#Golf Towel Drill

[delayed-affection]

Chapter one

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"We’re the Pogues, and our mission this summer is to have a good time, all the time." A boy narrates

•

The boy stands at the top of a house, dangling his foot off.

"That's what, a three story fall to the deck?" Boy 2 theorizes from below, "I give you about a one in three chance of survival."

He hums sticking his finger in the air, "Should I do it?"

"Yeah, you should jump. I'll shoot you on the way down." He says pointing a power drill at him.

"You'll shoot me?" He asks making a gun with his hand, "Pew!"

A girl walks out from the unfinished house, "They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers."

"Of course they are. Why wouldn't they?" Boy 3 asks

"This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about the turtles, I guess?" She complains

"I can't have cold towels." Boy 3 replies

She looks up to wear he sits, "Can you please not kill yourself?"

"Don't spill that beer. I'm not giving you another one." Girl 2 pipes up as she watches boy 1.

Boy 1 continues to mess around, "Whoa! Oh, shit."

His can falls from his hand and onto the floor.

"Of course you did, right after I told you I wasn't going to give you a new one." Girl 2 quips

"Smooth." Girl 1 says

Boy 1 groans, looking down at his now empty can.

"A plus." Boy 3 tells him

"Dumbass." Girl 1 insults

Boy 2 looks over to the driveway, right where an officer stands.

"Hey!" The officer shouts

Boy 2 turns back to his friends, "Hey, uh, security's here. Let's wrap it up."

"Boys are here early today." Boy 1 states

"Humpty Dumpty, let's roll!" Boy 2 exclaims

Boy 3 rolls over from his spot while Boy 1 climbs down from his. Girl 2 follows Boy 2 to the back door.

Girl 1 smiles, "Let's go, boys."

"Gary is that you?" Boy 3 shouts

"Come on quite it." Boy 2 says

"Hey, what are you doing?" The officer questions

"Gary, good to see you, man!" Boy 3 yells

"JJ!" The officer screams

"You're asking for it." Girl 1 laughs

The group of teens laugh and holler as they run through the house, weaving through the construction equipment.

JJ slips in front of the officer but is quick to get up, running the other way with the others.

"Get 'em! They're comin' your way!" The officer calls out

JJ gets caught up with another officer who grabs him, "I got him!"

He slips from his grasps and takes off, "Not much of a hugger man!"

"Go, Pope! Go! Go, go, go, go, go, go!" He tells him as they hop the fence.

Pope drops the floor face first and groans.

JJ laughs, "Get up, Pope, fatso's coming."

On queue the officers face pops up over the fence, "Hey! Come here, you little pricks!"

Pope jumps up and races towards the honking van.

Boy 1 continues to honk, "Bus is leaving!"

Girl 1 sticks her head out the passenger window, "Come on, boys! Whoo!"

Girl 2 holds open the sliding door, "Jeez! Could you be any slower?"

Pope is the last to jump in and Boy 1 drives off.

Officer Gary chases after them on foot, "Hey, hey! Hey! Hey!"

Pope laughs at him, "Check out Gary, gunnin' for a raise."

JJ switches places with Girl 2 by the door, "Come on, Gary! Wait. Slow down."

"Hey! You little pricks!" Gary yells

"Stop guys. You're gonna give him a heart attack." Girl 1 scolds

JJ hangs out the door with a beer in his hand, extending it him, "You're so close! You can do it. There you go."

He toss the can at him making him stop in his tracks.

JJ groans, "They don't pay you enough, bro."

Girl 2 pulls him back into the van, "JJ, stop."

He giggles, "Oh, come on. That sort of stuff is just begging to be punished."

•

Boy 1 continues his narration, "The Outer Banks, Paradise on Earth. It's the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes, one island."

•

The teens are quick to move on from their situation, now laughing and talking about whatever comes to mind.

Boy 1 watches as they pass well kept houses, expensive boats, and an opened field that is only used for golfing.

•

"All right. This is Figure Eight, the rich side of the island. Home of the Kooks. So, guess where we don't live."

•

Turning onto a different part of the island, the scenery changes. The houses aren't as big and well kept. No golf courses or yachts are seen.

•

"And then, this is the south side or the cut. Home of the working class who make a living busing tables, washing yachts, running charters. The natural habitat of... drumroll, please... the Pogues. That's us."

"Pogues, pogies, the throw away fish. Lowest member of the food chain. Okay. So, the down side of the Pogue life is we're ignored and neglected. But the upside of Pogue life? We're ignored and neglected, which means we do whatever we want, whenever we want."

•

They all sit on a boat doing their own thing, Boy 1 pulls up a net and drops the fish inside onto the deck.

"Nice haul, dude. Look at that." JJ compliments

Girl 1 scoots back from the fish in front of her, "Ugh, John B."

"Been all bait for, like, three weeks." JJ informs

John B picks up a fish and throws it at him.

"Gross." He laughs

•

"Well I guess it's time for introductions."

•

JJ stands inside the wheelhouse steering the boat.

•

"That's JJ, my best friend since the third grade. He's about as local as the come. Latest in a long line of fishing, drinking, smuggling, vendetta holding salt lifers who made their living off the water. Best surfer I know. Just don't tell him I said that. Mild kleptomaniac and future tax cheat."

•

Girl 1 sits by a bonfire talking to someone about micro plastics.

•

"And that's Kiara, or Kie, as we call her. When not saving turtles or listening to Marley, or getting a dolphin tattoo, she hangs out with us. I'm not really sure why, though. So, she's a rich kid, actually. Foot in both world. Her family owns The Wreck, this Outer Banks institution. Total cash cow with the tourist. You know, I'm not really sure how her parent feel about us. I guess we all sort of have a thing for her."

•

Pope sits on the boat smiling at his friends.

•

"That's Pope, the brains of the operation... finalist for the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship. And the smartest person I know. Little bit of a weirdo. His father is this legend charter, Heyward. Anything you wanted on the island, Heyward could get for you. Now, I'm not sure Heyward knew what to make of his oddball son, but it didn't matter. He was a Pogue, just like the rest of us."

•

Girl 2 sits at the edge of the boat, letting her feet sit in the water.

•

"That one right there is Y/n, the living definition of an angel, way too pretty and nice for her own good.  She spends most of her time helping Pope and his dad with work or shredding waves with JJ. She, like Kie, is a Kook, well half a Kook. Her mom is a Pogue and her dad is a Kook, she is a baby of an affair. Her parents love her more than anything, never seen such good coparenting."

•

The group stands together watching the sunset on the water.

•

"That's my crew."

•

John B flushes the toilet and wonders around his house.

•

"And that's me, John Booker Routledge. And this is where I live. An old fish shack on the marsh. The Château, as my dad used to call it."

•

He hangs up a picture of him and his dad.

•

"There's Dad. He disappeared at sea nine months ago, looking for a shipwreck. Who disappears at sea these days? I miss him. And then there's Mom. She split when I was three. Last I heard, she was in Colorado. I think it was Colorado."

•

He taps a picture with the top of his bottle, "Uncle T!"

•

"That's Uncle T. Since Dad's vanished, he's supposedly my legal guardian. At the moment, he's in Mississippi, building houses...which means it's just me right now, hanging out with my friends. Three months after my dad was missing, he was officially presumed dead. I refused to sign the papers. Until I see a body, I'm not giving up."

•

"John it has come to our attention that you are an unemancipated minor living on your own." A woman sighs sitting across from him.

He scoffs, "No... No. No."

"John, I need honesty to help you. That's what we want, right?" She asks

"Yeah. I'm being honest." He answers

"Okay, then when is the last time you spoke to your uncle?" She questions

He looks down at his wrist, "Uh... 34 minutes ago."

"Last time you saw him?" She asks

"Two hours and... 43 minutes ago?" He claims

She looks up from her papers, "John, we're gonna come out there tomorrow to talk to your uncle. If he's not there, we're gonna move forward with foster care. I want to assure you, we're gonna find you a safe and loving home."

•

"They actually thought I was gonna be happy to hear that. And that's we're this story starts. My dad missing, my uncle MIA, and the Bride of Frankenstein threatening foster care. But then I caught a break."

•

A reporter's commentary fills the crowded shop, "Hurricane Agatha continues its steady march towards Kildare island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina..."

•

"Hurricane Agatha, coming in the same day DCS was supposed to do my assessment."

•

He leaves the shop and stands out on a dock, alarms blaring, alerting people that the hurricane is close and coming head on.

Pulling out his phone he calls child services, "Yeah, uh... I think we're gonna have to reschedule."

•

Him, Y/n, and Pope race out in the storm, boards in hand, hoping to catch some killer waves.

"It's a double overhead out there, bro." Pope tells them

John B stops and looks out to the water, "Double overhead?"

Pope looks at them, "Those aren't surf-able waves, bro."

John B laughs, "Says who?"

Y/n runs ahead, "Only one way to find out!"

Soon they're all in the water, thunder clapping around them. The waves they don't ride take them under, other than that it's a fun time.

John B sits on the surf and something catches his eye, "What the hell?

It's a boat and it's getting thrashed around by the deeper waves. The storm gets stronger, making them go back home, only for the power to go out.

•

John B wakes up in his bed to the sound of chickens clucking and a rooster crowing. He sighs sitting up, grabbing his phone.

He turns off his phone "No service."

Getting up he tries the light switch, "No power. Great."

He walks into the living room, smacking his friend, "Yo, JJ, you been outside?"

JJ keeps his head in the cushions, "I have polio, bro. I can’t walk."

He pushes open the back door and takes in the damage.

He yawns, "Oh, man. That's no good. That's not good."

He walks around to the boat, "Oh, man."

JJ steps outside, "Agatha did some work, huh?"

"Yeah, she did." He replies

"Whatcha thinkin'?" He asks

He climbs in the boat, "I'm thinkin' that storm surge pushed all the crabs out in the marsh maze. All those drums are gonna chase the crab."

"What about the DCS? Wasn't that today?" He questions

"Nah, they're not gettin' on a ferry." He says cleaning out the boat, "Come on, think about it. It's god tellin' us to fish."

•

The boys set sail on the boat, dolphins trailing behind. They wave to other Pogues checking on what they have left.

"Hi, Miss Amy! You guys get through it?" John B asks a women in the dock.

"Still here." She answers

"She totally looked at me." JJ states as they drive away.

"I saw it." He confirms, "Dude look at this place."

He whistles, "Agatha, what did you do?"

"She is a crazy lady." He comments

"Hardcore dude." He replies, "Hurricane surge. We'll be cleaning this all summer."

"That is my nightmare." He claims

Pope stands at the end of a dock, "Well, look who we have here."

JJ whoops and hollers at him.

John B cups his hands around his mouth, "We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory."

"I can't. My pops got me on lockdown." Pope tells them

"Come on, man." He mimics static, "Your dad's a pussy. Over."

Mr. Heyward walks over, "Oh, I heard that, you little bastard."

"We need your son." John B confesses

"Yeah, and island rules. Day after a hurricane's a free day." JJ adds

"Who the hell made that up?" Mr. Heyward asks

"Uh... Pentagon, I think. We have security clearance. I have a card." He proclaims

"Y'all think I'm stupid?" He questions

"I'll do it tomorrow. I promise. Tomorrow." Pope says

"You think- No, no. Hell no. You doin' it right now." He demands

"Get in the boat." John B whispers to him as he slowly sails by.

"Make a run for it." JJ says not as quietly.

He father begins to threaten him, "Boy, if you get in that boat-"

Pope drops what's in his hands and jumps into the boat.

"Go, go, go." He tells John B

"Bring your ass back up here." He demands

"I promise I'll do it tomorrow, Dad." He swears as they pull off.

"When you get back you gonna clean shrimp. You gonna clean fish. You'll clean your dirty ass room!" He yells at him

"Sorry, Mr. Heyward!" John b shouts, "We'll bring him back in one piece."

"I don't like your friends!" He voices

•

Pulling up to another dock they meet Kie and Y/n.

JJ puts on an Irish accent, "Oh, top o' the mornin' ya."

"Good morning boys." Kie greets

"Morning." John B replies

"Pope was able to bless us with his presence today?" Y/n teases smiling down at the boy.

JJ smacks his shoulder, "Yeah but he's stuck cleaning for the rest of his life."

Pope rolls his eyes, "Whatcha got? You got some juice boxes?"

"You know, just some yogurts and carrot sticks." Kie answers

JJ helps them into the boat, "How about my kind of juice box?"

"Yeah." She assures

John B lowers his voice an octave, "Brace for impact."

•

A few drinks in a JJ is ready to have some fun, "Bet you can't do this. Let me show you a party trick."

"Terrifying." Kie states as he climbs past her to the bowsprit.

"Hey, Pope. Can you go a little faster?" He requests

"Oh, here we go. I'm movin'." John B announces moving behind pope.

Y/n follows him and joins him for a back row seat of the show.

"We've tried this like six thousand times." Pope says

"I got this. It's gonna work." JJ assures

Pope picks up the speed, JJ tilts the beer bottle towards his mouth. Hoping that the beer will fly out of the bottle and into his mouth.

Kie gets splashed with the liquid, "Oh, my god. You're getting beer in my hair!"

Pope holds his hand out for cover, "All right. All right!"

"All right, you're done." John b tells him

"All right, stop!" Pope shouts

The motor rattles and sends JJ flying off the boat into the water. Everyone else is sent tumbling forward in the boat.

"Jesus, Pope!" Kie scolds

JJ breaches the tops of the water and groans.

"You okay, JJ?" John b asks

"I think my heels touched the back of my head." He groans

"Kie, Y/n, you okay?" He asks

"I'm alright." Kie assures sitting up

"Same here." Y/n replies picking herself up

JJ swims back to the boat, "Pope, what did you do?"

"Sand bar. The channel changed." He answers

"No Shit." He spits

John B grunts, "Ugh, this is probably gonna mess this whole place up."

Pope stands where JJ once was, looking out at the water.

"Hey, I saved the beer, though." JJ gushes

"Congrats, JJ." He says

Pope squints his eyes at something, "Guys... I think there's a boat down there."

"Shut up. What?" John B replies

"No way." Kie dismisses

Y/n walks over to him, knowing the boy wouldn't lie about such a thing.

He points to the water, "No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's a boat down there. For real."

"What the fuck." Y/n marvels

"It's a boat!" He exclaims

"Holy shit, he's right. Let's go." Kie jabbers

She tugs y/n's arm and they both take off their shorts, leaving them in their bathing suits. The boys do the same with their shirts.

"You think there's a dead body down there?" Pope asks

No bothers to answer as the all jump into the water.

Pope sets down his shirt, "Guys, wait up!"

"Get your ass in here, Pope!" JJ yells

He cannon balls into the water, they all take a deep breath before swimming down. They take a quick look around before coming back up.

"Did you guys see that? You guys saw that right?" JJ gasps

"Yeah." They all answer

"That's a Grady White." He informs, "A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy. That's a primo rig."

They all climb back into the boat.

"Yeah. That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge." He confesses, "Maybe it hit the jetty or something."

"You surfed the surge?" Kie asks

"Yeah." He answers

JJ laughs, "That's my boy. Pogue style."

"What the heck?" She says

"Wait, wait. Do we know whose boat that is?" Pope questions

John B opens a hatch, "No, but we're about to find out."

"Dude, it's too deep."JJ states

"Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ." He replies

"Well, I'm not resuscitating you." He tells him, "I'm just making that clear up front."

John B picks up the anchor, "That's fine."

"John B." Kie voices

"What?" He chuckles

"Diver down, fool." Pope salutes

He salutes him back, "Diver down."

JJ pushes him into the water, "Yeah he is."

He lets the anchor carry him down, swimming over to the boat when he's low enough. He looks quickly, finding a key. Running out of air he makes his way back up.

His friends watch the water for any sign of him.

"Should we go get him?" Y/n worries

John B answers her question himself, popping back up to the surface.

"Oh, my god. That took forever!" Kie complains

"Any dead bodies?" Pope wonders

"Looting potential?" JJ asks

"No. No. I found this motel key." He answers dangling it from his finger.

"A key." Pope says

"Yes, a key, Pope." He confirms pulling himself back into the boat.

"Great! We salvaged a motel key." JJ quips

"Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard. Maybe we'll get a finders fee." Kie suggests on their way back.

"Yeah, and not work all summer. Thanks, Agatha, ya batch." JJ comments

•

"So you haven't seen him since?" A man asks

"Not since before the storm." A woman answers

"What did the police say?" He questions

"Well, they said I have to wait 24 hours before I can report anything but I know somethings up." She claims

"Nothing is wrong. You know, it's Scooter. He knows how to handle himself in a storm." He assures

"Well, when was the last time that you saw him?" She asks

"Uh, last time I saw him, he was prepping the Druthers with Sarah." He says walking into the house, "Sarah! You seen the princess?"

A woman on the staircase answers, "She's out back."

He watches as a light flickers, "Let there be generators."

"Thank god. It's like living in Nicaragua." The woman on the stairs nags.

The man leads the other woman out back, "Iy didn't fall near the house. It completely up rooted it. Oh look at this. Storm blew it right into the pool. Be careful with that. Rose is gonna kill me."

The pool cleaner freezes, "Yes, sir, Mr. Cameron."

He looks back at the woman, "I don't wanna know how much it cost."

A young girl pops up from the other side of the pool, "Dad, the Wi-Fi's not working. I can't post anything."

"Wheezie, there was a hurricane, sweetheart." He states "What is your sister doing?"

She looks over her shoulder, "Saving mice."

"I'm sorry. Sarah!" He calls

She continues to swat at seagulls, "I'm busy."

"What are you doing?" He asks walking over, the woman following.

"The burrows filled with water from the surge. The birds are having a field day." She replies chasing after the birds.

"The birds have to eat too, Sarah." He reminds

"No, it's a mouse genocide out here. No!" She groans

He sighs, "It's the cycle of life is what it is, sweetheart. Now, come on."

"I can't be apart of it. First they came for the mice, Daddy." She tells him

"Yeah, well, I have an actual human being that you might help." He says

The woman reaches her hand out, "Hi."

She rushes to take her hand, "I'm Sarah. I'm so sorry."

"This is Lana, Scooter's wife." He introduces, "Now, you were storm prepping with him, right?"

"Yeah. He helped me latch the cabin on the Druthers." She answers

"Last night?" He asks

"Yeah." She confirms

"Did he go out after that?" He questions

"From here?" She asks

"Yeah.” he replies

"No. Are you crazy? There was a hurricane." She reminds

"Well, did he say where he was going? Get a phone call or mention anything?" Lana wonders

"He didn't say anything to me." She affirms, "I'm so sorry. Is he okay?"

Mr. Cameron puts an arm around Lana, "He's absolutely okay. He's hunkered down somewhere, all right? We're gonna find him."

•

John B pushes his way through the crowded office, "Hey. Excuse me."

JJ squeezes through the other side, "Hey, man, we- we found a boat."

The officer ignores them, continuing his very loud conversation with the others.

John B tries again, "You're gonna wanna hear this."

The officer puts his hand in his face, "Hey! Calm down."

He gives up and pushes his way back out, JJ hot on his heel.

"Well that went well." Pope says, "So what's the plan?"

John B holds out the key, "I think I know how we're gonna find the guy who owns the boat."

"No, no. We don't know whose room that is. It could be anyone." Pope stammers

"I'm in." JJ chimes

"Come on. We'll be lookout." Kie says throwing her arm around y/n.

"It'll be better if you're there." Y/n tells him as they follow JJ.

John B pats his chest as he walks by, "Finders fee. Just sayin'. And, hey, at least you'll only be an accomplice."

"Man." He mumbles before following.

"Come on, bubba." John B beckons.

•

JJ whistles at the motel, "I thought the Château looked bad."

"This place is a shit show." John b comments

"Motel or meth lab?" Kie asks

"You be the judge." Pope replies

"This doesn't look like the type of place somebody with a Grady white would stay." Y/n voices

"No. It looks like a place someone with a Grady white would get killed." Pope says

JJ mimics a pilot, "This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' in for landing."

He whoops jumping off the boat onto land, trying it down.

"Is it good?" John B asks

He tightens the rope, "Yep."

John B huffs, "All right. Here goes nothin'."

"Hey." Pope calls, "Don't let him do anything stupid."

"Oh, we will." JJ replies

John B looks back at him before turning, "I'm not making promises."

"Yeah, I know." He grumbles

"Uh, be careful." Kie says handing him the key, "I mean it."

He chuckles with a sly smile, "Yeah. Let's go."

Y/n daps up JJ, "Don't have too much fun."

He puts his hand on his chest, "Me? Having fun? Never."

John B claps his shoulder and they walk off, "What are all these mattresses doing out here?"

"After a hurricane, they ditch 'em cause they're moldy." JJ answers

Up the stairs they draw closer to the room.

JJ grabs John Bs shoulders, "Just be so careful, John."

He pushes him off, "God, you're so weird."

"What was that about?" He asks

"I don't know." He shrugs, "Maybe she wants us to be careful."

"Since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's just been, like, 'Oh! Be so careful, John B'." He mimics her voices and rubs his shoulders.

He pulls away, "Get off."

He continues to tease, " 'Oh, give me that John D already.' When are you gonna swoop on that, man?"

"Bro, you know the rule. No Pogue on Pogue macking. Besides you're the one always hitting on her." He argues

"Of course, I'm always hitting on her. She's a super hot, rich, hippie chick slumming with us. The same goes for Y/n. Why they hang us? I can't figure it out either, but who cares, bro? I know that doors locked because I've tried it. Have you?" He explains

"You need help. Not a little help, you need a lot of help." He tells him, "It's like every girl who just has a heartbeat, you're like... 'Uhh'!"

"What? It's not a big deal." He states

John B stops, "This is it."

JJ does a rhythmic knock on the door, "Housekeeping." No answer, "No power. No security cameras. No one's gonna know."

John B huffs open the door, "Huh, okay. Check the bag. See if there's a name on there or something."

Closing the door behind them, they begin to raid the room.

"No name on the jacket." JJ informs, "It's a nice jacket, though."

John B picks up a shoe, "Definitely over 50. He's got New Balances."

JJ finds bunch of papers, "Yo, dude, come here. Maybe this is where they were fishing."

He rushes over, "Let me see."

He points to the map, "Right there."

"No, that's off the continental shelf. That's Big Swell. Nobody fishes there." He replies pulling out a note.

They move on, JJ flashes his light around and puts on a posh accent, "Coffee? Standard. Tissues for when you get lonely... Ooh!"

"Did you find anything?" He asks

"Really awesome Dopp kit you won't let me steal." He answers rummaging through the bag and putting something in his pocket.

"Yeah, cause we're not stealing shit." He replies pushing numbers into the safe.

•

Down in the boat the three are playing 21 questions.

"Biggest pet peeve? Easy. Giving one percent to the environment." Kie tells them

"What's wrong with that?" Pope asks

"We only have one Earth, Pope." She reminds, "We should be giving it 100% bare minimum."

"Right. That's not fiscally sound." He says

"Neither is destroying the planet we have to live on." She argues

Y/n suddenly sits up straight, alerting the others, "Shit, cops are here."

They quietly move off of the boat.

"Call them." Pope commands

"We can't. The towers are down." Kie replies

"If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm gonna kill someone." He complains

They hide behind the fallen motel sign, watching the officers.

"Maybe they're not going up." He suggests

"He's pointing. He's pointing." Kie says

"They're going up." Y/n whispers

•

Back upstairs John B is still trying to get into the safe.

"Punching shit at random. That will... definitely work." JJ nags

John B walks over to the papers, "Wait a second. Here." He picks up the note.

"I don't know." JJ mutters looking at the map, "I don't know about the second one. These coordinates, they... Wait. My cousin said you could catch swordfish here."

John B ignores him, going back to the safe and putting in the numbers he reads off the paper. It's the code, he opens it to find stacks of cash and a gun.

He picks up a stack, "Uh... JJ? You're gonna want to see this."

•

The officers make their way up the stairs and the friends run to the side of the building.

"Okay, do something. Do something." Kie orders

Pope picks up a rock and confidently tells them, "Stand back."

Kie and Y/n move to the side, "Okay. You got it."

He tosses the rock and it probably goes ten feet in air before falling in front of them.

"Didn't you ever play baseball?" Kie asks, "Dude!"

Y/n stifles a laugh and picks up some rocks.

Pope sighs, "I was on the math team."

•

JJ snags the gun from the safe, "Dude, dude, dude. This is a SIG Sauer."

"Put the gun back, JJ!" John B orders trying to take it from him.

He jumps back, "This is a fucking spendy gatt, man. Just... Bam! Bam!"

John B puts his foot down, "We are not stealing anything.

•

"A mathlete?" Kie huffs, "Wait, Y/n weren't you on the softball team?"

Y/n steps back ready to throw a rock, "Already on it, K."

Throwing the rock straight at the window.

•

JJ turns and poses, "Just take a pic of me. Right here."

"You want me to take a picture of you?" John B questions, "Make our own incriminating evidence? Is that what you're talking about?"

They hear a tap from the window, "Wait, what was that?"

John B sticks his head under the blinds and sees the three friends mouthing cops and pointing to the door. He quickly moves to the other window and peaks through, they're right there.

The cops knock on the door and the boys quietly freak out, picking up their belongings and trying to make it look like they were never there.

"Kildare County Sheriff's Department!" The man voices

The three others race back to the boat, "Should we peel?"

"You never leave a Pogue behind." Pope answers

The cop unlocks the door and the room seems to be empty.

"No seriously, should we peel?" Kie repeats

Y/n shrugs, "Maybe."

•

One cop closes the door and the other checks the bathroom.

She pulls back the shower curtain and finds nothing, "Clear."

•

The two boys stand on the ledge outside of the window.

Pope whispers, "What are you guys doing?"

"Oh, my god." Kie says

•

The cop opens the safe, "I said it. Didn't I say it?"

John B watches as they go through the items.

The male cop pulls out a stack of cash, "Everybody's gotta dip their beak."

"What the fuck." JJ whispers as the Female cop takes the cash.

JJ moves his hand to his side and something falls from his pocket, it goes crashing to the ground, hitting everything it can.

The man walks to the window opening the blinds, the boys stick closer to the wall and the others try their best to act natural.

He pulls back from the window, "All right, let's go. No one's here."

•

Back on the water, they go over the prior events.

"Well that was fun." JJ chuckles, "Could have warned us sooner."

"We would have, except pope was on the math team." Kie admits

"You were on the math team?" John B questions

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." Pope says changing to subject, "Did you find anything?"

JJ sits up and pulls out a stack of cash and a gun, "Did we find anything? No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah, we did."

"What the hell?" Pope gasps

Y/n looks at him like he's gone mad, "What the fuck, dude?"

"Dude, what?" Kie marvels

JJ walks over to Pope, "Dude, chill. Come on."

"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope asks

"Better than the cops having it." He argues

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." He worries

JJ puts his arm around him, "Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh, sh, sh. At least you have us, right?"

"He's definitely running on two braincells." Y/n whispers to Kie.

In return she gets a knowing look of agreement.

Pope pulls away, "I'm living a nightmare."

•

The medical examiner's take a dead body from a docked boat.

"So what happened?" A cop asks a man

"Well, I was up at the Mason outlet, and, uh, I seen this lump, and the crabs was just goin' to town on it, you know? So, I figured the best thing to do was, uh... throw him over in the ice chest and call y'all. I never saw anything like that before." The man answers

They wheel him through the port and Lana comes rushing over, "Scooter? Scooter? Oh, god!"

She cries looking down at his lifeless body.

"Who's that?" John B asks

"It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm." A girl answers, "Check out this pic I got. Dead body."

She pushes her phone towards the group.

"What kind of boat did he have?" JJ questions

"Somehow, that dirty bag copped a brand new Grady white. Everyone's out looking for it." She informs

They all share a look, knowing exactly where it lays.

•

Pope runs into the back porch of the Château, "Okay. So, um... we didn't see anything. We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia."

JJ stops flicking his lighter around, "Actually, Popes right for once. See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny."

"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kie chimes

"Okay. Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara." He argues

"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs." She says

"Yeah, she just lost her husband. She probably needs it more than any of us." Y/n comments

"It's also bad Karma." Kie adds

"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too." Pope says, "We gotta go dark."

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree." JJ replies

John B taps his shoulder, "I don't agree."

"What? Why?" He wonders

"Just think about it." He tells him, "This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Right? Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-a-Lot parking lot because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden, he's got a Grady white? Just sayin'."

They all move out to the deck.

John B continues on with his rant, "All right, so think about it, Pope. How does a marina rat get a Grady white?"

Pope inhales sharply, "Prostitution."

"Square groupers, bro." He replies, "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?"

"They were straight smugglin'." He answers

"Smugglin'." He repeats, "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in the wreck."

Ditching the fishing seen they pile into John bs room.

"For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it..." he pauses, "It probably belongs to someone else."

"Minor details." Kie chimes

Pope waves around the cash, "They could come looking for it. Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

JJ snatches the money, "Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time."

"I don't think that's true." Y/n comments

JJ gently slaps her face with the money, "I beg to differ. Look, all we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of the wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal."

Pope sighs, "Right. And how exactly do we do that?"

"Kegger?" Kie suggests

•

Climbing over fallen trees, they find the perfect spot. They mess around with the kegger and the hose, splashing their faces while trying to spray it into their mouths.

Calming down, they fill the plastic solo cup. All of them drinking besides Pope, y/n settles for just one, not wanting Pope to feel like the only sober one.

Soon their little get together grows into a group.

•

“All right. You can’t understand the Outer-Banks without understanding the boneyard. It’s kinda like a three layer burrito. There’s us and our friends, the working class derelicts, from the cut. Then, there are the kooks, the rich second homers. They’re mostly from pouncey ass boarding schools, just rich trustafarian posers. Our natural enemies. And then, there are the tourons. Totally clueless. Here for a week on vacation with their families. Chum for the sharks.”

•

The teens disperse, talking to anyone that would hold a conversation. Pope being the one to struggle in this atmosphere.

A boy yells up to a girl on a broken tower, “Sarah! Sarah, be careful, okay?”

The sight of Sarah ruins Kie’s mood, “What is she doing here?”

John B follows her gaze.

•

“That’s Sarah Cameron, kook princess. Kiara’s best friend in the ninth grade, worst enemy in the tenth grade. I work on her dad’s boats, so, you know, I’ve seen her around.”

•

Kie can’t bother to look at her any longer and walks away, John B on the other hand keeps watching.

The boy continues to yell at her, “What are you doing?”

•

“Then that’s Topper, her not so pleasant boyfriend. Topper actually thinks Pogues were bred to mow lawns.”

•

He watches as he helps her down, her giggles can be heard over the music.

•

A man walks through a set of door, the chime alerts a worker, “Sorry, museum’s closed.”

“Yeah, sure, chief. I’ll only be just a minute.” He tells him walking further in the museum.

He stops in front a small replica of the Royal Merchant. He slides a picture out of an envelope and compares it to the ship.

“The Royal Merchant sunk in the great storm of 1829 with 400 million dollars of British government gold on board.” The worker informs, “The dream of generations of islanders. Lovely work, don’t you think?”

He hums, “mm-hm. Yeah. Lovely.”

•

Night falls and the bonfires light up the beach.

JJ offers John B a drink, “You want this one?”

“For me? Yeah, I’ll take a sip.” He replies

Just then Sarah and Topper pass by them.

JJ gets a bright idea, “Hey, Sarah! Sarah, can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage?”

She stops with Topper by her side, “No thanks.”

“Come on? Is it not fancy enough for you?” He asks

“No. We were just leaving.” She answers

Topper is already fed up with him, “Hey, you know what? I’ll take it. I’ll- Thank you, man. I appreciate it.”

JJ pulls back the cup, “That’s nice, but I didn’t ask you. Now if you said pretty please, maybe, but you didn’t.”

“Oh, pretty please.” He says, “Pretty please?”

JJ holds the cup out to Sarah, “You have it.”

Topper smacks the cup, “She doesn’t want it, you-“

JJ wastes no time trying to get at him, John B and Sarah pulling them apart.

“You’re so funny, man.” JJ spits

“Dirty Pogues!” He yells back

John B didn’t like what Topper had to say and shoved him. Everyone’s eyes are now on the bickering bunch.

Pope, Kie, and Y/n are quick to their friends side.

“John b!” Pope shouts, “We’re supposed to be incognito, remember?”

Sarah tries to stop Topper, “Babe, babe, babe, babe-“

The sound of Toppers solid right hook on John Bs face fills the night. The crowd of spectators ‘ooh’ watching John B hit the floor.

Topper kicks him into shoreline, “Hey, John B, don’t make me drown you like your old man, all right?”

The crowd chants, “Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!”

The now soaked John B stands up and tackles him into the water.

“Give it to him!” JJ encourages

“John B, let it go!” Pope pleads

“Stop, you guys!” Kie shouts

John B gets the upper hand and nails punches into his side.

“Topper! Stop!” Sarah begs

“John B! Come on!” Y/n exclaims

They push apart a circle each other, John B decks Topper in the face. He eggs him on, he’s been waiting for this moment.

They wrestle a little more, John B drops him into the water, “Come on, Topper! Let’s go!”

A few more sloppy swings and John B is back in the water with Topper on top of him.

He’s drowning him.

Sarah is quick to notice, “Topper! Topper, stop! No!”

Y/n looks at Pope and JJ, “Do something! He’s drowning him.”

Next thing they know, the cocking of a gun clicks above Toppers head, he freezes. John B gasping for air under him.

JJ presses it down on him, “Yeah, you know what that is. Your move, broski.”

The other party goers run off on the sight in the gun.

“JJ!” Kie and Y/n yell

“Chill!” Pope urges him

“Stop! JJ!” Sarah screams, “Put the gun down.”

He keeps the gun to his head, “Did you say somethin’, princess?”

“We’re good. We’re good.” Topper tells him, “All right? Come on.”

“Kie! Can you check your psycho friend, please?” Sarah shouts

That comment does not fall onto deaf ears, if anything it sets JJ off.

He lets go of Topper and makes his way back up the sand.

“Okay, everyone, listen up!” He screams, “Get the hell off our side of the island!”

He raises the gun to the sky and fires off two shots.

Pope shoves him, “Are you crazy? You idiot! Why would you do that?”

“It’s not worth it!” Kie shouts

JJ pushes Pope back, “I’m saving his life, okay?”

Pope throws his hands around, “Stupid! You’re jeopardizing everything!”

Y/n is the only one by John Bs side trying to keep him up but his body becomes dead weight, “Holy shit! Guys!”

•

“There’s something about my father I haven’t mentioned. The week before he went missing, he says to me, ‘Bird, I think I found something. Your Uncle T’s gonna come stay for a while. I might have to vanish for a bit.’ So, he talks about vanishing, and he vanishes. Everyone says he was lost a sea but he’s still out there. I know it.”

•

John B jerks awake in his bed and footsteps are heading his way.

In walks the sheriff, “Get decent, sweetie. We need to talk.”

She leaves his room and waits by the back door, “Sorry to break in like this, but DCS called. They wanted me to check on you. See how you’re doing. So, how are you, besides the-“

“Oh, no, I’m- I’m great.” He says, “Yeah, fantastic. Uh… Thanks for comin’ by.”

“I’m so glad to hear you say that, John B, but I heard a few things that worried me.” She tells him, “Let me see if I can remember. Oh, yeah. One of the things I heard was that your Uncle Teddy, your guardian, hasn’t been in the state for three months.”

He looks up from what he’s cleaning, “Yeah, that’s false.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I know it’s true. I called the school.” She argues, “They said you used to be a good student, but now you’re failing all your classes.”

“No. No. I’m only failing one, and it’s history.” He corrects, “The dudes a dick. He’s out for me-“

She cuts him off, “I heard, there was a fight in the beach yesterday, and a gun was involved.”

He pats her shoulder, “Okay. Gun? No. Did I get in a dustup? Yes, but was there a gun? No. No way.”

“That’s okay. I know who it was. I’ll get to him.” She replies, “All I’m worried about right now is makin’ sure you’re in a safe home.”

He scoffs, “Yeah, super safe. Super sound, sturdy. You know what I mean? And Uncle T’s coming, so…”

“That what he told you?” She asks, “Well if he’s really coming home I think you should be allowed to stay.”

He sweeps off the table, “Thank you.”

“But if I stick my neck out for you, you have to help me. Tit for tat.” She says

This peaks his interest, “What is tat?”

She walks up to him, “Let me see, how can you help me? Oh, I know. So, a body was found in the March yesterday. Were you in the marsh yesterday?”

“Yeah, we were fishin’ for some drum.” He answers

“You catch anything?” She asks

“Nah, we were skunked.” He claims

“Strange. Fishing’s usually good after a storm. All sorts of things get stirred up. You come across a wreck yesterday?” She questions

He’s quick to answer, “No.”

She sighs, “You’re skimmin’ just above the surface, John B. Now, down here is foster care, juvie. Pretty big drop for a smart kid like you. Up here is you and your little friends doing whatever you want. Outer Banks… or foster care on the main land. If I was you, I’d start flappin’ my wings. Now, you sure you didn’t come across a wreck yesterday?”

He sits down and shakes his head, “Yeah. Yeah, I’m sure.”

She leans down to him, “It’s better if you didn’t, you understand? Now, I’m gonna look the other way, as long as you stay out of the marsh.”

She goes to leave out the back, “I got dogs livin’ better than this, John B. You might wanna think about cleaning up.”

•

The group sits in silence in his backyard.

“Look, I’m calling it off. All right?” He announces, “Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh, she’ll help me with DCS.”

“And you believed her?” JJ asks

“Yes, I believe her, JJ.” He answers

“An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop.” He says

“All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she’ll help my out.” He explains, “It doesn’t help that your ass was the one shooting the gun.”

“You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your ass.” He fums

“Topper was gonna drown me?” He questions

“Sure looked like it.” He tells him, “I mean have you looked in a mirror, recently?”

He eggs him on, “Tell me some more. Come on.”

“They always win, don’t they, man? Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win!” He explains

“Look, it’s okay!” Kie chimes

“No, it’s not okay!” He whines, “It is not! They don’t want us to go down into the marsh. That means there’s something valuable down there, and you know it.”

“And it’s totally not because of Scooters dead body washing up or the fact that they can’t find his boat.” Y/n comments

He scoffs and looks at Pope, “I understand why you don’t wanna go. You’re the golden boy. You got way too much to risk.”

He looks at Kie and Y/n, “And you two- I mean you’re already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?”

He turns back to John B, “But you and me, man, we got nothing to lose! We really don’t, all right? And I know it didn’t use to be that way for you.”

“I don’t want to talk about this. I don’t want to talk about it.” John B mumbles

“So that’s it?” He asks

He pushes JJ out his way, “Just get out my way, bro.”

“John B, listen to me. I have a plan.” He voices, “You got the key to Cameron’s big boat, right? There’s scuba gear inside. We just borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what’s going to save you, man. You don’t see rich kids going into foster care, do you?”

•

“You know, I should have learned a long time ago to never listen to JJ. He’s full of bad ideas like stealing from my rich boss. But this time, he was right. I had nothing to lose. My dad said the island was America on steroids. The haves and have nots like anyplace, but magnified and multiplied. The way I see it, they games rigged. Maybe it always has been. With no parents, no money… and no one looking out for me, I got no chance. Unless I make it on my own.”

•

John B is quick to grab the scuba gear, loading it into a bag. He goes to slip out and runs into Sarah.

“Oh! Hey.” She greets, “Are you stalking us? Plotting your revenge?”

“Yeah. Why don’t you just tell your daddy I blew the bilge on Druthers? Everything is good to go. Just toppin’ off these tanks.” He tells her loading up his boat.

“Hey. Are you okay?” She asks, “Cause that eye of yours looks really gnarly.”

He slides into his boat, “Yeah, you know what? You can tell Topper he won the first round. I’ll get him next time.”

“So there’s just gonna be a reign of terror on this island now?” She questions

He unhooks his boat, “You know, wars have been started for less, Sarah Cameron.”

“Okay. Can we drop the whole Pogues versus Kooks thing? It is really stupid.” She confesses

He sighs, “Oh… You know, it’s easy to say when you’re a Kook.”

Her salute to him turns into the bird, he steers off to the Château.

•

A deputy speaks through a megaphone, “Are y’all ready for a water party today? All right. Now, all kiddin’ aside, your job is to keep privates off the marsh so we can do our job and find this wreck. That’s straight from Sheriff Peterkin. Do not forget your sunscreen, ladies. Bring a lot of liquids.”

“Does that include Natty Light?” A woman shouts

“I don’t care what swill you bring. That’s on your own recognizance.” He answers, “All right? What else do you got to worry about? Let’s go!”

Two men approach the deputy, “Excuse me, officer? We’re here about the missing boat.”

He shakes their hands, “What can I do for you fellas?”

“Associates of the owner.” They inform, “Here to help however we can. We’re devastated about Scooter. We just feel sick about it. You mind if we join your armada? Take a look for ourselves?”

“Yeah, why not? Extra set of eyes.” He replies

The two men hop in a boat, “We’ll let you know if we find anything, officer.”

•

It’s peak golden hour as the friends go along with JJs plan.

Kie checks the gear, “These are empty. You took empty tanks?”

She checks the other, “Okay, this one’s a quarter full. It’s enough for one of us.”

“Love it when a plan comes together.” Pope chides

“Does anyone know how to dive?” She asks, “Anybody?”

They all stay quiet.

“It’s kind of a Kook sport.” JJ comments

“I… read about it.” Pope says

“Great, Pope read about it, so someone’s gonna die.” She nags

Y/n rubs her face, “No one’s gonna die.”

“Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe.” JJ states, “How hard could it be?”

“Well, if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends.” Pope informs

JJ bends over, “Bends like, bend over and…”

“The bends kill you.” He clarifies

“Look, if none of you want to go, I’ll go.” Y/n offers

John B waves his hand at her, “No, no. I can- I can dive.”

JJ doesn’t even try to stop him, “You can dive. I’m cool with that.”

“Since when can you dive?” Kie asks

“I’ll do it. It’s fine.” He assures

Pope sits up straight, “Let me do some calculations real quick. That boats about 30 feet down. So it’ll take 25 minutes at that depth. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about… ten feet. All right? For two minutes.”

“Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it.” He says

Kie strips off her shirt and jumps into the water, everyone shares a look of confusion. Wondering, why on earth she decided to jump in the water.

“What was that all about?” Pope asks

“I don’t know, but I liked it. A lot.” JJ answers

“Of course you did.” Y/n comments walking over to where she just jumped.

“I mean if you want, you could do the same thing.” He replies

She looks down at the water for her, “Keep dreaming, Maybank.”

“I will.” He mutters and then clears his throat, “Uh, so… Yeah. Uh, when you- when you’re done there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?”

“Stick in, twist, pull.” John b repeat to him

Kie comes back to the surface and brushes the hair from her face, “Hey! I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It’s where you need to do your safety stop.”

Pope helps him gear up, “Keep an eye on this. You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress.”

“Okay, how much do I need?” He asks

“Unclear. Breathe as little as possible.” He tells him

“Zen. Think Zen, you know?” JJ chimes

“Hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we’re basically screwed, so… better get a move on.” Pope worries

Kie is quick to get back on the boat, she makes her way to John B. She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Diver down.” He says

“Diver down.” She replies

Pope and JJ share a look and Y/n has a smug look on her face, honestly quite impressed that she made a move.

He jumps into the water, giving them a salute before diving down. Making his way to the sunken boat.

A police siren chirps at them on the boat.

“Shit.” Pope curses

“Guys, that’s the police.” JJ points out

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” He mumbles

“Just act normal.” Y/n tells them sitting next Kie.

“Evening officers.” Pope greets

They pull they boat up right next to them, “Evening.”

They tie the two boat together unaware of what’s happening beneath them.

The cop lowers his glasses, “What are you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?”

He receives a series of no’s.

“Why is it closed?” Pope asks

“Well, we’re conducting a search out here. Boat went down.” He explains, “Seen anything?”

He once again gets a bunch on no’s.

“Where’s your friend you always hang with? He here?” He asks

“He’s working.” Kie answers

The deputy hums and steps onto the boat, “I’m gonna check your little boat out.”

Y/n puts on her sunglasses, “Be our guest.”

Pope backs up, “Yeah, hop aboard. You wanna- check- uh, check her out.”

John B stops at Kie’s tied t-shirt, looking up he can see that his friends are no longer alone, and he only has a minute of air left.

The deputy picks up a life jacket, “Uh… you got another one of these?”

“Yeah. Of course. It’s, uh… it’s in the hold.” JJ says

Kie and Y/n stand up, “Show ‘em.”

JJ opens the hold and pulls one out.

He nods, “All right.”

He then walks to the edge of the boat.

“Be careful you don’t wanna slip.” Pope warns

Putting on his glasses, he looks into the water but sees nothing, “All right. Beautiful day innit?”

He walks back and climbs into his boat, untying it from theirs, “Let us know if you see anything on your way out.”

Y/n gives him a half assed salute, “Yes sir.”

“Will do.” Pope replies

“We’ll be gone soon sir.” JJ assures

He starts up his boat, “Yes, you will.”

The two officers drive off and the teens are quick to the side of the boat.

“He’s definitely out of air.” Pope states

John Bs head pokes through the water, they all let out a sigh of relief.

“How’d it go down there?” JJ asks “Did you find anything?”

John B pants, “Did I find anything?”

He tosses up a drenched bag.

“Yeah, there we go! That’s my boy!” He cheers

“You okay?” Kie worries

“Yeah, I ran out of air.” He answers

“You scared the shit out of me.” She complains as he climbs back in.

“Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh… took care of ‘em.” Pope says

“Yeah, you kinda missed the show brother.” JJ claims

“Yo, guys? We got a bogey at two o’clock.” Y/n alerts

They all turn their heads and sure enough there was a boat coming their way.

“Do you recognize that boat?” Pope wonders

“Never seen it.” She answers

“What are they doing back there?” Kie asks, “The marsh is closed.”

“I don’t know. Let’s not stick around and find out.” JJ voices

John B strips off the gear, “JJ, get the bowline.”

“Should we wait on ‘em?” Pope asks

“No, we’re not gonna wait on them.” Y/n answers

“Go get the stern. Go!” John B orders

Kie looks at Pope, “Are you joking?”

“Guys, don’t wait for me. Go.” JJ urges

They slowly start to move.

“I don’t like the look of this.” John B admits

“Are they coming for us?” JJ questions

“Maybe they’re fishing.” Pope suggests

John B steers them into the marsh, the other boat not far behind.

“Hey, guys, they’re following us.” Kie voices

“Dude you gotta go faster!” JJ exclaims, “Gun it!”

A gun fires and misses the teens by mere inches.

“Get down!” Y/n shouts making them all hit the floor.

Another shot flies by.

“Oh, my god. We’re gonna die.” Pope cries

Kie gets up, “Shit, Pope, move.”

She starts to grab the fishing gear, unaware of the rifle being aimed at her. It only misses her by a couple inches.

“Get down, Kie!” John B commands

She tosses out the net and their chasers run right into it. It’s wraps around their motor, leaving them stuck.

They all stand back up.

“Holy shit, Kie.” Y/n marvels giving her a high five.

They all hoot and holler, glad that they are all alive.

•

Making it back to the Château’s dock they drop the bag, unable to keep waiting.

“What do you think it is?” Kie asks

“Gotta be money, seeing how bad those fuckers wanted it.” Y/n answers

“That or a couple of keys with street value to the low to mid mils.” JJ smiles

“Can we please just open the bag?” Pope loudly pleads

John B looks up at him, “Wow, Pope. That’s a rare outburst of emotion.”

“Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Just open the bag. We almost died over this.” He complains

John B opens the bag to reveal a capsule of some sort. Twisting off the top he dumps the contents into his hand.

It’s a compass.

“Oh, wow. Yep. That’s about right.” Pope nags, “Good job, everybody. We found a compass.”

JJ notices that John B has yet to move, “Dude, what? It’s not worth anything?”

“This was my father’s.” He replies

[rotary-swing]

How To Chip A Golf Ball – The Proper Setup And Why

If you're looking to improve your golf game, mastering the art of chipping is essential. Here’s a quick guide on How to Chip a Golf Ball effectively:

Proper Stance and Grip: Start with a narrow stance and weight slightly favoring your front foot. Grip the club lightly, allowing for better control and feel.

Ball Position: Place the ball in the center of your stance. This helps in achieving a clean, crisp contact.

Club Selection: Choose a wedge that suits the distance and height you need. A sand wedge is ideal for higher, softer shots, while a pitching wedge works well for lower, rolling chips.

The Swing: Keep your hands ahead of the clubhead through impact. This ensures a downward strike, which is crucial for clean contact. Use a pendulum-like motion, minimizing wrist action.

Practice Drill: Place a towel a few inches behind the ball and practice hitting chip shots without touching the towel. This drill helps in maintaining a consistent downward strike.

Practical Tips:

Feel Over Mechanics: Focus on the feel of the shot rather than getting too mechanical. This improves touch and control around the greens.

Visualize the Shot: Picture the ball’s trajectory and landing spot. Visualization aids in executing the shot as planned.

Short Game Routine: Develop a pre-shot routine for your short game. Consistency in routine translates to consistency in performance.

Common Mistakes to Avoid:

Overusing the Wrists: Excessive wrist action can lead to inconsistent contact and poor distance control.

Incorrect Ball Position: Placing the ball too far back or forward in your stance can affect the quality of contact.

Neglecting Practice: Regular practice of chipping is crucial. Incorporate different lies and distances into your practice sessions.

Final Thoughts:

Chipping might seem challenging, but with the right technique and consistent practice, you can significantly improve your short game. Remember, the key to mastering How to Chip a Golf Ball lies in a solid setup, smooth execution, and a lot of practice.

For more detailed guidance and tips on chipping, check out the full article on RotarySwing's blog: How to Chip a Golf Ball.

[maddiwrites]

Secrets of the Shore (Chapter 1)

Pairing: Pogues x reader, eventually JJ x reader.

Summary: This is just my rewrite of the show Outer Banks with my own twist by adding another main character which also happens to be John B’s twin sister. 

Note: Hey guys! Thank you so much for the support of my last couple of fics. All your messages have been so kind and so sweet! I’ve made a rewrite of the show with a new character that eventually falls in love with her best friend. I’m gonna be posting a new chapter three times a week. Let me know what you guys think!

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: None

Chapter 2 

"That's what, a three-story fall to the deck?" John B tip toes across the middle of the roof as he sips out of the can of beer in his hand.

I lean to my right, pressing against JJ's shoulder as we sit on a construction slack used to hold construction workers as they work on the siding of the home. Scaffolding, I think it's called. I narrow my eyes at my brother, counting down the seconds until he falls.

"I give you about a one-in-three chance of survival," Pope jokes from the deck below us.

John B shrugs. He licks his finger and holds it up in the air as if he's feeling which way the wind is blowing. "Hm. Should I do it?"

"Yeah, jump." Pope holds up a power drill and points it at John B like it's a gun. "I'll shoot you on the way down."

"You'll shoot me?"

"Yep." Pope closes one eye and pretends to shoot it. "Pow!"

I roll my eyes and look forward again, letting the beer slip down my throat like a refreshing glass of water. The warm North Carolina air presses soothingly against my freshly tan skin and I bask in the sunlight. Its days like these that I like the most. Days where none of my best friends have work, we're drinking causally, and joking with one another. Even if it's on a construction site in the middle of Figure Eight. But the idea of getting caught just gives me an adrenaline rush.

"They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers," Kie says as she walks out of the unfinished house.

"Of course. Why wouldn't they?" JJ says next to me with a shrug like it's not the craziest thing that a Kook would own.

"This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about the turtles, I guess."

"I can't have cold towels."

Kie looks up at John B, shielding her eyes with the back of her hand. "Can you please not kill yourself?"

"Don't spill the beer. I'm not giving you another one," JJ says.

As if on cue, John B's foot slips. Luckily he catches himself, but his beer, however, drops to it's death on the deck below. As John B steadies himself I release the breath I didn't even know I was holding. I take another greedy gulp of my warm beer to steady the nerves in my chest.

"Whoa! Oh, shit," John B curses.

"Of course you did," JJ rolls his eyes playfully. "Smooth."

"A plus, really." I glare up at my brother, feeling his mischievous smirk right back at me.

"Dumbass," Kie mutters under her breath. She looks up at me as if waiting for me to say something, but I only giggle to myself. John B can be clumsy but he's not going to accidentally kill himself.

"Hey!" I hear another voice shout behind us towards the street and front of the house. A voice that doesn't belong to any of my friends or my brother.

"Hey, uh, security's here," Pope says.

Immediately knowing what that means, I jump to my feet with the help of JJ right after he slugs the rest of his beer. A delirious grin dances along my lips as I hop down to the main deck.

"Let's wrap it up!"

"Boys are early today."

"Humpty Dumpty, let's roll!"

My legs take off after my friends through the house. Adrenaline rushes through my veins and straight to my head like a power high. I can't even feel my legs as they jump over wooden slacks and construction tools. The high from running from the police is better than any drug JJ can get his hands on, even the good stuff.

"Gary is that you?" JJ plays along before accidentally running into him, making him slip on his feet before running the other way. I grab his wrist and pull him closer to me to catch up. "Gary, good to see you man!"

I laugh as my feet land on the freshly cut grass in the front yard. "You're asking for it."

"JJ!" The obese cop chases after us, recognizing my best friend's face instantly. I'm not surprised, not even a little bit. JJ had his fair share of run-ins with the law.

"They're going out front!" I hear another cop shout. I can barley hear through the wind rushing through my ears.

We run into a tall white painted fence that blocks us from our car, better known as the Twinkie. Hopping fences is something I've learned to become better at after doing it so many times. However, I can't say the same about Pope. He's always struggled.

I swing my legs over the fence and land with a small 'oomf.' I look over my shoulder for my slow-poke friend and see him falling over the fence, landing on his side. I laugh as I pick him up by the shoulders.

JJ is waiting for us, clapping his hands like a coach on the sidelines at a football game because his players aren't running fast enough. But there's a smile on his face. "Get up, Pope, fatso's coming!"

"Hey!" The guard shouts behind me. He's halfway up the other side of the fence, but he doesn't have the strength to pull himself over completely. "Come here you little pricks!"

I hear the familiar honk coming from the van John B and I learned to drive in. My brother and Kie are waiting for us in the front seats of the Volkswagen van that would look better in the 70s than the 2020's but I love it. It fits our friend group perfectly. Plus I'd choose this car over any fancy Mercedes Tourons usually drive. The only time I've ever been in one of them is when I snuck off with a golf player from Georgia after a boneyard party. It was luxurious of course, but nothing like the Twinkie.

"Bus is leaving!" John B says as we get closer.

"Come on!" Kie yells at us from the passenger seat, banging the flat of her palm against the door.

I dive through the back first, landing on my elbows and rolling over. Pope and JJ follow less than a second later.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Gary calls after us as John B steps on the gas.

JJ leans out of the sliding side door that's still wide open. I lay on my back watching him as I try to catch my breath. His smile is contagious. For a boy who's been through hell and back, he smiles a lot, and I love every second of it.

He holds out his beer can as if he's offering it to the cop who's still trying to catch us...if he can catch up to it. "Check out Gary, gunnin' for a raise. Come on, Gary!"

"Wait. Slow down. Hey! You little pricks! Hey!"

"You're gonna give him a heart attack!" Kie tries to scold him but she can't fight the smile on her lips either as she watches from the side rearview mirror.

"You're so close! You can do it. There you go. They don't pay you enough bro."

"JJ, stop. Stop!" Kie says through her laughter.

I love Kie. She always tries to keep the peace between her friends and the world itself. Always the girl who raises money for charities that protect this Earth and save animals and solve world hunger. She's going to change the world someday. Her and Pope. Maybe if they can tolerate each other, they'll do it side by side.

JJ slumps back into the van with a toothy grin. He sits next to me and pulls me up so I'm sitting up straight. He dangles his arm around my shoulder and I lean further into his side. If I could choose one position to be in for the rest of my life it would be this one.

But I'd never admit that.

"Oh, come on. That sort of initiative is just begging to be punished," JJ says.

I hum in response and lean back into the seat behind me and stare out the window. A view of passing vibrant green leaves takes over the window as John B drives. The scene comforts me. Summer is my favorite season. No school. Just work and friends and the Outer Banks. Paradise on Earth, some may call it.

It's the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes, one island. We're currently driving through Figure Eight, the rich side of the island. Home of the Kooks. So, guess where we don't live.

As John B drives further South, the houses get smaller and smaller, feeling more like home. This is the South side. Or as we like to call it, the Cut. Home of the working class who make a living bussing tables, washing yachts, running charters. The natural habitat of...drumroll, please...the Pogues. That's us. Pogues, pogies, the throwaway fish. Lowest members of the food chain.

I know... a little harsh, don't you think?

So, the downside of the Pogue life is we're ignored and neglected. But the upside of the Pogue life? We're ignored and neglected, which means we do whatever we want, whenever we want.

The second John B parks the car, the boys are gathering all their fishing gear and we set off to our next destination. The marina.

"Nice haul, dude. Look at that!" JJ teases my brother when he reels in what I think is the smallest fish I've ever seen. If it was orange, I would have thought it was my old pet goldfish from when I was six. "Been all bait for, like, three weeks."

John B pulls the fish off his hook and tosses it in JJ's direction. JJ flinches back, knocking into me and almost throwing me into the water below. That was probably my fault, though. I shouldn't be sitting on an open ledge, dangling my legs twenty feet above the water.

"Watch it, idiot!" I smack JJ upside the head after letting go of the death grip I had on his bicep when I was about to fall to my death. Well...I'd probably survive, but it would hurt like hell.

"It's not my fault you chose the most dangerous seat!" JJ retaliates.

Yeah, that's JJ. John B's best friend since the third grade, which subsequently makes him my best friend since the third grade too. He's about as local as they come. Latest in a long line of fishing, drinking, smuggling, vendetta-holding salt-lifers who made their living off the water. Second best surfer I know. First being me of course. Mild kleptomaniac and a future tax cheat.

"Yeah, Mar, you should really get down from there," Kie says, walking over to me to help me down. I decide not to put up a fight. If I'm going to break my leg, I'm gonna do it in a surfing accident or something cool, not by falling off the dock.

Kiara. Or Kie as we call her. When not saving turtles or listening to Bob Marley, or getting a dolphin tattoo, she hangs out with us. I'm not really sure why though. She's a rich kid, actually. Her family owns the Wreck, this Outer Banks institution. Total cash down with the tourists and my current job. You know, I'm not really sure how her parents feel about us. But they like me enough to bring them money towards their restaurant. I bring in a lot of regulars. Advertising is kind of my thing. I'm pretty sure all my friends, even my brother, have a thing for her.

Kie hands me a water bottle and lays her legs across my lap. She lies down on the wooden bench and bathes in the sunlight the day still has to offer. Kie is my best friend. Best secret holder known to man, for the most part.

"I think she needs a leash," Pope adds, making me pass him a glare.

"The only thing useful about a leash is how I can strangle you with it," I say.

"Kinky," JJ says and winks at me. "That's my girl."

John B slaps JJ upside the back of his head.

I'm lucky my sunburnt skin is hiding the blush that creeps along my cheeks.

Pope glares at both JJ and I which only makes my growing smirk widen.

Pope...the brains of the operation...finalist for the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship. And the smartest person I know. Little bit of a weirdo. His father's this legendary character, Heyward. Anything you wanted on the island, Heyward could get for you. Now, I'm not sure Heyward knew what to make of his oddball son, but it didn't matter. He was a Pogue, just like the rest of us.

"Trust me, if a leash was that easy, I would have tried a long time ago," John B mutters with a hint of a smile.

John Booker Routledge. My insufferable twin brother. Pain in my ass. Number one partner in crime. I hate him but I love him. Pretty much like any sibling relationship. We live in an old fish shack on the marsh. The Chateau as my dad use to call it. My dad disappeared at sea nine months ago looking for a shipwreck. I mean seriously, who disappears at sea these days? I miss him a lot. He may have been a little neglectful, but he took care of us the best that he could. My mom, however? She split when I was three. Last I heard she was in Colorado. At least I think it was Colorado. Honestly who knows and who cares.

Since my dad vanished, my Uncle T is supposedly my legal guardian. At the moment, he's in Mississippi, building houses which means it's just me right now, on my own, hangin' out with my brother and my friends.

Three months after my dad went missing, he was officially presumed dead. John B is more of an optimist than I am. He refuses to sign the paper and until he sees a dead body, he's not giving up. I back John B's decision, but I'm more realistic about what happened to my dad. The ocean, although my favorite place to be, is also one of the scariest.

My dad is probably dead and I will never get the closure that I want. So I'm dealing with it the best way I can, although I'm pretty sure everyone is a little worried about me, especially Kie now that John B is starting to follow in my footsteps by exhibiting reckless behavior.

But I'm getting better now. Day by Day. At least I wasn't acting like I did when my dad first left us.

                                                     ~ ~ ~

I woke up with a slap to my ankle and my head buried deep into my pillow. I groan from the abrupt living alarm clock that's now pacing my room and throwing clothes from my closet at me. It only makes me squeeze my eyes tighter in hopes for at least five more minutes of sleep.

"Seriously, Mar, we need to go. We're late." John B rips my blanket off my body, leaving me exposed in just my pajama boxer shorts and a tank top. The sudden chill sends goosebumps up my arms and legs.

"Go without me." I push myself up on my elbows and grab the clothes he threw at me. I knew meeting the social worker alone wasn't an option. Even if one of us goes to this stupid meeting, it will prove to the social worker that we're not being responsible enough to keep DCS off our backs. As far as they know, Uncle T is still living with us and keeping us safe.

"You have five minutes." John B ignores me and leaves my room, slamming my door shut.

I roll my eyes and tumble out of my soft bed. I slip on my jeans shorts and a white t shirt that I tie in a knot to make it a crop top. Underneath it I have on my plain black bikini, knowing that I will be surfing the second we get home. The News has been reporting a storm for weeks that's suppose to hit tonight. Vicious waves and crazy winds sends a thrill through my body.

We arrive to the social worker's office only two minutes late. I thought that was a sign of responsibility, but the social worker only looks at us with distaste as we sit in the two chairs in front of her desk.

"John, Marleigh, it's come to our attention that you two are unemancipated minors living on your own." Her hair is pulled back into a tight low bun and her glasses are perched on the tip of her nose. Her suit looks way too tight for comfort, like it's squeezing the life out of her.

John B scoffs and leans back into his seat as if we have nothing to worry about, but I know his heart is beating just as wildly as mine. "No....no." The social worker raises one brow in suspicion and glances in my direction to either confirm or deny what John B is saying. John B sees this and answers for me. "No."

I just shrug as a response, which only makes the social worker more weary. She leans into her desk and folds her hands on top of our folders that are piled in the middle. "I need honesty to help you. That's what we want, right?"

"Yeah. I'm being honest."

"Okay, then when is the last time you spoke to your uncle?"

John B looks down at his watch and purses his lips. "Uh...thirty-four minutes ago."

"When's the last time you saw him?"

"Two hours and...forty-three minutes ago?"

I hold myself back from rolling my eyes. It's clear on the social worker's face that she's not buying into any of John B's lies.

She sighs and turns to look at me. "We're gonna come out there tomorrow to talk to your uncle. If he's not there, we're gonna move forward with foster care." Foster care. The words make me dig my nails into the wood of the arms of the chair I'm in. The last place I ever wanna be is in foster care. I want to stay here on the island with my brother and our friends. Not with some random family who couldn't care less about us in a place I'm not familiar with. "I want to assure you, we're gonna find you a safe and loving home."

She says it like she's offering us a better life, one that we would want, one that sounds like the better option but it isn't. I ignore the worried look John B sends my way and watch the seconds go by on the clock above the door. We basically have twenty-four hours to find Uncle T or someone to be pretend to be him.

                                                  ~ ~ ~

The winds begin picking up early in the afternoon, the rain hitting by 5. On my way home from working at the Wreck, I watch people board up the windows of their stores and homes. All John B and I can do is hope that our little shack won't blow away by morning.

Unfortunately for Pope, he's at our house when John B catches me leaving the house with my board. When he tells me to stop, I'm prepared to put up a fight. I've been looking forward to surfing in this storm all day - something I can use to push the DCS lady out of my head and the promise she made that sounded more like a threat.

"You think you were gonna go out without me?" John B smirks and leads the way to the beach.

Pope follows behind us like a lost puppy, basically talking to himself as he tries to convince us that this is a bad idea. We stop at the edge of the beach. It's almost impossible to see the ocean through the wind and the rain.

"Those aren't surfable waves, bro," Pope says, squinting through the rain that splatters our faces wet.

"Says who?" I say, passing him a devious smirk and make a run for it towards the ocean.

I paddle past the choppy waves, letting the water knock me around like a feather in the wind. When I see a decent looking wave to ride, I prop myself up on my feet and stand. I lean into my board. The warmth that's taken over my body outruns the cold water I fall into when the waves crash over me. My body tumbles under the water and my board bumps against me. I try to swim back up to the surface but the current is strong. I don't know where I am and I can't see under the water. My nose burns when water rushes up my nostrils. I squeeze my eyes tight and just swim upwards in hope of reaching air. Maybe this was a bad idea, but the thrill is still keeping me excited.

I finally reach the surface after what feels like years. John B and Pope's screams are dull against the whistling wind. I hop back on my board and give the two guys a thumbs up and a wicked smile. Pope looks like he's about ready to have a heart attack and John B breathes out a sigh of relief as he paddles closer to me.

"You alright?" He asks me.

"Fine," I yell against the wind.

John B nods. He looks like he's about to say something else, but something over my shoulder catches his attention. I turn myself around, intrigued at what's he's seeing other than the water, clouds, and a bunch of rain. Then I see it. A boat that barely looks afloat, so far out that it looks like a speck against the rain.

"We should probably go," I say. I don't want John B's mind to run to what might have happened to Dad out there. Maybe he was caught by a storm like this, maybe his boat went overboard and his body is out there floating with the fishes. I don't know. The last thing I need him to do right now is speculate. Even if the same thoughts are running through my head, John B thinks he's still alive. These thoughts will keep him up all night. He doesn't move, however. "John B let's go."

                                                  ~ ~ ~

JJ is already laying on the pull out bed in my living room when I get out of the shower. JJ crashes here most days of the week. He'd much rather be here than with his drunk abusive dad. Our friends don't know the extent of how shitty his relationship really is with his dad. But I do. I found out when I was thirteen. JJ snuck through my bedroom window after a tough night with his dad. His face and torso were covered in bruises. It took everything in me not to burst out in tears right then and there. But for some reason, he trusted me of all people with his biggest secret. I cleaned him up and let him sleep in my bed with me. Every once in a while we repeat the process. Sometimes he's not even hurt, he just shows up. And I let him in because I like having him there.

I fall onto the mattress next to him and prop my head up on my hand, leaning on my elbow. I run my fingers through his hair, feeling satisfied and bubbly when he moans in response.

"When did you get here?" I ask him.

"You were in the shower. Don't worry I didn't peak, but I was tempted," He says into his pillow.

I use the same hand I had woven in his hair and punch his shoulder playfully, making him fall on his back. His lips turn up in a grin.

I lay there for a second, looking up at the ceiling. My eyes feel heavy, the events of the day officially taking over my body. I peek an eye over at JJ who's watching me carefully as if I might break under his fingertips.

"What?" I grin to myself, thankful for the darkness so he couldn't see the blush on my cheeks. Again.

"You all right?" He asks, pushing my hair out of my face so he can look straight into my eyes.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

JJ hesitates, like he's trying to pick the right words to say. I watch him closely, studying every mark and crevice on his face. Beautiful and clear like always. Even when it's covered in bruises and blemishes, he's handsome. I could look at him all day.

"You hate storms," He says.

"I can sleep through anything," I tell him. "And I don't hate storms. They make for...eventful surfing days."

His face drops to a more serious one. "You know what I mean."

I do. Storms have never really frightened me. Not really. But ever since my dad disappeared nine months ago, I worried that he would get caught in a storm like this, that by morning there would be a knock on my door from an officer who would tell me that a dead body has washed up on shore and they ID'd him as my father. The image leaves me with nightmares on nights like tonight.

JJ's the only one who knows this.

I don't like talking about it. Like JJ, we have this in common. So instead of telling him I'm fine and him not believing me, I pull the blanket at the edge of the mattress over our bodies and tuck myself into his side, laying my head on his shoulder. A position so intimate for just us "friends." I hope he can't feel my heart pounding beneath my skin, against his side. I let my body soften against his, feeling sleep take over me. I fall into a dreamless sleep next to JJ, hoping that the storm will be gone by the time we wake up.

[atths--twice]

Christmas Eve, 1994

After being abducted and insisting she is fine, a month in quarantine proves that may not be entirely true. It has also been a year since her father passed away. How will Scully and her family spend the day? Will Mulder be included? 

I love Firewalker, it's one of my favorite episodes. I rewatched it recently and I love episode where they are stranded and watching out for each other. Mulder is much more protective of Scully in this episode and I love it. Some might see it as him being too pushy or overbearing, but I don't. He missed her and worried about her and he doesn't want her to get hurt. Not after she had been gone for so long and he had no idea if he would ever see her again. His worry for her is incredibly sweet in my opinion.

So, I started to think about what happened during their month long quarantine and after they came home. They would have been home about mid December with Christmas just around the corner. What kind of plans were made in the Scully family? It intrigued me and thus this story began to emerge.

I hope you enjoy! Happy Holidays!

December 15, 1994

Scully sighed as she entered her apartment, exhausted after the flight home. The air felt thick and stale as she stood and looked around, the emptiness it had experienced during their month in quarantine nearly tangible.

With a groan, she walked to the refrigerator, sure she was going to find various forms of mold growing inside of it. Opening the door, she saw it was nearly empty and she frowned before she smiled slightly.

Her mother must have come by, knowing the length of time they would be away. Thankful she had done so, she sighed and closed the refrigerator. Rolling her neck as she headed to the bathroom, intent on taking a long soak in the tub, her phone rang and she groaned.

Hoping it was not Mulder calling with some rogue case he had found, considering they had been given a week off, citing a month long quarantine where they had been poked and prodded daily, as a sufficient excuse to give them a chance to relax.

“Hello?” she said, closing her eyes and crossing her fingers.

“Dana! You’re home! I was going to leave you a message on your machine, but I’m so glad to hear you’re home.” She smiled at the happiness she heard in her mother’s voice.

“Just got home actually, not more than ten minutes ago. Your mother senses must have been activated.” Her mother laughed and Scully walked down the hall to start the bath, letting the tub fill as they continued to speak.

“Thank you for taking care of things here,” Scully said, pouring some lavender bubble bath into the warm water. Breathing in deeply, she sighed as the scent washed over her.

“Of course, honey. Umm, the reason I was going to leave you a message was about Christmas. I know you’ve just gotten back, but it’s only a few days away. I wanted to let you know Bill and Tara won’t be here as he had hoped, but Missy will be and Charlie. He has a flight on Christmas Day, but he will be here Christmas Eve. I thought… as it’s been a year since we lost your dad… it would be nice to have, if not everyone, as many as we can home this year.”

“Yeah,” Scully said softly, closing her eyes as she thought of her dad, remembering the way he behaved at Christmas, tolerating it all with a shake of his head and a small smile on his face.

“I just… I’d hoped you’d be home.”

“I’m here,” she whispered, opening her eyes and watching the bubbles rising in the tub.

“You aren’t leaving again?”

“God, I hope not.” Her mother hummed and she smiled. “No, we’re off for a few days. Time off for good behavior it seems.” This time her mother was silent and Scully sighed quietly.

“So everyone who’s in town will be there?” she asked, hoping to break the tension that had appeared.

“Yes. It’ll be good, I think.”

“I agree, Mom. What time?”

“7:30 for dinner on Christmas Eve. Oh, and please ask Fox to join us.”

__________________

Scully stepped out of the tub and wrapped herself in a large towel, as the water gurgled loudly down the drain. She felt flushed, her toes and fingers pruney, her hair wet and dripping down her back.

Grabbing another towel, she wrapped it around her hair, and wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror. Shaking her head as she looked at her reflection, she let out an exasperated breath.

Please ask Fox to join us.

Her mother’s words had been playing on repeat since she had hung up the phone. She knew she and Mulder had formed a bond when she was missing, her mother telling her how much it had affected him when she was gone. How he had looked every time she saw him: his disheveled appearance, the circles under his eyes, his unanimated expressions.

“He was lost, Dana,” her mother had said and Scully shook her head, not wanting to hear it.

Not after she had no memory of what did happen. And especially not after the nightmares had begun; the thought of the faceless men in the white room, a drill of some kind coming toward her, voices she could not understand, and the fear she felt at being unable to move.

She had them more while they had been in quarantine, perhaps the constant medical attention bringing them closer to the surface.

The first night it had happened, when she had woken up soaked in sweat, tears on her face, and her breathing erratic, her door had burst open and Mulder was there, the light from the hall all that filled her darkened room.

“Are you… are you okay? I heard screaming…” He had stood in the doorway, rumpled from sleep, as though unsure if he should enter any further.

“I… I don’t know. No, I… I’m fine,” she had lied and wiped at her face, turning away from him, her heart still racing.

“Like hell. You’re not fine.” She had turned her head, ready to yell at him, tell him she was perfectly capable of knowing how she felt, when the look on his face had stopped her.

He had looked exhausted and as she stared, she realized he had looked that way since before they ever came to the goddamn volcano. He had not wanted her to go, insisting she take more time off, but she had insisted more, telling him she needed to work.

During the time there, he had been overprotective and they both knew it. She understood, she did, but it had also pissed her off immensely. She could do her job and he knew that. She knew he knew that, yet it still had not stopped him from hovering or insisting she stay back and out of danger.

But as he had stood in the doorway of her room, his worry for her finally something she was ready to truly see, she had felt the anger drain out of her.

“It was a bad dream, that’s all,” she had said quietly.

“You’re okay?” She had nodded and he had run his hand through his hair, nodding as he reached for the door handle. “Okay. Good night then.”

“Wait. Would… could you… would you mind staying for a bit? Just…” She had watched the emotions cross his face and she sighed. “You don’t have to… I… I’m fine now.”

“I can stay,” he had said, letting the door close and sitting in the lone chair in the room. He had smiled slightly at her as she adjusted her pillows and laid down.

The room had been silent until he started talking about something inane, her eyes closing as she had fallen asleep to the sound of his voice.

During the month they had spent there, he had come to her room a total of ten times, when her nightmares had woken him and he wanted to be sure she was okay. Eventually he had foregone the chair, and instead laid beside her. They did not touch, but his voice was like a balm, calming her and allowing her to sleep peacefully.

Now though, they were home, and she knew they would not speak of it again. Even though they both knew how much they needed the other, this would be something that remained known, but unspoken.

Changing into her pajamas, she dried her hair, had a cup of tea and went to bed, her body and mind exhausted.

___________________

December 16, 1994

The next day she cleaned her entire apartment. She did laundry, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, dusted and vacuumed, finding peace in creating a clean environment.

When she had finished, she went shopping, buying enough groceries for the week, knowing for certain she would be home for at least that amount of time.

She made a salad and a chicken breast for dinner, drinking a glass of red wine as she did. Glancing at the phone, she realized that she had not heard from Mulder all day.

It was not unheard of, especially considering they had just spent a month together, day in and day out, but it still felt odd. Sighing as she stared at the phone, both wishing it would and praying it did not ring, she finished her glass of wine and cleaned up the kitchen.

_____________________

December 17, 1994

In the morning, she called Ellen, who was delighted to hear from her, asking her many questions and inquiring after Mulder.

“How’s that “not jerk” partner of yours?” Ellen teased and Scully smiled, remembering the day so long ago when she had thought that way about Mulder; his stubbornness and single minded drive, overwhelming at times.

“He’s good,” she answered simply, not divulging any details.

“Still not a jerk?”

“Definitely not.”

“That’s good.”

“Hmm.”

Plans were made for lunch the next day and Scully went to bed early, her thoughts on why once again she had not heard from Mulder.

____________________

December 18, 1994

“So then I said, ‘well I’m not cleaning it up,’” Ellen said with a chuckle and the other women laughed. Scully forced a smile, her hands gripping her napkin.

When Ellen suggested lunch, Scully had not anticipated other women joining them. She did not know them and their presence had made her uncomfortable. She had been good at this once before, small talk and even gossip.

But now…

It felt commonplace and to be honest, a bit silly. She dealt in darkness and conspiracies, men who killed to protect government secrets. Listening to stories of household problems, kids who did not listen, or husbands who played too much golf, felt ridiculous and she had to fight rolling her eyes.

“I was abducted!” she wanted to yell, to see their faces when she said it. To have the table fall silent, not to continue the discussion about her abduction, but to shut them all up.

“That was fun, Dana. We need to do this more often. I know you’re busy, but we need to see each other more often,” Ellen said, hugging Dana goodbye a bit later.

“Yes, we do.” She hugged her back and closed her eyes, knowing she would not be calling, their lives far too different.

Driving away from the restaurant, she made a left instead of a right and wound up at Mulder’s apartment. Sitting in her car, she heard her mother’s words again, and she closed her eyes.

Please ask Fox to join us.

Turning off the car, she stepped out and locked the doors. Walking through his lobby, her heart began to race, not knowing why.

You’re being an idiot, she admonished herself as she stepped into the elevator. What in the hell is there to be nervous about? She shook her head and sighed as the elevator began to rise.

Clearing her throat, she knocked on his door and waited. Her fingers traced over his apartment key on her key ring that he had given her months ago, deciding if she should use it, when she heard him moving around inside. She swallowed as she stepped back and put both hands in her pockets.

“Hey,” he said, a look of surprise on his face. “I thought you were the Chinese food I ordered.”

“Sorry, no.” She smiled and he opened the door wider. She stepped in, under his arm, and stopped in the dining room, turning to look at him.

“Figured you would have been tired of seeing my ugly mug,” he teased as he closed the door. She smiled slightly and looked down. “You okay?” She nodded and raised her head. His eyes searched hers and she sighed.

“I had lunch today with some old friends. Well… an old friend who invited others to join us. I didn’t know them and…” She sighed again, shrugging her shoulders.

“You didn’t like them?”

“I don’t know. I…”

A knock sounded at the door and they both jumped. He put up a finger and she nodded as he opened the door and paid the delivery man. Closing the door again, he set the bag of food on the table and looked at her.

“Can I interest you in some egg rolls?” he asked and she shook her head. “Right, you’ve just come from lunch.” He stared at her and she took a deep breath.

“I should get going. Let you eat.”

“It’s Chinese food, it’ll keep. Always better cold anyway.”

“So you always say.” He smiled and she let out a breath. “I just felt so disconnected from them.” He nodded she shook her head. “It’s been so long since I’ve done anything with Ellen, or anyone really, I felt out of place.”

“Hmm,” he hummed with another nod.

“I don’t want to talk about what happened to me. I don’t remember it. Or… maybe I do but I don’t want to… I don’t know.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it…”

“But you want them to know.” She looked up at him and let out a deep breath.

“Yes and no. It just felt mundane talking about kids and husbands who golf too much while I…” She shrugged and he nodded.

“Believe me, I understand.”

“I know you do.” She smiled and he nodded. “I don’t want to constantly have it on my mind, but how can I not?”

“Have you had any nightmares?” he asked quietly and she shook her head. “That’s good.”

“Yeah.” She shrugged and sighed. “Especially since I no longer have anyone around to bore me back to sleep.”

“Hmm.” He chuckled softly with a nod and she smiled.

“I should go. Let you eat.”

“You could stay. Just me here… it gets kinda quiet.”

“No, I should go.” He nodded and she sighed, walking towards the door, wanting  to stay but knowing it was best if she left.

“Sure I can’t tempt you with some egg rolls?”

“Maybe next time.” She looked back at him, her hand on the doorknob. “Oh, my mother has extended an invitation for you to join us for dinner on Christmas Eve.” He stared at her and opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“Why?” he asked after a few seconds.

“Because it’s Christmas and she’s Maggie Scully.” She smiled and he shook his head.

“I don’t think I should. It’s a year since your father died and I… it should just be family.” An odd look crossed his face that she could not decipher, before he sighed and closed his eyes. “What time?”

“Oh… that was easier than I thought it would be,” she said in surprise.

“Yeah, well…” He shrugged and she nodded.

“7:30 at my mom’s house. I’ll write down the directions-” She started to step towards him, but he stopped her with a shake of his head.

“I know how to get there,” he said quietly and she froze. Of course he did. How many trips had he made during her absence?

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you then,” she whispered and he nodded, unable to meet her eyes.

She walked out and heard the lock clicking as she walked down the hall. As she stepped in the elevator, she suddenly felt like weeping. Covering her mouth, the doors thankfully closed before the sound of her sobs could echo down the hall.

_____________________

After that meeting, they did not speak nor see each other again. Scully spent the next few days buying and wrapping gifts, relaxing, and not thinking about her abduction.

Or at least trying not to do so.

She had a few nightmares, waking up shaking and wanting to call him, but knowing she could not. He would accept her phone call, doing whatever she asked, but she could not continue to rely on him that way; she had to do it on her own.

On Christmas Eve, she put on a new dress, put her hair up and added a pair of pearl earrings her father had given her when she graduated from college. A small spritz of perfume and she looked at her reflection, checking that she was ready. Touching her earrings, she sighed.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she whispered and left the bathroom.

The drive over to her mother’s was spent in silence, thinking about her father and how much she missed him. Missed the way he would tell a joke and laugh before he even got to the punchline. His no nonsense attitude, but the smile that came behind it. The strict rules he adhered to, which helped shape and mold the person she had become.

“I miss you, Dad,” she said softly, turning down her mother’s street.

The house was lit up, a tree in the window, the white lights shining brightly. As she walked up to the door, she wondered who had decorated outside, it looked professional.

“Dana! Oh, honey, it’s so good to see you.” Her mother held her tightly, Scully hugging her back, taking a deep breath. It smelled of spices and she closed her eyes at the familiar Christmas scent. “You’re early.”

“I thought I’d see if you needed any help.” Her mother pulled back, holding onto her upper arms as she nodded.

Half an hour later, everything was ready and people began to arrive. There were a few people from church there, people her father had held in high esteem. Charlie came in to cheers and applause. He grinned and hugged them all as Missy walked in, a serene smile on her face.

As happy as she was to see them all, Scully kept an eye on the door, wondering when Mulder would arrive, wanting to be there when he did. She did not want him to be accosted and forced to make small talk.

“He’s running a little late.”

“What?” Scully asked, looking at her mother with a frown.

“Fox. He said he would be a few minutes late.”

“When did he tell you that?” She looked at her mother, confusion on her face.

“He called earlier today and said he would be running late as he had an errand to run.”

“He called you? He has your num-“ But of course he did. Why was she surprised?

“He’ll be here.” Her mother patted her arm and smiled as she walked away.

“Yeah, Dana. He’ll be here,” Missy teased, handing Scully a tumbler glass of whiskey. They clinked their glasses and she tried not to watch the door, not wanting to hear her sister’s gloating tone.

At almost 8:00, the doorbell rang and her mother walked over to answer it. Scully heard Mulder’s low murmur and her mother’s soft laugh, and then he was in the room, his eyes finding hers immediately.

Her stomach did a flip flop and she shook her head, walking over to him as she mentally rolled her eyes at her own ridiculousness.

“Hey. Sorry I was late. I was…” He stopped, looking her up and down. “Wow… you look…”

“Hello, Fox. Sorry... Mulder.” Missy said and they both turned to look at her.

“Melissa. It’s nice to see you again.” He cleared his throat and Missy looked at Scully, raising her eyebrows.

“Would you like a drink?” Missy asked and he shook his head.

“No, I’m fine.” He looked at Scully as Missy walked away. She smiled at him and he did the same. “Sorry I was late.”

“It’s okay.” Without thinking, she reached up and smoothed his tie, the knot slightly askew. When she realized what she was doing, she dropped her hand, her cheeks burning.

“Thanks,” he said softly, touching his tie and she nodded. “What are you drinking?”

“Whiskey. You want some?” She offered her glass and he took it, taking a sip. He made a face and handed it back to her.

“No. That’s godawful. Aack.” She laughed as she took a sip, having no such reaction.

“Beautiful,” he said quietly and she frowned. “I was going to say ‘beautiful.’” She continued to frown until she drew in a deep breath and let it out as she understood what he meant.

“It’s a new dress.” She shrugged, as though implying that was all it was, her mouth feeling dry as her heart began to race.

“Mm-hmm.” He nodded as her mother called everyone to dinner. He gestured for her to go first, his hand landing on the small of her back as she did, his fingers pressing gently and then disappearing.

The meal was delicious, with a toast to her father given which caused nearly everyone to tear up. Missy sniffled beside her and Scully reached for her hand, squeezing it gently.

After they ate, people sat around the table, talking about their families, friends, and plans for the new year. Mulder poured some wine into his glass and pushed it toward Scully, his arm going around and resting on the back of her chair.

As the talk turned to what had happened during the past year, Scully felt his thumb rub softly against her back, nearly imperceptible. She did not even notice how her breathing had increased until she felt his touch. Glancing at him, he kept his eyes on the person speaking, not looking her way.

Never had she been more grateful to have someone like him beside her. Someone who understood how it felt to be an outsider, while others around you carried on without a care.

His right hand was on the table and as she reached for the glass of wine, she ghosted her fingertips across his, silently thanking him. His thumb increased its pressure on her back for a second and then his touch was gone, though his arm remained on the chair.

When they moved into the living room, gifts were handed out to everyone, even Mulder, who seemed genuinely surprised by it. He held it in his lap, not opening it as everyone laughed and ripped off the ribbons and colorful paper.

“I didn’t bring a gift for everyone,” he whispered beside her and she smiled, laying the red ribbon on the sofa.

“Nor did you have to,” she said, looking at him. “My mother is my mother. This is how she says thank you. Open your gift.”

“Thank you for what?” he asked, looking down at the present lying on his lap. She said nothing and he raised his head, staring into her eyes. Neither of them said anything, but she knew he understood when he nodded, his hand brushing her knee in the pretense of moving the ribbon, and she shivered.

Laughter and thanks filled the air, people holding up their gifts for the others to see. Her mother smiled, her eyes sparkling with tears as she nodded, accepting their thanks.

Scully watched Mulder open his gift and smiled when she saw a tie and a pair of gloves. He took them out and tried them on, humming his appreciation.

“That’s the nicest looking tie you own,” she teased and he smiled with a nod, setting down the gloves and picking up the tie.

“I think you may be right.”

“Oh, I know I am.” He laughed and looked at her as she smiled.

“Do they fit alright?” Her mother stood by the sofa, smiling nervously, pointing at the gloves.

“They do, thank you, Mrs. Scully. I fear my gift wasn’t quite up to scratch.”

“No, Fox. It was perfect.” She rubbed his shoulder and walked away to speak to Charlie.

“What did you give her? I didn’t see her open anything.” He smiled and said nothing. “Mulder?”

“I gave her a Christmas Cactus. They don’t only bloom at Christmas, but I thought…. for your father and… you…” He shrugged, his leg bouncing. “I tried to find one but couldn’t until today. That’s why I was late, I found a nursery that would stay open, but it was farther than I had planned.” He shrugged and she stared at him.

“Mulder…” He looked at her and she sighed, not sure how to say what she was feeling. Nodding, he put the tie back in the box and glanced at her again. She smiled and found his hand, squeezing and letting go.

When he left, she walked with him to his car, shivering in the cold night air, despite the warmth of her coat.

“Well, I had a good time,” he stated, as though surprised, as he set his gift in the car and turned to look at her.

“Surprising, I know, considering there were no aliens or volcanic life forms.” He smiled as she raised her eyebrows and put her hands in her pockets.

“Not what I meant, but…”

“What did you mean? What were you expecting to happen?”

“Nothing to happen, per se, it’s just… I’m not family, nor exactly friendly with anyone, save you, and with your father’s anniversary, it just didn’t feel right.” He shrugged and she tilted her head, digesting his words.

“But you’re here and you agreed to be rather quickly when I asked you. You never really explained why.” He sighed and looked at the house, rubbing a hand across his mouth.

“Because of your mother.”

“How do you mean?” she asked, curious to hear his answer.

“I could say because I like her, she’s a kind person, but…”

“What?” He sighed again and put his hands in his pockets.

“When you were in the hospital, after you’d been… returned,” he said, closing his eyes. “The doctor told your mother and I about your living will, which I already knew about but never expected to have to think about so soon. When you fell below the criteria… the hospital had to abide by your decisions.”

Tears filled her eyes, imagining her mother in that situation and how she must have felt, but knowing her decisions had been right.

“It’s better to be prepared and have a plan, instead of forcing a family member to be the one to do it. To lay that guilt upon them.”

“And I agreed with you when I signed as your witness,” he said, opening his eyes. “I still feel the same way, but… seeing it in black and white and written down on paper, is different than experiencing it as you were lying there in a coma.” She nodded, wiping her cheeks, her tears warm, but cheeks cold.

“When they were walking out of the room to begin removing you from the respirator and the other life saving devices, your mother said you and I had a friendship built on respect and that while the moment was for family, I could join them if I wanted.”

He stared at her and she began to cry, unable to hold back the tears, as she understood what had made him agree to join them for dinner tonight. He stepped forward and pulled her close, her arms wrapping tightly around his waist, burying her face in his coat. Holding her as she cried, he murmured softly, his hands rubbing slowly up and down her back.

Pulling from him, she wiped her face, taking deep breaths as she did, trying to regain calm. She looked up at him and he smiled softly, his eyes searching her face, nodding as he seemed to receive the answer he was seeking.

A snowflake suddenly landed in his hair and she looked up as more began to fall. She laughed as she met his eyes again., watching the snow falling onto him, his hair filling with white flakes.

“I think you’d better get inside before you become a snowman… snow woman? Lady?” He furrowed his brow and she laughed.

But then her breath caught when, just as he had last year, he cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing away a snowflake. His hand was warm, his touch soft and gentle.

“Merry Christmas, Dana,” he whispered, and she closed her eyes briefly, his thumb stroking her cheekbone and moving down to her chin, his fingers on her neck.

“Merry Christmas, Mulder,” she whispered back, opening her eyes and staring at him. His eyes dropped to her lips and her heart fluttered, her hands coming up to his chest, almost of their own accord.

He began to lean in closer, when loud laughter erupted from her mother’s open door and echoed in the quiet of the night. Her hands dropped down as she pushed off of his chest, his hand moving from her cheek. He cleared his throat as the people leaving the party exclaimed over the falling snow.

“Well…” he said, stepping back and dropping his eyes.

“Be careful driving home,” she said and he nodded, raising his eyes to hers. She smiled with a nod and he let out a breath.

“You get inside, snow woman. It’s starting to come down harder. Don’t want you to catch a cold.” He held her gaze and she heard the words he was not saying.

“Okay.” She stepped back and made to walk toward the house when she turned around and stepped closer to him.

Reaching up on tiptoes, she kissed his cheek, the cold of the snowflakes falling contrasting with the warmth of his skin.

“Merry Christmas, Mulder,” she whispered again as she pulled back. He nodded with a small smile and she smiled back.

“Get in where it’s warm. I’ll see you in a couple of days.” She nodded and walked to the porch, turning around to watch him leave.

Waving goodbye, she stepped inside the house, hung up her coat, and went into the bathroom.

Fixing her hair, she smiled at the pink in her cheeks, knowing it was not only from the chill of the night.

No, it was from the man who chased monsters, believed in aliens, saw conspiracies in nearly everything, and had earned family status as a result of the care and devotion he had shown to her and her mother during her absence.

The one who, despite her very best efforts, had taken up residence in her heart and would be impossible to evict.

Not without taking part of her heart away with him.

[come-on-shitty-boys]

Haikyuu But They Don’t Play Volleyball (Pretty Setter Squad)

Notes: I am once again telling you that I know nothing about sports.  

*Read that Captain version here! (oikawa was included in the captain thread)*

Sugawara Koushi: Diving

He’s beauty. He’s grace. How could he not be a diver?

I’m sorry but just imagine him coming up from a dive, his hair clinging to his forehead, just smiling that pretty smile of his as he swims back to the edge of the pool?

Catch me simping.

TEAMMOMTEAMMOMTEAMMOM!

Sugawara is brings a whole ass cooler of snacks and drinks to every meet for all of his teammates.

Probably leads in stretches?  His positive energy gets everyone super hyped for the competition.  I promise you’ve never heard anyone count to ten with more enthusiasm.

He’s there on the sidelines to watch every single dive during the meet, shouting words of encouragement as they approach the platform, and then cheering loudly after the completed dive.

But, also?  C H A O T I C at practices.  Like he knows when it’s time to actually practice, but if something has the team down?  He’ll do some stupid move, shouting some TikTok reference on his way down.

Sugawara is really good at twisting dives? Like?? Really good at them.

If you come to his meets to watch him?  Precious bean smiles so much, likely giving you a thumbs up and a toothy grin before he steps up to the edge of the springboard.  

You’ll try to give him a hug once he’s out of the water, but he’ll likely just laugh and object, saying that he’ll get your clothes all wet.

But, he will sit down in his chair and let you dry his hair with his towel.  Watch him melt into your touch once you're done and just running your fingers through his silver strands, getting any tangles out.

He always offers you his jacket, because he’s an absolute gentleman.  But, he inevitably ends up getting cold, and will cuddle you in his lap to steal your body heat, putting his towel down over his legs so you don’t get your pants all wet.

Kageyama Tobio: Basketball

He plays point guard, because much like the setter in volleyball, the point guard controls the team’s offense.  It’s the most specialized position, again, just like the setter.

Three point K I N G!

Drains them left and right with expert precision.

He plays so rough oml and it’s not even on purpose!  Someone could guard him too much and he’s pissed even though that’s literally the point of basketball??? Catch him throwing so many elbows.

Kageyama practices dribbling non-stop.  If he’s not in during practice, he’s on the side lines doing ball-handling drills.

He could be the best ball-handler on the team and he’s still working to improve himself and learn from some of the point guards from the opposing teams.

He will have no idea that you’re even at his games, because he’s so in the zone, but if you come up to him afterwards as he walks out of the locker room?

Insert soft Tobio smile here ;-;

He’ll ask you if you enjoyed the game, probably talking about how one of the other players had a really clean jump shot, asking you to rebound for him so he can try that.

Please tell him no.  He’s on an adrenaline high and needs to go get some rest.

Kageyama will probably con you into it, no matter how much you object. He’d be shooting baskets, asking for your input every now and then as if you have any idea what you’re meant to be looking for.

You definitely walked up to him after a game in a t-shirt that had his name on it and this boy just got so flustered, because he will never be over the fact that you, of all people, wanted to date him.

But, he would tell you that you looked nice, just like he always does.  Kageyama would never outright say it, but the fact that you get all dressed up for his games makes his heart do backflips 🥺

Kozume Kenma: Track

Right? Crazy, I know, but hear me out.  He does high jump or maybe pole vault.  Something that doesn’t require too much physical exertion.

Sitting outside in the sun at track meets for hours on end is by no means his favorite thing to do, but he’s one of the first events, so if the meet is at Nekoma, he can just dip for a little while and go play his games at a cafe that has air conditioning or something.  Don’t tell his coach though because they’re technically not meant to leave??

During practices, you will likely find him lying on the mats, playing a game on his phone, not even caring if his coach comes over.  The others are doing the same thing, so why does it matter?

He can get really meticulous though, especially right before postseason.  He’d get in this trance where he’s constantly working on his approaches, making sure they feel just right before he even thinks about jumping.  

Kenma hates when you come watch him.  It throws him off, so if you do plan on coming to a meet, please don’t say anything ;-; 

Honestly, he probably wouldn’t even tell you when he has meets, just so he doesn’t run the risk of you watching him.  

Assuming you do find out his schedule, it’s probably best if you come after his events?  It would put him more at ease knowing that there wasn’t even the slightest possibility that you had watched him.

He’ll sit on the bleachers with you though, munching on some snacks that you brought, making quiet conversation while he plays his games.

Kenma will always tell you that he doesn’t care if you come or not, but deep down, he enjoys the time he gets to spend with you while he’s waiting for results he absolutely will make sure that you leave if he makes it to the final round though

Akaashi Keiji: Golf

GOLF BRAT this is a joke don’t kill me pls

I’m talking like he grew up playing golf with his dad, but because he’s played so long, he’s super good.  

He shoots in the high-30s on nine holes and probably gets really annoyed with himself if he gets in the mid-40s

You’ll see him on the driving range right after the match, practicing until he’s content if he ever does worse than he expected.

He only uses Callaway golf balls and probably has a really unique ball mark.

His golf clubs?  Custom fit.  He’s not a snob, I swear.  He just takes it really seriously, because Akaashi knows that he’s good and could get some really incredible scholarships.  He wants to be able to perform to the best of his ability and if that means spending a lot on a nice set of golf clubs that will last him for a long time, then he’ll do it.

Akaashi carries his clubs.  He doesn’t understand the need for those push carts?  Sure the clubs are kind of heavy, but it’s not that bad.

Definitely refused to wear a glove for a long time, but eventually the blisters and calluses got so bad that he had to cave.  

Putting KING.  Can and will sink a 15’ putt without batting an eyelash.  He doesn’t have a lot of power in his drives, but his short game is impeccable. 

He’s always really flattered when you show up to his matches.  They’re boring to watch, and he knows that, especially if you don’t play golf or have any interest in the sport.  

But, the fact that you’re willing to walk with him around the course, asking him questions about the rules of the game, or even just helping him find his ball?  It brings that gentle Akaashi smile to his face. 

Akaashi in a polo akaashi in a polo akaashi in a motherfucking polo

Some weekends he’ll take you out to the course with him, let you borrow a set of his old clubs if you don’t have a set of your own, and you two will play a round of golf together

You give up after hitting the ball in the lake four times in row and just settle for driving the golf cart and providing him with emotional support.

Atsumu Miya: Tennis

Just imagine that wide ass smile of his when he scores a point

Wait i’m already soft i-

Anyway.  The intention was to get Osamu to play too and they would be this really incredible duo for doubles

But Osamu physically could not put up with Atsumu’s shit.  Like, in volleyball there are other people on the court to interact with, but in doubles tennis? It’s just atsumu

Osamu literally lasted one practice.

But, we’re not here to talk about him.

Atsumu doesn’t have a lot of power, so he has to come up with other ways to score.  He mainly relies on well-aimed receives or drop shots

He hates the uniforms and he looks terrible in them.  I’m so sorry Atsumu stans, but it’s just a fact.  Those really light, almost white, khakis and the maroon polo?  Boy looks so dumb and he knows it.  Add the dumbass headband his coach makes him wear to keep his hair from his eyes?  Fashion crises.

It’s for this reason that he really doesn’t want you at his matches.  Because he knows that you’re going to take stupid pictures of him and use them as blackmail.  You come anyway and yes.  You take a million pictures of your boyfriend looking like a hot mess in his uniform.

If he catches you taking pictures in between sets?  He’s going to steal your phone the minute he’s done so he can delete them all

“153 pictures?! What the hell, Princess. . .”

“Sorry, ‘mu.  You just look so dumb in your uniform.”

He likes to drag you out to the courts on weekends to play doubles with friends or he’ll ask you to play singles with him. He always says that he’ll go easy on you, but three volleys in and he’s slipped into the zone and he’s playing for real.

Atsumu has absolutely smacked your ass with his racket and feigned innocence when you whirl around to stare at him in shock.  He probably starts lecturing the nearest person on how they should treat someone like that, especially his princess.

Smack his arm and shut him up, please.

I promise he looks a lot better when the two of you go play than when he actually has a match.  Some nice athletic shorts and a black t-shirt or hoodie, maybe a baseball cap to keep his hair out of his face?  Yeah.  He looks hella cute.

[darkarfs]

single moments from the Trump presidency that would have defined/ended any other politician’s career

- saying he could “buy Greenland�� - suggesting it was a good idea to nuke hurricanes - saying there would be fewer forest fires if we just got rid of all the leaves - asking Trudeau if Canada had tried to burn down the White House - autographing pictures of shooting victims - when he kept talking about how they drop bowling balls on cars to test them in japan and no one could figure out where he could have even gotten the idea - when he suggested Seoul should just move away from the North Korean border - introducing West Virginia’s governor as ‘the largest, most beautiful man’ - when he tweeted SEE YOU IN COURT! right after an appeals court ruled against him. like. yeah man. they just did. - the time he didn't know how to close an umbrella so he just dropped it and walked away - fighting with the Vietnam vets over whether napalm or agent orange is used in the Ride of the Valkyries scene in Apocalypse Now and then when they insisted it was napalm, Trump said they disagreed with him because they didn't like the movie (The line is famously, literally “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”) - using his position as the single most powerful person in the world to promote Goya canned beans - when he bragged about the crowd size at the hurricane shelter in coastal Texas (”what a turnout”) - signing Bibles. What. - thinking the F-22 is invisible to the naked eye - smiling and giving a thumbs up during a photo op with a baby orphaned by a mass shooting - putting a candy bar on a Minion’s head because he’s never interacted with a child before -  when he interpreted some stray comment about transparency in the process to mean his border wall should literally be transparent, so passersby are not beaned by bundles of drugs and cans being thrown over the wall - the time he talked about having to flush his massive dumps 10 times and then immediately tried to blame the dumps on his supporters - the fake Sharpee’d hurricane map, which he did solely to not appear wrong on television - suggesting that federal employees working unpaid during the gov shutdown should just “do a work around” at the grocery store if they can’t pay for groceries - the fucking eclipse thing - the fucking three-pointers with paper towels to Puerto Rican hurricane victims - when he told thousands of Boy Scouts a story about his rich friend's fuckboat and then complained about Hilary for the remainder of the speech - when the called the CEO of Lockheed Martin “Marilyn Lockheed” (her last name is Hewson) which was objectively funnier than “Tim Apple” - when he picked an argument with Baltic world leaders because he thought the Baltics were the Balkans - the first time his team had a meeting in the cabinet room they couldn’t figure out how to turn on the lights and ended up just having the meeting in the dark -  The time he said Andrew Jackson was "really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said 'There's no reason for this.'" (Jackson died 16 years before the Civil War, and he owned 150 slaves.) - told a 7-year-old boy there was no Santa Claus on Christmas - the team of staffers whose only job was to tape back together documents he had torn up because he’s just THAT used to destroying evidence, because they couldn’t get him to stop ripping them up, but legally, the documents had to be archived - when he said the Continental Army took over the British airports during the Revolution - no sanctions on Russian soldiers killing American soldiers - “I take no responsibility for this pandemic.” - when touring the damage the Louisiana gulf coast after Hurricane Laura (just a few months ago!), he started giving first responders autographed pieces of paper, which he told them to sell on eBay for $10,000 - when he thought "clean coal" meant that the miners dug it out of the ground and physically cleaned it - the goddamn fast food catering - trying to trick the family of a teen killed by a US diplomat's wife who fled justice into meeting her, Ellen-style - pushing the Prime Minister of Montenegro out of the way to preen - that time he called into Fox & Friends and ranted for so long that they politely but firmly kicked him off - hiring an Obama impersonator solely to berate him - having a button installed on his desk that let him order Diet Coke on a whim. And sometimes using that button upwards of 13 times a day. - that time when a kid handed him a hat to sign, and he signed the hat, but instead of handing it back, he just threw it into the middle of the crowd - autographing the guestbook at the Holocaust memorial, with an added “had such a great time!” - when he zoned out and wondered where a woman's dead relatives were DIRECTLY after she had said her mother six brothers were killed. (Actual exchange: “They killed my mother, my six brothers...” “Where are they now?”) - sending 2,000 soldiers to the border to stop “the caravan,” having their pictures taken, and then recalling them all. - consoling a dead soldier’s family by saying “he knew what he was getting into.” - when he said no one could climb over the border wall because there would be no way down, and then belatedly remembered rope - when he congratulated the Great Lakes on their "record deepness" - calling Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” at an event meant to honor Navajo code talkers  - “Shithole countries” - calling Baltimore “rat-infested” - tweeting “too bad!” right after Elijah Cummings’ house was broken into - calling the White House “a dump” a month into moving in, which led to first both him and Melania, and then just Melania by herself, staying in Trump Tower for almost 5 months, costing taxpayers around $100,000 a day - an entire quarter of his presidency spent on his own golf courses, costing taxpayers around $141,000,000, NOT counting the Secret Service detail (they were charged for rooms and golf carts, since these were Trump’s OWN golf courses) - using “Pocahontas” again to slur Elizabeth Warren while talking down to a Native American journalist - holding a rally in Pittsburgh and trying to woo the locals by ranting about how the statue of Joe Paterno, the accused pedophilia enabler who was coach of a rival sports team, should go back up - confusingly having bigger salt and pepper shakers than everyone else in his administration, because everything to him is a dick-measuring contest - when he said he would “run in and take care of” school shooters, to school shooting victims - appointing fucking DeVos, Miller, Pompeo, Mnuchin, Nunes - inciting a seditious white supremacist mob to make sure he’s president until he’s 85, resulting in 5 dead (for which I am constantly wondering...”really? FOR THIS GUY?”) - drafted a proposal to open 94% of previously protected American shorelines to offshore drilling - when he walked up the stairs to Air Force One with toilet paper stuck to his shoe -  at least 44 times in March, April and early May in which he downplayed the threat of the virus calling it “very well under control” again and again - when somebody asked him his favorite book and he pointed at a bookshelf and said “there are some over there” - meeting with the goddamn MyPillow guy to discuss overturning election results and declaring martial law - impeached twice, was golfing both times the vote went through - 70 pardons for known criminals (including Bannon), 70 sentences commuted, just to be a spiteful little toad - when he blathered on about how much he loved the queen, the totally hacked her off - when Hope Hicks steamed his pants as he was wearing them - getting mad-pissed at White House kitchen staff because they couldn’t recreate McDonald’s and it was too late to order  and I wonder how much I missed. I bet there’s a McSweeney’s article listing all of it.

[yobaba30]

Stolen from Twitter

I owe my Trump-supporting friends an apology.  I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency these last four years, and am still exhausted from the experience. But to be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans, separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, nominated a corrupt head the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Part 2 cont… Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers held blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,” threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic respon used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked US falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back into the G7, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” fucked up the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, Part 3 continues… seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain, claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there, hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from  a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event, hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech, took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition, never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!!), falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment. But other than that. . . Please share. This is how history books will read, because these are PROVABLE FACTS! Truth

[bigmacdaddio]

Trump

Trump will never be forgotten because he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed over half a million Americans, separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach or disinfectant into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader, believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers, held blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history, threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,” threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic response, used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government, falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back into the G7, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” fu**ed up the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic, did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain, claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there, hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from  a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “F**k tha Police” at a campaign event, hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech, took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure, never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!!), falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and keep his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.

[ebullientbun]

Don’t Be  A Deuce Bag

Starring: tennis!Jin x Reader Genre: mildest angst if any, fluff, friends-to-lovers!au Word Count: 3.5k Warnings: someone gets hit in the balls, slight swearing, lots of tennis jargon A/N: this is originally for the Sports!AU August prompt by @btsboulangerie, but I had a feeling that I won’t be able to finish it in time yeet

Summary: You and Jin are doubles partners, though you dream of being more than that. But doubles partners communicate, and Jin has been giving you the silent treatment. You need to get to the bottom of it. 

The general public would always see tennis as some sort of elite sport, a hobby that rich people enjoy  in their free time if they weren’t on a golf course. But they never consider the level of strategy, technique, and effort that goes into playing a match in competitive tennis, thinking that it’s just for players needlessly grunting as they hit the ball or dramatically falling into a split running towards a fast ball. But you found it to be more than that.

You found a home with the people with you on the tennis court. You’ve made your first friends in high school with these people, driving to and fro from away matches to all day tournaments. You’ve spent countless hours at dawn or late at night practicing drills with each other. 

And you’ve discovered your love to be on the court. You first joined the team not expecting much, already knowing that you’ll be accepted onto the team since they were in constant need of female members, but you genuinely created a unique bond with each and every single one of them. 

Not too long after your singles match, you plop down on the bleachers next to your best friend, Sooyoung. Snatching your fourth fruit snack packet from your tennis bag, you begin fueling yourself with sugar as you watch the other ongoing matches. You brighten, nudging Sooyoung on the shoulder. “Oh my god, look at Taehyung over there, third court”. 

She turns, squealing excitedly. “He’s wearing a headband! Ugh, he’s so hot.” She leans forward to read the scoreboard, squinting. “He’s losing against Jimin, though.”

You hum. “Somehow, being frustrated is low-key making him hotter.” You watch as he wipes his forehead with a towel before tossing it on the bench; you sigh longingly. “I’d let him eat my ass like a cupcake anytime.” Sooyoung giggles at your comment, playfully shoving you in embarrassment. 

“Can you not talk about our opponent like that? You’re rooting for the wrong team,” a voice sounds from behind you. 

Kim Seokjin. Your doubles partner since you’ve joined the team and made you fall in love with the game. Instead of going through the motions, you felt a combination of excitement and anxiety during every match with him because he’s made it something to build yourself for.

You whip your head around, glaring at doubles partner. “Mind your own business, Jin. It’s legal to thirst.”

He rolls his eyes, before paying his attention back to the match on the first court. 

Your relationship with Seokjin was nothing short of incessant bickering. You first got to know each other when you were filling up the team’s water jug as a newbie, and upon struggling to hold it up as it got heavier, he had come to the rescue to help out. Your coach saw the both of you as an opportunity for a mixed doubles team, since none of the other members wanted to be part of it and you both were getting along well.  You both gave it a shot - having a position from the coach is better than being benched.

He easily gets on your nerves. He’s a gentleman, yet has a hankering of complaining. When you aim a ball too far and it lands out, suddenly he’s a know it all and tries to correct you for it. But when he makes a mistake, suddenly it’s the wind’s fault! You have to admit, he did help you with your form when you struggled with your backhand stroke back then.

All of that is tolerable when you consider the amount of synergy the both of you have on the court together. While you’re known for dominating at the net, Seokjin was known for keeping long rallies at the baseline. Was he garbage at the net? Sure. But you’ve been mixed doubles partners for the past couple years and have figured out a routine that worked. Playing with a different partner never interested you when you both knew each other’s playing styles so well. 

That, and you had a small crush on him. Only a teeny one.

You offer him one of your fruit snacks, and he happily plucks one from the pouch. “Which court are we playing on soon?”

Seokjin nods towards the other section of courts, “Court 7, after Jeon’s finished playing.”

“We have a good advantage then, he’ll be too tired after the singles match to have enough energy for our match right after,” you comment. 

Seokjin scoffs, “As if. He’s a powerhouse; he’ll just chug a Gatorade and go back at it again.” 

“Who’s his partner again?”

“Yerim, I think.”

You groan. “No way, I hate that bitch! I just played her in singles and she slices every other ball.”

Seokjin hums pensively, “At least we have that advantage of how she plays.”

You nod, crumpling up your now empty fruit snack pouch and tossing it into the trash can. “Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

.             

Things were not fine. 

As Seokjin predicted, Jungkook was a monster and did not resist holding back slamming the ball towards you every time. It’s a dirty tactic to aim solely for the female opponent, but luckily for you and your partner, you were more fearless to his fastballs. 

What you did not expect was cheating. 

Your match is on the third set, both sides tiring out with a close score. Seokjin and you are in the lead 4-3. Currently, Jungkook is serving to Seokjin, while you are positioned near the net. Seokjin had been rallying cross-court with Jungkook for a while, but the angles were too wide for either of you or Yerim to poach from the net. With quick strategy, Seokjin abruptly rallies the ball straight, into a wide open area that Yerim, expecting another diagonal rally, fails to block. You figure it’s a clean win on the point, but Yerim holds up her pointer finger in the air.

“Out.”

...What?

Both you and Seokjin freeze. Mid high five too. You snap your head towards her. 

“...That was in the line.” You walk closer to her at the net. 

“No,” she argues, “it was close but it landed outside the double lines.” She crosses her arms and walks over to the area near where the ball landed and points with her racket at a spot out of bounds.

Oh, hell no. She didn’t even see where the ball landed, she isn’t even facing towards it. 

You gape in disbelief, turning towards Jungkook. “Are you sure?” 

Jungkook bites his lip, looking from you and Seokjin to his partner, before replying, “Yes.”

The audacity. You could feel the steam coming out of your ears. You are this close to childishly throwing a tantrum and asking for a referee, but you stop upon feeling a firm grasp on your shoulder.

“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t,” Seokjin mutters, glaring at them for good measure. “We are not going to stoop to their level if this is how they want to play.”

“This is the third time she’s called one of our ‘in’ balls ‘out’, and we’re just gonna sit here and let that happen? Your ball was obviously within the line,” you hiss. You want to smack that snooty look off her face.

Seokjin furrows his eyebrows, frustrated as well - most of the balls Yerim called were his. “Play fair and stay calm. We don’t want to make rash mistakes and slam the next few points into the net.”

You take in a deep inhale, before huffing. Offering your doubles partner a stiff high five, you get back into position for the next point.

Jungkook serves the ball to you, noticing how you rally back but don’t approach the net immediately as you usually would. He subtly starts closing towards the net, but you internally smirk - he was going to drop a short ball on your side. 

As expected, he slices the next rally directly down the middle of the court, Seokjin frantically trying to poach the ball but missing. But you’re ready.

“Mine!” You rush towards the net, and with all of the pent up anger inside of you, you slam a forehand ball straight at Jeon Jungkook’s crotch. 

Without enough time to react, Jungkook fails to block the fast ball and crumples to the ground. “Oh fuck!”

Yerim gasps, running to him and hollering for a time out. Jungkook, in all of his beautiful and wincing glory, lays in a fetal position in the middle of the court.

You turn your body away from them so they don’t see, but more importantly so Seokjin can see you. “For you, Jin,” you wink at him with a smug smile on your face. 

Seokjin, who had mild concern for the poor boy, stares at you in bewilderment. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Then, he bursts into a chuckle and offers you a low fist bump. “That's my girl.” 

If you had known any better, you would think that his eyes were twinkling in the slightest bit. Your heart, in addition to the adrenaline, flip flops excitedly at the endearment. 

.

In the end, you both still lost.

It wasn’t too surprising, but you both still had hope that by hurting Jungkook to his friend downstairs, you would have an advantage by winning only two more games. But, no. It appears that it just fueled the rage monster that unleashed within Jeon Jungkook and you lost three games in a row. Nonetheless, you and Seokjin took it in stride, already accepting upon walking onto the court that a loss wouldn’t be too bad as long as both of you did your best. Seokjin seemed just fine when you both walked off the court after the match to report to your coach. 

.

However, now, Seokjin is a brat to you. 

It’s a regular practice day, and instead of doing warm up laps around the courts with you like he normally does, he elects to chat next to Irene instead. 

Ok, sure. Whatever. Not like you were obligated to warm up together, you suppose. You slow the pace of your lunges until Sooyoung catches up with you, falling into pace with her. 

Sooyoung, despite heaving from trying to pick up the pace with the rest of the team, cocks her head in your direction. “Oh? Why aren’t you with Seokjin?”

You shrug, sparing a glance in his direction before sighing. “I don’t know, maybe he had something to talk about with Irene.”

Sooyoung frowns, nudging you on the shoulder with her elbow. “Then don’t pout, it’s probably nothing.”

You’re about to respond when your coach blows his whistle, indicating to everyone to warm up with a partner for half court rallies. You turn and begin to walk towards Seokjin, but you pause once you see him completely ignore you and beeline straight for your team captain, Jung Hoseok.

Hoseok’s eyes widen in surprise when Seokjin approaches him, nodding carefully while briefly holding eye contact with you as Seokjin speaks with him.

“Uh,” You turn back around, grabbing Sooyoung by the wrist, “can you practice with me today?”

Sooyoung furrows her eyebrows, frowning further upon seeing your doubles partner head towards a court with Hoseok to practice. “Sure.”

As if that wasn’t weird enough, he was in a mood during the practice games as well. He didn’t even acknowledge you when you sought him out, only following you on the court as you played against your teammates. You tsk when he brushes past you to place his water bottle on the benches. 

If he wasn’t going to talk to you, you’re just going to act like nothing is happening. 

But that was becoming increasingly difficult. He wouldn’t talk strategy with you, much less offer you a high five between points, and it was messing up your flow in the game. You missed more of your serves than usual, even your second serves. Seokjin would look increasingly annoyed whenever you miss a ball, and you’re already hanging on a tight leash. 

Seokjin is getting ready to serve for the next game, and he calls your name before passing you an extra ball to hold. You try to decline, but he’s already thrown it your way. 

“Jin, can you just roll this ball to the corner?”

“Just keep it in your pockets like earlier?”

“In my pock- I don’t have pockets, Jin!” You yell back, throwing the ball back at him. “Female uniforms don’t have pockets.”

Seokjin squinted. “If you don’t have pockets, how are you holding the extra ball?”

You scoff, “We are not as blessed to have long pockets like you guys, so we stick it in our underwear!” You gleam upon seeing his face go from irritable to mortified. “That’s right, the tennis balls you’re touching? Probably has female sweat from being lodged between our hip and our underwear all the time. But guess what!” You don’t even give him time to respond. “I forgot to wear decent underwear, and unfortunately, a g-string does not hold the ball in place, so I’m having a bit of a hard time running around with a ball sliding down my shorts!”

Your teammate across the court clears his throat. “Uh… can we continue the game?” 

You hold a finger in the air, “Yeah, one sec.” You turn back to Seokjin, feeling more angry as you look at him. “And if we did have pockets, they wouldn’t even hold the ball properly. So don’t you dare complain to me about not wanting to hold the extra ball for you while you serve, you privileged asshole! I don’t know why you’re cranky today, but either talk to me about it or don’t take it out on me!”

You huff, turning back around and standing in position at the net, swallowing in awkwardness at your argument with your doubles partner. Regardless, your other teammates also slowly get back into position and the game continues with a tense atmosphere.

.

You catch Hoseok at the end of practice trying to lock the courts while juggling the box of tennis balls in his other arm. “Hey, Cap! Let me help.” You jog up to him, grabbing the box from him as he finishes locking up.

He scratches the back of his neck sheepishly, “Thanks. I could’ve set it down but for some reason I was making it harder on myself.”

“All good, see you tomorrow at practice!” You hand him back the box and prepare to head for the girls’ locker room when you feel a tug on your shoulder.

“Actually,” Hoseok starts, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Seokjin.”

You bristle, “And what about him?”

Hoseok looks at you pointedly, “don’t give me that look. You know as my duty as team captain I have to keep you all in check, but I’ve been getting a couple of comments from some teammates that you’ve both been fighting a lot lately.” You want to interrupt but Hoseok stops you with a glare. “I know it’s none of my business to enter into people’s affairs, but this is making some of the members uncomfortable, hell, I’m uncomfortable because I don’t like practicing with Jin. That lobbying bastard.”

You chuckle, knowing how much people aren’t used to rallying with him like you’ve been for the past few years. 

Hoseok smiles, “Just talk it out with him. Please. You can probably catch him since he’s just gone to the locker room. I don’t want to have to seek you out again, but I will if I have to.”

You jokingly salute at him, making your way to the locker room again. This time in a bit of a hurry. “Aye aye, captain.”

.

You pace quickly up the stairs to the locker room, hoping that Seokjin hadn’t gone home already. Just as you reach the top, you catch him leaving the boys’ locker room at the end of the hall. “Jin! Wait up!” You perk up once he stops in his tracks, jogging faster towards him. “Hey,” you pant slightly, “can we talk?”

Seokjin quirks his mouth to the side, thinking pensively for a moment before nodding. 

You fall into step with Seokjin, trailing beside him as the both of you walk towards the exit. It was silent for the first few minutes, but those minutes were killing you. “Okay, I’m not gonna beat around the bush, why were you ignoring me today?”

Seokjin scoffs, unsurprised by your frankness. “I’m not ignoring you.”

“You’re not-oh don’t be a fucking liar now,” you hiss. “You didn’t do the warm-ups with me and you were being especially crabby during practice.”

“If anything, you’re the one that’s being crabby.” 

You gasp, “you have the nerve. You know what I’m talking about.”

Seokjin groans, readjusting the tennis bag strap on his shoulder. “Look, I can make buddies with other people on the team, too, y’know?” 

“This was different,” you whine. “What did I do wrong?”

Seokjin stops in place, forcing you to halt and stare at him. “Do you consider me as a friend?”

“Of course,” you reply immediately.

“But… only as a friend?”

Your heartbeat stops briefly. “Wh… what do you mean?”

Seokjin stands there, un-answering but intensely holding your gaze. You want to avert your eyes elsewhere, feeling too overwhelmed by his stare and the possible meanings behind his words. You nearly combust on the spot when he slowly raises his hand to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. 

You sputter, “D-Do you…?”

Seokjin smiles sadly, placing his hand back in his pocket. “I guess you could say I was jealous earlier.” Upon seeing you frown in confusion, he continues, “Before the other school left the other day, I saw Taehyung exchange numbers with you. And you… you seemed pretty into him. It was a bit frustrating to see.”

Your mouth was left gaping, opening and closing like a fish. He was jealous? So that meant, he likes you? Or does he not like your fraternizing with the enemy?

Seokjin sighs at your silence, turning to begin walking again. 

You’re stuck in place, trying to absorb this new information. But wait, he’s gone out the door. You haul ass to chase after him. 

“Wait!” You holler at him, even though he didn’t gain that much distance from him. “Stop!”

Seokjin groans loudly, “What do you want from me?” 

You catch up to him once again, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. “You like me?”

Seokjin shakes his head, and you think you might cry on the spot for somehow misunderstanding him. “I can’t believe I have to confirm with you when it is so obvious.” He leans forward to flick you on the forehead. You whine, clasping sadly at your unnoticeable wound. “Yes, dummy. I like you, and I was so sure you felt the same way, but I guess I’m wrong.”

“EH??” You’re feeling a lot of emotions all over again, but on the bright side, you’re glad that the main one is happiness. 

Seokjin scratches the back of his head, unsure if your reaction to this new revelation is good or bad. “Well, Hoseok told me that maybe you just exchanged numbers as friends, so I chilled out.” He starts to fiddle with the zipper on his shirt. “But then I overheard you talking to Irene about him outside the locker rooms. I asked her earlier if you were like, serious with him or something. And she just laughed in my face.” He pouts at that.

You almost laugh, almost. “I do, though. Like you, I mean. I exchanged numbers just to do it, but I didn’t have any real feelings towards Taehyung. At least not like the ones I have for you…” It feels weird to say out loud, and you feel like your heart is pounding way too hard in your chest. You aren’t even looking at Seokjin at this point, but aimlessly staring at trees. 

You yelp as you’re harshly tugged forward, darting your eyes to the hands that grasped yours and then to the owner, who has a beaming smile on his face.

“Come on,” Seokjin chuckles, pulling you to the direction of his car in the parking lot. 

“Where are we going?”

“Our first date. I know you have nothing better to do.”

You almost kick him in the shin for that. Almost means you attempted, but his long legs maneuver too fast for you to keep up. Seokjin laughs boisterously, dodging your attacks.

Although fake-upset at him, you smile along with him, intertwining your fingers together.

[krudlerace]

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[entirebodyexercise]

When Imbalance is a Good Thing: Build Strength With Balance Boards

It seems as though the use-it-or-lose-it checklist grows longer on the day-to-day, with functional strength as well as equilibrium being 2 of those necessary points you do not consider till they begin to fail.

If nagging lower leg injuries are coming to be the norm or you're stumbling regularly, inadequate of foot stamina, minimal ankle joint flexibility and also leg-muscle imbalances could be to condemn.

"The wellness of our feet, good or bad, directly connects to our run health," says Eric Orton, an endurance athlete, train as well as writer of The Cool Impossible. "Exactly how we utilize the feet associates to exactly how well we trigger appropriate muscle mass firing patterns up through the hip as well as ultimately develops equilibrium and also stablizing."

Orton claims concentrated foot enhancing workouts, as well as focusing on assistance muscular tissues in ankle joints, hips and also even the spinal column, muscle mass that are commonly overlooked, are important when it concerns establishing healthy and balanced patterns in running muscles.

"If you really consider it, our feet are the only thing touching the ground. They control motion, give responses regarding where you remain in space as well as are the initial line of stability as well as stamina," Orton states. "We are only as strong as our feet. If the leg muscles overpower the feet/suspension system, injury takes place."

Foot massage therapies, single-leg balance workouts, scrunching a towel with your toes and rolling your arcs over a golf round excellent beginning factors to work with interesting under-utilized muscles. Integrating activities like solitary leg drills or even hopping rope aid to improve proprioception.

You could also up the initiative element by taking your exercise off-kilter on a balance or wobble board. When making use of these inherently unsteady tools, even more muscular tissue teams, from your feet to your core, are required to keep you upright, transforming even basic squats right into a dynamic strengthening workout.

"We require to surpass the suggestion that angle boards as well as wobble boards are for extending as well as equilibrium, to the idea that the feet need to be educated to boost efficiency and mitigate injury as well as muscular tissue tightness," states Orton, that assumes balance boards are a crucial conditioning tool. "If we can adjustments joggers' perspective on muscle mass rigidity and balance, it will assist reshape the principle of true strength for joggers, eventually aiding them really feel better with less muscle tightness."

For doing exercises on a balance board, when you readjust to the unstable aspect (don't really feel bad if merely balancing is an exercise by itself!), attempt resolving your conventional movement workouts. Squats, single-leg squats, tree present, single-leg deadlifts, pinhead curls and kickbacks-- all come to be considerably more tough when utilizing a balance board.

Many fitness centers have some kind of balance equipment, like the prominent BOSU Balance Trainers. See if your own deals classes or try an exercise on your own. If you choose to balance in privacy, look into this checklist of options. Simply be sure to clear lots of space before you begin your exercise and also hold onto a counter, treking posts or a good friend, if needed, as you adjust!

[bubmyg]

Can you write about crushing Yoongi always trying to find an excuse to hold your hand or touch you in little affectionate ways?? 💞

prompt: seven different types of physical affection and seven different times yoongi acted upon those

word count: 2,215

1. caressing/stroking

Yoongi had an unwarranted itch to be closer to you. He barely knew the taste of your name on his tongue yet he so badly wanted to crush his fingers around yours, flatten his lips against your cheek, test if your skin tasted like the sweet vanilla wafting off the soft cotton of your shirt. 

He rocked onto his heels, shoving the tips of his fingers into the front pockets of his jeans. The relaxed lean of your stature was in direct contrast to the rigid tip toe of his own, your head tilted against your shoulder, care free smile painting your lips as beautiful laughter tumbled past petaled lips to each squeaky giggle presented by Hoseok. 

Rocking steps tottered Yoongi closer, a pendulum sized movement that seemed to account for a hinge drilled between the exaggerated part of his feet. Hoseok acknowledged him with a tilt of his head, parting the flush of his apple cheeks as he followed the shy crush the elder’s chin against his clavicle, scuffing his untied shoe into the tile. 

“Hi!” Hoseok cheered, folding his arms to his chest as he took a heeled step backward. 

Yoongi acknowledged his friend with a curt nod while peering under thick eyelashes, gaze instead swinging to where you stood. An equally bright smile stayed toothless over your plush lips, eyes crinkling slightly, chin tilted toward him. 

“Hello,” He greeted lowly, a rumbling timbre that shivered at the waver of your bottom lip. Gingerly and almost unconsciously did his arm raise, crooked fingers gently rubbing over your bicep down to the crook of your elbow where his touch shyly returned to glue against his hip. “How are you?”

You refused to recognize the surprised puff of air that caught in your throat as his feathery light contact. 

“I’m great, Yoongi,” You hummed, meeting the bashful scrunch of his squished cheeks, “How are you?”

2. back rubs/massages

Yoongi eyed you as you chewed raw into the dip of your bottom lip, hunched over your laptop, one eyes scrunched and the other bordering on a mist of elicited tears. 

His steps were slow, calculated, sinking a sizable distance away from the bend of your thighs on the couch cushions. Quietly, he inquired, “Where did Jimin run off to?”

You shrugged, a full bodied movement that had your wrists clattering to your laptop and your fingers clicking into a jumbled mess of keys. “Taehyung called him I think,” You whispered, voice meek as the angry red squiggle of a typo mocked the frustrations of your key smash. “I don’t mind being here alone. I was about to head back to my place anyway…”

He nodded, leaning back a bit to support his elbows on the high rise of his thighs, ring clad fingers clasped underneath his chin. Eyes craned, sliding over the expanse of your open word document. Softly, “What are you working on?”

A small whine gurgled in the back of your throat, head shaking as you shoved your laptop up to teeter off your knees. “Just an essay,” After a moment, you added with a bitter laugh, “it’s really frustrating. I don’t think I’m ever going to get done.”

Yoongi leaned further, crooked fingers rubbing soft circles into the small of your back before he could coil the jump of his muscles. He reveled when you seemed to relax into his ministrations, braving him enough to flatten his expanse palm over your spine. 

“Are you okay?” He softened between circled rubs. 

You arched your back when his fingers flexed, blunt fingernails scratching into your skin, watching his profile from the crease of your eyes. 

“I will be. Thank you for asking.”

3. holding hands

The shake of your giggling shoulders brushed against Yoongi’s, his head tearing away from darting between the playfully heated exchange of Jeongguk and Seokjin to instead map the smile lines that laced the beauty of your visage. 

“Do you even know how to hold a golf club?” Jeongguk lipped, effectively dodging the playful box of Seokjin’s fist to his collarbone in a fit of high pitched giggles. 

“First of all,” Seokjin huffed, “it’s mini golf…”

Namjoon mediated it, stepping between the two with a soft smile crinkling crescents into his eyelids and palms flattened out to the eldest and youngest. “We can split into teams,” The leader suggested, “It’ll make everything go quicker for us and for everyone else that’s just trying to have a peaceful evening.”

“I like teams,” Hoseok chirped, smiling affectionately at a bouncing Jimin who threw himself against his arm, “Teams are good.”

Yoongi shoved his fingers between the spaces of your own, tugging you impossibly close into the dip of his side. He barely had time to consider the repercussions or the dusted pink cotton that rooted to his cheeks, announcing a space above a whisper, “Y/N’s my partner.”

When no one acknowledged him, he cleared his throat, speaking evenly, “Y/N and I are on a team,” His gaze cut promptly to the shine of your eyes, stuttering, “I mean, if that’s okay.”

Six pair of eyes softened knowingly. 

“Okay, Yoongi-hyung,” Taehyung beamed. 

You nodded, securing the crook of the top link of your fingers to the prominent veins on the back of his hand, squeezing tenderly before turning your pointed attention to a gloating Jeongguk, “We’re going to kick your ass-”

4. hugging

A towel etched over the droplets of sweat painting ebony locks against a crinkled forehead, sweeping away the result of the exhaustion clinging to Yoongi’s sore muscles. The pain balled and wretched away in favor for the jump of his heart in his throat the second a small commotion erupted near the door of the dressing room, the stocky figure of Jimin diving over a chair to intercept a bobbing figure. 

“Jimin!” You gasped, thrashing in his grasp when damp locks dug into the juncture of your throat. The stick of sweat surrounded you, drenching at your top and clinging to the back of your nostrils as a nearby staff member tutted in reprimand at the small man. 

He huffed, pulling away to inspect you with a smug grin. “You mean you come to visit us and you can’t even handle a little post show sweat?” He feigned hurt, hand fist into his shirt over his heart, features scrunched as his chin jerked back. 

“Yeah, yeah,” You swatted at chest, barely catching the pads of your fingers to the wrinkle of his top as you craned your neck over his shoulder. “Where’s Yoongi?”

His heart swelled, towel clutching tighter in delicate digits as he slid into your line of sight, waving softly, “Hi, love,” Yoongi greeted, teeth in his cheek unable to contain the light of his gums stretching over his lips. The towel met the drench of sweat at the nape of his neck on habit, eyes trailing the bounce of your figure around Jimin as you moved to stand in front of him. 

“You did great,” You blurted. The sole of your shoe dug shyly into the tile as you sidestepped a purposeful staff member. “I mean you always do, but…”

The brunt of the towel smacked Jimin’s cheek as Yoongi stepped forward, softly looping his arms around your stature to bring you into a tentative hug. “Thank you,” He hushed, alternating the slide of his hands over the supple skin of your back. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

5. cuddling/holding

Yoongi spun in his desk chair, mouth parted to question what you wanted for dinner. The sighed inquiry instead stuttered down the length of his tongue, getting lost in the sharp swallow he took as his eyes cast down the curl of your stature on his studio couch. 

You were curled into yourself, holding a pillow across your arms like a blanket. The awkward curve of your wrist cradled your phone, the soft illumination brightening the contours of your features in a separate shade from that in which cast in shards from the monitors of his computers. Faintly, he caught the rise of goosebumps littering the bare expanse of your skin, eliciting a tighter clench to your jaw as your toes curled into the cushion. 

Cute. 

A chuckle matched the creak of plastic as he rose, trekking the short distance to slide in beside you. The movement of his hand against your thigh was planned, thumb stroking out the bumps, smile curtaining when you glanced at him over your phone. 

“Are you cold?” Yoongi reached, plucking at the puny upholstery of the pillow with his thumb and index finger, “Because I have much better blankets than this.”

You rolled your eyes, launching it to bounce off his chest. “I mean yeah,” You trailed off, dropping your phone in your lap, “I’m a little cold, I guess.”

He shook his head, touch leaving your skin as he shuffled for a stack of shelves in the corner. The spread of his arms came wielding a downy grey blanket, one that wrapped over the planes of his stature as he fell back in beside you. 

“I come with the blanket,” Yoongi’s teeth bit into the corner of his lip, gauging your reaction, “If that wasn’t clear.”

You crawled the short length to the surface of the blanket, cuddling against the warmth of his chest as he aided in wrapping the fuzzy surface over the chill of your skin. Your cheek met knuckles curled in the puffy hem of the blanket, eyes fluttering shut as he continued to gather his embrace around your figure in his lap. 

“I wouldn’t have wanted anything less,” You whispered. 

6. kissing on the face

He met you halfway down the hallway, catching the trip of your stature into his chest with a muted, “Hey, hey, what-”

A spilling sob racked your shoulders, tears seeping through the thin cotton of Yoongi’s shirt as you clung to him. He stuttered only for a moment, gently drawing his arms over the high slope of your shoulders to crush you against him. “Please, you have to calm down,” He told the frantic shake of your shoulders, “Breathe for me angel, try to calm down.”

You met his requests in stutters, sharp breaths drawing your swelled bottom lip under your teeth, stalling the wet of your cheeks to gentle streams rather than rushing rivers, loosening the clutch of your grip on his shirt to flatten your hands to the dips in his collarbone. 

“Sorry, I just came straight here, I meant to call…” A huff dropped the tautness of your shoulders, voice a bit smaller as you told him, “Jin let me in. They all saw me, I’ve probably worried everyone, I’m sorry, I just-”

Yoongi hushed you, cupping your cheeks in his palms to bring your gaze firmly to his own. “It’s okay,” He assured you softly. 

You silently observed as he ducked at the waist, angling your head to press a tender kiss to your forehead. The wet of his lips lingered on your flaming skin, pooling a fond buzz all the way to the tip of your toes as you froze in his hold. 

“You’re okay,” Yoongi corrected, pecking your cheek on the way down in slotting his forehead to yours, “You’re okay, yeah?”

7. kissing on the lips

“Angel?”

Yoongi covered his laugh by the back of his wrist when your head shot up, scattering granules of cinnamon and sugar across the treat balanced on the paper plate perched in your lap. The clump of fried bread continued to snag on the crease of your mouth, faltering when your lips parted in a soft shape of questioning. 

“You uh,” He pointed with a crooked finger, arching over the bend of his knees, “You’ve got a little something on your lips.”

You pouted, a soft whine of indignation falling from your lips. “Get it for me.”

He blinked, once, twice, cheek dimpling when his teeth sanctioned the inside of his mouth. His knees straightened, coming to crouch next to you as the curled edge of his thumb reached for the piece of the treat. It plucked easily to the pad of his thumb, flicking to the soft blades of grass wavering in the gentle breeze. 

You held your breath as Yoongi’s hand slid back across your cheek, thumb clearing the collection of sweetened spice on the crease of your mouth before rising to the soft apple of your cheek. A sharp inhale met the puff of his own cheeks as he leaned, softly pressing his mouth against the spot he’d just cleaned. 

“Got it,” He hummed, dark chocolate orbs falling to your own. 

Bluntly, you corrected, “You missed.”

“I-I what?”

You giggled, sliding the elephant ear to the grass below as you shifted, sliding your fingers across the pliable squish of his cheek. Your mouth slotted just a breath away from the dead center of his lips, nose cocked to slide against his own. 

“I said,” You breathed quietly, “You missed.”

The heel of your palm flattened to the middle of the dessert when Yoongi leaned over you, eagerly tasting the sought after sweetness of your mouth, suddenly sure that the sugary syrup of your lips he’d so often envisioned was natural and not due to the soft pieces of bread you’d shoveled into your cheeks. 

[let-it-raines]

Second in Command (Ch. 13)

Summary: Life as the "spare to the heir" isn't all that it's cracked up to be when you're the supposed screw-up of the family, but people don't know what really happens behind closed doors.

Rating: Mature

A/N: A few things about the writing in this chapter: I have been reading a hell of a lot of Cocktober fics and editing mine, so that mature rating comes into major effect here (even if I’m less descriptive in this story than the others). Also, I have been writing angst in something else plus a, like, three-day headache, so I had difficult time writing this because it’s literally fluff guys. It’s just all of the fluff, and I really, truly hope that this chapter lives up to its expectations. I would normally wait a bit longer between chapters, but maybe this will brighten someone’s Saturday!

Oops. Forgot to link the story to ao3 | here | 

You guys are forever the best, and every comment, kudos, like, reblog, private message, etc. fills me with the most joy ♥️

Tag list:

@resident-of-storybrooke @kmomof4 @wellhellotragic @profdanglaisstuff

@ekr032-blog-blog @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld

@jennjenn615 @a-faekindagirl @mayquita @captainsjedi

@captswanis4vr @teamhook @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @branlovesouat

The New Year passes with little fanfare, just a quiet celebration at home as they watch the fireworks over the Thames on the television, glasses of champagne in hand. Emma didn’t even make it out of the living room before falling asleep, her neck twisted in a way that would keep her out of commission for a week if left that way. He simply slid her down so that she was more comfortable on the couch, not wanting to wake her by taking her upstairs. He was thankful that they’d gotten some new furniture because his old couch was not nearly as comfortable as the new one Emma had picked out while he was in Africa.

He’s already packed for their trip, his suitcase spread out in the middle of the closet, everything carefully folded, while Emma has half of her summer wardrobe simply tossed in hers. He can’t help himself from folding everything up so that it will pack more efficiently and he’ll be able to put it away in the closet of their bedroom more easily. He is meticulous in the way that he lives, and Emma is not. It drives him crazy, but it is worth it in every way.

By the time Wednesday morning rolls around, Killian is more than ready to leave the cold of Britain behind for the warmth of Seychelles and the privacy of having Emma to himself, no royal protocol or photographers or hostile family members or need to wear a suit and tie. When they escaped to Switzerland a few years ago Emma was reluctant to let him do something like this, and the nerves practically rolled off of her until they were secluded within the walls of their lodge or cautiously skiing down the slopes (see: Emma landing on her ass in the snow more often than not). Today, she is calm, relaxed even, as she sits opposite of him on the plane with her nose in a book and her feet propped up in his lap, his thumbs running across the bones of her ankles while he watches both Netflix and her.

Sometimes he is struck by her beauty. Actually, all the time really, but he’s often struck by how much she’s grown in herself since he’s known her. When they met, she was inherently kind, something no one can ever take away from her despite her protests otherwise. She was inherently kind but fighting a battle with herself over if she deserved to receive that kindness in return. She always had. She’d been subjected to things she didn’t deserve by a man who didn’t deserve her, and Killian wanted nothing more than to take away those demons and replace them with the goodness he saw in her and with the light that she brought into his life just by talking to him like he was any other guy. And as much as he knows that he did have an impact on her growth and her ability to believe in herself, it was really all Emma. It’s always been Emma.

So to see her today as she is, someone who is sure of herself even when the world has a target on her back, it’s a wonderful, beautiful sight.

She kicks at his lap with her foot to get his attention from where he was obviously daydreaming and most likely staring.

“Are you alright?”

“Of course, love, why?”

“If you look at me any harder you’re going to drill a hole in my head.”

“I’m just happy.”

She smiles at him before shaking her head and going back to her book, running her toes across the top of his thighs, and he knows this is her way of being affectionate with him even when most of her attention is focused on her book.

By the time they get to their private villa, far away from any of the other villas and on their own private beach, he almost cannot wait to be out in the ocean air and all of the freedom that provides, even if he knows that he’s got two security guards discreetly trailing behind them and staying in the small cabin next to them.

“Well shit,” Emma murmurs when they pull up to the villa, her hand slapping against his knee.

He can’t help but laugh as Emma takes in their home for the next ten days while he’s grabbing their luggage out of the golf cart they drove here in.

“Very eloquent, love.”

“Can you blame me, Killian? This looks like it’s out of a movie.”

“You’ve got to see the inside. And the view of the ocean.”

It’s like their own personal paradise, natural elements scattered across the villa with white linens and pillows that are the many colors of the sea dispersed throughout. He’d seen everything online before securely booking it, but Emma’s amazed as she’s walking around and running her hand over the balcony railing that overlooks their private pool which melds into the ocean, two types of blue becoming one. He doesn’t always feel the need for this kind of luxury, but he has the ability to give Emma this and he very much wanted to.

Especially for the sake of the ring in his carry-on.

“Damn,” she says later when she sits down on the swing on the balcony of their bedroom, a clear view of the ocean in front of her as he puts their suitcases in the closet. They can unpack later. “This is amazing, babe. Can we move here?”

“Considering the thing that lets us come here is me spending my time in Britain and getting paid to be me, I very much doubt that we can do that.” He moves to lean over her and wrap his arms around her neck, resting his chin on to top of her hair. “And I suspect that you’ll miss everyone too much. I know for a fact that you’ve already asked Abigail for a picture of Elizabeth with Alex.”

“They’re so cute, babe. And Alex cried when I left. Obviously I’m going to miss them. Don’t pretend that you don’t either. But I think I can do without them for ten days when I feel like I’ve walked into a book or a movie or something else ridiculous. How is this place even real?”

“It is one of my personal favorite places,” he admits before unwrapping his arms and moving to sit next to her on the swing, kicking his legs against the ground to sway them back and forth.

“Have you been here before?”

“With my family when I was a teenager. Wasn’t quite as romantic then.”

“I would hope not. That’d be super concerning and frankly pretty damn weird.”

They spend their first day there getting used to the place, exploring the rooms and discovering all of the hidden gems within the villa. He can feel all of the tension that’s been building in his shoulders, years of stress and worries that have accumulated and have been weighing him down, lifting and evaporating in the salt air. It looks as if the same thing is happening with Emma, her smile brighter than it’s been lately as she lounges in one of the beach chairs. They didn’t manage to get out to the beach until late in the evening, the sun setting and the temperature cooling, a light breeze causing Emma’s hair to blow in the wind as she wraps herself in a blanket and stares out at the horizon.

It’s perfect.

But then the heavens open up unexpectedly, one of those island storms that come out of nowhere, quickly drenching the earth before disappearing just as quickly. He and Emma don’t move out of it fast enough, too far down the beach to be anything but soaked by the time they get back inside, absolutely drenched as the water on them falls to the tile floor of the entryway, pooling at their bare feet. .

Emma strips out of her knit sweater, leaving her in just her bra as she grabs a towel out of the linen closet and dries off. He’s a bit of an ass, grabbing onto her and giving her a tight embrace as he buries his chin in her neck and makes sure that she becomes just as soaked as she was a moment ago.

“Killian,” she laughs, trying to squirm out of his grasp, but he just holds on tighter, breathing her in, smelling more like salt air and rain water than the flowers of her perfume or the vanilla of her shampoo. “Killian,” she whines again before wrapping her arms around his waist and holding him as he’s holding her. He can feel the laughter shaking through her chest. “You are such a kid. We’re going to stay wet forever and catch pneumonia.”

“Well, I’d quite like you to be wet all the time.”

She scrunches her face, her nose becoming a wrinkly mess and her eyelids closing.

“That’s the worst pickup line you’ve everused on me.”

He laughs against her shoulder before kissing it and releasing her, shedding his own clothes as he reaches for another towel and dries her down, slowly moving the towel down her body while she runs her fingers through the water droplets falling off the top of his hair until he takes the time to dry himself off.

By the time the two of them have changed clothes, he looks outside to see that the rain has stopped falling while the night sky has fully emerged, white stars contrasted against the black canvas of the sky, and he falls back onto the living room couch with a bit of a huff of frustration.

“You’re being cranky over a bit of rain, babe.”

“I am not.” She rolls her eyes. “Okay, then maybe my thighs hurt from running on the uneven sand.”

“Your fitness is going to have to be better than that for the plans I have for you and your thighs this week.”

A laugh passes through his lips before he reaches his hand out to grab hers on the armchair she’s sitting in beside him. “It’s a good thing we’re already together because we apparently have lost our touch when it comes to flirting.”

“I don’t think you could ever trulylose the ability to flirt. That’s, like, you’re second language.”

“That would be French.”

“Ah, yes, the language of love.”

She lets go of his hand, their fingers falling from each other while she walks into the kitchen and out of his sight so that he’s left to look out at the night sky again through the floor to ceiling windows, the wind blowing the palms as the aftereffects of the storm blow through.

When he awakes the next morning, Emma’s staring at him, green eyes peering into blue, with her head propped up in her right hand as her left trails over his arm, small little taps that he wouldn’t feel if he wasn’t so in tune to Emma’s touch.

“I’m still going to be here if you blink, Nolan.”

She rolls her eyes before moving closer to him, folding her body into his, the heat of her automatically washing over him as she rests are head on his shoulder and he wraps his arms around her waist to keep her as close as possible.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?”

She shakes her head up and down against him, nuzzling further into his shoulder if that’s even possible. He noses at her forehead, encouraging her to look up at him even if she doesn’t listen.

“So you’re simply being extra affectionate this morning?”

“You are incredibly warm today, and while I’m loving this whole open concept feel of this place, us not closing the windows last night was not our most brilliant plan.”

“Ahhh,” he sighs before snaking his arm around her to rub at her back, sneaking underneath her top to find the bare skin of her back. Her skin is cold where it’s usually warm, and that just won’t do, his hand moving up and down to try to bring heat back to the skin. “Well,” he purrs, dipping his head down to capture her lips in a lazy kiss, “I think we can change the temperature with a little bit of physical activity.”

“I haven’t brushed my teeth,” she tells him, somehow managing to not roll her eyes, when he pulls back from her, “and neither have you.”

“Has that ever stopped us before?”

“I also need to shave today.”

He raises his eyebrows while his lips tick up to one side. “Has that ever stopped me before, my hairy little love?”

She laughs before crawling out of his grasp and sliding her shirt over her head, her breasts encased in the most raggedy bra that she owns. She loves that thing, and he sees it more than he sees any of the satin or lace she keeps in the closet.

“Looks like I can still flirt if I’m getting you out of your clothes that quickly.”

“Baby, you’re just lucky we don’t have to schedule our sex because we’ve been together so long.”

She crawls onto his lap, her knees on either side of his thighs before hooking her arms behind her and snapping her bra off, the tan straps falling off her shoulders and exposing herself to him before she begins nibbling on his jaw.

“Is this not our scheduled monthly morning sex?”

“Oh no it is,” she giggles as he starts running his fingers up her sides, hitting underneath her armpits like she absolutely hates, “so you better do your best work, my love, because this is it.”

He stops tickling her arms then and cups her breasts, his fingers ghosting over her nipples as he dips his head to the side to whisper in her ear, “I have a feeling I can renegotiate our terms.”

He leans back and grabs onto Emma’s waist, tossing her forward onto the bed so that she bounces against the mattress, her hair spreading out behind her like a golden blanket as she laughs and smiles up at before bringing her bottom lip between her teeth.

“You are the most stunning woman alive,” he coos as he lowers himself on top of her, aligning their hips and their lips, the softness of both driving him wild as she moves against him. Emma may not know how to waltz, but they have this dance down, so well-practiced that even through the cloudy haze of passion, they both know exactly what to do to drive each other crazy. “Just, everything about you is wonderful.” He leans back down to slant his lips over hers, running his tongue along the line of her lips until she allows him entrance, the slick slide of her tongue against his making everything else in the world blur away only to leave Emma.

He quite likes it that way.

Emma runs her hands against the skin on his back, her nails scratching red lines into his skin as his scruff mostly likely rubs similar red marks into her chin, his lips moving from hers to run across her jaw and behind her ear, running his tongue below the lobe a biting until she whimpers. When he chuckles at her whines, she digs her nails a little further into his skin and pointedly rolls her hips against his so that he’s whimpering as well.

Oh gods that feels good.

“It’s not so funny now, is it?”

“You’re a bloody minx.”

She laughs against his shoulder before her hands inch down to his boxers, thumbs moving the elastic down until the cool air hits his skin. He lifts his hips to help her get him undressed before doing the same thing to her so that their skin is pressed together, her softness pressed against his hardness while he checks to see if she’s ready for him, slowly sliding into her when he feels her slickness, a gasp escaping from Emma at her sudden fullness.

“You ready to renegotiate our terms now?” he whispers before moving inside of her, her walls always so tight that it takes everything in him to not lose himself completely right then and there.

“You are an idiot,” Emma laughs before wrapping her legs around him, her heels digging into his ass to push him further inside her and bloody hell. “You are an idiot, and I love you to pieces.”

He dips his head down to kiss her, murmuring I love you against her lips before increasing his pace, thrusting in and out quickly as they whisper quietly, or not so quietly, mixtures of loving little nothings and dirty little things into each other’s ears, pants and moans echoing throughout the room and out the open windows so that the sounds of them rocking together are mixed with the rocking of the waves, slow and fluid at one moment only to be harsh and demanding the next.

Emma falls before him, her teeth biting into his shoulder as she whimpers beneath him, and he’s not long after, spilling himself inside of her before collapsing on top of her, knowing that if his weight becomes too much, she won’t hesitate to tell him. Instead she kisses his shoulder, her tongue soothing her bite mark before sighing beneath him and closing her eyes when he rubs his scruff against her cheek, the harsh hair blending in with the softness of her skin.

“So only once a month in the morning, huh?”

“Ugh,” she grumbles, pushing him off of her, not that she can really do that without a little help from him, so that he pulls out of her and tumbles onto his back. “You are impossible, and you really know how to run with a joke.”

“I may be impossible,” he kisses her collarbone before crawling out of bed to get her a towel, “but you love me for it.”

“Aye,” she mimics in his accent, propping herself up on her elbows and smiling at him like he’s the reason the sun is in the sky and the ocean is at their feet, smiling at him like he’s everything to her in the way that she’s everything to him.

He lets Emma sleep in for a little while longer while he takes the engagement ring out of his carry-on and slips it into the sole of the shoes he’s going to wear for dinner tonight. Yeah, he could just put it in one of his pockets, but Emma’s been known to slip her hands into his pockets when kissing him and he just can’t risk keeping the ring somewhere she’ll find it.

So he slips the ring into his shoe and dresses in his swim trunks and a button down, going downstairs to fix himself some coffee and eggs, knowing not to bother fixing Emma anything because she won’t be up for at least another hour or two. She surprises him, though, coming down the stairs dressed for the beach not thirty minutes later, and she doesn’t even teasingly berate him for not fixing her something, instead grabbing a fresh muffin the resort provides and sitting out on the deck to watch the ocean roll in and then roll back out, the sun glittering across the water.

If he didn’t so love his home country and wasn’t required to be one of the faces of the nation, he’d move somewhere like this like Emma jokingly requested last night, a place near the sea where everything is romanticized just the tiniest bit, where he can watch his girlfriend drop crumbs down her shirt as she sits in a swing with her hair curling in tight ringlets because of the salt of the water.

Killian likes to think that he’s a bit of a romantic, always making sure that Emma has fresh flowers or leaving her notes when he leaves the apartment for the day. He likes to think that he’s a romantic as he tells her he loves her for the seventh time in one day or when he readily (most of the time) admits that he’s wrong when they’ve gotten into an argument because one of them did something stupid. More often than not, he’s the one who’s done something stupid. He likes to think that he’s a romantic despite the fact that they’ve been together for nearly six years, or maybe even because of it. He likes to think that he’s a romantic in the little, everyday things, the ones that truly mean more than the big gestures, but today is a big gesture kind of day.

Today is an asking Emma Nolan to marry him kind of day.

He’s nervous.

So damn nervous.

Marrying her is all he has wanted for the past five and half years, and he has no doubt that she’ll say yes, but as they tan on the beach later that day all he can think about is his plans for later that night and the ring resting in the bottom of his loafers.

She’s so beautiful in every way, but right now she’s got nothing on but the tiniest pieces of blue fabric, her skin sparkling as the sun beats down on the mixture of lotion and sweat, and her hair is falling over the top of her chair so that the tips mix with the white sands of the beach. She’s got a book in her hands, and he idly wonders how many she brought with her because she reads more than any person he’s ever met, especially lately.

She’s beautiful and he loves her, and he’s so nervous for this evening that he thinks he might need to have a small, or large, glass of rum before he asks her. Does that make him awful? How do you love someone this much and still get nervous?

He must have been noticeably staring for too long because she turns on her side and reaches her hand over to run her fingers across his torso, resting them at the curve of his hip as she continues to read, only stopping when he returns her action and places his hand on her hip, her green eyes peering over the top of the pages after she pushes her sunglasses to her head.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re staring again.”

“It’s difficult not to stare at you.”

She puts her book down on the ground between them, making sure to mark her page, before crossing the small gap between their chairs and crawling into his side, half of her resting on top of him, her bare legs running up and down his calves while she props her head up on her forearms that are resting on his chest.

“What?” he questions, wrapping his arm around her to tug her more fully onto his body, a heat spreading across him that has nothing to do with the sun.

“Nothing.”

“You’re staring.”

She smirks, pressing her lips against his chin before pressing her lips against his own. “It’s difficult not to stare at you.”

“Darling, you have to come up with your own compliments.”

“Okay,” she says, her foot tapping at his. “You’re hot as hell.”

He throws his head back as much as he can in laughter while his hand squeezes her ass cheek for, well, her cheekiness. She’s not the kind of funny where everyone in the room knows it. It’s usually more subtle, nuanced, but he thinks she’s the most hysterical person he’s ever met, especially with her not-so-eloquent flirtations.

“That’s much better.” He kisses her nose before shifting her so that she’s at his side while he grabs her book from the ground. “What are we reading, love?”

“A trashy beach novel because I finished all of my good ones.”

He flips through the pages, skimming the words until he gets to her bookmark and begins to read where she left off, continuing until Emma yawns against his neck and her skin begins to pink.

“So what exactly does our date tonight entail?” Emma questions later as she runs her brush through her hair, smoothing out the curls she just put into it with her curling iron.

“It’s a surprise.”

That’s the understatement of the century.

“Killian,” she whines, leaving her spot in the bathroom, clad in nothing but her robe, to sit on his lap and wrap her arms around his neck. He likes relaxed, beach vacation Emma. She’s extra affectionate, and that’s going to work well in his favor tonight…hopefully. “What have I told you about surprise dates? I love them, but I need guidance on my clothes and if I need to eat beforehand because I’m not going to like the food.”

“This is like our first date all over again.”

“What?”

“You asking me for help on your outfit. You didn’t know what to wear.” He presses a kiss against her temple. “Darling, I own the same suit pieces in multiple colors. You dress me all the time. And while I would be perfectly okay with you wearing your birthday suit, I know that whatever you wear will be fine. We’re going to be out on the deck, and I promise you’ll like the food.”

“I still can’t believe I had to ask you for help that day.”

“It was endearing.”

Emma ends up dressing in a white sundress, and it’s almost comical how appropriate that is for the occasion. The entire evening is nice, the resort delivering grilled fish and bottle of wine as well as setting up candles and fairy lights that keep the area illuminated even under the canopy of trees. He’s especially glad for the wine, not getting to have his glass of rum earlier, and with every fidget of his foot, he can feels the ring in its protective bag under the arch of his foot in his shoe.  

“Emma?”

She’s looking out at the water, her glass of wine swirling as she absentmindedly holds it out beside her. “Yeah?”

He doesn’t say anything else for awhile, still trying to run through the words he’s been rehearsing for weeks now, until she looks over at him, sweet smile on her face as her head falls back, hair tumbling down the back of her chair.

Instead of proposing, he blurts out, “Do you want to go for a walk?”

“Sure.” She slips her sandals from her feet before stepping onto the sand, looking at him curiously as he stays in his shoes. “You don’t want to take your shoes off? Those are nice ones. I wouldn’t want you to mess them up.”

“Um,” he scratches behind his ear and hopes that his internal grimace doesn’t become an external one, “it’s fine this way.”

They walk silently for a little while, their fingers twined together, and even though their silence has been comfortable, like most of them are, he has to break this one. He will not chicken out of this moment.

“You know,” he begins, trying not to have to take a deep breath because that will most definitely give him away, “the day I met you I was pissed beyond belief at my father. I don’t even remember what about, but it led me to going on one of my walks and to meeting this fiery blonde lass who has just…who has just become my entire world. So you could say I like my walks like this.”

He looks over to her, her lips slightly parted, and he can see the gears running in her head by the way her brows are furrowed together. He knows the moment she’s figured out what’s about to happen, one corner of her mouth ticking up and her eyes widening the slightest bit as her brow unfurrows, but he soldiers on, confident that this is going to go well.

“Emma, I have loved you for five years, four months, and seventeen days…”

“Did you count?” she laughs, interrupting him like only she could in a moment like this.  

“Of course,” Killian confirms, stopping their walk so that he can stand in front of her, the moonlight making her hair look almost white. “I have loved you for that specific amount of days, so long that I cannot remember what it’s like not to love you. You’re everything to me. You’re the love of my life and my partner in everything. You’re brave and you’re kind and you’ve got the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met.”

He finally gets down onto one knee, and when he looks up to Emma, she’s nodding her head in encouragement while she absolutely beams down at him.

“You’reit, my love, and…hold on, I’ve got to get the ring out of my shoe.” He reaches down to take his left shoe off, struggling to get it out from underneath the sole, and when he does finally get it, Emma’s squatting down in front of him trying to hold back her laughter at his scrambling. He has to kiss her then, totally out of order of how this thing is supposed to go.

When they part, their foreheads resting together and their lips so close that when Emma speaks, her lips brush against his. “Killian, ask me.”

He does.

“Will you marry me?”

She nods her head against him before closing that small distance again and slanting her lips over his, and he can feelher smile. He’s sure she can feel his.

“Yes, Killian, of course. A thousand times yes.”

She peppers kisses across his face before her lips land against his.

“Bloody hell, you said yes.”

“Did you think I’d say otherwise?”

“No,” he laughs, grabbing her left hand so that he can finally slide the ring on her finger. It looks right, like it belongs there. Probably because it does. “But this is nerve wracking, sweetheart. I’ve felt like I was going to pass out all day.”

She chuckles before leaning back and holding her hand up against his shoulder, looking at the ring for probably the first time since they’ve both been a bit distracted. “Babe, this is beautiful.” She cups his cheeks, and he can feel the metal from both of her rings against his skin. “You’re beautiful, and I love you.”

“I love you.”

“Can I call my mom?”

He barks out a laugh before tugging Emma into him with such a force that their teeth clack together in their kiss, his hands threading into her hair while her hands grab the collar of his shirt, little whimpers emanating from her throat as he moans into the kiss, not breaking apart until he feels the sand at his back and Emma on top of him.

She’s breathing heavily, harsh pants that match his own as their foreheads press together, her nose pushing into his cheek as his does the same. “Is that what you wanted to call your mum for?”

She shakes her head against him, her nose brushing over his while he moves his hands down to hold onto her hips. “We’re getting married,” she sighs against his lips. “Babe, we’re actually going to do it.”

“I know,” he grins, the feel of her smile so near his lips and the skin of her thighs underneath his touch making him feel like his entire body is tingling. She said yes. She bloody said yes. “I cannot wait to marry you, Emma. Absolutely cannot wait.”

“I can’t either.”

Eventually the do make it back to the villa, and while he’d never planned a beach proposal, never meant to do it down by the water, he’s glad that it happened that way. He’ll probably have sand in his hair for years, but he doesn’t bloody care. After celebrating their newly engaged status with just the two of them, Emma calls her mum, bubbling over in so much excitement that he thinks she might burst.

“I’m nervous,” she whispers against his shoulder as they sit out on the chaise on the balcony, her phone ringing as she dials her parents.

“Don’t be.”

“Did they know it was happening?”

“I talked to your dad about it a few months ago.”

“Oh that was smart not to tell Mom,” she laughs, not hearing the phone click as someone answered the call.

“What did we not tell, Mum?” Mary Margaret asks through the speakers, and Emma practically jumps out of her skin. “Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation, sweetie?”

“I have something exciting to tell you.”

“Oh my God, I’m going to be a grandmother.”

“What?” Emma gasps, looking down at her stomach, still flat as ever, like Mary Margaret can see her even though this is just a regular phone call instead of a video message. This is going about as well as he thought it would. Mary Margaret is likely to scream bloody murder when she finds out the real news. “Why is your first guess that I’m pregnant?”

“Well because you and Killian are obviously sexually  – ”

“Mom,” Emma groans, and he just leans over to kiss the top of her head as her face goes red, “please just let me tell you so that we can nothave this conversation.”

“Okay, go. I’m all ears.”

Emma takes a breath, looking over at him and kissing the side of his jaw before holding up the phone to her mouth and whispering, “Killian asked me to marry him, and I said yes.”

The phone is silent for a minute before Killian hears Mary Margaret sob on the other end of the phone.

“Mom,” Emma prods, “Mom, are you okay?”

“My baby is getting married,” Mary Margaret absolutely wails through the phone, and he imagines she’s going to give Emma the tightest hug when they get home. Probably give him one, too. “I’m so happy. Ooooh, I cannot wait for your father to find out. I’m assuming I can’t tell him while he’s down at the pub?”

“Probably not the best idea. You’ll have to keep a secret for at least a few hours. You can text me when he gets off, and I’ll call him, too.”

The conversation lasts for a few more minutes, Killian joining in every now and then before they let Mary Margaret go, Emma curling into him and resting her left hand on his chest. He likes that, seeing the shine of the diamond reflected against his chest, and when they fall asleep later that night, it’s with her left hand resting on his chest instead of the usual right.

The next morning Emma wakes him up with a kiss before he even manages to open his eyes, her tongue running across his lips and then suddenly pulling away so quickly that he thinks he’s dreaming until he opens his eyes, hazy from his late night, and sees her clothing her bare skin with a sports bra and a pair of leggings.

“Darling, are you going somewhere?”

“For a run on the beach because apparently I hate myself and still feel the need to exercise when on vacation.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

She shrugs. “Only if you want to.”

“Give me five minutes.”

By the time they’ve been running for twenty minutes his legs and his lungs are burning, not used to the uneven terrain of the sand and the water, and it takes Emma a moment to realize that he’s stopped running, hunched over with his hands on his knees. Maybe those kids in Africa were right. He is out of breath quickly for a healthy, twenty-nine year old man. Emma does eventually notice that he’s fallen back, turning around and jogging back to him until she’s standing in front of him, her lips upturned as she smirks.

It’s that smirk that sparks an idea in his head, and before Emma even has the chance to run away he’s got her thrown over his shoulder.

“Killian,” she warns even as he carries her to the water, smacking her ass when she pinches his side in retaliation. “Killian, that water is going to be ice cold. I swear, don’t you dare throw me in there.”

He doesn’t listen, and he doesn’t care how much trouble he’s going to get in with her later, he gets knee deep in the water, and she’s right, it’s damn cold, but he’s still throws her into the water before diving in after her, making sure to pop up right where he tossed her to make sure she’s okay.

When he surfaces, she’s already above water, slicking her hair back while her lips twitch, eyes bright even as the salt water brushes over her brow, maybe especially because the salt water brushes over her brow and reflects in her eyes.

“You are a dead man.”

“What a way it’ll be to go.”

“You,” she swims over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, her tennis shoes sinking into his back, “have got some balls, Killian.”

“You of all people would know.”

He kisses her nose before wading them back to the shore, their clothes already weighing them down the more he exposes them to the air instead of the water, and if he’s going to regret doing that, it’s going to only be because now he’s walking them back to the villa, their clothes heavy even with Emma quitting her squirming by the time he is halfway back. This is a hell of a better workout than their run, and his heart pumps at a faster rate with the way Emma’s nibbling at his pulse point, her tongue soothing her bite every few seconds.

Getting engaged is bloody brilliant for one’s libido.

He manages to get her all the way upstairs and to the stone shower, putting her down right outside of it, his arms screaming in protest even as he strips down, finally getting his wet shoes off and reaching into the shower to get the water started, a steady stream falling onto the light stones and darkening them as he steps in, letting the water fall over him, his hair matting down as the sand falls off of him

Killian looks over to see Emma staring at him, her bottom lip between her teeth as her hip rests against the wall, still dressed in everything but her shoes.

“You like the view, sweetheart?” he teases, slicking his hair back so that it doesn’t fall in his eyes.

“I do like it,” she seductively purrs before peeling out of her soaked thru sports bra, the material getting stuck when she gets it over her shoulders, and he barks out a laugh as her seductive strip tease transforms into a struggle of simply getting out of her clothes. She eventually gets it off before snapping it at him for his laughter, her hair falling in wet waves down her back when she bends to strip off her leggings, laughing and mumbling something about stupid spandexuntil she finally steps into the shower with him, her hands running up his chest until they land on his shoulders, her body tightly pressed into his.

If all early morning runs ended like this, he’d go every damn day.

“That was quite the little show you put on there, darling.”

He reaches around to grab her bottom, pulling her even closer to him so that his growing hardness can get some friction while her hardening nipples press into the hair of his chest. He backs her up to the wall so that the water is only hitting at his back, his body shielding Emma from the spray getting into her eyes as he dips his head down and kisses her, little moans coming out of her throat as he devours her, rolling their hips together and making himself moan, too.

“I like this being engaged thing,” she breathes while he runs his mouth across her jaw and her hands simply hold onto his neck and card through his hair while his travel over her stomach, down her thighs, against her core, feeling the wetness that’s starting to pool there that has nothing to do with the water in the shower. “It makes you extra sexy.”

“Are you saying I needed incentive to be extra sexy?” He bites at her ear lobe and pushes against her clit with the heel of his hand simultaneously, and all of the air rushes out of Emma as she gasps and leans her head against his shoulder while her body reacts to him.

“No, babe,” she kisses his shoulder, peppering kisses across his collarbone before running her tongue across the underside of his jaw, her hands snaking down to stoke him while he fingers at her folds and fuck, she’s amazing. “You are always sexy,” she presses up on her tip toes to reach his ear, “saucy even.”

He chuckles at their inside joke, and at that she runs her fingers across the underside of his length before circling the tip and his laugh is dispersed into a moan, his heavy breathing only increasing the more she works him up…and down.

“Turn around, darling,” he grits out, kissing her temple before she turns and he can kiss at the back of her neck and down her spine, his hands tracing down her sides until he’s kneeling on the ground, edges of the stones cutting into him as he licks a stripe against her folds, his tongue teasing at the soft ridges while Emma grapples at the wall, pushing her ass up against him so that she can get more friction.

“Baby,” she moans when he gets into a particularly good rhythm, his forearm holding her stomach and pushing her back into him as his fingers toy with her bundle of nerves. “Babe, I can’t – I can’t hold on. I need…I need you to ah – fuck,” she whimpers, her voice cutting above the sound of the water beating down when he harshly smacks her bundle of nerves and her legs fall out underneath her as her release finally hits her. He works her through it while holding her up and keeping her from falling in any other way but the pleasurable one.

It’s bloody amazing.

Once her legs have gained their strength back, Killian rises from the ground, kissing his way up Emma’s back before capturing her lips with his in a bruising kiss and lining himself up to her entrance and sliding into her, her walls fluttering around him, little aftershocks from her previous orgasm.

“I love you,” she whispers against his lips as he starts to move inside her, dragging himself in and out before harshly pushing back in, his arms supporting Emma under her breasts and at her waist while he rolls his hips against her backside. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, my darling.”

It continues like that for awhile, the sounds of wet skin slapping against each other mixed with moans and the fall of the shower water beating against Killian’s back and to the floor, the heat of it waning the longer they’re in there. When Emma falls for a second time, Killian isn’t far behind, suppressing his moan against the skin of Emma’s shoulder while he holds both of them up, all of the sounds blurring and muting as he attempts to come back to himself.

Eventually Emma manages to turn in his arms and push them back underneath the shower spray, grabbing the shampoo and condition to wash the sand, the sea, and the sweat out of their hair.

“You’re right, love,” Killian says later when they’re both wrapped up in towels and Emma is twisting her hair into two fishtail braids.

“I mean, always,” Emma teases, “but what am I right about this time?”

“That ring on your finger makes you extra sexy.”

They just had sex in the shower, but her cheeks still go red. He loves when he can still make her blush.

“So how many official duties are we going to have when we get home?”

“A hell of a lot,” he sighs before shuffling around in his suitcase and pulling on his swim trunks for when they eventually get to the beach, handing Emma one of her bikinis and a cover-up, “but we don’t have to worry about any of that this week. And we won’t have to announce it to the world for at least six weeks, but there will be behind the scenes things to do.”

He steps forward to twist his fingers through the tips of her braided hair, and when she scrunches her face, her nose wrinkling, he leans down to kiss her forehead.

“But today, my future wife, today we eat whatever the hell we want because we have done quite a bit of physical activity this morning and then we bask in the sun so that we can rightfully complain about having to wear several layers of clothes when we get home.”

“Sounds like a plan, my future husband.” A beat passes. “Oh God, we’re that cheesy couple aren’t we?”

“Absolutely.”

The day passes in a blur of food, fruity alcoholic drinks that are almost obligatory when visiting an island, the sun beating down on pale skin changing to tanned, sand between the toes, and nothing between Emma and Killian as they lounge on the deck or in the pool, drifting off into the ocean almost as naturally as they drift to sleep later that night.

He wakes around two in the morning, the moonlight causing Emma’s ring to shine as she runs her left hand over the exposed hair of his chest, her delicate fingers pressing against his skin.

“Hey,” he whispers before running his fingers down her back and tugging her closer, pressing a kiss to the top of her hair. “What are you doing up?”

“I’m just thinking.”

“Would you like to share with the class?”

“Hmm,” she hums before kissing his chest, right over where his heart is beating. “It’s nothing big. Just life.”

“Life isn’t something big?”

Even in the darkness he knows she rolled her eyes.

“You know what I mean.”

“I’d rather you tell me.”

“I’m simply thinking about how lucky I am,” she sighs, her fingers still toying with his hair, “how lucky we are to have this life. And not necessarily the fancy vacations and the nice things, but to have each other. I think about all of the things that had to go wrong, and more importantly that had to go right, for you to walk in that door that night…and for you to keep coming back.”

“I like to think I was too stubborn to not come back. You fascinated me. Still do. Probably always will.”

“Killian, you know everything about me.”

“Aye, but we’ll change as we get older. We already have in the past few months, but in a good way, you know?”

“Yeah,” she exhales, leaning down to kiss his bicep, “I know. Everything about this is so crazy, but you and me, we make sense, don’t you think?”

“I know that we do.”

They eventually drift back to sleep and don’t wake until mid-morning, the sun shining brightly even with the curtains closed and shrouding them in the hazy light. He’s got a day scheduled out on a ship for them, and while he promised her he’d take her sailing, he couldn’t manage to get anything other than a motorized yacht, but she seems fine with it as the wind blows through her hair while they’re driven out into the sea by one of the resort officials, a day’s worth of food and drinks stocked in the kitchen below deck.

It’s a wonderful day, even if it is a little awkward having the driver and his security onboard with them. At one point he and Emma jump off the back of the boat just to get away from the others, letting the salt water wash around them while they wade in the ocean.

“I think my skin is going to be completely wrinkled by the time we get home.”

“Aw,” Killian coos before swimming over to her and wrapping his hands around her waist under the water, “my own little old woman.”

Emma scrunches her face, and he tries to swoop in and kiss her, but she squirms out of his hold and ducks under the water to climb up the ladder to get out of the water, her bottoms clinging to her.

“Your ass looks amazing, love.”

She turns to look at him still down in the water, her lips slightly parted in surprise before she smirks and hooks her finger to call him toward her, and he scrambles out of that water like a man possessed.

The rest of their week goes like that, mixtures of salt water and alcohol or sand and sex, not necessarily in those combinations. Killian hasn’t been this carefree in years, and when he zips up their luggage the morning of their flight home, he feels a legitimate sense of melancholy wash over him at the thought of leaving and having to go back to his real life with duties and work, no matter how much he’s missed his bed and not-so-surprisingly-anymore, his family. Emma simply smiles and squeezes his forearm, lugging her suitcase down the stairs before he gets the chance to carry it for her.

She walks out the front door on her way…their way…home.

Together.

[amber-winged-blog]

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Hearsay, Deception and volleyball training equipment

Make sure the grab component of this drill lasts for 3 minutes and continue to some other jump. It employs an agility ladder to perform different footwork exercises. It's created for the players to execute 150 dribble moves as quickly as possible.

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His coaching program and exemplary training programs concentrate on mobility and wellness facets of bodybuilding. It rarely includes the use of free weights since they're used for muscle building purposes. A few of those techniques help in improving the trapping abilities of the players.

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[lordzephyra]

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[clandestinedime]

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Make sure the catch part of the drill lasts for 3 minutes and continue to some other hop. It employs an agility ladder to perform distinct footwork exercises. It's created for the players to perform 150 dribble moves as rapidly as possible.

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Reducing the high volume of your sugar consumption will enhance your testosterone hormone manufacturing, with no doubt! Besides all the improvements you might expect to see on your physical abilities another wonderful quality of jumpsoles is they're compatible with any kind of shoe or sneaker you presently have. Before long, you're going to be rolling across the contest readily!

What Is So Fascinating About Volleyball Training Equipment?

These days, the sport is played both indoor courts along with on outdoor ones that are normally constructed on shores and has the exact design. To enjoy the advantages of spas and pools it's crucial to keep the comfy destination.

What's important is to make sure you're enhancing and boost your vertical leap with time. The players should slide in the lane communicating I obtained your help! Sometimes, some players can get reckless.

The Do's and Don'ts of Volleyball Training Equipment

Equipment is available to safeguard the wrist, hand, and fingers, which may become severely hurt while the goalie is attempting to halt the soccer ball from making its way to the target post. Normally, you'll want to hit the ball more challenging to compensate for the reduced bounciness. When you would like to come across setters ball for volleyball, you can ought to think about between many options.

Some sports are more costly than others such as golf for example. You should not assume that you just require tennis racket, athletic clothing and tennis balls so as to provide a scintillating performance on tennis court. Towel Many tennis players utilize microfiber towels on account of the simple fact that they absorb perspiration and they're small in proportion.

The rest part of the team will visit another side of the courtroom to find the ball clearly, pass the ball. The offensive player's aim is to earn a layup with pressure. Nowadays you'll be able to practice on your own and never should waste precious practice time chasing down balls!

The New Angle On Volleyball Training Equipment Just Released

His training regime and exemplary training programs concentrate on mobility and wellness aspects of bodybuilding. It rarely includes the use of free weights since they're used for muscle building purposes. All these plyometrics training exercises are in fact easy, effective and in addition, they target your own strength and endurance.

The gamers pay as many as five times per week at the gym, with all the reach of intensity and exercises increasing all of the time. Among the most significant qualities of next generation gyms is they promote social interaction together with improving the standard of health, health and complete wellness of people. The drug ball workouts are crafted so they can be worked on your own, therefore hoping to discover a partner shouldn't weigh you down.

The Characteristics of Volleyball Training Equipment

You may have a group photograph, a school mascot or a different image you select. Practice makes perfect... just like with any other game in case your kid wants to boost their volleyball skills that they will need to practice. Your team will surely be grateful!

Volleyball Trainer is ideal for everyone trying to practice their own volleyball abilities. Cardiovascular endurance is a significant part of being a very good volleyball player. The Athlete Performance Pack will enable volleyball players to boost their abilities and become more explosive and strong on the ground.

You are able to always search for different options. There are three big kinds that are developed for gamers beginning from fans to professionals. Keep a look out for the coaches who have really superior reputation for training individuals.

For strangers it might look a tedious game that demands no instruction and where physical effort isn't made, then we tell them they're entirely wrong, golf endangering pieces of the body and is among the sports which creates the maximum number of harms. Physical fitness is quite crucial for a wholesome life.