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wiypt-writes · 4 years

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Stark Spangled Forever

A Very Rogers Christmas. Part 3- From Head To Mistletoe

Summary: It’s Christmas Eve and Steve has a little accident in the bathroom. Once the trauma is dealt with the Rogers family head off to visit Pepper and Morgan before coming home to settle in and wait for Santa. And Steve’s hell bent on unwrapping one particular present early…

Warnings: Language, smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: The final part of my Stark Spangled 2020 Christmas special- A Very Rogers Christmas. I hope you all enjoy and thank you for your support when my other blog was flagged as obscene. Next year SSB will be ‘relaunched’ through the new blog, and I will take the time to change anything that I didn’t quite like. I look forward to seeing you all there. But for now, I leave you with this hot mess and wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. Thank you for being as invested in Stark Spangled as me.

And to my Evangers… @sweater-daddiesdumbdork , @icanfeelastormbrewing , @southerngracela and @ohthankevans13 I would NOT have got through 2020 without you. This one is most CERTAINLY for you girls. I love you 3000.

Steve groaned as he heard Rori's angry voice from the landing.

"Jamie, tell Stark to stop chasing Erica!"

"He's a dog!" Jamie responded. "It’s what they do, they chase cats."

"Well, stop him!"

"How?" Jamie's voice was punctuated by laughter. "It isn't like I make him do it!"

"Hold still." Katie warned Steve and he let out a sigh, his hands gently smoothing up the back of her thighs as she concentrated on ensuring the lines of his newly shorter beard were neat.

"Sorry, Doll." He muttered, watching her face as she concentrated, her green eyes following the trimmers as her right hand steadily guided them across his left cheek. "Listening to them argue is setting my teeth on edge."

"Baby, I only have the other cheek to neaten, then you can go and tell them both off." Katie stepped back to admire her handy work. "I was kind of hoping their Christmas Eve boxes would have kept them quiet for a little longer."

"Well," Steve turned his head to peek into their room where Harry was sat in the middle of their large bed, looking at the activity book he had gotten in his, "worked for him."

"Always does." Katie chuckled. "He's so well behaved compared to those reprobates."

They watched him for a moment or two before Katie reached up and moved Steve's face sideways so she could start on his right cheek, giving him a soft kiss as she did so. "You look incredibly handsome." She practically purred and Steve grinned, feeling his cheeks and neck grow warm as they always did when she looked at him the way she was doing.

Seventeen years and she could still turn his insides to mush with a single look.

"Yeah?" He asked, her lips still brushing his as she nodded. "Even though I've shaved the beard?"

"Well-" she kissed him again, "-technically you trimmed it, not shaved it. It's just shorter. But yes, I'd still find you devastatingly good looking without it, as you know."

Steve grinned, turned his head to allow Katie to finish and just as she had raised the clippers it all went horribly wrong.

There was a yell again from the landing and a moment or two later the door to their bedroom flung open, causing Steve to whip his head round.

"STEVE!" Katie cried out a warning but it was too late. As Steve turned his head to look at Rori as she barrelled through the door to their bathroom, he managed to catch his cheek on the clippers and he heard Katie gasp. He froze, looked at his wife and then stood hastily up to glance in the mirror and gave a groan. A large chunk of his beard was now completely missing from his right cheek. And he could tell as he looked at it that no amount of trimming was going to save it.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he turned to Rori and she swallowed, eyes growing wide as she registered the tone of his voice. It was deep but quiet, the voice he always used when he was pissed off. "You knock before you come barging into mine and your mother's room, Aurora."

"I'm sorry." Rori blinked, the use of her full name not passing her by. "But Jamie-"

"Don't wanna hear it."

"Yeah, but he-" "What did I just say?" Steve’s voice rose in volume as he glared at her. "I'm not interested in whatever stupid little argument the pair of you have got going on. It stops now. You understand?'

Rori stared back at her father, her face positively mutinous and Katie hastily turned away before she burst out laughing at the fact they were stood in identical poses, arms folded, feet apart as they engaged in the silent stand-off. Whilst Rori undeniably looked like her, she had so many of her father's mannerisms, all the kids did to be fair, and her middle daughter was a perfect blend of both the Stark and Rogers sass and stubbornness.

She was a nightmare at times but at others amusing as hell.

As Katie busied herself straightening a few bottles on the bathroom side she heard Rori give an exasperated sigh.

"Look, I'm sorry I barged in here okay? But Jamie really is being a pain!"

"Right now you're being a pain." Steve shot back somewhat childishly. "A huge pain in my ass."

"Language!" Harry chanted as he looked over towards his father, and that was it, Katie couldn't hold it any longer and she burst out laughing.

Steve turned to her, arching an eyebrow and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Steve, but..."

With a groan Steve rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna go speak to Jamie, then I'll come back and sort this out." He gestured to his face before he turned and headed out of the room, calling to Jamie as he went. Less than ten minutes later both brother and sister had been told to quit it, Rori was in her room with the cat whilst Harry had wandered into Jamie's room and settled on a bean bag by his elder brother to watch Back To The Future. Flossie had, miraculously, slept through the entire scenario and …well, she was mourning the loss of Steve's magnificent beard he had sported for so many years.

"I can’t believe it." She whined. "Stevie, I wanna cry.”

Steve rolled his eyes, whilst he had to admit it wasn't exactly what he had planned, he wasn't as bothered about it as her. "It'll grow back.”

Katie eyed him shrewdly, cooking her head to one side. He'd come back from the barbers yesterday with a shorter cut than he had sported in a long time. It reminded her a lot of how he had used to wear it when they first started dating. Short on the sides, slightly messier on top. Coupled with his now smooth face, she had to admit, it did make him look somewhat younger, although you could still see the odd fleck of grey here and there spattered in his dark, blonde locks.

"You know, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were having some some kind of midlife crisis" She looked up at him and he snorted. "Although you gotta admit, babes, you're a bit late to the party age wise so to speak."

He stood up with a shake of his head and glanced at the mirror. He hadn’t seen that reflection in a very long time.

“Bucky’s gonna have a field day when he sees this.”

“Well, lucky for you he’s away with Jen and the family for the holidays so you won’t have to face him until New Year, same goes for Sam. Morgan, on the other hand…”

“She’s seen me without a beard before.” He shrugged before he turned and headed into the bedroom.

“Not for a while.” Katie followed him as they both left their room and headed onto the landing.

“Yeah, I know but surely it-“

He was cut off by a loud scream and then the sound of crying which erupted from Harry as he stood in the doorway to Jamie’s room.

“Hey.” Steve frowned and made his way over towards the toddler “Buddy, what’s…”

But Harry continued screaming and he backed away from Steve, running into Jamie’s room and hiding behind his big brother who looked at him, then to his dad, a puzzled expression on his face. Steve glanced at Katie who was also frowning as she made her way into Jamie’s room and crouched next to their son who was gripping onto his brother’s sweater for dear life.

“Harry? Baby boy, what’s wrong?” she asked him softly, smoothing his hair back.

“That man!” he cried, his voice wracked with sobs “Who...where’s Daddy?”

“Oh, Honey!” Katie chuckled, picking him up. “That is your daddy!”

“No!” Harry screamed, shaking his head and burying his face into her neck. Steve stood dumbfounded in the doorway of Jamie’s room, absolutely stuck for words. He felt awful and completely helpless as Katie tried to soothe their son but Harry wasn’t having any of it.

“It is Harry!” Jamie spoke, looking at his brother who glanced at him, then to Steve and then continued crying.

“Steve, sing the song.” Katie spoke suddenly as she was hit with an idea. “The one you always use to sing him to sleep.”

“Erm…” Steve cleared his throat, before he gently began to croon the song he’d sung to all of their kids as young children. “Would you like to swing on a star…” his voice croaked a little, as he found the pitch to the Bing Crosby song, “carry moonbeams home in a jar. And be better off than you are. Or would you rather be a mule?”

At the sound of Steve singing Harry stopped crying and peeked across the room at him, his hand fisted in Katie’s hair, his cheeks tear stained, but his expression was almost curious now, not fearful.

“A mule is an animal with long funny ears, he kicks up at anything he hears” Steve continued as Katie rocked Harry a little in her arms, nodding to Steve as he tentatively walked into the room. “His back is brawny but his brain is weak, he's just plain stupid with a stubborn streak. And by the way, if you hate to go to school. You may grow up to be a mule”

Harry studied Steve a little more, his sniffles subsiding slightly.

“Or would you like to swing on a star, carry moonbeams home in a jar, and be better off than you are, or would you rather be a pig?” Steve was just wondering how many more verses he was going to have to go through but thankfully, at that point, Harry gave a hiccup and held his arms out towards him. With a smile, Steve took him from Katie and held him securely, looking at him as he reached up and squished Steve’s cheeks with his little hands.

“Hi Daddy.” He whispered, wrapping his arms round his neck and Steve chuckled a little in relief, one large hand falling to the back of his son’s head as he kissed his cheek which was wet with tears.

“Hey, pal.”

“What’s going on?” Rori appeared, Erica in her arms, purring loudly as she scratched the kitten behind her ears.

“Oh, nothing.” Katie looked at her, “Harry got a little upset that’s all.”

“Why?”

“Because I shaved my beard.” Steve explained before he snapped playfully at Harry’s finger which was prodding his nose.

“Well, what did you do that for?” Rori scoffed.

Steve looked at her as she gave a dramatic roll of her eyes before she spun on her heel and left heading back to her room. Steve turned to Katie and Jamie, the pair of them stifling laughter.

“Anyone got a seven foot block of Ice I can take another seventy year nap in?” he grumbled.

**** As was tradition on Christmas Eve, they celebrated with Pepper and Morgan. This year it was Pepper’s turn to host so just before 11am they all piled into the car, the roof rack packed with presents and made the hours trip upstate to the lake-house, Emmy and Peter set to meet them there.

As they walked up to the house, Katie carrying Flossie, Morgan came out to greet them stopping dead as she looked at Steve.

“Huh.” She mused, taking in his clean shaven face.

“Yeah, yeah, get it over with, Moo.” He rolled his eyes.

“I’m not laughing.” She shook her head seriously, looking at him from dark brown eyes the exact same as her fathers, the familiar Stark nose accentuating her face. With a sad sigh she walked over to Katie and lay her hand on her Auntie’s arm. “I’m so sorry for your loss. That beard, well it must have been hard to take.”

At that Katie burst out laughing as Steve let out a groan as he spotted Emmy doubled over on porch, howling.

“Did you tell Em what happened?” he looked accusingly at Katie who shrugged.

“I may have mentioned it before when she called.”

Steve rolled his eyes as they trudged inside, stomping their boots on the mat to get rid of any excess snow, a wave of loud chatter hitting their ear the minute they did. The room was warm, fire blazing and dotted around stood Rhodey, Happy, Pepper, Peter and his Aunt May. Greetings and hugs were shared, Happy taking the opportunity to coo over Flossie as she was much bigger than the last time he had seen her some months ago, and Katie hugged Pepper tight, accepting the glass of champagne that was passed to her.

As was the usual tradition, Pepper had laid on a glorious buffet which went down a treat. And once the food was eaten, Jamie and Morgan both wrapped up and headed out to give Gerald the Alpaca some of the vegetable trimmings that Pepper had saved for him. The younger kids settled in front of the TV to watch a film, Emmy and Peter both happily choosing to sit with them and Katie took a moment out of the wonderful madness to watch as Steve was actively engaged in some discussion with Rhodey, both men laughing and joking. With a smile she then turned her attention to Happy who had his arm looped around May, the pair of them chatting to Pepper as she topped their glasses up with a bottle she plucked from the fridge.

It had been this way for almost seven years now, how they spent Christmas Eve, and whilst Katie loved being surrounded by this patchwork, extended family, she couldn’t help but notice the huge Tony shaped hole.

A hole which, like the one he had left behind in her heart, failed to get any smaller as the years passed.

With super stealth skills that Natasha would have been proud of, Katie silently made her way from the room, grabbing her jacket and headed out, her feet crunching through the layer of snow that lay on the ground as she walked across the lawn and down to the small jetty from which they had laid Tony’s Arc Reactor onto the lake the day of his funeral.

She always felt a sense of peace being here, like there was some part of Tony still present. And to be fair, there was. Said Arc Reactor had sunk to the bottom of the lake once the wreath had rotted. But it was more than that, it was the only place she still felt truly close to her brother and she understood why. It was because this was where he’d gotten everything he’d ever wanted, a daughter, a wife, a home…the very things he’d sacrificed his life for.

With a sniffle, Katie stood at the edge of the small jetty and sighed, looking out over the partially frozen water. “Merry Christmas, Tone.” She whispered, wiping her eyes as her tears trickled slowly down her cheeks.

Back inside the house, Steve looked around for his wife only to notice she wasn’t there. Knowing instantly where she would be, he excused himself from the conversation and grabbed his coat, making his way down to the lake. Sure enough, he saw her stood at the end of the jetty, but before he could cross the snowy lawn towards her, he spotted Jamie and Morgan making their way back from Gerald’s little hut. Jamie stopped, spotting his mom and he turned and said something to Morgan, who nodded, and the pair of them trudged towards her. As Jamie reached his mother he gently slid his arm round her waist, and she turned towards him, dropping a kiss to his head, her arm draping over his shoulder. She then smiled at Morgan, her other arm looping round her niece and the three of them stood still for a moment, Katie’s cheek leaning on the top of Jamie’s head.

Steve gave a little smile, once more the pride and love welling in his chest at how damned thoughtful and willing to look after Katie his son was. As a cold wind whipped against his cheeks he took a deep breath and let it out softly, where it fogged in the air in front of him.

“Merry Christmas Tony.” He said gently before, satisfied Katie wasn’t alone, he turned round and headed back inside.

****

They stayed at Pepper’s until just early evening, when Katie suggested they head home as they still had a few things to do before they got the kids settled and tucked up for the evening. Rori opted to ride home with Emmy and Pete, much to Jamie’s delight, and at just gone five they headed back where the usual Christmas Eve chaos began. In true Rogers-Stark tradition, everyone had a new pair of Christmas Pyjamas to wear, as purchased by Katie, and once showers and baths had been had they all dressed in them and met in the den, Emmy and Peter roaring with laughter at Steve’s which bore the slogan ‘you Jingle my bells’. Rori’s were sparkly and pink, with a unicorn wearing a Santa Hat, Jamie’s were a replica of an Elf Uniform, Harry’s had a huge Christmas pudding on the front, Flossie’s little romper made her look like a reindeer and Katie had gotten Emmy and Pete matching Santa and Mrs Clause ones.

Once the tradition of singing a few carols around the piano was done, Rori insisting Katie played ‘Santa Baby’ three times, they moved into the living room, the adults with a glass of wine or beer, kids with a hot chocolate and then began the usual discussion about which film they were going to watch.

“Do we have to?” Jamie groaned, as Rori demanded The Muppet Christmas Carol.

“I thought you liked this one?” Katie looked at him as she stood in front of the DVD rack.

“Yeah but we’ve seen it like a thousand times already this year.” He sighed. “Can I go watch It’s a Wonderful Life in the other room?”

“Erm…” Katie took a deep breath and Steve could tell she was trying to keep her face from falling at the fact Jamie didn’t want to sit and watch with them, which would break their tradition for the first time, and he gave a little cough and leaned towards Jamie who was sat on the chair next to the couch.

“Let’s watch The Muppets, and when they’ve all gone to bed you can stay up with and we’ll watch your choice.”

“Really?” Jamie looked at him.

Steve nodded “You keep telling me you’re older now so, well, you can stay up a little later. Just don’t mention it, okay?”

“Sure.” Jamie grinned, before he cleared his throat. “It’s okay mom, I changed my mind.”

Once the film was on, Katie settled down on the sofa, tucked under Steve’s arm as he pressed a kiss to her head, her hands lightly trailing shapes over his arm which was crossed over her chest, holding her close to him.

They laughed and sang their way through the movie, the only movement being Pete and Steve taking it in turns to keep the adult’s alcohol supply topped up and once it was done Rori jumped up, grinning and exclaiming loudly that it was time to leave the treats out for Santa.

Katie and Steve both headed into the kitchen where Katie handed Rori the large plate that Steve had painted years ago, which identified spaces for each separate item, and now sported Flossie’s name alongside the other four and with a loud instruction for Rori and Harry to calm down, Steve handed, Harry a carrot before he grabbed a mince pie and a bottle of beer for Santa- well, he can’t have milk in every house, that just gets boring- and he made his way into the living room where Rori placed the plate down in the middle of the coffee table and they set about arranging the treats.

But Rori wasn’t happy.

"Daddy it's wrong!" "What’s wrong?" Steve looked at Rori and she pointed to the plate.

"There's only one carrot."

"Yeah, for Rudolph."

"But what about Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen?" Steve blinked as she dropped her hands to her hips, giving him a look so reminiscent of the one Katie shot him when she thought he was being a dumbass. "It isn't all about Rudolph, Daddy" "Well, we haven’t got any more carrots, Princess." He pondered "You think the reindeers would like broccoli?" "Don't be ridiculous." Rori shot back but at that point Peter interjected "They do, Titch. I left it one year. They ate the lot" Steve didn't miss the way Emmy looked at Peter as he nodded seriously to Rori, his eldest daughter’s eyes wide with pride and love and he bit back the smile threatening to spread across his face. "It’s true Rori." Jamie added, playing along. "They like most veg." "Ooh, okay! I’ll go ask momma for a selection." She exclaimed, running out of the room. Steve turned to Pete, clapping him between the shoulders "Nice one Queens." He then shook his head "Why the hell is leaving just one suddenly a problem this year?" "Yeah that might be our fault." Emmy grimaced a little "We watched the Christmas Chronicles earlier at Auntie Pep's" "Figures." Steve sniffed. "I suppose I should be thankful she's being so kind. She does love animals." Jamie snorted "Yeah go tell that to Mom now little miss Diva is in there demanding half the veg prepped for dinner tomorrow." Steve groaned "Ahh shit, Honey!" He quickly exited the lounge and headed to the kitchen in time to see Katie stood, frowning as Rori hastily explained the issue. "So I need some broccoli, and cauliflower and...erm...what else is there?" "Potatoes, cabbage, green beans and sprouts." "Yeah. Sprouts!" Katie looked up at Steve, mouthing what the fuck is going on and he snorted as she shook her head and moved to the pans on the stove. She pulled a few pieces of each veg out, placed them in a bowl and handed it to Rori. "Thanks Momma!" She grinned, carefully carrying her precious reindeer food from the room. "Nine reindeer huh?" She looked at Steve as he laughed and crossed to room to give her a kiss. "Reckon you just saved Christmas Eve, Mrs Rogers." "Hmmm." She grinned, her arms sliding round Steve's neck. "How fast do you think you can get them into bed?" Steve arched an eyebrow as his hands landed on her hips. "Why? You got plans?" "Yes." She deadpanned, causing him to chuckle. "We got another film to watch with Jamie first." Steve's fingers flexed against Katie's hips and she gave a sigh. "I forgot about that. God, why does he have to keep growing up?" she grumbled, and Steve laughed as she pressed her face into his chest."I wish I'd known last year it was gonna be the final time he believed in Santa." "Well, I'm kinda pleased that the fat, sack carrying bastard doesn't get the credit for all our hard work with at least two of them." He shrugged causing Katie to snort. "The amount of effort we go to only for him to take the plaudits takes the piss." "Steven Grinch Rogers." Katie looked at him as she pulled away. "You sound like Tony."

"Well, he didn't always talk crap." Steve smiled and Katie grinned as he gave her another soft kiss. Together they left the kitchen and headed back to the lounge where the kids were now dotted about. Harry was sat on Emmy's knee looking at a book, whilst Rori was busy prodding at her tablet showing something to Peter. Jamie was snuggled with Stark and Erica on the chair and Katie had to smile, the kitten had taken a liking to her rescuer, much to Rori's irritation. "Okay kids." Katie clapped her hands. "It’s getting kinda late and I'd hate for Santa to arrive and not be able to come in so..." "Bed time!" Harry grinned, jumping up and off Emmy's lap, the young woman scoffing indignantly. "If only you were this enthusiastic about going to sleep all the time." Steve mused, swinging Harry up into the air, smoothing his hair back, planting a kiss to his cheek. "But we don't get presents all the other times when we wake up." Rori shrugged. And Steve couldn't really argue against her logic.

***** Jamie fell asleep halfway through It’s A Wonderful Life, and when the film finished Steve gently woke him up where he stretched and let out a yawn before he rubbed his eyes, coming to. He stood up and bid them all a good night, and by the time Katie went upstairs to tuck him in, he was once again crashed out.

Steve, Katie, Emmy and Pete then all settled in the kitchen as it was the furthest part of the house from the bedrooms. Katie pulled a charcutteri board from the fridge as Steve cracked open the Asgardian Bourbon for him and Pete, Katie and Emmy remaining on the champagne. With Christmas songs playing in the background they played a few games of Go Fish, which grew louder and more competitive the more drink they consumed. Eventually, when Pete claimed the last game, Steve tossed his cards down with a disgusted grimace.

“Outrageous.” He shook his head, laughing as Emmy nudged him hard in the ribs.

“You’re such a sore loser, dad!” she scoffed and he looked at her, arching his eyebrow.

“Carry on and Santa won’t be leaving you anything tonight.”

“He isn’t anyway.” Pete grinned, “She’s firmly on the naughty list.”

There was a pause as Steve turned his head slowly to look at him and Pete flushed furiously, recoiling in his seat as he realised what he’d just said as Katie tipped her head back, letting out a huge laugh.

“Aaaaand that’s our cue to leave.” Emmy stood up. “Come on Pete, you fucking moron.”

“Language!” Steve shot out, pointing at her and she replied by flipping him off.

“See you in the morning.” She smiled, giving both her parents a hug and a kiss before she headed out of the door, Pete simply smiling sheepishly as she tugged him behind her and across the garden to the cabin.

And then it was time to set out the presents.

Katie began to clear the table as Steve headed out to the garage to retrieve the gifts from their hiding place, setting them out in the lounge into separate piles before Katie came in with the smaller items she’d hidden in the under-stairs storage for the stockings which were hung over the hearth. Half an hour or so later they stood back to admire their handy-work, new bikes for Jamie, Rori and Harry taking centre stage on their piles, whilst Emmy and Pete’s gift was a little smaller, as keys to an apartment in London didn’t really take up much room when all was said and done.

“I can’t believe it’s Christmas already.” Katie sighed, looking around. “I mean this time last year we were getting ready to have Floss, and when I think back about everything that’s happened since then…”

“It’s been a heavy year.” Steve nodded, his arms wrapping around her as he hugged her from behind. “But we made it. You’re amazing, you know that.”

“Team effort.” Katie leaned back into him, “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Steve gently moved one hand and reached up to sweep her hair away from her neck. His fingers softly brushed her skin and she gave a little shudder as he dropped his head, his lips kissing softly beneath her ear.

“Gram mo Chroi…” he whispered and she let out a soft sigh, his lips kissing up to her jaw line before she turned and ran her hands up his chest, bringing them to rest on his shoulders.

“Still?” her eyes were bright a she peered up at him and Steve smiled, nodding, knowing full well she was referring to the first time he’d said those words to her on Christmas Eve some seventeen years ago.

“Til the end of the line, pretty girl.” he dropped his head to give her a kiss, one hand on her hip, the other cradling the back of her head as he held her to him, his mouth locked on hers. Soon she felt both of his hands on her back, then they slowly slid down her body, cupping her ass.

“So, about those plans you had…” he muttered against her lips and she smirked, pulling back a little.

“Thought you might fancy unwrapping one of your gifts early.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah…” she grinned. “I mean I’ve been a very good girl, Santa.”

“That’s debatable.” Steve’s smirk grew even wider. Although the sooner I can get out of these hideous pyjamas the better!”

“You know they’re gonna have to go back on after, right?” she laughed as she reluctantly untangled herself from him so she could turn off the lights on the tree and the garland over the hearth. “None of that lot are knocking tomorrow morning before they come in to wake us up.”

“Remind me again why we have no lock for the door.” Steve asked as he took her hand and they walked up the stairs before they took a quick peek in on their kids. All four were sleeping soundly, Stark curled round Jamie’s feet, Erica round Rori’s head on her pillow. As Katie gently pulled the door to Rori’s room shut, she turned to Steve who pulled her back towards him, his hands sliding down and grabbing the top of her thighs, hauling her off her feet, causing her to giggle.

“Now, where were we Mrs Rogers?”

“Debating whether or not I’m on the naughty list.” She grinned, her legs locking around his waist.

“I think that’s a given, Doll.” Steve smirked, kissing her as he carried her into their room. “When it comes to being naughty, you’re very good at it.”

Katie let out a chuckle as he dropped her onto the bed, wasting no time as he stripped her bare, before he dispensed of his own pyjamas, falling over her, his hands running through her hair as he looked at her.

“You’re beautiful.” his lips ghosted hers, noses bumping and she smiled against his mouth.

“You’re not so bad yourself.” She whispered before he kissed her again, deeply and slowly, the desire and love flowing between the pair of them was evident as Katie let out a soft whimper, her back arching a little into the kiss which broke a moment later as Steve trailed hot, open mouthed pecks across her jaw line to that spot below her ear. He watched carefully, Katie’s facial expression forming into the one he knew so well as she sighed, his mouth dropping down her neck to her collar bone, his teeth gently grazing over the skin.

His hand trailed down her side, tracing the curve of her hip, the pads of his fingers barely touching her but it was enough. She started to clench her legs together as she bucked her pelvis up and his other hand gently reached up, curling around her jaw as he turned her head back to look at him.

“Patience.” He instructed, his voice a deep, quiet chuckle. Her eyes widened and she swallowed, a whimper escaping her mouth as he kissed her again, his tongue sliding over her lips before it tangled with her own, grazing the roof of her mouth. He broke the kiss again, but this time their mouths stayed pressed together, each breathing the other’s air as his hand moved down over her stomach and gently parted her folds. Katie moaned as he softly ran his fingertips up and down across her slick, his touches soft, teasing nowhere near enough to satisfy her at all and he knew that. He kept his strokes feather-light, just enough to keep exciting her, coaxing more and more wetness from her as his mouth moved down her neck, sucking at the hollow before he moved then to her breasts. His tongue lapped at her nipples in turn, teasing them to hard peaks slowly, as his fingers were working her and she trembled underneath him, the subtle touches not nearly enough.

“Steve…” she let out a choked whisper of his name that was almost a sob. “Please.”

At that he pushed one finger inside of her, curling against her spot, his thumb gently stroking over her clit. Katie’s back arched violently off the bed and he moved again, his mouth back on hers. She responded by kissing him back, and as the kiss grew in intensity so did the pace of Steve’s fingers.

This was torturous pleasure for Katie, Steve just toying with her as he wished. The fire was burning in the pit of her belly, but it was like the low, dull burn of an ember which was waiting to burst into flames. And it was driving her wild. But, as always, he knew just how and what to do and sensing that she was reaching her limit he picked up the pace a little, inserting another finger insider her as he continued tracing circles on her clit. Her back arched off the bed again, and her core tightened before she gave a strangled, low groan which died in her throat as a wave of pleasure washed over her, her legs growing stiff a little before she stilled, her breathing deep, breasts heaving in the dim light of the lamp.

Steve didn’t give her a second’s reprieve. His mouth was back on hers, both large hands cupping her face with a strong grip as he rather unceremoniously nudged her legs apart with his knee. As Katie bent her legs to accommodate him he shuffled forwards, and she reached down with one hand, grabbing at his solid cock, guiding it to where she needed him most.

He slid into her easily, his hands gripping into her hair as he rest on his elbows which were planted either side of her shoulders. His thrusts were deep, slow, controlled, each roll of his hip forward brushing against that spot inside of her. It felt so fucking good that Steve was in no rush for any of this to end, enjoying the fact he was loving his wife in a way only he could. Their bodies were moulded together in the most intimate of dances, Katie’s moving slightly with Steve’s as his hips drove into her, lips pressed together in a barely there kiss, mouths open, as he pressed his forehead to hers.

“So good,” He whispered. “Always so good for me, sweetheart.”

Katie sighed back, it was all she could do as Steve gave a small whimper, his head pressing further to hers as her hands slid up his back, tangling in his hair. As her nails dug lightly into his scalp, Steve tipped his head back a little bit and gave a harsher thrust into her making her cry out a little, her hands tightening around his blonde locks.

He repeated his action, barely pulling back an inch, rolling into her as opposed to thrusting and she felt the familiar, tingle brewing in her belly and upper thighs before with a final silent cry she bucked underneath him, her walls clamping down on his dick as she came, her entire body going rigid before she sagged back underneath him, utterly boneless.

Steve picked up the pace a little, chasing his own release, his mouth back on hers, his groans gathering volume as his hips increased their momentum. With a dirty grunt, which he stifled into the crook of her neck, he came hard, and the world felt like it was completely tipping on its axis as his hips slowed to a stop and he dropped down, pressing his weight onto his wife.

Neither of them moved for a while. The room was silent bar the deep, ragged breathing from the both as they lay still. Katie could feel Steve pulsing inside her as the final throes of his orgasm subsided before he lifted himself a little, his mouth seeking out hers as her fingers danced down his neck.

The kiss was soft, his hands once more cupping her face, thumbs softly stroking over her cheekbones as he pressed his forehead to hers, his nose gently sliding against hers as he pulled away ever so slightly to look at her.

“I love you,” his hands brushing her hair off her face as he kissed her again, enjoying the feeling as her lips curled into a smile against his, “from your head to your mistletoes”

At that she burst out laughing, her head falling back further against her pillow as she looked at him, her eyes shining as she shook her head slightly.

“Your dad joke game is strong, old man.” She snorted before she moved her hands from where they had been stroking the nape of his neck and cupped his face in the pads of her fingers. “I love you too, jingle balls included.”

At that Steve gave a bellow of laugher which she hastily stifled beneath her hand so as not to wake their children. As his chuckles subsided, he gently wrapped his fingers around her wrist and kissed her palm.

“Merry Christmas, Sweetheart.” He smiled, letting go her arm as he dropped his head.

“Merry Christmas, Soldier.” She whispered, before his lips captured hers once more.

#stark spangled forever #steve rogers #katie stark #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character

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luci-in-trenchcoats · 4 years

Text

Won’t You Stay (Part 13)

Summary: The reader heads to her parents house to find out exactly how the movie is back on...

Masterlist

Square: Free Space

Pairing: Jensen x Director!reader

Word Count: 4,500ish

Warnings: mature (language, angst, post domestic abuse, self-doubts, smut (protected sex))

A/N: Please enjoy! Also written for @spnkinkbingo

_____

“Hey,” said Jensen twenty minutes later, pulling open the front door of the house before you were all the way up the steps.

“Hey. What are you doing here?” you asked, slipping inside and setting your shoes and coat down by the door.

“I came over to get to the bottom of what happened,” he said. “I can’t believe your dad would ever purposefully hurt you so I went to look for myself.”

“Obviously something happened,” you said. “The movie is back on, with me still directing and acting.”

“I know. I was there when your dad made the call to the studio heads,” he said. “Come on. Your parents are in his office.”

“I’m not exactly in the mood to talk to him,” you said.

“Y/N. For me,” he said, holding out a hand. You slipped yours into it and went down a hall to the right, your dad sitting on one end of the couch in there, your mom sipping on a drink as she stared out the window. “Alright. I got her here. It’s up to you at this point,” said Jensen.

You sat down on the opposite couch, crossing your arms.

“Play nice,” he said. “I’ll be with your brother and sister if you need me.”

Jensen left and you glared at your dad, your mom sighing.

“You had a hell of a day,” said your mom. You looked over to the fireplace, pursing your lips. “Your father told me about Logan and while Jensen didn’t say anything while he bitched out your father, it was enough to fill in the gaps.”

“I can’t believe you told her,” you mumbled.

“I’m your father. I don’t keep secrets from your mother, not ones like that,” he said.

“I kept your fucking secrets,” you shot back.

“Enough,” said your mom. “Dad was right to tell me. It makes so much more sense why you’ve been the way you have the past few years.”

“He had no right to share that.”

“I’m your mother. I have every right,” she said.

“I’m not your child,” you said, your dad staring at you. “I was baggage you had to deal with.”

“Tough shit, kid,” she said, storming over and getting in your face. “You are exactly like your father and I know all of his tells so don’t try that crap with me. You’re my daughter so deal with it.”

You blinked and swallowed, looking to your dad.

“You and your father are going to attend a therapy session together,” she said.

“No way. I-” you said, the look on her face stopping you.

“It is a decision that we along with Jensen made,” she said.

“He’s my boyfriend for all of five seconds and he gets to make those kind of decisions for me now?”

“Your boyfriend for all of five seconds loves you. You have no idea that he is exactly what you need right now, maybe what you need the rest of your life. You know how I know that? You were that person for your father. You are going, you both are, and you are going to talk about what you both went through, together. Understand me?” she said.

“Dad could have talked to me before ruining the movie,” you said.

“He regrets that,” she said. “He did something stupid and he was not expecting that reaction from your bosses. So after your fight, he came home, very upset, and by the time he’d calmed down, your boyfriend was here and starting another one. Your father did not mean to hurt you. He made a mistake and he went and fixed it. Parents are not perfect, Y/N. All he wanted was to make sure you were okay. He saw you spinning out yesterday with all of the new work. He handled it wrong but he just wanted to get you some help directing, not shut the whole thing down. He made a mistake. It’s all it was.”

“Why isn’t he talking?” you said, your dad staring down at the floor.

“I don’t know. He’s barely said a word since he got off the phone with the bosses. Neither one of you is leaving this room until you talk through this,” she said. She went past towards the door and you stared off out the back window. You felt a hand touch the top of your head and a few fingers fix some hairs. “I love you, sweetie.”

“I know, mom,” you said, barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry. I love you too.”

“It’s okay. Work this out. Please,” she said. The door shut after a moment and your dad turned his head, staring at the gas fireplace.

“Dad. Say something. You’re freaking me out,” you said.

“Don’t worry, kiddo,” he said quietly.

“Too late for that,” you said.

“I had no idea they would pull that. None. I thought they would send down help, not give an ultimatum. All I wanted to do was get you some help. I never would have done it if I thought they’d do what they did,” he said. “You were right to yell at me. I deserved it.”

“You didn’t deserve all of it,” you said.

“Yes, I did.”

“Dad, what I said about my birth mom-”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe it was just me she treated like that. She was a kind girl to everyone else. Maybe it was just me she hated. Maybe you would have been better off with her,” he said.

“You honestly think I would have been better off with a woman that abused her boyfriend? With a woman that’s family didn’t want a thing to do with me?” you asked.

“Maybe you would have been better off with anyone besides me. You wound up just like me. Just like me. The worst things that happened to me happened to you too and maybe if you had normal parents, got adopted, that would have never had happened,” he said. “Maybe you would have stayed safe and had a mom your whole life and you wouldn’t have had to deal with me and all the crap that ever-”

“Dad. Shut up,” you said as you stood and took a seat next to him. “You were the only person that ever wanted me. It’s my life. You can’t protect me from every bad thing in it. I should have said something about Logan but I didn’t. I was scared and embarrassed. You can’t keep me in a bubble away from the world though. It can suck out there but it’s not all bad.”

“You know I’ve never had someone simultaneously ask if I was okay while ripping me a new one,” he said with a dry laugh. “Jensen’s a good boyfriend.”

“He’s a good friend,” you said.

“Good. You figured that part out, them being your best friend,” he said.

“Dad, can we just forget today happened?” you asked. “I’m sorry I said that stuff to you. I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

“I’m sorry too,” he said. “I should have talked to you first.”

“It’s okay,” you said. You rested your head on his shoulder and he pulled you into a hug, the two of you staying like that for quite a while. The door finally opened and you both looked up, Jensen and your mom walking in.

“Told you,” she said with a smirk to Jensen. “Y/N, why don’t you stay the night. It’s pretty late.”

“You guys okay?” asked Jensen.

“Yeah. We’re good now,” said your dad.

“I knew you two just needed to sit in a room together and talk,” said your mom. “Come on, up to bed the both of you. I don’t want anymore drama in this house.”

“We’ll do our best,” said your dad.

You paused by the bottom of the stairs, giving Jensen a hug as he headed for the front door.

“Thanks,” you said.

“I didn’t do anything,” he said, kissing your cheek. “You look better.”

“I am,” you said. He stared at you and you saw him smile.

“You gotta do it still,” he said, your head cocking. “Something you like about yourself? Practice.”

“Oh,” you said, leaning your head on his chest. “I like how quick I picked up that stunt today.”

“Alright. We’ll count it,” he chuckled. “I’ll swing by work around lunchtime, check on you. I assume you’re going to have a busy few days.”

“Yeah,” you said. “But I’d rather have that than the alternative.”

“I’ll bring something by for you and your staff,” he said.

“You’re too sweet,” you said.

“Jensen,” said your dad, leaning over the balcony after he got up there. “It’s late. You can stay the night too if you’d like. I’d prefer she had some company tonight.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll be okay,” you said. “I took up most of your day already.”

“Are you ever going to get it through that thick skull of yours that I like being with you?” said Jensen, resting his hands on your hip. You blushed and heard your dad head down the hall.

“I hope someday I do. Let’s go to bed, Jay,” you said. You walked upstairs, pulling him down the hall away from the master and towards the kids section of the house. Your old room was on the end, Jensen whistling when you pushed the door open.

“Hot damn. I think my bedroom was the size of your closet,” he said as he looked around.

“I used to sleep in a one bedroom apartment with my dad for years. This was not always the norm,” you said. “It’s also not that obnoxious. You will not be complaining about having my own bathroom when my brother and sister get up for school in the morning.”

“No, I don’t think I will,” he said. You didn’t have too many clothes left at your parents place but there were some pajamas for you and you managed to find a pair of clean sweatpants from Anthony in the laundry room. After Jensen changed you slipped into bed, Jensen plopping down beside you. “Tomorrow will be better, I promise.”

“I hope so, Jens. Goodnight.”

“Morning,” you yawned, Jensen on your tail as you wandered into the kitchen around six thirty. You caught Anthony staring at Jensen and raised an eyebrow. “Anthony. Stop staring at my boyfriend’s ass.”

“Those are my pants,” he said.

“You can share,” you said, Jensen chuckling as he took a seat at the kitchen counter beside them.

“It’s okay. Your sister stares at it too,” he said.

“I am your girlfriend. I can stare at your ass,” you said, your dad walking in with a cup of coffee in his hands.

“It’s too early for this conversation,” he said, rubbing his eyes.

“So is there gonna be another meltdown today or what?” asked Anthony as he sipped on his cereal.

“Behave,” said your mom as she finished plating some eggs for your dad. “It’s grown up stuff, Anthony.”

“It’s always grown up stuff,” mumbled Ella. Your gaze flickered over to your dad and he took a sip of his coffee.

“Dani,” he said, giving her a nod. “They aren’t little kids anymore. I think they’re old enough to know.”

“Y/N knowing is one thing-”

“I don’t want to keep secrets from our kids anymore,” he said. Jensen stood and was about to excuse himself but your dad shook his head. “You can stay if you’d like, Jensen. You don’t have to but you don’t have to go either.”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with,” said Jensen. Your dad looked at you and you looked over to Jensen.

“Jensen can keep a secret,” you said. “He’s a good guy. It’s your choice though.”

“I know. It’s the reason I’m willing to let him hear this,” said your dad.

“Is this about yesterday? Or your guys other fight earlier in the week?” asked Ella.

“It’s actually about what happened when I was eighteen.”

“Hey,” you said, stopping over Jensen’s apartment after work that night. He gave you a smile as he waved you in. “That smells delicious.”

“Thank you. I hope it tastes as good. How was work?” he asked.

“Surprisingly good. The guys and me got a good game plan put together of how to function while I film scenes and overall. I’ll still be busy but it can work,” you said. “How was your day off?”

“I caught up on a few chores before I went over to hang out with your dad for a few hours,” he said.

“How was he? I know Anthony and Ella were kinda shell shocked this morning, including you.”

“He was okay. I asked why he felt comfortable telling me something so personal to be honest. I get that we’re dating but it’s only been three weeks.”

“What’d he end up saying?” you asked as you skirted into his kitchen to wash up.

“He just said he had a feeling I was going to end up sticking around and I might as well know now,” he said. “He really never has had that perfect life the world thinks he did.”

“No,” you said. “Thanks for checking up on him.”

“He’s my friend. It’s no problem,” he said, chuckling as he stared at you. “You didn’t happen to spill some pasta from lunch did you?”

You looked down, speckles of orange red all over your white shirt. You threw your head back and he laughed.

“You’ve had a hard day. Why don’t you take a shower and slip into some of my clothes while I finish cooking? I’ll spray some stain remover on your shirt and throw it in the wash,” he said.

“That sounds kind of fantastic,” you said.

“Towels are in the bathroom closet,” he said.

“I’ll be right back,” you said. You popped into his bathroom and tossed your dirty shirt out into his bedroom, finding you had some on your jeans too. You placed them next to the shirt, hearing Jensen come in a minute later to gather them up. The bedroom door shut and you got under the shower, smiling to yourself.

It had not been an easy week in the slightest but it was getting closer to the end and Jensen had rolled with all of the punches. You used some of his shampoo to wash your hair, humming to yourself. You didn’t want to know what kind of hot mess your life would be right now without him in it.

You were still grinning as you got out of the shower and dried off, Jensen knocking on the door to let you know it was done whenever you were ready. You stepped out to the bedroom, a pair of sweatpants and a t shirt waiting for you along with your underwear and bra. You slipped on the underwear and glanced back at his closet, a smirk crossing your lips.

You didn’t know if he wanted to go there yet. Or if he was ready.

You could tease without pushing for anything though.

You walked into his closet and found a blue flannel on a hanger before you pulled it off and put it on, buttoning it up for the most part. You took a deep breath and left the bedroom, Jensen whistling to himself as he stirred a pot.

“How was the shower?” he asked, back to you still.

“Good. I can’t wait to try dinner,” you said. He looked over his shoulder with a smile quickly and went back to his pot. He froze and turned back to you slowly, looking you up and down. “You did say to put on your clothes.”

“This is true,” he said. You tucked your damp hair behind your ear, biting your bottom lip as he kept staring.

“I can change,” you said, spinning around and trying to get to a pair of pants as quickly as possible.

“Don’t,” he said. You looked back and he looked you up and down once more. “You look good. Very, very good.”

“We should eat,” you said. He nodded and went back to the food, dishing some up as you sat at his counter, Jensen joining you after a moment. You were quiet as you ate together, Jensen staring at you more than once. “It tastes wonderful, Jensen.”

“Thanks,” he said. You smirked when he nearly knocked his glass over and he quickly put it back. He seemed to devour the rest of his food and pick up while you finished with your own. “You’re uh, going to stay the night?”

“Would you like me to?” you asked, handing over your plate.

“Yeah. I like having someone stay over,” he said. You smiled and helped him finish cleaning up, heading into his family room when you were done.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” you asked, running a hand through your hair, Jensen staring down at where the hem of his shirt lifted up your leg. “Or...we could do something else.”

“Are you okay with something else?” he asked. “You said the other morning…I don’t want to push you into anything.”

“I’m okay with something else with you,” you said. “Are you okay with it?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I am,” he said. You stepped over in front of him and took his hand, pulling him back to his bedroom. He shut the door and you put a hand on one of the buttons of your shirt. “Wait.”

He crossed the room and cupped your cheeks, kissing you slowly, the taste of dinner still on his soft pink lips.

“You are beautiful,” he said quietly, kissing you, leaving his lips on yours.

“I’m all yours,” you murmured before you kissed him again. He put his hands on your face, your neck, holding you close. Your hands worked on the buttons of your shirt before you pushed it off your shoulders and opened your eyes. Jensen did the same and looked down as you stepped back towards the bed, pulling him with you.

“Wow,” he breathed out.

“Want to take off the rest?” you smirked.

“Oh fuck yes,” he said. He ripped his shirt off his head and you reached out to put a hand on his belt, undoing it slowly, finding the zipper of his jeans and pulling it down. He pushed his pants off and his boxer briefs in one go.

“Well fuck me,” you said, his cock already hard and slightly bigger than you were expecting. “Someone ate their wheaties.”

“Someone’s hot as hell,” he said resting his hand on your hips. You pushed off your underwear with him, Jensen smiling as he lay the two of you down on the bed and leaned over top of you.

“You gonna do something or you just going to look pretty?” you teased.

He winked and started to kiss down your body, a pleasant shiver running down your spine.

“Relax. Gonna make you feel good,” he murmured, kissing near your hip. You arched your hips up and he rested his palms on them, hot breath fanning over your clit.

He lapped his tongue over the bud, so light you barely felt it. You tugged on his hair, urging him to give you more. He opened his eyes and you nodded, Jensen diving in.

You sunk back into the sheets, floating in the good feelings he was giving you. There was a presence on your hips, enough to keep you in place if you squirmed, but otherwise he was extremely gentle, giving you a nice build up.

“Jensen,” you breathed out. “You know what you are doing down there.”

“Good,” he said as he pulled back, licking his lips. “You taste delicious.”

“Hey,” you said when he went to go back for more. You tugged his hair, Jensen crawling up the bed.

“Hi,” he teased, pecking a kiss to your lips.

“On your back,” you said, sliding your hand down to his cheek. He cocked his head adorably and you giggled. “Let me return the favor.”

“I am plenty hard,” he laughed. “We got all the time in the world for that. This is about reminding you that this can be good tonight.”

You smiled softly as you looked up at him, Jensen nuzzling into your hand for a moment.

“It’s good,” you said quietly.

“Good,” he whispered, dipping his head low and kissing you. He rolled to the side of the bed and dug around in his nightstand drawer, swallowing when he suddenly sat up. “Y/N. I don’t have any condoms. I can run out really quick-“

“My purse in my bag. There’s some in the side zip pocket,” you said. “They’re new.”

“You are amazing,” he said, jogging out of the room and back in, tearing open a condom. You sat up and held out your hand, Jensen setting it in your palm. You sat up on your knees on the bed, carefully rolling the condom on his cock, Jensen’s breath hitching.

“Almost didn’t fit. I’ll have to buy bigger,” you said. He grabbed the back of your thighs and hoisted you up as he crawled onto the bed, lifting you up and gently lowering you down on his cock.

You dropped your head to his shoulder and your mouth fell open, Jensen holding you close as you adjusted to him.

“Slow?” he asked quietly. You nodded and he trailed a finger down the curve of your spine, whole body shuddering around him. He shifted his hips back, barely pulling out before delivering a deep thrust, his tip hitting your g-spot. He did it again and you turned your face into his neck, Jensen pausing.

“M’okay. Don’t stop,” you mumbled against his skin. He touched a hand to your cheek and you raised your head, Jensen’s lips finding your own. You parted them, a teasing kiss turning deeper as he started to move again. Your arms wrapped around his shoulders, rolls of your hips falling in line with his, smacking your skin together.

He breathed hard and ran a hand up to the back of your hair, almost like he was more interested in the kiss than the screwing. You smiled and felt him return it, thumb brushing over the back of your neck. Your foreheads rested against one another as you caught your breath, bodies catching on and moving in a perfect rhythm together.

You giggled and got a big kiss for it, Jensen let out a cute little sound when he pulled back.

“I love that noise,” he whispered against your lips.

“Feels so good,” you said.

“I know,” he said, your hips rolling back as his thrust forward. “Fuck, do that again.”

You rolled your hips and he bit his bottom lip. One of your hands reached up to his hair and pulled him closer, devouring him in a dirty kiss. He sank into it, your pants mixing together as you rocked back and forth. It was slow and lazy and you felt a low simmer in your core, the kind that would rip through you and ruin you when it finally hit.

He kissed your neck, your back arching, his lips kissing under your jaw and making you keen.

You tightened around him and he did it again, your hips moving a little faster, Jensen matching you for it, returning to your mouth to map out the warm wet cavern there.

His body was tensing up and you knew he was holding back his orgasm. You grabbed one of his hands and slid it down your chest. He slipped a finger through your folds as your bodies broke apart for a moment, finding your clit and starting to rub.

Your mouth fell open and you squeezed every muscle in your body, hips working in time with his as he kept working the bud with his fingers.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you said, crest of an orgasm hitting you and stealing your breath away, Jensen slamming his hips into you harder. You made some kind of deep and low moan as pleasure ran through you, Jensen’s body going rigid as he came. You moved your hips as long as you could, head dropping onto his shoulder as you tried to get some air back in your lungs.

He thrust slowly a few more times, riding out the last waves of his high before he stilled and wrapped his arms around your back.

“Fuck,” he breathed out, resting his forehead on your shoulder, his whole body starting to relax. You shakily lifted your head, Jensen doing the same. His green eyes were a little darker and a whole lot hazier. You could barely think, didn’t want to feel anything but the after effects of an orgasm like that. He crashed his lips to yours, somehow finding enough energy to steal your breath away one last time.

Your head felt dizzy when he pulled away and he lay you down, slipping out of you. You felt him get out of the bed for a moment, returning after a second with no condom and tucking into your side.

You lay there with your eyes shut, Jensen rolling you to use his body as a pillow and you were more than okay with that. Your arm rested over his waist and you pressed your chest to his, head resting on his shoulder, his arm lazily wrapped around your back.

“Wow,” he finally said, his chest rising and falling more slowly.

“You are fucking amazing,” you said.

“Takes one to know one,” he laughed. “That was okay?”

“More than,” you said, forcing your eyes open, Jensen looking down at you. “Thank you for making that fun for me again.”

“I could say the same to you,” he said, kissing your temple before his eyes fluttered shut. You kissed his chest before you shut your eyes and fell asleep listening to his slow heartbeat.

______

A/N: Read Part 14 here!

#spnkinkbingo #supernatural #spn #jensen x reader #jensen ackles #supernatural series #supernatural reader insert #jensen ackles x reader #spn reader insert #jensen reader insert #jensen x #jensen ackles x you

202 notes · View notes

chappedandfadedvds · 4 years

Text

Dec 5th, Saturday 20:58

note:

co-author @odi-et-amo85

__ __ __

Eventually, the two boys continued their walk.

Lucas gradually falling back into his tour guide persona, after they had left the square without speaking. They were still holding hands as crossed the Oudegracht. A name that made sense to Jens for once, since there was a “new one“ too. And straight ahead they passed the Dutch Conservatorium, a music school as Jens was infromed, where a girl called Janna had apperantly enrolled.

The two boys ended up at a crossroads.

„If you look there to your right,” Lucas said gesturing off into said direction, „there is our new pride and joy. The Hoog Catharijne shopping centre. Doesn’t it look beautiful?”

Jens didn’t see the point in why he was shown this specifically by his boyfriend, thus looking first at it and then puzzled back to Lucas. Yes, okay, the building looked really cool, but overall, it was just another modern building to him. He also had seen parts of it when they had arrived yesterday.

„I only see one beautiful thing here.” Jens therefore muttered, unable to keep the amused little smirk from tugging at the corner of his lips.

„You are an idiot.“ Lucas snorted. „Cute, but an idiot. It’s just that the old shopping centre was dead ugly, that this is much much better for everyone’s eyes.“ He explained grinning at Jens, who nodded in his pretended astonishment. Lucas nudged him, laughing, before he turned his attention towards the next stop on his agenda.

„Anyway, do you see the water over there? The singel?!” Lucas sounded really elated about this one, Jens following his gaze.

„Yes, dear, I do.” Jens said still caught up in his act, clueless about what not having a relationship had to do with the name of the stream.

„The singel is the canal around Utrecht’s city center. It flows continuously again. There used to be a highway before.”

„What?” Jens exclaimed very eloquently, trying to imagine a highway at the spot he was looking at, which definitely was hard to do, given the pretty stream of water he saw.

“Yeah, right here. Parts of the singel had to be drained in order to build it. But of course, after a decade or three, the authorities realised it wasn’t a very good idea to have done to begin with. So like ten years ago, the council decided to reinstate the singel as it was. And now it’s finished. Isa told me about it, but it’s even better than she said.”

All in all, it looked very lovely. Though he felt incredibly happy about how excited Lucas looked as he told him about it. It was adorable, honestly.

Jens and Lucas carried on their walk by the long stream of water under line of plane trees. They should come back in summer, when the green would engluf the little path they took, instead of the black branches stretching above their heads. Jens was all caught up in the moment, enjoying his handsome boyfriend at his side, coming to a stop every couple of steps to kiss.

Unfortunately Lucas’s mobile phone went off soon after by Isa calling, interrupting them as the stood in an embrace hidden in a shadow of a larger tree. He picked up swiftly and switched to speaker, so Jens could listen in.

“Hey Ies.”

“Hee Luc, it’s getting pretty late. Are you guys okay? Have you already forgotten the city you were from and got lost?”

They both checked the time in the upper corner. Isa wasn’t lying as it was close to nine fourtyfive already. Oops.

“No, no. We’re just enjoying the sights of Utrecht.” Lucas replied, Jens whispering an amused „and us“ under his breath. His boyfriend only nudging him into silence, not smirking any less than Jens.

“Ah, behaving like silly tourists I reckon?” She asked, being mostly right about her assumption.

Though now, Jens got a bit worried as a thought caught his attention. Isa wouldn’t call for no reason, as they hadn’t fixed a time on when to be back. And she had been all alone with Lotte since the two boys had left her this early afternoon. Kes heading back to his place. Maybe something was wrong?

“Isa?” Jens asked, suddenly alarmed. “Is everything okay with Lotte? Is she still awake? Did she brush her teeth? She’s not bothering you too much right? Because if she is, I’ll talk to her and...”

“Jens, Jens! I may have a few loose screws, but I’m niet van Lotje getikt!”

Isa quickly broke him off, before he could go on in his endless thoughts about all the things that could be happening.

Jens’s baffled face and instant silence, while trying to figure out what Isa had told him in her dutch accent, gained him loud giggles from both Lucas and Isa.

„It’s all good.” his boyfriend said calmingly. Jens felt very much reliefed. „She said she may be a bit peculiar at times, but she’s not an idiot”

„ Yes,” Isa confirmed, still an undoubtful amusement swinging in her voice. „It’s all good. We watched The Polar Express, painted our nails, and ate an abundance of choco-pepernoten. And by nine o’clock, Little Miss Sunshine was sound asleep. So will you both come home now, I’ll even put the kettle on for tea.”

The two boys looking at each other, nodding in agreement. The prospect of cuddeling up on the sofa under a blanket with a cup of tea sounded like heaven, after hours in the cold.

“I hope you left some pepernoten for us, Ies.“ His boyfriend teased in his warning.

„We’re on our way now from the singel. See you soon. Bye.” Lucas said, and promptly hung up the phone. He nodded towards the path again, leading seemingly back to Isa, as the younger boy pulled him along.

To have come here had been a brilliant idea. Jens felt so much at ease, being away from Antwerp and his home. Simply able to raom the streets with Lucas, he already dreaded tomorrow evening, when they had to go back to Antwerp again.

For now though, he would just enjoy the happieness he felt, watching his utterly genius boyfriend think of something else he knew about Utrecht to tell Jens.

__ __ __ tagged: @odi-et-amo85, @tayspots

#week 7 #wtfock #skam #vds #jens stoffels #lucas van der heijden #chapped and faded #utrecht

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pepethehobbit · 4 years

Text

Wish you were here - Notting Hill AU

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 is here, I hope you enjoy! Also on AO3.

Jens hasn’t told Sander who came into the shop yesterday. It sounded too surreal, even to himself. He still needs to process this because it does not happen everyday that your celebrity crush just so happens to walk into your own niche record shop. Another reason for not telling him was that he kind of wanted to keep this memory and Lucas for himself, as ridiculous as it sounds. Because nothing really happened but at the same time Jens can’t shake the feeling that they had a moment. Also, their laughter felt so easy and Jens still has to smile at what Lucas wrote for the ridiculous guy from yesterday.

It’s currently half past ten in the morning and Jens is on his way to open up the shop, but not before stopping at his favorite coffee shop for a tall caramel macchiato. He has a sweet tooth and his daily coffee with too much syrup is something that he is not willing to give up. Leaving the coffee shop with his overload of sugar in one hand he scrambles for his keys to his shop with the other. While he walks he looks down on himself confused because he can’t find the keys in his pocket. Next thing he knows he collides with someone wearing a pink sweater, his coffee is on the floor and all over the other person’s clothes. His first reaction is annoyance, because honestly… his coffee. He hadn’t even had the chance to take one sip of it. The second one is guilt because he probably just ruined this person’s day and the third one is shock once he finally looks up to see who he spilled his coffee on.

Lucas van der Heijden looks down at his coffee stained sweater and then flicks his gaze up at Jens, annoyed at first but then hesitantly smiling. Now Jens is even more in shock, because who smiles at the person who just spilled hot coffee on them, like he is happy to see him. Still, it’s enough for him to finally say something.

“Fuck, sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t have any tissues, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, Jens. I feel bad though, what about your coffee?”

Everything seems to freeze inside of Jens’ mind. Lucas van der Heijden remembered his name. My name. He knows my name. Jens is in no state to answer Lucas’ question right now, still too baffled that he remembered his name from their short conversation yesterday. He is only capable of looking at Lucas with something closely resembling awe and utter disbelief.

Lucas raises one brow and looks kind of amused. “Jens?”

He snaps out of it and finally stutters his answer. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. It was my fault. Didn’t look where I was going. Look, I feel really bad about your sweater. I live like three doors away, you can clean up and I’ll give you one of my sweaters.” As soon as he says it, he notices how weird that sounds. You can’t just run into mega celebrities and then invite them to your home, Jens what are you doing?

“I mean, you don’t have to of course. It was just a friendly offer, I swear, no ulterior motive. I mean you can’t possibly run around the whole day looking like this.” Jens realizes that this sounds even worse and did he just also kind of insulted Lucas? Honestly, where is his chill when he needs it the most. Apparently it’s flying out of the window when faced with his celebrity crush two days in a row. Before he can try and embarrass himself even further, Lucas saves him with an answer.

“Yeah, that would be nice. Three doors away, you said?”

“Yes! You see this blue door next to the tattoo shop? That’s me.” Jens puts his hands back into the front pockets of his jeans and nervously awaits Lucas’ answer. Lucas looks at him considering and then looks like he made a final decision. “Okay, lead the ways then,” he says with a smile. Quietly, Jens lets out the breath he had not realized he was holding and turns back to walk the fifty meters to his apartment.

The walk is silent and slightly unnerving. Jens is hyper aware of the fact that he is leading Lucas van der Heijden to his apartment and at the same time he can’t believe that this is really happening. It’s like he woke up in a parallel universe where he just randomly meets beautiful actors and they are fine with being invited into his home.

Standing in front of the door, he searches his keys again and finds them in the inner pocket of his jacket. He unlocks the door and turns around to make sure Lucas is actually still here. The door swings open and Jens steps aside to let Lucas enter first. Which is the exact moment he remembers that he doesn’t live alone because he hears his roommate’s voice loud and clear.

“Back so soon, Jens? Is the continuous stream of customers getting too much for you? You needed a break from all the work?” Jens is used to teasing remarks like that from Milan. They had the conversation often enough, the question why Jens keeps the shop when it only really costs him more money than it makes and when he doesn’t really need it anyway because he has a different job that gets him quite enough money. Today, Jens is only capable of rolling his eyes and ignoring Milan’s sarcasm, hopefully he will stay in his room then.

“Who is that?” Lucas asks him with a curious gaze after Jens has closed the door and ushered Lucas down the entrance hall which leads directly into the kitchen. Through there you can see the living room from where stairs lead up to Jens and Milan’s rooms with a bathroom they have to share.

“Oh, that is my very annoying roommate, Milan, he likes to make fun of my misery and is probably one of my best friends.”

Lucas looks relieved with that piece of information, but Jens is pretty sure he misinterprets that look.

“Oh okay, I thought that was your boyfriend or something.”

“What? No. Eww.” Jens realizes that this response could be interpreted as all kinds of wrong when he looks back to see the disappointed and almost angry expression on Lucas’ face. He is quick to add: “I mean, as I said. He is one of my best friends. It would be like kissing my brother, which is just… eww. Milan is actually one of the persons who helped me to accept that I’m bi when I was sixteen.”

He feels like this was maybe a bit oversharing but the last thing he wants Lucas to think is that Jens is homophobic. Also, he kinda wants him to know that Jens is a possibility even though he knows that this is a complete stupid thought, because never in a million years does Jens have a shot with someone as gorgeous as Lucas.

Lucas’ expression morphed into a one of relief and if Jens is daring to hope he thinks he saw a small smile spread across his face when he said that he was bi.

“How long have you been living together?” Lucas asks instead of acknowledging any of what Jens just said. Maybe that is better. Small talk is much less dangerous than talking about sexuality as their first real topic of conversation.

With a nod of his head he motions Lucas to follow him into the living room while he answers the question.

“Over a year now, more or less. Milan broke up with his boyfriend who moved out kind of immediately. Back then I was already living with Robbe and Sander for a month or so and when Milan offered me the other room I accepted instantly, because I couldn’t take being a third wheel anymore. Also it’s ridiculously close to my shop so that was convenient as well.”

Lucas looks only slightly more confused. Before he can ask the question that clearly lies on his tongue Jens remembers the reason why they are here when he looks down and seed the coffee stain on Lucas’ sweater.

“Oh shit. I should let you get cleaned up. You’re probably very busy. I’ll get a sweatshirt for you. Follow me, I’ll show you where the bathroom is.”

Lucas looks like he is actually about to protest but then looks down at himself, nods and begins to follow Jens upstairs. Once upstairs, Jens turns around again to tell Lucas to wait in the hall while he quickly grabs the clothes. He returns with a very basic gray hoodie and is glad that he had done the washing just two days ago.

“The bathroom is right there. I’ll wait downstairs.”

Lucas thanks him with a soft voice, enters the bathroom and Jens makes his way downstairs. Milan seems to have left his room even though Jens had ignored him and sits down next to Jens on the couch with a curious expression. “Who were you talking to?” Jens considers lying but as soon as Lucas leaves the bathroom and joins them in the living room Milan will know anyway.

“Okay. This is gonna sound crazy but I ran into Lucas van der Heijden with my coffee and I offered him one of my sweaters and that he could clean up here. He also came into my shop yesterday and bought a Pink Floyd record. When he comes down again please behave as natural as possible, I beg you. I already embarrassed myself enough for one day.”

Milan just stares. He doesn’t look like he believes Jens and who can blame him. Jens heard himself talk. Hell, he lived through it and still can’t really believe it.

“Okay… Are you seriously telling me that your Man Crush Monday and award winning actor Lucas van der Heijden is currently in our bathroom, probably shirtless?”

Jens tries hard not to blush at that but fails miserably considering the face Milan makes at him now. “Yes, I’m seriously telling you this. So before you can say anything that can embarrass me even further can you promise to behave, please?”

Milan rolls his eyes in an exaggerated manner but holds up his pinkie to Jens and says: “Pinkie promise.” Jens tangles their little fingers together for a second before letting his hand fall back to his side.

Just then Lucas descends the steps and their heads turn around simultaneously. Jens breath catches when he sees Lucas in his own hoodie. He looks really comfortable and so so soft and somehow just completely right, as if Lucas was meant to wear Jens’ clothes. Lucas meets Jens' gaze and nervously tucks his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie, Jens’ hoodie. Jens is kind of overwhelmed right now until Milan tries to subtly clear his throat, which snaps Jens out of his open admiration for Lucas.

He stands up and walks over to Lucas’ side and says: “Uh yeah. Lucas. Meet my roommate, Milan. Milan, meet Lucas.” Milan gets up as well, stands in front of Lucas, stretches his hand out and seems to remain calm, keeping to his promise. Lucas takes the offered hand while Milan says: “A pleasure to meet you, Lucas. I hear you were victim to Jens spilling his coffee all over you. He usually isn’t such a klutz, maybe it was fate bringing you two together.”

Right. So much for keeping his promise. Jens groans in frustration and lets out an exasperated “Milaaaan!” But before he can say anything else he can hear Lucas laugh in response and he winks, he freaking winks at Jens and says: “Yeah, maybe it was.” Jens is speechless again. Lucas seems to have a talent of doing that. The only thing he is capable of is to continue looking at him with wonder and disbelief.

“Well, I believe my work here is done. If you could excuse me. It was great to meet you Lucas,” Milan says before he climbs the stairs to his room again. And just like that they are alone again. Jens doesn’t know what to say, it’s not like he has experience with his celebrity crushes flirting with him, so he says the first thing that comes to his mind.

“Can I offer you anything? Coffee, water, weed?” Jens cringes at the last word. Why is he so awkward today, but Lucas simply looks at him a bit baffled and lets out a small laugh.

“Well, weed is certainly tempting, Jens. But you were right, I kinda am pretty busy. I have to go now, maybe next time, yeah?” Lucas sounds genuinely disappointed but maybe that is just Jens’ wishful thinking. He also can’t help how his heart fluttered at the words next time.

“I’ll bring you to the door.”

Jens wants to say something before he opens the door for Lucas and for him to leave his life again but he can’t think of anything that would sound even remotely acceptable. With a “normal” person he my have asked for their number or asked if they could see each other again. But Lucas wasn’t a regular person. He was an internationally known actor, unbelievably beautiful and so out of Jens’ league. And even though it seemed like Lucas had flirted with him it was hard not to feel intimidated by these facts alone.

“Sorry for the weed. That was weird. I’m usually more chill.” Out of all the possibilities this is what he finally utters. Jens wants to kick himself for the hundredth time today but Lucas just huffs out another laugh and steps closer to Jens.

“Yeah, it was a little weird.” His voice sounds so soft, he takes another step towards Jens and leans in as if to kiss him. Jens sucks in a breath while Lucas raises his hand and places it softly on Jens’ face. He looks up at him under his lashes and only then does Jens notice the slight height difference. With his heart nearly jumping out of his chest he notices how Lucas gets up on his tiptoes and presses a light kiss on the corner of Jens’ mouth, as if he wanted to go for the cheek but just missing slightly.

“Thank you for the hoodie,” Lucas says as he leans away. He opens the door himself and steps out of Jens’ life once again.

Jens doesn’t know how long he stands there behind the closed door of his apartment, it could be minutes but also hours of trying to comprehend if that just really happened. It’s Milan’s voice that pulls him back eventually. “Aren’t you going back to work?”

Fuck. Right. Work. He kinda forgot about everything for a minute. Maybe it’s a prompt decision but he doesn’t think he could concentrate on work today anyway. “I’ll work from home today,” he lies to Milan and pulls out his phone to quickly shoot Sander a message that he doesn’t have to come in today. He feels something weird in his pocket and pulls that out as well. It’s a piece of toilet paper with something written on it.

Sorry for the toilet paper. That is weird, I know, but I don’t have any actual paper to write this note to you. If you want, meet me tomorrow at the Hotel De Witte Lelie at 16.00 and I’ll give you your sweater back. Say you are here to meet Flynn Rider. I hope you come, sincerely, Lucas

He doesn’t even notice Milan coming up behind him until he squeals directly into his ear. “I knew it!!! I saw the way he was looking at you. He is totally gone on you already, I could see it!!!”

Jens scoffs but it’s more out of habit than out of disbelief. Because somewhere in his mind he wants to believe it. Somewhere he wants to believe that Lucas wants to see him again and not just to give him his sweater back, somewhere he is pretty sure that Lucas had wanted to kiss him properly when he said goodbye, somewhere he wants to believe that Lucas meant it when he said next time.

He carefully folds the toilet paper and walks to his room, ignoring Milan’s protest and questions about if he plans on going. Which is the same question he is asking himself right now but the hope that began to bloom in his chest since he read the note is answer enough for him.

#vds #van der stoffels #jens stoffels #lucas van der heijden #wish you were here fic #notting hill au #I hope you like it so far #if you have any feedback or inspiration please let me know #I only really started writing recently and vds got me into it #half the time I don't know what I am doing #I'm just winging it but it's fun

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universe-n-3276 · 4 years

Text

Carrying the Moon

Chapter 9

Lucas knew his boyfriend better than himself. He could tell what he was feeling even from his smallest, most imperceptible facial expression. He had always liked to observe people, almost obsessively. He and Jens had been together since they were 16, so he'd learned to read him pretty well, and it was mutual. Whenever Lucas had a problem, Jens always understood before him what it was, and he knew perfectly well what to say and what to do to make his boyfriend feel better.

For some months, however, things between them hadn’t been going as well as in the past. Lucas was worried about Sander, Hero, university and his relationship with Jens remained at the bottom of the list, most of the time, because Jens had been there for seven years, and Lucas was sure he wouldn't move, even if he wanted to kick him out of his life.

Jens, unlike Lucas, after Sander and Robbe’s break up, had chosen not to take sides. Robbe was his best friend, but Sander and Hero were now part of his family, and he wanted to be there for them. Besides, he had never known how things had gone between them, and he didn’t feel right to him to automatically choose one or the other.

After the disastrous ending of the night before, in which Sander, after seeing Robbe, had run off the club, Jens had to drag his boyfriend away, who was determined to face Robbe. Lucas then went on all night, repeating how much Robbe had the gut to create all that mess, in addition to what he had already done months ago.

By that time, Jens and Lucas had almost arrived at Sander's home. Their friend hadn't returned any text or phone calls. Both of them were very worried, so when Lucas had proposed to go and check if he was okay, Jens had gladly accepted, but, after another of his boyfriend’s rant against Robbe, he could no longer control himself and rolled his eyes, completely bored. Lucas noticed it right away, obviously.

"What?" "It's nothing. Drop it. " "Jens, please."

Jens didn't want to fight, not at that moment at least, not while there were already so many things at stake. Despite everything, he knew how frail Lucas was and didn't want to overwhelm him, but the way he was asking, reminded him of the sweet guy he'd fallen in love with, and he couldn't deny him an answer.

"It's just. I don't like the way you talk about Robbe. We don't know how things went, and you can't just assume he's the bad guy. I know him since forever and- " "You can't be serious."

And he was back. The monster that had possessed Lucas was moving him like a puppet again. Jens wondered if he would ever leave. If the love of his life would ever be that funny, bright, sweet person and not that hysterical, furious monster, always ready to attack. Luckily, Sander opened the door and stopped his self-destructive train of thought. He had dark circles under his eyes, and looked more tired than usual, with his hair out of place, but he had a strange, serene smile on his face, which was completely unexpected, after watching him flee the club the night before.

"Thank goodness, you're not dead." "What? Hi Jens. " "Hi. And Sorry. "

Lucas catapulted himself into Sander's house like a cannonball, pushing him to one side, and Jens followed him, a little awkwardly. Sander seemed to be fine, but now he wanted to make sure Hero was too.

"Why are you not answering your phone then? You disappeared yesterday after we saw Robbe. " "Uhm, my battery died, and I was busy." "Is Hero okay?" "Yeah, yeah, he's okay, but, um." "Sander, what the hell is going on?" "Hi."

Robbe came out of the nursery with Hero in his arms. He was wearing Sander's sweatpants and hoodie. It was clear that they had spent the night together. He had a timid smile on his face. Jens saw Lucas stiffen and change expression, so he decided to try to tone immediately down the situation, going to greet Hero, hoping that the child’s presence would also work as a calming agent on his boyfriend.

"Hey, look who's here! Hi Robbe!"

Hero chuckled in the cutest way, but unfortunately, Lucas was way too pissed to mind about the baby.

"Sander are you insane? Why is he here? " "Lucas, can you please stop talking like that about Robbe?" "No, I can't! Not after what he did to you and Hero." "So you didn't tell him."

Sander shook his head and approached Robbe as if he wanted to speak only with him. They were back, exactly as before, with their eloquent looks and their little bubble, where no one could get into.

"I didn’t tell anything to anyone. What happened that morning is between you and me only."

He said in a tone so calm and sweet that it almost seemed like a love confession. Robbe smiled softly and caressed his cheek. Then Sander turned to Lucas with the expression of a lion who is defending his partner and added:

"And Lucas I get that you’re angry, but it wasn’t Robbe’s fault, and I will no longer accept hearing you talk about him in this way, clear?" "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Lucas shrugged, looking at the floor. It wasn't many times that Sander would raise his voice, but when he did, no one dared to argue, not even Lucas. Silence fell in the room, and it was tense and precarious, so Robbe who couldn’t bear quarrels and tensions, tried to take a step forward to relieve the tension furthermore.

"I'm happy to see you stand for Sander in such a fierce way. You're a good friend. " "I don't give a fu-" “LUCAS, CAN YOU JUST STOP? THERE IS A BABY HERE. "

And at that point, Jens exploded, and perhaps that was exactly what he should have done for a long time because he immediately saw his boyfriend's expression changed as if he were realizing for the first time what he was doing. He looked at Hero, Jens, Sander, and Robbe and blinked a couple of times.

“Sorry. I don't know what’s going on with me. " "Okay, I'll make some tea so we can all calm down a bit."

Sander approached his best friend and squeezed his shoulder, giving him a reassuring little smile, and then walked to the kitchen. Lucas came closer to Hero who was still in Robbe's arms and took his tiny hand, squeezing it, then looking up at the boy.

“Can I hold him? It helps me to relax."

Robbe smiled and was about to hand him the baby when Jens intervened.

“Not yet. You have to behave yourself for at least five minutes straight."

Lucas pouted, looking at Jens, who promptly kissed his lips and put an arm over his shoulders.

"Let's go sit in the living room while we wait for Sander to come back, okay?"

They all sat on the carpet around the coffee table. Robbe was still holding Hero, who was watching everyone with great interest. Jens brushed his finger gently on his cheek, making him smile.

"I'm sorry about early. I'm happy you guys are back together. He needs you. " "And I need him. That's mutual. " "I know, I always knew, but I was trying to protect him."

Jens ran his fingers through Lucas's hair, kissing his forehead, and Robbe was sure he would hear him purr at any moment. Now that he was back in his normal state, Lucas loved receiving Jens' attention, and his boyfriend was always happy to give it to him. They sat even closer.

"Okay, you can hold him." "Finally. Come here to uncle Lucas! "

He clapped his hands happily and reached for Robbe to take Hero. At that moment, Sander's hoodie slid slightly up along the boy's arm, leaving the skin of his wrist uncovered. Jens suddenly saw something that made him frown.

"Robbe, what’s on your wrist? Is that a bruise? Have you guys fought? " "Wha- oh."

When Robbe realized what Jens was referring to, he blushed furiously, pulling the sleeve over his fingers, totally unable to look his best friend in the eye.

"Did Sander hit you?" "Jens, shut up, that's not..."

Lucas closed his boyfriend's mouth and promptly whispered something in his ear, which made change his expression again, from worried to embarrassed.

"Oh. Um, congrats? " "Congrats on what?"

Sander reappeared with a tray in his hand, and Hero called him happily, making everyone smile. The boy placed the tray on the table, and put a mug in front of Lucas, taking Hero in his arms, going to sit next to Robbe, who snuggled beside him, touching the tip of Hero's nose with a finger.

"A chamomile for Lucas."

Lucas stuck out his tongue, but gladly accepted the cup that was in front of him. Maybe it would do him good to start a life without caffeine.

"Jens just congratulate with us for our sex marathon." "Did you tell him?" "No, he saw my wrist and thought we fought." "I'm glad you haven't seen the rest of his body then."

Robbe buried his face in his boyfriend’s neck, groaning, and Jens almost choked on his tea, while Sander laughed along with Hero and Lucas. It was nice to be all together again, the atmosphere was light, and everyone was happy to have found each other again. Months earlier Lucas had confessed to Sander that since Hero was with them, he had truly felt like they all were a family, but at that moment, with his son in his arms, the love of his life by his side, sitting on a carpet with their best friends, Sander could finally admit that for the first time, he was feeling in that exact same way.

[previous] / [next]

#wtfock #wtfam #sander driesen #robbe ijzermans #jens stoffels #lucas van der heijden #sobbe #vds #van der stoffels #drijzermans #rosander #robbe x sander #sobbe fic #wtfock fic

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 31, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

The most prominent story these days is that the Republican Party is sliding toward a full-on embrace of authoritarianism. Former president Trump’s exit and ban from his favorite social media outlets has left a vacuum that younger politicians imitating Trump’s style are eager to fill by rallying people to the former president’s standard.

Notably, Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have tried to step into the former president’s media space by behaving outrageously and becoming his acolytes. Gaetz last week traveled to Wyoming to attack Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY), the third most powerful Republican in the House, for her vote in support of Trump’s impeachment. Not to be outdone, yesterday Greene tweeted that she had spoken to Trump and has his support, although neither her camp nor his would comment on her statement.

Republican state parties have also thrown in their lot with the former president. In Arizona, the state party voted to censure former Senator Jeff Flake, the late Senator John McCain’s wife Cindy, and Governor Doug Ducey for criticizing the former president. In South Carolina, the state party formally censured Representative Tom Rice for voting to impeach Trump, and Republican lawmakers are starting to consider stripping Cheney of her party position, a development that led former President George W. Bush to indicate his support for her this weekend. She has already drawn a primary challenger.

Across the country, Republican-dominated legislatures are trying to suppress the voting that led to the high voter turnout that fueled Democratic victories in 2020. According to the Brennan Center, which tracks voting rights, 28 states have put forward more than 100 bills to limit voting. Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, whose voters chose Biden this year after going for Trump in 2016, all have introduced plans to lower voting rates. So have other states like Texas, which have voted Republican in recent years but show signs of turning blue.

The former president would like to solidify power over the party, but he has his own problems right now. The top five lawyers in his team defending him against the article of impeachment in his Senate trial all quit this weekend. Trump apparently wanted them to argue that the attack on the Capitol was justified because Democrats stole the election from him. Recognizing that this is pure fantasy—courts have already thrown this argument out more than 60 times—which could put them in legal jeopardy, the lawyers instead wanted to argue that it is unconstitutional to try a former president on charges of impeachment.

Tonight, Trump’s office announced that David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor, Jr., will lead his defense. Schoen represented Trump advisor Roger Stone when he challenged his convictions; Castor was the district attorney who promised actor Bill Cosby he would not be prosecuted for indecent assault. The impeachment trial is scheduled to start on February 9.

There are signs that some Republicans have finally had enough of their party’s march toward authoritarianism, especially as pro-Trump Republicans grab headlines for their outrageous behavior, including shutting down a mass vaccination effort at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for about an hour yesterday.

Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a 2010 Tea Partier but now one of the ten Republicans in the House to vote in favor of impeachment, told Anthony Fisher of Business Insider that “My dad’s cousins sent me a petition — a certified letter — saying they disowned me because I’m in ‘the devil’s army’ now….”

Kinzinger announced today that he has started a political action committee (PAC) to finance a challenge to Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party. Calling Trump’s loyalists in the Republican caucus “political terrorists,” Kinzinger said in the video launching the PAC, “Republicans must say enough is enough. It’s time to unplug the outrage machine, reject the politics of personality, and cast aside the conspiracy theories and the rage.”

It also appears to be sinking in to Republicans that momentum is on the side of the Democrats. Biden’s executive actions have generally been popular, and his support for workers threatens to shift a key constituency from the Republicans to the Democrats.

Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus proposal offers to give to ordinary Americans, hurting badly from the coronavirus recession, the kind of government attention that has lately gone to wealthier Americans. Among other things, it calls for $1400 stimulus payments, extends unemployment benefits, provides funds for state and local governments, and establishes a higher minimum wage. While Biden has said repeatedly that he would like Republican support for this measure, the Democrats have enough votes to pass a version of it without Republican support.

This would put Republicans in the position of voting against a measure that promises to be popular, and at least ten Republican senators would prefer not to do that. Today, they offered their own $600 billion counterproposal, and asked for a meeting with President Biden to discuss it.

In their letter to the president, they hinted that they think the nation has devoted enough money to the economic crisis already, noting that there is still money unspent from the previous coronavirus packages. But they did not state that reasoning explicitly, perhaps recognizing that this argument will not be popular from people who voted for Trump’s 2017 tax cut, which disproportionately benefited the wealthy, when one in seven adults say their households don’t have enough food to eat.

“We want to work in good faith with you and your administration to meet the health, economic and societal challenges of the covid crisis,” the senators wrote. After years in which Republican senators refused to discuss bills with the Democrats, this is a change indeed.

But perhaps not enough of one. In the Washington Post, James Downie noted that a proposal that is less than a third of Biden’s package is not a compromise. It also cuts stimulus checks down to $1000, cuts supplemental unemployment insurance, gives no local or state aid, and kills the minimum wage increase.

When asked why Democrats should compromise rather than go ahead without them, as Republicans repeatedly did when they held the majority, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) told “Fox News Sunday” and CNN’s “State of the Union,” respectively, that Biden should honor his call for unity and that refusing to do so would kill future hopes for bipartisanship.

In an article in The Guardian today, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich dismissed Republican concerns about the national debt, noting that if they were worried about it, they could just tax the very wealthy. “The total wealth of America’s 660 billionaires has grown by… $1.1 [trillion] since the start of the pandemic, a 40% increase,” he noted. Those billionaires could fund almost all of Biden’s proposal and still be as rich as they were before the pandemic hit.

Reich suggested that “[t]he real reason Republicans want to block Biden is they fear his plans will work.” A successful government response to coronavirus, the economic crisis, inequality, the climate crisis, and poverty would devastate modern-day Republicans’ insistence that the solution to every problem is tax cuts and private enterprise. If Biden’s plans succeed, Reich wrote, Americans’ faith in government, and in our democracy, will be restored.

Tonight, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that Biden has spoken with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and has invited her and the other nine signers of the letter to the White House (we later learned they will meet tomorrow).

But Psaki’s statement did not give ground. It reiterated the need for fast action, and noted that “$1400 relief checks, a substantial investment in fighting COVID and schools, aid to small businesses and hurting families, and funds to keep first responders on the job (and more) – is badly needed. As leading economists have said, the danger now is not in doing too much: it is in doing too little. Americans of both parties are looking to their leaders to meet the moment.”

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#quotes #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From an American #radical republican #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP #COVID-19 #COVID relief

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ayellowcurtain · 5 years

Text

His mom is finally back home. Robbe couldn’t believe she was actually home. Just a day before Christmas. Jens, Moyo, Aaron, and Sander came to help him clean the entire house yesterday, it took the entire day and most of the night and it was exhausting, but Robbe was beyond happy to see everything clean and working again.

For the longest time, Robbe was postponing making a decision. His plan was to tell everyone he was going to go to their Christmas parties just so they could stop asking about it, but Robbe’s actual plan was to stay at the flat, alone. And now he’s home. His mom is home too.

All the Christmas decorations were bought at the last minute, so it’s a little messy, but it definitely feels like Christmas and that’s all that matters. None of them know how to decorate. Robbe wanted to make it feel like nothing changed, that it was just another normal, calm Christmas.

Sander kept texting him the entire night to help him not freak out. His mom was feeling better, but they were still awkward around each other, it would take time to get back to their routine. Robbe doesn’t remember what’s like to have a routine, but they’ll find out. He just wants to make this transition back home as smooth as he can to his mom, so he bought most of the food and the rest he made himself, trying to recreate some dishes that he remembered from where he was a kid, eating with his parents and grandparents.

With all the cleaning and the decorating, Robbe didn’t have time to buy gifts, so Jens went shopping for him and bought some things that are now underneath their tiny Christmas tree. Robbe is not too sure about what Jens bought, he only has an idea based on Jens’ poor descriptive skills.

He saw his name on some of the presents when he went to turn the Christmas lights on and Robbe is sure he didn’t ask for gifts, so he’s anxious to see what all those gifts are.

Sometimes the silence becomes a little too heavy, too weird and Robbe decides to put some music to help fill their home. Zoe and Jana made a long Christmas playlist and so he decides to give it a try.

His mom seems to like it, smiling and singing a little while they eat. Robbe’s food is not terrible, he thinks it’s just...a little too basic for Christmas, but his mom disagrees, saying that it’s delicious. She even gets up to get some more food for herself. Robbe is already full, saving some space for the desserts.

It’s just the two of them, Robbe definitely made too much food, but at least that means Robbe won’t have to do it all over again tomorrow morning. He’ll be able to sleep a little more. He leans against the chair, looking at the kitchen, his mom is still busy, opening every pan so Robbe grabs his phone, taking a photo of his Christmas table, sending it to Sander.

to Sander: Merry Christmas <3

The three bubbles come and go, but before he can see a reply, Robbe feels warm arms around his neck and his mom’s cheek pressed against his. He almost drops his phone but manages to put it back inside his pants. He doesn’t remember the last time they shared a real hug like this. She hugs him tightly, kissing his cheek.

“Thank you for tonight, my love, but you’re my son, you understand? I’m the one that has to take care of you, not the other way around. So I’m gonna clean up and you can go out, see your friends. I’m sure Jens invited you to come to his place.”

She’s not wrong, Jens did invite him (and his mom) to spend the night at his and Robbe is tired of having to be the responsible one, but he’s also very happy. He counted the hours to have this back: a somewhat normal life, with his mom, inside his own house, not having to worry about when he’ll have to find another place to live.

“It’s okay. I wanna stay here tonight. And I’ll see Jens tomorrow.” His mom smiles again, kissing his cheek, pressing her hand against his chest before she lets him go and grabs his empty plate, taking it to the kitchen.

Robbe unlocks his phone again, but someone knocks on the door, stopping him from checking his messages. They didn’t invite anyone, but Robbe will punch his dad if he had the audacity to come to see them tonight. There’s no way he’ll let his dad ruin their first Christmas together.

His mom comes to the kitchen door and Robbe gets up, shoving his phone inside his pocket, opening the door.

“Merry Christmas…” Robbe’s heart always starts racing whenever he sees Sander and he can’t control how he smiles just to see his boyfriend right there, looking so good with his fancy black shirt and a big puffy coat, offering Robbe a big box in Christmas themed wrapping paper.

“What…”

“I couldn’t wait until tomorrow.” Sander is still outside, he’s clearly just as nervous as Robbe. He knows Robbe’s mom is right there, inside their house and he’s not sure how much about him she knows so he just stays outside, hoping Robbe will at least accept his gift and they’ll see each other tomorrow.

Robbe looks at the box and then to the floor, but just for once second. Sander exhales when he sees Robbe’s smiles getting bigger and he shakes his head, looking at Sander again, holding his wrist and pulling him inside, closing the door behind them.

Sander puts the box under his other arms as he lets Robbe drag him inside. Sander has only seen his mom in pictures and he couldn’t stay late last night so he’s only now seeing the tree and all the decoration. Robbe opens his mouth to start explaining, but his mom smiles, walking up to them.

“Let me guess...you’re Sander.” They both freeze on the spot. Sander didn’t know she knew him and Robbe was ready to have an honest conversation with her. He told her about Sander a couple of weeks ago, but he wasn’t sure how well she remembered that conversation. A lot happened after that and maybe she was still a little overwhelmed to be back home after so long, but she doesn’t seem bothered, coming to hug Sander right away.

Robbe holds his own gift while Sander takes his coat off, leaving it at the door, there’s snow in his hair and Robbe helps him with it, pressing his fingers against the back of his neck when he’s done.

Robbe pulls Sander to sit on the couch, there’s enough room for the three of them, but his boyfriend stops before they can sit, carefully putting the last gift underneath the tree and then he comes to sit right next to Robbe, leaving his other side for his mom. Robbe sit even closer, almost on his lap. His mom is in charge of choosing the Christmas movie they’ll watch first. Robbe is trying to stay in the moment as much as he can, saving every special moment so they can start recreating every year. He’ll finally have traditions too.

“You’re going to sleep here tonight,” Robbe turns his face, whispering against Sander’s cheek when he notices that his mom is completely distracted with all the movie options she has. Sander smiles, putting his arm around Robbe.

“I just came to give you another gift, but I guess I’m staying.”

“Yeah, you are. I need some explanations about all these gifts with my name on it.” Sander looks at the tree and to Robbe, kissing the corner of his lips.

“It’s not all mine. Some are Jens’.” He points at the piles and Robbe rolls his eyes. He bought something for Sander too, but it’s just one stupid gift and they had a deal of no gifts this year.

The movie finally started and his mom rushes to turn off the lights, sitting on the couch too. The living room is completely dark, except for the fairy lights that change colors every few seconds, giving their new living room the cozy feeling that it was missing. Sander quietly moves and Robbe can see that he’s checking to see if Robbe’s mom is paying attention to the tv and she is, hypnotized by the rom-con she chose, so Sander pulls Robbe even closer, resting his head on Robbe’s shoulder.

Robbe already watched this movie, but he tries to pay attention and he’s sure rom-con is not Sander’s favorite type either, but he’s trying too, even talking about in between scenes with Robbe’s mom. This is the best moment of the night. Sander and his mom are getting along - agreeing that the main girl of the movie deserves better than the guy she’s falling in love with - and maybe Robbe will be able to live this night again every year, just the thought gives him some peace of mind that at the end, surprisingly, he’ll be fine.

The desserts will have to wait. His mom is tired when the movie ends, it was a long, emotional day for them, so Robbe gets it. She apologies a bunch of times and Robbe says it’s okay, getting up to give her another hug just to make sure she’s real and she’s home, healthy and ok.

Sander gets up too and she hugs him just as tightly, asking him to stay the night to keep company for Robbe and he nods his head, saying he’ll stay.

Both of them quietly lean against the back of the couch, watching Robbe’s mom go to her room and when she closes the door, Sander pushes Robbe to lie on the couch, and he stays in between Robbe’s legs.

“Just the two of us now…you wanna eat dessert or you wanna go to bed?” Sander’s voice gets a little deeper and slower when he’s tired or drunk and Robbe’s body has a natural response to it, always pulling his boyfriend even closer when he’s talking like this.

“Bed, but you have to behave.” Robbe pushes his head even further against the couch, trying to see the hall upside down behind him, making sure that his mom is still in her room and Sander has full access to his neck, leaving gentle kisses all the way to his jaw.

“You say like I’m the one straddling you every morning, whining and demanding kisses.” Robbe smiles, looking back at Sander, pulling him closer for a kiss. This is the best night of his life. And Robbe can get used to these new traditions: making dinner for his mom, watching a movie with her and Sander, going to bed with his boyfriend, kissing for hours before actually falling asleep.

“Don’t open your presents without me.” Sander whispers against his neck when they’re settled in bed, tired of kissing and Sander is already falling asleep, hiding his face against Robbe’s neck.

#wtfock #robbe ijzermans #sander driesen #robbe x sander #sobbe

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deathfrisbeeinthetardis · 5 years

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The Sky Beast, New and Improved Chapter 2

Yay I wrote a second chapter for the fic!! One of the key plot points is inspired by @q-unsolved‘s amazing art :D

Summary:

Ryan Bergara is 100% human until they shoot the Mothman episode. They didn’t find anything but Ryan might have brought a piece of the investigation home with him. Or: A bit of Mothman attaches to Ryan and he gets pretty cool perks. Shane is a fan.

Chapter 2 Summary:

Ryan goes to work with his wings tucked away, and they go camping for the weekend. Hijinks ensue.

Find it on Ao3 here or read below!

They take a sick day.

Partly to figure out how to best keep Ryan's transformation a secret from the rest of the world. Partly just because it is all new and exciting, and the two men want the chance to completely regress to boys for the occasion, you know, to celebrate.

Case in point, Ryan is flapping around his apartment with Shane on his tail, his wings doing all the work to keep them and Ryan's body from crashing into the walls or the furniture. They had taken time before this to clear away everything of value from shelves or tables, of course, they were capable of behaving like adults for a few minutes longer before they totally lost it.

"How's your six-foot-fourness helping now huh?" Ryan shouts with glee, cackling breathlessly as his wings maneuver him deftly away from Shane's outstretched hands, settling him to perch on top of a cupboard.

"Damn it, why aren’t you obeying the laws of physics?" Shane wheezed, supporting his hands on his bent knees before said cupboard with a giant grin on his face, which brightened even more, "You know what? Your mob name is going to be wings now if I am to be called legs! It's only fair." he declared, straightening with hands on his hips.

"Uh, no way. My wings are totally going to be my secret weapon! I can't go announcing that to all my enemies, also Night-Night is way cooler. You're just jealous." Ryan stuck out his tongue, relishing in the joy of this moment. The past two hours actually, they really haven't accomplished much.

It takes another half an hour before both of them are too exhausted and hungry to continue, and they collapse onto Ryan's couch with a carton of orange juice between them, chugging it down with the fervor of men after vigorous aerobic exercise and several cases of severe laughter-syndrome.

"So," Shane says when his breaths finally start to even out, "We know you can fly outside the natural laws of this earth. Also, I think I saw you're eyes glint red when the light hit it a few minutes ago, you're not about to go rogue on me now are you?"

"Wait, really?" He really hadn't noticed, cause that's not how eyes work. It was probably too dark the last time he looked in the mirror that morning for him to see. Ryan sets the carton onto the coffee table and hops over it to get to the window where watery sunlight shines into the room. Using his phone as a makeshift mirror, he wiggles his head until the light catches his eyes at a certain angle and, "Oh wow, they really are red."

"That could be a problem with filming, especially when our cameras are all good enough to avoid red-eye." Shane pauses, then chuckles, "Oh boy, if the fans ever find out they are going to go crazy. All those theorists positing how I'm a demon are gonna come after you now!"

Ryan wrinkles his nose at his reflection, "You're being way too happy about this."

"Hey, you win some you lose some. At least your red eyes are normal-sized, not like goggles or something like in the myths."

"Goggles," Ryan frowns at that, something in his memory sparking an idea, "didn't you recently get those pair of broke-Tony Stark glasses? The yellow ones?" He eyes Shane without turning, "You think they sell red ones? I can always say the red is from the glasses' reflection."

The other man makes a considering noise and pulls out his phone, after a minute his brows climb high on his forehead, stretching out his hand to show the screen displaying an astounding collection of red-tinted sunglasses, "They're supposed to help with visibility apparently, like the yellow ones." He strokes his nonexistent goatee, "Hmm I wonder what character wears red glasses, I gotta get you back for that Tony Stark comment."

"Shut up, Shane," Ryan replies almost on instinct, squinting at the screen to pick out the least obnoxious design. There was an optician's a few blocks from his apartment and Shane volunteers to get Ryan a pair while he practices camouflaging into a normal human workplace.

It actually turns out to be pretty easy, just as long as he keeps the thought of the necessity of the invisibility in the back of his mind. Ryan also discovers to his delight and Shane's halfhearted dismay that tangibility does not seem to affect his flight ability much beyond some extra concentration. He'll be fine tomorrow at work. He'll just have to remember to take a break every few hours to stretch or something.

The shoot on Monday though, that could be a problem. Now that he has gotten used to his wings through one day of intense usage, Ryan has absolutely no guarantees that if he gets spooked he won't just flap away on instinct.

Shane sleeps over that night to 'observe the Mothman in his natural habitat', Ryan decides his newest favorite sleeping position right in the middle of a five-pillow nest and when he drifts off he dreams about the red-eyed Mothman from the stories.

On Friday, Ryan wears the biggest hoodie he owns to work, just in case his wings pop-out unplanned. Despite the confidence from the day before, paranoia of a different kind creeps up on him as he sits at his desk next to Shane. He almost never comes in this early, but it was better than walking through the office with everyone there.

He stares bleary-eyed when his computer boots up, taking his new glasses out of the case and setting them on his nose. The color gives everything a mildly sinister tinge and makes him more self-conscious of his appearance than he has been in a long time, but they do their job.

He's quite proud that he only jumps a little when Jen calls "Nice specs, Ryan!" from six desks away. He also manages to wait until lunch break before he has to race to the bathroom to let his wings out. One of the pros of working at Buzzfeed is that there are constantly so many weird things happening that his abnormal choice in eye-wear didn't draw any attention more than a few comments and even some compliments.

All things considered, it's a good day. Ryan even manages to get a good chunk of editing done amidst his paranoia and routine banter with Shane, the latter has gradually started to become more and more moth specific. Seriously did the guy research all the moth puns through the night?

"What do you call a group of moths dancing around a light?" Shane leans over to say an hour before they can go home for the weekend, his eyes twinkling, "A moth pit."

Ryan groans, choosing not to respond as the passive-aggressive way to protest against the excessive abuse of all things moth-related within the day. His shoulders feel stiff, and out of habit he folds his arms behind his head and leans back in a long slow stretch, and it is the most satisfying stretch in his life, as the strain of a whole afternoon of mostly sitting still with his head craned forward just vanishes. He hums a little in satisfaction.

Simultaneously, the lights overhead go out. So does his computer. And everyone else's.

"Oh no no no my computer just crashed!?"

"Is there a power outage? What's going on?"

"I didn't save..."

Ryan is frozen in his position as the cacophony of voices barrages his now slightly enhanced hearing, and it hits him a moment later. In a flash, he's hunching down in his seat, trying to seem as small as he can with his face in his hands, while his invisible wings come down to wrap around him from where they had just stretched too, unseen. Fuck. Wasn't there a thing about electrical malfunctions on the nights of Mothman sightings? Oh god, he hopes he didn't knock the whole of Los Angeles off the grid. He feels his face flush, the skin heating up against his palms. Great job Bergara. Fantastic managing of your powers.

Shane, who had been in the process of returning to his own editing after snickering at his godawful joke, has his hands hovering over the keyboard and a bemused smile on his face as he tilts his head and sees Ryan with the hood of his hoodie pulled down over his face.

"I'm sorry," Ryan mumbles faintly into his hands, "I didn't think that part would apply to me."

Shane looks at him for a moment, then he claps a hand on Ryan's shoulder and wiggles him a little in his seat as his smile splits into a grin, "Lucky for you, I save my work by the hour. Otherwise, you'd have to fly like hell cause I'll tackle you."

"You'd never catch me," Ryan says, lifting his head a little to shoot a grateful glance at the taller man, "remember yesterday?"

"Oh but I was unprepared!" Shane declares, rubbing his hands and widening his eyes until he resembled a crazed hunter, "Next time I'll have a bow and a ton of those suction-tipped arrows, and I'm bringing you down baby!"

"You're unbelievable." Ryan huffs with a laugh, glancing around the pandemonium that has descended onto the BuzzFeed office and what seems to be the street outside as well, "Ugh, wanna head back now? We're gonna have to walk, uber is definitely not going to work."

Shane nods, chuckling silently at the whole situation. On their way out, Ryan desperately avoids eye contact with anyone and stares at his red-tinted feet, only snapping out of his inner guilt tirade when Shane pokes him in the rib.

"Stop looking down and hunching your shoulders, makes you look more guilty." He chides, the stupid grin still on his face as he tugs Ryan's hood back as they walk onto the sunlit street. "They'll just blame it on PG&E. The whole thing will teach everyone a lesson to be on top of their job and not rely entirely on technology and big electrical companies to save their work."

"You're just smug that you didn't get affected as much." Ryan retorts, but the comment didn't have any actual heat behind it.

"You bet I am. Come on, buck up buddy. We've got the entire weekend to have fun with this!" The taller man gestured to the general area on Ryan's back where his wings hung hidden, "Don't you want to go into the wild and see what happens?"

Ryan would never tell Shane this, but his wings stir and shudder a little at the words as if they were dying to show the extent of their abilities. Traitors.

They end up in Monrovia Canyon Park after an hour-long drive that afternoon, since they figured most of LA's population would be out in the city doing fun Friday night things, so the chances of anyone seeing a figure flying through the trees of the park are greatly reduced. Fortunately, they arrive with around an hour of sunlight left to hike in and set up their camping gear. Unfortunately, the light gives Ryan the opportunity to read the sign at the trailhead.

"Fuck no." Ryan yelps, pointing an accusing finger at the picture of a black bear with the words 'warning, you are entering bear territory' emblazoned in black under it. He's terrified of bears, those things are the apex predators of the land, and Shane knows that because they've argued about this multiple times, on camera. It's probably why he chose this damn park over the others. "I am not camping here with those things around."

The man shrugs and the tall backpack on his shoulders rise up at least half a foot with the motion. "It is the most heavily wooded park in the area, and I do have this bear mace here," He says innocently, though his brown eyes sparkling in the sunlight seem to issue a challenge that riles up something in Ryan into a frenzy. "And in case you forgot, you can fly, Ryan, no bears are gonna get you."

"I hate you," Ryan mutters darkly, shooting the other man a look that was something between affection and scorn. What Shane said makes sense, logically, and Ryan is beyond annoyed when stuff like this happens on the regular. Speaking of powers, he wonders if there are any more tricks up the Mothman's sleeve that he can use to give Shane a good getting back at.

Ryan half stomps over and yanks the canister of anti-bear from the side pocket of the taller man's pack, scowling at his snicker and latches onto the cool metal with a death grip, finger crooked into the trigger. Shane is right on one account, no bears are going to get him on this trip, or he'll get a face of mace and whatever cool shit Mothman can do when it's spooked.

They dump their bags in a patch of grass amidst the trees, far from any established trails or camping grounds just to be safe. With a sigh of relief, Ryan's wings materialize at his back, dark against the dimly lit forest around them, dwarfing Ryan with their span. It seems they hadn't been at their full size that day in his apartment. They now stretch twelve feet in total, drawing a sharp awed inhale from Shane as the powerful limbs flex and stretch in their freedom. The best part? Ryan didn't even have to take off his hoodie, the wings found their own way through the material without really altering it.

Ryan rolls his neck and relishes the warmth that the cracks leave behind as the soreness melts away, and he grins at Shane. "What now?" he says, a little breathless already.

"Whatever feels natural, Ryan." Shane says with a wolfish grin of his own, "Just let go of all the stress and embrace mother nature."

So Ryan lets his eyes flutter close and gives in to that wild part in him that has started stirring since their investigation in Virginia. When he opens his eyes again, their red glint sharpens his vision as his wings carry him straight up into the air. The wind whips at his face and he has his arms spread wide, laughter bubbling out of him as his previous fear of heights dissolves into the crisp rich air.

He rides the soft winds, weaving through the semi-dense woods around their campsite and listens to his new instincts as he twirled in the air performing moves that he had once seen professional divers do. He feels free in there, and even though the falls and dips in height still send his stomach clenching, it's more in anticipation of the thrill of control, of pulling back at the very last second to glide just a few feet off the ground, rather than fear. He flies and perches on various treetops and swoops again, all to the whooping and cheering of Shane from down bellow.

"Hey Ryan! Look what I brought!" He shouted, and Ryan glides down to a lower branch to give the not-so-tall looking man a questioning glance, the man was smirking with mischief, holding out a hand to wiggle a bright camping lantern in his direction, "Since you're Mothman, d'you feel anything for this here light?"

Ryan was about to adjust his grip on the branch to only using a certain finger on both hands when suddenly Shane yelps and starts to do a twitchy dance with his upper body. For a second Ryan panics, but he was just close enough for his enhanced night vision to see that the strange behavior is, in fact, not caused by a demon possessing his friend.

"Oh, fuck is that a wasp?" Ryan bursts out laughing at the way Shane's face contorts a little at the tiny insect buzzing uncomfortably close to his face and did not feel sorry at all for his friend. Nope. Ryan was almost squealing in delight as Shane batted at the wasp as best he could, flapping his long arms around with a panicked look on his face.

"See what you get? This is what you get! Yes! Take that for--" Its a shame that his victory speech is cut short when a wasp materializes right in front of his own face, sending him tumbling backward off the branch with a high pitched screech.

A part of his brain thinks that if people heard what he had just uttered, there are going to be reports of the first Mothman sighting in Los Angelas.

For some life-fucking reason, the wasp--actually three of them now-- tormenting Shane decide to refocus their attention on the flying creature instead of the sasquatch. They obviously haven’t taken physics or learned about surface area.

Ryan threads his way through the trees with much less of his previous flare and joy, flying for his life as the few wasps quickly grow to a swarm, despite a small voice in his head encouraging him to stop, to take a stand. What the fuck did he ever do to them?? It's not like he kicked their nest or something. Frustration and exhaustion combining is never a good look on Ryan, and after what he estimates is four minutes of high-speed air chase, he dives to the ground. Landing softly, he lets instincts take over, whirling around to let out a snarl at the swarm that races for him, wings arched at his back and shaking slightly to make rustling sounds.

The wasp swarm halts before him with a jerk.

Ryan's teeth are bared, which is kind of dumb, cause he doesn't have fangs so that image must not be very scary to anyone. But the wasps hover before him, their formation shifting uncertainly, and Ryan can see the detail on each and every buzzing insect with crystal clarity. A deadly calm washes over him.

"Heel." He growls, and his own voice startles himself. With all the macho, gangster bits they've done on Unsolved, he has never heard his voice go this low and guttural. Ryan blinks, and the heavy blanket of calm is gone.

The wasps hold still, their formation now in a fixed sphere as they buzzed quietly. Respectfully, a part of Ryan's mind supplies, they serve him now. What the hell just happened?

A crackle of a boot on dry leaves has Ryan whipping his head around to see Shane approaching him with a flashlight and bear mace in perfect Harries position, concern and something like dread tightening his face. "Ryan come here, get away from the wasps."

"They're not a threat anymore Shane," he said, tone stiff and tired. "They obey me now." The taller man looks doubtful but after a few flashes of light at the swarm produced no change in the wasps' motion, he slowly lowered the mace can.

"I-I didn't know what to do so I just grabbed this," he said, lifting the mace a bit and then letting his arms drop back to his side. "Ryan are you okay? Your hands are shaking."

"What?" Ryan says absently, and there are tremors running through his hands. He clenches them into fists and tucks them into his hoodie pocket. A flick of his head at the swarm has them dispersing, buzzing back to wherever the hell they popped out from. "We're losing light, we should set up the tent," he says as he turns to walk back to where they had dropped their bags.

Shane stands his ground and reaches out a hand to catch the smaller man's shoulder when Ryan tries to walk past him, and his eyes widen slightly as Ryan's wings bristle at the contact, but his grip is firm. "If there's something wrong, Ry, anything at all that feels off about this whole Mothman thing, you'd tell me, right?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, big guy." Ryan offers the taller man a small smile, though it might have wavered a little. He can tell that his friend would have liked answers to a great many questions about how he felt, about the mad chase and about that final showdown, but the man didn't push. He trusts Ryan to reach out if he needed it.

The problem is, Ryan has never been that good with emotions.

But at the moment he feels... okay. The excitement of the ordeal seems to have canceled out his energy. So he smiles some more, "I promise." At Shane's not at all satisfied expression, he nudges the taller man with the tip of a dark wing, "Come on, help me light a fire. I'm dying for some smores."

And so they did.

#fanfiction #inspired by awesome art #I love Mothman!Ryan so much #alex writes #Ghoul friends

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gujoonim · 6 years

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The Boy Who Left | 06

“You never thought it takes you five years to find those pair of eyes that you were looking for at the aisle on your wedding day. ”

◇ genre : angst // ceo au ◇ summary : As your eyes staring deeply into your possible client-to-be’s eyes, something crossed your mind, it was that pair of eyes that you were looking for when you being abandoned at the aisle on your wedding day. ◇ pairing : jungkook x reader ◇ words : 3.2k

previous | next 》

“If only I don’t persuade Jungkook to cancel the wedding, you and your family might die due to poverty.” Her words fill with sarcasm as she throws a smug towards you, who seems quite surprised by her disclosure.

“You should be thankful to me for doing that or else your father would not be sitting on the wheelchair because he might end up laying in the coffin.”

The stinging sensation felt on your palm as well as the shocked expression painted on Mina’s face, clearly shows that you already slapped her face without you even aware. You quickly pulled back your hands as you shot a deathly glared towards her. She looks disbelief over your unexpected action, keeps glueing her eyes on yours.

For once in your life, you don’t feel sorry for what you did just now because Mina really deserves it. She had gone too much with her hurtful words, insulting and disgrace your family as if she has a right to do that.

“Y/n.” A soft yet audible voice pulled you back to the present and you quickly diverting your view towards Jungkook who is standing behind her.

Your face flush with annoyance at the sight of him as you try your best not to burst out your raging anger there. You grasp the hem of your shirt firmly, trying to withstand the frustration that began to bubble up your feelings.

You want to speak up something for him but the lump in your throat growing bigger as the time passes, forbid you to continue your intention. Eventually, you walk away leaving both of them thereafter letting out a scoff which indicates that you are no longer want to be around them at that moment.

You are struggling with the small gate with your right hand while the other hand is clutching to the plastic bag firmly so it would not slip out from your hand. The unpleasant smell from the waste inside the plastic bag accompanied you along the way towards the garbage bin outside of your house area.

Once you finally managed to throw up the plastic bag, a familiar voice calling for you from behind. It does make you chill upon hearing those voice that you strongly wanted to avoid at this moment of the time. You curse under your breath, inhaling an amount of air that would calm your feelings before you whirl around to see him.

As soon your eyes met his face, you notice the worries that creasing on his forehead while gazing at you as if he is seeking for your sympathy. You heave out a sigh, knowing that it might be related to last night situation.

“I’m sorry for whatever that Mina had done or said to you.” His eyes stare into yours as if he can convey all his feelings towards you so you can see the sincerity of his forgiveness on the behalf of Mina.

You fake a laugh while tilting your head to the side. “Do you know what you are apologising for?”

Silence follows after your question and confusion darts all over his face shows that he does not even know what happened between you and Mina last night. Yet, he still managed to apologise on her behalf without knowing anything.

At first, you let out a chuckle upon the thought of telling him what Mina said yesterday. A huff with a small scowl followed after that because you don’t want to waste your time explaining things to him.

A rough intake of air flows into your airway and your eyes narrow into a slit, glaring at him. You reduce the proximity between both of you as you walked closer towards him before grabbing a fistful of his collar.

The unexpected action does make him jolt backwards as his eyes widen looking at you, glaring at him as if you could kill him with those glares.

“I want to thank you for your kindness. For helping my parents when I’m not here. But from now on, let me handle everything relates to my parents. And I want you to stay away from my parents and never show your face in front of them.” You trail off before you continue your hanging sentences back.

“I’m asking you nicely to leave us and don’t make me reveal all your cruelty towards my parent who treats you like their own sons.”

His eyebrows twitch to the middle as he seems like he does not understand your sharp and precise warnings.

“What do you mean, Y/n? I don’t understand at all.” He questions in confusion.

“Don’t act nicely, Jeon Jungkook! How could you plan to ruin my father’s business back then? What is his fault towards you? He loves you as if you are his son but you repay him by planning to ruin his life?” The growing anger evident in your tone as you run your fingers along your hair in frustration.

He seems alarmed upon hearing your statement and began to move closer to yours. “What did Mina said to you yesterday? Tell me, Y/n.”

You scoff in disbelief as he still got guts to hear his wrongdoings even though he already knows all of it.

“Look, I don’t want to waste my saliva for you and I don’t have time to have a story-telling time with you. You could ask your girlfriend for all the information.” A fake laugh erupts from your throat, trying to mask your real feelings.

“Once again, I’m asking you nicely, please leave us alone. You should be grateful that I have no intention of telling my parents about this. And you should be thankful that you still the humble and kind Jeon Jungkook in their eyes, and I don’t want to ruin that image of yours.”

“So please, leave us alone.” You silently beg to him while holding back your feelings before you brush past him, walking into your house. Leaving Jeon Jungkook to stare at the ground as those words stay on his mind and battling with his inner self.

You come out from the bathroom while rubbing your hair with the towel to dry it. The buzzing sounds coming from the nightstand beside your bed, attracting your attention towards it. You grab the phone before landing your body on the bed.

A new message from Jen. Your face lightens up a little up upon her name and somehow you felt that you are missing her since it’s already a week you stay at your parent’s house.

[Jennie 10:15 a.m]

babe. it’s not about the cruel plan that he wanted to do. it’s about Mina, rite? she’s the cause of all of this.

You heaved out an exasperation sigh after reading her message. Last night, you called her and told everything that happened between you, Mina and Jungkook. you also stated that you never wanted to associate with him after this, no more Jeon Jungkook.

[You 10:16 a.m]

i thought he had changed but after all Mina had said to me now everything makes sense. he purposely helping my parents so he could covered up his bad intentions in the past. i know him, Jen.

[Jennie 10:16 a.m]

u deserve an explanation from him. yet, u don’t him a chance to explain to u.

You grunt as you roll your body on the bed, trying to reply to her as soon as possible. You want to deny all her statement which seems like she is on Jungkook’s side instead of yours.

[You 10:17 a.m]

wait! Why u seems like siding on him? i’m ur bff not him, Jen.

[Jennie 10:18 a.m]

his cruel plan is a backup reason why u wanted to avoid him so much actually u r hurt at the fact that he still with Mina after all this time rite? u can’t accept those fact so u look for another reason to avoid him and believe all her stupid words

You stun over her sentence because somehow what she said is the truth. You are seeking for an escape way, a reason to hate him again, a reason to mask your real feelings when at this moment you already fell in love with him back, even though you never stop loving him.

Your heart clench in pain at the thought of Jungkook with Mina arrived at his mother’s house a few days ago. Even though you strongly affirm to yourself that it is all about his cruel plan yet the most hurtful things that make you behave like this as well as avoiding him is because of he still with Mina.

After all these five years, it was Mina that own his hearts until now.

The mist in your eyes began to form tears. The sudden vibration of your phone, pulling you back to present to see that Jennie is calling you.

All the thought makes you forget about her message and that’s might be the reason why she is calling you right now. Slowly your finger slides the green button to answer her call after a few seconds you let it ring.

“Why he give me a hope, Jen? He treats me like he has the same feelings as mine and for once I thought he would finally accept my feelings, but seeing him with her crushed all my hope and dreams.”

You began to sob as the tears that swelling in your eyes finally burst out. All the feelings, the pain that you hiding from the past few days as you afraid that your parents would know about that, finally pour out from your heart.

“Why when I start to love him back, everything would turn out to be like this? Am I not worthy to deserve love for other, to be in love, to be loved? Is it my love not enough to distinguish his hatred towards me? I felt so sinned to myself as I thought that I hate him yet actually I’m just hurt by his actions and still hoping that he will come back to me?

The silence from Jennie’s side urges you to continue to let out your feelings as if she gives you a permission to do so.

“Why I have guts to love someone that eager to see my family crumble in pain and ruin because of his grudge towards me? How could me, myself love someone that willing to do that after all this time, my parents treated and love him as their own child?”

You ask through sniffles and sobs. “And why I still love him, Jen? Being with him makes me forget all the hatred that I should feel for him. His treatment towards me, make me fell deeper for him but not hating on him. I should not feel that way, I should hate him not falling for him. That’s why I need to avoid myself from meeting him.”

It’s already two weeks you are staying at your parents’ house. Luckily, your meeting with Jungkook regarding the project that you have been working on is two weeks from now so at this moment you have completely get yourself away from Jeon Jungkook.

A lot of things happened during this two weeks and one of it is your father asking you to handle his company as Jungkook finally back out from being the one that handles it since your father is incapable to do so.

His sudden back out does makes both of your parents felt weird because he doesn’t give a proper explanation on why he does so. Yet, you are the only one in the house know why he did that. After all, you thought he would stand for his position in your father’s company even though he already has his father’s one but it seems he takes your words seriously.

It is a relief to you because you clearly don’t want to involve in anything relates to him. Yet, the only things related to him that you could not brush away from your life is his family especially his mother.

That is why you can’t refuse her invitations, asking you to meet her at her house while strongly claimed that his son, Jungkook would definitely not be there. And this time, you know she was right that he would not be here.

She serves you with a lot of meal as both of you are having lunch together when she suddenly blurted out her apologized regarding his sons, no other than Jungkook.

“I’m so sorry for what happened five years ago. I’m truly sorry for what my Jungkook had put you through. All the shames that your family and you had to face back then-”

Seeing her sobbing at her position as she tries her best to control her emotions yet she fails to do so. You slowly rubbed her back, assuring her that you already accepting your fate and letting go the past as you told before to Jungkook.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind. Past is past and I already moved on from the past. I’m living well right now and somehow that incident taught me to be more independent.”

Yet, your words still can stop her from crying as she facepalms herself. “Even though we already received the punishment but it still can’t be compared to what you guys had to face before. The humiliation, stress and pain. I’m deeply sorry about that Y/n.”

“I’m really sorry to you because my son had ruined your life, Y/n.”

You push the doorknob and your sight was greeted by the interior design of your home. The utensils sound from the kitchen indicates that your mother might be there doing some works. You take a big step towards the kitchen, eagerly to greet your mother since this morning you spend your time with Mrs Jeon.

“Mom?” You call softly yet the unfamiliar backside of someone who apparently a girl, appears in your view and it makes your eyebrow to rise up in confusion of the identity of the unfamiliar person.

The moment that person whirls around to reveal her face, your world stop as you also felt the time stop. Your heart began to beat rapidly in uneasy pace as you finally recognised the girl’s face.

“It’s been a while, sister.”

It was like a dream, to sit in front of your sister after five years since you left home. She looks mature than before no longer having a chubby cheek of hers and her slim figure makes you slightly envy your own sister.

You began to tear up at the thought of you don’t have a chance to see her growing. Both of you crying with each other after she revealed herself just now. No words could describe how much you are happy right now and it seems like your life finally feel complete with her presence.

“Where have you been for the past year?” She asks while rubbing her eyes, trying to stop her tears from flowing.

“At first, I hate you for leaving us, for leaving me alone. I had no one to talk with since you left. I was alone and eventually got depressed because of that. I thought you seriously don’t love us but I know you have your own reason to do that.”

“I’m so sorry.” The only words that come out of your mouth as you can’t utter other words.

After an hour of having the heart to heart session, both of you began to tell your doing these days. There is a lot of things to be caught up by both of you and you also have a lot of things to ask your sister; about her university life her love life the most important is.

“Have you met Jungkook yet? I see his cars at his house just now.” Her sudden enquiry shock you as you stare at her with your widen eyes. Upon seeing that kind of expression, she let out a chuckle before saying what makes she asks that to you.

“It seems you still don’t forgive him. Yes, I do admit his action is unforgivable.” She trailed off before she plasters a serious look on her face.

“But all of us, mom, dad and me could not make it without him.” You shoot a quick frown, demanding an explanation from your sister upon her statement just now.

“What do you mean by that?” You simply ask. After your sister saw that look on yours, she began to adjust herself to a comfortable position while grasping your fingers and intertwine into hers.

“He saved us from drowning in a life of hell.”

This is the time when she thought the best time to reveal everything that you need to know because you are the person who deserved to know this thing.

“A few days after you left, Jungkook came back as he wanted to apologise toward you but mom and dad told him that you already left. They were so disappointed with him at first but after seeing him being thrown away by his own parents, they forgive him on their behalf and accept him to live with us. At first, we thought everything would be fine but suddenly Mr Jeon’s company bankrupt and leaving them with a lot of debt to be settled on. This situation does affect dad’s company as well but Jungkook managed to save ours instead of his dad.”

“Actually, he sacrificed his dad company to save dad’s.” Those statement shock you up as you can’t believe the rude and selfish Jungkook that you knew back then willing to give up his own family business for yours.

“How do you know about this?” You ask in disbelief, hoping that your sister is lying but somehow you felt touched over his actions.

“Because that’s why Junghyun beat him at the night when Mr Jeon suddenly got a stroke. He was so shocked upon hearing the news. Yet after time passes, he managed to bring back Mr Jeon’s legacy after our parents decided to help them in finance. There’s a lot of things happened when you left, things that make Jungkook learn about life and make him become more mature and stronger.”

“Besides since you left, he never stopped looking for you. Even though mom and dad almost give up in looking for you yet he, Jeon Jungkook never did. He never stopped looking for you since then.”

After hearing the truth from your sister, your stride down the stairs and come out of your house, running towards his house as your sister claimed that he is back home. You want to meet him, firstly to express your gratitude towards his kindness on helping your family and second, you want to know the real story for his side regarding the plan on ruining your family as being told by Mina.

If he planned to do so, why he help your family and sacrifice his own for the sake of your family. That questions keep lingering on your mind until you finally arrived at the front of his house.

You lean your body to the wall while catching your breath for a fresh air. Then your eyes catch a sight of Jungkook and Mr Jeon at the balcony. Staring at him who is massaging his father’s legs choke you up in tears.

Jeon Jungkook that you are seeing now is totally different from Jungkook that you knew before you left five years ago.

◇ author notes : its been a while since my last update. and since im going to improve my english grammar and skill so i will update this series every week at the same time and im also will write a lot of drabbles and other series to improve my writing skill. anyways thanks for reading

#bts angst #bts scenarios #jungkook angst #jungkook scenarios #networkbangtan

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westywrites · 6 years

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Story with Gods - Chp 2

A while ago I shared the current version of the first chapter of my WIP, this week I have decided to post the second chapter in celebration of the fact that this blog is quickly approaching 200 followers (which blows my mind). Everything that is happening here will make much more sense if you go read the first chapter first. Anyways, thank you all, and I hope you enjoy!

Warnings for: death, lots of death and talking about death, starvation, other associated potentially disturbing content

"What are you doing?" Phil's face was filled with concerned anger as Sophia gave Quentin her water and toast.

"He's sick,” she responded plainly. "He needs it more than I do right now." The others found themselves agreeing with her until they saw how her hands shook. But it was too late, and that day at lunch there were only seven containers. Sophia dutifully helped Quentin eat and refused the offers of anyone else's food. She didn't want anyone to have their food taken away, she could live without one meal. Throughout the day Quentin seemed to improve. By supper, he was sitting on his own again, and he wouldn't shut up about how indebted he was to Sophia.

"It's no big deal,” she said smiling. "If there's any way to help someone I always will." When supper came, Olivia grabbed three containers as she always did and brought them over to Sophia and Quentin so the three of them could eat together. However, before she could sit down, Karen called her name.

"How many containers do you have?" she demanded.

"One for Sophia, one for Quentin, and one for myself." Olivia shrugged, her voice rang harsh and empty when she addressed anyone but Sophia. "Why?"

"There aren't enough containers," Karen responded in a hushed voice. "We're one short."

"I think I'm still being punished." Sophia had stood up behind Olivia without them noticing.

"Seriously?" Phil exclaimed. "This is an outrage."

"It's ok, I'll be fine," Sophia assured them. "No one else needs to have their food taken away." No matter how many times someone tried to force her to eat, Sophia refused, and eventually, they found themselves giving up. Each ate their meagre portions and went back to their hushed and forced conversations. That night Sophia fell asleep long before everyone else.

"Guys," Olivia said once Sophia was asleep, "Sophia is the kind of person would kill herself for any one of us. If she doesn't get food in the morning we have to force her to eat." Olivia was worried and scared, and for the first time, she let everyone see it. "She's just pretending to be fine. Earlier when she went to use the washroom, she had to lean against the wall the entire way, and she still looked like she was gonna pass out."

"We can try, but she's stubborn." Jen sighed. "I'm not sure we can force her."

"I owe her,” Quentin admitted. "I may be able to get her to eat if you help me, Olivia. You two seem to be really good friends maybe she'll listen to us."

"Thanks, guys." Olivia sat down again, next to Sophia. They all slept uncomfortably through the night. Come morning as everyone woke up they began to grow concerned. They had no way to tell the time, but they were very sure that breakfast usually came earlier. There was no sign of food or an announcement for hours. They took to begging and yelling at the announcer for answers. Sophia urged them all to calm down, they would never get food if they behaved like that.

"It's been a full day since you've eaten,” Isaiah reminded her rather aggressively. "How can you still be so calm?"

"We have no choice. If we want to survive, we have to behave how this guy wants us to behave. We still have no idea what's going on, and it's been over three weeks. We all have people to miss us, and they'll find us eventually we just have to cooperate and survive until then." Sophia ranted for a while longer, repeating that they could survive and that they had to stay calm. She was somewhat surprised when the others remained upset. Perhaps, she thought, people were not as easy to persuade when they were so close to dying.

"Talk about hypocrisy." Quentin glared at her. "You broke the rules, you gave up your food to help me. Now we’re trying to do that same for you, and you keep telling us not to."

"You were sick, I'm fine." Her face remained perfectly emotionless. "It's as simple as that." That was the end of any conversation with Sophia, she sat staring at a wall, she wouldn't move, and she wouldn't respond in any way. Her eyes seemed to have lost their light and if not for the movement of her breath you'd have thought she was dead.

An announcement came on at lunch. As usual, it said the time and to come and get the containers. However this time no containers came out, only water bottles. Only seven water bottles, each about half full. Immediately Anthony and Karen started drinking. Everyone was dehydrated and the cool liquid felt like heaven in their dry mouths.

"Wait. Don't drink it all,” Olivia warned. "It's really strange that they'd give us water if they aren't gonna feed us. I think something weird is going on."

"Well maybe Sophia's right, and they just don't want us to die." Phil shrugged as he drank some more. No matter what Olivia said, the others didn't listen. Quentin was over by Sophia trying to get her to drink some water. She didn't respond.

"C'mon Sophia. Why won't you drink?" He begged her. "Aren't you the one going on about surviving? You need to drink to survive."

"So do you," She whispered without moving.

"Soph, don't be an idiot." Olivia crouched down on the other side of her. "He's had more to drink than you, you haven't had anything since yesterday morning." Sophia just stared blankly, without warning Olivia slapped her across the face. "I don’t want you to die, ok? It took me goddamn long enough to decide I don’t want to die and now we’re here and just... I really don’t want you to die goddamnit.” A shallow breath shuddered through her. “I’m scared.” She paused. “Take a mouthful of my water,” she demanded. Sophia whimpered and took the bottle. They sat there in silence. Within a couple of hours, everyone but Olivia had finished their water. A few hours after that was supper time and when that came and passed with nothing, everyone looked to Olivia.

"How'd you know they weren't gonna give us any more?" Karen accused.

"Look, as I said then, I just thought it was suspicious." Olivia shrugged, once again appearing emotionless. "I have good instincts for that kind of thing."

"Well, now you've got to share. If they aren't going to give us any more, there's no reason not to." Karen stepped forward.

"You should have listened to me then. I'm sorry, but this is my water. There's not even enough here for everyone to get a mouthful." Olivia held her water bottle tightly, anger bubbled behind her careful act.

"And yet I've heard you offering it to her all afternoon." Anthony pointed accusingly at Sophia. "That's what I call selfishness." Phil and Isaiah watched the situation, judging what they could get out of it. Jen watched nervously from a corner.

"She's not being selfish, she's being smart. She's not going to sacrifice herself for all of you who wouldn't even listen to her." Quentin moved to stand defensively between Olivia and the others. Olivia and Quentin argued helplessly against Karen and Anthony who continued to approach. They stood face to face with Quentin and Olivia, only a few inches between, hissing angry words.

"Everyone stop." Sophia's voice rang out, calm and clear as it echoed slightly through the small room. She used the wall to help herself stand and took a few steps towards the arguing pairs. "This is nonsense. Olivia's water is hers to do with it what she chooses. You being whining asses isn't going to help you get any if she were to share." Sophia turned towards Olivia and Quentin. "And you two, fighting back and being aggressive just makes things worse. Be better than them if they're going to be like that. Everyone separate now and go sit on opposite sides of the room." She shook her head. "I feel like I'm talking to elementary school students." Throughout this monologue, everyone stood in absolute silence, as soon as she had finished everyone followed her words with only slight protest.

"Hey, thanks, Soph." Olivia patted her shoulder. "That was really cool." Sophia didn't respond and just stared into the distance again. She swayed slightly, and her eyes went kind of cross-eyed. "Soph, are you okay?" Sophia's knees buckled, and she collapsed into Olivia's arms. Olivia nearly fell backwards, and Quentin had to help her get Sophia to the ground.

"What happened?" Phil asked as he joined them in kneeling around Sophia.

"She was fine and then she just fell." Olivia’s voice bordered on hysterical as she swept Sophia's blond bangs off her face. "She seemed fine."

"This is your fault," Quentin yelled at Karen. "She only got up to get mad at you."

"She was mad at you too." Karen sneered.

"Stop fighting," Olivia spoke just barely loud enough to be heard, a sob hitched in her throat. "She told us to stop." The others all flocked to comfort her, and they gently placed Sophia in the corner.

"She may be fine. She just passed out." Jen tried to be optimistic. "She may wake up." But they all knew that in that situation even if she did wake up, it wouldn't be for long. It wouldn't be long for any of them.

The next day Sophia woke for a very short time. She didn't say much other than how nice it was to have met everyone, she had completely surrendered. Olivia couldn't stop crying, dry and tearless sobs. Everyone was very quiet throughout the day, respectful to each other and to Sophia. The quiet emphasized the harsh rasp of Sophia’s breath. Her eyes were blank and unseeing and unblinking as if they had died while her body remained alive. Alive but empty. Olivia stared and stared into Sophia’s brilliant blue eyes, willing them to lighten and fill with that spark that had been there on the very first day. The spark that glowed as Sophia tried to plan out a stranger’s future. Now Olivia knew that future would never happen and the eyes remained blank, blue as the sky but colourless at the same time. By what they guessed was supper time Sophia had passed out again and by the time they all went to sleep her breathing had stopped completely.

The day after many of them had difficulty waking, they tried to open dry eyes only to be faced with the glaring lights burning into their eyes, and it felt like, Olivia thought, into their very souls. Isaiah dragged himself along the walls, checking on everyone, it seemed a pointless practice, something done in a futile attempt to make himself feel useful. No one stood for more than a few moments that day, they were all too weak. When she tried, Olivia felt her limbs quake, and her legs protested what little weight she had left. She forced herself to her feet anyways only for them to betray her and she fell hard to the floor and began to retch. On an empty and dry stomach, her body could bring up nothing but burning bile. Despite all this, Olivia seemed the least affected and was constantly trying to comfort others. She forced herself around the room, singing and telling stories as Sophia would’ve done. It was a tiresome and fruitless task, but it was the only thing she could think to do, it was what Sophia would’ve done after all. Sophia was the strong one, the brave one, the one who had given Olivia hope. Another day passed with no food or water. Death by dehydration is not the worst way to go, unpleasant for sure but not the worst. Quentin was the next to go, he just didn't wake up in the morning. After that was Jen, then Phil. With each that passed, the others dragged the body into a row, each of the dead holding hands with the next, so they weren't alone, even in death.

Within five days of Sophia, everyone had died but poor young Olivia. She had struggled to drag the body of Karen into the line but had dutifully done just that. After that, she waited. She waited, and she waited. The silence was overwhelming, and she was scared. Alone, afraid, and young. Never before had she felt so much like a child and longed for the life that had been ahead of her, even if it was just marrying an older Indian man like her parents wanted. It was a funny thing, dying so slowly. It made her appreciate everything she had had, even the things she had hated. It was not that long ago that Olivia would’ve welcomed death, but things had changed, she had changed, and now the only thing she could think was that all her plants would die at home without her careful dedication. For her, it was like falling asleep, slowly closing her eyes in the silence, the only sound her own dry breaths. No, there was another sound. Something had rustled, something else had moved in that small, cold tomb. Olivia forced her eyes open for just a second longer, just long enough to see from the far end of the line someone sit up. Sophia's voice called her name. Believing it a hallucination Olivia closed her eyes and fell into the deep sleep that was death.

#west's words #writeblr #writers on tumblr #spilled ink #creative writing #original story #Story with Gods #godly excerpts #Olivia Misra #Sophia Grader #this is where the real plot of the story starts to actually pick up #this is all first draft stuff btw #if I ever decide to send this to a publisher #it will be probably quite different #that's why I don't mind posting it here #everything I ever post on here is first draft stuff #a fair amount of my posts are actually barely edited too #there are probably so many mistakes you guys see in my writing that would be fixed #if I actually bothered to edit

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itselbaka · 8 years

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Love is hard - Chapter eleven

Pairing: Madison Joseph x reader (friends), Josh Dun x reader (friends, lovers?), Tyler Joseph x reader (friends), Jenna Joseph x reader (friends), other Joseph and Dun family members

Plot: You take a leap year abroad, where you meet Madison Joseph. You become best friends and move in with her family. You meet her brother Tyler and his best friend Josh, who you have a crush on. Will Josh and you become more than friends?

This chapter: Chris and Kelly come back home and you meet Josh’s parents.

Warnings: Mentions of panic attacks

Word count: about 2600 (oops)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

A/n: I hope you enjoy this chapter :D Love you all

“Back so soon? How was your date?” Maddie asked as soon as you walked inside. “It was great actually. We went ice skating and it was really fun and romantic.” You answered, eyes lighting up at the thought of the sweet kisses you shared with Josh. You sat down next to Maddie and started telling her about your date. She had her eyes fixated on the television and didn’t seem to really hear you, though. You remembered what Tyler had said to you about her needing some space and quickly stopped talking. “Anyway, your parents are coming home tomorrow so do you want to plan something? To welcome them back?” You swayed the conversation away. “I’m meeting up with Annie in the morning, but we can go for lunch somewhere if you want to? Just let me know where and I’ll meet you guys there.” Maddie replied. “Sure, sounds good.” You watched part of the movie along with Maddie, but you weren’t really interested and soon went off to sleep.

You had set your alarm early the next day. Though the house was pretty neat, you wanted to clean a little and get ready for when Chris and Kelly would arrive home. At 11, the house was completely cleaned and you got yourself ready as well, so you sat on the couch watching some television and waiting. You heard a car pull up on the driveway and walked to the door. “Hey Y/n. How are you?” Jenna said walking over to you. Tyler followed right behind her and they both hugged you. “We thought it might be nice to have lunch together, with my parents being back home and all.” Tyler said. “Maddie and I already planned that actually, but your very welcome to join us! They should be here any minute.” You replied, truly happy Tyler and Jenna were there. You all sat on the couch and chatted. “So, did you talk to Maddie? About… you know.” Tyler softly asked you when Jenna excused herself to go to the bathroom. “No. I think I’m just gonna let this rest for a while, it’ll figure itself out.” You replied. Tyler nodded while you heard another car approaching. “That must be them.” You said as you walked to the door. “Hey guys! Wow, quite the welcoming.” Kelly laughed as she spotted the three of you on the porch.

Chris and Kelly had put their stuff inside, freshened up and liked the idea of going out to lunch together, so you got in the car and drove to a small bistro they liked. You texted Maddie where you were going and she arrived shortly after you did. “Before I forget; Josh’s parents are in town, so he asked me to invite you all for dinner tonight.” Tyler announced midway through the meal. “Great, it would be nice to catch up with them!” Kelly replied happily, Chris nodded and smiled. You weren’t sure if Tyler meant that you were invited as well. It sounded like it, and frankly it would be a little weird if everyone would go except for you, but Josh could’ve invited you yesterday and didn’t. “I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be like old times, just our two families together. I was really excited when I got invited a couple of days ago.” Maddie said, smiling sweetly. You couldn’t help but feel personally attacked by her comment, but shook that thought away thinking she probably didn’t mean it that way. “Don’t be nervous about tonight. Only ‘the kids’ know you and Josh are dating and we won’t say anything. Just think of them as a friend’s parents. No pressure.” Jenna leaned over and said to you, misinterpreting your silence. “Thanks, Jen. I’ll be okay, don’t worry.” You reassured her, feeling an other worry coming up. Even if they don’t know we’re dating, I still have to give of a good impression. If they don’t like me and things do work out with Josh, it’ll be hard to change their minds. O God, what if they hate me? You felt your mind, once again, start to race. You tried to concentrate on the conversation and stop thinking about all the other stuff, but it only worked a little.

Once you were back home you immediately went upstairs to review your outfit options. You wanted to look like the perfect daughter-in-law to be; decent and classy, but with a hint of sexiness. The first three outfits were okay, but too overdressed for just a dinner with ‘the parents of friends’. Just as you were assembling a fourth look, Maddie walked in the bedroom. “Whatcha doing?” She asked, looking up from her phone. “Just trying to figure out what to wear tonight. What are you wearing?” You replied, sounding calm. In fact, you were freaking yourself out more and more as time progressed, most likely putting more pressure on the night than necessary. “Just some jeans and a shirt, nothing special.” Maddie answered, grabbing some clothes from her closet and disappearing to the bathroom. Ok, don’t overdress, just jeans and a shirt you told yourself as you peered in your wardrobe. After a couple of hours, Kelly knocked at the bathroom door. “Ready? We’re leaving in five minutes.” She said. Feeling another rush of nervousness you checked your outfit, make-up and hair one last time. You had tried on seven outfits in total, but ultimately chose to wear your skinny light blue jeans, a dark green long-sleeved top, a bright yellow scarf and matching yellow converse shoes. You had put on light make-up and put your hair in a loose braid. You thought you looked neat and decent, but still casual, though you basically looked the same as always. You sprayed on a bit of perfume and rushed downstairs. Chris and Maddie were already half way to the car while Kelly waited for you at the door. You noticed she wore a long black dress and had her hair down in light curls and looked outside to check on the other’s outfits. Chris wore a navy blue suit and Maddie had a beautiful deep red flowy skirt on, with a black lace top. “I didn’t realize we were supposed to dress up.” You said to Kelly, almost choking on your words. “I thought Madison would tell you. It doesn’t matter, really. It’s just a long running private joke between us and the Dun’s. You look nice.” Kelly replied, locking the door and leading you to the car.

Your nerves were worsening the closer you got to the Dun’s house. Maddie didn’t speak with you in the car and you tried to ignore the feeling of betrayal, though you refused to believe she’d trick you on purpose. Maybe she forgot about the ‘joke’ and only realized after telling me what she’d wear you thought. When Chris parked the car in front of a light brown house, you suddenly felt nauseous. It was going to be the first time at Josh’s house; you weren’t sure of your relationship status with Josh; you’d meet his parents; you looked like the Joseph’s just picked you up from the street, compared to them. O God. You concentrated on your breathing as you followed the others to the door, attempting to avoid a total panic attack. Chris rang the bell and it only took seconds before the door opened. “Chris! Kelly! Madison! It’s so good to see you!” The woman enthusiastically said, hugging the three Joseph’s and welcoming them inside. “And you must be Y/n! Ashley told me about you. I’m Laura. Please, come in.” Laura said. She wore a long, light grey dress, obviously in on this ‘joke’ between the families. You followed the group into the dining room, seeing Tyler, Jenna, Jay, Ashley, Josh and a man, who must be Josh’s father, all dressed up in suits or dresses. You uncomfortable stood in the doorway not sure how to behave and what to do, focussing solely on calming yourself down. “Ah, you must be Y/n. Nice to meet you, I’m William, but you can call me Bill.” Bill came over to you, shaking your hand and smiling genuinely. “No dress, eh? I guess they haven’t told you about that yet.” He said chuckling. You greeted and hugged Ty, Jen, Jay and Ash and walked over to Josh. Neither of you dared to look the other in the eyes and you awkwardly hugged before quickly sitting down. Laura poured everyone a drink and served the first course, a tasty pumpkin soup. You sat between Maddie and Laura, Jay sat across from you. The parents talked among each other, Ashley and Jenna chatted sitting at the end of the table, Maddie was involved in a conversation with Josh and Tyler spoke with his brother, leaving you to eat your soup in silence. Feeling more of an outsider than ever, wedged between two people, you felt your heart beating faster and your body heating up. Only this time it wasn’t because you felt happy or in love, you knew it was because you were panicking. Your hands began to shake a little and your breathing became heavier. You looked around the table with distressed eyes, but nobody noticed you. You tried remembering the breathing techniques you once learned, but your mind didn’t seem to listen to you. You felt another rush of nausea coming up and you could feel the first drops of sweat form on your forehead. I have to get out of here you thought. You appeared calm, or so you thought, as you stood up as slowly as you could and excused yourself, mumbling something about the bathroom. Kelly nodded at you swiftly before returning to her conversation.

You opened several doors before locating the bathroom, locking the door and sitting on the floor, trying to control your breath. You held your hands under the cold water for a moment and wiped the sweat of your face, slowly but surely regaining your composure. You needed some fresh air but didn’t dare leave the house without asking or telling anyone. You thought about saying you felt sick so you could go home, but you really wanted to impress Josh’s parents tonight. So, after ten minutes, you managed to calm yourself down a little and went back to the dining room, determined to make a near perfect impression on Laura and Bill. “Are you okay honey? You look a little pale.” Laura asked you as she passed you in the doorway. “Yes, I’m fine. Just a little tired I think.” She nodded and took the plates to the kitchen, replacing them with plates of turkey and mashed potatoes. You sat down again, feeling queasy. Bill had switched places with Laura, sitting next to you. He started chatting with you, about his job and his kids and asking you about your plans for the future. You talked to him during the main course, feeling a little more at ease and secretly thankful he provided some distraction. “I hope you all had enough to eat and liked it.” Laura said when everyone was done eating. “Let’s go to the lounge for coffee.” Everyone stood up and made their way to the lounge and you followed closely behind. You sat in a big chair near the corner of the room and watched the others as they sat down and kept talking with each other. They, unconsciously, seemed to form two groups as they sat. The parents were joined by Maddie on the huge sofa across from you, while the boys, Ashley and Jenna sat down on the other big sofa near the entrance. You saw Maddie laughing loudly with Bill and Laura, who obviously liked her a lot. You wished you had chosen a different seat so you could be included in one of the groups. Suddenly unsure if anyone in the room even wanted you to be there, you didn’t risk trying to move seats and stayed on your own.

You weren’t sure if it was the warmth in the room, the fact that nobody talked to you, that you were still nervous or all of them together, but without warning you could feel the next panic attack coming. You needed fresh air and you needed it now. Rushing across the room you left towards the patio doors you saw on your way to the lounge. Thankfully they weren’t locked and you almost ran onto the lawn, quickly checking if you were visible from the lounge. You spotted a small bench to your right and sat down in the dark, still breathing heavily. “Are you okay?” You heard Josh’s voice next to you soon after you sat down. “Yes, sure. I think I’m getting the flu or something.” You tried to smile, not wanting to show Josh how you really felt. He sat down next to you, softly rubbing your back. You sat in silence for a while, Josh staring at you. “I remember when we first started playing big shows. There were so many people there, staring at us, at me. At first I was happy all those people came to see us. But then, I would get really nervous. I would be nauseous all day and some days, I didn’t even want to go on. I would lie awake night after night worrying and my mind played tricks on me. Tyler noticed, of course, and helped me a lot. I talked about it and worked on it and even though I still get nervous sometimes, I can manage it and find my calm spot.” Josh suddenly told you, his voice sounding soft and sweet. You nodded, feeling he understood what was going on. You slowly calmed down again while Josh talked to you about trivial things, to get your mind off whatever was going on. “Let’s get inside and have some coffee, okay?” He finally asked when you’d calmed down. You smiled and nodded, following him inside. You were sure everyone noticed you coming back in together, but thankfully no one said anything about your disappearance or entrance. You sat next to Josh on the big sofa and felt relieved as you chatted along with the group. Having a good time, at last, two hours passed by quickly and Chris and Kelly announced they were leaving soon. You hugged Jenna, Ashley, Jay and Tyler and gave an extra-long hug to Josh, whispering a quick but heartfelt thank you in his ear. You shook hands with Laura and Bill, thanking them for the lovely dinner. You were the last one to reach the car and as soon as you sat down, you realized you had forgotten your bag.

You ran back to the front door, reaching it just as Tyler, Jenna and Jay were about to leave. “I’ve left my bag.” You explained. Josh smiled. “I think my mom found it. She’s in the kitchen, go ask her.” You walked towards the kitchen, faintly hearing the voices of Laura and Bill. You reached the door, but before you could open it, you heard Laura mention your name inside. Curiosity getting the best of you, you stood as quiet as possible, trying to hear what they were saying. “I know, Bill. I’m just saying that I think she acted a little bit weird tonight. And the way she dressed!” You heard Laura say. “And she doesn’t seem to have any plans for the future.” Bill added. “Exactly. Well, let’s just hope Josh and Ashley don’t get too involved with her. She’s hardly a good example for anyone.” Laura continued. A small part of you hoped they weren’t talking about you, but when you knocked on the door and saw their faces as you entered, you knew it was you they were speaking about. So far for making a good impression.

#josh dun x reader #josh dun imagine #josh dun fanfiction #josh dun #twenty one pilots imagine #tyler joseph #twenty one pilots #madison joseph

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tlcrescuepa · 6 years

Text

New Post has been published on To Love a Canine Rescue

New Post has been published on https://tlcrescuepa.com/week-end-update-youre-hot-then-youre-not/

Week-End Update: You're hot then you're not . . .

As disappointed as we are at the bone-chilling cold & rain today, we are glad that Mother Nature had her act together long enough to make yesterday a beautiful day for Woofstock 2. We can’t thank Osteria and Anthony Costello enough for putting this event together for us! We’re hoping Mother Nature gets her act together to provide us with equally nice weather this Thursday as we head to Terra Culture Gifts for Malvern Strolls.

In the meantime we’ll bask in the glory from a week full of adoptions, including the beautiful Bit Bit, Blossom, Celine, Ellie, Felix, Footie, Gillingan, Gynger, Jim B, Juliette (now Bella), McDoodle, Mrs. Howell, Polly, Possum, Rose, Thurston, Violet & Waldo!

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Blossom

Celine

Ellie

Felix

Footie now Ryder

Gilligan

Gynger

Jim B

Juliette now Bella

Mcdoodle

Mrs Howell

Polly

Possum now Benji

Thurston

Bit Bit

Of course, we also have some updates to share with you too:

Shemma FKA Bonnie

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“We just wanted to send a quick update as it’s Shemma’s (FKA Bonnie) 2nd birthday today! She enjoyed a long walk around the neighborhood, an extra treat (or two), and a new squeaky toy to celebrate her big day! Since our last update over a year ago, Shemma gained twin (human) sisters last July and she’s the best big sister ever! She loves the girls and showers them with puppy kisses and is incredibly patient with them—even now that they’re crawling and try to steal her toys! Our family just wouldn’t be complete without her and we continue to be incredibly thankful for To Love a Canine rescue for saving her and allowing us to welcome her into our home. She is the best pup and the most perfect fit in our family. “

Keira FKA Ivanka

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“I know it’s only been 2 months with Keira now, but she just completed basic obedience class tonight, and is heading into teens 2. I dropped her off at day training and the professional trainers kept telling me how great of a dog she is, and how quickly she learns things, they even started teaching her a few new things because she catches on so quickly. Every person who meets Keira just keeps saying how lucky we are to have found her: she is super well behaved, follows most commands and is super loving. She still has her puppy/teen issues like chewing some things she shouldn’t but she is such a great addition to our little family!

She has already been hiking with us, to rugby games, breweries, family events and she adapts to her surroundings very well. She has so much more potential with us continuing her training as well!”

Zeus

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“Zeus is doing great! We sent a few pics to Jen Catrambone a while ago but I attached a few more. Zeus and his sister Gabby absolutely love each other. They literally are inseparable and play outside constantly! Zeus is an amazing dog. He’s loves to play and is everyone’s friend.

We couldn’t be happier with him!!!”

Luna FKA Nyrobi

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“We did change her name to Luna and she is doing great! We could not have found a better puppy for our home.

She does a vet appointment at 12 today and we may be looking into doing some training with Jeri, just to make sure we are on the right track.

I have attached 2 pictures to show how well she is adjusting. :)”

Remi FKA Athena

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“Remi is doing great! I have attached 2 pictures.”

Mack FKA Skipper (Gilligan’s Island litter)

Mack FKA Skipper

““Skipper “ now Mack is doing awesome! He actually slept from 10-5 last night which was an unexpected bonus. He is mild mannered and wearing himself out playing with Lucy. (she seems too distracted to lick the way she was doing before)

Working on house training. He’s so darn cute and curious.

We have a vet appointment this afternoon. To get him checked out.

Thank you for a wonderful adoption experience 😁”

Murphy FKA Terk

“Murphy (fka Terk) enjoy the warm weather! We’ve had him 3 months! He starts training classes this week. He’s already 6 months! He’s shaping up to be a great dog. He’s very smart, crate trained and housebroken ”

Max

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Max is doing amazing! He is getting along really well with our other dog Blue and he has learned to ignore my guinea pigs. We had the backyard fenced in so Max and Blue can run and play. We will be taking them on some camping trips soon too. Max had a great time taking an obedience class and a tricks class with Peppers Paws dog training. He is an amazing, loving dog and we are so happy to give him a forever home!”

Wiley FKA Joseph

“Wiley and I are doing great! He is such a little love. He is coming along really well in all his training classes and is in a walking club on the weekends. And, he loves day camp at Wagsworth. He is such a wonderful furbaby. Here is a picture of him from this year’s Christmas card.”

Calvin FKA Sam

“Calvin (formally known as Sam) is doing great! We just moved to a new house in the city and he’s transitioning very well, only peed on the floor twice. We plan to transition him out of the crate during the day and hope to put a baby gate up to keep in the kitchen for now at least becUse he climbs furniture and tables and chews things when he’s alone. but he can jump over and climb every gate we’ve tried. Do you have any ideas on that??”

Editor’s note: we’ve referred Calvin’s mom to our trainers

Dixie

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“My husband and I were just saying the other night that we feel like we have had Dixie longer than 6 months! She is just such a big part of our family now, and she loves everyone she meets. She goes to my son’s college baseball games and plays or at least is social with the other dogs there (she has her favorite!). She had already rid our yard of one mouse and one mole, the CAT(ahoula) in her name should have been a sign!! We just started daycare to get rid of some of that energy, still a little nervous but I am sure as the weather gets warmer and the dogs get to go outside she will feel at home. She loves the snow…we could leave her outside for hours and she would not get bored…but we get cold so she has to come in!

We are so happy to have rescued her, can’t imagine my life without here. “

Chloe FKA Dixie

“Chloe fka Dixie is great! She has settled in wonderfully & is the greatest little girl

Loves walks, sticks, and is particularly fond of her favorite stuffed animal squirrel!

She is still a little submissive but becoming bolder all the time & is great w everyone she meets

Here she is all ready for bed”

Sasha

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“I wanted to pass along an update about Sasha, who we adopted in September!

Sasha has made a wonderful addition to our family. She is definitely a ‘daddy’s girl’, and I don’t know what my husband would do with out her at this point!

As you can see by the pictures, she loves naps on the couch, and if she sees a squirrel through the window or on a walk it definitely gets her attention! She has been great with all of our nieces and nephews, as well as the other dogs in our extended families. She is a gentle goofball, and has mastered every trick we have taught her. Thank you all again for what you do, and for bringing Sasha into our lives!”

Harley

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“I am keeping her name the same. I do have a vet appointment on Friday with Dr. Hanning. I have kept in touch with Beth, her foster mother and overall she is adjusting well. I have attached some photos of her from her first day until today.”

Susie Q

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“Hello! Thank you for checking in! I did get a call a few weeks back also. Susie Q is doing wonderful!! She is the perfect addition to our family and we love her so much!

She enjoys snuggles with the kids and walks with her house mate Baxter. She all around just the sweetest dog! She is also a mommy’s girl and stays by my side but loves a good head rub from her daddy too! She is funny and has such a great disposition! We love her to pieces! Thanks again! 😊”

Vincent

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“Hi! Thanks for checking in! Vincent is adorable! Our Doberman Kavi likes having him around too! They can’t wait for warmer weather and getting back to the park to run!! I’m attaching a recent pic of them.”

Zoey FKA Juno

“Hello TLC family!!

We wanted to share a video of our Zoey’s first birthday!

On March 17th we took her for a day trip to the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge. Zoey experienced her first bridge, goose poop, kayaker and more. She is a beautiful dog full of much happiness and love for the world around her.

Fred and I will always be grateful to TLC for bringing her into our lives!”

youtube

#adoptions #updates

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chappedandfadedvds · 4 years

Text

Nov 7th, Saturday 14:20

„Happy birthday!!“

„Thank you so much, can I be celebrated for days now every year? I really enjoy this.“ Jens joked as he stepped into the livingroom following Senne who had let him and Lotte in.

They even had put up a glittery banner and had a couple of colourful balloons grazing the floor. There was a set table and a cake filled with candles to the brim. Probably exactly 18 and Jens was pretty sure he would not be able to blow them all out at once. They all wore these tiny party hat cones on their heads, Lotte loving hers the minute it was put on when they entered.

„Next year were aren’t celebrating at all to equal it out, so you better make the most of it today.“ Sander declared getting up from his shared sofa with robbe, moving over to pull him into a tight hug. Robbe directly taking over, congratulating Jens once more as the two of them swayed from one foot onto the other in their embrace. He loved this boy so much.

„I can’t believe that you are eighteen. You are becoming a boring adult.“ He heard Robbe whisper giggling as they both pulled back far enough to look at each other grinning, not having let go yet.

„You’ll be eighteen soon too, so you better watch your words, young man.“ Jens joked as he saw his sister being picked up and swung around by Sander. He supposed this and the cake were her only two reasons for coming with.

„At least we have our university years left to fuck it all up, I guess.“ Robbe said happily as Jens kept smiling brightly, while his heart though tightened almost painfully at that thought. He didn’t want to think about it. Not now. Not with people around. Not with Lotte close by to see him. He swallowed it down and for some sort of miracle did Zoe appeared next to them.

„You can keep cuddling all day, if you want, but I wann hug Jens too.“ She complained quite amused as Robbe stepped away, his eyes immidiately searching for Sander to find him pouring Lotte some tea.

„What do you wanna drink?“ Jens heard the boy asking, as he joined the others by the table.

„Coffee would be great if possible.“

„Coming right up.“ Robbe replied, as Zoë and him hugged, her hand brushing through his hair, cautiously enough to not rip the birthday hat off.

„Happy birthday.“ She said, pecking a kiss to his cheek: „Let’s get some cake. Milan spend at least four hours in the kitchen, so even if it is horrible, smile.“

He snorted at her shaking his head. He was pretty sure the cake was amazing. Milan had found his absolute passion in baking since the first lockdown in march began. And though his cooking really left a large room for improvment, his baking skills was great by now. At least that’s what Robbe had told him and the last couple of weekends really proved him right.

„My turn finally.“ Milan said and another hug ensued as he was taking into the arms of the older boy and pressed tight against his chest. As with Zoë he was pecked a kiss on his cheek and welcomed with a bright smile and best wishes. Milan’s hand took holf of his and thus they both went to join the group a couple meteres away.

Robbe had joined Sander in the meantime, Lotte placed happily chatting away on the older boys lap, gesturing wildly about, as the other two listened intently. A child really suited them, Jens thought. And if fate was on their side and they pulled through all the mental health bullshit, he was conviced that they should have one. At least Sander appeared to enjoy that role.

Milan sat on the second sofa with Zoë and Senne, the later one busy lightening all the candles on the cake. That leaving Jens to take his seat on the armchair across of them.

„Alright. Make a wish.“ Senne set presenting his accomplished work, as Robbe took out his phone to either film or take a picture with. „And hurry, we want cake.“

It took him three tries to blow every single candle out as the other laughed and cheered him on.

He only whished for his mom to stay a little longer, like the little child he felt he still was.

„What the hell is this?“ Jens asked, his eyes wide open as he regarded the big package that Sander had pulled from his and Robbe’s room. It was a paper brown rectangle and decorated with a comically large red bow, like it belonged into a cartoon.

Zoë and Senne had gifted him a new year playstation plus membership, that he was very greatful for. And Milan had bought him a quite expensive book on music production, that Jens had wanted and was pretty sure Robbe had told him.

It was nothing compared to the present he was starring at currently infront of him on the floor, as he, followed by everyone else, had gotten up to inspect it.

„Open it!“ Lotte urged excited to his left, pulling his hand forward.

So he did just that. The bow was off in no time and the packet wasn’t that hard to open either.

He was staring in disbelief directly onto a skate board with a photograoh attached to it by tape, that punched the air out of his lungs.

It wasn’t just a skate board, it was his skate board, or at least a version of it. Because he had a pretty big accident with it, when he was eleven and the board broke and with it his heart, as it had been his very first one. He had cried the whole way home, more over the board than his broken arm and scratched knees. It took him weeks to get over it.

The photo was showing Robbe and him on his eights’s birthday, smiling at the camera, with said board in his little arms.

„Robbe, you didn’t..“ He heard his own voice saying, just barely keeping from trembling. His hand searching blindly for the boy behind him, who got the hint and kneeled next tim him to take it.

„Well it obviously isn’t the same one, but I found all these photographs of us and our boards last year, going through all my mothers stuff, before she was admitted and I knew immidiately that I needed to keep them. I planned back then to get you a board resembling it for your eighteen’s, but fate has it, that I fell for an artist. So while I told him what to do, and what was acurate, Sander drew and painted everything.“ Robbe explained, leaving Jens to continue starring at it, cautiously picking it up to turn it over and back.

He couldn’t believe it. It looked exactly the same, all the weird scribbles and sketches and amateurish tags were plastered across it. Jens felt the need to place it on a pedestal and conserve it, never touching it. This was too good to be true.

„Dude...“ He managed to say, putting the board back down, before his arms slung around his best friend burying his head in his neck, while the other laughed and stroke his back.

„And you too.“ Jens gestured towards Sander to come down as well, so he could hug both of them.

„I told you he would love it.“ Robbe was told by his boyfriend, before Lotte tackled them.

„I want to be hugged as well.“ She declared pouting, as they let her into their circle, while Jens was still processing his present.

The next hours Robbe and him spent reminising in old stories, they told the others about. A lot of emberessing ones, Jens thought, but he didn’t really mind. They really had been through a lot together. Robbe was definitely family and Jens couldn’t be more grateful to have him around. He just really hoped that they would all stay in Antwerp.

While Sander still had two years left at the academy, he had voiced interest to move somewhere else for a couple of years to see more of the world. And Jens was pretty sure that Robbe would stick with him, whereever his boyfriend would plan to take them. Jens really didn’t want to loose Robbe as well.

„You good?“ Robbe’s voice pulled him out of it, as Jens noted that the others had went back to the table, finishing of their second round of cake and tea and other sweets that have managed to appear on the table.

Jens nodded lightly at Robbe next to him on the sofa, as they had watched Senne and Sander help his little sister to stand on the used skate board of Robbe. She tried really hard to keep her balance as the two older boys pshed her back and forth across the living room.

„You know that if you want to talk, that you can always come to me, yea?“ His best friend said smikring as he winked, a clear reminder of last year, were the roles had been reversed and Jens had tried to have Robbe open up.

„I will.“

„You will what?“ Zoë inquired curiously as she looked up from her phone again, having texted Jana and the girls group some pictures of todays little birthday party, as she had explained earlier.

„Let you know, that even though it was Jens’s big day, we spent two hours on Lucas yesterday on zoom. Because you girls and my boyfriend can’t get enough of him.“ Robbe joked, taking Zoë’s phone to read through the last couple of messages.

„See.“ Robbe said as he showed Jens the screen, a conversation about Lucas being the prime subject: „Tsk, tsk, tsk.“

Jens was pretty close to tell Robbe that he really didn’t mind that at all, and that he probably could happily chat about the boy himself for days on end. And one day he would have to let Robbe know as well. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it yet. It was all too new.

„I’ve heard Lucas?“ Milan chimed in and Jens could only laugh at Robbe’s whine: “Not you as well.“

„Topic change!“ He threfore declared loudly, clapping his hands, to help his best friend out and made everyone look at him instead expectantly.

„What’s happening now with your exhibition? We all were so excited to behave in the dumbest way possible on thursday. Even Noor was in on it.“ Sander smirked at him, a fuck you on his lips, as he mouthed it silently at Jens.

„It’s all gonna be virtuell, like a tour through the exhibition pieces, so I guess maybe we could organise a litte zoom party again to go through it together?“ It is the best I can come up with now, if you are actually interested in seeing it, as you won’t have a possibilty to embarrass me infront of my professors.“

„Uh that sounds still fun. And Jana could join too! Let me just post the group.“ Zoë said excited as she took her phone back from Robbe, who turned his eyes a last time towards Jens. All serious as he patted Jens’s hand on the sofa between them.

„I mean it. I’m here to listen.“ He said smiling slightly and then getting up to help Senne make space on the table. They had ordered a big round of Pizza that should arrive soon for dinner.

Jens loved his best friend. He really did.

„We should add Lucas to the group as well.“ Milan proposed, being met with an unanimous approval of everyone else.

Jens shrugged at Robbe smirking back at him. He had tried at least. He took out his phone himself now, looking at their group that let everyone know about a new number been added. He needed to remind himself to text the poor boy later.

Zoë 17:56: Welcome to the best group in Antwerp!

Amber 17:57: Hello, Lucas!!! Glad to have you here 🥰

Noor 17:57: You still have time to run and block this. Once you are in, they will never let you out. Trust me. 😭

Moyo 17:59: Bring weed pls

#week 3 #wtfock #skam #vds #jens stoffels #lucas van der heijden #chapped and faded #flatshare time #bff time

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jenmedsbookreviews · 7 years

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Views at Attingham Park

So last week I had a bit of a mini melt-down when it came to reading. Couldn’t get my head in the zone at all. I put it down to being more than a little bit tired (which I still am) but at least I have had a long weekend to pretend to get over it. I say pretend because in reality I’ve tried to be very active this weekend with a nive three mile walk in the deer/cow park on Saturday and then a mere seven miles or so up and over the Long Mynd on Sunday.

Cardingmill Valley In Shropshire

Now the canny (and local) will spot that the big loop walk around Cardingmill Valley is actually only a little over five miles, the rest of you will probably neither know nor care. However, Mandie and I took a slight detour while on our walk as we spotted a sign at the edge of a footpath which holds a key link to our ancestry and decided to go and take a little look.

Medlicott is a very (very) small hamlet in Shropshire, set back in the shadows of the Long Mynd, and part of the reason that Jen Med’s is Jen Med’s and not Jen Luc’s. Medlicott is a family name, my Nan’s maiden name in fact, and our ancestry can be traced right back to when the little village got its name way back in 1100 and something, when old Llewelyn de Medlicott (or Modlicott) was awarded the land by some King of some variety for doing something loyal to the crown-ish.

A wild horse on the Long Mynd

I do actually have all of the details, courtesy of one my Great Uncles who researched the family tree many moons ago. He was able to race our lines all the way back from my Nan’s family circa 1900, through to the 1100’s, but this is a book blog not ancestry.com so I’ll spare you. Still pretty impressive though and Mandie and I were thrilled to see the signpost. Unbelieveably, after forty years living in the county, this was actually our first time atop the Long Mynd so the first time we had ever been this close to Medlicott. We didn’t quite have time to make the walk this weekend, but we will go back sometime soon and make the trip all the way down the hill to take a look at what was once family land. We’ll probably try and pop over to Wentnor Church too which is the final resting place of many of our family from years ago. I know – pretty cool right?

View at Pole Bank – the highest point on the Long Mynd

The biggest problem with walking up a very big hill is that at some point you have to walk back down it. Now it’s not the exercise that does me in – I can handle that. But I should probably explain that if there is one thing in this world that I am truly scared of, it is heights. Like all phobias, mine is severly irrational in how it presents itself. I don’t have the slightest problem with being high up, standing on top of a hill and looking out over a valley. I don’t have a problem making the craggy climb up the nice wide path to begin with. I do, however, have the slightly less irrational fear of plummeting to my death, which is why I don’t like sanding on high bridges all that much, especially bouncy ones, can’t always walk to the edge of barriers, no matter how safe they are and can only go outside at the Empire State Building if I go out the North Manhattan side as South is far too windy and I am worried about being blown over the impossible to be blown over barriers that surround the viewing floor. Yes – I know. Irrational…

Now while the climb up Cardingmill Valley, if you go a certain way, is occasionally steep, with absolutely breathtaking (literal and metaphorical) views, it is also a nice wide path. What Mandie and I didn’t know is that the path down the other side, past Townbrook Hollow, is equally as steep but a lot less wide. And there are sections that you have to climb over really craggy bits of rock and round tree roots which doesn’t sound too bad – unless you have a crippling paranoia about plummeting to your death. With legs like jelly, I mostly walked, occasionally inched down on my arse, but ultimately tackled the impossible (for me) and made it to the bottom. Totally glad I did it but by god it was a long way. Very few people die on this route (to my knowledge) and I know the worst that could have happened was I ended up sliding down a fairly high hill a little way, but I still hated it. So, with a near constant soundtrack of ‘I’m going to die’, ‘I hate this’, ‘I can’t see round the corner – I hate this – I’m going to die’, ‘I can’t do this’ and ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid hill’, we made it down this from top to bottom (see path on the right)

From top… to bottom

along a path which was only occasionally as generous as this

but which was mostly steep bank or rock to the left and steep bank or drop to the right.

On the plus side, all of my protestations kept Mandie’s mind off the fact that she too hates heights, although she did on occasion nearly fall off the path from laughing at me so much.

We’ll be heading back again soon. The views were amazing.

The Wrekin and the sheep shelf

None of this was remotely bookish but it was a nice distraction on a sunny Bank Holiday weekend. All of this walking seems to have had an impact on my reading too as I’ve been way more productive. Waaaaay more productive. Like a 250% increase in output. Yes folks – i read 3.5 books. Much more respectable than last weeks 1.5 i think.

Oooh. I lie. I actually read an apocalyptic type of book set largely in South Shropshire, only a stone’s throw from Cardingmill Valley so it was a bookish retreat after all. And we could see Stiperstones from the top which features in Mark Edwards’ The Lucky Ones so most definitely bookish. And yet, despite my assertions about my impending death, no apocalypse had occured by the time we left, which was a touch disappointing to be fair as it took ages to get out of the car park…

I got a little bit of book post this week. Three little bits in fact. One was my purchase of a signed copy of Yesterday by Felicia Yap from Goldsboro Books. I also got a copy of Payback by Kimberley Chambers from Harper Collins for helping out on a Readers Room survey and Nothing Stays Buried by PJ Tracy from Penguin Random House as I’m on the blog tour next week. I also received a lovely e-arc in the shape of Dead Lands by Lloyd Otis which again I’m on the blog tour for in October.

Purchase wise I have been very well behaved, mainly because I had already been pre-order crazy. I pre-ordered a copies of Silent Lies the forthcoming release from Kathryn Croft, The Secret Mother by Shalini Boland and All The Little Children by Jo Furniss.

You’re impressed with my restraint aren’t you? I can tell. As I’ve read three of these books already, it’s barely an increase in my tbr at all really …

Books I have read

Untainted Blood by Liz Mistry

An unmissable new crime thriller

In a city that is already volatile, tensions mount after a Tory MP in Bradford Central is discredited leaving the door open for the extreme right-wing candidate, Graeme Weston, to stand in the resultant by-election.

However, Graeme Weston is not what he appears to be and with secrets jeopardising his political career, he must tread very carefully.

Meanwhile, a serial killer targets Asian men who lead alternatives lifestyles and delivers his own form of torture.

As DI Gus McGuire’s team close in, the deranged killer begins to unravel and in an unexpected twist the stakes are raised for Gus.

Are the murders linked to the political scandals or is there another motive behind them?

DI Gus McGuire and his team are back and this might be their toughest case yet.

I’ll be sharing my review on this book later in the week. It’s the one I started during my London break last weekend but didn’t quite finish. Remedied that this week and very happy I am too. A great story set against a backdrop of racism and intolerance. YOu can buy a copy for yourselves here.

…

Nothing Stays Buried by P.J. Tracy

Nothing Stays Buried is the eighth book in P.J. Tracy’s addictive and internationally bestselling Monkeewrench series

There’s a search for a missing girl, and another for a serial killer: death holds all the cards . . .

When Marla Gustafson vanishes on her way to her father’s farm, her car left empty on the side of an isolated country road, even Grace MacBride and her eccentric team of analysts are baffled.

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, homicide detectives Gino and Magozzi have a serial killer on their hands – two women murdered in cruelly similar fashion, with playing cards left on the bodies. But one card is an ace, the other is a four – it seems the killer is already two murders ahead.

With both teams stumped, it slowly becomes clear the evidence is inexplicably entangled. And they have little time to unravel the threads: a twisted killer is intent on playing out the deck…

This was my first taste of the Monkeewrench team but it won’t be my last. Sadly one of the people behind the mother daughter writing team passed away, but her daughter has committed to carry on writing and I’ll be looking forward to reading more, as well as going back to read the first seven books when time allows. In this instalment cases surrounding drugs, serial killers and a missing woman all collide while the Monkeewrench team come face to face with their deadliest ever foe – Mother Mature. You can get a copy of the book here.

…

All The Little Children by Jo Furniss

When a family camping trip takes a dark turn, how far will one mother go to keep her family safe?

Struggling with working-mother guilt, Marlene Greene hopes a camping trip in the forest will provide quality time with her three young children—until they see fires in the distance, columns of smoke distorting the sweeping view. Overnight, all communication with the outside world is lost.

Knowing something terrible has happened, Marlene suspects that the isolation of the remote campsite is all that’s protecting her family. But the arrival of a lost boy reveals they are not alone in the woods, and as the unfolding disaster ravages the land, more youngsters seek refuge under her wing. The lives of her own children aren’t the only ones at stake.

When their sanctuary is threatened, Marlene faces the mother of all dilemmas: Should she save her own kids or try to save them all?

Now this is a book I’ve actually had sat on my kindle for a while after the author contacted me in regard to the round the UK challenge I started at the beginning of the year. Being set in my home county I couldn’t resist and from the very beginning I was pulled straight into this apocalyptic mystery. It held me from first page to last and I powered through in just a few hours. This and Monkeewrench totally helped me find my reading mojo again. You can bag yourself a copy here and find out why.

…

The Girl Who Came Back by Kerry Wilkinson

Thirteen years ago Olivia Adams went missing. Now she’s back… or is she?

When six-year-old Olivia Adams disappeared from her back garden, the small community of Stoneridge was thrown into turmoil. How could a child vanish in the middle of a cosy English village?

Thirteen years on and Olivia is back. Her mother is convinced it’s her but not everyone is sure. If this is the missing girl, then where has she been – and what happened to her on that sunny afternoon?

If she’s an imposter, then who would be bold enough to try to fool a child’s own mother – and why? Then there are those who would rather Olivia stayed missing. The past is the past and some secrets must remain buried.

An absorbing and gripping psychological thriller that will have you holding your breath until the final page.

Another read for a blog tour, you’ll have to wait just over a week for this review. I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and trying to piece together what really happened to Olivia when she went missing all those years ago. You can pre-order a copy of the book here.

…

Three and a half books. I feel like I’m back. Which is just as well as I need to read three books a week between now and mid November to hit my reading targets and be ready for the Christmas feature throughout the month. No pressure…

Blog wise another full on week. I’ve had some booklove, some reviews and even a cover reveal.

#BlogTour: The Ashes of Berlin by Luke McCallin

#Review: 99 Red Balloons by Elisabeth Carpenter

#BookLove: Mike Sahno

#CoverReveal: Shalini Boland & Bookouture

Review: All The Wicked Girls by Chris Whitaker

Reblog: #TheSister by Louise Jensen

Review: The Last Resort by Steph Broadribb

Review: Three Weeks Dead by Rebecca Bradley

#Booklove: CJ Harter

Review: The One by John Marrs

This coming week is another busy one. I’ve got blog tours galore this week, every other day, starting today with Witch Dust by Marilyn Messik. On Wednesday it’s my turn on the Nothing Stays Buried blog tour. Friday sees me sharing my thoughts on Untainted Blood and Sunday I finally get to set free my feelings on Richard Parker’s latest offering, Hide and Seek.

I’ll also be sharing a little more #booklove, this time with Claire Brown. Do hope you can join me.

Have a fabulous week of bookishness all

Rewind, recap: Weekly update w/e 27/08/17 Views at Attingham Park So last week I had a bit of a mini melt-down when it came to reading.

#Rewind Recap #Weekly Round UP

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