#I JUST FOUND OUT HOW DRAMATIC THE KEVIN SITUATION WAS

[handern]

bc I think it's very funny, here are some little bits of trivia that non french people do not have access to when they name their characters using french names :

there was a smear campaign against the names Rémi and Kévin in the early 2000's to the 2010's

both became adjectives more than names like if you said "un Rémi" it meant a guy w no friends and when you said "un Kévin" it meant an uncultured/stupid/annoying guy

it's less the case nowadays but nobody has forgotten about it

however, in the past couple years, a video has gone viral, redeeming all Kévins' reputation since now it's all people think about when they hear the name (des paillettes dans ma vie Kévin)

[silviakundera]

Once again reviewing less known/unpopular dramas... Ghost Host, Ghost House (2022, Thai BL) delivers what it promises to be in the first episode: supernatural family drama about ghosts, with a side of romance. I have an affection for media that knows what it wants to be and executes that.

Kevin, now an adult and ready for university, arrives in Thailand to visit family he hasn't seen for a decade - as his mother moved them to the USA when he was young. He's a budding video blogger whose gimmick seems to be: cute gay boy who visits haunted houses. Little does he know that the family he's come to stay with are all dead. The loved ones once separated by geography, as a child of immigrants, are now separated from him in a way he is yet to understand. There at the old family home he also runs into Pleum, a local boy with big dreams who is cheerfully navigating through 5 odd jobs and begins to pursue the visiting hot boy with the same dedication. But whose family is also hiding wounds of his own.

"This flower reflects the reality. Pain hasn't gone elsewhere. It's just hidden, so we can move on and live our lives."

Don't come looking for a thriller or scares or ghost hunting. It's not a fast-paced drama, it's about the characters.

It's charmingly earnest in the two young men's fumbling birth of a romance, elements of whimsical humor in Kevin's ghost family navigating death (think Beetlejuice), and occasionally poignant in discussions of mortality, grief, and letting go. The family relationships are given equal weight to the romance.

There wasn't a tonal whiplash for me. The sweet & sexy parts fit alongside the fact that both MLs are surrounded by death and need to come to terms with it. The tone is fluid. In the midst of life, there is death; in the midst of death there is life.

It's not a deeply profound, philosophical exploration of grieving and I don't think that's a failure because it's not trying to be. It's just characters who are haunted, literally and metaphorically, and who find a way to move on during the course of 8 episodes.

The couple really worked for me (until the writers imo fumbled the end). Post high school, figuring themselves out and what they want. Clearly not virgins and very comfortable with their sexuality and queer desire, while being still awkward & uncertain about how to act around a cute boy you like. I appreciated that the couple is quite sweet & soft without neutering them. They are allowed to be age-appropriate horny! They're also allowed to make mistakes & deal poorly with grief in hard moments, and then apologize and be forgiven for it. Two people who met each other in the worst timing & situation for attempting a romance. Though perhaps without the ghosts that united them, they would have lived out their lives mostly on separate continents & never found home together.

The otp like each other right away - it's external factors pulling them apart. Unresolved grief that must be dealt with and the hovering dramatic tension tension that Kevin is Thai diaspora, essentially American, and this was intended to be a temporary visit to see his relatives. He's presumably considering this a 'vacation fling', while it was clear that Pleum was ready to go all-in. A separation was basically baked into the pairing. I was anxious about how this could really work. Spoiler: happy ending, but I did not entirely like how they got there (see cut).

I would be spoiling too much to discuss in detail, but the family elements are lovely. Bittersweetness in the incomplete time we get with our loved ones. And the subtle tragedy of the opportunities Kevin lost to know his extended family; the taste of home he's been missing as his mother moved on with a new american husband.

Only 2 distracting missteps in the drama. SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING.

A. Kevin is a dual citizen who's mostly lived in America all his life. His English should be perfect but it very much isn't. But tbh to a thai viewer it likely isn't noticeable and this is a thai production; that's the intended audience, not me. So I just used my imagination. It doesn't come up frequently.

B. The requisite separation trope in the last episode is always super annoying to me in kdramas & thai dramas, because it's such a cliche. At least in this case it was foreshadowed several times since early on that Kevin was NOT ready for commitment while Pleum was. (he clearly gets uncomfortable & ducks the question repeatedly when people bring up them being boyfriends. He's not a blushing maiden, this was reluctance to commit to staying in Thailand & settling down with Pleum, despite the connection, compatibility, and everything they went thru together) And it makes sense that he was too young to be brave enough to take such a leap and hadn't made peace with his 1st love Jake's death. So for once, the separation 100% made sense and I wasn't even upset by that part! My issue was how they executed the rest. Frankly, I disagree with the writing choices. I guess they were going with the idea that Kevin was resigned to having missed out. He feels like it's too late. But I hated that they had Pleum waiting for years for Kevin to be ready and it just didn't feel certain to me that they would have reunited except by chance. Like, I wanted Kevin to choose to go to him, full-stop. Not accidentally run into him, sorry that's bullshit to me. Yes, Kevin kept a momento of their time together. Yes, he obviously wasn't over Pleum. But to me it also felt like he was just prepared to move on and never see him again. No me gusta.

There's a romantic sensual reuniting scene and Pleum seems confident that he's not going to let his man go anywhere again. And Kevin is ready to say goodbye to the memory of his 1st love and admit Pleum is the one for him. I did buy-in on the idea that they experienced something truly formative together that no one else would understand. In the end, I did feel like Kevin would make a home with him now. So it's definitely a happy ending. But.. It really annoys me because without this misstep, if they had executed the separate & unite differently, this would be a fav drama I'd rec to everyone.

[darkimpala1897]

Jeff finding a baby part two.

Everyone staring at the baby wondering what to do with it. They were back at Eddie's trailor trying to figure out what to do with it.

Kevin: "What's it's name?"

Jeff shrugs, he wasn't exactly sure he didn't see a note or anything.

Steve: "I named it Vance. But I think I might change it depending on if it becomes a Munson or a Harrington."

Eddie grumbles wishing Steve hadn't done that because they were not keeping it.

Jeff: "Don't you dare that name's badass."

Wayne popping his head over everyone's shoulders looking at the baby.

Wayne: "A baby? Good lord. Well you can drop it off at the fire station that's what Eddie's mother did. Only make sure to hand it to someone, you can't just throw it into any old bin out front. Those are donation bins."

Steve looking towards Wayne, he was bound and determined to keep it.

Steve: "I'm not taking him to the fire station."

Gareth looking up from staring at the baby.

Gareth: "Yeah we don't have the time, we have a Corroded Coffin concert. We have to get ready for remember."

Steve looking at him so confused.

Steve: "I can't go I have a kid now."

Gareth looking offended.

Gareth: "You have to go, your driving the van remember well all of us hold the equipment down."

Steve was not giving in whatsoever.

Steve: "Look, I'm keeping this baby and I appreciate a little support from you guys."

Eddie shaking his head, he crossed his arms not sure what to say.

Eddie: "It's not a puppy Steve, it's a human being."

Wayne points to Eddie because he did have a point for once.

Wayne: "You can't keep it Steve, you still have your entire life ahead of you. A baby will dramatically change everything. What are you gonna feed it? Do you have any clothes for it? I bet you have no idea where to go to get discounted stuff."

Steve grumbles under his breath not wanting to hear this, he believes he can do this.

Steve: "Wayne I will figure this out, just like you did. I just got him, it's been about an hour since Jeff found him."

Wayne stopping for a second, he stared at them questionably wondering how the hell they got it over here.

Wayne: "Wait how did you get him over here. You guys don't have a car seat."

Eddie trying to make Wayne feel better about the whole situation.

Eddie: "We put him in the bean bag in the back of the van. Gareth drove very slowly."

Wayne just blinking at them wondering if they were joking. They were not.

Wayne: "Oh okay because that's responsible."

Kevin having an idea looking at the baby.

Kevin: "Guys what if we took it with us to the concert, we give him a lollipop and say he's a munchkin."

Steve: "No, just no."

Jeff: "Come on dude, we just rescued him let him have some fun."

Steve pinching the bridge of his nose.

Steve: "We have a car seat for him, we just couldn't figure out to put him back in. I'm gonna get a lot of baby stuff I promise."

Wayne: "With what money, your parents cut you from you're credit cards and between all four of you, you have twenty bucks to you're names."

Eddie having an idea because he was sorta getting on board.

Eddie: "We can trade in our stuff possibly, the pawnshops are full of old baby stuff, Nancy might have Holly's old stuff. You still have my old crib. Wayne could you watch him till we figure this out."

Wayne grumbles under his breath, because he was happy being a parent to Eddie and that was it. He didn't want another kid to take care of.

Wayne: "You're not leaving it here with me."

Eddie: "We have to, do you want us driving again with him in the beanbag? We have to get the car seat from Gareth's house because even driving slow that bean bag slid around a lot."

Wayne pinching the bridge of his nose because he really didn't want to be the bad guy.

Wayne: "I'm not helping you guys with this, I already raised a kid I'm old and happy with just you. Maybe me not helping you and your idiot friends will help you realise how stupid this is. Just go drop it off at the fire station, someone who's ready for this will do an amazing job with him I promise."

Wayne looking at the little guy, he smiles at him.

Wayne: "You wanna go see the fire trucks pumpkin? Hmm?"

[leqclerc]

Very conspiracy theorist of me but how are we feeling about the (admittedly very strong and seems ridiculous after typing it) word going around about how since charles’ dnf could (keyword: could) have been due to human error it was likely deliberate due to a certain papa sr. (ok im being over dramatic even considering it but I WILL DEFEND MY MEOW MEOW FROM ALL EVIL)

Aasdjefjrgktkg I've seen the memes and ngl some of them do be funny as hell 😭😭😭

I will say, I definitely don't like the fact that he's hanging around so much. His involvement and the amount of time he spends in the garage and around the team I guess lends itself to that kind of talk. Like yeah, drivers bring their family members to the paddock or garage or whatever, fine. But I don't see, idk, Kevin's wife suddenly acting like she has access to classified team information. I mean this is just soooo 🤨😒 Get a job stay away from her.jpg

The whole situation is bizarre tbh (they must've found something in the original components if they hurried to replace them before the start of the race, only for the replacements to also fail with no warning). Then again this is the same team that failed to check the left driveshaft in Monaco two years ago 🙃

I guess the only thing we can really do is wait for more detailed information to come out over time to get some clarity and finally get confirmation if that penalty is 100% coming in Jeddah already. That's me trying to be rational 😭

[her-ink-stained-heart]

Real Stories: How Hair Patches Changed Their Lives

We've all heard the phrase, "The hair is the richest ornament of women." But what about men? As it turns out, hair is just as important to men, if not more so.

The world may not openly address it, but hair loss can profoundly impact a man's self-esteem and overall quality of life. But today, we aim to shed light on this unspoken struggle and celebrate the men who've found a solution - hair patches. 

The Journey of Acceptance 

For many men, acknowledging hair loss isn't easy. It's a journey that requires acceptance, courage, and, often, a sense of humour. But once they've crossed this hurdle, these men are ready to embrace the miracle of hair patches with open arms. 

Mark's Story: From Despair to Confidence 

"I felt like I was losing a part of my identity with each hair that fell. But the day I got my hair patch, I felt like I got a piece of myself back."

Mark, a 45-year-old accountant from Chicago, began noticing hair loss in his early 30s. This was a severe blow for a man who took pride in his thick, lustrous hair. The shift from despair to confidence wasn't immediate, but the transformation, once it happened, was remarkable. 

The Magic of Hair Patches 

For the uninitiated, hair patches are a non-surgical solution to baldness. They're a wig customized to a man's scalp size, hair color, and texture. Hair patches provide a perfectly natural look and can be a game-changer for many men. 

Boosted Confidence: Hair patches often work wonders for a man's confidence. Looking in the mirror and seeing a full head of hair can make men feel more comfortable and self-assured, personally and professionally.

Improved Appearance: A good hair patch can dramatically improve a man's overall appearance, leading to higher self-esteem and a more positive self-image.

Social Comfort: Social situations, once a source of anxiety, become much more comfortable when men no longer have to worry about concealing their hair loss.

James' Story: Embracing the New Normal 

"My hair patch isn't just about looking good. It's about feeling good. It's about feeling like me."

James, a 35-year-old software engineer from San Francisco, lost his hair due to a medical condition. He was initially hesitant about getting a hair patch but soon realized it was his best decision ever. 

The Impact of Hair Patches 

Hair patches are more than just a cosmetic solution. They're about reclaiming lost self-esteem, rediscovering self-confidence, and feeling comfortable in your own skin. As our real men, real stories have shown us, hair patches can change lives. 

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on how hair patches have transformed lives, boosted confidence, and restored self-esteem. These stories are a testament to the power of acceptance, courage, and the magic of hair patches in helping men regain a sense of identity and self-assurance.

David's Journey: Overcoming Insecurities

A 28-year-old marketing executive, David always felt insecure about his receding hairline. He struggled with low self-esteem and avoided social gatherings, fearing judgment from others. But after researching hair patches and seeing the positive experiences shared by others, he decided to try it.

David was astounded by the results once he got his customized hair patch. The newfound volume and natural appearance of his hair boosted his confidence significantly. He started attending social events without anxiety and even took on more leadership roles at work. David's journey showed that embracing a hair patch can be life-changing, leading to personal and professional growth.

Empowering the Youth: Kevin's Story

Kevin, a 21-year-old college student, faced premature hair loss, deeply affecting his self-esteem. He felt different from his peers and struggled to fit in. However, after discovering hair patches and learning about the variety of styles they offered, Kevin felt hopeful again.

The hair patch not only restored his hair but also gave him a chance to experiment with different looks. He embraced this opportunity to express himself and started receiving compliments on his style. Kevin's story highlights that hair patches can empower young men to embrace their uniqueness and celebrate their individuality.

Supporting Men's Mental Health

The impact of hair patches goes beyond physical appearance; it also plays a vital role in supporting men's mental health. Men often face societal pressures to conform to traditional standards of masculinity, which can hinder their emotional expression. Hair loss, in particular, can exacerbate these struggles.

However, as more men share their experiences with hair patches, the conversation surrounding male beauty standards and self-acceptance is shifting. Accepting and celebrating hair patches promote a healthier mindset and break down the stigma surrounding hair loss.

Conclusion

As we round off our inspiring journey, we circle back to the roots, to Lucknow. Lucknow has emerged as a hub for men seeking hair patch solutions. The city's industry has thrived, offering quality products and services that have changed lives. It's heartening to see that a hair patch in Lucknow is more than a cosmetic improvement; it's a start to a new chapter brimming with confidence.

[ah-ga-seven]

Sneaky Link I (M)

[series masterlist]

[Pairing]: Fem! Reader x Choi Yeonjun ft. second male lead Juyeon.

[Synopsis]: The story picks up after having met Yeonjun through a mutual acquaintance. You quickly bonded over your similarities and basically fell for him on the spot. As your relationship progressed you found out that you weren’t the only woman in his life, but no matter how hard you tried, leaving him was harder than you thought.  

[Idol Cameos]: All of TXT, Aespa’s Karina, The Boyz’s Juyeon, Eric and Kevin.

[Genre]: Smut, Angst, Fluff, College!AU, Romance, Infidelity, Toxic!Jun.

[Word count]: 10.1k

[Warning]: Mature content and heavy smut (skippable) I put headings at the start and end of it. Extreme toxicity, mentions of cheating (not on the reader), being the side chick, emotional manipulation and heavy drinking.

[Disclaimer]: If anyone ever treats you like this, run. I am in no shape or form trying to romanticize this behavior or imply that Yeonjun is like this nor am I shipping him with other idols. Please remember that it’s fiction.

LISTEN TO THE SNEAKY LINK PLAYLIST HERE ❗️

The weather was perfect, so perfect that your friends invited you out for a relaxing day in the park. However, you declined their offer immediately after he asked you to meet up with him instead.

Never in your life did you imagine to be the other woman, but here you were again…for the nth time this month, and you hated to admit it, but you were falling hard and fast, and somehow you wished he was too.

You were seated on his bed, wearing the red shorts that he adored on you, waiting for him to finish whatever he was working on at his desk while the air-conditioning fanned your face.

“Junnie…” you pouted, growing impatient with him. You got up from the bed to walk over to his chair. Deciding to snake your arms around his neck and rest your chin on top of his head to see what he was furiously typing on for the past 15 minutes.

“Ah…one second.” He dramatically pressed send on the email he was writing to his professor and closed all the tabs on his MacBook before he closed the device itself with a little too much force.

He turned around in his chair, giving you his beaming boyish smile before he pulled you down so you’d straddle him on his lap.  

“You’ve got..” he kissed your forehead. “My undivided.” And now your lips. “Attention.” He finished his tease with a kiss on your neck which made you giggle at the ticklishness of his touch.

He had literal stars in his eyes when he looked at you, adoration that you knew that had to be genuine, which was part of the reason why you kept coming back to him.

Four months ago, you met through a mutual friend at a party. The two of you bonded over the fact that you were both competitive dancers and well, the rest was history. You hooked up with him for the first time at that very party, and not until 2 months into your sneaky link situation did you find out he had a girlfriend.

You were livid at first, you didn’t want anything to do with him, but he was persistent.  

Promising he’d break things off with his girlfriend sooner or later, breaking down in front of you because of how miserable he was,  and somehow it worked. Cause here you were, just like last weekend and so on.  

You start stealing quick pecks from him which made him smile against your lips, enjoying the way you began to grind your hips onto his slowly and eagerly. Your heart started to pound in your chest a bit faster when the moment intensified.

 He laced his fingers through your hair as he deepened the kiss, sensually making out with you. You could only focus on how he felt against your lips. How he addictively invaded all of your senses as his hands traveled down to discard of your top.  

When Yeonjun was with you, his mind tricked him into thinking it was only you, and no one else.  He had emotionally detached himself from his partner way before he started to attach himself to you.

He knew that whatever the two of you had going on was wrong. But somehow you reminded him of how it used to be when things were still going great between him and his girlfriend of 4 years, who he had grown up with prior to their dating history.

The spark was gone between them on his end, and suddenly he found that spark in you even when he tried to fight it.

“Hold on to me baby,” he whispered seductively as he wrapped your arms around his neck, getting up with your legs hooked around his torso so he could carry you to his bed without a fuss. He playfully let go of you, making you bounce on the mattress as laughter filled the room.

Start of smut

He kissed and sucked a trail from your neck to the hem off your shorts, humming in approval before pulling the piece of clothing off of your body with ease. He grabbed your ass, giving it a hard smack, which made you yelp before he found his way back to your mouth to hungrily kiss you again in order to shut you up.

He knew your body like no other, knowing exactly when to tease and when to take action as his fingers disappeared into your panties. You moaned into his mouth, feeling his slender fingers rub against your most sensitive bundle of nerves.

He enjoyed watching you squirm under him. Your moans edging him on to completely give into you and give you what you wanted. His fingers entered you slowly and he had by now hooked his free hand in your hair so he could force you to look him in the eyes as he fingered you. He kept skillfully rolling his thumb against your clit in torturously delightful motions, slowly build up speed, knowing just how much you loved it when he was sensual and gentle over being rough and merciless with you.  

Of course, you both had your moments where the sex was just that. Animalistic, rough, and straight out dirty, but moments like these were the times you enjoyed the most because it felt like love. The type of love that you had never felt before, and the type of love that you wished was genuine.  

“Ahh. Please. Please, please, please,” you begged to finish while he fastened his pace even more. He approvingly growled in your ear as he heard and felt your wetness pool around his fingers. You held on to his wrist for leverage, muffling your own cries with the other when you come undone with shaking legs, shuddering at the feeling of him taking his digits out of your core shortly after you reached euphoria.

Your heart was pounding uncontrollably fast as you watched him through hooded lids, waiting for him to tell you to get on all fours but he didn’t. He got rid of his own clothes in no time, spitting into his hand to pump himself a few times before he hovered above you. He looked crazy attractive like this. His black hair messy and damp, perfectly framing his face. He licked his lips in concentration, giving you a quick look as you watched him like he was the absolute world to you.

When you made eye contact, he smiled at you shyly. Bending forward to lovingly kiss you on your lips with his cushiony plump ones. Yeonjun then continued to create a trail of wet and open-mouthed kisses all the way to your breasts, stopping to suck on your nipples with fervor before aligning his grit with your entrance.  

You both moaned in solace as he entered you, stretching you out and filling you up. Missionary always felt more intimate with him. Though he rarely ever initiated it for that exact reason. One moment he held you close, and the other moment he dug even deeper while intertwining his fingers with yours. Yeonjun was stroking you into heaven with long and hard thrusts until you decided to take over to ride him to give him a break.

He closed his eyes in enjoyment. Contently moaning as he dug his fingers into your thighs when you started to roll your hips while bouncing on his cock in a rhythm that drove him absolutely insane. “Oh my fucking god baby, just like that.” He bit his lip as he praised you,  but being the little shit that you were you decided to stop all movement and traced your nails on his abdomen where you knew he’d be ticklish.  

His eyes shot open with a look of pure mischief and venom and you knew right then and there you were in trouble. You giggled at his reaction but were quick to regret it.

He scoffed, roughly pulling your hair so you were forced to look up while his other arm snaked around your middle. He regained control, roughly and sloppily thrusting up into you at a punishing pace. Your breath hitched in your throat at the intense feeling. Skin slapping sounds filled the room as you approached your second orgasm in no time all while he kept manhandling you without mercy.

“AH, YEONJUN. I-I’M” you couldn’t even finish your sentence when your eyes rolled back. He smirked at the sight, approaching his own high as well. “Come for me baby. Come on, you can do it.” he edged you on, loosening the grip he had on your hair to sweetly cup your face instead, and with a few more hard thrusts he exploded inside of you as your body became numb from one of the most intense orgasms he has ever given you.  

End of smut

You fall flat on the bed, loudly panting while trying to regain composure.  

Yeonjun snickered, bending over you to kiss your cheek as a ‘job well done.’  

You open your eyes again as you feel the bed shift, turning your head to see what he was doing but suddenly he was out of sight.  

You sit up, confused and still a little dazed from your orgasm. You find your top and pull it over your head and right at that second, he returns. He held a confused facial expression and approached you again, kneeling down in front of you to show you he got you a warm washcloth to clean you up. “Are you in a hurry to leave again?” he questioned with a chuckle. “Eh…n-no.” you stammer, retrieving the washcloth from his hold. “I just figured that…you know. It’s a Saturday, maybe you were going to meet up with...”

His phone rang, snapping you both back into reality. You took the moment of him searching for his phone and picking it up to quickly clean yourself up and get dressed.

“Hey…” His voice suddenly changed as he answered. “Oh, no. I’m not home.” He lied. Looking back at you as you turned your back to him to put on your shorts.  

It must be her.  

“Oh, right babe, I totally forgot. I’ll be there. Don’t worry about it.”  

Babe hmm? You had no reason to be irritated because you knew what you were getting yourself into every time you answered his calls or showed up at his house. But you couldn’t help but feel jealous after everything that just happened. Her existence to you never bothered you because moments like these rarely ever happened. However,  now that he’s on the phone with her while you’re still here, it all felt a little more…real.

She existed. She was his and she’s the one that should be here right now. Not you.  

The funny thing of it all is that he’d always make sure to turn off his phone every time you were around. You didn’t know why though. Maybe it was a piece of his conscience that was still alive or maybe it was his way of turning off reality when he was with you.

Cause that’s what you were to him, an escape.  

You weren’t listening to his conversation anymore as you packed your shit. Ready to walk out of his bedroom door until a strong grip on your wrist stopped you from doing so.  

You look back at him a little bewildered. He was still on the phone, giving you yet another confused look.  

“I’ll call you back ok?”

“Yes. I love you too. Bye.”

…Ouch.  

He put his phone in his pocket, letting go of your wrist. “What’s wrong?”  

“What isn’t,” you sighed. Annoyed by your own mood swing.

He immediately understood and bit his lip. “It’s her parent’s wedding anniversary tonight, I have to go.”

You rolled your eyes. “That’s where you’re wrong Yeonjun. You don’t have to do anything.”  

“Hey, why are you being so sensitive all of a sudden?” Yeonjun put his hands on your shoulders and looked down at you with his charming side smile. The one where he slightly purses his lips together to reveal the dimple in his cheek and chin.

The same smile that could basically get you to do anything for him, but not this time.

You looked at him and he looked at you in silence for a second. His aura is addictive, he makes you want to be around him and not only because of his beauty but because of his personality and the way he carries himself. It was straight out annoying to admit how whipped you were for him.

“I don’t know it just…hit me that you’re not…I don’t know…you’re not mine I guess.”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise to your confession, not sure how to take it other than it being an inconvenience to your dirty little secret.

He sighed, rubbing his forehead in agony. Shit. He should’ve known that you were getting too comfortable with him, because truth be told; so was he.  

“I can’t just throw away 4 years of my relationship with her y/n. It’s not that simple.”  

You scoff. “You did that the moment you decided to fuck me. Multiple times.”

He frowned, his demeanor shifting from apologetic and soft to a much sterner one.

“Where is this attitude coming from? I thought you knew what you were getting yourself into. Don’t tell me you’re getting attached.”

Your eyes found his own and they started to spew fire at his words. Wow.

“Fuck you Yeonjun.”  

You were about to turn your back to him and walk out but he still didn’t give up. Desperation getting the better of him at the moment. He hated to admit it, but he did develop feelings for you. Feelings that he wished he still had for Karina. And seeing you this close to breaking off whatever type of agreement you had with him made him panic.

“Y/n, hey. Where are you going? Wait.” He followed you with big strides out of his bedroom and into the living room where he was met by the shocked face of his roommate, Soobin, whose ass was planted on the couch all afternoon.

“Give me time to think.” You say as you yank your hand out of his hold. “I suggest you do the same. This can’t continue the way it has been. It’s her or me. Your call.” You shake your head in disbelief.  

You never should’ve let it get this far.  

You left him in shambles as you closed the door behind you, not giving him or his roommate a second look as you did so.  

Yeonjun stood frozen on his feet, his pupils darting back and forth in utter disbelief at what just happened. He had grown used to having you around to satisfy his needs whenever he wanted for over four months, and now that you had finally given him the inevitable ultimatum, he didn’t know how to accept reality.

“Did she finally see the light?” Soobin comments as he munched on his cereal. “Shut up,” Yeonjun warned through his teeth, but Soobin just scoffed. “When will you see the fucking light yourself. That shit has to stop.”  he says as he points to the front door to clarify even more that he was talking about you.

“You think I don’t know that!?” Yeonjun counters angrily. He had no reason to go off on Soobin like that because the only person he should be upset with is himself. He’s dead wrong for what he’s doing and he knows it. But something about being with you was so addictive to him that he couldn’t get himself to leave you alone. Even though he knew that Karina deserved better than this, and god forbid she ever found out about you.

Soobin sighs as he sets the empty bowl of cereal down on the coffee table in front of him. “You’re better than this man. This is the third time this week that she’s been here. Just admit to yourself that you’re starting to like this girl and break things off with Karina.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It’s not? So you’ll keep fucking around with her until you’re married with children? What’s the goal here hyung? If you’re that unhappy with Karina just end it. You’re playing with fucking fire at this point.”

“Stay out of it.” Yeonjun bites back as he walked out of the living room and into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him with so much force that Soobin was sure he heard something crack.

Soobin sighed, shaking his head in disapproval. “…Asshole,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Aahh, baby you’re here!” Karina ran up to Yeonjun with a bright smile on her face. Going in for a kiss. She couldn’t control her happiness to see him. It’s been a whole week since they’ve seen each other because Yeonjun and herself had been so busy with work and school… at least she was. Because Yeonjun was keeping himself occupied with you instead.

A small smile crept upon his features seeing how happy she was to see him. She kept stealing tiny pecks from his lips, her arms wrapped around his neck, making her mother clear her throat as she was setting the dinner table.  

“Ahh…let’s keep the PDA to a minimum today ok? I think your family is getting a little uncomfortable.” Yeonjun chuckled trying to be as nonchalant as possible, cause the only one that was really uncomfortable in this situation was him. He took her arms off of his shoulders, giving her hands a light squeeze before he completely let go of her to help her mother set the table.  

Karina’s face fell, not sure why he was being distant given the fact that it was very unlike him, but she decided to let it go.

Yeonjun tried his best to be present and make conversation with his in-laws. He was acting like everything was picture perfect when the reality was far from it.

His mind trailed off to just hours ago when he had you moaning his name under him. Your smile and the sound of your laughter haunting him wherever he went. Especially now.  

Karina grabbed Yeonjun’s hand under the table, making him look at her in confusion as he came to his senses.

“Are you okay? You’re being…weird.” The worry in her voice was distinct, but the only thing she suspected was a lack of sleep or possibly a headache.

Yeonjun looked back at her somewhat startled, giving her a tired smile as he sweetly tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

He studied her features, trying to remember what made him love her so much, but the more he came to think of it, the more the nature of their relationship seemed forced to him.

He loved her, that’s for sure. They’ve spent all of their lives together as friends and started dating because everyone expected them to, but it took meeting you to realize that he was only with Karina out of convenience and pressure from their family and friends.

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t genuinely love her at first, but now…when he looks at her, he feels no attraction whatsoever.

“I’m just tired, that’s all.” His voice was low and calm. He kissed her forehead to ease her mind since she started to pout at him.

“I’m sorry I made you come here…” she felt bad, and he felt bad that she felt bad.

It was a shitshow of emotional manipulation. And her sweet self had zero clue of what Yeonjun had been doing behind her back.

“Don’t be,” he says trying to sound a little more uplifted. He took a sip of his drink, eyes wandering to the rest of the table who had all been staring at the two of them.

“Yeonjun, when are you planning to ask my sister to marry you?” Joy, her older sister questioned.  

It made Yeonjun choke on his drink. Eyes widening as he tried to not so subtly cough away the damage.

Karina quickly handed him a cup of water, glaring at her sister. “Why would you ask him that. We’re still in College.”

Yeonjun’s started to blink aggressively. He took a sip of the water to calm himself down, composing himself by fixing his shirt as a distraction.

“Ahh you know, I’m just curious. You’re so lovey-dovey with each other all time. Y’all are destined to be together if you really think about it.” Joy comments with a smile as she leans her chin in her palm to look at them dreamily.

“Don’t be so nosey.” Karina’s dad warned Joy in a harmless tone. “How about you worry about your own love life.” he chuckled, patting her shoulder in comfort.

Joy glared at her dad before she made eye contact with Karina again who playfully stuck out her tongue at her sister for getting scolded.

It was a cute moment like the ones in the movies. Where life’s great and the future is bright.

What was wrong with him for not seeing the beauty of it all? He has the picture-perfect relationship he always strived for. To him, perfection wasn’t a benefit but a goal, and he had it. But it didn’t make him happy anymore.

How was Yeonjun ever going to break the heart of one of the sweetest souls he has ever laid his eyes upon? Maybe he does have to keep fighting for their relationship…

Maybe something was worth saving after all.

He looked at the smile on her pink lips whenever she spoke, the slight blush on her cheeks from the alcohol and the gentleness in her movements and voice as she told her parents about her day.

Why can’t he bring himself to feel what he used to feel for her? Why.

The drive to Karina’s apartment was quiet. He passed by your apartment complex which made his heart race, catching himself to check if your car was parked on your block, and it was.  

His anxiety started acting up again and he sighed loudly, making Karina look at him with concern in her eyes.

She didn’t say anything though as she bit her lip. She knew something else was up with him; especially since he didn’t make any over-the-top cheesy comment about the stupid marriage question her sister shot at him. She couldn’t help but overthink, even if Yeonjun told her he was just tired.

She hesitated to ask questions, hoping he wasn’t too sensitive, but her intuition told her to do so anyway. She huffed, taking a deep breath before she looked at him focus on the road ahead without a word.  

“Yeonjun…did I do something wrong?”

You’re on your couch, staring blankly at your coffee table with Netflix acting as background noise to your loud thoughts. You reminisce back to the time where Yeonjun and you got takeout just weeks ago, sitting on the floor of your apartment to eat each other’s favorite foods and watch movies. You drag out your sigh as you get up to pour yourself a glass of water in the kitchen, but as you stood there, your mind flashed back to Yeonjun randomly salsa dancing like an idiot to make you laugh. He pulled you close to him and made you dance with him, holding you close while goofing off together.

Laughter filled the room back then, but now silence and emptiness consumed you.

Somewhere deep down you hoped he was gonna show up here and pick you over her. But you knew better. You hated yourself for letting him get close enough to hurt you like this.

You hated yourself for growing to love him when he obviously didn’t love you.

You can’t measure up to the history that he and Karina had together, and you were going to have to accept that whatever you had going on with him was coming to an end.  

Every square inch of your apartment reminded you of him and the moments you shared in here, driving you even crazier than you already were.

You decided to wash up, hoping that a hot shower and break up song sing-along session would make things better but when you stood in front of your closet and spotted the hoodie he left you, you were back at stage one of grieving about losing the boyfriend who was never even your boyfriend.

You glare at the sweater. Wanting to burn it and cuddle it at the same time, so you just decide to put it on. It was way too big on you. The hem ended below your butt and the sleeves fell way over your fingertips, but it was okay because it still smelled like him.

You close your eyes, wanting to scream and cry as you stood there with your damp hair, dressed in nothing but your underwear and his clothes and suddenly you feel the strange urge to laugh at your own misery. And so you did, like a fucking psychopath.

What a stupid bitch you are. Thinking that things would go your way for once. But how could you ever trust to love a man who cheated on his own partner to be with you?

“Did I do something to piss you off tonight? If so…I’m sorry I just-” she wasn’t able to finish her sentence. Startled when Yeonjun suddenly parked the car at the entrance of her dorm.

They had already arrived and she hadn’t even noticed.

He pursed his lips together, closing his eyes for a second before he looked at her and he immediately regretted it.  

She looked at him with big insecure eyes, a slight pout on her lips as she tried to find answers in the way he looked at her.

He licked his lips. “I’m sorry.” His voice nearly cracked, but he kept it together.

“For what?” She asked as she gently took his hand, trying to understand what was going on with him but he wasn’t opening up. And suddenly it clicked to him. He was nowhere near ready to confess to her what he’s been doing for all this time.

She would never look or talk to him again, and with good reason, but selfishly; Yeonjun wasn’t ready for that.

He wasn’t ready to lose her because he still loved her, just not the way he used to.

“For making you feel like you did something wrong. I’ve just been having a hard time with some classes and dance practice and just…everything. I’m sorry. I’ll be better to you I promise.” He lied through his teeth as he gave her a tender smile, caressing her cheek with his thumb to show the affection he knew she longed for.

He leaned in to kiss her and she gladly accepted the invitation, happy that he was opening up to her about how he felt, but if only she knew.

“You know you can always talk to me, right? I love you, and I’m here for you no matter what.”

Yeonjun faintly smiled at her words, nodding as a reply. “Thank you, baby. I know.”

“You’re not coming up with me? I could help you relax.” She offered innocently with a wink but he chuckled, looking down at their still intertwined fingers. “I have practice early tomorrow. I have to pass…but I’ll stay next time ok?”  

She pouted, nodding at his words, and after a few more kisses she got out of the car, cutely waving at him until she was inside of the dorm building.  

Yeonjun’s smile faltered right the second that she was out of sight. Starting the engine to his car to drive to the only place his mind knew to go to right now.

You dozed off on your couch until aggressive knocks on your door woke you up. You got scared, quickly putting your wet hair up in a bun as you made your way to your door to peek through the peeping hole before you decided to grab some type of weapon, but to your surprise, you didn’t need one….or did you.  

“What the f-”

You opened your door without hesitation. You looked at each other like two deer’s caught in headlights before he launched himself at you, grabbing your face to hungrily kiss you.  

You just let it happen as he backed you into your own home, kicking the door closed with his foot before he pushed your back to the door frame while he kept making out with you passionately and hungrily, as if your lips were the last thing he could devour.

“Y-yeonjun.” You tried to wrap your mind around what was happening, but your brain was all foggy by the randomness of it all. His fingers found their way under his sweatshirt and he smirked against your skin.

“You’re sleeping in my clothes now? How cute,” he says in amusement.

He swiftly untied your hair from the messy bun you made, liking it more when your hair was down so he could pull it to control your movements.  

He stopped for a second, looking at your enlarged and confused pupils. “Yes or No,” he asked for confirmation, but he should know better.

You stupidly nod, too entranced by his beauty and the way his nails were digging into your skin. His body was radiating its heat on you because of how close he was, and you were already out of breath, panting the same way he was as you looked into his eyes.  “Yes.”

You wake up slowly, unsure of what time it was or where you were until you felt his arms around you. His chin was resting on top of your head as he slept peacefully while holding you close to his chest. It was scorching hot under the covers while you were skin to skin, and suddenly it got hard to breathe.

You try to move off of him without waking him up in the process, and it was working until you felt how sore you were. He took all of his frustration out on you last night and it was evident in the marks on your body and the endless hickeys he left on your body to claim you. You couldn’t help but groan as you successfully untangled yourself, waking him up in the process.

“Mmmh.” He moaned with his eyes closed, looked for you in the bed. He ended up finding your arm and tugging on it as a sign for you to come back but you didn’t budge. Sitting up with the duvet half-covering you as you looked at him while the sun peaked through your curtains to highlight his perfect features.

“Come here,” he cooed. But when you didn’t respond again, he finally opened his eyes.

He looked at you as you stared into nothingness, hollow and soulless. He sighed with worry evident on his face and he immediately sat up, taking your hand as he rubbed his thumb on the back to try to console you.

You needed to talk. Something you always avoided with sex.

“You can’t keep doing this to me.” Your voice cracked, and suddenly you feel your eyes getting wet.  

His own eyes grew in shock at seeing you cry for the first time since he’s met you. He looked around to find his shirt, seeing it on the floor next to the bed. He swiftly retrieved it, helping you into the piece of clothing to cover you up in hopes that it would make you feel less vulnerable next to him, but it didn’t work. The somewhat sweet action only made it worse.

You break down, letting your tears flow unapologetically so he could gain a full understanding of the emotional pain he put you through every time he decided to show up. He bit his lip, not knowing what else to do other than to hold you and let you cry it out.

You sit there like that for god knows how long as he pets your hair with comforting strokes. Whispering sweet nothings in your ear as you cried your heart out. 

“Shhh, it’s ok”

“No, I hate you,” you mumbled into the crook of his neck. He rubbed your back in comforting strokes. Letting your words register without reaction.  “I hate you so much,” you whine again.

He sighed. Feeling absolutely helpless. Finally understanding the damage he had done to you.  

Something about the way you carried yourself around him made him think you were invincible. Just in it for the ride and the fun for however long it would last. But the girl that is breaking down in front of him right now is nothing like the girl he met four months ago, and it was all his fault.

He toyed with you until you broke. And it was all just a matter of time until that happened.

“I know baby.” He sighed into your hair, letting go of you to cup your face and kiss your lips as he wiped your tears away.

“You’re selfish. And a piece of shit. And I hate you.” You mumbled as he kissed your forehead.

“I know,” he repeats before he kissed your cheek.

“And you-you’re only using me.”  

“I know.”

“You don’t care about me.”  

“I care about you baby.”

“N-no you don’t. You think you do because I remind you of her.”

He stayed expressionless and quiet as he decided to hug you again, letting you vent and insult him until you felt better.  

“If you cared about me you would have respected me and ended this when I found out. But you keep…” you stop to find the right words, wanting him to understand how he’s been manipulating you.

“You keep pretending to be in love with me.”  

He closed his eyes at the L word and swallowed harshly, tears prickling his eyes at the comprehension that he has taken things too far by letting you fall for him on a deeper level than just sex. And it was absolutely true because when you were together, he’d treat you like you were his world…when you weren’t.

He wasn’t sure if he meant what he was about to say, but you needed to hear it in order to move on from him, for good.  

He still held you. Sighing before he opened his mouth to speak.

“You’re right baby…it was all pretend.”

Weeks had passed since the very morning where you had last seen Yeonjun. He basically disappeared after an angry and confused Karina called him to see where the fuck he was at the crack of dawn, given the fact that he wasn’t at home when she wanted to surprise him with breakfast.

You never got to ask how that played out, because you hadn’t talked to him or heard from him since.  

You blocked his number and deleted him from your Insta and weirdly enough you weren’t even that broken-hearted about it.

It was like life quickly returned to normal, except for the fact that you found yourself only swiping right to guys who looked like him on Tinder.

“You’re still moping about that failed sneaky link situation you had going on?” your friend Mirae plopped herself down on your couch as she took your phone from your hold to see what you were doing, and when she found out you were on Tinder she snorted.

“Oh girl, it’s that bad huh.”  

You roll your eyes and take your phone back. Dramatically sighing as you throw your head back on the couch. “I need some dick to distract me of his dick.”

“He was that good?” she asked as she shoved a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” you mutter, putting your attention back on your phone.

Mirae knew you had something going on with someone, but you hadn’t told her who he was or the most important part of it all, the fact that he had a girlfriend.  

“Why did it end?” she asked cautiously.  

“…I..he…we thought it’d be better to end things before we caught feelings.”

“That’s…. fucking stupid? If y’all liked each other so much then just date. You literally glowed every time you got back from his place.” She raised her eyebrows at you while she gave you a skeptical look. Maybe she’s on to the fact that you were lying, so you had to quickly direct the conversation elsewhere.

“Yeah, you know. I just wanna get over him by getting under someone else. So if you know anyone, don’t be shy to forward their info.”

Mirae snorted and then her eyes grew in size with realization. Pure mischief took over her features. “There’s this BBQ party I’m invited to tomorrow, they told me to bring a plus one. You should come.”

“What’s your vegan ass gonna eat at that bbq? Grilled grass?” you lightheartedly judged her as you grab a handful of popcorn out of her bowl to stuff your own face with it, and she glared at you with playful intent.

“Bitch shut up, you coming or no? I heard a lot of guys from that Arts college downtown are coming too. I know you like them artsy and alternative.”

“SKKU college of Arts?” you asked for confirmation and she nodded with hopeful eyes, sensing that she had piqued your interest.

That’s Yeonjun’s school….but why the fuck would he even be there? He barely has any friends from there, only from his dance team, at least that’s what he told you.

“Sure, why not,” you shrugged, making Mirae flash her pearly whites at you in return. Maybe you were going for a distraction, or maybe you were going because of that 0.001% chance that he was going to be there, regardless of how toxic that may seem. It was the truth.  

“GREAT! It’s gonna be fun.” She grabbed your arm and flung it around to try to get you on her own level of excitement and you couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Yeah, I hope so.”  

You tried EXTRA hard to look good, and you knew you did when an old lady in the supermarket gave you and Mirae disapproving looks of how short your skirts were.

You both laughed at the awkward interaction while you were looking for some alcohol to bring to the party. “Just grab some tequila,” you suggested, pointing at the bottle.

“No, I’ll die.” Mirae protested, skimming the racks for a safer bet. “Ok cool, Vodka, fuck me up tonight.”

She tried to reach for it, but she was too small. You on the other hand weren’t paying attention as you were looking for something to munch on in the opposite aisle.  

“Let me help.” A low male voice startled both of you when he retrieved the bottle of Vodka for Mirae. He was tall, and somehow you recognized him from the back of his head. Though you couldn’t tell at first until he turned around.

He handed Mirae the bottle with a smile, until his smile completely faltered as he locked eyes with you.  

It was Soobin.

Mirae basically fell in love at first sight. She clumsily retrieved the bottle while awkwardly brushing her hand against his. “Ah t-thanks.”

Wait, do you pretend to not know him or?

“Y/n?” he asked for confirmation. The name drop made you close your eyes for a split second. Fuck. You were going to have to explain who he was to Mirae soon.

“Y-yeah…ha. What are you up to?” you try to sound nonchalant and cool but that failed miserably when your voice did a thing.

Soobin wasn’t as uptight as he seemed, and even though Yeonjun was cheating on his girlfriend with you, he never treated you like the trash you were. “Oh I just…needed to grab some drinks too, I’m meeting up with some friends.”

His explanation relieved you because it probably meant he was going to meet up with Yeonjun, which also meant that they weren’t going to be at the BBQ.

Mirae looked at you with wide eyes. Mouthing a “He’s so hot,” to you behind his back. You chuckled at her cute antics and sighed. “I guess we’ll get going then, we have somewhere to be too.”

Soobin nodded, giving both Mirae and yourself a smile. “Well, have fun ladies. I guess I’ll see you around then.”  

Mirae thanked him again and walked away before you did to find her vegan burgers. You were about to follow her until Soobin grabbed your wrist to stop you from leaving. You turned around, surprised at his actions and looked at the hold he had on your wrist.  

He let go of you quickly, looking around before he decided to speak.

“I can’t believe I’m aiding and embedding this whole thing but…he’d kill me if he found out I saw you and didn’t ask so…. why did you block him?”

‘You’re kidding me, right?” you raise your brows in surprise.  

“He’s…a mess.”

“I don’t care.”

“Yes, you do.” Soobin rolled his eyes and you bit your lip to suppress your anger, wanting to hit him for some reason.

“Why are you even meddling in this, it’s not like this whole thing isn’t complicated and fucked up enough.”

“I hate seeing him like this y/n. The only times he was genuinely happy the past year was with you. Weirdly enough. That’s why I didn’t care about what he was doing.”

“Well that makes you equally as fucked up as we are,” you bite back.

Soobin chuckled finding it funny how you somehow turned it around on him. “Karina seems like a sweetheart, but she isn’t. If she’d ever find out what he’s been doing, and that it was with you, she’d make your life a living hell. I’m just trying to look out for him and for you.”

“You’re full of shit Soobin. What do you really mean, please don’t pretend to care for me like he did.” You say lowering your level of volume, trying not to catch the attention of innocent by-passers who were just trying to do some grocery shopping.

He huffed. You were smarter than he thought.  

“Karina’s parents own major shares in SKKU, you know, our Uni.  She could easily ruin his future.”

Suddenly you realized what Soobin was really doing. He was threatening you to keep quiet.

You narrowed your eyes at him and smiled. “Choi Soobin…are you threatening me?”

He scoffed, putting his hands in the pockets of his varsity jacket as he cocked his head to the side. “All I’m saying is, be careful who you decide to fuck with next time.”

You couldn’t help but snort at his comment, sweet little Soobin, threatening you? Two can play that game.  

You suck your teeth. “…You know, if you care about him so much, maybe you should suck his dick.” You winked at him, walking away while suddenly enjoying the fact that you had so much power over Yeonjun.

Power you didn’t even know you had.

You were never planning on telling Karina about anything. Hell, you didn’t even know her, and you were planning to keep it that way.

But this whole thing was way too funny to you.

You find Mirae again and make your way to the cash registers. She couldn’t seem to shut up about how handsome Soobin was and suddenly you found yourself being grilled on how you knew him, so you just told her half-truths.  

When you got to the house, you both choose to shoot some liquid courage into yourselves in the parking lot before entering a home full of people you had never met, and thank god you did because the get-together was a lot more low-key than you had anticipated.

It was like a close friend gathering type of thing and suddenly you weren’t so sure if being here was that good of an idea. The house was impressively big, and the garden was larger than your whole apartment.

To your relief, you don’t recognize anyone except for Mirae’s friend who invited her. He approached with a smile and you instantly relax. He seemed sweet. A friendly yet intimidating aura kind of sparked off of him on first impression.

“I’m Taehyun.” He shook your hand politely and gave you a sweet smile, flashing his pearly whites. “Nice to meet you Taehyun, I’m y/n.” he looked at you for a second, maybe a little too long. He couldn’t really place it, but he felt like he heard of your name before.

He chuckled as you raised your eyebrows at him for staring a little too long, awkwardly laughing the tension away. “I’m sorry but…have we met before?” he asked, but you don’t think much of it. He must be confusing you with someone else. “No…not that I know of? Why?”

“Sorry if I’m being creepy but…” he cut himself off as he spotted another friend, calling him over to introduce him to you. “Beomgyu hyung, come meet someone!” he yelled out, making a long-haired guy approach the two of you. He looked like he jumped straight out of an anime and your eyes widen at his beauty.

…How did Mirae know all of these gorgeous people. What the hell is in the water at that damn University?  

He gave you a friendly smile, though Beomgyu stared a little longer than socially acceptable as well. You decide to cut the tension and just introduce yourself to him first. “I’m y/n.” you smile, and he does the same. Beomgyu seemed like he’d be stuck up and arrogant, but he actually spoke in tiny and was surprisingly loud and wholesome.

The three of you make small talk about this and that, and it didn’t take long before Mirae joined you with another tall and handsome guy named Hueningkai who had the worlds’ loudest laugh.  

The night started off great, meaning you were fitting in rapidly. They were all super nice and welcoming which you didn’t anticipate at first. This type of distraction was much needed, and to your comfort, more and more people started to show up.

You scanned the group of people that had joined and noticed that someone in particular, had been eyeing you from afar for a few minutes. He shockingly took initiative in no time as he decided to join the conversation, and damn you were glad he did.

He looked like god took extra time to create him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before.” He smiled as he leaned on the round standing table where you, Mirae, and your newfound friends were conversing at.  

Mirae looked at you and winked, knowing he was your type. You give him a flirty smile, turning your body to give him your full attention. “That’s right, Mirae invited me. I’m y/n.” you held out your hand for him to shake and he happily took the opportunity to look you up and down with flirty eyes.

His hands were fucking huge…well that’s a plus.  

“I’m Juyeon,” he introduced himself with a soft smile.  Something about his aura was very inviting. He seemed sweet and charming, but definitely knew that he was pretty. Everything about him exuded confidence and for a moment you realized that you had a type…because it was the exact same thing that drew you to Yeonjun at first.

“SORRY WE’RE LATE. SOOBIN FORGOT THE FUCKING FOOD AT HOME.”

…that voice.

Your head snaps in their direction and you see Yeonjun carrying boxes of food accompanied by Soobin and fucking Karina.

You froze, a shiver running down your spine and Juyeon seemed to notice. “Are you cold?” he asked as he playfully wrapped an arm around you, trying to warm you up by rubbing your upper arm and that’s when you made eye contact with Yeonjun.

Oh my god, this is your worst fucking nightmare.

Yeonjun’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull when he saw you and you immediately regret coming here.  

He scanned the area quickly and saw how Juyeon was claiming you, narrowing his eyes at the sight. You quickly looked away, not wanting to make things too obvious but when you turned around again with Juyeon’s arm still around you, you jump once again, and this time because Karina had joined you at the table.

“Do we have new frieeends?” She excitedly made her way to you and Mirae. She was bubbly and friendly and introduced herself to both of you first.

You had fallen quiet as Karina and Mirae started to bond about their clothes and makeup and suddenly Karina complimented you. “Girl, you look SO good! You’re so good at make-up!” you choke on your drink slightly, giving her a small smile. “Thank you, you look good too.” You try to sound genuine, but you were scared shitless and you were pretty sure you have never felt this uncomfortable in your life.

“Oh, this old thing? Nah, seeing the two of you I should’ve tried harder.” She laughed and so did Mirae. For fucks sake. She was likable enough to make you feel bad for her, and suddenly you feel yourself wanting to throw up.

Juyeon somehow noticed how quiet you got and offered you to go meet his friends. You gladly accepted the invitation, looking over your shoulder one last time to see what Yeonjun was up to.  

Back at the front of the Garden, Yeonjun was unpacking the boxes in silence as his mind was doing cartwheels. “What the fuck…how the fuck….I don’t fucking understand.” He was talking to himself as Soobin approached, with the exact same thought process.

“…Hyung…what the fuck.” Soobin whispered as he sat down on the bench while Yeonjun was still unpacking without talking. Even Soobin couldn’t find the words to start describing how fucked up this situation was.  

“I should’ve asked where the fuck they were going when I ran into them.” Soobin roughed up his own hair and suddenly he made eye contact with Mirae from across the garden.

Soobin’s expression changed from stressed to friendly in a matter of milliseconds and Yeonjun sighed. “You couldn’t have known…but do you think they did this on purpose?” He asked biting his lip anxiously.

Soobin just shook his head. “You can’t fake the shock on her face just now, and I’m pretty sure her friend doesn’t know about you,” he says as he waved at Mirae from across the garden. She was surprised to see him, though it was more of a pleasant surprise to her than to him.

“Yeah. You’re right. She was just as surprised as me. What the fuck has my life come to.”

“It’s Karma hyung.” Soobin tried to crack a joke but Yeonjun scowled at him. “Shut up.”

Yeonjun checked the table once again as anxiety ate him up alive but to his surprise, you had left the group and the only other person who went missing was Juyeon.

He scoffed, feeling jealousy tear through his senses as he sees you on Juyeons lap on the other side of the garden. You were quick to make new friends because you couldn’t bear to be that close to Karina for the rest of the night. Being introduced to so many people at once was exhausting but you’d take it over having to pretend to be Karina’s friend…or worse.  

Soobin watched Yeonjun look at Juyeon and yourself and sighed with disapproval to the whole situation. “Keep lying to yourself like this and maybe you’ll start to believe yourself but from the looks of it, you still care about that girl.”

Yeonjun swallowed harshly. Turning around to start the grill. He had to come up with a way to get you alone so you could talk, but he knew how incredibly hard that’d be. Especially with Karina breathing down his neck all night. Speaking of…she wrapped her arms around him from behind. Backhugging him and peeking over his shoulder on her tiptoes to see what he was grilling. “Ughh that’s smells so good.” She kissed his neck, and he didn’t mean to, but he flinched. He laughed it off, blaming it on the fact that he was ticklish.  He wasn’t really enjoying the fact that she was so clingy, especially since you were around and on some other man’s lap.

This was all way too much to process for him. Yeonjun closed his eyes shortly; wishing for a night without too much drama.

Juyeon was great, specifically since he didn’t have a girlfriend. His friend Eric confirmed that by basically outing him for the fact that he’s been single for three years but even though Juyeon seemed embarrassed, you thought it was cute.  

You were all gathered around at a makeshift bonfire after dinner, having drinks and talking. You were actually having fun, even if Yeonjun and Karina were right across from you. Somehow you dealt with it better than you thought you would and were able to avoid them for most of the night. Which was odd…but not extremely unlikely since you were a master at turning off your emotions for the greater good.

You could tell Yeonjun wasn’t handling it well at all though, he kept looking at you, and every time you were asked a question or spoke, he tried not to make it too obvious about how well you two actually knew each other.

Soobin sat down next to you, propping himself in between Mirae and yourself. You cocked a brow at his action but when he patted your thigh to somehow assert his dominance you decided to fuck with him a little.

“I had no idea you and Yeonjun were such BBQ masters, the food was great.” You smile at them both and suddenly the air got thick.

Yeonjun chugged his beer and Karina who was sitting on his lap, looked at him in confusion.

“You guys know each other?” She asked you with a smile, but you saw right past her smile. She was taken aback by the info.

You nod, taking a sip of your drink as well, ignoring Karina’s stare. “Super close.” You wink at Soobin and now Mirae’s eyes are burning into you.  

“Girl I need to pee,” Mirae says as she suddenly got up. “Ok?” you didn’t get the hint, but she basically pulled you out of your comfy seat next to Juyeon. “Come. With.” She ordered.

After getting dragged up the stairs, and shoved past the bathroom door she locked it and turned her full attention to you. “It’s Yeonjun isn’t it.”

“How the fuck do you know?” You exclaim completely baffled by her spidey sense.

“I saw the way you froze when he walked in, and he’s been eyeing you ALL night. It’s creepy…also….HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND.”  Mirae yelled at you under her breath, trying not to actually raise her voice.

“Y/n. That girl, Karina. She’s so nice. And…and…she talks about her man like he’s her soulmate. Did you know they grew up together, and have been together for four fucking years?”

“Yes. I know.” You admit, realizing the lack of an apologetic tone made you sound like an asshole.

Mirae scoffed, not believing her fucking ears at this point. “Y/n….what…the fuck have you gotten yourself into.”

She started to pace back and forth. Not knowing what to do with this newfound information. “How are you just calmly enjoying your night when she’s all over him…Oh my god I want to punch him in his fucking face.”

You sighed, leaning against the sink.  “I had no clue for the first two months. We ended things over a month ago after he basically chose her over me. It’s settled. I’m over it.”

“No, you’re not. Don’t lie to me even more y/n, it’s scary how easily you do it.”

You bite your lip, not wanting to talk about it anymore. “I’m sorry but.. it was better if no one knew.”

“So now what? Do you want to go home?” Mirae asked, fixing a piece of your hair.

“No. I’m not letting him win.”

You both make your way down the stairs and are met by Karina who was just about to walk up. “Oh, I was just about to check if you two were ok!” she sounded genuinely concerned but suddenly your mind flashed back to Soobin’s words in the grocery store.

“Karina seems like a sweetheart, but she isn’t. If she’d ever find out what he’s been doing, and that it was with you, she’d make your life a living hell.”

Karina can’t be stupid enough to not sense that something is off. Yeonjun has been acting extra uptight, and the whole thing you pulled at the bonfire probably sparked her interest in you.  

She wasn’t concerned for you, she was threatened by you, and needed to get close to figure out why that is.  

Having Mirae in the know might just be a bigger plus than you thought it’d be. She chuckled, waving her hand around. “I needed help; I had a wardrobe malfunction. No biggy.” She smiled brightly at Karina and grabbed her hand, leading her out of the house and back into the garden. You were lucky to have a friend that actively lied in your own benefit because if Mirae wasn’t trying so hard, this could’ve gone a whole other route.

You follow them out of the house and were met with Juyeon, who was waiting for you at the doorway. He smiled brightly as he laid eyes on you, ugh. He was adorable. “There you are.”  

You smiled back at him, quickly skimming the garden to see that Yeonjun had joined Taehyun, Beomgyu, Hueningkai and Soobin for some beerpong.  

You take Juyeons hand, startling him a bit at your directness but he seemed to like it. “Did you know I bartended for a year? I can basically whip up any cocktail that you like.”  

He chuckled, pulling you closer to him. “Let’s test your abilities out then.”

Ok, well this is an odd turn of events...

You somehow turned into the lord and savior of the night, whipping up drink after drink for whoever was trying to get wasted and people were loving it. Especially since you remembered some entertaining cocktail shaking tricks.

“She’s great!” Beomgyu yelled over the loud music and nudged Yeonjun. “Uh..yeah.” he scratched his head, still trying to figure out a way to get you alone. He looked over his shoulder to see what Karina was up to, and she seemed to be bonding with Mirae and Kevin in the back.

Great.

Yeonjun sighed, approaching the makeshift bar as he watched you pour the nth drink of the night. “Do you remember what I like?” he asked as he stood behind you, close enough so only you could hear but far enough so that it didn’t look too sus.  

You look over your shoulder, startled by the fact that he was suddenly speaking to you and so closely at that. Unexpectedly you are reminded of how he made you feel most of the time as the butterflies in your stomach start to flutter again after they’ve been on rest for over a month.

He got closer, standing next to you to pour himself a drink.

“Vividly” you reply stoically.  

“You’re playing with fire sweetheart.”

“I’m not playing at all. Junie.” You put extra emphasis on the nickname you gave him. It made him look down and cockily grin to himself. Poking his tongue in his cheek to show you he was losing patience. He grabbed the cocktail shaker, opening it up and looking around before he did what you never imagined him to do.

Since the coast was clear he winked at you, spilling the left-over remnants of what was in there on your blouse as he kept eye contact.  

Your eyes widen at his actions and he starts to dramatically scramble for a piece of paper to dab your blouse.

“Ah fuck! I’m such a fucking idiot y/n. I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed dramatically, which caught the attention of everyone in the garden.

It took everything inside of you to not swing at him on sight, but you took the kitchen towel from him, wiping the liquid that had by now made its way into your fucking bra.

Karina got up as well, running over to you and him. “Baby! What did you do? Oh my god, I’m so sorry y/n. He’s so clumsy it’s insane.” She wanted to take over to help you, but you stopped her. “It’s ok. I got this.” You gave her a faint smile, but you could tell she wasn’t expecting your rejection.

Taehyun and Juyeon also emerged from the kitchen with paper towels and wet wipes, helping to clean up the mess.  

“Y/n, you can go into my room and grab something to wear if you want. The bathroom is directly linked to my room so you can freshen up.” Taehyun says and you thank him for being so nice and just overall a decent human being.

“Where is it exactly?”  

“I’ll show you.” Juyeon and Yeonjun say at the exact same time, making Karina raise her brow at Yeonjun.

“No, no, no. I’ll show you. I’m the reason you’re in this mess.”  

Damn right he is.

Yeonjun sounded completely genuine and concerned for you which made him even more of a dick. But why the fuck were you enjoying this? His grand plan worked because he could successfully get you alone without raising suspicion.

“Great.” You shove the dirty paper towel into his hands and straighten out your skirt.

“Lead the way Choi.”  

The further you were getting from the party the faster your heart started to pound in your chest.  

Yeonjun led the way, opening up Taehyun’s bedroom door before he let you in first.

You made a straight line to Taehyun’s closet, finding a white button-up that you could wear as a dress, and made your way to the attached bathroom without looking at him. You left the door open because it was no use to be prude with Yeonjun around. He literally knows every square inch of your body already so what was the point right?

Or maybe you just wanted to taunt him a little.

You wet a random towel and start to unbutton your blouse, looking at Yeonjun through the mirror as he watched you like a hawk, leaning on the doorpost to unapologetically gawk at you.  

He inhaled sharply when you fully unbuttoned your blouse, exposing your lace bra to him without hesitation.

You turn around, holding out the towel you wet just seconds ago and motion to him to approach.

“If you’re going to be that childish, might as well man up and clean up the mess you made.” You challenge him and his eyes got dark on you again.  

He licked his lips, letting out an amused scoff before he approached you with slow strides.

He continued until he had you backed into the sink. Taking the cloth from you to simply put it back on the marble surface, trapping you on each side of his arms.

Your breathing was starting to increase as you felt his fingertips follow your neckline, down to your bra straps and behind your back to skillfully unclasp the undergarment with one hand.

You were paralyzed. Completely entranced by him once more. You swore never to be in this position again. You really did. But no drug measured up to how addictive Yeonjun was to you.  

You watch him as he slowly took off your bra, inching his face closer to your chest until he licked the remaining droplets of the infamous Porn Star Martini off of your tits….how ironic.

You inhale sharply, grabbing his chin and pulling him up to your face so you can attach your lips to his and he eagerly complied. He was kissing you softly at first, but it gradually turned into a kiss so hot and passionate that it made you cling to him for leverage.

He detached his mouth from yours, roughly grabbing you by your chin to make you look up at him.

“You’ve been driving me fucking crazy all night. Flirting with that guy in front of me? Did you get a rise out of it? Hmm?”  

You smirk against his lips, lifting your knee up to his crotch to create friction and it drove him absolutely insane. “I’m not your property Yeonjun.”

He growled against your skin, sucking on your favorite spot in your neck with his hand wrapped around your throat. “It’s been too long,” he mused, lifting you on top of the counter to stand in between your legs.

“Did you miss me baby?” you whispered in his ear as his hands found their way to fondle your breasts again. He smirked against your skin, not wanting to give you the satisfaction of admitting it but he basically confirmed it by running his hands up your thighs. You had to admit, you missed his hands all over you. But you needed to fight it this time.

“Good.” You push him off of you, getting off the counter swiftly. “Cause you’ll never get to fuck me again.” He cocked a brow at your words, not expecting that after the way you toyed with him, which was understandable.

It took strength from you that you didn’t even know you had. Resisting him was like controlling a kid in a candy shop, especially after being deprived of his cock for over a month.

He scoffed, although he didn’t lose his cool. Somehow enjoying your dominance with a smirk on his face. “Is that what I get for cleaning you up?”

“You’re the reason we’re in this mess in the first place,” You counter. That sentence was rather loaded. Because you weren’t just talking about the drink that he spilled on you.

He was about to say something, but the sound of footsteps on the stairs alerted you both.

“Yeonjun? Y/n? Is everything Ok?”  

It was Karina.

Yeonjun sighed staying scarily calm as he wiped your lipstick off of the corner of his mouth. He quickly retrieved the white button-up from the floor and handed it to you.

“We’ll finish this conversation some other time sweetheart. Now be a good girl and get dressed.”  

Part 2

[tommyspeakycap]

Uncle McGinn please!!! Jack feels left out because you’re both Scottish and John tries everything he can to stop the baby getting a Birmingham accent 😂😂😂

omg i love this it’s so cute THANK YOU

accents

jack has to learn to accept that his daughter is just the little scot that her uncle john wanted her to be

From the second she was born, little Aria was absolutely adored by every single person who knew her. Namely, however, was her uncle John. He’s that three year olds absolute best friend in the world. You couldn’t even write it, the two of them.

John wasn’t the happiest man in the world when he first found out you and Jack had gotten together because he didn’t know the boy much at the time and as many brothers are, he felt in many ways a sense of responsibility for protecting you. You’re his only younger sibling and though it’s not by much, he takes the title very seriously.

The best way that John has found to get back at Jack for getting off with his little sister is the subtlest of ways that drives the Brummie absolutely mad. You haven’t even picked up on it really, it’s just John being John to you. He’s always on the windup.

It’s through the absolute insurance that the sweet little girl with bouncy baby curls and her daddies eyes never ever picks up an English accent. He layers his Scottish one of thick around her and has taken very seriously to ensuring she knows all the phrases and all the Scottish specific words.

“Daddy is uncle ginny playing with you tomorrow? ‘Cause i miss him.” Aria declares, her little face set deep into a frown. Jack looks to you immediately for some for of back up, but you hold up your hands to ensure he knows this one is all his to deal with. It was his choice to take the Manchester City move and you were happy to support it, filled with pride for him to no end and you had packed up everything you knew in Solihull to come here with him. But you wouldn’t be the one to break the news to little Princess Grealish (your daughter that is, not Jack. Though he could often act like one.)

“No sweetheart.” Jack admits softly, careful with her loose strands of hair as he unbuckled her from her careseat at the Etihad as you grab your phone quickly to film the interaction for John, who was missing his little niece so much. “Why?” She bless, “I misses uncle Ginny.”

Her whine and the genuine emotion in her words is the thing that always makes Jack worry about his decision. She was too young to have made many friends that she would miss and such like, but by god did she miss her uncle ginny.

“We’ll see Ginny at the weekend, baby.” He tries to sooth. As first time parents, there were things that you and Jack didn’t know. Parenting was a learn on the job situation, so you learned something new everyday. However, one thing you had both picked up on very quickly was the best time to dismantle a tantrum is before they actually happen. Prevention is better than a cure. “Today?” She asks, crossing her arms over her little chest firmly when Jack places her on her feet so he can shut the car door and open the boot. He sighs. “Not today, no baby.”

You snigger at the scowl Aria gives her dad, letting out a very dramatic sigh as she trudges over to lean against your legs. “Daddies mean, mama.” She grumbles, puppy dog eyeing you. “How come, sweets?” You ask softly, trying to fight back your grin as she hugs your legs and sighs again. You still film that three year old. “I want to see uncle Ginny and daddy said no.”

You flick your eyes over to Jack, hands on his hips as if he was shocked by the audacity of the little girl who’s taken his attitude right from him and hit him with what he was so used to dishing out. She may look a little more like you, but she’s her daddies daughter and that’s for certain. Through the humour and the layer of joking, you can tell it’s hard for him to give her bad news regarding her favourite uncle (much to the dismay of Paul, Steven and Kevin). And before anything else, you and Jack are a team, a united front who shows your little girl what real love, real proper commitment and what a real good man looks like. So you do as you’ll often do and give him that knowing grin, looking down at your daughter and save the day like you do when his job gets in the way of things she wants. “We could probably facetime uncle Ginny tonight? How does that sound?”

She cheers and screams in happiness, bouncing on the balls of her happily. Jack laughs, ruffling her hair slightly. She had it pushed back with the same hair band he would wear during the game because she loved to be like him too. Jack slings his kit bag over his shoulder, taking his small daughters little hand as you take the other, just about to stop filming the interaction that you had captured for your brother when the little girl in the blue city strip branding Etihad Airways across the front and her surname on the back hits out with a screamer right outside the door of the Etihad just as you part from Jack.

“Uncle ginny isn’t playing today because he’s better than my daddy, right?”

Your laughter is heard along every corridor in that stadium.

~~~~~

That part of the video that you’d posted had gone absolutely viral. Everybody loves the cheeky nature of the little girl who hit out in slander of her dad the second he was out of earshot. You posted it, tagging John and Jack with; “can take the girl out of villa, but you can’t take the villa out of the girl! we love uncle ginny!”

Jack was subject to diabolical teasing in the city dressing room, but honestly he wouldn’t change his life for the world.

Even when he has to make the drive to Scotland for the weekend for John’s birthday back at home and the villa player is sitting on one side of the toddler teaching her phrases and sayings she wouldn’t pick up in Manchester while Paul sits on the other laughing along and adding in tidbits that John’s forgotten from living in Birmingham.

“Isn’t that a bit much.” Jack challenges, shooting a glare at a chuckling John, who shakes his head. “Absolutely not.” He states, “She’s a McGinn, not an English accent in sight in our family.” He hugs her tight, making her giggle at his tickling hands.

“Her accents fine.” Jack protests, making you giggle from your seat beside him on the couch. “Yeah, ‘cause it’s still Scottish. Like to keep it that way.”

True enough, the little girl did have a Scottish twang. She sounded a little funny at times, what with living in Birmingham for her first few years but being heavily surrounded by the accents of you and your Glaswegian family members and then moving to Manchester. But all in she was actually still Scottish and that was probably mostly to do with the fact that you stayed at home with her every day. You spent the most time with her and thus yours was the one that she picked up the most. Then the fact that John’s strong Scottish boom always enhances any even hint of a Scottish accent in the people around him. He’s just contagious.

And though that little baby girl Grealish is a daddies girl through and through, one of the proudest little kids ever, you can’t take that Scottish blood from her. She’ll cheer on her daddy at his City games, she’ll laugh at Kyle’s joke, sit on John’s shoulders to see above the crowds and run around playing football on the grass at the Etihad after the games finish with her besotted dad.

But come the international break, the little girl will don a dark blue shirt instead of a white one and she’ll stand tall on a Hampden Park seat as she leads the “Super John McGinn” chants that grow in strength around the stadium. She’ll be picked up by her uncle when they take a win, held up high above his head. He’s not got any kids yet, so this little one is his pride and joy.

Jack couldn’t even count the number of times he’s had to watch that overhead equaliser from an Austria game somewhere early this year. He’s had to watch it over and over and over again because his little girl insists and he will, like everyone else, do anything for that three year old who has her dads blaring laughter that infects everybody else and leads to hysterical laughter always.

“She’s gonna be just like you lot, isn’t she?” Jack sighs, somewhat contently as he rests his cheek down onto your head that’s comfortably against his shoulder. “Mhm.” You hum, trailing off to a slight giggle. The swing seat in the back garden of Paul’s house is a little further back than the other seats around the campfire some other sit around. From where you are, you can both happily watch as John and his favourite little human (secretly adored partly because she was spitting image of you, reminding him of what you were like growing up as the youngest of the McGinn clan). They run around on the half sized football pitch area that Paul has in his garden with John pretending to mark space as the little girl chases after the ball. He raves about how Aria has footballing in those veins of hers, pumping little footballs with each thud of her heart.

“You wouldn’t have it any other way though.” You tease, poking at his rib slightly under the blanket. “True,” Jack agrees with a smile. “I do love my Glasgow girls.”

[shirtlesssammy]

9x12: Sharp Teeth

Then:

Garth’s missing and has been for seasons

Now:

Grantsburg, Wisconsin

In a cow tipping gone bad, we find our hero Garth on the side of the road, after meeting the wrong windshield of a passing car. GARTH. 

Sam and Dean must be on the outs again, because when Sam heads to Garth's hospital room, he finds Dean there, ready to stick a needle in our favorite Bobby 2.0. The room is frosty. 

Dean’s ready to inject Garth with adrenaline to get some answers. You always were more dramatic than necessary, Dean. Sam just slaps him, and he wakes up screaming. “Am I in heaven?” “You’re in Wisconsin.” (So....not Heaven then. Natasha wonders why the brothers never hunted a hodag.) He doesn’t remember that he killed a cow --and tells them he was on a hunt, before bolting for the bathroom. 

The brothers talk about their mutual adventures since parting ways in the wake of the Gadreel situation. Dean tells Sam about the Mark that Cain gave him to kill Abaddon. 

During their talk, Garth ran from the brothers. Sam heads to interview the farmer that caught Garth killing cattle. Dean heads to look for security footage of where Garth may have run. The farmer tells Sam that the killings on his farm were ritual. Dean gets an updated sighting of Bigfoot.

For Cryptozoology Science:

Oh, lol, show, you’re so funny.)

Dean also lies to Sam about what he found, but he’s dealing with Sam Fucking Winchester, so Sam finds out right away that Garth stole away in a well marked station wagon. 

The brothers draw a truce to work one more case. Lol.

They track down Bess Meyers, the woman that helped Garth escape, and bust down the door of Garth's hideout. Sam and Dean case the place to find Bess. She pops out, fangs ready, and attacks. Garth runs to protect her from Sam. 

Garth tells the brothers that he’s a werewolf. 

He tells them his monster origin story. He was hunting a werewolf and was bit. He knew his fate was sealed, so he was going to off himself. His beloved, Bess, found him and saved him though. They’re married and he’s a part of her family’s pack. 

Garth and Bess ARE SUPER cute. She praises him for his self control on only eating cow hearts. She also explains that werewolves, like herself, are also born not bitten. Dean and Sam want more proof than Garth’s word about this pack, so Garth invites them back to meet his new family. 

Dean heads there alone, and walks into a 1950’s white person dreamscape (I thought these were supposed to be good werewolves?) 

Garth introduces Dean to Bess’s father, Reverend Jim. Dean won’t shake his hand, and Garth excuses his rudeness with a flippant, “Dean’s got this crazy fear of germs.” (I love how well Garth knows the Winchesters). They invite him to dinner. 

Garth spills that Dean loves pie. 

Dean watches in horror as the family digs into their raw heart dinner. He asks about their faith (more cultural appropriation, less god), and the silver bullets around their necks (a reminder of the fragility of life). Reverend Jim gives Dean the revenge is bad talk (TOO LATE). 

Backstory outline because I’m too lazy to type up something eloquent: Bess’s mom died. Rev. Jim married Joy. Her father was the previous reverend to this little group of spiritual lycanthropes. 

Sam interviews the sheriff about the family. He doesn’t have much to say about them or the town. 

Bess’s cousins corner Dean in the kitchen, but Garth finds them and asks to talk to Dean alone. 

Garth makes his case again that this is a good family. Dean lets it drop for the present, but does bring up what’s really gnawing at him. Why did Garth leave without a word? Dean doesn’t take to family ditching him easily. Garth was embarrassed and didn’t know how to explain his new life. He still thought of everyone though. Dean drops the news: Kevin is dead and he doesn’t want to talk about it. 

Later that night, Dean and Sam survey the farm. Sam thinks that they’ve run into an entirely friendly bunch of monsters, when they get a phone call from the Sheriff. There’s a mutilated deer out in the woods. When the Winchesters hunch over the carcass, the Sheriff WOLFS OUT. The werewolf sheriff - or WHERIFF - trains a gun on them, but a hurled silver knife to his heart puts a quick stop to him. They find a silver bullet around his neck with “ragnarok” inscribed on it. 

Sam and Dean split up. Dean heads to the church for some late night reconnaissance while Sam breaks into Garth’s place. Dean finds an old book of norse mythology and starts all-the-webbing “ragnarok.” Sam calls. 

Sam reports that Garth’s place is trashed and neither Garth nor his lady are near. Dean gives Sam a quick story hour. Ragnarok is the tale of Fenris the wolf who kills Odin before the world ends. He thinks the werewolves are part of a cult, which is gearing up to destroy all humans. End-of-world cults in rural communities? It’s more common than you think! Sam heads out to find Garth, when he gets knocked out by two smirking werewolves. SAMMY your soft little noggin! (He should really wear head protection at all times.)

Dean hears something stir in the church. It’s Reverend Jim heading inside. He hears Dean’s heart in an instant. “You must have done this countless times,” he notes. “You still get nervous.” 

Dean demands to know more about the Maw of Fenris, the werewolf conversion cult. The Rev. Jim vows that the hateful teaching in that book used to be part of their beliefs but they moved past it. We learn that the pastor doesn’t know anything about existing cult members.

Cut to Garth waking up trussed to a ladder in a barn. Bess is tied up as well, and they watch as Sam is dragged in, unconscious. 

The stepmom Joy sashays in, smacks Bess (rude), and tells her that everyone there is going to suffer because Garth attracted hunters to their little town. 

Dean busts out of the church, frantically calling Sam. He tears out after his brother. Garth confronts Joy, who reveals that she’s out for vengeance. Her brother was killed by a hunter, and it broke her resolve to live the way her husband wanted - in peace with people. Her dad, she reveals, preached the ragnarok beliefs. “As long as there is man there can be no peace. Because man destroys.” 

Dean sneaks up on all the werewolves guarding the property and kills them one by one. Joy reveals her plan: She’ll stage Bess’s killing as a hunter-instigated murder and her husband will be so blinded by revenge that he’ll turn away from his peaceful teachings and fully embrace ragnarok. 

Dean roars into the barn in a fighting  leap. He kills one werewolf and holds a quick shootout with Joy. She goes down in a single shot.

The next day, Garth bids farewell to the Winchesters.

Dean concedes that Rev. Jim is a good man, but Garth still confesses to feeling guilty about disappearing - and about Kevin. Dean tells Garth that Kevin’s death is his own fault. Garth suggests that he could hunt with the Winchesters (he’s SO STRONG) - he wants to do the right thing. Dean tells him to stay. “Who cares where happiness comes from? Look, we’re all a little weird. We’re all a little wacky. But if it works, it works.” 

Dean tells Garth to stay with Bess. He uses their preferred terminology - lycanthropes! “Somebody’s gotta live to tell this damn story someday. Who better than you?” Dean pulls Garth in for a hug and I think about an ending with Garth as an old man telling a story about the Winchesters - and he does this all while working on somebody’s teeth. The series ends with some fanged youngster toddling away from Garth’s dentist chair looking vaguely shellshocked.

The Winchesters drive to their motel and Sam’s waiting car. Sam gets ready to head out on his own again, when Dean stops him. Dean claims that he was messed up when he left (me, knowing the future: on honey just wait)

“Somebody changed the playbook, man. What’s right is wrong and what’s wrong is more wrong.” Dean tries to make an overture to Sam to ride together. Sam tells him there’s something broken between them. He doesn’t trust him after the church and the angel possession. Sam tells him he’s ready to WORK with Dean but he isn’t going to be a BROTHER to him. Dean feels super duper great about this. They drive off, the best of friends!

Garth Quotes Fitzgerald IV:

Now, he could start a fight in an empty house. But deep down inside, he's just a big ol' teddy bear

The road to revenge is a dark and lonely one

I found it. Love and a family...who cares where that comes from?

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

[marvelbbyx]

Can I Be Him? (Carol Danvers x Fem! Reader)

Summary: You and Carol have been the bestest of friends for years and years, to you it’s simply platonic. Whereas for Carol, she tortures herself constantly pining after you. The situation only gets worse when you get engaged to your boyfriend of three years and Carol has to leave for a mission (that could more or less take her six years to get back from).

The day before Carol has to leave, she admits her feelings for you, giving you two choices: to leave him and go with her or stay with him and get married.

Who will you choose and what will be your outcome?

Author’s Note: Yeah, I’m gonna make this a two parter lol since I wanna be dramatic. But stay tuned for tomorrow’s add on! 😁

Fic inspired by James Arthur’s song Can I Be Him? Which was 1000% the reason I wrote this.

Warnings! ANGST

Part Two Here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You walked into the room and now my heart has been stolen.

You took me back in time to when I was unbroken.

Now you're all I want.

And I knew it from the very first moment,

'Cause a light came on when I heard that song and I want you to sing it again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Carol, stop! You’re cheating!” You shriek as her Mortal Kombat character starts to pummel yours into a bloody pulp.

“How is it that you’re the one that taught me this game, yet—I’m kicking your ass.” The blonde says with a cocky smirk. “Guess you just suck.”

“Or my controller’s stuck.” You shot back.

“Yeah, okay,” She rolled her eyes playfully.

You two were at your apartment, it was your day off and you wanted nothing more than to relax at home, Carol just happened to sweeten the deal with a case of beer and some pizza.

The Captain and the Avenger, or as the others like to call you—Bert and Ernie. You and Carol were about as thick as thieves and you were never really seen without each other hardly ANYWHERE around the compound. It all started when Carol had been assigned a partner to accompany her on a mission to The Garden back in 2018. Everyone swore that you two wouldn’t get along, with your ability to plan ahead and Carol’s ability to...not plan ahead it was bound to be a recipe for disaster. But after a few jokes here and there and a battle later on you two became inseparable.

Nothing could shake or disrupt the bond that you two had, all except for one thing...him.

Carol had beaten you three times in the past five minutes, she offered a final round after noticing your frustration only to win again within seconds.

“Well, well, well,” Carol throws her arms behind her head. “What’s my score again, four? And what’s yours, zip?”

The playful challenge in her gaze stirred your competitive edge, the one that hated to lose and absolutely hated being out of control. Especially in the game of your choosing.

You cross your arms over your chest and pouted like a child, “It’s only because you cheated.” You huffed.

“Yeah, keep on telling yourself that, babe. Don’t be mad because you’re a sore loser.” She teased.

“Re-Match then.” You challenged with a grin. “If I win, you’ll do whatever I say. Same thing goes if you win.”

Carol’s brows lift up in intrigue, “Oh yeah? Like what?”

“That’s something we’ll have to figure out on our own time.” You say. You extend your hand out for Carol to shake. “So, do we have a deal, Danvers?”

She takes your hand, shaking it firmly. “We do.”

Her grip on your hand lingers longer than she meant to, yours were baby soft compared to hers, each callus and dry patch were a layout of her life, each held a story and meaning.

You slid your hand out from her grasp when you heard the door open and shut. You turned your head in the direction of the approaching footsteps, a smile forms on your lips when you hear, “Sweetheart? I’m home!”

“Hi, honey!” You call out.

Kevin Davis, your boyfriend of three years. A man as sweet as they came, someone that would move Heaven and Earth for you. He was a doctor helping out at the compound and you just so happened to come back from a mission with some severe battle damage. Long story short, you two fell in love and moved in together.

Carol forces her best smile before her eyes met with your boyfriend’s. “Hey, Kevin.”

“Hey, Car.” He greets with a small smile.

Carol hated that nickname. Much more than she hated him.

Not that he was a bad guy. Kevin was actually a great guy, always able to help out and very friendly. She didn’t hate him for that though, she hated how you would look at him when he told a joke or how your eyes would light up when you talked about him. But what Carol had hated most of all...was that it wasn’t her.

A portion of her heart dies as she sees you stand up to kiss him, you two talked and acted as if she wasn’t there, which made her want to scream and cry until her throat went raw. These feelings began the first time she met you. After the Snap, everyone was expected to mourn and remember the loved ones who vanished. Carol was dealing with losing a loved one as well. Her best friend, her rock, and the only family she had, Maria Rambeau, who had passed away from cancer.

You were there when she went and comforted her immediately after. Your bond strengthened since that day, as well as Carol’s feelings for you.

“I should be heading out,” Carol drew herself to her feet. “I gotta get up early for a meeting.”

“No, Carol you don’t have to leave, we can continue our game.” You tried to convince her.

‘I’d rather chew on barbed wire than to be in the same room with him.’

But instead of saying that, she bites her tongue and simply shakes her head. “It’s okay, Y/N, I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

You gave a soft smile. “Okay.”

“Bye, Kevin.” The words produced the taste of bile to spread on her tongue.

“Bye, Carol.” Kevin says with his unrelenting smile.

Carol manages to make it to the car before she bursts into violent tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I swear that every word you sing, you wrote them for me.

Like it was a private show, I know you never saw me.

When the lights come on and I'm on my own,

Will you be there to sing it again?

Could I be the one you talk about in all your stories?

Can I be him?

I heard there was someone but I know he don't deserve you.

If you were mine I'd never let anyone hurt you, no, no.

I wanna dry those tears, kiss those lips.

It's all that I've been thinking about.

'Cause a light came on when I heard that song and I want you to sing it again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Six years.

Six years on recon for a planet held hostage by some alien heretics, a distress call was sent and Carol was the only one who had answered. Six years and a million light years away from Earth, and a million light years away from you.

Carol had to leave early the next morning and wouldn’t have the chance to say goodbye to you before she left. So she decided to head over to your apartment for the re-match, once there; she found saying goodbye to be much more difficult than anticipated. Especially when you would greet her with such a smile that was now burned into her memory.

She tried not to think about it at all while you were playing the game, she tried not think of anything while playing.

“How are you beating me again?” You cried in disbelief watching Carol’s character slice yours in three parts.

“I told you I was good, you just didn’t believe me.” She smiles smugly. “Looks like I’m gonna win the bet.”

“You can try,” You challenged as you poked your tongue out at her.

Carol regained her focus back to the video game, having you on the ropes and your character’s life bar hanging on by a thread. It wasn’t until you lifted your left hand to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear that she caught glimpse of the gold engagement ring practically beaming up at her.

That was when she paused the game.

You gave a puzzled look. “What’d you do that for?”

Instead of answering you she stood up quickly, turning her back to you as she tried to fight the tears that threatened to slip down her cheeks. Engaged, how could you be engaged? And why with him?

“Carol?” You called softly.

“You weren’t gonna tell me...about the ring?” She asks, doing her best to hold off on crying.

Your eyes dart down to the gold band on your finger, fiddling with it gently. You yourself were quite shocked about it, the second that Carol left was when Kevin had proposed to you.

“I didn’t know how to say it,” You murmur. “I wanted to tell you first before I told everyone else.”

“So you decided to wear it and hope that I’d notice?” She chuckles.

“I was gonna talk to you after the game, ya know...if you hadn’t paused it.” You say as you awaited some form of a retort from your best friend, only to get no response. “Are you okay?”

Carol remained quiet for a few minutes, allowing the warm streams of water to fall down her cheeks. Burning as they did. Before you had the chance to ask again, Carol’s lips part to speak, the tears evident in her voice, “Why’d you say yes?”

“What?” You blinked up at her. “What do you mean?”

“I’m asking why him?” Her lip trembles.

“And I’m asking what brought this up?” You retort. “Because you’ve never said anything about this before and...and I don’t understand why now?”

She sighs before turning to you, her eyes pink and swollen. “Why now?”

You nod.

“Because I loved you since the beginning but I didn’t know it yet, and I especially didn’t know that it would hurt to love you this much.” Carol tells you, crying harder. “Especially when you talk about him.”

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Your throat constricted as unshed tears stung your eyes. “Waiting until now to say something doesn’t change anything, Carol. You can’t just—“

“I’m leaving for a mission tomorrow,” She says abruptly. “...for six years.”

The words that formed on your tongue evaporated instantly, gazing up at her with quiet intensity. “When we’re you going to tell me?”

“Today.” She replies.

“And that was supposed to soften the blow?”

“I thought—“

“No,” It was your turn to cut her off. “You can’t just drop a bomb on me like this.”

“You’re one to talk, when were you going to tell me that you were engaged?” She shot back, your silence being the response that she needed. “I thought so.”

You fiddled with your ring again, the band was heavy now feeling as if it would constrict your finger. “I loved you too...from the start, and I still do. I waited for you—to step in at any moment. I pushed Kevin away multiple times because you’re the one that I wanted. And...I still want you. Only you, Carol. If you would’ve said something then I wouldn’t be engaged. But now it’s too late.”

“Come with me,” She cried. “Please...”

You shake your head slowly, your tears flowing down your cheeks with haste. “I can’t—“

“Yes, you can. Leave him. Leave him and...and come with me. Please, Y/N.” Carol begged. “You say it’s too late but you still have time. We still have time. Come with me...please.”

“Carol, I—“

And before you were able to finish your answer, the door opened and Kevin walked in, “Hi, baby! I’m home!”

“Hi, honey.” You reply quietly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To be continued....👀

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list: @captains-simp

If anyone else would like to be tagged just let me know! ☺️

[simonsrosebud]

the one where someone doesn’t know who kevin day is, pt. 5

part one two three four

extra kalton content

games are over for the rest of the winter, and since winter break doesn’t officially start for another week it means that kevin spends most of his time at dalton’s apartment.

which, to be frank, isn’t any different than normal.

what is different, is that now kevin has much more free time to worry about meeting dalton’s family. how did he let himself get roped into staying there for a week?

oh right. because he’s trying to be a good boyfriend. and being a good boyfriend means doing this for dalton because it’s important to him. that’s probably why it’s stressing him out.

kevin flinches when a carrot hits his cheek. “come back to the present, will you?”

he drops his head back against the sofa. “sorry. i zoned out.”

and when dalton is dropping him off at his class for his first final of the semester, “are you okay?”

kevin shrugs. “i’m nervous about meeting your family.” he looks at dalton’s lap instead of his face.

dalton puts the car in park and leans over the center console to kiss his cheek. he stays there for a moment. “i know it won’t help to say there’s nothing to worry about, but it’s still true. they’ll love you because i love you.”

oh.

oh.

what?

“what?” kevin drags his stare up to dalton’s face. he’s smiling, he knows exactly what he’s done.

and dalton takes kevin’s face in his hands. “i love you. and i don’t expect you to say it back, and me saying it probably isn’t helping to make you less nervous, but thinking about me loving you is probably nicer than thinking about meeting my family.” he kisses kevin. “you gotta go, kev.”

kevin’s mouth is still hanging a little, and when he drags himself out of the car he leans into the open window. “you-you’re just gonna spring that on me and leave?”

“yep. and you’re going to think about it when you’re doubting yourself taking this exam.” he puts the car in drive, and blows him a dramatic kiss. “text me when you’re done?”

“no- i mean, yes, but-“

“good luck, love you!” and he drives off.

kevin watches his car until it turns the corner, and tugs at his hair before going inside.

he may have failed his exam, he may not have. he can’t really tell. either way, he lies a little to dalton when walking out. just got done, still have to wait for the class to end the exam before we can leave.

that kinda sucks. just txt me when ur done

kevin doesn’t know who to call, but his thumb eventually lands on abby.

“hey. are you okay? i feel like you never call me,” she laughs, and kevin grimaces. he should do it more often, then.

“i’m just stressed about something and… you’re the only person i thought to call.” he sits on a nearby bench outside his building. before abby can say anything he gets back to it. “dalton said i love you this morning and i don’t know what to do about it.”

“well, kevin, you don’t have to do anything about it. you can say it back? if you feel the same way?”

he does. he thinks. does he? is it just him thinking he should say it back because it’s the nice thing to do? he and thea never said it.

kevin shakes his head. his relationship with thea was toxic and a little fabricated.

kevin freezes. he’s never said i love you to someone and meant it. he takes a deep breath. he’s so fucked up. he knows he’s fucked up and it makes his head spin, but he can’t dwell on it because more of his reality would crash around him, and he’s already working through enough of it with bee behind the scenes.

“kevin?”

“i’m here. i don’t know if i feel the same, yet.”

“i know. you don’t have to say it. you can wait until you’re ready, or you don’t ever have to say it if you never feel it. he seems nice, i mean, i’d surely think that he’d be okay with you waiting?”

why did he call her? no one really knows his relationship but him.

he calls dalton. “i’m out, now. can you take me to the stadium?”

kevin shoots on an empty goal, hounding balls at cones for what’s probably close to two hours before the door opens.

wymack looks at him expectantly. “remember when betsy said you shouldn’t be spending more time here than necessary? like you did last year with the god-awful night practices?”

kevin plants the end of his racquet to the ground. “i had a lot on my mind.”

wymack retreats back through the hall. kevin follows. “should i be playing dad or coach right now?”

kevin doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to him saying things like that. about being his father. it’s not like he ever thought of him as just his coach, the day he found out that david wymack was his father that’s all he’s been able to think of him as in his head. the reality of it is just… different. shocking, even now.

“both?” wymack turns, an eyebrow raised. “dalton told me he loves me. i can’t say it back yet, so i don’t know what to say to him when i see him.”

he crosses his arms. “hey, dalton, you know i’m basically head over heels for you as anyone can tell, but i can’t say i love you yet because i’ve got shit up here that i need to settle first.” and after a moment. “too coach?

kevin shrugs. “it’s what i expected.”

it’s close enough to what he tells dalton, too. just without the head over heels and softer wording of “i’m fucked in the head”.

and he feels a little lighter when dalton kisses him and tells him it’s okay. “i told you you don’t have to say it. are you uncomfortable with me saying it again? do you want me to wait?”

and he doesn’t want to- or know how to say no, i need you to keep saying it until i believe you. i need you to keep saying it so i don’t forget. so that i know you mean it.

instead, he shrugs. he’s been shrugging so much lately. he’ll turn into neil. “i like hearing it.”

“kay.” dalton smiles. “i love you, then.”

he wasn’t planning on telling dalton anything past that, but then they start making out, and dalton lies him down, and he panics. “hey.” he says.

dalton has his lips on his neck. “hey.”

“no, hey, stop, d.” and he’s off of him quicker than he can comprehend.

“are you okay?”

“yeah,” he breathes. “no, i’m fine, i just…” he sits up. “i… can’t say i love you yet because i’ve never said it to anyone.”

“i’ve only been in two other real relationships before this, that’s okay-“

“no, i mean.” he sighs. “when i was... with the ravens, you know... saying i love you, or even like, oh love you man to a friend just... wasn’t something that-that we did. especially the way i was raised, i may have said it to a friend once or twice. but i don’t...” he looks up, and dalton feels pain in his chest from the pure vulnerability in his eyes. he slides his hands up gently to kevin’s face as he whispers, “i don’t think i’ve ever said i love you to anyone and meant it.”

“hey,” he whispers back. “that’s okay, kev. that’s okay.” he hugs him and kevin takes the biggest breath ever as he tucks his face into dalton’s shoulder.

and two weeks later, kevin’s standing on the porch of the miller family home in bowie, maryland.

he glances down at the address in his notes. this is the right one.

he should have let dalton pick him up from the airport. he knows he feels bad about it, but he didn’t want him to see how nervous he was.

he knocks on the door.

it opens after a few moments. a girl almost his height stands inside the door, and kevin panics. “hi.”

but she grins. “hi! you’re kevin! come in!” she steps back and it’s so fucking warm in the house compared to outside. “i’m so excited you’re here, dalton told us all about youuu” she coos as she leads him further into the house. dalton is shouting as he runs across the kitchen to turn down the stove to stop something from boiling over, and when he turns he grins.

“kevin!” he very obviously tries not to run over to hug him, and almost lifts kevin off his toes. “how long have you been here?” he whispers.

“twenty seconds.”

“oh good. okay. how was your flight?” he shrugs. “okay, cool, uh, let’s take your bag to my room.”

dalton kind of rushes them downstairs. his room and a spare bedroom are the only ones down there, and when he shuts the door behind them he takes a deep breath. “i’m sorry. i’m really nervous. my family’s kind of loud and my sisters are those people who just kind of act like they’ve known you for a while within five minutes of meeting you, so they probably won’t care to be weird in front of you. and my dad acts real tough and he’ll do the dad thing from movies and hammer you” kevin has no idea what he’s talking about. “um, and my sisters are annoying and if they bitch at each other just ignore it- it’s just what they do. and i just-”

“dalton it’s fine!” kevin shrugs out of his coat. “you forget i’ve lived with andrew, nicky, and neil. every awkward or tense moment is created because of them.”

he also knows how to school his expression in strange situations. again, he’s grown up in the spotlight.

so dalton leads him back upstairs where his mother is standing at the stove and his two sisters are at the table leaned close and whispering. they stop and both turn when the boys come up. “sorry, stole him for a second. um, mom, this is kevin.”

“oh, call me anne. it’s so nice to finally meet you! dalton’s told us plenty.”

“you as well. i’m just glad i was able to come out here this winter.” he’s got on his press smile on instinct. he’s so nervous, he feels like he’s sweating.

“i’m carmen, this is bella!” the girls wave from their spots at the table, and before he can say hello carmen speaks up again. he’s not complaining. “so you play exy? bella plays exy.” bella elbows her. “what!”

“i really don’t. i joined intramural at school so my friend wouldn’t be alone. i’m really bad.”

“not terrible, he could teach you some moves. he’s incredible.” now kevin shoots dalton a look. “what.”

“no, it’s okay, i mean i know who you are.” kevin’s stomach drops a little. “not like- i know that you’re famous for exy, i don’t like know you.”

kevin’s trying hard not to regret coming. why did he think he could act normal with someone else’s family?

but surprisingly, things smooth out after a few more minutes of painstaking conversation. granted, after kevin meets dalton’s father after comes home.

“kevin day. it’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” he’s proud of his handshake, but mr. miller doesn’t pay it any mind.

“george. nice to meet you.” he nods, and grabs a bottle from the fridge. “beer? dalt, you get him a drink?”

kevin stiffens as he sits back at the table. “i don’t drink, sir.”

george frowns for a moment. he doesn’t remember how old dalton said he was. “you’re not underage, are you?” only three years younger, right?

“no, i just don’t drink.” anymore.

“fair enough.” he sits back at the table, and gestures towards his face. “see you’ve got a tattoo. why the face?”

“dad!” carmen is doing homework on her laptop, but looks up with a shocked look on her face. “don’t be rude,” she mumbles.

“i’m just asking!”

kevin honestly doesn’t know who to go by, but he feels his dad is the right route. “it’s a cover up. the one under it was a cocky premature thing with... uh, my, my-”

“his kind of brother.” kevin wishes carmen would butt out. but he has to play nice.

“oh! i’m sorry, i thought dalton said you were an only child.” and his dad actually seems sorry that he got his information wrong, despite it not even coming up yet, that kevin feels bad. he balls his fists under the table.

“we weren’t related. i just grew up with him. my family situation is... complicated.”

george holds his hands up after a speedy glancing at dalton. kevin thanks god for whatever face dalton must have made at him. “not my business to intrude. forget i asked about the face.”

and then things smooth out. they eat dinner, and kevin helps put dishes into the dishwasher to boost his morale with anne before joining dalton and his sisters in the living room. he sinks into the couch. dalton looks bored at what bella has on, the history channel, but kevin zones in on it. he tends to watch it a lot when andrew and neil aren’t there. or while he’s doing homework.

an hour in, both kevin and bella are enamored by whatever segment they’re playing. when dalton gets up to grab a drink, carmen smiles to herself and tosses a mini pretzel at bella, it lands on her sleeve, but she doesn’t notice.

she shakes her head. she does the same to kevin. it lands in his hood, and when he doesn’t move to take it out carmen leans forward.

dalton walks back in and lingers when he sees her. “you ever watch these two watch the history channel?” he frowns. what? “you could cut the sexual tension with a knife!”

bella snaps and kicks carmen. dalton rolls his eyes and sits with his head in kevin’s lap. carmen looks at him with a challenging brow. dalton isn’t going to let her win her little experiment.

he leans up and kisses kevin’s chin. “wanna go downstairs?”

kevin slides his hand into dalton’s hair, looks down at him for a moment. “soon. there’s still twenty minutes left.”

dalton’s jaw drops. carmen cackles.

at least he’s fitting in.

the rest of kevin’s trip to maryland at dalton’s family home are when they go to NYC for a day, and when he and dalton are just lounging around at the house and kevin says i love you

[kimburgess-ruzek]

okay but like, hear me out,

kim survives. she does. and the team is there for her and all of that lovely jazz. she is expected to eventually fully recover. meanwhile, while everyone is in her hospital room checking up on her, she asks about roy walton. she asks voight if they caught him. voight says no, they didn’t. that once she was found, everyone rushed to med and forgot about the case at hand. kim sighs, but voight says it’s okay. that the case is over and that all that matters is that she’s safe. kim tries to stay strong, stay brave. she thinks everyone for working together in order to bring her home; little does she know of all of the tension, but everyone temporarily puts all aside in order to be there for kim.

hailey is extremely distraught. shes shaking, can’t even form words. jay notices and later asks her about it, but hailey says she’s okay, just exhausted and is overwhelmed with everything. right now she doesn’t tell anyone of what happened. she’s trying to put the pieces together, and she is traumatized by pulling the trigger on roy. later, she asks voight what happened after she left, but he shuts her down. saying he took care of it and not to worry. hailey is such an emotional wreck that she doesn’t stand up to him. not yet.

later, kim passes the physical portion of being all cleared to rejoin the field. she doesn’t however pass the psychological part. voight calls kim into his office with dr. charles who is already in there. voight explains her results and says can’t rejoin the field. surprisingly kim is okay with this, which is different than in s7. she says she needs more time to recover. dr. charles recommends therapy, but kim shoots him down. she says she’s fine but just needs more time. voight decides not to press her, for fear she might just fall apart then and there. dr. charles tells voight that kim is broken, distressed. voight agrees but doesn’t know what to do. that therapy would help but if kim doesn’t want to do it then he wasn’t going to push her.

she rides the desk for a while but everyone is scared she won’t ever return to the field. as much as adam wants kim to stay out of danger, he also knows how much she loved being on the scene and how good of a cop she is. adam tries to get her to share her trauma, but kim doesn’t want to show her fear to adam. she wants to be strong for him. she shuts him down, saying she’s perfectly fine at the desks and just wants to get back to him and her being happy, not thinking about anything bad. their relationship becomes stagnant. she can’t tell adam what she feels. she just can’t find it in her. he’s too close to her, she’s scared he’ll break if she shares her story.

kim still rides the desk, helping out the team as much as she can. voight calls her in and says that she is able to take the psych portion of the test again. kim reluctantly says she’ll take it again, but she is okay with still riding the desk. she feels comfortable at the desk. voight tells her that it’s okay to talk it out. that he’s always here for her. kim just thanks him but goes back to her desk.

dr. charles reaches out to kim and again offers therapy to which kim again shoots down. she doesn’t want to rehash her emotions to some stranger who doesn’t know her or what she’s been through in the past. dr. charles then suggests she talk it out with someone she’s close to, someone who does know her. he suggests talking to someone in intelligence. kim says she’ll think about it and proceeds with her comfortable life. she does consider his idea, but she doesn’t know who to talk to. adam is too close to her. he’s trying to be strong for her and makayla, and she feels that talking to him would break him. kevin is so gentle with kim, so fragile. after finding her and seeing her in such a state, kevin has felt guilty himself. he can’t seem to shake the image of his sister being so helpless in that car. he is there for kim, and kim has to be there for him. she has to boost his morale by not bringing him into all of her mess. kim notices hailey’s sudden anxious ways. she doesn’t know what happened, but she feels as though she can’t put that burden on her. and jay, kim isn’t close to jay, so she doesn’t feel necessarily comfortable talking to him. even if dr. charles’ idea was good, she has no one to talk to.

jay, who has been through a similar situation before, picks up on this. although he and kim aren’t the closest, he saved kim and saw the extent of her injuries. he knows what it feels like to be dying. he goes to kim as a last resort hail mary to see if she’ll talk one day when it’s just him and her in the room. at first she denies any trauma or ptsd. she says that everyone just needs to stop worrying about her. jay sees right through kim’s lies. instead of pushing her like everyone else has done, he instead decides to open up and share his experience. he shares stories of him even before intelligence, all of his past trauma. he shares his experience of being shot, thinking he was going to die. she hears him out and starts to open up ever so slightly. he tells her that it’s okay to be scared, but it’s also okay for her to shoulder the burden on others in order for her to get past this. he tells her to not give the enemy power. to not give roy walton the power. she begins to share what happened to her. how she felt, what she did to survive, who she thought of in order to survive.

she then confesses something to jay: she’s scared of the idea of roy walton still being on the street. she can’t push herself to be on the scene for fear he’s still out there. even if roy fled, he’s still out there, and that threat alone scares kim. she also is scared that roy will eventually pick back up to his bad behavior and start sex trafficking minors again. as much as kim fears for her life, she is even more angry that someone like roy walton, who shot kent darby like it was nothing, is still out there and could potentially start abusing young girls. she sees makayla as one of those young girls. she fears for makayla, that there’s always going to be someone out there and she’s scared she’s not going to be able to protect makayla.

jay’s heartbroken. he hates seeing kim so scared. so vulnerable. to him, he would’ve thought she was the most emotionally strong. after everything she’s been through, she has been able to pick herself back up and keep going. keep fighting. but this, this time it’s different. she has a daughter in the equation. she has makayla to think about. he thanks her for sharing. he tells her that admittance is okay, admitting that you’re scared is good. that being raw and honest and human is good. jay tells her that even if roy got away, he won’t ever step foot in chicago again. jay vows to kim that he won’t let anything happen to her. or to makayla.

back at home, hailey asks jay about kim and how the talk went. jay doesn’t go into detail for kim’s sake but says he thinks there was a breakthrough. hailey is seemingly happy, happy that kim can take the next step towards healing. however after some conversation, jay slips up and mentions how roy walton is still out there. hailey freezes and asks jay where that cane from. jay caves and says that kim is scared of roy being out there and that she doesn’t want to rejoin the field while roy’s on the loose. hailey internally panics, not knowing what to do. jay sees the fear in hailey’s eyes and asks if she’s okay. to which hailey shakes it out and says she’s just sad and scared for kim.

bam. then hailey goes to voight and demands she know what happened to roy. that she’s on the other side, he took her there. that she’s in this mess and she deserves a right to know what happened. voight again shuts her down, saying eh took care of it and that it won’t trace back to her. then hailey has a breakdown. she yells at voight that he needs to tell her. that he had no right not telling her and putting her in this position within the team. that he ambushed her and lied to the team, making her feel as though she couldn’t tell the truth. that she doesn’t know if she can handle the other side. that she eventually will cave and tell someone. that the truth will eventually come out. because it’s the right thing. voight tells her to calm down and that the less people know about the better. that no one will find out and that it’s not tied to her. it’s all on him so let it go. hailey tells him she can’t. she can’t take it.

hailey then confesses to jay what happened. she completely breaks down. she tell him everything. and that voight won’t tell her what he did.

once the truth comes out whenever and however it does, then shit really hits the fan.

jay is furious. hailey is broken. kevin is distraught that he was lied to. kim feels guilty for all of this happening. adam is worried for kim. and voight feels trapped.

intelligence is shattered.

wow. seriously wow. i didn’t not expect that to be so long. also can i just say, i know this will not happen. it’s too dramatic and not focused on policing. just a snowflake turned into a snowball. but damn.

[honestlyzenoouh]

Aaron Goes Big Instead Of Home (And Poor Kevin Dies A Bit Inside)

This fic is also on AO3 if you prefer to read over there :) 

This was all Neils fault, 100% the little assholes fault. It was a simple bet, a very small one indeed. The fact that Neil even agreed to the bet, should have tipped Aaron off from the very start. But sadly, Aaron is nothing but a salty bitch when it comes to Neil, and the fact the bet involved his brother was even better. He could kill two, no actually tree birds with one tiny victory. Convince his brother that his relationship with Neil was nothing but loveless sex, prove Neil wrong whilst also getting to humiliate him. Win win win.

Teeny tiny flaw in his plan though. Neil won. Neil actually got Andrew to casually display relationship like PDA. With Andrew initiating. Holding hands, kisses goodbye, softly touching hips to get by each other, the whole shebang. Fuck. Damnit. Crap. He wasn’t suppose to readily showcase his emotions towards Neil, he was suppose to prove to both Aaron and himself that the relationship was a fad, and let it fizzle out like his and Katelyns. Okay, he might have been a little bit bitter, as well as the usual annoyance Neil brings out in him, when he made the bet. Whatever.

So here Aaron stood, almost exactly six months after the bet started, in Katelyn’s bathroom just looking at the offending clothes. Katelyn and him might have broken up, but they still consider each other their platonic soulmates. The sex kinda spelled that out for them, not really enjoyable for either of them. Katelyn found out she definitely was on the asexual spectrum, where sex was only enjoyable for her sometimes. When they first got together she had laid all the cards on the table, and told him her feelings about sex, and Aaron had been very understanding and patient with her. It took a long time for their relationship to turn physical, other than the casual kissing and hand holding, and in the two and a half years they had been together, actual sex had only happened a handful of times. And only one of those times had been somewhat satisfactory for both of them.

It was after the last time they had sex, one of the worse experiences for both of them, that Katelyn suggested they might be right for each other. Aaron had wanted to argue with her, wanted to be hurt she would say such a thing, but Aaron had been having the same thoughts for a while before. Because while Katelyn might be asexual, Aaron sure as fuck wasn’t. He got urges and fantasies, and whilst he understood Katelyn didn’t, he also knew it wasn’t her fault they weren’t clicking right sexually. So they mutually decided that they might be better of as best friends instead of partners, but weren’t ready to tell people. Katelyn wasn’t ready to come out, and Aaron would like to keep his pride and not be pitied.

(The sexual identity crisis that sprung forwards in Aaron when he actually realized that it was not only Katelyn that didn’t find pleasure in their sex life is not to be spoken about. Internalized homophobia and too much alcohol doesn’t mix, too many tears, understanding Nickys, and not nearly enough answers. Whatever, he has time to figure it out when the time is right.)

The uniforms material felt way too heavy in his hands, considering it was only a two piece, yet it was surprisingly soft. He guessed that’s what happens if you actually use fabric softener, but what was he suppose to know? He didn’t care enough about his clothes to spend the extra cash on that shit. Katelyn does though, or whoever she borrowed the clothes from did.

He shifted the fabric around his fingers and actively considered forfeiting his dare. However the mere thought of letting Neil win even more, made him visible recoil and slightly nauseas. Fuck that, a thousand times over. A simple knock on the door and a voice asking if he was okay in there, got him out of his staring contest with the outfit, and mumble something even he wasn’t sure what meant.

Taking a deep breath he finally shimmed out of his pants, and pulled the undergarment of the uniform on. A bit shorter than he was used to, but not too bad. Taking off his hoodie and replacing it with the top, made it all a bit much, and way too real. He’s gonna lose his dignity as well as his masculinity to this. The bright orange Vixens uniform sat tight against his chest, but flowed nicely the rest of the way down. Turning a bit this way and that, he got to study his whole body. His ass which normally was kinda flat, popped a bit with the skirt accentuating its shape flatteringly. His shoulder and biceps got the same treatment with the tanktop’s broad straps. So maybe not all masculinity is lost to this. Gathering a bit of his spite for Neil, and general courage, he finally unlocked the door. Finding his last fucks to give after a couple of more moments, he also opened the door. Luckily, it was only Katelyn waiting for him. She moved her head from her phone and smiled from her upside down position on the couch.

“You good?” She simply asked him. Kneading the fabric of the skirt, and pulling at it a bit he nodded.

“As good as I’m gonna get, wearing a skirt because of a stupid fucking bet. I’m so stupid.” Pulling  a bit more on the skirt, he looked around. “Where are the others? I just really wanna get this over and done with” Katelyn helpfully pointed downward, hopefully meaning Fox Towers third floor and not the parking lot. Sighing and looking at her with tense shoulders, a question all by it self, she only raised an eyebrow and gave him a look. Obviously not the parking lot, who did he think she was? A monster? Him lifting one of his now unclenched shoulders, no, but you do enjoy to slightly bullying me, so why not. Katelyn snorted and finally got up from the couch.

“I thought about it, not going to lie to you, but your face when I gave you the uniform made me reconsider. You looked like a kicked puppy, it was so sad.” Aaron grunted to make his displeasure know, but followed her to the front door. He only hesitated a bit going through, so little only people who really knew him would realize. Luckily, (or unluckily, depending on how you view it) Katelyn was one of those very few people, and she put an arm around his shoulders for comfort. Together they walked the short way to stairs and down the two flights from fifth to the third floor, thankfully without running into anyone. The hallway of the third floor also blessedly empty, gave Aaron a false sense of fortitude. Holding on to it, until it became as genuine as it’s gonna be, he looked up to Katelyn, “Which room?”

After a quick glance at her phone, she nodded towards the upperclassmen’s room. Great, so Neil roped the whole team together to witness this. Fucker. Shaking off the rest of his nerves, he shrugged off Katelyn’s arm and walked up to the door. Opening and stepping inside made his heart start pounding, but nothing happened. Literally nobody was even looking at him, or acknowledging his presence at all. All eyes seem to be on his twin, currently laying face down on the floor. “This is the worst day of my life” came muffled from the floor. Looking from face to face, Aaron finally made eye contact with someone. Sadly that someone was Neil.

Raising an eyebrow at him, Aaron silently dared him to comment. Unable to backdown, Neil did just that. “Okay Minyard, that’s a bit low, even for you” Nodding towards Aarons chest area whilst he said so, made Aaron look down at the v-neck. Sure it was a bit deep, considering his lack of boobs, but it wasn’t that bad. The v stopped at about the middle of his chest, pale blond hairs exposed to world for once. Bracing himself once again for all the attention that was bound to come his way, now that Neil had spoken to him, he took another step into the room, Katelyn right behind him. But still, all eyes except for Neils’ were on his twin as an unenthusiastic “fuck you” came from the floor. This time it was Neil that raised an eyebrow, want to make a game of this? Aaron nodded once, intrigued with this whole situation.

“Seriously A, isn’t this a bit over the top?” Neil gestured a bit with his hands, presumably meaning the Vixens uniform. Fair question, when the forfeit only specified a skirt. But Aaron kinda lived by go big or go home, and when he asked Katelyn if he could borrow a skirt, and the only thing she had he would be able to fit in was the uniform he said fuck it. To answer Neils question he nodded towards Katelyn, who gave a tiny wave. A look of understanding crossed his face when an answer came from the floor. “This is a perfectly reasonable reaction” This startled a laugh out of Nicky, and made Kevin look up from Andrew towards Neil. When he saw him looking nowhere near Andrew he followed Neils eyesight and caught sight of Aaron. His eyes widened and he stood stock still, but not a noise or word passed through him. Aaron didn’t get the time to analyze that particular reaction, as Neil once more spoke up.

“Right, sure. Kevin, what is your take on the situation? I mean, he only lost a bet, isn’t that a bit overly dramatic?” The mischievous grin he wore didn’t bore well for Aaron. He knew something Aaron didn’t, that fucker. When all Kevin seemed able of answering was a stuttery mess, the foxes finally shifted their attention away from Andrew, most likely to laugh at Kevins inability to talk. Yet, once they saw Kevins now slightly awed expression, and both his and Neils direction of sight, they subsequently came to look in Aarons direction.

What followed was probably the most awkward five seconds of Aarons life. It started as a stunned silence, which was broken by Kevin sadly saying “This is a very bad time to have an identity crisis.”, after that all hell seemed to break loose. Nicky and Allison were actively trying to get Kevin to elaborate on that, and close some bets for them. Matt and Dan were looking at each other, and then at Aaron seemingly trying to work out how best to approach the situation. The new foxes tried to gently blend into the background and disappear with no luck. Only Renee was brave enough to face him. “Hello Aaron, I like your outfit. Is this a new thing we might see more often?”

The innocent question floored Aaron for a bit, and shut the foxes up again. Sure he was still trying to figure out his sexuality, but his gender identity was never a question for him. But now that he was thinking about it, he didn’t actually mind wearing the skirt. Sure it wasn’t completely comfortable, but it was a sports uniform. His own was made of the same kinda fabric and had the same feel, so he was use to that. But if he found a more modest skirt in more comfortable fabric, he didn’t think he’d mind it all that much. I did make his ass pop. Really thinking about that fact made his brain momentarily shut down. Once rebooted he looked Renee in the eyes and answered

“I don’t, I don’t think so? I mean, I’m not sure? It might? Can I get back to you on that one?” Trying to be more open with foxes had been a thing he’s been working on as a new years resolution, but here two months later, it was still really hard. Admitting that hurt a little. Shifting his attention towards Neil again he suddenly realized something. “You didn’t tell them did you?”

“No, I didn’t actually think you would go through with it.” He shrugged his shoulders and smirked at Aaron

“Tell us what?” Came from floor. Andrew had finally decided to join the conversation, apparently. He had only turned his face from directly down, to towards Aaron at the door. He didn’t seem too judgmental, only a bit confused. Ever since Bee had finally convinced Andrew to try a new type of medication, to treat his bipolar disorder and depression, Andrew had become a whole new person. A much more readable person, but you still can’t be a 100% sure with him.

“I made a bet with Neil, and obviously lost. So my punishment was to go out of my comfort zone in the clothes department, considering and I quote; I bitch so much about his. I thought a skirt was the most out there for me. Why are you lying on floor?” Ah, the dreaded communication they needed to better. They were getting there, albeit slowly. Bee helped a lot.

“Andrew got cocky about his biceps, and Matt challenged it with an arm wrestle match. As you can probably guess, Andrew lost.” Dan cheerfully informed from beside Matt, who looked rightfully smug. This made Andrew turn downwards agin and groan sadly. “I benchpress more than any of you” was spoken into the floor. This made the foxes laugh once more. Aaron shuffled a bit from foot to foot, and made the tactful decision to leave with all the focus on his brother. He technically did do the forfeit after all. Get out of his comfort zone and show at least 4 different foxes. Whether it was individually or in a group was up to him.

When he got to his room and about to close the door, he got stopped by a hand on the frame. A very uncomfortable looking Kevin was the owner of said hand. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times, and took a big breath, but didn’t say anything. He then got into motion and just walked into the room. Well then. “What do you want Kevin?” Crossing his arm across his chest, Aaron “patiently” awaited an answer.

“Go on date. Me with. I mean, uuuhhh” Aaron’s brain shut down once more, and this time the reboot apparently took a little too long, because when he refocused in on Kevin once more the man was fidgeting. Which wasn’t something Aaron had ever seen him do. What the fuck was happening here? Was Kevin actually asking him out? And more importantly, why was he asking him out? As far as Kevin was concerned, him and Katelyn was still happily together. He tried to come up with an answer, but Kevin’s flickering eyes threw him off. They kept going from his face to the skirt and then landing on the v neckline. It was almost a pattern. His eyes went from the skirt to his face again when he suddenly spoke up again.

“You need to change. I just. I can’t think, and I really want to talk to you, because I overheard Nicky one time, but I don’t really know if it was just Nicky being Nicky or if it’s actually true. I did ask him but he shut down and wouldn’t even look at me for three days after, so I don’t know for sure. So can you make me think? I mean change. Pl- if you could be as kind.”

Aaron thought he nodded before he turned and walked in to the dorms bedroom, but he honestly wasn’t sure. So many thoughts swirled around in his head, made it hard to concentrate on getting changed. Had Nicky really been so careless he accidentally outed him? It was with Nicky he had had his sexuality revelation and cry with, that cursed night after a Trip to Eden.

It had been a few weeks after Katelyn and him had called it off relationship wise, and Aaron had been having these weird feelings and his mind kept supplying him with these random observation. Objectively speaking, your Chemistry 102 TA is attractive. His sharp cheekbones and plumb lips are attractive features to have. The boy sitting across from you smells nice, wonder what cologne he uses? The man behind the counter at the coffee shop had really nice eyes. They were a warm brown you could get a little lost in.

He had just crossed the doorway into the house when the thought hit him. What if the reason that sex with Katelyn wasn’t satisfying for him, wasn’t because of the fact that Katelyn was asexual and weren’t as in to it as he was, but because she was a girl? What if the reason he seemingly couldn’t have as good an orgasm with a partner then alone, was because he had the wrong gendered partner. He had had earlier girlfriends in high school, both before and after Andrew had arrived, but he always seemed to excuse the bad sex as inexperience. But what if it wasn’t?

That had floored Aaron completely, and he had taken a stuttered breath and stumbled to the couch so he could sit down. Nobody seemed to pay him any mind, hopefully just chalking it up to drunken behavior, not the life revelation it had been. Neil and Andrew hadn’t been drinking that night, and they wasted no time bringing their things up to Andrew’s bedroom to go to bed.  Kevin had stayed at Palmetto to spend the weekend with his father, but Nicky had bargained with Andrew for them to go to Columbia anyway, and gotten his way somehow. (Aaron hadn’t asked, didn’t really want to know.) When they arrived at Eden he had all but begged Aaron to drink with him. So Aaron had matched him drink for drink, and actually had a good time. He even danced a bit with a random person with a pixie cut and let a little loose.

He hadn’t realized the tears gathering, nor the way his breathing had picked up until Nicky appeared out of nowhere sitting down next to him. He had swirled his head to look Nicky in the eyes, and the easy going smile he had on his face died when he saw Aaron’s face. He must have looked terrified because Nicky sounded completely sober when he spoke,

“Aaron are you okay? What’s wrong? Did something happen at Eden? Should I go get Andrew?” The more he spoke, the faster the words spilled out and the more panicked he sounded. Aaron tried to draw in a breath to answer him, but it got stuck in his throat so he just shook his head desperately. He really didn’t want to include Andrew too, and rather die than include Neil. Nicky had nodded his head, but still looked at him worriedly. When he finally mastered the art of breathing again he blurted out what he should have said ages ago, even before his little revelation.

“I’m sorry Nicky, I’m so sorry” He crumbled while he said it, and his head had landed in Nicky’s lap. The tears had started to fall about halfway through his apology and he didn’t predict them to stop anytime soon. But neither did the muttered apologies, I’m so sorry spoken softly into Nicky’s thigh. Nicky was bordering on hysteric at that point, franticly petting his hair and seemingly answering Aaron’s apologies

“It’s okay, I forgive you! I don’t really know what you’re apologizing for, but it can’t be that bad! Sure, you’re kinda an asshole, but you’re apologizing so you’re not that big of one. Why do you keep apologizing? It’s okay, I’m right here. Whatever you did I’m always gonna be in your corner, so please stop crying I don’t know what to do! How can I help? If you don’t calm down I’ll have to go get Andrew because I really don’t know how to help you if you don’t speak to me, and I’m starting to get really worried now. Please talk to me.”

It was only when Nicky had started to shift around, as if trying to get up, that Aaron finally snapped out of it. He wrapped his arms tightly around Nicky’s legs and shook his head, turning around to look up at him with pleading eyes. Nicky had looked back at him, tears in his eyes as well and shifted once more. “I’m giving you two minutes to start explaining or I’m getting him. This will not go unspoken of, do you hear me Aaron? I’m pretty sure you’re having a mental break down or something, and you can’t keep that all inside. That is super unhealthy and can cau-“

“I think I might be gay” Nicky had gotten very quiet and still, just looking at Aaron and blinking rapidly. Aaron took a steadying breath and wiped his face free of tears, head still in Nicky’s lap. Figuring fuck it, I already said the hardest part he continued speaking, voice croaking making it deeper than normal.

“I don’t actually know, I just. I keep having these thoughts ever since Katelyn and I broke up, which we did like, a month ago, and I think my brain is just now connected the dots because apparently I’m fucking stupid, and can’t figure out that sex wasn’t as satisfying as regular masturbation, was not because the people I’m with are bad at it, but because they don’t have what I need. Or is it the bad thing and I’m only overanalyzing? The only thing I’m really sure of right now is the fact I’m a huge asshole for giving you and Andrew such a hard time for being gay, when I might be it too. That and apparently I find my chemistry TA hot, and like the way men smell and what is wrong with me?” Aaron sniffed and a few more tears fell from his eyes. They were starting to feel a bit sore now. Aaron had jumped when Nicky suddenly took a huge breath and whispered something that sounded like okay, you can do this. Making eye contact with his older cousin he got a small smile. He reached down wipe the last of the tears away, and began petting his hair again. Much more soothingly this time around.

“So this is a lot to unpack, so what do you say we take it in small bites hmm?” When all Aaron did was nod, he continued on, “So you and Katelyn broke up? Are you okay in regards to that?”

Aaron looked down at his hands, playing with his fingers but answered him, “Yeah, about a month ago. Maybe a little longer. It was an actual mutual decision, something we both felt needed to be done. We had a big fat discussion about our feelings and called it quits. We just aren’t ready to tell just yet. Might not for a while to be honest. She has some things to work through, and she’s my best friend so of course I’ll put it off for as long as she needs.” Shrugging his shoulders he looked up again.

“Okay then, I’m happy to hear you’re doing okay there. These… thoughts you mentioned, what exactly do you mean?” Wincing a little, Aaron had tried to clarify his brains jumbled observations. They sat on the couch talking about each and everything Aaron had been feeling and thinking about those past two months. Aaron found that Nicky could be surprisingly quiet and understanding, and that it was really cathartic to talk about it all. So apparently Aaron could see the attractiveness about guys, but he didn’t know if he wanted to date them. Kissing had crossed his mind once or twice, but quickly shut down because he wasn’t ready to think about it.

The last thing Aaron had asked of Nicky before they went to bed that night, a few hours later, was that he kept quiet. He wasn't ready to explore his sexuality, let alone come out. Nicky had given him an understanding smile and sighed out of course.

A knock on the door startled Aaron out of his memory and into the present again. Shrugging his hoodie over his head he decided to just get it over and done with. Fucking Kevin sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. When he was fully dressed once more, he walked over to the door and ripped it open.

"What do you want Kevin?" He said maybe a little too forcefully. Kevin had moved away from the door, and was sitting at the couch Matt had supplied the living room with. He gestured to the other end where he was sitting. Sighing to make his displeasure known, he got to the couch and plopped down. Looking over at the other boy he repeated his question, a bit more mellow this time. Kevin was sitting with his legs curled up under him, his right hand playing with the fabric of his pants.

"A date, ideally. With you, specifically." His face was set in a small smile, eyes sparkling hopefully. Aaron's heart sank a little, so Nicky had outed him. Accidental or not, that still shot a pang of panic and hurt through him. Before he could muster up the energy to answer him, Kevin continued,

"I don't actually know if you'd be interested, or even actually into boys. About three weeks ago, I overheard Nicky speaking to who I assume was Erik, considering he was speaking some german. He kept switching between english and german though, and going on a tangent about queerness being genetic, the twins, and breaking up with girlfriends. Never mentioning any names. So I don't- I'm not actually sure it was you he was talking about. I tried to ask him but he just shouted no, hung up the phone and all but ran away from me. He haven’t really spoken to me yet. I think he feels bad, because I overheard him.”

A feeling of relief spread through Aaron. Even though Nicky had spoken about their conversation from months ago, he had worded it so only people who knew Nicky intimately would have a clue. Or simply think he was talking about Andrew. Still feeling some of his earlier panic, Aaron opened his mouth to profusely deny deny deny, not at all ready to talk about his sexuality again, he remembered a tiny detail from Kevin’s explanation. If he had overheard Nicky three weeks ago, why in the world hadn’t he said anything? Either to him or the others? Closing his mouth again, Aaron tried to calculate what would happen if he “came out” to Kevin. He wasn’t even sure what the ever-loving fuck he was, other than not straight, but if Kevin had held tight for those three weeks maybe he would for however long it took for Aaron to figure it out. One small parentheses made the equation hard though. Kevin’s apparent desire to date Aaron. Aaron might not be the best at math, but a huge glaring pair of parentheses in an equation needed to be addressed first, in order to solve said equation. Right? Aaron’s pre-med not a simple math major, how was he supposed to know?

“Why?” It had slipped out of Aaron’s lips without permission, but he really needed to know before they got any further in this equation. Why now? Why him? Kevin furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly, apparently not getting Aaron’s question. Aaron elaborated his inner thoughts, and the questions made Kevin pause. A slight flush rose across his cheeks, but it didn’t take long for him to gather his thoughts, only a shake of his head.

“So, I’ve been talking to Bee right? In the process of becoming sober” Aaron nodded, not really in the mood to actually talk right now. Luckily, Kevin continued on.

“Okay, so. She hasn’t just been helping me getting sober, also just. Better? In general. We have been talking trough my growing up, and Riko and Andrew. Just. Everything I guess. It made me realize some things, and she has been encouraging me to do something about it. I haven’t wanted to, until three weeks ago, where I heard I might have an actual chance.” He shrugged his shoulders, now looking down at his lap, really focusing on the piece of fabric between his fingers. Aaron’s mouth went a little dry at that implication, not that he really knew why.

He thought all bravery had left his body, after having to endure his forfeit, but apparently not because he felt himself reaching his right hand across and over Kevin’s left. It made him start and look up at Aaron. Sitting there with his hand over Kevins made him feel the same sense of fuck it, as he had with Nicky all those weeks ago. So throwing caution into the wind, he unstuck his tongue from the roof of his mouth, and asked what he thought was the most pressing matter.

“What did you realize?” Kevin’s face went from flush to straight up red, but he kept his eyes locked with Aaron.

“Apparently it is possible to admire people of the same sex aesthetically, and not just because of their exy skills. And that I find your personality and general body incredibly attractive.”

Kevin’s voice had gone down an octave, and the sound of it sent a shot of something, through his stomach. The very same something he has been feeling pertaining his chemistry TA lately. Great, now he also found fucking Kevin hot. Not that that might be a problem with Kevin considering the resent confession. Though now that he really thought about it, Kevin really is an attractive person. He has sharp cheek bones, but his green eyes softens his face up, so he doesn’t look so severe. His nose is slightly upturned, but with a tiny bump on the bridge, which is something Aaron hadn’t noticed before. Wonder where he got it from? Exy most likely. His thighs has the same kind of muscle definition that Katelyn has, which is something Aaron has always found arousing.

He should probably say something though, instead of just mindlessly looking at Kevin. The poor dude looked about one breath away from a minor break down. He shook his head to clear it from his Kevin related epiphany.

“Fuck it okay, all cards on the table?” He gestured with his left hand, just now noticing his right still laying over Kevins. When he got a hesitant nod from him, he continued on now determined.

“I don’t actually know what I am, other than maybe not straight. Katelyn and I are broken up yes, but we haven’t actually told anyone. Not ready yet” A slight flush rose across his own cheeks when he thought about his next admission, “And I kinda find you aesthetically pleasing as well.”

A small smile spread across Kevin’s face and he opened his mouth, but Aaron cut him of before any words could come through. “But! But, I really don’t know what that means. And I don’t think it’s fair for you, if I didn’t make that abundantly clear first. Your face is attractive, I think, and I know you enough to feel safe maybe starting a thing with you. Just, some minor things before you ask me again?”

Kevin nodded his head quickly and opened his mouth again, but once again Aaron cut him off before he could speak. “Okay so one;” He held a finger up on the hand not holding Kevin’s. 

“I’m nowhere near ready to tell people about anything related to my sexuality, so if we do this. It’d have to be in complete secret,” Another finger joined the first one and he went on. “Two, we’d have to take it slow. I don’t know what I’m comfortable with, or how far I’m willing to go, so you’d need to be patient with me. Possibly really patient with me.”

He raised a third finger to go with his last bit.

“And lastly but most important, you need to tell me if things isn’t working for you anymore. I know I come with a lot of rules and regulations, but I need to figure out if this is really for me. You feel safe enough for me to try with specifically, but if that ever ends up not being enough for you, you tell me. Immediately. That is very important to me. If there is one thing my relationship with both Katelyn and Andrew have taught me anything it is honesty is super important. Well, and consent but you know Andrew too so of course you know that. Okay, you can talk now.” He unfurled his hand, and waved it at Kevin’s to demonstrate his point. Kevin looked a little shell shocked after being loaded with all that information, and he took a moment but finally he spoke, his small smile lighting up his eyes.

“Yeah, I can work with that.”

It was spoken softly, and it took Aaron an extra two seconds to realize what Kevin meant. He still wanted to “date” Aaron, even with all these rules. And he had not seen that coming, expecting Kevin to give up and find someone new to pester about dating. He hadn’t really taking his stubbornness into consideration, which really was an oversight on Aaron’s part, and predicted this would happened.

“Ask me again.” He challenged him, a small part of him still excepting him to not go through with it. And by now, Aaron kinda really wanted to go on this gay adventure with Kevin.

Kevin’s smile grew in size, and made a dimple appear in his right cheek, another thing Aaron hadn’t noticed Kevin do(had, could?), and he shifted closer to Aaron. He shifted his left hand so they were holding hands, rather than Aaron holding Kevins, and took hold of his right hand as well, placing both in his lap. Aaron could feel his cheeks warming up, but didn’t hinder his movements.

“Would you like to go on a date with me? And maybe hold a little hands with me? That’s all I ask for now, and we can figure adjustments out as we see fit in the future. And secrecy is okay with me at the moment, and I promise to tell you if I change my mind.”

Aaron’s whole upper body felt warm now, most likely a blush, but he also felt surprisingly excited. This had suddenly turned into a thing Aaron really wanted to explore. Mirroring Kevin’s smile he answered, feeling confident in his mental math. This equation wasn’t so hard to solve as the first one.

“Yeah okay, I think I’d really like that”

Part 1 of “Aaron Tries His Best”

1 - 2(coming soon)

[haileyyanneupton]

❄ small - one chicago au ❄

Hailey Upton and Adam Ruzek have been friends for as long as they can remember. When Hailey leaves her prestigious private school to be with Adam in her junior year, she’s introduced to a new group of people who feel strangely like home. 

pairings

jay halstead x hailey upton adam ruzek x kim burgess kevin atwater x vanessa rojas kelly severide x stella kidd

masterlist | series masterlist

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

❄ one ❄

Hailey let out a loud huff as she hung upside down off of Adam’s bed one afternoon. She had been at her new school for two weeks and so far, she had spent one lunchtime locked inside a toilet cubicle, two in an empty classroom, three wandering the halls with a sandwich in hand and the rest in the janitors closet. She had attempted to talk to some people in her biology class but when they had ditched her in the hall, she had been too embarrassed to search for Adam and ask if she could sit with him. In the end he had managed to find out anyway — Hailey wasn’t very good at lying to Adam — leaving him to insist that she meet his friends.   

“Are you sure they’re not going to mind, Adam?” Hailey asked nervously, her hair strewn across the ground of his bedroom floor. “They seem really tight knit and —“ 

“You need to stress less, man,” Adam chuckled, glancing down that the girl from the head. “You also should probably sit up before all the blood rushes to your head.” 

“But hanging like a bat is fun.” 

“So is being conscious.” 

Hailey sighed loudly as she pushed her legs off of Adam’s bed and instead starfished out on the ground. She was nervous, but covered well — if she wanted to make Adam’s friends to like her, she was going to have to. Adam had always spoken highly of them, making Hailey worry that maybe they were too good for her. After all, she was just Hailey Upton. Plain old boring Hailey Upton. A knock sounded at Adam’s door as his mother pushed it open far enough for her to poke her head through, a warm smile on her face as she looked between Adam and Hailey.   

“Are you two hungry?” Pamela asked gently, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. “I can fix something for you both if you want a snack or something.” 

Hailey looked to Adam who shrugged, his eyes tearing away from the textbook he had been pretending to read for the last hour. “I mean if you’re making something, I don’t think we’d be opposed.” 

“Well what do you want?” Pamela had an amused smirk on her face as she tutted playfully at her son for a moment. “Hailey?” 

“A hash brown.”

Pamela chuckled, nodding her head up and down. “Hash browns. I can do hash browns. What about dinner? What do you both want for dinner? I’m in a good mood today, so I may be inclined to make you whatever you want.” 

“Actually — I can’t stay for dinner tonight, Pam,” Hailey interjected with yet another sigh. “I promised my mom I’d help her this apple pie that she’s found the recipe for. She’s really excited about it — it’s kind of adorable.” 

Pamela smiled, though Hailey could see the fondness mixed in with worry in her eyes. They didn’t address it — they never addressed it — it was more of an unspoken fact at this point. In their neighbourhood, when things happened everybody locked their doors so that they could have plausible deniability — nobody wanted to get involved directly. Adam’s family had been the first ones to ever offer up a place of solace for Hailey, who was now the only child left at home after her brothers had left for college or to go and work — the first ones to ever actually acknowledge that something was going on. Hailey didn’t know if it was because Bob was a police officer or if it was because they were nice people breaking away from the sense of conformity that had been forced upon everybody on the street, but either way she didn’t mind. She liked it at Adam’s house. Hence why she spent most of her time there. Hell, she even had a key hanging off of her keychain for the Ruzek’s residence — she was family. 

As Adam’s mother went off to put on some of the frozen hash browns she had in the oven, Hailey pushed herself back up and off of the floor and made her way back up onto Adam’s bed as she picked up her math textbook and stared down at the problems on her page. They were just that — problems — problems that Hailey wanted to set on fire so that she didn’t have to deal with them. Unfortunately for her however, she had been informed by her mother earlier that week that apparently that wasn’t how pre-calculus worked.   

“Sometimes this stuff makes so much sense, and other times I feel like this sigma guy is going to try and eat me,” Hailey huffed angrily as she skimmed over the page and answered the very few problems she knew how to do. “Look! See? Doesn’t he look like he’s going to jump out of the page and try to swallow me whole?“ 

Adam chuckled at Hailey. “You’re doing better than me, at least. I’ve been staring at these chemical equations for days and if I don’t get them done tonight, Mr Ramirez is going to kick my ass. All I’m seeing is a bunch of letters — they mean nothin’ to me.” 

“Let me see.” Hailey peered over at the boy’s book, using her finger to scan over the words. “Those are easy. Give ‘em here, I’ll do them.” 

“You’re the best, Hailey.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Hailey grinned up at her friend. “I’m disappointed that it took you this long to work that out, doofus.” ❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄ 

The next day back at school, Hailey waited anxiously out the front of her English classroom for Adam to come and find her and bring her to his friends. She drummed her fingers against her thigh as she looked around for the boy, about to chicken out and retreat to the janitor’s closet for yet another lunchtime when she saw the face of her best friend walking alongside a brunette girl. Hailey vaguely recognised her but couldn’t seem to put a name to the face, waving a hand politely in their direction as she pushed herself off of the wall. “Hailey, this is Kim. Kim, this is Hailey.” 

Kim grinned widely, waving hello to the blonde. “Hi! Sorry it took us so long to get here — Adam got himself locked in the lab and I had to come and rescue the idiot.” 

“Of course he did.” A small smile of amusement came onto Hailey’s lips as she rolled her eyes playfully. “Where — uhm — where are the others?” 

“They’re waiting in the art room,” Adam answered, putting an arm around Hailey as they began to walk, the man squeezing her into him comfortingly. “Quit being so nervous.” 

“Wow, Adam. I’m cured.” Hailey quipped back monotonously. “Thank you so much.” 

Adam smiled back at Hailey with an over-enthusiastically proud smile as Kim snickered from the other side of the man.   

“I like you already, Hailey.” 

As the three of them walked into the art room, closing the door behind them, Hailey was faced with a group of people all staring over at her. She instinctively moved a little bit closer to Adam as her heart skipped a beat, the girl clutching her books to her chest as she forced a smile. They seemed nice — they seemed really nice — would that mean that they wouldn’t like her because she didn’t always come across the same way? They seemed really close too, which worried Hailey. She wasn’t the type to gossip and she for sure wasn’t ever going to be able to have people over at her house in the situation that they’d want to hang out there. What would she tell them if they asked to have a study date at her house? Would any of them— 

“Hailey,” Adam hummed in the girl’s ear as she snapped out of her oncoming vortex of overthinking. “I promise they won’t bite.” 

Adam gave the girl an encouraging smile as she stepped further into the room, following Kim who naturally fell into place between another boy and an empty spot that Adam soon filled.   

“Guys, this is Hailey,” Adam introduced lightly as she found a spot on top of one of the tables, her books being placed down behind her as she smiled shyly. “She’s got this crazy idea that you guys aren’t going to want her around.” 

Kim gasped dramatically. “What? No! The more the merrier, girl!” 

Hailey’s smile remained but her gaze dropped to her hands which were sitting in her lap as she tried to make herself seem less rigid. It had been so long since she had really tried with anybody that she had forgotten how to, the prospect overwhelming her just a little bit. She was used to accepting that things usually didn’t work out — she really didn’t want to get her hopes up.   

“This is Kevin,” Adam pointed to the boy beside him as he gave a friendly nod. “You know Kim. Then there’s Jay, Kelly, Vanessa and Stella.” 

Hailey noticed that she was beside Vanessa who held a hand up for a high-five which she happily returned, her smile widening just a bit further. On her other side was a dark haired boy with green eyes that were impossible to miss, the colour of his shirt only bringing them out more — she was pretty sure she had caught his name as Jay.   

“I gotta go wash my hands in the bathroom,” Stella announced suddenly, looking at Vanessa and Kim who immediately stood up. “You wanna come with us, Hailey?” 

Hailey nodded gently, she too rising to her feet as she glanced back at the textbooks she had placed on the table. “Yeah, sure. Um — Adam, can you —“ 

“Don’t worry.” Jay placed a hand on the books, nodding once in the girl’s direction. “I’ll watch ‘em for you.” 

Hailey smiled gratefully at the boy before following the other three girls out of the art room and down the hall to where the bathrooms were. To her surprise, they were relatively empty — that was almost unheard of — with just the few freshman walking out after touching up their lip gloss.   

“Ugh,” Stella groaned as she turned the water on and ran her hands beneath it. “Man, I love Hot Cheetos but they stain my fingers so badly.” 

Kim chuckled lightly at the girl as she made some witty remark that earned another groan out of Stella while Hailey and Vanessa leaned up against the wall. Hailey had a leg propped up as she pulled her phone from her pocket, searching for something to do so that she didn’t feel so — uneasy. 

The feeling of someone kicking her foot lightly bought her attention back to the girl standing beside her. She had a warm smile on her face as she looked up at Hailey with a knowing look, her arms folded loosely together.   

“I get it, you know,” Vanessa started, causing Hailey’s eyebrows to knit together curiously. “I’ve been the new kid before. Twenty four times to be exact.” 

Hailey’s eyes widened in shock. “Twenty four times?” 

“Yeah,” Vanessa nodded with a light chuckle — it was obvious to Hailey that she had expected that reaction. “I’m a foster kid. Been in so many different homes at this point that I’ve lost count.” 

“That’s rough,” Hailey’s voice was light and sympathetic. “I’m sorry.” 

“Nah, don’t be. It’s alright. I just mean — you don’t have to be so nervous with us.” 

Hailey shot the girl a smile as she settled slightly, feeling better about the whole situation now that she had connected with Vanessa. By the time they had gotten back to the art room, the boys were throwing skittles across the room and trying to catch them in their mouths like idiots.   

Hailey resumed her position beside Jay once again, snorting lightly to herself as Adam nearly ran into a table after tripping over his own feet. When a skittle was thrown in Jay’s direction, he missed catching it in his mouth but instead managed to catch it against his chest with his hand, grinning as he turned it over. 

“Green,” Hailey observed, her lips curled upwards. “My favourite.” 

A certain sparkle could be seen in Jay’s eye as he held the skittle up by Hailey’s mouth, chuckling as the burst of flavour bought a beam to the girl’s features. As the rest of their lunch break came and went, Hailey felt much more at ease. For the first time in years, she finally had someone else she would be able to smile at in the halls — someone to say hello to in class. Even though she had only known them for an hour, she could tell she wanted to stick around. Besides — she could see how happy Adam was having all of his friends in one place.   

Maybe it was about time things started getting better for Hailey after all.

tag list: @ruzek-halstead @lissethsrojas @sammywiths @butterflies44 @upsteadheart @shawnscheeks @puckluck28 @karihighman @thetwit @azu1ang3188 @juu-series @justanotheronechicagofan @stinaax @stayupton @fullwattpadmusictree

[ninja-librarian]

any personal head canons on gandra, lena, and violet in your DT stories? what are they like around each other? all that jazz.

I’ve got a couple... Lena and Violet were quick to dub Gandra as their older sister, which initially freaked Gandra out a little bit. Not in a “these kids are crazy” kind of way, but a “they think of me as a sister??? why??? I’m not worthy of being anyone’s family” kind of way. But the Sabrewings basically adopted her and Gandra has accepted this. (The entire Sabrewing family: “We have had the FOWL agent known as Gandra Dee living in our household for less than a week, but if anything happened to her, we would kill everyone in this city and then ourselves.”)

Shortly after the events of “Between a Rock and a Hard Place!”, Gandra was in a rough mental/emotional place, but she was incredibly conflicted on how to feel about the nanites in her hand. She designed them to protect herself by hurting people, something she no longer wants to do unless in the case of self-defense, and they are a very permanent part of her past. In a way, she became hyperaware of them and accidentally discharges the electricity, to her frustration; Lena, of course, understands Gandra’s feelings the best, having Magica’s magic that she couldn’t always control. Lena assures her it’ll get better, with time and with support. Violet is the one who suggests that they find alternative uses for Gandra’s electricity, sensing that what Gandra truly needs is a new sense of purpose. And that’s how the Sabrewing Dads came home one day to find the three girls in the kitchen, Violet and Lena throwing unpopped popcorn kernels at Gandra for her to zap in midair and turn into popcorn.

Lena doesn’t have a real birthday, so she and Violet did a bit of astrology to pick a day that is Lena’s. They made it into a combination birthday and adoption day celebration.

Gandra, Lena and Violet watch a lot of cozy British murder mystery shows together. They have a dedicated night for it. It leads to a lot of in-jokes between them.

Violet is largely the reason Gandra passed her GED test. Gandra could easily knock out the math and science sections, because those were subjects she was actually interested in, but flunked the social studies and language arts section on her first practice test. Violet tutored her and encouraged her and even got up early on the day of the test to make a special breakfast. Violet cried with pride when Gandra’s results came in.

Gandra has a driver’s license (a really good fake, courtesy of FOWL), but doesn’t actually know how to drive. There weren’t exactly FOWL agents lining up to teach Drivers Ed to their youngest agent when she turned sixteen. Kevin and Raymond, upon learning of this, offered to teach her. It was rough, and Gandra was sure that they’d change their minds, but they didn’t. A few years later, Gandra would help the dads teach Violet how to drive. (Lena doesn’t drive for a variety of reasons that we won’t get into just now.)

Also, a little bit of Violet backstory that hasn’t had the chance to be brought up in the story so far: Violet is, biologically speaking, Kevin’s niece, as Violet’s birth mother is Kevin’s younger sister, Lavender. Lavender was in college at the time and knew she wasn’t ready to be a mom yet. Kevin and Raymond had just recently gotten married, and offered to adopt Violet. Vi’s totally aware of the situation, and it was never a big dramatic family secret. Violet is on good terms with Lavender, whom she calls ‘aunt’.

Speaking of “aunts”, Gandra and Fenton’s kids have a Tia Violet and a Tia Lena. There was a long conversation between the three when Gandra was expecting her first kid about what Violet and Lena wanted to be called, especially since Gandra and Violet were worried that the word ‘aunt’ would be tainted for Lena because of her relationship with Magica. At first, Lena insisted that she would just be called ‘Lena’, no ‘aunt’ or ‘tia’ like Violet had chosen. Just ‘Lena’. Then when Lena first got to hold her niece, she teared up and said, “Hi, I’m your Tia Lena.” (She also made a promise to burn the world to ash if anything ever happened to the kid. As one does. Violet’s only response was along the lines of “how the heck am I supposed to one-up that?”) Violet and Lena are also the kids’ godmothers, and were Gandra’s co-maids-of-honor when she got married.

Also, Fenton used to babysit Violet. (Yes, Huey was irrationally angry and jealous when he found this out and didn’t talk to Violet or Fenton for nearly a day, despite everyone telling him he was being ridiculous.) This arrangement happened a little bit by accident, as a frantic, new dad Raymond’s babysitter fell through one afternoon and he had to bring Violet to the police station. Rosa didn’t trust Fenton at home by himself after school until he was like sixteen (and for good reason) and she had trouble finding childcare for every day, so Fenton spent a lot of time at the station, under his mom’s desk when he was little and in the break room when he got too big for that. On that particular afternoon in which Raymond had a baby and no babysitter, Fenton was asked to entertain Violet for an hour or so while Raymond went to a meeting. Fenton agreed, though both Raymond and Rosa were certain that they were going to come back to utter chaos. But everything was fine, and Raymond suggested that Fenton watch Violet every afternoon. (Fenton quickly agreed, but mostly because he could sense a future Junior Woodchuck badge in his future and because Violet was an easy baby to hang out with. He really didn’t understand why Raymond was giving him money after the first week of this arrangement.) When Violet got a bit older, Fenton would take her down the street to the library for the baby storytimes and so that they could both get books; the rookies on Raymond and Rosa’s squad’s initiation was to tail the two as discreetly as possible. (Fenton never noticed; toddler Violet totally did, but she was no snitch.) As a result, Violet was one of three people to know exactly who was underneath the Gizmoduck suit without being told.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Riverdale 5x08 Thoughts

So usually I would write a review for an episode where I go really in depth and analyse everything that happened in the episode, give you all some of my theories for next but to be honest I just don’t have the energy for that. I thought after a couple of days processing everything and giving the episode a rewatch I would be able to but nope. So instead here are just some thoughts and opinions on the episode. Again just my own opinions I am sure there will be some out there who disagree and that is fine. Also there are spoilers. 

1) So I didn’t like this episode and a large, well to be honest nearly all of that was because of the writing. The writing in this episode wasn’t their best and made me dislike so many of the characters, I mean they were all doing things that just seemed really random and out of the blue and I think the reason why it felt this way is because it was too rushed and these were character arcs that should have spread across several episodes but were instead crammed into well not even one episode really, it was more like half an episode. I just feel like in the first half the episode nothing really happened and then the second half everything happened which was really jarring. Overall too many storylines in this episode just felt rushed and alot of them just didn’t make sense. 

2) Ok so the key party was way too hyped up for what it was. It had the potential to be soo much more interesting than it was. I mean it lasted no time at all and not much really happened I mean half the characters walked out and the other left with the people they came with. The most interesting thing that happened was the kiss between Reggie and Fangs. I also find it kind of funny that this was a key party and yet the only people who actually end up sleeping together is Eric and Minerva, off screen but its still heavily implied. I just think that the writers hyped this up to be some big dramatic scene and then nothing really happened. And like even within the show Cheryl really hyped the key party up, with all that talk about throwing some chaos at it, and it’ll be a sexual switcheroo, one last night of wanton abandonment to remind them of their youth and yup literally nothing happened. If I had written this scene I actually would have had Eric go first and pull Minerva’s key to set up the fun vibe. Then followed with Reggie to keep that oh this is kind of fun vibe going. Then I would have had Betty pull Archie’s key first or rather instead of Veronica pulling it. Then maybe Kevin could have made some kind of comment or joke about how Betty and Archie have already been hooking up, then Veronica could seem shocked and question them about it, which leads to Chad accusing her of being jealous of Archie and still having feelings for Archie, which leads to Archie standing up for Veronica and telling Chad to leave her alone, which leads to Betty asking Archie if he has feelings for Veronica. They could also have then ended the scene with Jughead drunkenly deciding to pick a key because he just can’t deal with this drama right now which interrupts all the arguments and leaves everything between all those couples unresolved at the key party which could then lead into those scenes that followed. It would have been more dramatic and tense but would still have lead to the same place if that’s where the writers really felt they wanted to go though I have my own opinions on that too. 

3) Kevin. Oh Kevin I just, I don’t know what was going on with him this episode. I mean the opening was shocking, I do think the writers wrote that well, it did kind of send you for a loop and wonder what the hell Kevin was doing, because it did look like a was cheating on Fangs but then later we get the reveal that they are actually in an open relationship. Which fair do’s. However Kevin just seemed very self destructive in this episode it was like he wanted him and Fangs to fail. Something is clearly going on with Kevin and the synopsis for episode 9 talked about Kevin having to face something dark from his past so I am assuming his behaviour this episode has something to do with that. My theory is that it is related to the storyline from Katy Keene with Kevin and that Director Lester Darin. Whatever it is I do think he needs to talk with Fangs about it. I was 100% on Fangs side when he pointed out that they were having a baby together and asked what about Toni. Like a child isn’t something you should mess about with if Kevin wasn’t ready then he shouldn’t have brought up having children. And that’s what’s so odd about this situation is we find out that Kevin is the one that pushed for it all, it was him that wanted to have the open relationship, it was him who wanted to get married and it was him who wanted to have a child. Also its not just Kevin and Fangs who are involved in this its Toni too, Kevin needs to get his head on straight and fast because that baby is coming and soon. Look I wasn’t entirely happy with the Kangs storyline this episode because once again it felt rushed. It again felt like it should have been drawn out over several episodes. Just in this episode we for a moment believed that Kevin was cheating, then we found out they were in an open relationship, then we found out they were getting engaged, then we found out they and Toni were all having a baby together, which you know  I called that all the back when they first announced Toni was going to be pregnant post time jump, we get all this infodump in the first half of the episode then by the end of the episode Kevin and Fangs are on the rocks. A lot of people are saying that they have broken up and I’m not sure they have technically broken up, they definitely aren’t in a good place though. But again if they had just had the engagement and baby announcement in say 5x04, then revealed the whole open relationship in say 5x06 it would have felt like a much more fleshed out story and not as rushed. 

4) Ok so this is one that has probably split some opinions in the fandom but I want to talk about Veronica. Now I do want to make it clear that I am not hating on Veronica here but there were some things she did this episode that I was not a fan of and again I think alot of it was just bad writing. I was not a fan at all of the way Veronica used Archie to make Chad jealous, to me that was very petty and very childish and yes I know that Chad was also behaving childish but I was kind of hoping Veronica would rise above it. I also was not a fan of the way she was flirting with Archie whilst still married to Chad, I don’t care how crappy of a person Chad is that still made me uncomfortable. But on the flip side of that like with the whole Barchie cheating storyline I am aware that people can make mistakes and get caught up in their feelings, I mean they are still only young adults, so they are still growing and learning. I think the thing  that bothers me the most with Veronica or rather I should say the way they wrote Veronica is that whilst Betty and Archie clearly showed that they felt remorse and guilt for cheating Veronica did not seem to give two hoots about the fact that she was flirting with her ex behind her husband’s back. And I know people will say ‘oh but Chad’s a bad person and treats her bad.’ Ok fine then just leave him, that's not an excuse to behave that way. Also the other thing that bothered me was her attitude at the key party when she pulled Archie’s key. Now at first I thought that meant Archie would go home with them both if they followed the rules but then when I rewatched it I realised that when someone picked keys they would then retrieve their own from the bowl. After Veronica announces ‘oh look I’ve got Chad’s keys’ she then picks her own up out of the bowl. Also the fact that Kevin and Fangs both had their own keys in the bowl and yet they left with separate people. So I actually think Chad and Veronica were going to leave with separate people so it wasn’t that the three of them would be hooking up it was that Veronica was going to leave to hook up with Archie. It makes sense then that Chad would not be comfortable with this. I mean I can’t blame Chad for not wanting his wife to leave a swingers party with not just her ex but with the same guy who Veronica was deliberately using to try and make him jealous and who he has already voiced his suspicions about. The part that bothered me was when Chad first protested she said don’t be rude those are the rules, I was just like girl what are you on, she might as well have said ‘don’t be rude Chad I want to have sex with my ex and you need to be happy about it ok’ and yet a few moments later when it gets too tense for her liking and she gets Chad’s keys instead and Cheryl says that’s breaking the rules, she tells Cheryl to call her lawyer. So basically when it suits her and she wants an excuse to hook up with her ex its the rules but when it becomes an inconvenience then she’s breaking the rules and you can call her lawyer. It just did not paint Veronica in a good light at all in my opinion. But I also hated that scene when Chad confronts her asking if she just called him to humiliate and make him jealous. Firstly this tells us that Veronica called her husband and asked him to come to the party with her which really why would you do that if you are having feelings for another man and you felt like you needed time away from your husband? It makes no sense. Also she lied and then said no she wasn’t trying to make him jealous and the way she said it made it seem like she was insulted that he would even think that. Again didn’t paint Veronica in a good light. Also to be clear I am not saying that because it didn’t paint Veronica in a good light that it did paint Chad in a good light, he’s still trash but I don’t really care about him so you know whatever. And once again I was not ok with the fact that what brings her to the realisation that she needs to end her marriage was again the fact that he wasn’t ok with her hooking up with her ex at a key party. Like I am sure this isn’t how the writers meant it to come across but that’s how it did and I just feel like there were so many other ways and other things that could have brought her to that realisation then the key party. I also I was not ok with the fact that literally 5 seconds after she decides to divorce Chad she is making out with Archie. I just, no it’s too fast and it’s too rushed. I do not think it was necessary for them to kiss in that moment. Like it would have been fine if she had just said you know ,’I’m divorcing my husband,’ and then have Archie have some kind of look not even necessarily say anything and leave it there. It would have left some intrigue for next episode like ooh does this mean they are going to rekindle things, will they kiss next episode. Instead because of how close it was to her deciding to divorce her husband the scene where they reunite just felt icky to me, I mean the ink on her divorce papers isn’t even dry yet, hell scratch that it isn’t even wet yet because she only made the decision to divorce she hasn’t even filed for divorce yet so technically she’s still married. But more than all of that my biggest problem with Veronica’s storyline this episode is once again it revolves around the men in her life. Like the writers seem incapable of writing this woman as single. Even when Archie left Riverdale in season 3 which would have been the perfect opportunity to have Veronica be single for a while they matched her with Reggie. Now don’t get me wrong I loved those two together in fact out of all the people Veronica has been with her and Reggie are my favourite, I just think they worked really well together. But again it brings me to another thing that made me feel uncomfortable and that is I’m sensing this pattern with Veronica where she’ll be with someone when Archie is away and then when he comes back she’ll ditch the other person for Archie. Which would be ok if it weren’t for the fact that she always seems to do it in a way that makes it look like she doesn’t have any care for the other person’s feelings. Unfortunately this makes Veronica seem not just disloyal but kind of cold and that’s not a true testament to Veronica’s character at all. I just get so frustrated with the way they write for her sometimes. I mean there was so much that was badly written about her marriage to Chad and just this episode in general as I said before painted alot of the characters in a bad light. I just wish they would keep Veronica single for a while and write a storyline that is solely about her because there is a heck of a lot more to her character than just who she’s attracted to.  

5) Ok Archie, this episode I just. To be honest I’m still too mad about it to even really talk much about it. I feel like out of everyone, the one the writers made look the worst this episode was Archie. I mean outside of who you ship, that conversation he has with Eric after Betty calls him because of her nightmare, was just well I don’t have words for what it was. It made it seem like all he cared about was sex and that he was annoyed/ didn’t care that Betty was upset. This is not our Archie Andrews, in no world would he be that cold about Betty upset he has always been there for her. It wasn’t just insulting to Barchie it was insulting to Archie’s character and who he is at his core which is someone who always cares about his friends above all else. 

6) Cheryl is once again going about everything the wrong way. I could understand her being a little upset at the fact that Toni is making this big happy non traditional family for herself because she probably thought that one day it would be her and Toni having the baby and so this might make her feel left out. I mean she was genuinely happy for Kangs when they announced their engagement. So its not like she doesn’t want anyone to be happy when she’s not. I also feel like given that Toni came to see her twice during the time jump which we learn when her and Archie are catching up in 5x04 that maybe originally she was hoping to include Cheryl in the whole baby thing and raise the baby all four of them together. A part of me still hopes that might happen but I feel like there needs to be alot of growing and healing for all four of the characters first. However unfortunately Cheryl’s jealousy at the situation leads to her being too manipulative and she arranges the key party so that she can show Toni how ‘fragile some unions can be’ and makes her the creepiest nursery in the world hoping that they can all hole up in Thorn Hill together. I am glad that Toni called Cheryl out on her manipulation I do think Cheryl needed that. Also as a side note I was expecting some explanation as to why Toni won’t be appearing in the next few episodes but at first I thought we didn’t. But then again on the rewatch I realised they kind of did. When Cheryl comes barging in after the baby announcement Toni tells her that she wants to take a step back from the Vixens. But then Cheryl interrupts her. I think the writers were expecting us to put the rest together ourselves which is Toni now that she’s nearing the end of her pregnancy she is likely going to be staying at home more and resting up.  

7) I am ok with the kiss between Cheryl and Minerva. My hope is that Minerva is not going to manipulate her in some way and that this relationship will give Cheryl something that will make her a better person so that when she is ready to go back to Toni she has learnt something if that makes sense.  

8) Ok so I want to talk about some positives because at this point it feels more like a rant than anything else and there were some things I liked in this episode. Obviously as a Barchie shipper I thought the firefighter scene in the beginning of the scene was really sweet and it was very aesthetically pleasing with all the candles and everything, it was just a well shot scene. 

9) I am very intrigued by Jughead’s blackouts and trauma that he experienced in New York. I do have a theory that the visions he is seeing of the mothman and how twice they are shown as a reflection is suppose to be because he is seeing the mothman/ this monster in himself. I really do think that Jughead killed someone while blacked out and subconsciously he remembers it but he’s so traumatised by it he’s keeping it repressed. Now whether he killed someone accidently, or whether it was self defence or the drugs just made him lose it on someone I’m not sure but I am convinced that he is responsible for someone death somehow. 

10) As always I loved Jughead and Tabitha’s interaction this episode. Tabitha is an absolute angel and such a supportive friend. The way she went to the support group with him and got him to open up to her. How she took care of him after the key party. She’s clearly come to care about him a lot and its nice to see someone supporting Jughead. 

Ok and that’s it for this episode. I don’t have any theories for next episode but I’ve also kind have lost any enthusiasm I had for the show which is frustrating because up until this episode I was really enjoying this season but this episode was so bad its literally knocked the wind right out of me.                  

[anna-justice]

Lost or Found - 12

Summary: As Jay, Hailey, Kim, Adam and Kevin start their junior year in the wake of a tragic summer, the past year of their lives comes back to haunt them. If you enjoyed Pretty Little Liars, this is for you! *UPSTEAD/BURZEK High School AU

...

12 - Need You Now ...

Jay clenched his jaw as he took the man’s hand. He wanted nothing more than to sock him square in the face--a thought that was becoming a pattern--and tell him to get the hell out. But, that was a sure way to get himself thrown out, and he refused to let Hailey wake up alone in this horrible situation. So, he bit his tongue and played nice. “You too, sir. Wish it was under better circumstances.” Jay said, forcing a smile. It was true, he did wish that they had met under better circumstances, for two reasons. One being that her dad wasn’t a sadistic asswhole and two being that he wished he was in a position to beat the shit out of him. 

Eldon nodded, agreeing with the young man standing in front of him, none-the wiser of his bubbling hatred. He wrapped an arm around his wife and thankfully didn’t notice Jay’s not so subtle flinch. 

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife, Jay had once again sat down in the seat adjacent to Hailey’s bed while Anne and Eldon pulled chairs up next to her. Jay’s knee bounced nervously, he was wondering how long it took to buy a sandwich and where Trudy was. He wanted to leave and remove himself from the terrible silence, but the thought of Hailey waking up to face her father without him was as appealing as drinking battery acid. Instead, he sent a quick text to Adam, hoping he would come and share his wit and charm with the group.

Jay: Hailey’s parents are here…

Less than five seconds later, he replied.

Ruzey Ruzek: Are you serious?

Jay: Deadass

Jay: I’m gonna kill him if you don’t come stop me

Ruzey Ruzek: Don’t do that…

Ruzey Ruzek: A hospital is a terrible place to kill someone

Ruzey Ruzek: If you are going to murder him, put a little more effort in. For me?

Jay rolled his eyes, he was thankful for his best friend who was obviously trying to distract him. He also took notice of the fact that yet again, Adam had changed his contact information to something stupid. 

Jay: I hate you

Adam Ruzek: No you don’t

Adam Ruzek: You love me

Jay: Whatever

Adam Ruzek: Love you too bestie ;)

Jay: Stop being a little shit pls

Jay: This is not good

Adam Ruzek: I know

Adam Ruzek: Let me talk to Kim and then I’ll come down there

Jay: Thanks

Adam Ruzek: Ofc

Jay let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding, relaxing into his chair a bit more. At least with Adam here he wouldn’t have to bear the hostility alone. 

“So. Jay, tell me about yourself.” Eldon said, turning to face him. “Anne made it sound like you and Hailey are very close.” 

Jay leaned forward in his chair, deciding that a faked conversation was better than deafening silence. Plus, he couldn’t risk Hailey’s dad thinking he knew anything, he didn’t want to put her or her mom in harms way. “We are, she’s my best friend.” He said honestly, with a soft smile.

“I hope you have only pure intentions with my daughter…” Eldon threatened, a eyebrow cocked.

Jay fought off the urge to scoff, “The purest.” 

Eldon nodded, feigning relief. “Good.” Jay was convinced he was only speaking to keep up appearances. “You play any sports son?” 

“Baseball.” Jay said courtly, his own father wouldn’t own up to him being his son, he didn’t need anyone calling him that, let alone an abusive arse. 

“Hailey’soldest brother went to college on a baseball scholarship!” Anne said, piping in. Jay gave her a big smile, happy to transfer the conversation to her. 

“Really? Where?” Jay asked, genuinely interested.

Anne beamed,“Indiana State.” 

“Wow, you must be proud.” Jay said.

“We are.” Eldon cut in, a little too harsh for Jay’s liking. 

Just like that the almost friendly conversation was over and the silence returned, Jay was about to text Adam to ask him where he was when Trudy came bounding into the room holding a pizza box. Her jaw dropped and Jay stood immediately. Her eyes met his and then focused back on the couple in front of her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

…

Kevin sat in the locker room with Matt Casey and Connor Rhodes after their saturday morning practice. He hated that he couldn’t be with his friends at the hospital, but football season stopped for no man and he was counting on impressing college scouts a year early.

“You coming to the party tonight?” Connor askes. Kevin shakes his head and Connor rolls his eyes. “Of course you aren’t, you haven’t been to any in months. Matt?”

Matt shakes his head as well. “Can’t, I have a date with Sylvie.” 

Before Connor can respond, Kevin claps his teammate and friend on the back. “Man, you’ve been crushing on her for like a year now.” He teases and Matt smiles big. “Congrats.”

“Thanks.” Matt says, “I’m really excited, really nervous and really worried that I’m going to screw this up.” 

Kevin is taken aback by the blondes sudden outburst of transparency, Matt wasn’t usually one for sharing his feelings. Anxiety must be his truth serum. “Where are you taking her?” 

“Molly’s, you know it? I think it’s perfect, not too fancy but enough to make a good impression. Plus, the owner works with Wallace.” Matt explained and Kevin knew exactly what place Matt was talking about. He had gone there for Kim’s birthday last year with the rest of their friends. 

Kevin picked up his bag and waved goodbye to Connor who was heading out. “Sounds perfect man, she’ll love it.”

“Thanks.” Matt said, he grabbed his bag and followed Kevin out of the locker room. “I heard about Kim and Hailey, how are they doing?”

Kevin sighed, “Last I heard, Hailey hadn’t woken up yet and Kim was doing good, no hearing loss like they had expected.”

“Damn, that’s great about Kim, but Hailey’s not out of the woods yet?” Matt asked.

Kevin shrugged, “Not that I know of.” There was a hint of sadness to his voice unrelated to his friends current state. The balance in the group was off and Kevin was taking the brunt of it. When Erin was alive, there were six of them. He always had someone to pair off with whether it was Adam, Kim or Hailey. Now there were five and as happy as he was for his friends, it was hard being the fifth wheel. 

He and Kim had been friends for years, that’s how he was brought into the group, it just happened that he knew Adam and Jay and clicked with them well. He was a little jealous if he was being honest, not only did he not always have the time to be totally  invested like the rest of them, but any time he did he felt like he was being held at an arms length. Kevin wanted to have a person, like Hailey was to Jay (anyone who wasn’t blind could see it, and even then they probably knew) or Kim was to Adam. He had been interested in Nadia at first, but her obvious feelings for Jay caused his to fade fast. Besides it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, Erin got rid of her at the first sign of weakness. 

Kevin bid goodbye to Matt and made his way to his old jeep, still wrapped up in his own thoughts. He felt guilty placing blame on a dead girl, but he couldn’t help but think that all of this was Erin’s fault. He wasn’t usually the one to displace emotion, he grew up in a household where they were almost too out in the open. However, his hatred for Erin--or the dramatics that surrounded her for that matter--was increasing by the day. He had no idea how she got herself in the situation she was in and he sure a hell didn’t understand how she dragged the rest or them and their families into it.

When he got home he found Vinessa playing in the family room and his mom in the kitchen. He said hello to his mother and told her about practice before sitting down to play with Vinessa. She had a barbie in her hand, and Kevin knew for a fact that she didn’t have any barbies. Taking a closer look over her shoulder, Kevin realized that it was no normal doll. It looked exactly like Erin.

…

Jay dropped his gaze to his phone and shot Adam a quick text.

Jay: Abort abort

Jay: Trudy is here

Eldon slowly stands and gives his sister-in-law a fake smile. “Checking on my only daughter, since you were so forth coming on her condition when you called.”

Trudy set the pizza down on the small table near the door and took a step toward him. “You are not welcome here. You need to leave.” 

Jay looked back and forth between them, trying to decipher where this was going. “What are you going to do Trudy? Call security? I haven’t done anything…”

“Like hell…” Jay said under his breath, Eldon’s head whipped around and Jay realized that his thought that slipped had not been as quiet as he hoped. 

Eldon was seething, Jay was convinced that he had literal steam coming out of his ears. “What did you say?” He took a step towards Jay and Anne reached out to grab his arm.

“Eldon--”

He ripped his arm from her grip, “Don’t touch me.” Anne backed away, much to Jay and Trudy’s approval. “You have no right to speak to me that way.”

Jay took a moment to consider her next move, he had already gotten himself into to some deep shit so he might as well go full send. “You have no right to smack around your wife or your daughter.” The last part came out more spat than in sentence form and Eldon clenched his fists.

The way he saw it, he had two choices: lay the kid in front of him out and high tail it out of there, or, play dumb and make him look like a idiot. He went with the latter. “I don’t know what your talking about.”

Jay scoffed, glancing at Anne who becoming one with the wall. He felt a wave of guilt wash over him, there was no doubt that he had put the woman in danger due to his anger getting the best of him. “Sure, of course you don’t. You don’t anything about the injury that damaged Hailey’s body so bad that she needed a pacemaker?” He was almost yelling and a look of shock crossed Eldon’s face. He guessed that he thought no one knew. 

“I don’t have to stay here and listen to this.” Eldon grumbled, turning to face his wife.

Jay stood his ground, determined to have the last word. “Leave.” 

Eldon shot him a glare like he had never seen before and stormed out of the room. Jay let out a sigh of relief along with Trudy, who had jumped out of the doorway to make room for the brooding man. Anne began to gather her things, grabbing her purse and pressing a chaste kiss to her daughters forehead. Jay had forgotten Hailey was still there in the midst of all the craziness. Anne reached the threshold before Trudy spoke up. “You don’t have to leave with him.” Anne gave her a teary shrug and disappeared down the hallway. 

Trudy collapsed into one of the chairs they had abandoned so quickly. “I’m sorry.” Jay said softly, his guilt eating him up.

Trudy rann her hands down her face, “You didn’t do anything wrong Jay, you did what you thought was best.” Jay shrugged, her approval doing very little to calm the pit in his stomach. “But Hailey can never know they were here.” 

Jay nods, “Yeah okay.” He took a seat next to Trudy, placing his hand over Hailey’s. He wished he could erase the past few hours, and he wished Hailey’s beautiful blue eyes would open do the pressure on his chest would lift. He was ready for the nightmare of waiting to be over. 

Hailey felt like she had been hit by a ton of bricks when she woke up, she opened her eyes and quickly shut them, groaning at the bright lights. 

Jay shot forward in his seat, “Hailey?” He gripped her hand a little harder and pulled his chair closer to the bed. 

She forced herself to open her eyes again, squinting. She recognized his voice and smiled softly. “Hey.” She croaked out, her throat dry from being asleep for so long. Hailey looked around the room and slightly nudged her head towards the pitcher of water beside her bed. Jay got the message and jumped up, getting her a glass. She gulped it down quickly, feeling a bit more like herself. Trudy announced that she was going to find a doctor, giving the two of them the room. 

“You scared me.” Jay said honestly, he had grown another set of balls since that morning. “How are you feeling?”

Hailey attempted to shrug, but it came out more of an awkward shake. “Okay, I guess.” 

Jay nodded, taking the next few moments to remind her what happened and explain their story. Thankfully Hailey remembered everything, right up to hearing his voice before she passed out. 

“How long was I out?” Hailey asked.

Jay sighed,“Since you got here last night, I’ll let the doctor explain everything.” 

“Everything?” Hailey asked, panicking a bit. She didn’t know the extent of her injuries and she had been in this position once before. It wasn’t fun. 

“Hey, hey.” Jay said, brushing a piece of tangled blonde hair behind her ear. “It’s gonna be okay, you’re going to be okay.” 

Hailey nodded, blinking back tears and deciding to change the subject. “How long have you been here?”

Jay grinned sheepishly, “Six this morning…” 

Hailey gasped, “When did you leave last night?”

“One.” Hailey was about to chew him out, but he beat her to it. “I know exactly what you are going to say and don’t you dare. I wanted to be here, I couldn’t have been anywhere else. I was going crazy at home when I was there.” 

Hailey blushed at his words, she hated that she was reacting to him this way because of their obvious situation, but she couldn't help it. The thought of him sitting in her hospital room for hours on end made her heart swell, as twisted as it was. 

“Let’s see what’s on TV…” Jay coughed, clicking the button on the remote. 

Hailey nodded, glancing past him. “Is that pizza?” 

Jay laughed and got up to get the box. He knew she probably wasn’t supposed to eat, but after his confession he would give her any distraction she wanted. 

Hailey turned her head to face the TV that was currently playing the local news. It was a press conference, the man speaking looked familiar and he was wearing a crisp uniform that she recognized. She had seen her uncle in it before. She read the heading on the bottom of the screen. 

Benjamin Severide - Office of Fire Investigation

Fire that potentially claimed the life of local teen Erin Lindsay has officially been ruled an arson.

Hailey’s eyes widened at the name. Severide. That was all the confirmation that Hailey needed, she knew she was right. Kelly’s dad worked in the very department that was controlling the investigation, if he was a part of it, they could make it go away. “Jay, look.” Jay glanced at the screen and by the look on his face, Hailey knew they were thinking the same thing. Someway, somehow, Kelly Severide was at the middle of all of it, and Hailey was going to find out exactly how.