silver blade

Moses let me take a truck into town and I pulled up to The Blues where there was a fire burning out of some shitty lumber stinking up the air and someone was singing old Marty Robbins inside and people were turning on the dance floor in quick circles through the spindled light that the disco ball hauled through the cigarette smoke and I walked over to CB and he slid me a bottle of Jack across the rough boards of the table and I slugged on it and slid it back and he said

look who’s out tonight and I said

howdee and he said

you gonna have a time and I said

might turn that way

and then the warm of the whiskey went through me and the world got soft and dark and I looked up and saw her there in the glow of the can lights and she looked all alone and quiet from the others and she wheeled from me and then back again and our gazes caught together across the room in the breeze from the song and I couldn’t even see who she was with but when I tried to look away our eyes got caught up like wind knots and I couldn’t turn she had on a dress covered in horses and the song ended and another fast one was on and it was just like that that she was in my arms and laughing and we turned like a dust devil all over the place and the horses went and bucked and galloped across the cloth plains of her dress and the sea of night inside of me flashed away for then because how she took my loneliness in her hands and pushed it away she said

lets get out of here and I said

OK and she said

come on then

and we ran out to the truck and drove west down 90 out there to old Nopal where the heavens push down hard on the earth and pulse and blaze and it was just us sitting there with the truck engine shaking and she kissed me so delicate that I couldn’t figure out what was happening how the softness hit me all brutal everything bunched up and the red lights flashing on us as that train went by in the night the horn blowing so loud that the dark got ripped away and the ground shaking and we were just alone there and it made it where I felt like horses loose on a highway or like moths like grass burning and there was all that flint in us that was rubbing along our ribs when we breathed and I thought it might have been light that filled us but I didn’t know for sure I never know for sure and then she took her dress off and her body was the moon and all at once the air filled with the ghost lights swarming and near and they circled round us like little stars and brought close their burning faces to whisper to us every name of night and they passed over again and we lay there holding together breathing like we’d run miles and we grasped to each other while our shadows turned circles around us always behind us to the lights and as fast as they were there they left again and the cab of the truck exploded into dark except for the soft waxing of her body

Lucia came out to the ranch the next weekend in her dad’s flatbed because I told her about the ghost oaks and she said

let’s burn some and I said

she drove out on one of those days where it was real cold out and the clouds were down low and were rubbing off on the hills so that the grass and trees turned silver and thick with frost I already went around with Moses breaking the ice off the water tanks and there wasn’t anything else to do because it was so damn cold

she came into the cabin and Rhett walked up against her leg with his head up so she could pet him

who’s this she asked

oh you mean Stinker Bell there

she’d sat down and Rhett was nuzzling up in her lap and she was making those noises at him that people make with dogs and I walked over to the ice chest and got us out some beer and brought it and gave it to her and I said

his name’s Rhett and she said

well hello Rhett and I said

he’s got two different color eyes

and she pulled me down with them and kissed me

I cooked venison and we ate and when we were done I went and got the logs from outside first I lit red oak and then I burned piñon and after that I lay the dark ghosts of the old iron oaks onto the bed of coals and I understood why he wanted me to cut them it makes the smell like a chapelfull of myrrh smoke but the warm of it doesn’t touch your skin or your face but it sounds into you and calls all the wild and tender things that hide high up on the game trails in your heart down and it makes the moon rise through the dark of you like a mother of pearl disc and all the creek beds in your soul fill up with cold water

we lay there naked in that warm on the Navajo rug in the cabin and the ghost fire came out of the stove like snow light and the small brown spiders crawled out to us through the shadows and wrapped us there in their silentest silks and we didn’t have to be afraid of anything anymore because how in that garb not even the night can see you

she stayed with me in the cabin for three nights and every word she said had a bunk where I could lay up and sleep for a night she’d say

Major

and take my hand and put it down between her legs where the warm ocean was only barely inside her and she would pull me down and as I rocked in and out of her our hearts sloshed back and forth so full of stars that death was with us too we got so close and I knew she couldn’t stay forever and that evening we walked outside and she washed the creek in her hair and then the stars got hold of her and tossed her nightward and she flew up and up and she didn’t fall and I knew how she had to leave because she was the moon but I’m getting too used to all these leavings

that night my dreams rode in in the dark their horses the color of flood water under a flashlight and the dreams breathed as hard as the horses and their breath got so hot when they whispered close it made my ears ring all I could hear was how God talked in symbols but I already knew that and I kept wincing away into my blankets because it was like when someone breaths real hard on a microphone turned up too loud but I wanted to hear but I couldn’t hear what they said and I whispered out to them

tell me if you can pray to just one part of God and maybe can He keep it secret from the other parts of Him like could I ask Him to open my dreaming eyes and help me find the heavens I hid in myself but lost

and my dreams bent their heads to me

but ask it from the gentle part of Him and not the part that’s always drunk and angry and would open all my eyes and then burn nightmares into them forever

and my dreams leaned in close

like sometimes He seems to like answering prayers as mean as He can and I just want to find the God that’s actually better at being good than us not just the one that says He is

and my dreams put their heads against my head and ran their fingers through my hair until I fell to sleep in sleep

the next afternoon I saw the fire start I knew it was coming because how the ground was so dry it smelled like rain even when I pissed it was the storm with no rain that did it I tried to stop it I said to the wind and I said to death and I even said to God but none of them were listening I was cutting cedars on the hill but I saw all the smoke column up and I dropped the saw and ran down the road and I ran so fast that my breath fell behind and I took off my coat and kept running and my mouth tasted like it got full of pennies and I found CB but I couldn’t say anything and I had to hunch over there to let my breath catch up with me

you crazy fucker he said

but I caught my breath and I told him and he said

where and I said

by the gate

he was in a valley fixing up a hole in the fence but he climbed the hill with me and he saw the smoke because the fire got big while I was running and he said

how the fuck did that get started and I said

I tried to stop it it was the storm I tried to make it go away but he said

nevermind

and ran down the hill and started his truck and raced up the road to go get the firemen I guess and I ran down the hill after him but now my legs felt funny and I said

shit

and had to slow down but I kept trying to go fast so I could find Moses but the sun started sliding down and the edge hit the earth and the fire got bigger and even though it was night now the wind kept rising and the smoke made my head ache and behind me the mountains flickered and in front of me the tree shadows swung around in the light but then I had to stop because the hills turned into a gold river and my eyes were spinning around and I had to sit down and make the world stop so I could go again and then it stopped and I ran up to the headquarters where there wasn’t a light on and I knocked on the door anyways but no one was inside and I kept turning around to see the fire get bigger and the smoke smash against the Iron Mountain

prow of the earth I whispered breathlessly up to it

I couldn’t let the house burn I had to not let it burn Elle got born there and when we were young and she’d never been too jealous of the dead she would laugh so loud and blazing white as the stars that the rooms and the halls would get full and silver and you could see them there glowing if you were out in the night and it would bring you back from whatever trouble sort of thing you were about and now after I got all the rivers in me full up with tears it’s the only place left where I can go hear the shadows that her laughing cast and not have to feel sadforever

I ran up to the dozer and tried to start it but it didn’t start because the batteries were dead because nobody had driven it since who knows but the flatbed was there so I brought it over and turned the welder on and I put the ground on the black and the lead on the red and turned the key of the dozer and the engine rolled over like a fuckcrazy horse and the lead off the welder made burning stars shoot all over the place from the battery and I jumped down on the flatbed to turn the welder off but it was already stalled

piece of shit I yelled at it

and jumped back up on the Cat and put it in reverse and gunned it because bulldozers run fastest backwards I don’t know why but it still wouldn’t go fast enough but I turned it towards the house and the tracks that had got rusty sitting there were polished like mirrors after the heavy thing touched them on the ground and I could see the stars that were living in them and the flint under the treads burst out with sparks to light my way

I got up to the house that was glowing clear white like the moon even though the fire snaked next to it huge and orange and the smoke flowed over the hills like the world was coming apart and the wind pushed the grasses into waves and the fire was twice higher than the house when I came up and spun the dozer the treads shrieking like giant barn owls and dropped the silver blade into the earth and rammed a wide swath of clean dirt between the house and the fire and the engine all low down growled and the turbo whined and the exhaust went dark in the dark and filled the woodsmoke air near the house with diesel smell and I screamed

COME ON FUCKING COME ON

and I got one break down when the fire got there and a second break started and everything was swirling and full of bright and dark but the fire jumped my line into the meadow by the house and I tried to chase it but the wind turned it huge so I couldn’t chase it and the flame surrounded me and I killed the dozer in the middle of the firebreak and jumped down and ran into the courtyard of the house hoping that the walls would hold long enough for the flames to pass but the oaks were too huge and hot and the herd of bright red horses ran all along the floors up the walls and set the paintings on fire and I went to the fountain to lay inside it but the fountain was empty and I yelled to you

HELP ME

but I couldn’t hear you and I turned to the flames

no please no

and I ran out the back of the house but the flames were at every side and I jumped out off the deck over the cliff into the night below and I dropped and dropped and went through some tree to the ground and my head spun to darkness

I found the rock pool at the edge of the meadow that’s never in the same place twice and I got in the cool water and drank the bottle of whiskey from the stone edge and my liver turned to ember and glowed into the water and you walked into the dark gold light like from out of nothing and I knew you were my dream but how it didn’t matter and the stars still saw your face and got drunk off it and I watched them lose their ways and stray through the black up there staring down at you and you said you could talk to me for the night only but that was all and I thought that was ok it was ok and all again you held me and I was shaking but all I could tell you was about how I keep trying to build the heaven in myself so you can come be with us again but I have to make sure it’s hidden enough that it doesn’t get broken but how it’s so hard because I keep not being able to find it after I hide it and I have to start all over again and you whispered to me

it’s okay Major it’s alright

and your voice was quieter than smoke so I could hear and I heard you but I couldn’t keep you there and I wanted so bad to keep you there

I woke late the next evening and I heard CB and Mauricio yelling my name on the cliff top and I whistled back to them and Rhett ran down the hill to me and licked my face where I lay and they came down and CB said

you crazy motherfucker and I said

I think my ribs are busted

and he looked at the cliff and he said

yeah I bet they are

and they helped me up and half carried me and lay me on the back of the truck and my sides pulsed like shards of suns when I breathed and the house was burnt and smoldering and Mauricio got into the pickup bed with me while CB drove slow down to headquarters that was still there and they had the horse trailer hitched in the driveway I think they all thought I’d died or something because Mrs. Moses ran out crying and Moses told me how they’d followed the dozer tracks up there in the night and yelled and how I hadn’t said anything back and I said

I guess I was sleeping

my head ached so bad with all the night crashing around in it and Moses said

we got to get these horses out of here but they’re kicking up a storm in that trailer and I said

it’s because they got too much fire into their eyes and they all looked at me like they always look at me but I got off the truck and limped through the yard under all the stars that were falling in flurries now and I got up into the trailer with the horses and they stilled down and I said

close that up and keep the light on in here

and they did it and the fastener screeched as they pushed it down into place and the truck started up and I was surrounded with the heavy smell of the horses and I leaned against the black mare and winced at the bumps and all the stillness in the horses asleep in the lit trailer hauling through the dark filled me up and I could feel the massiveness of heaven just out there heaving breath in and out and how alive it was and how I just had to find a pure place to put it into the world and then we just had to believe in it and love each other even though we’re all the ruined but we still can love even though our hearts are wrecked and that’s what I had to know so I whispered every heaven that I could find to the mare and I thought that the ocean of her heart would keep them safe but I didn’t know anything for sure I never know anything for sure

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oops-prow-did-it-again · 4 years

Text

Pokémon Black: The Novel (Chapter 3 - An Enigma)

Find the prologue and more info about this series here

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Find it on AO3 and FFN

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Traveling Route One alone with just Noodle was a strange experience. Before, he had always had to stop and wait for a gym trainer from Striaton to deal with any adventurous wild pokémon that wished to make their acquaintance. Left to his own devices, Hil found the trek to be much more difficult than he could have anticipated. Noodle had Tackle and a threatening glare known as Leer at its disposal and… that was it. The wild pokémon that attacked them only consisted of Lillipup and Patrat thankfully, but Noodle wasn’t exactly grand at taking hits just yet. Despite how short the grassy road was, he found himself scurrying past a Lillipup bolting after them to avoid it for fear of how Noodle would hold up against another attacker.

Upon arriving in Accumula Town, he noticed a large group of people gathering about the patio park to the left of the Pokémon Center, but he paid them no heed as he headed for the orange building. It would be his first time healing his own pokémon at one of these and not just lazing about at the customary café with a Striaton trainer. He rubbed Noodle’s head gently as he stepped into the automatic doors. “I’ve gotta put you in the Poké Ball for a minute, buddy,” he whispered as he raised the device in his right hand over Noodle’s head. The Snivy nodded curtly and Hil gingerly tapped the button of the Poké Ball to Noodle’s nose. It opened and siphoned Noodle away in a flash of red light.

He then padded over to the U-shaped, tangerine front desk, where a pristine white laptop sat opened in front of a pink-haired woman. She had big loops in her long hair and dark green eyes. She regarded Hil warmly as he approached. “Hil!” she beamed. “I see you’ve got a little one of your own now!”

“Yeah,” Hil smiled slightly as he handed her the Poké Ball. “That’s, uh, my Snivy. Noodle.” He laughed nervously. I sound like such an idiot telling anyone that out of context, he realized with a familiar bolt of shame. He had heard much worse names given to pokémon before, half the time as a joke, so he wasn’t sure why telling Nurse Joy suddenly shook him to his core, but oh well. He gritted his teeth and pushed through that unpleasant feeling.

Nurse Joy took no notice of his apparent discomfort and snatched up the Poké Ball easily. She nodded and jumped up from a computer chair behind the counter with a bounce in her step and loped over to a machine on a cart pressed to the wall behind her. It had a clear cover encasing six round slots that made the surface of the machine look almost like an egg flat. She slipped the Poké Ball into one of those crevices upon lifting the cover, and closed it swiftly again. The bright digital display above the machine then came to life and a stock image of a Snivy displayed. The screen pulsated with a blue light a few times before the machine dinged to signal its completion. Nurse Joy nodded in approval and retrieved the Poké Ball, tossing it to Hil with a knowing wink. Hil spastically waved his hands to catch it and wound up splayed halfway across the counter. His face flushed red and he scrambled back to an upright position, shoving Noodle’s Poké Ball into his pocket.

“Th-thanks, Nurse Joy,” he spluttered. Why was he stuttering? He was such a mess…

“Don’t mention it, kiddo,” she grinned. “Come back any ti—what’s going on out there?” Her attention snapped to the café on the right side of the Pokémon Center. There were only a couple of people over there, but both, as well as the shopkeeper, were looking out of a tiny window in the wall and muttering to each other. Nurse Joy frowned. “Ugh, it’s probably those Team Plasma nutjobs again…”

Piqued, Hil cocked his head at where everyone was looking out the window. “Team Plasma?” he echoed.

“Yeah. They’ve showed up a lot here recently. It’s always the same song and dance. Don’t pay them any mind,” Nurse Joy muttered. “I wish nobody would. Then they might have died out long time ago.”

Hil nodded slowly. “I thought they were, uh… criminals or something. My mother always freaked out about them that I believed they were…”

“Nobody really knows,” Nurse Joy explained with a shrug and vague wave of her hand. She leaned on the orange counter with her elbow on its surface and her hand holding up her chin. “It’s a whole controversy. Some people claim they’re horrible criminals, terrorists even, because a few people wearing their getup have stolen pokémon and threatened people. Others say that people are framing them, and that Team Plasma is a peaceful organization and they cite all their speeches as their only efforts. Regardless of what they are… they’re loony. That’s for sure.”

Hil thanked her distractedly and decided to step outside and see for himself. He nearly bumped nose-first into Cheren, managing to anchor his foot back just in time to keep from running into him, and Cheren also staggered backward. Bianca was at his side and she clapped her hands excitedly when she saw Hil. Hil glanced to his right and saw the gathered crowd of people he had noticed before going into the Pokémon Center had grown tenfold.

“Nurse Joy says something with Team Plasma’s going down over there,” Hil explained as he gestured to the crowd.

“Yeah, that’s what we were coming to get you for,” Cheren nodded. He motioned for Hil to follow as he and Bianca headed for the throng of people.

They managed to push and finesse their way to the front thanks to being rather small in comparison to most of the adults and older teens gathered. Upon the raised patio, a neat line of people dressed in silver robes stood perfectly still, to the point Hil thought it looked like they were straining. A black X-shape was situated on the center of the top of their hoods. It was creepy, if he was honest. Two others had not gathered in the line and rather were setting up flags on either side of the line of robed people. The flags were black and white with a blue ‘P’ situated in the center, a jagged, blue zigzag line running across the flag. The vertically oriented flags fluttered in the wind as the two men held them in place by lightly stepping on their bases. Hil then became keenly aware that everyone in the silver robes bore the same insignia on the center of their chests, on a white fabric that hung over the main part of the robes, tied to their forms by a black belt fastened to their waists.

From behind the line of robed people stepped an elderly man with thick, long cloak, dappled dark blue and dull yellow. A heavy golden piece looped around his neck. To Hil, it reminded him of a mantle, but it was shaped almost like a crown and the way it gleamed in the sunlight told him it was a solid metal of some sort. It did not bounce or give any leeway as the old man moved. Plastered to the front of that intimidating golden collar was yet another insignia for Team Plasma. Despite how heavy and burdening the piece looked, the old man seemed completely unbothered by it, despite limping to the forefront of the Team Plasma agents to address the crowd.

His idly smoothed back part of his green hair with his left hand and then raised it to the residents of Accumula Town beneath him. As he started to speak, Hil noticed something was… off about the way this man moved and spoke. His right arm did not move at all, but his left arm waved about animatedly. An angular, silver eyepiece with red plastic across the center prevented his right eye from being seen, and the right side of his lips failed to articulate his words. Hil also picked up that his limp was from his right leg struggling to pick up and place itself. “My name is Ghetsis. I am here representing Team Plasma,” the old man said in a gruff, deep voice.

The crowd of people around Hil, Cheren, and Bianca began to mutter and muse to one another loudly. Hil noted that Cheren was silent and eyeing the Team Plasma members tensely. Bianca, on the other hand, had found another younger woman to whisper to excitedly. Hil bit his lower lip a little as he watched.

“Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about pokémon liberation. I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and pokémon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However, is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans... only assume that this is the truth?” Ghetsis prattled away as he limped from one of the flags set up to the other, pausing to let his words sink in here and there. He’d always then regard the crowd with an expressionless stare. His voice was heavily punctuated and nuanced, but his face was so devoid of meaning… It unsettled Hil and made him clutch Noodle’s Poké Ball in his hand tightly, as if asking him for strength.

“Pokémon are subject to the selfish commands of trainers... They get pushed around when they are our ‘partners’ at work... Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I'm saying?” Ghetsis continued. He stopped at the end of that statement and then shakily raised his right hand, weakly throwing the cloak off from where it covered it. Only his forearm was then visible, but it was enough to get the message across. The flesh was scarred with horizontal lines down the inside, and the skin significantly darker than the rest of his body. The musculature was thinner as well, giving it a gaunt appearance. The crowd collectively gasped and Hil himself had to whip his head away from the visual. He clasped his left hand to his right arm’s interior, and then touched his finger to the Poké Ball in his hand’s center. He really wanted his new friend at his side now…

Noodle unfurled on the pavement below, and without prompting jumped onto Hil’s right arm and used it as leverage to curl around his shoulders again. It trilled happily and Hil swallowed hard, smiling nervously. Ghetsis then spoke again and pulled his attention back.

“This, ladies and gentlemen… is the result of a pokémon pushed beyond its breaking point,” Ghetsis explained with his voice barely above a whisper. “A pokémon so abused and broken by people that it turned on someone trying to help it. I have done my best to change its mind, but… well… the damage speaks for itself.” Ghetsis seemed to be scanning the crowd for reactions.

Hil couldn’t really pick out any one specific comment, but he heard plenty of hushed whispers of worry and shock. A couple people had given audible cries at the look of his arm and whimpered at his story. Hil and Cheren exchanged a look.

“What a bother,” Cheren growled, “all we have is his word to go off. Why are people believing him so easily? How do they know he’s not just making it up?”

Hil shook his head. “I don’t know. He’s just… very convincing, I guess.”

“Bianca?” Cheren asked, turning his attention to her. She had stopped talking to her friend and instead was watching Ghetsis closely. Hil had never seen her focus so intently on something before. She was flighty and indecisive as they came and her sudden focus alarmed Hil. Cheren waved a hand in front of her and she shook her head.

“Stop, Cheren, I’m listening to him,” she complained and gently pushed his hand away.

Cheren sighed and turned his attention back to Ghetsis as well.

“Now, ladies and gentlmen, pokémon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called Pokémon? That's right! We must liberate the pokémon! Then, and only then, will humans and pokémon truly be equals!” Ghetsis stopped at the center of his makeshift stage and raised his left arm high into the air at his last statement. The rest of the Team Plasma members behind him and holding the flags down dipped their chins and mumbled something under their breath.

“Long live Team Plasma,” Cheren said offhandedly to Hil. “That’s what they said, the people in the silver getup.”

Ghetsis lowered his arm and cleared his throat. “Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and pokémon... and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention.” With that, he bent his head and shoulders forward slightly, as if in an attempt at a bow, but his hips wouldn’t allow it. He breathed in deeply as he stood back to his full height and then turned his back to Accumula Town. The people in the silver robes behind him broke their formation at last and split into groups of threes. Ghetsis stepped in between them all, and three people flanked him on either side. The two flag holders picked up the flags and one took a place in front of Ghetsis, and the other behind him. As if creating a protective circle around him.

Hil narrowed his eyes suspiciously at that. If he was so peaceful, then why did he have to have an eight or nine-strong guard follow him around? As he pondered that, Ghetsis and his group of followers dispersed, walking in that tight formation through the roads of Accumula Town. It seemed as if they were headed for Route Two.

“Liberate pokémon?” a man in the crowd scoffed. “That’s not even possible! What a load of Bouffalant—”

“Now, young man, I’m not quite so sure about that,” an elderly voice chimed in. “About that speech… well, I’m just not sure what we should do if he is right.”

The crowd quickly scattered as people fell back into their cliques and began to excitedly murmur about the speech. Within a few minutes, it was just Hil, Cheren, Bianca, and a tall, lanky man still standing there. Hil turned his attention to Cheren and Bianca.

Bianca was staring after where Ghetsis and his friends had left. Cheren snapped his fingers in her face. “Earth to Bianca,” Cheren hissed. She jumped and blinked fervently at him.

“Oh, s-sorry!” she apologized rapidly. “I just, um…”

“You don’t actually believe a word they said, do you?” Cheren asked in half-hearted chuckle. Hil could hear the tinge of nervousness in his friend’s tone and that only further fueled Hil’s own uncertainty. Cheren was the rock of the group, grounding the rest of them. If he was nervous, what did that mean? Hil finally took his left hand away from his right arm and brought up a hand to pet Noodle’s head. He felt the Snivy tuck itself into his hood.

“Well, I mean—eek, Hil—!” Bianca’s eyes widened and she pointed behind Hil.

“Your Snivy, just now, it was saying…”

Hil yelled something incoherent and nearly jumped out of his skin as the voice came from behind him, and at Bianca’s panic. He nearly bucked Noodle off his shoulders in the process. Heart thrumming in his chest and breath caught in his throat, Hil regarded the lanky, green-haired man that had wandered over to them with a frightened glare. Hil’s hands now shook and trembled thanks to that.

Cheren had also jumped a little, but his nerves hadn’t melted nearly like Hil’s had. “Slow down,” Cheren told the newcomer, “you talk too fast. And… what’s this about pokémon… talking…? That’s an odd thing to say…”

“Yes, they’re talking…”

Hil could tell Cheren was choosing his words carefully. He was so much more meticulous than Hil could have ever hoped to be. In this particular instance, he was also being a lot nicer than Hil wanted to be. Why did this guy feel the need to sneak up on him like that?! Hil glowered at the newcomer in annoyance, but quickly found himself distracted by his appearance. It was… strange, to put it lightly. Although his clothes weren’t anything extraordinary—a dark, long-sleeved shirt hidden mostly by a white sweater, a black ballcap with a white front sitting atop long, pale green hair, long tan pants—he wore several accessories that looked unlike any watch or bracelets he’d ever seen before. A silver necklace dangled a planetary symbol from his neck, a round figurine with two sets of rings perpendicular to one another; from his belt, a chain with an intricately patterned cube hung, throwing golden glints from the sunlight with every move of his hips. On his right wrist, a black bracelet clung to his skin tightly, silver bands running vertically across its surface, and on his left, three square, golden bracelets sat, only staying on his thin frame by the bony protrusion from his wrist.

He almost looked otherworldly in that moment, but soft and inviting at the same time.

Noodle hissed as he hauled himself back properly onto Hil, this time deciding to take a seat on Hil’s head. He accidentally yanked on some of Hil’s hair as he did and Hil winced.

The newcomer looked Cheren over with thoughtful gray eyes. They turned up slightly as he spoke again, this time clearly making a concentrated effort to try and speak slower… not that it worked that well. Hil still felt like his mind reeled trying to keep up. “Oh… Then, you two can't hear it, either. How sad…” He shook his head and that saddened expression vanished. “My name is N.”

Cheren waved his hand in front of Hil in a gesture that seemed to be trying to pull Hil behind him. Bianca already was clinging to Cheren’s left shoulder tightly. Hil took a step back to appease Cheren. “My name’s Cheren,” he told N tersely, “and these are my two friends, Bianca and Hil.”

“We were given a Pokédex by Professor Juniper and we just left to start our journey to help fill that out!” Bianca blurted. Cheren groaned at her readily giving information about them to a perfect stranger.

N’s expression still didn’t change, but he did cross his arms and raise a hand to touch his chin. Hil swore he saw his lips twitch before he started speaking. “The Pokédex, huh? So... you're going to confine many, many pokémon in Poké Balls for that, then.”

“I… guess so?” Bianca answered before Cheren had a chance to stop her.

“You make it sound like a bad thing,” Hil interjected finally. “Why?” Hil had no intentions of being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative. Even with his otherworldly look, N had an air of calm and compassion that Hil felt almost drawn to. He found himself just… wanting to know more.

N nodded at Hil’s question but didn’t seem to accurately answer it. “I'm a trainer, too, but I can't help wondering... are pokémon really happy that way?” His hands lowered and he pressed them to his sides. He looked away from Hil and his friends for a moment, at the Pokémon Center across the way, and then looked back at them with a newfound seriousness that surprised Hil. His lips were drawn tightly over his teeth and his stormy eyes were narrowed fiercely. The air of compassion had all but blown away with the wind, it seemed. “Pokémon are my friends. The world as it sits now is broken for them. If I am to change the world, I must understand them better, fight for it. You,” N pointed a finger at Hil, “let me hear Snivy’s voice again!”

“M-me?” Hil squeaked. “You want to battle… me?”

N grunted and lifted a Poké Ball as his only response. He tossed the Poké Ball and a sleek, violet Purrloin landed neatly on all four paws in front of him. It mewed and rubbed against his legs lovingly, but looked at Hil, Cheren, and Bianca with apprehensive emerald eyes, pausing its ministrations. Its ears fell flat against its head. N leaned over and patted its side gently, and although Hil could tell he had said something, he couldn’t make it out at all. It sounded almost inhuman. N glanced back up at Hil with that same piercing gaze. N didn’t speak but he didn’t need to. Hil nervously stammered for Noodle to get off his head and battle, and Noodle gracefully leapt to the ground in one fluid motion.

Cheren and Bianca stepped to the side, seeming too bewildered to assist.

“N-Noodle… uh… Tackle…?”

“Purrloin, Fake Out, please.”

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mysamcedesmadness · 5 years

Text

So, What Are We Doing This Summer?

It was called to my attention that Henry's age was confirmed as 17 in either the Frittle episode or his birthday episode (I've not repeatedly watched those, so I didn't remember), which would either put them in their senior year or put Henry as a graduating 18 year old next year, which does happen, so I'll go with that.

Also, for some reason, all of the italics and bolds and such disappear whenever I paste to Tumblr. I honestly don’t feel like redoing tonight, but the ffnet post has them, for various emphasis on words and stuff, if that’s a better read for you.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13274210/7/So

So, What Are We Doing This Summer?

There was no Sweet Sixteen thing that she wanted to do. To be fair, her parents wanted to throw her something and invite her friends over, but she just wanted a nice dinner, some cake, maybe a museum trip and to look over college packets. Last birthday, she went to a show that she wanted to see with her friends, but it was such a hectic night that she almost didn't get to see it.

That's how plans with the friends tended to go. Unexpected and hectic. So, Sweet Sixteen, she was doing things with her parents! And that was all that there was to it!

"But, what about the time WE want to spend with you?" Jasper asked.

She furrowed her eyebrows and handed him a pamphlet. "Here. Underline cons in red, highlight pros in pink."

"What is this?"

"College brochures."

"Why are you looking at college brochures, we still have more than a year of high school left?"

She laughed, "And I very well can't figure out what schools to apply to after graduation. Senior year student council has so much to do for all of those senior ceremonies, I want to make sure I've given myself time to think about where I'm going."

"Why not Swellview University?" He wondered.

"It's on my list, but not my top choice. I want an HBCU or an Ivy League school."

"I'm gonna go right there to Swellview U. It's a good school!"

"I'm sure it's great. It's just not exactly what I want," she said and they heard the sound of Captain Man and Kid Danger coming down the tubes.

She smiled at them as they approached, resuming some kind of debate. "Dude, there's no way that a giant pancake could best a giant waffle. The waffle has ridges!" Henry fussed, then kissed her on the cheek.

"What are you two even TALKING about?"

"Animated and animatronic breakfast foods," Ray said, popping gum into his mouth. "Henry thinks that sausage would be more of a romantic than bacon and that a giant waffle could defeat a giant pancake in a fight to the death, covered in butter and syrup!"

"HOW do these subjects get started?" Charlotte wondered as they changed back.

"What about a crepe?" Jasper wondered.

Henry and Ray both laughed and repeated, "Crepe?"

"Oh yeah, a giant CREPE can fight!" Ray taunted.

Henry added, "Guess it's gonna just roll up to the scene, since he's gonna lose his innards if he steps up." The duo fell on each other laughing. Jasper sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not sure why you entered their weird little world."

"Third Wheel Syndrome has me sensitive, I think."

Henry took a seat next to Charlotte and asked Jasper, "What do you mean?"

"Since the two of you got together, I'm feeling left out," Jasper admitted.

"How? I just spent four hours stuck in a vat of scrambled eggs and country gravy. You and Char have been here going through…" he picked one up from in front of Charlotte and she sucked her teeth. "College brochures." He set it down, "Jasp you're leaving for college too?"

"No. I'm marking pros and cons for Charlotte. I'm going to Swellview University. We talked about this."

"I know! I was gonna be super upset if you were gonna run off on me. Bad enough she will be." He pointed a thumb to Charlotte.

"What happens when that happens?" Jasper wondered.

"It's at least a year in the future. We haven't even discussed what we're doing this summer," Charlotte said. The three were quiet for a moment. Ray and Schwoz were talking among themselves a few feet away.

Henry broke the collective silence between their trio by asking, "So, what are we going to do this summer"

"There's my birthday.." Jasper said then squinched his face and shook his head, "You weren't talking to me, were you?"

"I was talking to you both. Anybody have plans already?"

"I never have plans," Jasper said, almost certain that Henry was definitely only talking to Charlotte.

She said, "Same old same old for me. Summer Youth Program in June. Beginning of July trip with my parents. The only thing different this year is I'm going to add three or four campus tours of whichever colleges have the least cons and most pros."

"Need company?" Henry wondered. She furrowed her eyebrows and actually looked up at him. "Just to you know, make sure that you enjoy yourself despite the work."

"I love college tours. I'll enjoy myself," she said.

Henry pouted, "Fine." She looked questioningly at the sky about his salty tone, but left it alone. Henry sighed, "Jasper, do you think you'll want to spend any time with me this summer?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Jasper cheered. Charlotte rolled her eyes. She hadn't said that she wasn't going to spend any time with him.

In fact, her visits would be four weekends from the entire summer. Her Youth Program was on Thursdays. Her trip was two weeks. Aside from that, she was pretty sure she'd see both of these clowns every other summer moment. She'd tuned out the boys making plans without her whenever she heard Jasper declare, "It's gonna be super hard for us to do these things whenever you and Charlotte are married and stuff."

Henry shook his head and Charlotte chimed in, "Whenever what?"

Jasper reminded her, "Remember that whole hashtag Henlotte thing?"

"That was a joke, Bro," Henry said, laughing a little uncomfortably. "Nobody actually thought that I was proposing or that we were gonna be kissing. That's why it was so hilarious."

"Yeah, but you are kissing. You kiss a lot. You're together. Charlotte's thinking about her upcoming colleges before junior year end. Do we really believe she's not thinking beyond that?" Henry's head turned sharply and quickly to Charlotte.

She scoffed and said, "Don't look so panicked. As it turns out, I've been focused enough on my educational future that I haven't been circling anything in bridal books on the off chance that my boyfriend ever wants to me to participate in the antiquated institution of marriage."

Henry sighed, relieved, "Oh thank God. Wait. So… You never wanna get married, at all? To anybody?"

"Honestly, it's never crossed my mind. I've had one stupid boyfriend and I'm only 16. Why I would daydream about becoming someone's less respected partner is beyond me."

"Less respected?" Jasper repeated.

But Henry was stuck on "Stupid boyfriend?"

Charlotte snatched her brochures from Jasper and explained, "Married women are taken less seriously than their married male counterparts in the corporate world. Whether I go into STEM, academia, politics, business, or even if my degree proves useless and I wind up regretting decisions in retail - women are already valued less and when you add a wedding ring, they're expected to be full time workers and full time homemakers while Daddy retreats into his little solo space to unwind after his hard day's work. And don't let her become a mom! She doesn't get the necessary time off to be the kind of mother that everyone expects. Simultaneously, whatever kind of mother she is, the workplace thinks is too much." She was stuffing her bag and then looked at Henry, "And for the record, just because I haven't thought about it doesn't mean that I need your graphic depictions of relief about it!" She snatched her bag and headed for the elevator.

Jasper called out, "Okay, but that explanation of the workplace tells that you've definitely thought about it."

She glared at him and snapped, "That information is common knowledge to women!"

As the elevator door shut, Henry looked confused. "So.. Am I supposed to be thinking about marriage, or not?"

"I think that you shouldn't be, because Charlotte doesn't have marriage plans, but maybe if it crosses your mind, try to not seem repulsed by Charlotte being your wife? Her execution of the subject was all over the place."

"The place of lies," Ray said. "Women wanna get married. It's their reward for being good girlfriends!"

"That's a gross oversimplification of like everything involved in what you said," Henry commented. "Honestly, now that I think about it, Charlotte has literally never mentioned anything about weddings or marriage or anything like it. Not even so much as a "I'll play this song someday at my wedding."

Ray commented, taking a seat by Henry, "That's probably because she's been resigned to the fact that nobody's ever gonna marry her. I mean, she's the worst, amirite?"

"You're not," Jasper said, at the same time Henry said, "No."

"So, either of you can picture having Charlotte there, every single day, nagging you, telling you what to do, why this is unsafe or that's unwise?"

"That sounds like every day of my life since 5th grade," Jasper said.

"Yeah! Char is the smart one. We all know that. We need someone like that everyday!"

Ray muttered, "Still the worst."

"What is your problem with Charlotte?" Henry asked, exasperated."I mean, what if this does go different for us than my other relationships and it winds up being something real and lasting. Do I always have to worry that you're gonna be a butt to her?"

Ray laughed, "Yeah. I've known this was coming for a long time. I'm not treating her any differently no matter what status you have. Because as far as I'm concerned you've always been endgame… Also, she's the worst."

"Because she forces you to have to be better?" Jasper wondered.

Ray groaned and mumbled, "For your information, yes."

Charlotte came home and her uncle was on the couch, watching TV. What else was new? "Hey, Uncle Roscoe.

"Hey, Niece! You wanna watch the Kids Danger cartoon with me?"

"No. I've gotta look over college info so Mom and Dad will be able to plan my visits in between their orchestras and excavations. Speaking of, are they out tonight?"

"The Swellview Opera House. Your mom says there's a casserole just for you in the oven. Don't worry, I don't want whatever that is. I'm ordering a pizza." She nodded, disappointed that she wouldn't be able to discuss her college choices with them tonight. "You wanna watch one of your wedding dress shows?" Uncle Roscoe wondered.

"No."

"Not even Say Yasss, This is Your Drass?" He turned off the TV and wondered, "What's wrong, Tiny?"

"Sometimes, I feel like an outsider. Even in my own home and even with my only friends. Like, we're all sharing this one life, but nobody's on the journey with me and those that are on the journey, we're not on the same page."

"You know, I was an outsider like that too. Shoot, still to this day, as a starving artist."

"How can you be starving when you live here and eat everything we have?"

“I ain’t eat that grass casserole your mom made you.”

“I’m sure you mean bean sprouts,” she said, “And that’s not the whole casserole…” The doorbell rang and she looked at him. He reached for the remote control and she gave him a look. “I’ll get it.” She went to the door and by the time she peeked out of the peephole to see Henry nervously bouncing, Uncle Roscoe was laughing at something on the television. She called, “I’m gonna step outside and talk to my friend, Unc.”

“Girl, I’m watching my shows,” he said. Basically, he didn’t care.

She opened the door and stepped outside. Henry laughed, “Your friend? Something you need to tell me?” He joked, awkwardly. “What do you need, Henry?” She asked, sounding irritated.

“I need to explain what happened earlier.”

“Okay.”

“So… Jasper was talking about marriage and we’ve never spoken about that, because neither of us are thinking that far ahead into us. But, whenever I seemed relieved, it wasn’t because I think I’d never wanna marry you or something. I just thought that we were both in the same space - a space where that’s not even a conversation yet. So, I’m sorry if I sounded insulting to you.”

She shrugged her shoulders, “We rushed really fast into the entire boyfriend-girlfriend thing. There’s no need for us to rush anything into anything else. So, it’s fine.”

“But, you seemed upset.”

“Yeah. For the reason that I told you, but it’s not a big deal. Honestly, I have other things to be upset about. Maybe it just landed on you. So, I’m sorry.”

"You wanna talk about your things?" He asked.

She sighed and leaned against the front door. "You know how my parents and I go on a trip every summer together?"

"Yeah?"

"This year is the last one. Next year, they're sending me on a solo trip after graduation to see the world myself before college."

"That sounds awesome."

"But, I hardly see them now and I just want them to go over the pros and cons of these colleges with me. I know that sounds silly to other people, but it's a huge decision to make and I wish sometimes that they'd be more involved instead of just trusting my judgement. They raised me to be independent and they don't realize that sometimes, I could use just a little dependency, you know?"

Henry nodded, "Yeah, I get that. I haven't been able to depend on my parents in quite a while. But… I've always been able to depend on my friends. So, if you just need someone to lean on, I literally have nothing better to do than here for you." Henry offered her a hug and she smiled a small smile and accepted it. When she was hugging him, he said, "And it'd be excellent, I think… some time in the far future… you know?" She looked up at him. "IF we were thinking about that."

She nodded, "If I was gonna sell myself out in that way, it'd be with my best friend." He laughed. "I meant everything that I said about marriage! The only way that I'd be on board is if it was handled like a business arrangement with someone I trust."

"You trust like two people," he chuckled.

"Yep. And they'd both be IN the marriage."

"Me and???"

She stared at him and suggested, "Think it through."

"OH, YOU!"

"I already regret this unofficial contract."

"Fortunately, we've got a long time to even think about that. We haven't even discussed.. the physical evolution of our relationship." Her eyes widened and she wondered if he was talking about what she thought he was. He noticed and quickly changed the subject, "Or what you and me are doing this summer!"

She relaxed and nodded, "Aside from the few weeks, four weekends and Thursdays, I'm all yours…" He raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I'm open! I mean my time is free! I have a casserole to check on. I gotta get inside!" She rushed back in, shut the door and Henry shook his head and left. "Why would bring that up, Henry? She was already having a day. I mean, sure.. you wanna discuss it. But, you haven't been together that long and it was a FLUKE that you even got her. This happened kinda haphazardly. You're gonna screw it up if you keep being weird!"

Charlotte leaned against the door, breathing hard. Are… we THERE yet??? She glanced out of the window and saw Henry look back at the house before walking away with his head down. A few minutes later, she got a text: Hey. Sorry if I scared you bringing up THAT. I won't mention it again. I don't want stuff weird between us. Call me when you don't feel awkward.

She sighed with relief and replied instantly: Thanks, Hen. You're a great friend and honestly the best boyfriend.

Henry: Not stupid boyfriend?

Charlotte: Not at all. ILU

Henry: SAME.

#So I Had a Dream #So What Are We Doing This Summer #chenry #henry danger #hd fanfic

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mitchsmarners · 5 years

Photo

In Just Four Minutes | Chapter Three

“Nooo.” Richie pushed at Stan’s guiding hands. His glasses were off, stuck into the front pocket of Stanley’s shirt, and pants were already half off. The similar discomfort from the diner settled in Eddie’s chest again. “I wanna get in with Eds. I wan’ my Eddie.”

Stan raised his eyebrows, glancing over at where Eddie was sitting still in his bed. He tried to give Stan a smile, but Stan seemed to be against Eddie in this moment. Richie hadn’t slept in Eddie’s bed often, maybe only a few times after getting high, and he was always weird about it later. Eddie supposed he was a little weird about it later, too, because he knew it was wrong to like it as much as he did.

[or: Eddie Kaspbrak hadn’t planned on being an absolute cliche the fell in love with his college dorm mate, but ain’t that just the way. To add insult to injury, said room mate has a girlfriend … doesn’t he?]

“Can I sit here?” The voice startled Eddie out of the daze he usually spent his business class in. Taking the business class had been a compromise with Eddie’s mother for letting him go away to school in the first place. She’d wanted to live, die and rot in Maine as she was going to do, but Eddie had wanted nothing more than to run far, far away from the state. (And her.) Agreeing to major in Business was the only way Eddie could get her to let him leave. He was planning on switching majors during the last call before Christmas break, but Sonia didn’t need to know that.

There was a tall boy with muscled arms and chubby cheeks standing in front of him, looking nervous and almost ready to run away. “I… A place in this class just opened up and it’s my first day, and everybody else looks…” The boy looked around the room, frowning and biting into his bottom lip. “Mean.”

Eddie nodded slightly. The other people in the business class where white men who looked like their daddies pay their whole ass tuition without blinking an eye, and white blonde girls who daddies paid the tuition and for their cars. Kids who’d have bullied him in high school. Eddie hadn’t bothered to get to know any of them, sitting in the back corner and tuning out the class everyday.

But this kid seemed genuine and Eddie cleared off his stuff from the seat beside him. “Yeah, business majors are the biggest problem with society these days,” Eddie said with a fake laugh. “I’m Eddie.”

“Ben.” Ben said, beaming at him. “I like your sweater.”

Eddie tugged at the sleeve of his sweater, which was in truth, Richie’s. He’d finally convinced his room mate after nearly two months to go through the insane amount of clothes in their room, and throw out all the things he wasn’t going to wear again. When Richie had gone to toss out the simple pastel blue sweater that had looked like it cost somebody a good chunk of cash, Eddie had stopped him. Richie had merely rolled his eyes when Eddie asked why he was throwing it out, claiming the sweater was “too fucking girly.” Eddie hadn’t seen anything girly about it, and had taken it before Richie could send it off to its death.

“Thanks,” Eddie said bashfully as his phone began to buzz in the pocket of his jeans. He gave his new friend an apologetic smile as he reached for it.

New Text Message from Weird Room Mate: edsssssssss the gang is meeting up for lunch at The Café. u in?

Eddie smiled, and glanced at Ben from the corner his eye.

To Weird Room Mate: May I bring a friend?

From Weird Room Mate: all friends welcome!!

Eddie turned to Ben and cleared his throat. “There’s a nice little café around here, I don’t know if you’ve ever been but… my room mate and our friends are all going for lunch. Do you want to come?”

Ben looked surprised for a moment, before covering it up with a huge smile. “That sounds amazing!”

Eddie beamed back.

xxx

Eddie slid into the empty seat beside Richie, leaving Ben to push in beside Stan and Mike. For a moment, Eddie realised that bringing Ben to lunch with two couples was sort of like bringing a date, but Eddie shook his head to clear that thought.

Richie, it seemed, didn’t seemed deterred from thinking about it, if the way he was elbowing Eddie and waggling his eyebrows. Shut the fuck up, Eddie told him with his eyes. Richie grinned toothily at him before sliding a plate over.

“I ordered for you,” Richie said, and Eddie smiled at the turkey sandwich and home fries on the plate now in front of him. It even had ketchup in a small circle to the side the way Eddie liked it. “So you wouldn’t have to deal with the judgemental eyes of Mike and the fake vegan when you ordered meat.”

“Would you stop!” Stan cried, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t know it was made with a cheese sauce, okay? Trust me, my stomach has already punished me enough!”

Mike chuckled, and wrapped an arm around Stanley. Eddie had learned pretty quickly over the last few months that Richie had absolutely no level of filter. He’d known pretty early on that that was the case, but he’d really had to face with Stan and Richie’s friendship. It wasn’t like any friendship Eddie had ever seen before, based almost entirely on pissing each other off and giving one another shit. It seemed to work for them, though, so Eddie never meddled.

“Thank you,” Eddie chose to say instead of making any sort of comment towards Richie’s picking at Stan. Richie reached out as though he were about to pinch Eddie’s cheeks, but thought better of it at the last second, and merely tapped his open palm on Eddie’s cheek twice.

Stan cleared his throat. “Edward. Are you going to introduce us to your friend or?”

“Oh!” Eddie cried, cheeks flushing. “This is Ben. He just switched into my business class. He also thinks everybody in there look like assholes. We bonded over that.”

“Anybody with half a brain would think those dicks in your business class look like assholes,” Beverly spoke up, putting an inhuman amount of wild berry jam on her rye toast. Ben looked over at him, and Eddie watched him realize that Beverly was beautiful. Saw the entire thing cross his face, Ben might as well have said wow out loud when he looked at her.

Eddie glanced at Richie, but Richie was entirely too concerned with seeing how much maple syrup he could dump onto Beverly’s eggs before she noticed what he was doing. Eddie let his gaze lead up to Beverly, who seemed to be looking… back… at Ben. Eddie frowned and shook his head. He was nearly three months into knowing Richie and Beverly, and not any closer to understanding them than he was the day he met them.

“There’s a party!” Richie suddenly slammed his hands on the table, seemingly bored with coating Beverly’s eggs while she didn’t pay him any attention. The eyes at the table all turned to him. “Can we go? We have not been to a single party, and that’s a crime! A CRIME! I deserve to party! Bev!! Tell them I deserve to party!”

Beverly laughed, and it was moments when her eyes danced like that, Eddie knew she loved Richie. There was a lot of things Eddie didn’t understand, that she assumed that she never would, but the love that ran between Richie Tozier and Beverly Marsh was undeniable.

“Nobody is stopping you from going to parties, Richie.” Beverly said, patting him on the shoulder and grinning. “Just because you’re afraid to go to parties alone. That’s your own problem.”

Richie whined and turned to Eddie, grabbing Eddie’s hands and pulling them towards his own chest. “Eds! Eddie Spaghetti, my one and the only, my light in the darkness!” Eddie rolled his eyes and a small smile rested on Richie’s lips as he continued. “Will you please, pretty please, come with to a party tonight? Please, please, for the love of all-“

Eddie pressed a hand over Richie’s mouth and gave him a withering look. “Richie you talk too much sober. I don’t know how I’m going to deal with you drunk.” Richie took on a wicked pout and Eddie sighed. “Partying isn’t really my scene, you know, Rich. And don’t turn this into some big lesson, I also have an assignment due in the morning. Which I haven’t started, thanks to you.”

Richie openly whined down, bouncing in his seat and pouting wickedly. Eddie almost felt bad, if he hadn’t been trained to see the laughter in Richie’s eyes.

“I’ll take you, Rich,” Mike said suddenly, grinning wickedly. “Haven’t seen you shit faced in a good while.”

“Well, shit,” Stan said with an eye roll. “Guess that means I’m going too, then.”

Mike kissed Stan on the cheek and then quickly directed the conversation back to Ben before Richie could drag them into anymore ridiculousness. Ben seemed more shy around Eddie’s friends than he’d been in the business class, but Eddie watched him warm up.

“You know,” Beverly said suddenly, leaning forward on the table and smiling towards him. There was something in the smile, that brought Eddie to pause. He looked at Richie once again, but Richie had been distracted by some sort of game of his phone. “I have to do a photoshoot for my photography class. You’d be just perfect, would you be interested in modelling for me?”

Eddie’s mouth dropped open, glancing around the table at the absolute lack of reaction from every other person sitting around him. Ben’s face burned bright red as he stumbled through an acceptance. Eddie picked at the turkey flakes on his plate, trying to ignore the growing discomfort in his stomach.

xxx

Eddie had finished his assignment at quarter after one in the morning, and chosen to simply stay awake. Mike and Stan would be bringing Richie back to the dorm soon enough, and it was easier to stay awake and wait for that, then be pissy when Richie wakes him up with his drunken behaviour. It was about two when Mike unlocked the dorm door and nodded at Eddie as Stan lead the stumbling Richie towards his bed.

But Richie was kicking his jeans the rest of the way off and falling onto Eddie’s bed, forcing Eddie closer to the wall and dragging himself under the blanket. “Okay.” Stan sighed, placing Richie’s glasses on the table beside Eddie’s bed. “Eddie…”

Stan pointed at Eddie with a serious look, and that was threat enough. Although Eddie wasn’t exactly sure what he was being threatened for. Then Stan and Mike were ducked out of the room and Richie was curling up beside Eddie. His eyes were closed, but his breathing was too erratic for him to be asleep.

“Rich…” Eddie said softly, waiting for Richie to hum in response. “Did it bother you when Bev and Ben were flirting today, or… whatever that was? Because you didn’t seem upset but you’re pretty good at keep secrets.”

Richie chuckled, letting his hand flop onto Eddie’s shoulder. “It didn’t bother me none, Edsy. Beverly is very hiccup very beautifully, yeah? Your friend has good tastes. I wish them the best!”

Eddie made a confused noise, but Richie was shoving his cold feet under his legs and it turned into a loud yelp. “RICHIE!”

“Richie, Richie, Richie,” Richie mumbled. “You know, Eds… I’m so glad you’re embracing the name Edward. It’s stupid that we gotta… that we gotta keep the names our parents gave us. You know? They don’t… they don’t know us. They don’t know us well enough to pick our names.”

Eddie frowned, shifting to look at Richie as best he could. Richie’s eyes were still closed, his face half-pressed into Eddie’s collar bone. “My parents picked a really dumb name for me.” Richie said, but the rest of his sentence was completely muffled into Eddie’s skin.

“What, Richie?” He asked, but Richie was already asleep.

#reddie #reddie fic #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #my writing #ijfm

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