#<- anyway there's what you get when you send Kelsey an ask

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

Jason never got to be 16. makes me sad.

Not to deny that Jason not being able to make it to 16 in his first life is sad, but I mean he did technically end up making it, and he made it to 17 and 18 and 21 and so on and so forth, it just happened "in round two" so to speak.

What I think is sadder though, is that depending on whether he was 15 or 14 years old when this happened:

There are one of two ways he would've spent his sixteenth year.

Option 1 (if he was 15 at the time of his ressurection):

(This is 1 year post initial hospitalization)

Or Option 2 (if he was 14 at the time of his ressurection):

(And this is 2 years post initial hospitalization, 1 year post escape from that facility)

Happy sweet 16th, Jason John Doe #265 :)

Batman Annual (1961-) #25

[thatseventiesbitch]

Can you do a prompt where Donna comforts Leia after she gets made fun of at school?

I was watching an ep of young sheldon and Missy was wearing a new skirt and she got made fun of for not having shaved legs. I thought something similar would be a cute idea for a t9s prompt.

Thanks for the ask! I haven't seen the show/episode, but I'm gonna run with the whole idea. 😄 If you have a request, send it to me here!

"Hey, Le-Le," Donna smiled at her daughter as she slid into the passenger's seat. Leia clumped her backpack to the floor between her feet, letting out a huff, and Donna blinked, confused by her apparent bad mood. "Um. Happy last day of school!"

"Is it?" The twelve-year-old growled.

"Well aren't you looking forward to summer?" Donna asked absently, as she navigated their car out of the pick-up lane and back into the busy stream of Chicago traffic.

"I was," Leia said lowly. She leaned her head against the car window dejectedly.

Donna frowned. "What do you mean?" They were paused at a stoplight, and she leaned over to shake her daughter's knee affectionately. "You have a great summer to look forward to. You have band camp starting in a couple of weeks, we're gonna visit your grandparents in Wisconsin for the 4th of July, and then our trip to the Black Hills in August. Remember?" Leia still didn't look at her, so Donna continued. "You can play on the slip n' slide with Marcy. I got a big box of those popsicles you like. And this weekend we can go to the beach - "

"Mom, stop," Leia cut her off, her voice swelling with emotion. "I don't think I'm ever gonna go outside again," she announced dramatically.

"Leia, don't be ridiculous," Donna chuckled, but when she noticed the tears in Leia's eyes, she stopped. "Honey, what's wrong?" Her tone quickly changed to one of concern.

"I - it's - stupid - "

"Tell me."

Leia gave an exasperated sigh, and swiped at her tear strewn cheeks dramatically. "Kelsey and Jasmine m-made fun of my legs," she finally warbled. She pulled at the hem of her jean shorts, self-consciously tugging them further down her thighs.

"What?" Donna furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Th-they said they're hairy," she whispered, bowing her head, ashamed. She ran her palm overtop her shin as she spoke, indicating the light colored whisps that had just recently started to sprout there.

Donna started to laugh. "Hairy? Leia, you're not hairy." She shook her head, bemused. "That's just peach fuzz." Then she frowned. "And even if you were. What kind of friends are they?"

"Popular ones," Leia said under her breath.

Donna continued to frown. "Since when do you care about being popular?"

"I don't," Leia's voice broke as she started to cry. "But they started sitting at my lunch table, and they're kinda mean to everybody so I just tried to you know, be quiet and hope they'd leave me alone, but today they said, 'Ew, look at Leia's hairy legs!' in front of everybody and - and - " she couldn't finish through her tears. Donna pulled over onto a side street and parked the car, before embracing Leia.

"Le-Le," she cooed comfortingly in her ear. "I'm so sorry, honey. You don't deserve that." She pulled back to look at her daughter again. "What are their names?" she implored, her eyebrow raised.

"Mom," Leia groaned, already sensing where her mother was going with this. "No."

"Leia, this is bullying, and it's not - "

"I'm already embarrassed enough," she insisted, shaking her head. "You can't tell the school. Besides, it's summer vacation now anyway," she pitched hopefully.

Donna looked at her for a long while before sighing. "Okay. Then you're gonna have to stand up for yourself next time. Deal?"

Leia made a nervous sound in the back of her throat, and began to wring her hands together anxiously. It was a characteristic she'd inherited directly from her father, and it couldn't help but make Donna smile.

"Uh. How do I do that?" Leia gulped.

Donna shook back a strand of her hair with a tilt of her head. "You don't have to be mean back," she advised her daughter. She shrugged. "Say 'Whatever, it's just hair. And you don't have to be mean to people who look different than you. Our lunch table was a pretty nice spot before you started sitting here, and we want to keep it that way, you know?'" She smiled at her daughter with kind eyes. "They'll get the message."

Leia nodded, transfixed by her mom's effortless response. "You think?"

Donna squeezed Leia's arm supportively. "I know they will."

"And you don't think I'm hairy?" Leia bit her lip and glanced down at her legs.

Donna laughed. "I know you're not." She paused. "But, I can teach you to shave if that's what you want."

"Really?"

Donna nodded. "If that's what you want," she repeated. "Not if that's what," she waved her hand dismissively, "Kelsey and Jasmine want."

Leia held her mom's gaze for a few seconds. "I think - I think I want to wait a little bit yet," she said finally.

Donna patted her hand and returned her focus to the steering wheel. "Good choice," she smirked.

[raedroid]

The Star Covers Meets The Soul Of The City

Part 3: Misguided Thinking

——————————————————————————

High above the grounds of Kissteria’s capital city, there is a large coliseum, floating by powerful black diamonds that keeps the coliseum strong despite its rough condition. It was used during various wars in the dimensions lifetime but has now been used by Kiss to train The Star Covers after they had received their powers.

“Alright girls! Bring it!” Paul called out. While Katherine and her group were already in England, the rest of the group were up with the famous rockstars, doing some extra training with their powers. As they were finishing their long training sessions, they sat to take a break and Hailey, the Flame Star as she is called in the group for her fire powers, started scrolling on her phone.

“Alright girls. I say you should head down to England soon. The tour is about to start up again.” Tommy suggested

“You say that and I can guarantee that they will be murdered in about five minutes.” Eric joked. The girls were notorious for getting trapped in dangerous situations.

“Says the guys who endangers himself like a wild cat.” Tommy teased.

“We should get going now though. They have a press conference today and the tour starts tomorrow in London.” Maya alerted

“You guys love England dont you?” Gene teased

“Not as much as Japan but yes.” Kelsey replied. “Sometimes I wish we could join them more often because something fun always happens to them when we’re not around.”

“You could say that again.” Hailey responded. She showed them her phone and they see a picture of Cassie spinning one of Bruno’s men with her ribbons. “Just got caught in a Guardian Slaying competition. It’s a battle to the death. Vote who wins down below lmao” Hailey read out the description underneath

“God why do they do this to themselves? I keep telling Cassie to not fling people around with her ribbons! Seriously does she not know how the body works?” Paul groaned, rubbing his temples

“That’s what you’re concerned about?! Not the guardian slaying competition?!” Hailey asked exasperated.

“Yeah we need to go down now.” Bella replied. “You guys keep tabs on us and if one of us dies, you can go down and start a riot!” Paul facepalms at her response

“Not a riot.” He groaned again and Bella looked at him annoyed

“Ok not a riot but send someone to help us anyways.” She retorted.

“I mean, we can just go with you guys.” Gene pointed out

“No! We’re going to die so you’ll feel bad!” Bella joked, leaving the others confused.

“Alright. Whatever floats your boat.” Eric replied, unconvinced. As they agreed, they flew away from the arena to get to the nearest guardian spire.

“Oh they’re dead.” Tommy responded as soon as they left

“Let’s see… 12-18 funerals. Plus their parents in case they get a heart attack from this. That’s gonna be a lot of money.” Paul estimated

“And time” Gene added

“And planning” Eric added as well.

——————————————————————————

The press conference was moving smoothly for the girls. For the most part. A man named Norman was interviewing each of them, giving them multiple uncomfortable questions and passive aggressive comments about them. The girls slowly were getting tired of it and started sassing back at him. However, Alex and his group had snuck into the building to look further into the people they are up against. Katherine caught Alex out of the corner of her eye, distracting her almost instantly. The others noticed them eyeing each other

“Hey Al, I think the purple girls got her eye on you. Maybe you should ask her out when this is over.” George teased him. Alex rolled his eyes and blushed angrily

“Please. I’m Asexual Aromantic. I’m not into that stuff. Why do you keep forgetting about it?” He denied

“You never know. You could be denying it.” Darien joked. Alex once again rolled his eyes and ignored his groups comments. His group constantly made remarks about him and sexuality. That combined with their belittlement made him resent them even more.

“Speaking of serving customers, Miss Peterson?” Norman asked, noticing Katherine being distracted. “Miss Peterson!” He called out, bringing her back to reality

“Sorry about that! You were saying?” She replied, standing up straight and hearing snickers from Alex’s group.

“We’re on the topic of dating. So aren’t you dating someone? I have heard that you are Bisexual?” He asked

“I am and I’m not dating anyone at the moment. Are you talking about the guy I was with at Starbucks one day?” She asked. The others were worried about how the conversation would go

“I think you two make a lovely couple. You in whiteface and him in-“ The crowd started to interrupt him by groaning, especially knowing that the girls were racially diverse. Katherine gave him an angry look then a fake smile

“Oh really? Norm, you wanna discuss outside? Is that what you want?” She asked, causing laughter amongst the girls

“Didn’t he come with you?” He asked

“No we’re not even dating! I was being taken out of context again!” She groaned

“Only on the odd occasion!” Veena joked, the girls laughing at her reaction. Even Katherine joined it. She trusted Veena because she knows that she’s only kidding around. While Norman made her uncomfortable, Veena made her feel safe, even loved. If only she could tell her that she wants her as more than a friend

“They don’t know what they’re saying. They’re just as clueless as you Alex!” Darien joked. As the three of them laughed, Alex smacked him across the face, causing Darien to glare at him. “What was that for?!”

“For being an asshole that’s what. Oh and being useless.” Alex answered.

“Listen here you little shit, I’ve done everything you told me to. I didn’t had to because I don’t see you as anything but a nuisance. You’re just not a good leader.” He deflected. Alex started getting annoyed and started shaking in anger

“Says the guy who beaten a guardian last night. I want the rods but I’m not gonna be ruthless about it.”

“Guardians are the ones protecting the rods in case you forgot somehow!”

“I know you’re an adult but you aren’t a good enough of a person in general. Don’t question me again.” They continue to watch the press conference, Norman continuing to embarrass himself more and more while Darien nodded to his three comrades. They had a plan for tonight and couldn’t wait to execute it.

——————————————————————————

Alex stepped inside the Cosmic Emporium, seeing Frank setting up items on the shelf and a small bundle of paint buckets, paintbrushes and rollers. Frank noticed him and stopped what he was doing

“Alex! Good to see you! Want some tea? Or anything?” He greeted warmly, surprising him

“Um… Cinnamon Brown Sugar Latte please?” He asked. He got behind the counter and began brewing the drink.

“Give me your opinion on wall colour for a moment. Should I go for Dusty Rose or Black?” Frank asked. Alex looked over at the paint buckets

“Um…. Dusty Rose?” He answered.

Excellent choice. I’m in the process of renovating this place and I’m sick of this disgusting moopy gray colour. You had a long night last night didn’t you?” Frank asked, looking over at Alex as he sat in his chair

“At least I won but I didn’t expected a group of rockstars coming in and beating us up. Why do you ask?” He answered

“Oh you know? Just looking out for you again that you need to watch out. Because next time you could end up in jail for what happened. It’s just hard to help you when you don’t listen to me and I’ve been covering your ass for weeks. Pardon the language.”

“I’m only following the rules of the competition. All I need to do is when against those girls tonight.”

“Ok that’s enough! Just because you haven’t been caught yet doesn’t mean that you’re let off the hook. Bruno and his group got beaten badly last night and I know they could come back to you. I’m the one friend you have. The least you can do is trust me.”

“Look I’m fine! I’m perfectly fine!” As he lied, Frank looked at his fingertips. Alex’s fingertips still fading to black and spreading quickly

“You’re building up your powers like crazy. It’s gonna get worse soon. That’s why you’re in so much pain.” Frank warned and sighed again, worried about the young man “Just forget about the competition and the rods ok? Do I make myself clear?”

“As clear as a bell.” Alex lied. Frank gave him his latte and Alex started leaving once again. He waved Frank off and saw him give him a pleasant smile. As much as he appreciated Franks concern, he knew he couldn’t keep that promise. He had to get the rods in order to survive.

In order to be wanted

In order to be free

——————————————————————————

Tagging peeps who may be interested:

@2hotintheshade @criminallyoverrated @namelessbutters-doodles @gh0stfl0ra @spacefoxy-irl @ladyshandioftheendless @ericcarrsworshipper

[needlefail]

over a month later and im just now getting to this SO SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVERRRR ANONNNN </333333 I literally made the images as soon as I got the ask and just,,, never got around to writing them out </3 Sorry again

GONNA START WITH TONY FIRST :33

ANYWAYS HES JUST A LITTLE GUY TO ME (literally but also,,, you know what i mean)

Ill admit he annoyed me a bit at first though that was when I was younger and first watching the show, since my rewatch Ive honestly grown a bit fond of him

I think I mighhhttt?? have said this ok my Boris post but I do wish we had seen more of just Tony and Boris outside of the whole Forest Scout thing or at least AWAY from jason if that makes sense?? Like some time for them to shine on their own because honestly,,,,, we know literally nothing about Tony… like at all

I did stamp the “works better as part of a dynamic” tho because I do like how he interacts with the other two forest scouts and Kelsey as well cause theyre funny, its like the only times we get to see him with personality and stuff

IDK HES JUST A GUY AND I LOVE HIM AND EVERYONE SUPPORT PINK ARSONISTS CAT TONY BELIEF CAUSE ITS TRUE ✊

ON TO STACKS NEOWWW

SHES SO SO CUTE I LOVE HER SO MUCHH

SHES SO ENDEARING AND ORUGHHHH

I really love how she came out of her shell more throughout the show even if its not exactly explicitly mentioned, like I remember at the start of the show (or at least i swear remembering it happening in The Final Book) she’d try mimicking bits that Kelsey would do before immediately getting shy about it then by the end she’s opened up to kids outside of Kelsey and the stump trio more and orughh ORUGHHHH

Honestly I wish we got to see more of her especially Fire and Ice because Ice’s design was so GORGEOUS I LOVE HER STAFF ESPECIALLY

NOW MY GIRL WILDERNESSAAAAAA

right off the bat starting with this THIS GIRL HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG I DOMT CAREEEEEE SOME PEOPLE ARE ANNOYED AT HER AND YALL NEED TO LAY OFF HERRR IDC IF SHES A LITTLE RUDE SOMETIMES

Shes awesome I love the whole concept behind her and the MOMENTTT I watched her episode she was instantly one of my favs <3333 Also cheesesticks was always fun to see too cause I love Tibetan Mastiffs so much

ANYWAYS I JUST LOVE WILDERNESSA’S WHOLE THING WITH NATURE, IT WAS SUPER CHARMING AND HONESTLY I think her whole “you dont know anything about nature 🙄” thing with Craig was funny

Alot of the time when people talk about her its usually in relation to Craig in some way especially after Breaking the Ice, but honestly she’s so interesting on her own too. Like this is a girl whose been picked on and bullied by other kids for coming off as strange and weird and because of it, she found comfort in something that embraces her wildness rather than mocks it, which is nature. She has very limited interactions with other kids, instead surrounding herself with animals, hence her sometimes being blunt and rude with others as she doesn’t know how to properly articulate herself in social interactions with others which probably starts the whole cycle again of Wildernessa being isolated by others for coming off too strongly and her digging herself deeper into this “people are awful nature is better.” Its really no wonder she’s dedicated herself to looking out for the creek and its animals because its genuinely the only place she has where she feels accepted in, where she feels any comfort. Or whatever whatever

WHATEVER

IDK SHES JUST A GIRL AND SOMETIMES I GET SAD ABOUT HER

Either that or I just sound crazy

Anyways,,, the bingo is still open for characters!! Send in asks comments reblogs whatever and Ill try to get to it!!!

Someone send in some cotc characters and Ill give my opinions

(All responses are in rbs :3!! You can send in requests via comments reblogs or asks!!)

[with-paint]

A Drunk Video

Rating: Teen and up

Paring: Harry Styles x fem!reader (platonic pairing only)

Word Count: 3,641

Summary: You and Harry get absolutely wasted and make a decision to make a YouTube video. It was probably a bad decision

Warnings: lots of swearing, sexual themes but they’re all joking, WAP, small slut shaming

A/N: listen this was a fic I wrote aggggges ago. I just suddenly remembered it and wanted to share my sins with the masses. I’m not going to apologise for doing what’s RIGHT.

You hummed as you trotted up the stairs of the very modern apartment building. The grey walls were spotless and the bright white lights hung low.

You furrowed your eyebrows as you stepped onto the fourteenth floor landing. Why the hell did Harry even have an apartment? He was rich enough to buy a mansion. You contemplated this as you moved along the hall. Looking for the familiar 1402.

You smirked to yourself and knocked on the door. A few moments passed and the door swung open revealing the rock star himself. Harry’s Los Angeles apartment was very sleek. Harry in plaid pajama bottoms, a black jumper, and fuzzy socks, was not.

“Well someone looks comfortable for four pm.” You teased as he smiled at you. He nodded and opened the door wider to let his friend in.

“Had a rough night so I just wanted to be comfortable.” He said running a hand through his hair. You watched him out of the corner of your eye, not wanting to openly stare.

“Rough night hmm?” You teased again, a grin on your face. Harry rolled his eyes and nudged your shoulder.

“I might’ve binge watched that show you like. The entire show.” Harry mumbled as he fell on his couch. You snickered as you slid down next to him. Harry groaned and moved so his head was on your smaller shoulder.

“You binge watched Sherlock in one day? I’m impressed.” You laughed out as you ran your hand through his messy hair. Harry nuzzled more into you, trying to feel more of you scratch his head.

“Benedict Cumberbatch is.” Harry moved away slightly to put his hand in the air. He made the ‘okay’ sign and you laughed.

“That he is.” You nodded as Harry settled back down onto you. You two laid like that for a few minutes. You absentmindedly twirling and scratching Harry’s hair as you stared out of the giant windows making up his far wall. The busy Los Angeles evening greeted your site. It was comfortable.

“You want to order some food?” Harry spoke, his voice completely muffled by your shoulder. You smiled down at him. You were sure that if anyone could see you, they could tell how much you cared for the man. It wasn’t a romantic adoration, just true love for another person without expectations or further meanings. You just simply loved him.

“If you want. Pizza?” You asked, making you feel Harry’s smile press into you. He shifted so his head was lying on your lap. Harry stared up at you before closing his eyes peacefully.

“Read my mind.” He hummed as you ran a hand through his thick hair again. You smiled softly and brought your phone out of your pocket. You two ordered a pizza each and remained cuddled up until the doorbell rang.

Harry sighed and untangled himself from your lap. He padded over to the door as he ruffled his hair, trying to get it to appear less flat. He opened the door and greeted the delivery man with a smile.

You picked at the threads of your ripped jeans and flowed into the kitchen. As Harry was talking, you grabbed some plates and cups and brought them to Harry’s small glass table.

“We should film something for your channel.” Harry said as he closed the door behind him, the boxes being clutched in his arms. You smiled at him and nodded. You always felt a little guilty whenever you featured Harry on your channel. You never wanted for him to feel as if you were clout chasing. You were friends with him before you became big on YouTube and you wanted him to remember that.

“Yeah, we could sing some songs. Make it stupid.” You mused propping your chin on your hand. Harry smiled as you, dimples popping. He served you a slice and sat next to you in his seat.

“Make it stupid.” He agreed. The two always made sure that if they were going to post something, it had to be for laughs. Anything serious between you two was unheard of.

You had been a part of the Eroda music video. You had actually helped direct it. You and Harry had been drunk in Peru when the thought struck you both, and it was a collaborate idiotic idea that created the music video. To say that a few months later, you were dressed with weird hair as Harry sang to a fish, was serious? Absolutely not. You two just wanted to make something stupid. And you both fully succeeded.

As you two ate, you brainstormed on what you were going to sing. With a few glasses of wine in your stomachs, you had both equally bad ideas.

“Fuck.” You hissed as you accidentally spilled your wine on your clothes. Harry giggled as he eased the glass out of your hands.

“I think you drank too much,” He smiled and you couldn’t help but smile back. “I’ll go get you some clothes. You probably have some here anyway.”

You tried to dab the wine off you, but rolled your eyes. It was pointless. As you started to drum on the table, Harry chucked some clothes at your back. Your mouth opened in shock and you flipped him off.

You just pulled your shirt off and put a loose grey shirt then your short shorts on. Your usual go-to sleep clothes. You didn’t really care that you were changing in front of Harry. Lord knows you were comfortable enough with each other to see each other in your underwear. You looked up and Harry wiggled his eyebrows at you.

“Let’s get this show on the road then, pop star.” You giggled as you leaned over and ruffled his hair. Harry looked at you lazily and watched you with half closed eyes. You wiped your hands on your shorts and set up your camera, focusing it on the two couches by Harry’s TV.

“Looks like we’re filming a porno.” Harry snickered, a wide smile on his face as he wiped his eyes. You smiled at him and flipped him off.

“You wish.” You sang as you put your laptop on his kitchen counter. You leaned forward and began typing with a smirk on your face.

“Imagine if we did have sex though.” Harry said. You furrowed your eyebrows and turned to look at him over your shoulder.

“Boy, I love you, but you are not touching me. Especially when we’re both drunk.” You said with a slight grimace. Harry pouted and leaned back in his chair.

“You take the fun out of everything.” He giggled and leaned his elbows on his table. He continued to watch you and a big smile spread over your face suddenly. You looked over at him with an evil glint in your eyes and Harry gulped. He especially didn’t like it when you gave him that look. The last time you turned to him with the evil eye, Harry had been convinced to be strapped onto a helicopter for the Sign of the Times music video as you laughed from behind the camera.

Little did Harry know you had picked a song conviently called Harry by Kelsey Karter. Kelsey wrote the song about your friend here. She posted a picture on Instagram with a tattoo of Harry on her cheek promoting the song. You had found it when the picture came out and it was honestly a banger. You also adored that Kelsey did it all for a publicity stunt and the tattoo wasn’t even real. Genius.

“Come to the couch H.” You teased as you hit record on your camera. Harry narrowed his eyes at you and fell over the back of his couch and laid down long ways.

Harry watched as you said your intro a few times. You kept stumbling over your words in your intoxicated state and that for whatever reason made Harry giggle. You flipped him off and smiled at the camera sweetly.

“This is my friend Harry,” Harry smiled, his dimples popping as he waved to the camera. He slouched down in his comfortable clothes, matching your attire. He was sure that once this video aired he was going to be clowned for how domestic you both looked, but he didn’t care. The sight of you two so content and in a state of bliss was very rare. You scrunched your nose at him. Something he returned happily.

“We’re going to sing you some songs, if you like. Harry, you want to go first?” You asked him as you cocked your head to the side. Harry tapped his chin in mock thought and shook his head.

“Your channel, you can go first.” He said, his voice drawing out slowly. You smirked and nodded.

“I’d like to just say that me and Harry are both pretty drunk. Also we were talking about porn earlier so there is slight context to why I’m doing this.” Harry put his head in his hands and groaned. He knew that you were carefree enough to be okay with putting that on the Internet and he just had to accept that. And be prepared to put twitter on silent.

You walked over to Harry’s kitchen counter. Your laptop was opened and shining brightly in the slightly dim room. You tapped on it, making sure to keep it from the camera and Harry’s pryful eyes.

You smirked as the music started and fluffed your hair as you walked over to Harry. You tugged him to sit up on the couch and began to sing.

“I blacked out, passed out, first time we met. It wasn't drugs, could be love, but it's probably sex.” You sat on the couch next to him and at ‘sex’ you put a hand on his thigh. Harry raised his eyebrows at you as you smiled and continued to sing along with the recording.

“Cool stare, greased hair curled around your eye. I wanna take a dirty picture, send it to your mind, I'm not just thinkin' 'bout you.” You ran your hand through his hair again and Harry smiled a little wider. You moved your hand down to his neck and ran it down to his chest.

“I'll treat you better than the girls you're hangin' out with. Take you to heaven and I'll show you all around it. I'll never ever let you down. Ooh.” You moved off the couch and circled to the back. Wrapping your arms around his neck and leaned down and sang into his ear. You blew in it making Harry giggle as a drunk flush came over his features.

“Harry. I'm gonna make you love me, you’re gonna make me breakfast. It's a secret just between us we can keep it low-key. I ain't being funny, you should be so lucky to put your, put your velvet arms around me.” You fell over the back of the couch like Harry did earlier. But this time you put your legs around his waist as you made him wrap his arms around your shoulders. Harry laughed at this and bobbed his head to the music, showing to you and the camera that he didn’t care for your sexual intentions just as much as he knew you didn’t care to really make it sexual.

“I'm g-g-g-g-gonna make you love me.” You sang and they both tried to not burst out laughing.

“Yeah, I'm staring at you in the magazines every day. Feel like I'm seventeen never been touched this way. I'm thinking 'bout you.” You rolled off him to sit on his coffee table. With idiotic acting you crossed your legs and pulled up one of the magazines that was laying there. You gazed over the top of it with a smirk and Harry wiggled his fingers in a wave.

“I'll treat you better than the boys you're hangin' out with.” You bit your lip and leaned back on the coffee table. You knew you looked like an idiot, but that was the point.

“Take you to heaven and I'll show you all around it. I'll never ever let you down. Ooh Harry.” You rotated your head like a snake charmer and at the beat dropped, you sunk to your knees in front of Harry. He laughed and spread his legs so he could look at you.

“I'm gonna make you love me. You're gonna make me breakfast. It's a secret just between us we can keep it low-key. I ain't being funny. You should be so lucky to put your, put your velvet arms around me.” You tried not to laugh as you stood up and started to dance ‘erotically’. Harry leaned back and pretended to make it rain on you.

“Oh, Harry, Harry. Mmmm, Harry.” You got back on the floor and crawled the short distance to the couch. Making sure to overemphasize your shoulder blades moving.

“Oh, baby, I'm gonna make you love me. Yeah. So put your, put your, put your arms around me.” You sat next to Harry and pushed him to lay down. As you hit the end of the lyrics you laid across his body as Harry laughed obnoxiously.

“I'm gonna, I'm gonna. Gonna, gonna make you love me. Harry!” You sat up and started to twerk horribly on him making Harry cover his face with his arm and he tried not to cry laughing. You made your voice crack on the last note of the song and Harry couldn’t help himself. He tackled you off the couch as you doubled over laughing.

“Are you trying to get me hard in front of all of these people?” Harry joked hovering over you. You snickered and looked behind you at the camera. You caught your breath and nodded at Harry with a grin to match his.

“Mmhm.”

“Well it didn’t work so that’s embarrassing for you.” Your jaw dropped in mock offense and Harry narrowed his eyes at you. You both stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before Harry lost it and you both started laughing again. Harry rolled off you, still giggling.

“So that was Harry by Kelsey Karter. I actually showed this song to Harry. We both had a very entertaining time.” You said, popping up to talk to the camera. Harry put his head on your shoulder and smiled.

“My song is a lot less suggestive. Because this is a family show,” Harry cut you off and you covered your face with your hand. A bright smile spread across your face. Harry leaned forward to look at you.

“Or is itttttt?” You both said and were sent into a new fit of drunken hysterics.

“If you could take that seat there,” Harry said as he pulled you back onto the couch that he was sitting in earlier. He skipped over to your laptop and began typing.

“Get ready to get your panties wet.” He said loudly, making you laugh. You knew you were going to have to edit that out but for now you just laughed at Harry’s brash, drunk personality.

He cleared his throat and clicked play on you laptop. Your mouth dropped. He was not doing this on camera for potentially millions to see. Holy shit.

“Whores in this house. There's some whores in this house.”

You covered your mouth as Harry moved around and danced like a weirdo. He started doing the robot and you leaned your head back in a cackle. You were so fucking glad you were filming this.

“I said certified freak, seven days a week. Wet-ass pussy, make that pullout game weak!” Harry rapped out choppily and started dancing again. You watched him make up horrible moves and he started doing the dance routine One Direction always did which made you almost jump out of your seat.

“Put this pussy right in your face. Swipe your nose like a credit card. Hop on top, I wanna ride I do a kegel while it's inside. Spit in my mouth, look in my eyes. This pussy is wet, come take a dive. Tie me up like I'm surprised. Let's role play, I'll wear a disguise.” Harry rapped, gaining more of a flow the longer he rapped. You were surprised at how well he knew the lyrics. He spun around his living room and you laughed again.

“I want you to park that big Mack truck right in this little garage.” He yelled, dropping to his knees. You shoved a pillow over your face to keep from screaming as tears of laughter rolled down your face.

“Gobble me, swallow me, drip down the side of me. Quick, jump out 'fore you let it get inside of me. I tell him where to put it, never tell him where I'm 'bout to be. I'll run down on him 'fore I have a n**** running me. Talk your shit, bite your lip.” Harry spit out. He put his hand over his mouth when the n word came up and then he slid forward grabbing your hand. He put it to his heart as he rapped.

“Now get your boots and your coat for this wet-ass pussy. He bought a phone just for pictures of this wet-ass pussy. Pay my tuition just to kiss me on this wet-ass pussy. Now make it rain if you wanna see some wet-ass pussy.” Harry winked and lay on the coffee table with his arm propping his head up as he laid down.

“Look, I need a hard hitter, I need a deep stroker. I need a Henny drinker, I need a weed smoker. Not a garden snake, I need a king cobra with a hook in it, hope it lean over.” He pointed at you and your smile widened as you wiggled your shoulders and mouthed out ‘Yass’.

“I don't wanna spit, I wanna gulp. I wanna gag, I wanna choke. I want you to touch that lil' dangly thing that swing in the back of my throat.” At this Harry slid off the table and brought you to stand with him. He moved around and horribly tried to ballroom dance as you laughed so hard you could barely hear the blaring music of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.

“Your honor, I'm a freak bitch, handcuffs, leashes. Switch my wig, make him feel like he cheating. Put him on his knees, give him something to believe in. Never lost a fight, but I'm looking for a beating.” Harry twirled you out of his arms and punched the air to the sound effect of the fighting bell. You were feeling inspired and started to twerk like Tina Belcher. Harry tried so hard to not laugh, he almost stopped rapping.

“In the food chain, I'm the one that eat ya. If he ate my ass, he's a bottom feeder. Big D stand for big demeanor. I could make you bust before I ever meet ya.” Harry spun you around and winked obnoxiously.

He dipped you and you pushed him off as you fell to the ground. Your laughter took over you. You did not expect him to rap about getting rimmed, but you were so glad you were recording.

“If he fuck me and ask, "Whose is it?" When I ride the dick, I'ma spell my name. Ah.” You couldn’t help yourself and you started rapping along with him.

Harry jumped on his couch and pulled you up with him. You both just jumped around and laughed as the music continued to play.

“Bring a bucket and a mop for this wet-ass pussy.” Harry wiggled his shoulders like ‘the wobble’ as he slowly snuck to his knees on the couch.

“Now from the top, make it drop. That's some wet-ass pussy.” At this, Harry grabbed the back of your knees and pulled them to him. You shrieked as you fell on his body and you both laughed as you fell onto the couch.

“I'm talking WAP, WAP, WAP.” You couldn’t help but shout this with Harry and you rolled off him and onto the floor.

You propped your chin on the couch as he circled it and stood behind it. With his hands on the back he leaned down so you were a few inches apart.

“That's some wet-ass pussy. Macaroni in a pot.” he whispered leaning way to close to you. You fell back and hit the coffee table with a bang. You clutched your elbow in pain, but kept laughing at him. Harry couldn’t help himself and as the song finished up. He just doubled over the couch and cracked up.

The song started over, but you both were too far gone from laughing to pay attention. Harry’s apartment was full of laughter as your faces went red and you gasped for breath.

“Harry oh my god!” You shrieked and threw a pillow at him. He slapped his thigh and as he giggled.

“We’re making ourselves appear as a pair of sluts.” You said and pushed off the couch to stand up. Harry giggled and nodded.

“Less suggestive my ass.” You teased with a smirk and Harry snickered.

“Yup!” He exclaimed. Harry hopped over the back of his couch to sit down as he tried to regain his breathing. You moved to sit next to him. You were both flushed with big smiles and you waved at the camera.

“Bye!” You yelled and Harry waved too. You moved to turn the camera off and you plopped back onto the couch.

“What the fuck even was that video?!” You exclaimed and Harry smiled at you and shrugged.

“Just say we’re drunk. Then everything makes sense.” He said, throwing an arm around your shoulders. You nodded and covered your face with your hands. You knew this was going to break the internet and honestly you couldn’t wait.

[eelistolvanen]

Bruises that you left behind - Travis Konecny

A/N: Soo, I recently came up with the idea for this fic. It’s nowhere near finished but I figured I’d post the first part. Let me know if you like it and want more :) 

Words: 3k

Warnings: Angst, heartbreak, no proofread  

Summary: Two years after getting your heart broken by the love of your life, you run into someone from your past life. And you have to face the fact that you can’t run away forever but have to face your past and everything that shattered you. (I know this is vague but I don’t want to spoiler this...)

Italics indicate flashbacks.

_______________________________

Hannah peaked her head trough the door. “Y/N! You’re still here? Shouldn’t you be at home by now?” She send a confused look. Y/N gave her a soft smile. “I’m just finishing up something, Han. One of my students is a little behind in class and I’m trying to figure out ways to help him. And you’re still here too. ” “You’re too kind for your own good”, Hannah replied with a quiet sigh “I would be long home if it wasn’t for this parent talk I had tonight. You should go home too, it’s late.” “I will, once I finish this” you reply with a glint in your eyes. Hannah knew better than to argue with you. Everyone knew how stubborn you could be. Hannah send you a final wave. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night Y/N!” “Good night Han!”

You stayed for longer than you probably should have. And you were definitely feeling it the next day. Thankfully you had a free afternoon. So you did what you usually did on a Thursday afternoon. You sat in your favourite little café and were preparing for the upcoming week. While the café still screamed Philly, it was far enough out of the city to be quiet. It felt so local and intimate, nothing like the big, busy city. That’s probably the reason you loved it so much. Most costumers were locals and by now you got to know a couple familiar faces. You had been living in this part of town for about a year now. And while you were reminded of your old life every now and then – flyers jerseys being worn by the locals, banners hanging around your part of town, a familiar face in the newspaper- that life seemed far far away now.

The ringing of the doorbell ripped you out of your thoughts and let you focus back on the computer in front of you. You hadn’t gotten very far today. Somehow you head was somewhere else, definitely not focused on the task at hand. You also hadn’t noticed the man approaching you’re table. Only realising his presence as he slipped into the seat across from you.

“Y’know I knew you couldn’t hide from me forever. I couldn’t believe my eyes the other day, I thought I was dreaming, when I saw you walk out this door.” He hadn’t changed that much in the last 2 years, eyes still as pretty as ever, still wearing that cheeky little smile of his. For a moment you froze, unable to get a word out or even move a muscle. But your wall wasn’t down for long.  “What are you doing here, Nolan? This isn’t your part of town.” You cringed at your ice cold reply, but was he really expecting you to welcome him with open arms?

“Well yeah, I admit it was a fluke that I saw you the other day. I’ve been around this part of town a lot recently.”

You really didn’t care about his stories, you weren’t best friends anymore, you couldn’t even consider him a friend really. A stranger with shared memories maybe. It hurt you to pack up your things and get up to leave but you couldn’t sit here and make small talk with Nolan. You might have left that life behind but that didn’t meant that it wasn’t still haunting you. You could see the disappointed look on Nolan’s face once he realised what you were doing. But he didn’t stop you. Of course, he didn’t. Sweet, loving Nolan, he never met you with anything other than kindness. But here you were,  walking out on him again.

“You know, I don’t remember us breaking up too, Y/N.” The sadness in his voice was unmistakable.

“Leave it, Nols!” you muttered just as your voice cracked. Tears sprang into your eyes as you left the café in a hurry.

_______________________

The bar was beyond crowded. It was a Friday night and if it were up to you, you’d  be curled up on the couch with a glass of red wine. But somehow Hannah and some of your other friends managed to drag you out of your house. Now you were squeezed into a booth, somewhat tipsy, and were listening to your friend Liz complain about some guy. To be honest you were actually enjoying yourself. A night out with your friends was exactly what you needed right now. Hannah looked up behind you, as you felt someone approaching your booth.

“Hey Kelsey, how is it going?” Hannah asked with a smile on her face. You vaguely remember the brunette approaching your table as one of Hannah’s neighbours. You’d seen her around but never really held a conversation with her. “Hey Hannah, hey girls! I’m just dropping this drink off.” She replied as she placed a tall glass in front of you. She gave you a gentle smile. “Nolan said it is your favourite.” It was a Long Island Ice Tea and it used to be your favourite. Not anymore. You accepted it anyway.

“He’s here?” you replied probably a bit to sharp as Kelsey slightly winced. She nodded her head towards the bar. You turned around and looked straight into Nolan’s eyes. As if burned you flinched and turned back around just as quickly. Kelsey gave one last wave before turning towards the bar.

The rest of the night was torture. You wanted nothing more than to get out of the bar and go home. Just as you were leaving the bar, seemingly escaping any other run in with the past, you felt his presence behind you. As soon as you were outside he spoke up.

“Give me a chance, Y/N. I know you’re angry and mad and hurt, but I don’t deserve this. Not this silent, cold shoulder treatment.” You knew he was right. He’d never done anything to you. He let you cry onto his shoulder when your heart broke. When he broke you. Nolan was nothing but supportive, the greatest best friend any one could ask for. And then you walked out of his life, without as much as a goodbye.

You turned around, tears in your eyes. God, it hurt to see him like this. So full of sorrow, so hurt. “I can’t Nolan. I’m so sorry.” With that your voice broke and you turned around and did the only thing you knew. You ran away. Again.

________________________

It was Sunday morning, almost lunchtime as you dragged yourself out of bed. You still hadn’t recovered from this week, let alone from everything that happened the Friday prior. Not feeling like making breakfast you decided you treat yourself to brunch at the café.

The doorbell rang as you entered and you were so hungry you took a beeline straight to the counter. As you ordered your food and paid, you started walking towards your usual table. Only to find it occupied.

“Y/N! Come sit down, we need to talk.” You took a deep breath to steady yourself. “Just let it be, Nolan. There’s nothing to talk about.” But before you were able to fully turn around and find another way out of this, he’d already grabbed your wrists and pulled you towards the table. You let yourself fall into the booth defeated.

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Nolan.” You could hear him sight audibly. “Fine, then we’ll talk about something else.” You looked up at him and realised it wasn’t worth fighting him. So you decided to take the lead, at least this gave you the chance to dictate the conversation.

“Soo, you and Kelsey, huh? Are you like together?” You internally cringed at you passive tone. Nolan’s face lit up. “Yeah, she’s great you know. I feel like she could be the one.” Your mood started to lighten up. “That’s good. I’m happy for you Nolan, I really am. I know how much you wanted to meet someone special. The one, huh?” He chuckled lightly. You really were happy for him, if someone deserved all the good things it was Nolan. “When I met her, I just kinda knew, you know?” You stayed silent. Oh, you knew. You knew what it felt like to meet the one. Nolan quickly identified the look of sadness on your face. “I mean, yeah… She means a lot to me.” You gave him a thankful smile. He knew you didn’t want to talk about him. He reached across the table and took your hand in his.

“I just… Y/N, you were my best friend, you still are. Don’t push me away. I know your hurting but I’m your friend.”  You knew this was coming. But you still wished you could run away from it. But you couldn’t. Not this time. Nolan didn’t deserve this. “You’re also his friend!” you tried to keep your emotions at bay but it just flowed over. “That’s not fair and you know that. I didn’t just lose one friend that day. I lost two. My two best friends.” His voice cracked and he turned his head to the side so you wouldn’t see his watery eyes. You felt a sudden lump in your throat. You never thought about how he felt. God, you were so selfish. “I’m so sorry Nolan. I was a shitty friend.” He gave you a sad smile. “No, I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve what happened. I get why you left. Why you ran away. Get away from it all, let the dust settle, start again. I just always thought that I’d hear from you. Maybe that you would come back even. But I got nothing. No call, no text, nothing. I had to call your sister to know you’re still alive but that was all I got.” You were crying silent tears now, slowly you stood up and moved over to hug him. “God, I’m so sorry Nols. I wanted to, I just couldn’t. I needed to restart my life. And you were such a big part of the life I used to have, I just didn’t think I could handle the pain.” He squeezed your shoulders. “Just promise me not to run from me again. Don’t shut me out, you weren’t the only one hurting.”

 That evening you were standing in front of your drawer. It seemed like it took you hours to muster up courage to open it. You hadn’t touched it since you moved in. And you hadn’t touched it’s content in over 2 years. Slowly you pulled it open. A wave of emotions crushed over you. All the memories kept flooding back. In this drawer was all the stuff you weren’t able to throw away. You just couldn’t bring yourself to it. All your memories of your life back then. Your hand moved over it’s content. Until it landed on the little velvet box. You took it out and opened it. Instantly tears started to fill your eyes as the memory came flooding back, knocking you over.

“Y/N, you’re the most important thing in my life, you’re my best decision, my greatest friend and adventure. You’re the love of my life.” Slowly Travis took a knee in front of you and pulled a little velvet box out of his pocket. “I love you so much, Y/N! Will you marry me?” with that he opened the little boy and revealed the most perfect engagement ring. You couldn’t contain your excitement, nearly knocking him over as you tried to kiss him. “Yes, yes, I will marry you!” Thankfully he caught you and lifted you up, kissing you. As he slipped the ring on your finger he softly muttered “I can’t wait to marry you, Mrs. Konecny!”

 _________________  

The following week was thankfully less stressful. On Thursday, when you had you’re afternoon off, Nolan just so happened to have an off day. He was currently sprawled out on your couch, taking in his surroundings. “I like your place, it’s nice. When did you move in?”

You froze. Your hand was hovering above the water bottle you were  trying to grab out of the fridge. You knew you had to tell him the truth. And you also knew he wasn’t going to like it.

“A bit over a year ago.” You grabbed the water bottle and turned towards Nolan, just as you heard him suck in a deep breath. When you looked at him you could see the tension that had risen up.

“A year ago? A year, Y/N?! You’ve been back in Philly for an entire year and you couldn’t even send a text that you’re back?”

God, you hated to disappoint him like that. You knew it was wrong to not reach out to him, he’d done nothing wrong. Still, you didn’t feel strong enough to let someone from your past life back into your new life. You felt like this was the only way to move on.

Before you could reply something, he continued.

“So when were you going to reach out Y/N? I mean eventually you would-“ He paused, studying your face. Of course he would be able to read you like an open book.

“You weren’t.” The utter disappointment in his voice nearly took your breath away.

“No.” Your voice was so quiet, you weren’t he even heard you. He didn’t need to, he already knew the answer. In one swift motion Nolan rose to his feet, taking a few steps towards the windowfront of your apartment. He dragged his hands through his long hair a couple of times before turning back to you.

“Why? I was your best friend Y/N. Why?”

“I already told you Nolan, I couldn’t.” You barely got those words out before Nolan spoke up again.

“But why? I get that you needed time away, that you needed to restart and I also wouldn’t have blamed you if you never returned to Philly. But I just never thought you would cut all ties with me. I always thought our friendship would survive this, that one day at least the two of us would be back to normal.”

You didn’t know how to start. How could you let him down easy with this. How could you tell your best friend that you planned on never seeing him again. Slowly you sat down on the couch and waited for Nolan to join you.

“You have to know I never meant for this to happen. I never wanted to leave you without saying something but I was in so much pain, so angry and hurt I wasn’t functioning properly. And at first I wanted to call you, reach out to you. But I just thought that I needed to have some time by myself for a while. And the longer it took the harder it got. I felt like I had to completely leave this life behind, so I could move on, so that it would hurt less.” Tears were rolling down your cheeks and your vision had started to get blurry. Everything that you had buried deep down was starting to resurface.

“I’m sorry Nolan. But I just felt like I had to leave this life behind me. Everything from this life, him, you, the team, my friends that I’d made here. You were such a big part of my life then, I couldn’t think about you without being reminded of him. So I realized I had to let it go. All of it. Even my best friend.”

You body was shaking with sobs now. Nolan pulled you into his chest, keeping you close. One hand soothingly stroking your hair.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to be collateral damage, Nolan.” You mumbled into his chest, sobs still raking your body.        

You stayed like this for a while. Nolan stayed silent, letting you cry into his chest. It took ages till you felt yourself calm. You had let everything out. Of course you had cried before but not like this. The last time you’d been crying like that was a bit over 2 years ago while Nolan held you close and whispered countless “It’s going to be okay” into your hair. I hadn’t helped though. His words empty promises, that the both of you knew weren’t true. In that moment, 2 years ago, your heart truly shattered. And no matter how hard Nolan tried, there was nothing he could do to fix it. To late, the damage had already been done, just a few hours prior.

 “Gosh, you look so beautiful Y/N!” Your sister Lauren tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “I still can’t believe this is happening, sis. You’re getting married!” You had never seen you this happy. And you’d never been this happy either. You had dreamed of such a wedding since you were little. Suddenly all your Pinterest Wedding boards had seemed to come alive. You were smiling ear to ear.

There was another knock on the door, like there had been so many others this morning, but you didn’t really realise the new presence until Nolan was approaching you. He had a weird look in his eyes and as he came closer you realised that his eyes were slightly watery. Before you could say anything he had wrapped you in a hug. You felt like he was going to squeeze you to death. As he pulled back you could see the sad smile on his face. Something was wrong.

“You look so pretty, Y/N. My beautiful best friend.” You could see that he was trying to masque his feelings but you knew him all too well. Panic set in.

“What’s wrong?” You searched his eyes for answers but he only had eyes for the ground. “Nolan, what’s wrong? Did something happen to Travis?” The blood in your veins seemed to freeze. Suddenly the room started spinning. Still no answer from Nolan. “Nolan! Please, what’s wrong with him?” Finally Nolan seemed to be ripped out of his trance. When he lifted his gaze up to look into your eyes you could see the tears running down his cheeks. “He’s fine, Y/N. He’s …” “He’s what?” you pushed. You knew from the look in his eyes that the answer was going to shatter you.

He slowly shook his head. “He’s not coming, Y/N.”

Part 2

[bunysliper]

Castle Ficlet: Small Details 1/1

Small Details

 It's ludicrous to be this nervous to dress for work. After all, she's simply putting her clothes on and going about her day, same as she always has. Same as she did yesterday and same as she will tomorrow.

 Except for one small detail.

 It's silly to fuss over her outfit this much. To spend this much time making sure each piece of clothing is exactly right. They're the same pants she's worn hundreds of times before, the same shirt she wore last week, probably, but all of it feels different now.

 She's forgone her usual grab-whatever, often completely dissimilar, undergarments in favor of a lacy red and white matching bra and panty set. Shades of sexy Mrs. Claus, the girl at the store had said, a great way to give a little extra Christmas spirit to a special someone. And she hopes, if all goes well, that it won't go unnoticed by her partner at the end of the day.

 Is it a cliché to invite her partner over for dinner and, sometime after their main course offer herself as dessert? Probably. Is she going to do it anyway? Yep.

 Assuming she gets up the courage to get dressed and get to work first.

 Her phone buzzes on her dresser, jolting her from her inane agonizing and bringing her back to reality. Her underwear and seduction plans will be what they will be; right now, they've got a lead on their latest case and she has a job to do.

 She throws on her clothes and fixes her makeup quickly, giving the red and white set that sits against her skin barely a second thought as she goes about her day.

 Castle would call it a Christmas miracle, but they solve the case by late afternoon. The lead from the morning turns out to be the break they needed and after that, all the other pieces fall into place and the truth comes spilling out. It gives everyone on her team a much-needed boost going into the vacations and she sends them off with a warm smile and a wave.

 Everyone except Castle. Her partner hangs back at her desk while she wraps everything up, while she tidies and prepares for her shift tomorrow, watching her with soft eyes and a playful lift of his lips.

 "You don't need to get home?" she asks after a few minutes. "No big Castle traditions to take care of tonight?"

 He shakes his head. "Mother has a party at her acting studio and Alexis is having Friendsmas with Taylor and Kelsey to kick off the break. It's just me."

 Well, that certainly makes it easier. She won't have to worry about taking him away from anyone with her invitation.

 "Have dinner with me?" she asks, clamping down on her lip to keep from word-vomiting some kind of additional excuse about them being the only ones without plans, anything that would dilute from the message she's really hoping to send – that she wants to spend time with him.

 Her partner grins. "I would love to."

 They go their separate ways long enough to give her the chance to shop for the remaining ingredients and give him the chance to pick up a bottle of wine. It's just long enough for her to freshen up her hair and deodorant and give her boobs an adjustment in the bra to (hopefully) draw less attention to the mottled scar tissue in the center of her chest.

 Castle's doing his best to look casual when she opens the door and as she shifts her weight and makes idle small talk with him, she knows she's doing the same.

 "So, I only just started working on dinner, but I was thinking if you wanted to, we cou-"

 Whatever inane thing she'd been about to suggest is lost in the warmth of Castle's hands on her hips, the nudge of his mouth against hers. Her arms wave at her sides for a moment before her hands lift and she grips his biceps, keeping him from backing away as his lips part and a rushed apology starts to spill out.

 "Don't be sorry," she insists, brushing her nose against his. Her lips slide over his mouth again, welcoming, encouraging, his kiss. "I'm not."

 "Still," he puffs between kisses, seemingly no more willing to break away from her than she is to pull away from him, "you didn't invite me over fo-"

 "I bought new underwear for you," she confesses in a rush. "I absolutely invited you over for…" she trails off as he begins to laugh.

 His fingers flex on her hips. "Well, I don't want to ruin your plans. Forget I ever did anything."

 Kate loops an arm around his neck, drawing him down to her. "Hush. I had no plans other than that. Now, do you want food now or later?" she asks, giving his lower lip a tug, a gentle nip.

 "Later's good," he says quickly. "Later is definitely good."

[maxbernini]

idk if youre still doing them, but if you are: 3 headcanons about jazmine torres/american!even (or technically 3 pieces of canon)? really liked the twist on the first kiss you wrote for shay and jazmine btw!

hey!! absolutely still doing them, feel free to send more if you want!! ty for reading my fic ❤️

jazmine torres/american!even (from this fic):

- i know american!even is often headcanon’d as a photographer and i LOVE that, especially since it means she could photograph cfgc’s concerts and they’d be an artsy power couple. however, i’m going to say jazmine loves photography - and loves photographing her loved ones, especially shay - but poetry is her main art thing in this AU. i think she’d combine them actually, à la david with his collage scrapbooks. jazmine would fill up notebooks very quickly. one of the things that lead to her getting diagnosed (she has OCD & BPD) was when she decided it’d be cool to write a poem for every photo she takes, which she then prints and sticks in a notebook. it was fun and challenging at first, but eventually became upsetting when she couldn’t even take a screenshot of a meme or an accidental selfie without feeling like she had to scribble a poem down immediately. she comes up with haikus as a mind game when bored now. she has a haiku for each and every mole/freckle shay has. she’s corny.

- if shay loves summer, then jazmine loves winter. i just like when couples are opposites especially in silly poetic ways (light/dark, sun/moon, sky/ocean, etc), and i think this’d be fun given how hot austin is (and florida was; she literally can’t escape lol), and that i’d want shay’s season to be set during summer. and if we wanted to get even more sillier and poetic, i love the idea of shay being this burning warmth to jazmine’s icy cold, literally melting the latter’s heart 🥺 anyways they build snowmen together during december. kelsey: “as a proud ally, i’ve decided to make mine gender neutral snow- people”. jazmine: “that’s cool. ours are gay and definitely hooking up tho.”

- random, but she’s a really good navigator. as in, jazmine can and will locate any super niche spot in a new city as if she’s lived there her entire life. if she stood next to a guy wearing a shirt that said ‘i am a certified tour guide and historian with decades of experience’, tourists would still approach her first because of the sheer confident, determined, kind energy she radiates lol. what i’m getting at is that the scene in the fic where she’s asking for a tour and stories about the school was more so she could listen to shay talk and not because she actually wanted to know (because she already knew), which is fun because shay’s exaggerating those stories purely to get jazmine to laugh. they’re both corny! but in very cool and cute ways!

- bonus headcanon is that she doesn’t really like tyler much, but occasionally marlon will do something that is so incredibly annoying that tyler, shay, and jazmine all immediately look up and lock eyes and there’s this unspoken “maybe the three of us should stage a coup and take over cfgc” vibe. she helps with songwriting sometimes though, and she and megan fight for the title of being president of the unofficial cfgc fan club

give me a character and i’ll tell you three pieces of headcanon i have about them!

[longsightmyth]

Kelsey gets the somehow simultaneously too detailed and not detailed enough story about how Ren's grandfather conquered a lot of shit, decided he was done conquering shit, called a summit and said 'hey let's all have peace now' and then was viciously betrayed by smaller nations who decided nah. Happily Ren's grandfather managed to send messengers out for aid.

“Where did they go for help?”

“China.”

“China?”

“Yes. Specifically they went to Tibet. The Indian/Chinese borders of that time were not as defined as they are today, and trade between the two countries was commonplace. Tarak especially had a good relationship with the Dalai Lama of the time.”

...but you call the many and varied nations inhabiting the land encompassed today by India even when referring to the past?

Anyway apparently the theoretical descendants of Genghis Khan converted everyone to budhism and were chilling in Nepal, ready to come to Ren's Grandfather's assistance. For reasons.

“Indeed. The combined Mongol armies in addition to King Tarak’s military were able to defeat the upstarts. Tarak and Batu Khan were of the same age. They became friends. Tarak, in gratitude, offered precious jewels and gold to take back to Tibet, and Batu Khan offered his young daughter to be married to Tarak’s son when the time was right. Ren’s father, Rajaram, would have been around ten years old at the time, and his mother had just been born.”

Kelsey asks what Ren's mother's name was (Deschen) and then not what she was like or if she liked being queen or anything relevant about her but instead:

I sat back in my chair shocked. “What was his mother’s name?”

“Deschen.”

“What did she look like?”

“She looked a lot like Ren. She had the same blue eyes, and her hair was long and dark. She was very beautiful. When it was time for the marriage to take place, Batu Khan himself brought his daughter to meet with Tarak and stayed to oversee the wedding. Rajaram was never even allowed to see his bride until they were married.”

All those commas and none could be spared for that first sentence. Of course the important thing about Deschen is what she looks like, and apparently she was tibetan and/or mongol. I'm slightly confused.

[secndlife]

noooooooo i swore i wrote smth out agshdkdkf--

WAIT. PAUSE. I REMEMBER. I WAS WRITING YOUR ASK ON MY PHONE AND THEN THE APP CRASHED HAHAHAHAHA (fml)

well, anyways, fave goses are don't lie series, but also for some reason, the ad genius one was so funny to me??? the playground one is good too tho 😭 their little skit where they brag to each other!? IT SENDS

also your song selections??? *CHEFS KISS*

okay there was a new mission, so here we go:

first of all, fire sign supremacy baby 😤 on a completely unrelated note, i saw your sims(?) layout for the mmf couple. and i lost it when you pointed out hoshi v mc's set up LOL the laptop!? plz i was cackling!!!!!

anyways, new mission time, so here are some semi-random questions :D

1. what are your top 5 fav svt choreos?

2. kiss marry kill: jeonghan soonyoung seungcheol

3. would you rather go into a tiger's den w soonyoung? or plant rice all day in a paddy w vernon?

4. if you could cast svt in a movie, which movie would you cast them in and what roles would they play? (doesn't have to be all 13 members!)

forgot to sign off again (i am not good at this anon thing LOL)

- 🍳

HIIIII BUB pls tumblr is acting out it's just so bad i've been writing my asks for my anon somewhere else then i just paste it bc it saves the trouble!

ok lemme add a cut hehe

don't lie goses are superior !!! soonyoung on the second one pls he is CRAZY I CANNOT!!!!!!!! i haven't watched ad genius yet im so late on goses 😢😢😢 maybe i'll find some time this weekend! AND YES THE PLAYGROUND ONE I LOVE IT SO MUCH especially bc they all bully mingyu and i think that's so funny even tho i feel bad for him aksdakjfsjfk

YES FIRE SIGN SUPREMACY!!!!!!!!!!!! 🔥🔥 we're simply the best

YES IT'S A SIMS LAYOUT i'm so happy you saw it when doki and i were like done with it i couldn't stop staring and laughing because it's just SO FUCKING FUNNY like mc has a legit grown up set up like plants and candles and a laptop and an extra monitor and all that shit. and then. soonyoung. literally just the laptop and A TOY!!!!! and the rug (which was a gift from mc hehe). like i think it captures them soososososo well aksdajkdashakjfh it's not pretty but it's literally them and i loved everything about it and sorry for the rant i was just so excited about that layout asjdjakaksd

OK LET'S GET IT

for choreos

1. falling flower: who does it like her? no one. absolutely amazing. breathtaking. unbelievable.

2. home: ok i'm probably being biased but the door thingies are just so good to me and it just makes my heart so warm

3. thanks: THE CHOREO FOR JEONGHAN'S FIRST PART i think that's just so pretty and well put together

4. call call call: POWERFUL QUEEN idk it just makes me hyped and i love everything about it!!!!!

5. don't wanna cry: there's something about how idk gentle? and sensitive? and yet so poweful this chore is to me and urgh!!!!

ok kiss marry kill this was HARD bc if i'm being biased it's easy but if i take everything into account like HOW WELL we would get along then it gets hard

bc like cheol is #1 husband material out of all these BUT we would fight way too much. and soonyoung has the most kissable lips. so i got torn but

kiss: cheol (c'mon sir let's make out in the closet of a frat party)

marry: soonyoung (i can't we would have too much fun and we're really a good match for each other cof cof mmf)

kill: jeonghan (my enemy, are we surprised ????)

ok the tiger den x rice planting. THE THING IS ! none of these are too appealing for me askdjakshjad like the den is so fucking scary and soonyoung would be too excited so he'd just leave me scared and alone ! and rice planting is not my vibe at all i'm like The city girl aksdasdajdh so this was actually hard. but let's go with rice planting with vernon bc he's fun and it wouldn't be so bad

LASTLY THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS SO GOOD!!!!!!! and it tingles my writer senses ! ok so i'm not gonna do all just the ones that speak to me the most:

cheol would be great as the leading man for an action comedy movie? kinda like killers? dunno if you had watched it but it has the athetic side that he can deliver and also the romantic comedy side

jeonghan for me suits a movie like made of honor? this "i'm too good for a relationship vibe but then i fall in love with my best friend and she's about to get married fuckkkkkk". i think this dynamic is great for him. or also anything that would go for e2l KAJDAKDHADKJH

joshua can cast literally any movie he is so idk shapeable? but i mostly see him as mc's best friend? like literally the best of friends

jihoon 10/10 leading a musical. or maybe a role like kelsey in hsm? AKKLAJSDKADJ

seokmin pls go for a romantic comedy and be the cute charming neighbor that gets the girl in the end

mingyu HE CAN DO SOMETHING LIKE NO RESERVATIONS!!!!!!!!!!! god i love that movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

minghao maybe some new indie stuff like those b&w movies that have a very deep and substantial plot and that talk about darker things in life

ok yeah that's my take it's 10 am so maybe my brain isn't working the best yet BUT!!! pls share your thoughts who would you cast also your favorite choreos !!!

oh and i always forget about signing off too askdjakjdhs twins once again !!

[codyssfern]

drinks and confessions

synopsis: you reunite with shawn at a party after being broken up

warnings: lots of swearing, some aggression, and a lil bit of angst

word count: 2k+

ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ:

“can’t believe you’re forcing me out the apartment tonight.” you say to your best friend, brian, as you two walk down the hall.

“y/n you’ve been in here for weeks!” he exclaims, “weeks, y/n and frankly me and the boys are worried.”

you roll your eyes, “it’s because one of your boys that i’ve spent the last month in hibernation.”

“shawn won’t be there tonight. he’s recording something with teddy at his place SO,” brian stands in front of you and places his hands on the side of your face, “put on a happy face, grab your purse, make sure there’s rubbers in it, and let’s get drunk baby!”

you burst out laughing. brian has always found a way to make you laugh even when all you wanna do is cry.

“rubbers? god you’ve spent way too much time in the america.” you laugh.

this goes on for about 10 more minutes before one of the boys finally picks you guys up. on the way you couldn’t help but feel like you shouldn’t even be going out in the first place, it was one of those gut feelings you got once in a while. even though brian said shawn was busy, you had a feeling he’d show up at the party anyway. you haven’t seen him in 3 months, almost 4 and you didn’t want to see him tonight.

“this place looks familiar.” you say as you get out of the car.

“it’s geoff’s holiday house.” one of the boys say.

you look at brian in disgust, “why are we at his house? he’s rude.”

“i know, i know but we really didn’t have another place to throw the party and one of the boys hit him up and well he said he had a spare house,” you start laughing not believing geoff actually said he had a ‘spare house’ “shut up. i know he’s ridiculous.”

the place was already packed when you went inside. you knew some people from back in high school and some from your first year at uni which surprised you.

“oh my god… lauren is here!” you whisper to brian as you walk pass her and into the kitchen.

brian shrugs his shoulders, “and?”

“she hates my ass! remember when shawn invited us to her prom and she freaked and ‘accidentally’ spilled punch on me?” you ask as you prepared yourself a drink.

brian was so used to you thinking everyone was conspiring against you all he could do was laugh.

“y/n, you think everyone is out to get to you.” he takes a sip of your now finished drink making you whine, “this drink is delicious by the way.” he smiles.

“you owe me one!” you yell at brian as he walks out the kitchen.

you feel a tap on your shoulder making you jump. when you turn around you’re met with some of the boys from earlier.

“i heard geoff has like 4 hundred worth alcohol in this house.”

you scoff, “what? no way.”

you start going through the kitchen cabinets until you find the one filled with alcohol and grab the first bottle you could lay your hands on.

“the mcallan 64,” you mumbled, “worth…$4,250?!”

geoff was so humble, you thought to yourself.

“if i spend $4k on alcohol, it better kill me.” you say making the boys laugh.

and you hoped it at least had some magical effect on you. you only agreed to go out because you were tired of getting drunk by yourself at home. you took the bottle of whiskey to the living room and sat down on the couch.

“y/n what’s up with you and the mendes dude anyway?” nick, from high school and also the dude who used to put garbage in shawn’s locker, happened to the first one to break the ice.

you sighed, “why? what’d you hear?”

“heard he dumped your ass for that other singer girl!” he laughs taking a sip of his beer.

well you certainly weren’t expecting that.

“sort of like you and kelsey right?” you put your hand on his thigh, “you know when she dumped your ass that one time cause shawn invited her on tour and well you know what happens when shawn invites girls on tour…”

nick’s friends started laughing. “bro you said you dumped her!”

nick shrugs his shoulder, “i did!”

“ONLY AFTER MENDES WAS BALLS DEEP INSIDE HER!”

everything happened so fast you didn’t even see when nick stood up and started beating the shit out the guy. you thought this was the perfect time to leave.

about 4 hours passed and you were already feeling drowsy. you also couldn’t find brian anywhere. you asked around and no one had seen him either, he was probably upstairs getting “busy” you still tried and called him. he probably had like 10 missing calls from you. nevertheless you sent him a text.

to: bri craig.

from: stupid y/n :)

dudeeeee i want 2 leave. i’ll be oytside pleasr hurrtgy!

you didn’t even care about the typos. you still pressed send.

“ugh what the fuck!” you yelled as you put your phone back in your pocket.

“someone’s drunk and cranky.”

geoff.

“go away geoff.” you start walking towards the house.

you hear him chuckle from behind, “baby, cmon! don’t walk away from me.”

“dude if you don’t leave me alone i swear i’ll-”

he grabs your arm, “you’ll what?”

“fuck off!” you try pushing him off of you.

by now people are starting to notice and geoff didn’t like that one bit. you kept tried to shift out of his grip but it only got tighterr.

geoff leans into you and says, “you’re too drunk. you need someone to take care of you.”

“she can take care of herself!”

suddenly your body hit the ground and you felt everything around you starting to spin. you hear people cheering and yelling and it made your head throb. but that voice from before, you recognized it.

“y/n?! y/n are you okay?”

you look up to see see brian, you nodded as he helped you up. thinking it was him who pushed geoff of you, you were confused when you saw geoff a few feet away from you still fighting with another boy.

“who’s that?” you squint your eyes.

brian, still with a arm around your waist to hold you up, says, “that’s fucking shawn!”

you were so confused and your head hurt so bad you felt like you could pass out at any moment. soon enough though, some of the boys finally broke off the fight. brian still didn’t let go off you.

“dude what the fuck was that?” brian asks the tall figure that was now walking towards you.

“he was gonna hurt her.”

brian clicks his tongue, “no i mean you! like where the fuck did you come from?”

“i always drive through geoff’s house on the way home and so i thought i’d stop by.”

you were amused as how to they were having a whole conversation with you standing there almost about to collapse.

“god did you get taller?” you ask patting his shawn’s chest and making him laugh.

brian was struggling to keep you up and shawn noticed.

“here,” shawn places an arm around your waist and the other around your shoulders, “i’ll drive her home.”

brian shakes his head no, “i-i i don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“brian… it’s me.”

“i know but you know you’re not exactly her favorite person right now.”

shawn sighs, “i just got punched in the face and ribs for her. i think she can learn to forgive me.”

“you’re bleeding!” you point to shawn’s lip.

brian chuckles as he lets go off you, leaving you in shawn’s grip. “call me when you get her home yeah?”

“course’“ shawn shakes his hand.

once you two start walking to his car or well once he’s dragging to his car you realize what was happening. you hadn’t fully processed the fact your ex-boyfriend just popped up out of nowhere, beat up a guy for you, and was now taking your drunk ass home.

“you know i think,” you start to shift in shawn’s grip, “i can walk home.”

shawn’s grip around your waist got stronger, “and i think you’re just drunk and can barely walk.”

“i can walk!” you blur out and manage to get out of his grip. he was quick though and he held onto your hand.

shawn groaned, “y/n slow down! that’s not the way home.”

in your head you thought it was but of course your head wasn’t properly functioning.

“can you just,” shawn gets in front of you, “get in the car and i’ll take you home yeah?”

you scoff, “aren’t you here to party? go get drunk! cheat on your new girlfriend while your at it! it’s your specialty after all.”

he places his hand on your lips shushing you, “would you shut up?! you don’t know what you’re saying.”

in a matter of seconds you saw everything upside down. took a minute to realized shawn had picked you up on his shoulder. you didn’t even fight it, you were really tired and frankly wanted to leave. you were surprised at how easily he managed to pick you up given that he was just in a fight and was probably bruised all over.

“put your seatbelt on and drink this.” shawn said once you were in the car. he handed you a bottle of water before starting the car.

you winded your eyes at how serious he sounded. you thought that maybe your comment before made him mad.

“i didn’t cheat on you, y/n.”

you look at him. hands gripping the steering wheel and eyes glued to the road. he seemed tensed.

“i don’t know that,” you take a sip of water, “i’ll never know that for sure.”

shawn was trying to think of ways to explain to you why he did what he did. explain to you that his hands have been tied for the past 3 months and that he’s being forced to lie to his family and friends.

“i’m telling you that i didn’t!” he turns to look at you for just a second, “i would never do that. especially to you! i loved you. hell, i still love you.”

you groan. how could he do this? just pop up out of nowhere and tell you that he loves you after being seen with another girl.

“my head hurts shawn and you keep fucking yelling,” you lean your head against the window, “just take me home. i’m tire-”

he cut you off, “it’s a contract okay? a contract that i was manipulated to sign and now i’m fucked! we’re fucked! i lost you.” his voice cracked.

no way. you thought to yourself. shawn would never sign a contract if he knew it wasn’t good for him.

“a contract? like those publicly stunt ones? or whatever their called.”

he chuckled, “a pr contract, yeah. andrew somehow manipulated me few months ago to sign it, he didn’t even let me read it and now i’m stuck.”

you nod your head as you let your brain process what has just been said. shawn never cheated on you and he couldn’t tell you what was going on because he was contractually compromised.

“you didn’t lose me.” you say under your breath.

shawn hums, “what?”

“me. you didn’t lose me. you never did,” you look at him, “as you can see i’m in car with you, letting you take me home when i’m supposed to be furious at you so no. you haven’t lost me.”

once you arrive at your place you beg him to come in so you could clean the cuts on his face and put ice on his bruises. takes him a while to say yes actually. he’s always given you space when you’re drunk, he used to put you to bed and then proceed to sleep on the couch.

“okay just keep it pressed on there lightly,” you instruct him as you let him hold the ice pack on his bruised ribcage, “don’t be rough or it’ll hurt.” you warn.

as you leave shawn on your bed and go look for disinfectant spray in your bathroom, he starts looking around the familiar place. chuckling as he sees the picture of the two of you at graduation on your nightstand.

“now i’m warning you,” you start as you walk back in the room, “i’m still a bit tipsy but this isn’t the first time i’ve cleaned your cuts while i have alcohol in my system.”

shawn laughs, “i got in a lot of fights back high school didn’t i?”

“thanks to geoff!” you defend, “don’t know why the fuck you even tried to be his friend to be honest.”

shawn groans as you kneel down and pressed down on his bruised thighs. you mumbled a soft “sorry” as you positioned yourself in front of him. you took the ice pack from him and placed it on the nightstand.

“you’re all good.” he smiles and leans in to your touch as you start taking care of his bruised lip.

the cuts weren’t as bad as you thought. the worst one was his lip, it was split and didn’t stop bleeding even when you spent like 2 minutes on it.

“did you mean what you said?” you break the silence.

he raises an eyebrow at you, “where?”

“in the car when you said you still loved me.”

you stood up and made your way to the bathroom.

“of course i did,” he followed behind, “i’ve loved you since i gave you that stupid car on your forehead.”

you shake your head and laugh, “oh no you haven’t!”

“i so have. you can ask literally anybody that knew us back then! ask my mom even.” he says as he sits on the bathroom counter.

you stand there looking at him. not understanding how even with a bruised lip and bruised abs eye he still looked handsome. it was almost annoying.

“are you gonna keep staring or are you gonna come over here and kiss me?”

you slowly made your way to him and placed your arms around his neck. “not sure it’s safe for me to kiss you with that bruised lip.”

“i don’t care.” he whispers before leaning in and leaving a soft yet passionate kiss on your lips. “i’ve missed you.” he admits.

you nod, “i can tell.” he tilts his head back making you laugh, “i’m joking! i’ve missed you too.”

he leans into your touch as you caress the side of his face. you really have missed him.

“let’s go to bed yeah?” you say softly.

he smiles, “let’s.”

[enchantedlokii]

Not My Mission

Rating: PG

Warnings: none

Characters: Loki Odinson, Kelsey (oc), Thor Odinson, FRIDAY

Mentioned: Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Peter Parker

Loki had been nervous to take on a mission alone. Sure it had been nearly two years now since he first started helping Thor and the other Avengers and almost a year since he officially joined them, but he worried that something would go wrong. For the longest time he had hoped for this, thinking that it would be the final sign that they trusted him, but now he was just anxious.

He was at a small college in the south. The only one of the Avengers who had even heard of it before was Clint, and it had not made a whole lot of sense to him at first why there would be a secret gang of Hydra wannabes there, but now he understood. No one would expect them to be there of all places.

“Thank you,” he murmured to the employee at the small restaurant, shuffling towards the outdoor seating area that would give him a clear view of the area of campus that he was supposed to be watching. Of course, he immediately became to distracted when he saw a young girl sitting alone at the end of the balcony. Her backpack was in the seat to her right and the bag of food similar to his was pushed away. She was just sitting there, listening to music through her headphones as she scrolled through her phone. She glanced up as she heard the door open, causing him to freeze until she quickly looked away.

Loki hesitated, touching the chair closest to him at the first table. He started to sit down, but felt a stab in his chest and closed his eyes. There was something about the girl. Something about the air around her that drew him closer until he was standing next to her. She looked up and took out her left ear bud, giving him a small smile. “Hello,” she said quietly, her voice holding an accent that he had heard others in the area using earlier in the day.

“Is this seat taken?” He asked, nudging one of the chair’s legs with his foot. When she shook her head, he pulled it out and settled down.

“So. . . What brings you here?” the girl asked suddenly, pulling her other headphone out and pausing her music. She was giving Loki her full attention, her grin growing when she saw his confusion. “Not everyday an Avenger shows up on campus.”

“Oh, um,” he cleared his throat. He had adjusted his appearance enough that he didn’t think anyone would recognize him.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” the girl told him as he struggled to answer. “No one else will notice. I’m just observant.”

“Very well,” he says, nodding his head and glancing into the bag. He wasn’t actually hungry, but he hated to waste. “Is this good?”

The girl chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty good,” she told him. “I’m sure it’s nothing like you’re used to, but it’s good.”

Loki pulled out one of the weird shaped fries and took a bite, narrowing his eyes a bit before shaking his head and turning to the girl again. “What’s your name, Darling?” he asked.

“Kelsey,” she told him. Someone spoke loudly nearby and she turned her head, peeking past the railing for a moment before turning back to her phone. “Seriously, though, why are you here of all places? About the only crime you find around here is the random drug addict going missing. Not really anything Avengers-level.”

Loki hesitated, focusing on the people below and tapping on the glasses that he had been given for the mission. Once he saw that none of the people who were being loud were the targets, he turned to Kelsey. “I am not meant to tell anyone why I am here,” he told her, putting on an authoritive voice. “There is a reason I am undercover.”

Kelsey shrugged slightly. “Not like I have anyone to tell,” she huffed, the words coming out as a half-laugh. She started to fidget with the purple case on her phone, running her finger up and down the bumpy edge. “Just saying I might be able to help, but it’s not my mission so just forget I said anything.”

Loki raised an eyebrow at her. The girl seemed defensive and arrogant when she spoke, but he could see right through it. She was nervous. Anxious, even, and maybe a bit upset. Though not at him, he realized. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said anyway. “I just can’t risk anyone getting hurt.”

Kelsey blinked down at her phone, then glanced towards the viaduct again. Something about the way she acted seemed different than the Midgardian that Loki knew, but he couldn’t place it. It was like she didn’t function the same, almost. “You won’t see much action during the day,” she told him suddenly, ignoring what he had just said. “The police are constantly patrolling. We’re known for being the safest school in the state for several years. You might be here awhile.”

Loki heard the rumbling of a vehicle and looked towards the distant road that ran through campus. Sure enough, it was a black suv with the word “POLICE” painted on the side. When he looked back he could see a small smirk on Kelsey’s face as she tapped on her phone. “You know this place well, I see.”

“Like I said, I’m observant,” she said. “When you’re outside of everything, you notice a lot. ‘On the outside always looking in.’”

“That’s familiar,” Loki commented. “It’s from a song, isn’t it?”

Kelsey nodded in reply, smiling up at him. Her eyes lit up at the fact that he recognized it. “Yeah, it is,” she told him, speaking a bit more quickly than before. “Waving Through A Window. It’s so good. It’s one of my favorites.”

Loki couldn’t help but chuckle at her excitement. It reminded him of one time when he had been sitting with Bruce in his lab and Peter had come running down talking excitedly about a formula he was working on and needed help with. He was surprised when Kelsey flinched a bit at his reaction, her smile faltering as she looked down again. He was about to apologize when she started to speak again.

“I should go,” she told him, pushing back her chair and starting to stand up. “I have a class in a few minutes. Can’t be late.”

“Oh, of course,” Loki replied. “Don’t worry about your trash. I’ll take care of it for you.”

Kelsey gave him a small smile as she picked up her backpack and lifted it to her back. “Thank you,” she said softly. “It was nice to meet you. Good luck with your mission.”

Kelsey was right. It was hours before Loki’s target came. People had filtered in and out of the balcony, but not a single one was alone like she had been. They would usually come in pairs, but sometimes three or four would come at a time. Not a single one recognized him or even seemed to pay any attention to him. It gave him an uneasy feeling, but he forced himself to focus.

There was no one else on the balcony when the targets finally came. The group of five was under the viaduct, talking quietly. He stood over the edge of the balcony and let FRIDAY scan them before he let his disguise disappear and teleported behind the group, immediately blasting an energy spell towards them to spread them out enough to start picking them off one-by-one.

The fight didn’t take too long. Sure, Loki was outnumbered, but he was stronger than them and had magic on his side. It only took him half an hour to disable each of them and send them away. Only a few of the college students saw the fight, and most ran away quickly as they caught sight of his magic. The few that lingered, watching from the viaduct or the nearby building, dispersed quickly as the fight ended. None stopped to speak to him or ask him for a picture or anything similar.

Loki knew that shouldn’t surprise him, really. On most of his missions, he had others with him. Thor had started insisiting that Midgardians give his brother some attention when he realized that it bothered him, but most only did it to please the more well-liked off the two. He didn’t mind all that much anymore. Not since the Avengers started treating him as an equal. Still, it was a bit unsettling.

Loki waited until he was in a hotel room that night before he called Thor, laying back in his bed as the phone rung a few times. “Hello.”

“Hello, Thor,” he replied.

“Loki!” His brother started a bit more cheerfully. Loki couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he listened. He would never understand how he had so much energy. “How did it go?”

“It went well,” Loki told him. “We shouldn’t have to worry about them causing any problems in the future.”

“That’s great!” Thor cheered, causing Loki to chuckle a bit. “Do you want me to come with the Quinjet now?”

Loki hummed as he thought, rolling over to glance out the window. He could see the campus nearby, and his mind drifted back to the girl he had spoke to that morning. “You can just pick me up tomorrow,” he told him. “It’s late.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind,” Thor assured him. Loki knew that he was being completely truthful, too, but he pushed away the offer.

“I’m sure,” he promised. “Get some sleep.”

“Alright,” Thor replied. Loki could hear him shift on the other end. “You too. Be careful.”

“I will,” Loki told him. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Loki.”

Loki waited until he got to the door to let his disguise disappear, slipping out onto the balcony. He was relieved when he saw Kelsey was once again sitting at the farthest table with her headphones in. She gave him a small smile, pausing her music as she watched him. “Your disguise isn’t working,” she commented.

“I don’t need it anymore,” he told her, hesitating before sitting in the chair next to her. “You were right. They showed up after dark last night.”

“I assume it went well?”

He nodded in reply.

“How come you’re still here?” she asked, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. “I assumed you would go back to New York now.”

“Thor is picking me up in an hour or so,” he told her. “I thought I would come see if you were here while I waited.”

Kelsey looked a bit surprised, turning away as her cheeks started to grow red. She fidgeted with her headphones for a moment, clearly thinking from the look on her face. “That is. . . Very nice of you,” she started. “But you don’t need to waste time with me.”

“Believe it or not,” Loki started. “I actually enjoyed our conversation yesterday. It was rather lonely out here once you left. I truly don’t understand why you sit out here alone.”

Kelsey looked for a moment like she was going to speak. Loki could see a small glimmer of emotion in her eye before she diverted her attention to the sound of someone crossing the viaduct. While she was looking away, Loki carefully picked up her phone. She turned back quickly, reaching out for it with a hand. She looked horrified.

“It’s okay,” he assured her, swiping quickly to find the right icon and tapping on it. He turned the screen so she could see it as he filled in a contact. Her expression morphed from horror to confusion as he did so, hesitating to take it back when he handed it to her. “Just in case anyone ever gives you trouble.”

Loki smirked as he said it and from the small smile she gave him, he was sure that she took the hint. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “I-I— you don’t have to do that.”

“Maybe I want to,” he told her. “You’ve intrigued me, Kelsey. You’re not like other Midgardians and it has me stumped, truly. If you ever find yourself wishing to become acquainted, it would be my pleasure.”

Kelsey seemed torn between smiling and frowning at the comment for a moment before she taps on the contact and types a quick message, sending it through to his phone. “So you have mine too, if you ever need it,” she said quietly, seeming unsure on her wording.

Loki gave her a small smile before standing up, holding a hand for her to take, which causes her to crease her eyebrows. “Would you like to meet my brother?” he asked her.

“Oh, no, no, I’m sure he wouldn’t want to meet me,” she told him quickly. “I have class soon.”

Now it’s Loki’s turn to look confused. Because he’s never known any Midgardian that wasn’t thrilled to meet the Mighty Thor. “You wouldn’t skip class to meet an Avenger?”

Kelsey shrugged. “Depends on which one,” she said with a small smirk. “Had it been you, sure. No offense but he’s not my favorite.”

Loki let out a snort of laughter, causing Kelsey to chuckle behind a hand. “None taken,” he assured her lightly. “But if you happen to change your mind sometime that you do not have class, you know how to contact me.”

Kelsey gave him a small smile. “Thank you.”

Loki smiled and took her hand, gently kissing it and smirking at the way she blushed. There was a distant look in her eyes as if she were thinking of a far off memory, but her smile didn’t fade, so he could only assume it was a good one. “I had best be going,” he told her.

“Bye,” she said quietly. “Be careful.”

“I will,” he promised, carefully letting go of her head. “Goodbye.”

[ginnyzero]

Completely Harmless Ch. 45

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

Chapter Forty-Five She sells sea shells by the ... river shore?

Lily tried to regain control of the meeting. “Pauline, where do we stand on the decorations?”

“Okay, here is the ideas I’ve had with everyone talking. Okay, we take flower wreathes and put them on the lamps and then wrap them with more flowers like the ones in the wreathes and our artificial palm leaves, and the sea shell garlands and sea shell lights. Then, if you have an arm to hang things off of, put a paper lantern with more flowers if you want. Um, don’t choose any flowers that are protected ladies. Then we can use the bubble garlands and the jelly fish lights like we did with the clouds and rainbow hearts from the trees. You can mix them up with the regular paper lanterns too if you want. Put the flower lights, sea shell garlands, and paper lanterns in all the stables. You can make the paper lanterns look like bubbles if you do it right.”

“Like with the clouds.”

“Exactly!”

“Then we can use the beach scene lanterns the exact same way we used the heart lanterns. But you can add the decorated anchors or ship wheels in with them. Or use the shell buckets instead. We put up the boats with the selfie walls, boats have nets decorated with shells, the round white circles have flowers and greenery like they’re a big wreathe. Put up some of the round lanterns, throw in an anchor and a wheel for props if they want. Um,” Pauline scrolled through the pictures. “We can create cabanas for the bar and the dance floor using frames, sheets, the flower lights, the artificial palm leaves, and inside have the jelly fish lanterns and more bubble garlands. The bar can have a net on it and be strewn with the decorated shea shells and the shea shell lights.” Pauline stopped at the giggles.

“Sea shells,” Lily said dryly.

“Sea shells,” Pauline repeated. “We can have more bucket, anchor, wheel decorations on that. And the pineapples, because Lily wants the pineapples. We can put more of the artificial palm leaves there too. Above the bar can go the jelly fish lights and the bubble garlands.” She paused. “And these lace sailboats are cute. We can have them as a prop too at the selfie wall. I mean, I think we’re actually set for decorations. I mean, I know it sounds more than what we had for Rainbow Week, but we’re mixing them in more interesting ways?”

“There are more bigger pieces.”

“And no balloons.”

“Right, I mean, we could use the lantern lights instead of balloons to fill up space or use the jelly fish lights and white lanterns to make little scenes.” Pauline shrugged. “We’ll have to experiment.”

“Food,” Lily moved on.

“Jorvik Crawfish Boil,” Pauline checked her notes. “Crabwiches, fruit salad in a carved watermelon bucket, Vegetable and mushroom skewers, popsicles, watermelon on a stick?”

“One sounds too many.”

Pauline crossed out the watermelons on a stick. It seemed redundant.

“I saw mermaid tail favors. We could put candy in them?”

“We should have cookies, like citrus ones.”

“That means they’d be orange.”

“Orange cookies.”

“I also saw plastic seashell favors, we could put something in those too.”

“I think we better put out some things like pretzels and Cheetos for people like Alex,” Lily said.

“Okay, now we need some drinks because I think we’ve covered food pretty well. And I mean, we can all buy snacks to put in the buckets. That’s not difficult.”

“Pretzels, popcorn, Cheetos, and crisps.”

“Wait, can we really have a bonfire without s’mores, sausages, and potatoes?”

“Yeah, and bread for the sausages or to eat with the crawfish.”

“Cheese, we might need cheese.”

Lily rubbed her forehead. “Fine. But we’ll have to figure out how to split it out. Drinks.”

“I make some really chillax awesome drinks.” Tim spoke up. The first time he’d spoken up in a while. Maybe he was overwhelmed with the eager teenage girls. Or maybe he didn’t care that much about the food or the decorations.

Lily turned her head. “Yeah, I think we might want to test your drinks first.”

“Shibby!”

“Why don’t you tell us the ingredients?” One of the girls asked sweetly.

Tim rattled off his ingredients. They included kidney beans. Kelp. Corn water. Fermented potato juice.

Lily held up a hand. “Fermented potato juice is vodka and corn water is basically moonshine. Are you trying kill us and get us drunk?”

“You don’t think people will like them.”

“I think maybe we should stick to things like banana and strawberry smoothies. Orange juice. And grape and seltzer punch.”

“Apple juice. Watermelon and blueberry spritzers.”

Tim slumped in his seat.

“Those will bring the tourists back for more.” Lily patted his arm.

He sighed. “They sound boring to me.”

“We can try to make them exciting. Package them in fun ways! Mermaid, err, okay without lemons this is not as easy as you’d think.”

“Grape comes in clear.”

“Ohhh, that works. Look we did this at home, just color up some different ice cubes, put edible rainbow glitter around the edge of the glass. Put it in some grape juice with soda if you want, and let the ice cubes melt. Mermaid Cocktail. Or as it was described early grape and seltzer punch.”

“Mock up a white grape sangria too, strawberries, blueberries, apple or orange slices in white grape juice, apple juice, and soda.”

“They can be fun, we promise,” Lily patted his arm again.

Tim sighed. “All right, I’ll have to trust you.”

“Put the orange and soda in hurricane glasses, drizzle strawberry juice into it, garnish in a fun way, sunset hurricane drink.”

“See,” Lily smiled at him.

Tim didn’t look convinced.

“Watermelon and grape go with a lot of things. And we can get you the cucumbers too.”

“Okay, I think we’re good to go.”

“We’ll come up with a recipe list.”

“All right, then we’re doing the different wreathes at the different parties,” Lily said. “Let them have the sand souvenirs. We can do necklace garlands and bracelets to I guess for the luau theme.”

“And hide decorated Conch Shells, because they’re big, and colorful,” Pauline said. “Like, I think these are plastic or vinyl. I hope they are. Real conch shells might be too expensive.”

“Okay,” Lily nodded. “Hedgehogs, you’re the source of the crawfish for the crawfish boil. I’m leaving that to you.”

Riley groaned.

“I know you’d rather have the mermaid favors. Kelsey that sounds like something Madison would enjoy doing.”

“She would. So, we’ll take it.”

“You’re going to have to make a lot of them so, yeah.” Lily wrinkled her nose. She didn’t feel bad about giving that to them and only that. “Bulldogz, I know how you feel about Jamie cooking.”

“Someone is trying to hire her for the Midsummer Feast and thank goodness she’s easily distracted.”

“So, you can have the shell party favors.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Josefina spoke up. “We’re the source of the strawberries and the blueberries. Do you want us on drinks or on the fruit salad?”

“We’re going to have to buy watermelons in bulk from the food stalls.”

“Okay, question,” Lily put her chin on her hand. “Who among is a competent melon or pumpkin carver? Because they should be the ones doing the fruit salad. I mean, I don’t think the carved bucket idea was a plain bucket?”

The girls got on their phones and started texting people in their clubs.

Loretta shook her head. “None of mine.”

“Loretta, since you have the Midsummer Festival grounds in your area, are you going to do a beach party too?” Lily asked, genuinely curious.

Tan leapt in. “Of course we are, and we’ll decorate those Dark Core containers and chase off the goons if we have to.”

Loretta made a face. “They’ve been stealing. Can you believe it?”

“You don’t say.” Lily’s voice was bland. “Do you have any records of it?” Lily asked. She wasn’t at all surprised that a company with a name like Dark Core hired a thief.

Tan tossed her head. “I recorded everything.”

“Could you send it to Linda?” Lily asked slowly and raised her brow.

“Linda? Why would she want to know? I mean, she’s one of those weird druid riders,” Tan flicked her wrist.

“Because the Baroness will want to know,” Lily said. Frustrated she had to spell it out. “And Linda is her personal assistant and monitors her emails.”

“Oh, in that case, sure,” Tan said and dug out her phone. “As long as the Bobcats get the credit for catching them.”

“I’m sure Linda will tell her.”

Loretta sniffed. “I had them all file reports with Thomas.”

Lily nodded and texted that information to Linda as well.

Linda texted back she was going to ride over to Moorland to get it. She needed to see Alex anyways and she was probably at Maya’s.

“Or with Justin,” Lily murmured. Had Justin gotten up the nerve to say anything to Alex yet? Lily shook her head.

“I’ve got a carver,” Amelia said. “She sent pictures of her work. She can carve buckets and flowers.”

“Then you’re on for the fruit salad,” Lily said. “Do you mind another club coming and picking fruit for the cocktails and the popsicles?”

“Not at all.”

“Chipmunks,” Lily turned to them. “I know you’ve got the farmers, but you also have Harold.”

“Orange slice cookies. On it, Lady Captain Lily.” Kate saluted and then fluttered her hand and bowed.

Lily restrained a sigh. Of course Kate would choose both.

Pauline spoke up. “I think we should take the popsicles, Lady Captain President, we’ve got the big freezers in the Wine Cellar to keep them in.”

“Right, good plan.”

Pia spoke up. “I’ll take one of cocktail slots. That way I can work closely with Tim to make sure they’re fun and fizzy.”

Sonja spoke up. “We also have the other fruits in our forest. So, we’ll take a cocktail slot too. And help everyone harvest fruit.”

Ingrid was next to volunteer. “Ma Anna knows pastry, and croissants like those crabwiches are pastry. We’ll take the crabwiches and make different meat salads for them.”

“Fish salad, chicken salad, egg salad, ham salad,” Violet muttered.

Pauline checked her list, “That leaves the Pandas, the Bulls, and the Cats.”

“What do we have left?”

“Veggie skewers.” Pauline checked. “Snacks, bread and cheese, etc., and more cocktails.”

Loretta spoke quickly. “We can do the Snacks, bread, and cheese and so on. That’s all shopping. We are power shoppers. And none of the stinky stuff from Will’s Mill either.”

Ami wrinkled her nose. “We have a spa. We know cocktails. We’ll help out there and see what we can do with our grapes.”

“That leaves us the Veggie Skewers, and we can get most the produce from the Farmer’s Market and do assembly in Valedale.” Melissa nodded.

Lily spoke up. “This is going to sound crazy, but maybe we should have Courtney Summers do the Midsummer Feast. She’s a local and maybe she knows the local dishes.”

“Barney, Marley, and Carney can cook too,” Kate said. “Or, so says Barney. They have all the traditional recipes.”

“Kate, can you do the invitation thing? I’m sure the Baroness will refuse to invite her personally. But notice, she showed up last time.”

“I’ll invite all of them to do it. Make it a family affair. It’s a week and if we have too much food, well better than none at all.” Kate nodded.

“All right, well, here is hoping that the budget can take this,” Lily said.

“I bet we can get the farmers to donate lots of the supplies,” Kate waved her hands. “It’s for the Midsummer Festival after all.”

“That would be good.”

“We can approach them individually and get back to the group,” Amelie said with a nod.

Luciana spoke up. “I’d like to put a cabana up on the beach near the Dews Farm to be the gathering spot for everyone finishing up their charity events.”

“Splendid plan, Luciana,” Lily nodded. “We can set up one there, and a dance floor and it can be a celebration. At the end of the week, we’ll have all the money. Where are we keeping the money?”

“Silverglade Manor’s safe.”

“Right, we’ll have all the money and can present Maya with a big fake check. And I hope that will be enough to get them out of their debts and back on their farm.”

“They’re in foreclosure,” Loretta sighed. “Not bankruptcy. I had to go over it with her three times.”

“If they’re in foreclosure, that’s easier than bankruptcy to an extent. Though what did they do? Take a loan out on their farm?”

“From G.E.D. instead of a bank.” Loretta pushed her hair back behind her neck.

“Well, Ms. Drake is going to take the cash or else I’ll shove it where the sun don’t shine,” Lily muttered.

“Make it super public,” one of the girls said. “She can’t be a monster in front of a lot of people.”

“Ms. Drake?” Amelia asked.

Josefina snorted.

“It’s worth a try.”

“We’re going to have to do the same thing for the stables once it happens.” Ginny said.

“Have they tried anything but threats?”

“No. But the stable is in debt. To the bank, not to them, praise Aideen. But if the bank forecloses on the property, we’ll all be kicked out. Though your plans with the Friesians have been working. And Mr. Kemball has started on the Riding Arena. We’ve been having to keep him honest.”

“That must be a job and a half.”

“Like keeping James honest,” Pia said.

There was some nervous laughter.

“All right, Mares, Frogs, Squirrels, Terriers, and Kittens,” Lily said. “Get your areas in order. Your job is to focus on your section of South New Jorvik County and come enjoy the Midsummer Beach Party when it’s on. If you have problems with G.E.D. or Dark Core, report to me or to Linda.”

Pauline interrupted. “Music, Lily. Music!”

“Well, Fort Pinta will have DJ Kai. And I know New Hillcrest will have Syntax.”

“We’ve got a pretty big beach with a lot of islands all picked out.”

“I think asking Mr. Wetton for thirteen acts again is a bit too soon. Plus, it would make Rainbow Week less special.”

“Radio the different music the DJs are doing.” One of the girls suggested. “Set up a transmitter. Jack it through that tower in the Grey Mountains that G.E.D. has set up and it should get the entire county. Or stream it online.”

“That’s devious, and I like it.” Lily grinned.

“They shouldn’t have an obnoxious radio tower that big up there anyways. Radio towers can be much more discreet. I mean, put one on the observatory and it won’t be a blight to the landscape.” There was a sniff.

Lily turned to Pauline. “Happy?”

“Syntax can hack the tower,” Ginny said.

“Yes, keep them hacking for the greater good.” Lily smirked.

Kate shouted. “Okay, pizza time!”

They were all hungry. And there were new people to meet. So, they had pizza and wings and loaded potatoes and talked to each other and Tim. Though they all agreed Tim was quite strange and was it college or something else?

They split up.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

[wren-bishop]

Backyard - Devyn

@drunkcn

Devyn: devyn was already a few shots in before she even showed up to riley's place, having an aching feeling that she'd need to be somewhat buzzed. she made a b-line to the first person she spotted with a cup in their hand, snatching it from them and smiling. "this is just what i needed, how did you know?" she teased before taking a small sip.

Wren: Wren just let her take his cup, "I'm very good at what I do" said Wren pulling his flask out of his pocket and taking a sip so he wouldn't be without a drink. "How are you doing tonight? Have you seen Val anywhere?" he asked

Devyn: her eyes followed his hand as he pulled a flask from his pocket, smiling a bit wider once he started drinking from him. "you came prepared," she stated, clearly liking that fact. devyn shook her head, the corners of her lips turning under just a bit. "i've only been here five minutes, she's probably around here somewhere... probably making out with memphis somewhere."

Wren: "Nana says to always bring a flask" said Wren closing it back up. Wren did his best to stay calm on the outside, "Haha devyn, so funny" Wren replied, "She won't makeout with Memphis until way later in the party" he joked. Why did people keep trying to warn him about the two of them? Was there a good reason?

Devyn: "i like nana, she's a smart lady." she nodded her head, matter-of-factly. her expression fell, her eyebrows joining together in the middle. "who says i'm joking? didn't you hear about memphis cheating on kimmy with valerie? i mean, i know it's old news but the two of them clearly like each other." that was as much as she knew about the blonde's relationships, she was completely unaware that she was actually dating wren. "why do you wanna know where she is anyways, you got a thing for her?"

Wren: "I mean yeah I was around for that, but it was just about breaking them up it wasn't like a .. they like each other thing" said Wren with a shrug opening his flask back up and taking a sip. "We're dating" Wren added, realizing that Devyn just didn't know, made more sense why she was talking about Valerie and Memphis like that. He was still a little more nervous than when the night had started, and he didn't like that he hadn't seen her yet and that they hadn't come together at all.

Devyn: she inhaled deeply, eyes widening when she was informed of his relationship status to the girl in question. then her cheeks started to go red but she tried to hide her embarrassment by taking another sip from the cup she stole from him. "i didn't know that." she spoke into the glass before the liquid touched her lips. "that's a shame... i'm sure she's probably not with memphis. he's probably not even here, i don't think he even knows riley." devyn tried to backtrack, thinking it'd give wren a bit of peace of mind. "have you tried texting her?"

Wren: Wren smiled a little when the girl started to get red, "It's cool, Valerie's a very casual person" Wren replied. "Yeah, I just don't want to text her a bunch and seem like a loser" he added. He'd been working on keeping things restrained so he wouldn't come off as desperate towards Valerie, he was just so excited that someone actually liked him for once. He didn't know if he'd ever get that again, so he had to move smart about it.

Devyn: devyn rolled her eyes, reaching out to him to pat his arm reassuringly. "not texting your girlfriend would make you a loser, not texting her too much. my boyfriend never texts me, he's the biggest loser i know. if valerie thinks you're a loser for texting too much, then she's dumb and doesn't deserve you as her boyfriend."  it was something so silly to worry about but it also made dev sort of jealous, wanting that from her own boyfriend. "i'd send her a text to let her know where you are so she can find you, cos maybe she's around looking for you."

Wren: "I just don't want to like triple text her" explained Wren, "I text her a lot to begin with" he added. He kind of felt sorry for Devyn, he felt ignored by Valerie a lot too, "I'm sorry your boyfriends not blowing up your phone all the time, ask Val it gets annoying" Wren said with a shrug, "Yeah, maybe. I hope so." said Wren, when he was with Valerie everything was great, it was the in between times that were hard.

Devyn: her nose scrunched up as she shook her head, not wanting him to feel sorry for her for any reason. she didn't like when people took pity on her. "don't be sorry, he's not really the one i want blowing up my phone anyways." she didn't mean to say that, at least not the past part. and when she realized that the thought didn't actually stay in her head, she started laughing at herself , thinking it'd act as some sort of distraction. "anyways, i'm totally down to keep you occupied until she shows up if you want."

Wren: Wren completely acknowledged what she said, but he laughed it off with her just to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Yeah that sounds fun, we should refill my drink that is now your drink, and get me one too" said Wren with a kind smile as he led them towards the drink table on the porch. He took her cup and refilled it with punch and filled up a cup for himself. "Hows cheer going with Kelsey and the whole pregnant thing?" he asked

Devyn: devyn followed along, walking in line with him until they got to the refreshments. when he brought up kelsey, she couldn't help but smile and then laugh. "oh my god, this pregnancy is honestly the greatest thing. coach has basically benched her which probably means she won't be captain anymore chanel is basically next in line," at least in her opinion, "which i'm sort of on the fence about but she'd make a much better captain than kelsey does."

Wren: "I've heard a lot of different opinions" said Wren, "about the cheer captain thing" he clarified. "Don't you want to be captain?" he asked, considering everyone else he had talked to wanted to be captain.

Devyn: devyn didn't know people were actually talking about it, only because she didn't know if the coach was actually going to boot kelsey from the spot or not. she was just about to take a sip when she was asked if she wanted to be captain. instantly, she shook her head. "fuck that, no." she answered bluntly. "nobody on the team even really likes me, nobody would listen to me."

Wren: "I mean there's a big difference between being liked and being respected" Wren replied, "But I also get not wanting to be captain. I'll be happy whoever it is, like whichever of my friends gets it. I don't really have a huge problem with anyone on the team, but I know you guys have a lot of problems with each other ... from what I've been told" Wren continued, shutting himself up to take a long sip of his drink.

Devyn: she tilted her head to the side as she shrugged her shoulders. "well, yeah... she hates me for no reason. she tried to force me into a truce with her and threatened to tell people who my real dad is if i didn't agree." she sort of had loose lips when she drank, that was supposed to be a secret. devyn slowly looked at him, her expression mimicking shock at what she'd just told him. "can we pretend i didn't just say that?"

Wren: Wren was kind of shocked when Devyn let that one slide, "Yeah we can definitely pretend that you didn't just say that" said Wren taking a big gulp of his drink, "Don't worry I'm good with secrets" he replied. He put up his glass to hers, "Cheers?" he said trying to move their conversation past this.

Devyn: she stared at him for a moment, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to give him some sort of explanation but really, she didn't even know a whole lot of details. she knew just what happened and the name of her biological father. "thanks," devyn flashed him an awkward smile before taking a large gulp from her cup. "what are we cheering for?"

Wren: "For keeping secrets, and for not making me choose who I support for captain ... because I don't want to have to pick" said Wren, he liked Devyn a lot, she was really sweet. He'd heard a lot of stuff, but she was probably just confused between the two guys, and she was clearly hurting on a lot of fronts.

[eelistolvanen]

Bruises that you left behind - Travis Konecny Pt.3

A/N: So since we’ve almost reached 100 notes on Part 2, I finally got the motivation to finish the next part. So thanks to everyone who liked, reblogged or commented! Let me know if you like it! Part 4 is in the works but I’d greatly appreciate some feedback :) 

So here it is, there will finally be some Travis x reader interactions, so buckle up folks ;)

Words: 4.1k

Warnings: Angst, mentions of suspected cheating, no proofread (as usual) 

You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

_____________________________

You were nursing the worst hangover you’ve ever had the morning after. You’d already drunk enough at the party, but after Kevin had left, once he brought you home, you’d downed a entire bottle of red wine in self pity. You weren’t really sure anymore what triggered your episode. You wanted to blame your outburst against Travis on the alcohol, but deep down you knew there was another reason, the alcohol just aided it. After all this time you were still hurt. You’d never really gotten over it.

Getting out of bed proved to be a real struggle. But after half an hour you were sitting at your kitchen island trying to eat some breakfast. The pounding headache had gotten a bit better after taking some painkillers, but was still noticeable.

For a quick moment you though the ringing in your ears reappeared, then you realised that someone had actually rang your doorbell. You could already imagine who was standing behind the door as you approached it. Not entirely ready to face one of his lectures, but you couldn’t really avoid it.

“Damn, you look a lot worse than I expected you to.” This was all you were greeted with as Nolan moved past you into your apartment.

“It’s nice to see you too, Nols.” You scoffed sarcastically.

He sat down at the kitchen island and waited for you to join him. Both of you stayed silent as Nolan let his gaze wander over the mess in your kitchen. Surprisingly, he didn’t comment on it, a quick headshake was all that you got.

“I know Haysey already told you that we didn’t know that he would show, but I just needed to tell you myself. We really didn’t know. He wasn’t even invited and I have no idea why he thought he needed to make an appearance. I’m sorry, Y/N.”

You knew that he felt bad, just like Kevin. But it wasn’t their fault. And as much as you wished not to have to see him, you also knew that there always was a chance that you’d crossed paths somewhere.

“It’s fine, Nols. I’m not mad and you did nothing wrong, so no need to apologize. It should probably be me apologizing, after all I’m the one who called his girlfriend a puckbunny, so… “

Nolan chuckled at your words. “I’m pretty sure they’re not dating, so don’t be sorry. I mean, I thought it seemed to be very fitting for her but anyway… Let’s forget about that.”

You gladly accepted. The two of you hung out for another hour or so, before Nolan decided that he probably shut head over to Kelsey’s.

 Sometime in the afternoon Kevin texted you and asked if you wanted to hang out in the evening. You agreed to it even though you knew that Kevin would bring up the whole Travis thing as well.

It did take Kevin surprisingly long til he brought Travis up though. And you knew that this conversation was about to come.

“He called me today.” Kevin didn’t have to name any names for you to know he was talking about him. “And he asked about you.”

You waited for him to keep going but he stayed silent.

“So?” Kevin exhaled loudly and made eye contact with you. “I just thought you wanted to know…”

“Do I?” You couldn’t stop your voice from being laced with poison. You were being rude and you knew it. Kevin never asked to be dragged into this.

“Ahh, I don’t know Y/N. Come on, I’m trying here. Well anyway, he wanted to know about you. What you were doing at the party. Why we went together. Why you’re in Philly.”

You felt irritated. Why on earth would he care. He felt. He had no right to ask Kevin about you.

“So you told him, huh?” You were being unfair, you knew you had to stop acting like a bitch towards Kev, but God you couldn’t help it.

“ No, Y/N! I didn’t. I didn’t tell him anything because I didn’t want you to get hurt-“

“You also told him that he wouldn’t show to the party.” That was low, even for you.

“For fucks sake, Y/N! He wasn’t invited, he wasn’t supposed to show up, okay? I get it, you never wanted to see him again but it’s to late now. Just don’t take your anger out on me, I did nothing wrong.”

You deserved to be called out like this. He was right after all, you had taken it out on him. And Nolan. And neither of them did anything wrong.

“So what do I do now? I mean this is the exact reason why I left that life behind. Because even though you’re my family, it also means that everything I tried to avoid is catching up to me. And I don’t know how to handle that, Kev.”

“But you can’t run away anymore, Y/N. You have to face it. And maybe talking to him would do you good. You know, talking like adults. Civilized.” He meant well but you still felt like he was accusing you.

“Civilized? So I don’t know how to talk civilized?” There was disbelief in your voice. Was he serious?

“No, you do… It’s just that swearing at him and calling him names won’t get you anywhere. That’s all I’m saying.” He was right but you still hated to hear it. There was so much pent up emotion inside you, you had to get rid of it somehow.

“I know what you mean Kev. But I can’t just forgive him…”

“And I’m not asking you to. But I know that you want to know the reason and you won’t get an answer unless you talk to him. An I know he wants to talk to you…”

He was speaking softly, quietly asking you to speak to Travis. You were walking a fine line, you knew that. But you were also painfully aware of the fact that you wouldn’t get any better unless you started to face this. Face him. And your feelings towards him.  

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

Every turn Kevin made, made you feel more nauseous. The closer you got to him the more you felt like you couldn’t breathe.

“I don’t know if I can do this Kev.” Your voice felt weak, barely above a whisper.

Kevin quickly glanced over to you in the passenger seat. A worried look flashed over his face.

“Yes you can, Y/N. At least try okay? You agreed to meet him and if it gets to much, I’m gonna be waiting in the car, okay? And I’ll keep an eye on you.”

You felt yourself relax slightly. You were still nervous but knowing that Kevin was close by, put you slightly at ease. You had to do this. For you.  

Kevin parked the car in a parking space beside the sidewalk, only meters from the entrance to the park. You hadn’t been here in a while. You hadn’t been here many times anyway. A couple of times with Travis, when you were walking the dogs. It wasn’t your usual spot, which was exactly the reason why you choose it. It didn’t hold any particular memories that could hurt you. You barely even remembered what this park looked like. Kevin pulled you out of your thoughts as he put his hand on your shoulder.

“Y/N. You can do this. And I’m here, okay?” You could feel him squeeze your shoulder as you slowly nodded and got out of the car.

You saw him as soon as you walked through the entrance of the park. He had his back to you and you couldn’t see his face but you would always recognize his silhouette. You felt your heart get heavy. You started to walk towards him, fighting all the urges to turn around and run away from him as fast as you could. He hadn’t noticed you, so you could still pull out. But once you got within a 10 feet he must have heard your footsteps. He wiped around quickly and you were left wondering how this movement didn’t give him whiplash.

“Y/N. You came.” His voice was quiet and he send you a quick smile. It didn’t reach his eyes though, they were filled with sorrow. His sad smile made your heart ache.

You looked at him. For the first time in almost 2.5 years you really looked at him. You almost felt yourself taken aback at the dark rings underneath his eyes. He looked tired, exhausted even and completely worn out. In a way he looked almost the same than he used to. But in some way he also looked like a completely different person. The radiance, the light that he used to give off seemingly had vanished. His bubbliness seemed to have made space for something darker. He looked hollow, almost as if the Travis standing in front of you was a ghost of the man he used to be. To a stranger he probably would have looked completely normal. Physically he hadn’t really changed that much, but all those little things that made Travis Travis weren’t there anymore.

He had noticed your shocked expression as well as you gave him a one over.

“I look like shit, huh?” He was trying to lighten the mood, but if anything it made it worse.

“No no, you just look… different.” You knew he didn’t buy your lie, but you didn’t feel like pity him so you did what you did so well. Turn defensive.

“So your girlfriend let you go and talk to me?” Travis scoffed at your words.

“She’s not my girlfriend. And you don’t have to worry about her, you won’t see her around again.”

“I still shouldn’t have called her a puckbunny. That was low.” You genuinely felt sorry about it. Even if she was one of those girls, calling her out in front of the entire team wasn’t your proudest moment.

Travis chuckled slightly. “Nah, it’s fine.” His expression turned serious again, almost sour. “You and Hayesy, huh?”

At first you didn’t even understand what he meant. It took you a moment to regain your composure.

“What? No, we’re friends. Same as we’ve always been. Nothing more.”

At first he looked sceptical but slowly he seemed to relax. Which then sparked anger inside of you.

“It shouldn’t really be any of your concern though, I mean what do you care? You left me.”

Your emotions were bubbling inside of you. And as hard as you tried tears were scarily close to spill as you tried to choke back your pain.

He groaned loudly. “I know. I fucked up. I made a mistake. And I’m so sorry for doing this to you, Y/N.”

This was too much for you. You couldn’t hold back your emotions anymore. Tears were rolling down your cheeks.

“You just left and I’ve never heard of you since. Not even a single word. Nothing.”

“That’s not true, Y/N. I reached out to you. Afterwards. But it was too late. When I came back to our house the first time after that day, you were gone. Every trace of you had vanished. An I tried to call, but I could never get through to you. And eventually I had to accept that I lost you.”

“Don’t put this on me! What did you expect Travis? That I’d wait around in our house hoping that maybe one day you’d return? That maybe it was all just some sick joke? You left me standing on our wedding day and you don’t get to blame me for trying to pick myself up again and start fresh.”

He stayed silent for a while. The guilt seemed to consume him. He abandoned the most important thing in his life and he knew that you had every right to hate him. He had no right to ask you for forgiveness and he knew that. But that didn’t meant that he wouldn’t at least try to mend the things he broke. You could hear him inhale sharply.

“I know that I hurt you. I fucked up, big time. And I’m painfully aware of it.” Even a complete stranger would have been able to identify the pained expression on Travis’ face. He was being completely honest with you. Not that it mattered though.

“Yeah, you did. You broke me Travis, you realise that, right?” He felt like someone shot a dagger through his heart. He knew he hurt you. Badly. But hearing you say it made it real. He would never be able to forgive himself. And you wouldn’t either, Travis was sure of that.

“I know Y/N, just tell me what I can do to make it better. Please, Y/N! I want to fix this. Fix us.”

He had tears in his eyes. You could see that he wanted to touch you, hug you, comfort you but he also knew that it wasn’t his place to do so anymore. It killed you to see him like that. So broken. How ironic. Both of you broken beyond repair.

“You can’t, Travis. This isn’t something you can fix.” You paused, thinking over your next words.

“You know I wish there was a evident reason, one that I knew back then. That you had some mistress, stopped loving me or something. But… I thought everything was fine. I thought we were great. I had no indication that something went wrong between us and I think this is why it hurts so much. One day everything seemed great and the next… everything was completely shattered.”

You could feel tears welling up in your eyes. Quickly you turned around. You couldn’t do this. Standing across from him, talking to him, hearing his voice. All it did was remind you of the pain he put you through.

“I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”  He tried to reach out to you, catch your arms but you slipped out of his grip before he could get any closer. “Y/N!” But his pleads fell onto deaf ears. You’d already turned your back to him and were walking away as you heard him speak up again. It was quiet but you could hear it clear as day.

“I still love you Y/N! You have to know that. And I will never stop loving you, even if you hate me now.”

A quiet sob escaped your lips. This is why you wanted to stay as far away from his as possible. Nobody was able to hurt you like he did, even if he didn’t intent to. So you kept on walking.

When Travis left the park he caught a glimpse of you, sitting in Kevin’s car, seemingly hugging him. And although he knew that you had been honest with him when he asked you about Kevin, he couldn’t help but feel jealous. Jealous that someone else was the one comforting you now, when it used to be him who held you when you felt like you were falling apart. Jealous that someone else got to go to a Halloween party with you and dress up in stupid costumes. Jealous that someone else got to see you smile now.

Because this should have been him.

 -----------

You were sitting on Nolan’s couch, trying to figure out how your life slipped from you, when you thought you had everything. You tried not to think back to that day, but every time you thought about Travis the memories just kept resurfacing. You couldn’t get his face off your mind, it almost seemed like his image had burned itself into your memory.

Someone ringing the doorbell ripped you from your thoughts.

“Are you expecting anyone?” He didn’t answer, he just gave you a quick headshake before making his way to the door. You didn’t want to eavesdrop but your curiosity took over. You felt yourself freeze as you recognized the voice at the door.

“I need to talk to you, Pat.” There was urgency in his voice, he sounded almost desperate.

You could Nolan calmly reply: “Now is not a good time, Travis.”

“But it’s important. Please.” It really must have been important, considering that Travis didn’t usually begged for someone’s attention like that.

“I.. I can’t, Teeks, I’m busy.“ You couldn’t see Nolan’s face but you could sense the uneasiness in his voice. And of course Travis had picked up on it to.

“You’re busy?... She’s here, isn’t she?” You couldn’t hear Nolan’s answer but the commotion coming from the hallway pretty much gave away that Travis knew that you were here. You could hear Nolan and Travis speaking over each other and moments later you could hear footsteps coming down the Hall. You could hear Nolan telling Travis that he needed to leave.

“I have to talk to her.” With that he appeared in the living room. “Y/N.” It was more breathed over his lips than actually spoken and it instantly send shivers down your spine.

“What are you doing here Travis?” You felt so little, sitting curled up on Nolan’s couch while he was standing in the entry of the living room.  

“Can we talk? Again?” He seemed surprisingly calm. He was wearing a snapback and that yellow hoodie that you used to love so much. He used to radiate almost as much brightness as his hoodie, but now he constantly seemed as if someone dimmed his light. He looked tired, just as the other day.

“We have talked.” You tired to be as cold as possible, trying to shield you from the emotions that were rising inside of you.

“Yeah, and you ran away.” You sucked in air, trying to interject before he spoke up again but you came up empty.

“Please Y/N. And if you feel like it’s too much or you want me to leave I’ll leave, just let me at least try to explain.”

You wouldn’t get rid off him that quickly, so you took a deep breath before nodding.

You led him out of the living room towards Nolan’s bedroom. As much as you wanted Nolan by your side you knew that you needed to have this conversation in private.

Once the door was closed you looked at Travis expectantly. He seemed to be fighting for words.

“So? You wanted to talk. So talk.” You were being cold but you didn’t feel like standing in a room with Travis while the both off you stared at each other in silence. As if there wasn’t already enough tension between the two of you when you spoke.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. I-“ You interrupted him. Was he really doing this again?

“Yeah, you already said that.” You crossed your arms over your chest.

“And I mean it. And you need to know that. I know that I hurt you. Badly. And there’s nothing that I regret more than walking away that day. I made a mistake and I ruined my life with it. And there’s not a day in my life where I don’t wish I could undo what I’ve done.”

“Well, you can’t Travis! Did they tell you that I tried to come after you? That I tried to track you down? Tried to find you and change your mind? Only to find out that you had packed a bag and already left the country? And then you flew to..”

Your voice broke, your eyes were teary and you felt like you could barely breathe. The guilt on his face made you feel nauseous.

“Why?! Why Travis, just tell me why you did it?” You sounded raspy, you barely recognized your own voice.

“You know why, Y/N.” “No, I don’t! You never bothered to tell me. YOU JUST LEFT, without a word!”

He took a step back in surprise, certainly not expecting this outburst from you.

“You read the letter, I didn’t know how to tell you in person.”

A humourless laugh came from your lips.

“I never read the letter. I burned it.” Your entire body was trembling now. You weren’t sure why though. Maybe you were nervous, anxious even or maybe it was the anger inside of you.  

“You.. burned… the letter.” He was in such shock at your words he nearly seemed to swallow his own tongue. He stood frozen, unable to move even a single muscle. This was the last thing he expected you to admit to him.  

“I just… I don’t get it, Travis! What have I ever done to you to deserve this? What did I do to you to have a reason to leave me standing at the altar?” Your voice softened, ”What happened, Trav?”

He looked like a fish out of water. He was still fighting for words, closing and opening his mouth. If you weren’t so hurt and angry you could have laughed at his expressions.

“I.. I don’t know Y/N. I just couldn’t do it.”

Anger started to rise up in your chest. God, you wanted to punch him. He’d always been a bad liar, you could smell his lies miles away.

“That’s bullshit Travis! We both know that, so stop lying to my face. You know how much I hate lying. You were able to write it in a letter but you can’t say it to my face?!” You tried to calm yourself. Take some deep breaths and steady your breathing. To no luck. Even Travis could see your trembling hands. You let out a shaky breath and kept going: “Was there someone else? Is that it?”

Your jaw clenches at that thought, you really didn’t think that Travis would ever cheat but who knows. You also didn���t think he would leave you on your wedding day but here you where.  Apparently you didn’t knew him as well as you thought you did. He seemed absolutely frozen for a moment, too shocked at your accusation to answer. But his hesitation was leaving a bitter taste in your mouth.

“No, Y/N! That’s not the reason-” “So what is it then? God Travis, just tell me. What on earth could have possibly been a reason to break off our engagement? Our relationship. Years spent together and without a warning you left.” You felt yourself starting to crack, a lump started to form in your throat and you knew that you would break soon enough. “ Did you just suddenly, one day to the next, stop loving me? Did you fall out of love? Was I just not good enough for you? What happened, Travis? Why did you leave me?” You weren’t even gonna try to hold back the tears streaming down your face. You just let them all out, sobs racked your body. The anger had left your body now and made way for the endless pain you felt when thinking about that day. You completely broke down in front of him

“Y/N…”

He knew that there was nothing he could say that would ease your pain. The damage was already done. You could feel Travis trying to reach out to you, but you pushed him away. You couldn’t see the expression on him face but if you did, you’d seen the agony that mirrored yours. When you let out a sorrowful quiet cry, he couldn’t compose himself anymore. He couldn’t watch you being in this much pain. He’d never hated himself more than in this moment. He knew that he was the reason for all this pain. So he fled the room.

Nolan stormed into the room only seconds later. Wrapping his body around his, as if he was trying to keep all the broken pieces together. And for what felt like eternity he just held you like that, at least you knew that he wasn’t going to let go of you.

“I think there was someone else, Nolan.” You broke the silence first, knowing that Nolan would give you as much time as you needed. The confused look Nolan gave you now, told you that he wasn’t exactly following what you were saying.

“That’s why he left. There was someone else. That-“ Nolan interrupted you before you could get another word out.

“This can’t be. Someone would have known. He would have told someone by now. I mean, did he admit that there was someone else?”

“Not technically, but he kinda hesitated when I brought it up. And he also didn’t actively deny it, so..”

Your voice started to cut out and you could feel the lump in your throat form. You were so sure of it now that you thought about it. His hesitation, the way he deflected the question. This had to be the reason. There was nothing else that could have been the reason.

“There was someone else, I just know it.”

Part 4 

[1dfangirls35]

Voir Dire- N.H.

A fake dating OU about contracts, soulmates, and risking it all for love.

Story Masterlist // Talk to me 

nine

Niall's way of proving his innocence came in the form of a large white envelope with two tickets to his performance at The Late Late Show with James Corden and a handwritten note inside.

Kelsey didn't open it at first, instead letting the white parchment sit burning a hole on the kitchen counter for twenty-four hours. She was still angry, she was still hurt, and she doubted anything could make the pain she was feeling disappear. 

Becca had told Kelsey about Niall's proclamation. And of course Kelsey wanted to believe it. Of course she wanted to think that this had all been a misunderstanding, and that maybe she hadn't been screwed over by a guy yet again. But the thing of it was, Niall's story seemed eerily similar to the plot of a poorly written romantic comedy. Even the weakest of skeptics would have a hard time believing Niall- and Kelsey was far from a weak skeptic.

But against all odds, something kept drawing Kelsey back to that piece of paper and its scribbled black script that was smeared slightly from Niall's left-handed strokes. She was once again holding it as Becca returned from work, chewing the nails of her free hand nervously.

"Have you made a decision yet?" Becca asked, sliding onto the loveseat across from Kelsey.

Kelsey shook her head, "It's probably not a good idea."

"Maybe not," Becca sighed, flicking her legs over the armrest of the couch. "But you have to admit you are curious. I mean you wouldn't be staring at that piece of paper if a part of you didn't want to hear his side of the story."

Kelsey let out a deep guttural sigh. "Why am I even considering it? We both know I have somewhat of a track record of getting screwed over."

"But in your track record of getting screwed over has a guy ever made the gestures Niall has to try and explain himself?" Becca argued. "Listen, Kels," she began again, sitting up and leaning forward so her eyes meet Kelsey's. "Staring at this piece of paper isn't going to make a decision for you, and quite honestly, the fact that you've been staring at that for two days straight goes to show me that you aren't quite ready to write Niall out of your life just yet. So what about this? You and I have been dying to go to a filming of The Late Late Show anyways. So we dress to the nines, we use those damn tickets, and then when we are there and you see him, you make the decision if you want to talk to him or not. If you do, that's great and if not, and you think he deserves a big old tomato on the stage instead, I'll be practicing my aim."

Kelsey let out a small chuckle at her friends comment. Becca was right though. Because as much as Kelsey tried to convince herself that this was just another man ripping apart her heart, a piece of her believed that Niall was telling the truth. She glanced down at Niall's scribbles again, running her fingers across the ink as if it would give her one final piece of information. Then, Kelsey set the envelope down on the coffee table in front of her and looked at Becca.

"Okay, we'll go."

********************

The second Kelsey stepped into the studio for the filming of The Late Late Show with James Corden, she began to wonder if this had been a huge mistake. Becca seemingly read her mind, putting a hand on her shoulder and guiding her towards their seats.

"Just say the words and we are gone," Becca whispered into Kelsey's ear as they took their seats.

Niall's tickets came with very specific instructions. After the show they were to make their way to the backstage manager and say that they were guests of Krystal. The idea of using the very person that may have ruined her relationship with Niall gave Kelsey a vile taste in the back of her throat, but if she wanted to talk to Niall, that would have to be her way in.

When Niall first appeared on stage, the crowd went wild. Well, the crowd went wild except for two girls sitting in the middle, politely clapping with a scowl on their faces. Becca had wanted to let out a dramatic boo, just to shake things up, but Kelsey had urged her not to. Mostly because she didn't want to draw attention to themselves and not because she didn't think Niall deserved it.  

Kelsey nearly forgot how captivating Niall could be at first glance. With tight navy pants and a white fitted T-shirt and navy blazer, her heart took a few more beats. Even from a distance she watched as his smile lit up the room. But then she'd think about the girl that was likely standing backstage, the girl that he never even mentioned, and the small fire inside of her would be reignited.

The show goes by quickly. Niall was his usually charming self, sending even more doubts through Kelsey's mind that maybe she simply had fallen under his spell. But, no matter how strong the urge to get out of her seats and make a run for it was, Kelsey somehow stays seated.

It's during his musical performance that she noticed that he was scanning the crowd. But with the bright lights for filming and the lack of lighting elsewhere, Kelsey doubted that Niall could even pick out her face.

Becca noticed too. "Well, someone's looking for you."

Kelsey doesn't stay anything, instead she watched as Niall's energy filled the room. The sound of his deep brooding voice entering her ears and sending shivers down her spine. She didn't want to move her body to the beat of his music, but she couldn't help it, the rhythm was hypnotic.  When Niall finished his performance, the crowd cheered and Kelsey knew she had a decision to make; go backstage and find out what all this fake girlfriend business was all about or leave now and only see Niall on the TV screen from now on. Becca didn't say anything, instead staring at her best friend's face as if she was trying to read her mind. Kelsey brought her index finger up to her teeth, gnawing on the edges of her fingernails as if somehow that was going to help her come to a decision. But Kelsey knew what decision she wanted to make already. The decision had been made the second she laid eyes on Niall again tonight. The question really was did she want to go through with it?

"Okay," Kelsey said softly. The crowds from the show beginning to make their way to the exit. "Let's hear him out."

Kelsey and Becca are surprised at the ease of which they get backstage. They showed the backstage manager their passes, told them they are with Krystal and are quickly led back towards a dressing room. 

It's her they see first. Kelsey can tell it's her even from a yard away. Her long blonde hair was stick straight behind her back. Her long legs accentuated by the tight black mini dress she wears. Kelsey wondered what she knows. 

"Your guests," the man said, grabbing Krystal's attention. Kelsey watched as Krystal's eyes followed Kelsey from head to toe, no doubt examining her competition. She gives Kelsey a half-baked smile, the kind you give when you feel obligated to but don't really want to. The kind you can see right through. 

Then he appeared, coming around the corner with his band. His conversation loud and rambunctious until he sees her. He instantly fell quiet.

Niall was surprised to see her. He didn't think she'd show. He'd hoped she would but he didn't think she would. He didn't deserve for her to show. Not when he had let her find out about Krystal from a tabloid.

The tickets were his Hail Mary. A last ditch effort in trying to mend a relationship that in just a short amount of time had come to mean a lot to him. He'd even begrudgingly involved Krystal in the whole scheme, trying to avoid any possible slip-ups of his secret.

He couldn't read her face as he approached. Her usual smile was gone, but it wasn't replaced with a face of anger. Instead, her lips formed a straight, emotionless line. He wasn't sure where he was going to start. He didn't know how he was going to explain this.  

"You came," he said as she approached him, their eyes meeting for the first time in weeks. Niall's heart fluttered at the sight of her, and though he knew she likely wasn't happy with him the fact that she was even here in the first place gave him some glimmer of hope.

"I did," Kelsey replied, keeping her face neutral.

They stared at each other for a moment, locked in a stand off. Neither wanting to start the conversation or sure of what words to say.

Niall broke the silence first, his voice laced with a hint of nervousness. "Will you come with me? I have some explaining to do."

Kelsey nodded and followed Niall's lead. He brought her to his dressing room, his name printed boldly on the door. Inside, Niall took a seat on a long black leather couch. Kelsey awkwardly seated herself opposite of him, careful to leave a safe amount of distance between them lest she be tempted by his irresistible smell.

"I'm glad you came. To hear me out." Niall said slowly, wringing his hands in his lap. He was careful not to let his eyes linger on her face for too long, lest she might disappear in front of his eyes.

When Kelsey doesn't reply right away Niall continued. "I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision for you to make."

Kelsey sighed, her face breaking from its neutral mask for a moment. "No, it wasn't."

Niall saw the pain flash across Kelsey's face. He knew he hurt her, and he wasn't the first to do so. He couldn't undo the hurt, he couldn't take away that pain or that broken trust. But he could try to make it right. He took a deep breath. "I never wanted you to find out like that, from the paps. I should have told you the second we took things further than friends. And Kelsey, you've got to believe me I wanted to tell you, but things were so good and uncomplicated And well- my life is complicated."

"So the girl from the music video?" Kelsey asked, her mind picturing the girl standing just a few feet outside the dressing room door, the one that Becca is likely having to make painful small talk with right now.

"That's Krystal. And in the eyes of the public and the media, she's my..." Niall hesitated, because saying the words outloud to Kelsey somehow made him feel more ashamed of the plot he was part of. "She's my girlfriend."

"But she's not really your girlfriend?" Kelsey's voice grows slightly more interrogative. Niall can see the distaste in her mouth as she says the word girlfriend, as if the word is poison to her lips. 

"No...she's an actress, hired by my management....it's..Do you want a drink?" Niall stood suddenly, running his now sweaty palms down the front of his trousers. He bounced around the room in an effort to combat the awkwardness that had befallen them. He needed something, anything to make this go down smoother.

"I think that'd be good," Kelsey replied, and for the first time since he's laid eyes on her tonight, Niall swore he can see the beginnings of a smile.

The only thing stocked in the dressing room mini fridge is a bottle of Jameson whiskey. Niall finds two glasses and sets them on the coffee table in front of them. Pouring out two large glasses, before bringing the stiff liquid to his lips and down his throat.

"The thing about the entertainment industry, is it's all about appearances. Who you are seen with, who you are wearing, who you are marketing yourself as. Before each album release, the record label sits down and tells me what kind of promo I will have to do, and what kind of image they want to sell. And so this year when I sat down they told me, 'Niall, this album is all about love, so this year you are going to be a man in love.' " Niall laughed to himself at the memory, at the pure irony that in assigning him someone to love he may have just ruined his chances with someone who he actually could love.

"I didn't want it. I've always prided myself on being honest and open with my fans, and everyone in my life. I'm a what you see is what you get kinda man. But then they sat my contract in front of me, and I didn't have a choice."

"But it's your music Niall, how can you not have a choice?" Kelsey interrupted. She sees where his going with this. That this was all some plot to promote his music. But was he really just a puppet to the record label?

Niall could tell Kelsey still didn't understand the gravity of the situation. The consequences it would have had on his career had he say no. He looked her straight in the eyes. "These are powerful people Kelsey. You can't just screw off one part of the music industry, they're all connected in someway or another. And I love my music, I love making music. And so I figured this one small sacrifice in my character wouldn't matter in the long run. And so they hired Krystal."

Kelsey didn't say anything, instead swirling the whiskey in her glass and watching it stick to the edges.

"What I didn't expect to do was meet you Kelsey." Niall's voice softened.

Kelsey sets down her glass on the table. "But why didn't you tell me Niall. If this is all for show why didn't you just warn me?" Her voice raised. Because this is really all what it came down to wasn't it. It wasn't that it mattered if Niall was in some PR relationship, it wasn't that he had not stood up to his label, it was the fact that he didn't even given her the smallest of warnings that there was something more complicated going on.

"I wanted to tell you. I just didn't know how." Niall trailed off. He thinks of all the times the words almost slipped off of his tongue, all the excuses that he'd given himself as to why it hadn't been the right time. And look where it had gotten him.

"And I guess a part of me was worried that when I told you you'd bolt. These people, my management, they aren't people to mess with. Make them angry and they can do some damage. I wanted to protect you from that. I didn't want to drag you into my lifestyle anymore than I already have."

"That wasn't for you to decide Niall."

"I see that now and I'm sorry." Niall's eyes pleaded with Kelsey, regret entwined within the blue irises. Niall looked at Kelsey, the girl who somehow captivated him in every way. The girl who he couldn't keep his mind off of. The girl who he may have slowly been falling for. He didn't want to lose her. He didn't want to give this up. 

"Can we start this over maybe? This time without all the secrets?"

Kelsey bit her lip. She believed Niall she really did. And she liked him, oh man did she like him. But was it worth all the stress? All the sneaking around? All the possible consequences should someone find out?

"I know I've broken your trust. And I know you've been hurt in the past. So it doesn't have to be today, or tomorrow or even next week. But I'd like to start fresh," Niall continued.

Kelsey took a deep breath in. Maybe starting from the beginning wouldn't be such a bad thing. Maybe that's what they needed. No clubs and taxis and one night stands. A new beginning where everything was on the table. "Okay."

Kelsey watched as relief flooded Niall's face.

"I'm Niall," he said suddenly, holding out a hand for her to shake. She laughs at the formality of it, because even on that first night in the bar she wasn't sure they'd been formally introduced.

"Kelsey," her hand met Niall's and she felt that familiar spark from his touch.

"Nice to meet ya Kelsey. Can I treat ya to a drink?" Niall asked with a wink.

Tags: @awomanindeniall @ihearthemcallingforyou @niall-is-my-dream

*********************************

A/N:Thank you so much for reading Voir Dire! I know its been a while since I've updated and I'm just going to warn you that from now on I'm not sure how regular my updates will be, as I'm about to start clinical rotations...eek. I appreciate your patience, and hope I can continue telling Niall and Kelsey's story soon!