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eeunoia · 4 years ago

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ENHYPEN Mini Series

E N H Y P E N as Vampires

pairings: jake sim x reader

summary: having all eternity to live on, Jake find it lonely to be all alone not until he set eyes over at you.

word count: 5k

warnings: suicide

a/n: Jake’s one shot was a little short but I hope it’s still okay. My recent works had received so much love from you guys! Thank you so much and I love you guys so much! Have a great day. 🌸 (Taglist still open!)

taglist: @rubyanne, @izneos, @jung-breadshop @llamabouquet @eterniki @hwangjangmi @full-sannie @danyxthirstae01 @flowerjaem @dreamykkoo @crjwon

“Go to hell, y/n!” I shut my eyes tightly as something hit my back hardly when my step sister started throwing things towards me.

I just turned 18 and now they’re trying to kick me out of from the house my Dad had left us. Well, my Mom died when I was just 9 years old. My father got so lonely because of her and he thought I was feeling the same way so he decided to re-marry.

He married my Step-mother four years ago. She have one daughter and they weren’t that nice to me. She just treat me nicely whenever my Dad is around, and now that he left me too. I have nobody else beside me. I’m all alone.

I cried silently as I tried picking up my things that were now scattered all over the floor. My step-mother starred down right at me with no sympathy. Beside her was my step-sister whose smirking widely while watching me suffer. I bet they’ve waited long for this to happen, to get rid of me.

After getting all of my stuff, I started walking directionless. Like a lifeless human, I was walking mindlessly. I don’t know where to go or even what to do. It will be night soon and I don’t think it will be too nice for a young girl to be all alone out here.

I gulped and quickly search for my phone. Delighted to see that there was still a little battery left, I gulped dialing someone.

“Who’s this?” I gulped feeling thrilled that she actually picked up.

“It’s me y/n.” I bit my lower lip and I heard her heavy sigh right away.

We weren’t close and maybe she’s even annoyed that I gave her a ring but I don’t have anyone else to call. My hand automatically made its way over to my lips as I started biting my fingernails.

“Why did you call me?”

“U-Uhh.. I don’t have anywhere else to go. My step mother kicked me out and--”

“And you’re calling me right now because? Hey, not because i’m the class president you're allowed to do this.” she sounded so sarcastic and annoyed at the same time.

You were silent for a while. You can’t fully blame her, to be called out of nowhere by someone you’re not close with will definitely weird and creepy. Not to mention that you’re one of the most bullied students in your class.

“Can you p-please help me out? Just this o-once. I just don’t know what to do anymore.” you’re mind are all messed up. No thoughts at all, the fact that you’ve been kicked out from the house where you spent your whole life with was still not sinking in to you.

Your eyes can’t even produce any tears at the moment. You feel like you’ve been crying too much that you actually got tired of it.

A sigh from the other line was heard and it pulled you back to reality, “What do you need?”

“C-Can I stay with you? Even in just a few--”

“What? No way! Don’t you have anyone else?” she sounded more irritated. Feeling more anxious about it, you gulped.

“I have nobody else.” you’re voice sounded so low and lifeless. Having nothing else to push you to live anymore, your last resort was to just take your own life.

“Ugh, why do you have to be a sore loser?” you bit your lower lip trying to ignore her rude comment. You have no one else who can take you in for a few days while you look for a job.

“Fine. Just go here.” and she dropped the call right away.

A small smile actually spreads through your face as you headed towards her apartment. Finally feeling like you’re starting to make a change in your life, you plot some plans inside your head. Things you need to do in order to live a better life.

As you arrive at her place, you knocked and waited patiently for her to open the door for you. With an unpleased look, she faced you and lets you inside.

She didn’t even ask if you’re okay or anything. Despite the bruises all over your body, she ignored it and just guided you to a vacant room. It was dusty and unorganized but you can’t complain. You should even be grateful she lets you be here for a few days.

“3-4 days maximum.” she reminded you before going out of the room.

You nodded your head even after she left and roamed your eyes around. Letting out a heavy sigh, you started arranging things so you can fix the bed and maybe get ready for sleep. You can feel your stomach grumbling out of hunger but you ignored it completely. You have no money to buy any food and you don’t want to trouble your class president for food as well. It would be too much hindrance for her.

You slept with an empty stomach that night so when you woke up the next day, you kind of don’t have any strength. When you went out, you saw a note over at the table saying she left some food and some spare keys.

Feeling thankful about it, you had breakfast and made sure you’ll thank her later on. When you arrived school, your step-sister was already there smirking at you. You tried hard avoiding her and just straightly went to your seat at the back.

The students around were starring at you for a bit while and even whispering with each other. Seems like your step-sister had announced at the whole class that you’ve been kicked out from your house. You were wondering what kind of false rumors did she create this time.

“It’s Jake!” your head snapped right over at the door when the girls inside your class got so excited about someone.

Jake Sim. Your eyes settled at the handsome boy who entered the class smiling. He was really attractive and almost the whole class likes him, including your step-sister. She was crazy for him.

You can’t blame her since he was really gorgeous. He’s nice too, always wearing a smile and kind to everybody. But theres just one thing that you’ve noticed with him. His eyes looked dead sometimes. Like even if he’s smiling, his eyes were lifeless.

You jolted a bit when both of your eyes met each other. With light red tinted over your face, you quickly looked away. This isn’t the right time to have a crush on somebody, y/n! You’ve got to find a job first.

After the bell rang, indicating that the class had finished, you hurried yourself out avoiding students. You’re determined to go and look for a job to support your needs.

The whole time remaining, you just tried looking for a job but no luck. You went back disappointed and trying hard to convince yourself that you can try and find for another one tomorrow.

The next days were just the same for you. It was no luck, you feel like you’re step-mother were starting to meddle with it as well. And also, lately, you’ve noticed Jake’s stares over at you during classes. He never done that before, but it was often these past two days. You don’t want to sound assuming or anything but that’s just how you noticed it.

The third day of hunting for a job, it was also a failure. With a heavy heart you trailed over at the quiet street of your town. It was 9pm, almost 10. Less people can be seen outside. After some rumors about the missing persons, people in your town started to be more careful.

Your feet brought you over a bridge. You starred right over at it mindlessly. Mind completely blank with thoughts, your mind wondered over those timed when you’re still happy. When you’re Mom was still there, back when you still have someone to lean on.

For the first time in days, you felt your eyes teared up. The image of your Mom that were always so clear for you flashed back right in your mind. Her comforting smile and warm hugs, you sure miss them the most. You cried silently while walking towards the edge of the bridge. You starred right down, it was the cold river.

With eyes full of tears, you roamed them around trying to check if somebody else was there. You wiped off your tears and started climbing over it. You have no will to live anymore so you just decided to take your own life.

Trembling a bit while standing at the other side of the bridge, you starred right down beneath you. The water looked so cold and dark. Feels like you’ll die right away once you jumped down.

Having just both of your two hands and the little space your stepping on as the only things that keeping you alive, you started battling with your own mind. Being completely confused, tired and lifeless, you really wanted to jump off.

“What are you doing?” your eyes snapped open and looked over at your right.

You gulped, eyes grew a bit at the sight of somebody in front of you. He was starring right at your eyes and you saw how cold his eyes were again.

“What are you doing here?” you asked him back emphasizing the you at him. Jake pursed his shoulders and even leaned over at the railings of the bridge beside you.

He’s acting like as if you were not at the other side and life’s in danger.

“Taking a stroll.” he casually answered.

“At this time?” you asked doubting him.

He smiled a little after nodding his head at you, “How about you? What are you doing? Are you gonna jump off?” he asked and starred down over the river.

You gulped, “N-Nothing.” if anything, you don’t want to cause trouble to anybody else.

He chuckled lightly, “Doesn’t seem like nothing to me.” he tilted his head then eyed you back.

“You’re planning to kill yourself, aren’t ya?” he asked, his accent popping a bit. You gulped, guilty. You were silent because one, he knows. Two, he still look gorgeous even if it’s dark already. The only light you guys have was the one from the bright moon.

“I don’t have any will to live in this cruel world.” your voice were low. The wind blew right towards at both you but you saw how he starred right over at your eyes.

There was a moment of silence before he lets out a sigh, “This world sure is cruel.” he agreed.

For the first time, somebody agreed with you. A small smile appeared over at your lips as you felt your heart races a bit. You don’t know if he’s really agreeing with you or he’s just really kind. Because honestly, there's nothing you can think of a reason why he’ll think this world is cruel for him. It seems like he already have everything and that his life was perfect.

“But if you live in it in a different way, it’ll change.” he muttered meaningful and he starred right at you once again, eyes piercing.

Your brows furrowed in confusion. You don’t get what he just said but even before you can ask him, he pulled out something from behind. It was tumblr?

He handed it over at you with a sweet smile. “What is this?” you asked, one hand holding over at the railing as the other accepted what he handed over. The space that you’re stepping over was enough to keep you steady but you're still holding on over at the steel railing.

“Wine. Might as well have some of that before dying right?” he smirked right at you.

Wondering a bit because of what he just said you looked at him with full confusion, he chuckled opening the lid for you.

“If you drink that, I won’t say any word about what I saw today.” he said smiling at you.

Biting your lower lip, you decided to do what he just said. Taking a sip, you groaned a bit finding it a bit strange. Having your eyes shut, you didn’t notice how Jake’s eyes turned red out of excitement just by looking at you drinking what he just gave you.

“Do as you promised.” you said after putting the almost empty bottle over at the railing.

You wiped over the corner of your lips and saw the familiar red color of wine. After having a sip from that drink, you kind of became more brave to do what you just planned moments ago.

Jake stood just beside you from the other side of the bridge. He watch how sorrow took over your eyes, tears streaming over your eyes. He hates it. All of it. He hates how people were so cruel to you, how you punish yourself from it and how you still try to keep a smile even after being treated badly by this world.

His face turned serious as he watch you slowly let go from the railing, body falling right over the cold river. He starred over as your body collided at the surface of the water.

He was sure it would take your life. A loss from the human world and a gain to his. With a smirk, he put his hands inside his pocket as he heads down over the river.

He roamed his eyes that quickly turned red and went over the water to go look for your body. He found you pretty much faster than expected, your face was full of bruises and probably broken bones. He gently placed his fingers over at your wrist to check your pulse.

He pulled you out and carried you bridal style, slowly he lets your body over the grass beside the cold river. The silent night even made it more colder but it doesn’t matter because Jake wasn’t even a living person so the cold is nothing to him anymore.

Jake’s eyes turned red as his fangs slowly showed as he leaned closer. A smirk spread right into his face as he felt no heartbeat coming from you. This world had lost you but now he have you for him, all for him.

Jake buried his fangs over your neck and drink from your blood, making all over his veins get too excited.

He leaned away starring right over at your unconscious body. He smirked, wiping off some blood dripping out from his mouth, “You’re gonna be with me forever, y/n.”

Your eyelids felt a little heavy as you open them slowly. An unfamiliar ceiling greeted you that made you furrowed your brows a little. You were confused where you were so you stood up.

You roamed your eyes around at the place. It looked elegant and cozy at the same time. Head aching a bit, your hand rested over at your temple as you try to remember the previous things that happened that can help you to know where you are.

Your eyes quickly snapped open when you remember yourself jumping off from the bridge. You starred right over your arms and you saw them completely fine, both of your legs were fine as well. There's no trace of signs that you’ve committed suicide.

It was so strange because you were so sure that you jumped off. Feeling completely confused, you ran your hands over at your hair and to your surprised, they grew a bit longer. Your eyes then notice how more pale you became.

“I see you’re awake now.” your head snapped over at the corner when you heard somebody talked.

“J-Jake?” you muttered his name.

He smiled sweetly at you. To your surprised it didn’t look so lifeless anymore. It looked livelier for some reason.

Oh right! Jake was there too! He watched you jumped off the bridge. Is he the one who saved you?

He slowly walked closer to you and sat down over at the edge of the bed. You looked at him, a lot of questions were already inside your mind.

“Let me see your eyes,” his voice sound so calm. You furrowed your brows as he leaned closer.

You felt this tingling inside your stomach as he smiled in satisfaction in front of you, “Beautiful.” he mumbled that made you flustered.

Did he just said beautiful?

“Do you feel hungry?” he asked like it's just normal for you to be here inside wherever this is.

“Did you save me?”

He starred at your eyes and he smiled. “You jumped, remember?”

You nodded your head because that’s clearly what you remembered. He nodded as well as he looked over your arms then back over at your face.

“Do you know anyone who lived right after trying to jump off from that bridge?”

You pursed your lips and shake your head no. In the cases you’ve known from your town, nobody ever lived after jumping off. So... why?

“Then... how?” you looked at him anticipating of any answers.

He smiled, hand stretched out over at you. He brushed away some hairs from your face and hung them over your ears. You were pretty sure you were flushed, but for some funny reason, you can’t feel any warmth from your body.

“You said you have no will to live anymore and that the world were so cruel.” he started, you nodded listening to him. He was right about that, even if its a bit blurry, you can still remember saying that to him.

“I told you if you lived it in a different way, it wouldn’t be so cruel. I just did you a favor.” he explained but you were still clueless about the things that were currently.

“I don’t understand.”

He smiled and stood up then walked towards the side table just beside the bed you were tucked in.

“Are you hungry?” he asked while holding something.

You didn’t talk, you actually don’t know. At the moment, you were confused and doesn’t feel anything.

But you felt the sudden hunger the moment he open the lid of the container he was holding. Letting out a small chuckle, Jake walk back to the bed.

“Ahh, I can’t get over with how beautiful you look, y/n. What to do? I think I found my obsession.” he muttered eyes fixed over at you.

You blushed hardly because of what he just said but quickly got distracted over the thing he was holding. The closer he gets, the hungrier you get.

When he hand it over to you, your brows furrowed at the sight of a red liquid inside.

“W-What is this?”

“I figured your body won’t take somebody else’s blood since it's still adjusting so i’ll be your blood bank for the mean time.”

You were stunned at your position when you heard about it. It is blood. Fresh blood of Jake. Why does it smelled so good? It make you drool in hunger.

“Am I...?”

You’ve heard about those things before. They were often became topics specially lately because of the sudden missing people over at your town.

Jake sat close to you, “Yeah, a vampire.”

Your hand lowered letting the cup rest over your thigh, you almost lose your mind. You don’t want to believe it but what else can explain the reason why you’re still here breathing when you jumped off a freaking bridge?

“B-But why? I told you I wanted to die.”

“Well, basically you’re already dead.”

You looked at him, frustrated. Okay, you are dead but that doesn’t even make sense! You're seem like you’re still alive. Breathing, but dead.

“You don’t understand, Jake. I wanted to die because I don’t want to be here. I have nobody else with me.”

His face turned serious and you’re not gonna lie, you somehow felt intimidated when that soft smile vanished from his face.

“Then what do you call me, baby? I’m here for you.” he said softly hand raised over to cup your face.

“Life’s been cruel to you and you were too good for that world.” his eyes turned red and you don’t know but they looked so pretty.

Two sharp fangs showed over from his lips as he smiled at you. Your mouth fell, right now, Jake looked really out of this world. You never know vampires can look this good. The books you used to read never told you they look this attractive.

“Now that I have you, I’ll make sure you won’t suffer anymore. Be with me,”

“Why me?”

Out of all the girls who were giving him attention, why you?

“Why not you?” he said starring right over at your eyes.

You were stunned, silent after he answered that to you.

He leaned closer to you, lips touching your cheeks lightly then over at your ears. It sent shivers over at your whole body but you loved it. Jake’s effect over at you, you enjoyed it.

“I’ll be here for you, y/n.” he whispered.

You gulped, lowering your head as you shut your eyes tightly.

“O-okay.” you answered.

Jake smirked, “That's my girl.”

You’ve noticed some changes from your physical appearance and even at some aspects of your personality. You’re not that anxious anymore, confidence filled you up for some reasons. It isn’t a bad thing.

You trailed over the empty hallway of your school. Classes already started so you’re now heading over your classroom. You’ve learnt that you’ve skipped school for 3 days already.

Arriving at the entrance of the room, heads turned towards your direction. Looking directly over your teacher, you smiled right at her. She was furrowing her brows while trying to determine who you are.

“Is that... y/n?” you heard one of your classmates whispered.

“I’m sorry for being late, Ms. Choi.” and you even bowed at her.

She looked dumbfounded looking right at you. She doesn’t know how to exactly describe but something changed.

“U-Uh... Ms. Y/n--”

Your teacher can’t even finish what she was about to say when a hand wrapped over your shoulder.

“Sorry for being late, Ms. Choi. We kind of had some problem on our way here.” Jake suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

You blushed but kept still. You were used to Jake’s affection. He’s such a loving person. He took care of you and you never felt that way ever since you’re Dad died.

“It’s o-okay, Mr. Sim. You two can sit now.” she said. The class were still silent as they were very shock at what’s happening right now.

Your eyes traveled over the students inside. They were looking at you in a different way, not in the way how they used to back when they’re still bullying you. Some of them looked at you with confusion, some with desire and some with fear.

You chuckled softly, starring at their pathetic faces. Specially your step sister, her eyes were a bit bigger than usuall.

“Y/n, right here baby.” Jake called you out. You nodded and turned your head towards him. As the teacher gets back to where she was interrupted, you sat down beside him.

Jake rested his hand over at the back rest of your chair. His hands started drawing small lazy circles over your other arm.

He leaned closer, “Did you see their faces?” he whispered at you dropping a kiss over at your shoulder before he leaned away.

You smirked nodding your head as you turned over at him. “They were so surprise.”

He chuckled, “Who wouldn’t be surprise? My girl looked so beautiful.” he said while facing the front. You blushed and you saw how his ears turned a bit red too. You chuckled and just tried focusing at the lesson.

As time pass by, you started to get more dizzy. “I’m dizzy.” you mumbled softly.

“You hungry?”

You looked over at him and slowly nodded your head. He chuckled finding you cute. He rummages over his things and pull out a tumblr. The same tumblr he handed you that night.

He brushed away some hair away from your face, “Take it easy with you in-take of blood.” he whispered after dropping a kiss over at your forehead.

You started drinking from the bottle and felt yourself getting much better. The class continued with you having your meal. Jake find you cute while you enjoy it so much.

When the classes were finally over, Jake and you headed outside the school hand in hand. Students followed both of you with stares full of curiosity.

“Uh, you should go on Jake. I’ll just go to the class president because of my things I left at her place.” you told him.

He nodded his head at you, “I’ll wait for you in the car.”

You smiled at her before nodding your head. When you saw him walked away, you started to walk back inside the campus to go and look for the class president. You did find her pretty fast. She was with your step sister and some from their circle of friends.

“Class president.” you called her out. They looked over you in unison and they looked surprised once again.

“oh y/n!” unlike before, she doesn’t look irritated by your presence. Your step sister was lowering her head as well, trying to avoid eye-contact.

“I’m just gonna inform you that I’ll be getting my stuff at your place later. Thank you for letting me stay.” I said smiling. Well even if she acted annoyed, I can’t deny that she was nice enough to keep me in.

“H-Huh? Why? You know what, I actually felt alone. You c-can stay if you want.”

You starred right at her eyes. Lies. It doesn’t look so sincere like how Jake’s eyes sparkles whenever he talks with you. He was so sincere with everything, warmth taking over you once he started comforting you.

You smiled a little, “Nah, it's fine. I already have a place to stay.”

“Where were you these past days? We w-were looking for y-you!” she said. Again, you can’t feel anything from her.

“I jumped off a bridge.” you straightly told her. She was dumbfounded as well as the other girls that were with her.

After seconds of silence, you chuckled. “I was kidding. Jake kept me in.”

They gulped and obvious envy were over their faces. You sighed and decided you should go on. As you turn around, you felt somebody held your arm.

“Y/n, Mom said you s-should go home.”

You slowly faced her then your eyes trailed over to her hand that was holding you. Her eyes weren’t blank and doesn’t look so rude like always. You were stunned and can’t talk for a while. You don’t know what to response to her.

Even before you can talk, a hand brushes away her hold off from you. A hand instantly held your waist and pulled you closer to his body.

“Her home now is with me.” Jake said and you felt that familiar comfort that you’ve never felt for so long.

Jake guided you away from and you went along without saying a word.

Weeks passed by with Jake and you’ve been very happy with him. He introduced you to this amazing world he have. Days with Jake was never boring and full of surprises. He clearly made you happy.

You let out a loud breath while you felt his soft fingers caressing your arms while you’re both snuggling close to each other.

You’re both enjoying the silence between you while laying down to your bed.

“How did you turn me again, Jake?” you were curious.

“The wine I offered you that night have my blood in it.” he chuckled remembering what he just did back then.

“Why do you have a thing like that with you while strolling around?” you turn over and rested your hand over at his chest while you lay your head over it. You looked over to Jake and he have this smirk right over his face.

“I was following you around for days and I figured I should be prepared once I saw an opportunity to give you that drink.” he said.

“So you do wanted to turn me.”

“Yeah. You thought I was kidding when I said that?” he raised an eyebrow at you. With a chuckle you nodded your head.

“Jake, I’ve always noticed your eyes were cold before. Why?”

He kept his smile while starring right at you, he sighed then gently brush away some strands from your face.

“You know, not everyone is fond of living forever. I’ve never found somebody who’s willing to stay with me. I was born as a vampire and I felt so alone.” He sound so sad that you actually felt bad for him.

“When I saw you, I knew I wanted you. I told myself I’ll take it slow and won’t force you. But when I saw you struggle in this life and really planned to take your life, I became selfish.” his eyes turned red as he starred lovingly at you.

You gulped cupping his face. “What if I told you I don’t want this?”

You saw pain over his eyes as he held your hand that was holding his face. With soft kiss, he showered your hands with it. “I don’t know, baby. I don’t know if I can let you go.”

You pursed your lips, “I’m all alone in my life too, Jake.” you said and he opened his eyes to look at you.

With affection, your eyes turned red as you leaned closer to his face. “But now that you’re here, I have a home I can call mine. I have a person I can be with forever.” you mumbled and he leaned closer as well for a kiss.

“I love you,” you mumbled.

“I love you, y/n.”

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wellhellotragic · 3 years ago

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These Wounds Won't Seem to Heal 3/4

Summary: It’s not her fault. She’s still new and doesn’t know. He’s not flawless. Not anymore. He’s got scars, ones she’s seen first hand. Ones she helped tend to. His body is covered in them. There’s a thin red line where he took a bottle to the face during his early beat cop days. There’s another angry red mark on his torso from where he was stabbed with a knife in his ribs. The one where he had his hand slammed in a locker as a teenager has long since faded, only the barest hint remaining, only visible in just the right lighting.

There’s two oval scars now too. One in his stomach and one on his chest. Those are from the worst day of her life.But none of those scars compare to the ones he carries on the inside. The self-inflicted cuts he makes to his soul never quite healing over. He blames himself. It’s not his fault.

There’s a scar on her soul now too. One he left. A piece of her heart forever missing.

Rating: Mature (mostly for language)

A/N: Guy, I suck so hard core. I don't even know how I let so much time lapse between chapter 2 and now, and then to really top off my suck-o-meter, I realized that there's going to have to be a chapter 4 because I can't fix what I've done so easily. Not realistically at least. I promise, and happy ending is coming though, and it won't take me another 8 months to get it up. I hope to have it up and finished by the weekend.

The AO3 version

It’s been a hell of a night. She’s not sure where exactly it falls on her list of worst days ever, but it’s in her top five. It has to be. It’s not the worst, that honor is saved for the night she almost lost Killian, but it’s still up there. She’s spent hours now going through all of the details over and over again with Graham and Lance, her story never changing. Getting poked and prodded by EMTs, despite telling everyone that she’s fine.

She’s not, but they can’t stitch up her insides.

David, her partner, on the other hand has a bullet hole in his leg. Better than his head though.

She’s not even sure if she can fully reconcile everything that happened. She and David were investigating the death of a low profile importer, a nobody, interviewing some dock workers that had found the body. Some gruff looking men who easily blended in with the usual fishmongers and cargo sorters.

But they weren’t. She realized it just a second too late, right before a bag was pulled over her head. She fought like hell, but she was at a disadvantage. From what she heard, David had put up a fight as well, but in the end, it was useless, and she lost consciousness with a sharp blow to the head.

She woke up strapped down to a chair with David the same a few feet beside her. She shouldn’t have been surprised, Jefferson had always given her a bad feeling, but she never actually thought he’d go dirty. She certainly never expected to be facing the wrong side of his department issued sidearm.

Even now, everything is still a blur. Graham assured her it’s the shock, that it’ll fade once the adrenaline wears off; that everything will clear up after a good night's rest. She’s not sure about that though. It’s four in the morning now and the adrenaline seems to be hanging on for dear life still and she knows she's not going to rest any time soon. Humbert offered to drive her home but she declined, choosing to wait for August to finish wrapping up his report.

She’s not sure what time it is when they finally arrive at her apartment. The battery in her cell phone died ages ago. Neither of them even make a move for the fridge, choosing to bypass the beer she keeps stocked for the hard nights. Instead, the two of them move in silence to her room. She plugs in her cell before crawling in bed next to him, like when they were kids in Ingrid’s foster house. She’s not sure who’s comforting who at this point, but she knows that she just needs to be with family.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She doesn’t, but she knows she needs to or it’ll eat her alive. She’s tried that once already and it ended up with her almost having a complete nervous breakdown and a three week leave of absence with daily Archie sessions.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

It’s true. So much has happened in the last twelve hours, there’s no one easy to pinpoint place to begin. So August goes first. He fills in the blanks that he can, so that she might be able to piece together the rest. He tells her about Killian sending him undercover, about Jefferson and missing drugs and money. How Jefferson was helping to conceal evidence that would link Walsh and the Nikko empire to a wide distribution of pixie dust.

Some of it is just speculation, that Jefferson must have figured out they were closing in on him and that’s why he went for Emma, and David was probably just collateral damage. How he most likely picked Emma because he knew how much she meant to him , and while he didn’t say Killian’s name specifically, the implication hung over her like a heavy cloud.

“Before you got there, he told Killian to choose. Between me and David I mean. To pick which one of us would live and which one would die. And then he just started laughing and screaming in this crazed voice that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget.”

It was the single most terrifying thing she’d ever heard. The mania that accompanied it. She already knew that it was going to haunt her for months to come, if not longer.

It’s a real Gracie’s choice. Gracie’s choice Killian. GRACIE’s CHOICE!!!

She felt August shift next to her.

“Gracie was his daughter. She died while he was undercover with a Southie Gang. Killian was undercover with Cruella at the time. It was a freak accident, a gas leak and the house went up in flames, but he was convinced that she was killed by one of the De Vil boys. He told me once that he knew Killian had given him up as a snitch to prove his worth. The De Vil’s had nothing to do with the Southie boys, but he’d twisted it up in his mind. I never thought he’d do anything about it though. It was just crazy drunk venting one night.”

She knows August. Knows that he’s blaming himself for what happened tonight, but she ignores it. Nothing she says will stop him from tormenting himself, and she’s not done.

“I told him to choose David. He has this whole perfect life, you know. An adoring wife and a new baby, all of these people that would miss him if he were gone. I told Killian to save David, and I-” She hates how small she feels when she cries, but she can’t hold back the tears. “He gave me this look. He’s been cold, but this was something different. There was just so much anger in his eyes.”

And that’s when she breaks. Knowing that hated her was one thing, but watching him train his gun on her. Seeing the pure darkness in his eyes. She doesn’t know how to voice it to August, but she knows that if August hadn’t arrived when he did, she knows he would have done as she asked. That he wouldn’t have had to think twice about it. And it’s that knowledge that sliced open the last piece of her heart that had been hanging on by a thread, even after all that time.

August holds her through the tears, until she finally exhausts herself enough to sleep. And so she drifts off, completely unaware of the new voicemail alert waiting for her.

________________________________

The February air is cooler on the water and he kicks himself for not bringing a heavier jacket. It’s been ages since he’s been out on this boat, and time has helped him to forget everything except for the things he wishes he could. Liam always used to tease him, so much so that Killian would reject any offers of warmth from his brother just to prove a point. He wasn’t some silly kid that needed to be minded anymore. He was capable of doing everything on his own, except for bringing an extra coat. He forgot everytime, and today was no exception.

Luckily for Killian, the spare that Liam kept on the boat just for him is still in its place, folded neatly in a small storage locker below deck. It hits him in the gut a little, that Liam could be so right about some things and incredibly wrong about others.

It’s eating Killian alive, not talking to his brother. Not being able to express himself because despite everything Emma has done for him, Liam still doesn’t approve of her. Liam often still thinks of him as the teenage boy, awkward and desperate for approval from anyone that will give it to him, even if it means getting taken advantage of.

He’s not that kid anymore though. He isn’t letting his crush steal his essays and letting her claim this as her own. He isn’t using all of his hard earned money to buy her jewelry that she’s just going to pawn for cash later. He isn’t following after Emma like a lost puppy dog.

He’s in love with her, and he has a sneaking suspicion that she feels the same way. But at this rate, he’s never going to get Liam’s blessing, the only approval he needs anymore.

He shouldn’t be thinking about this now. He really shouldn’t. Not when he and Liam are sitting in a rented dilapidated loft across from an abandoned fabric warehouse waiting for the Canal Street Cutter to emerge. There had been a lot of chatter that morning about where he might be hiding and Liam assembled teams throughout South Boston hoping to catch a glimpse of him.

Emma and August were stationed about eight blocks over. Lance and Arthur were on the edge of South Boston and Waterfront. Other teams were scattered, but too far away to get to if they needed assistance.

Killian had tried to tell Liam that it was a bad idea to spread everyone so thin, but the elder Jones brother had been instant and headstrong as ever. It would have been a career making arrest, and Liam, ever aspiring to be more just wouldn’t let that chance pass him by.

“I just think that you have other obligations that require your attention right now.”

“If this is the bros before hoes speech you can just save it.”

“Killian,” The exasperation evident in his brother's tone, “you know I detest such vile language. It's crude and you are better than that little brother.”

“What obligations?” He has to quash his desire to correct his brother’s description of him.

“I just think that you are meant for so much more in this life and I worry that you gave up so much when you left the narcotics division to follow her into homicide. You were a rising star there and now you’re having to cut your teeth all over again.”

“It’s not as if I’m starting all over. For God’s sake Liam, I just made Lieutenant. But there’s more to life than a job.”

His brother takes his gaze away from the binoculars to turn to Killian.

“Look at father and all of his vices. It strayed him from the path. But you, Killian, you persevered and now everything you've wanted is in your grasp.”

“This isn't the same thing and you know it. Emma isn't some pathetic man’s addiction. Liam, I'm in love with her.”

“Killian,” Liam pauses, taking a deep breath. “She's a distraction. Think of all that you’ve accomplished in the year that you were undercover. You brought down an entire crime syndicate. You did that without her taking your attention away.”

“I didn't bring the De Vil family down because ‘we’ were apart. I did it because we were ‘apart’ and I knew the only way I'd be able to see her again without putting her in harm's way would be to find the evidence and make the arrest.”

“Fine, if you need another reason, have you thought about working directly with her, or even over her in a supervisory position? Have you considered how your personal relationship with a subordinate could affect your judgment?”

“It’s not-”

Liams sees movement in the distance, cutting off Killian’s rebuttal, but his view is obscured so he motions for Killian to follow him, to leave the safety of their little room. They stay silent as they walk downstairs and head out a propped-open door leading to an alleyway. They had to wind through hallways to get from the loft outside and now they’re further away from the warehouse with no cover.

Killian even tries pointing out how visible they are, but Liam shuts him down, determined to close the case. He’s halfway sure that Liam’s trying to prove a point about how Killian can’t be successful and be in a relationship with Emma. He’s seen it before, the way professional jealousy destroys couples. But Emma’s not like that. She wouldn’t see his success as her failure.

They try to skirt the perimeter and he knows he should keep his mouth shut, this just isn’t the time, but he’s just so frustrated that he can’t keep holding it in.

“Please don’t make me choose between you.” It’s an angry whisper, more to himself than anything, and even though he did his best to keep his volume low it’s still enough that Liam’s heard and turns back to him, missing sight of the empty beer bottle at his feet.

The glass battering against the gravel echoes through the night as they both stay silent, waiting to see if they’ve been heard. The air is still around them, and Killian thinks they just might have lucked out.

And then he hears the gunshots ring out.

Liam is on the ground before Killian has time to register what’s happened. He runs to Liam, but gets knocked to the ground before he can get to him. His body hurts and he can see blood covering his hand from where he just touched his abdomen. He’s always heard people say that the shock blocks out the pain, but they must all be liars, because the longer he lays there, the more the pain intensifies.

It takes everything he has to pull himself behind a dumpster, half crawling, half slithering like a snake.

The shock eventually did kick in though, because even to this day he has no memory of radioing in for help. Just the vague memories of Emma leaning over him. The look in her eyes as she tried her best to hold back tears.

The same tears he fought back the night he left Boston, like the coward he was. But Archie was right. He needed to get his head on straight, to distance and center himself. He had to leave, for her.

He’s still wrestling with the guilt. He talked about it with Archie, how she begged him to kill her and save David. And that he actually considered it for about two full seconds. Not because he wanted to, but because he didn’t want her feeling the way he did. The burden of knowing that someone else was dead, and knowing that no matter how good you are, how hard you try, that you’ll never live up to them. He didn’t want her hating herself the way he did. Didn’t want her to destroy herself like he had.

But then something snapped inside of him and rage bubbled up. The audacity of her to beg him to kill her. For her to try and force that decision on him, with no regard to him or his feelings.

It was at that moment that he finally realized what he’d been doing to her ever since Liam had passed away. He finally understood the choice she’d been forced to make that night. And he knew - he knew that despite it all - he could never live with himself if he’d chosen anyone but her. That he couldn’t let her go just like she didn’t with him.

The only thing that saved him was Boothe. In the moments that passed after August arrived, while the two of them tried to wrestle the gun away from Jefferson, he felt the weight of Liam’s death wash over him. And then he heard a shot ring out and there was nothing but panic. Panic and guilt.

It felt as though ages had passed as he searched for Emma in the smoke filled room. The SWAT team had moved in at some point, but he’d been too focused on fighting off Jefferson to notice. He pushed through the sting in his eyes and the tightness of his chest as he looked for her, but all he saw through the haze were armored cops everywhere.

It wasn’t until he was forcibly escorted outside the building that he saw her, saw that she was safe, and then his stomach turned. He ran around a corner away from all of the prying eyes, and for the first time in his career, he gave in and let the night overcome him.

It’s been nearly a year since that night and he’s been running ever since. Some days are better than others. The anger is mostly behind him, but some nights he still wakes up in a sweat clutching his bed sheets, ready to fight. But there’s never anyone around to take a swing at, because he’s all alone. He’s pushed away anyone that ever mattered and isolated himself on that damn boat.

He thinks of Emma, wonders if she’s moved on or not. He’s too cowardly to call her, partly because he has no idea what he will say if she answers, but mostly because he’s terrified that she won’t answer. So he broods. He takes to the local bars as he sails the coastline and drinks a little too much before stumbling back to Liam’s boat alone. It’s a wonder nobody’s robbed him yet for what a careless sot he’s been.

Tonight is one of those nights. He’s made his way down to Florida and back, only a few hours away from Boston, and his demons are screaming again. He’s hoping against all hope that the rum in the tumbler across from him will help quiet them. Just holding the small glass in his fingertips helps a bit. A placebo of sorts. He doesn’t want to be this man anymore though. This pathetic lonely human. He doesn’t want to feel this way anymore, but he doesn’t know how to fix it. Archie said that him realizing it was a good first step but he’s not sure if he agrees. He’s called Archie a lot over the last year. Somehow doing therapy over the phone as the boat sways back and forth under his feet has helped to ease his hesitancy. There’s something about knowing that he can hang up at any time if he wants, and that no one knows. No one will judge him.

They don’t talk about Emma, not in present tense at least. They’ve had conversations about the way he’s treated her in the past, about his complicated feelings for her, the way it’s all shaped him, but they never talk about her now. He’s not sure if it’s because Archie doesn’t know if he’s ready for that, or if Archie knows something that he’s absolutely not ready for.

Archie is here tonight though, the rum is.

He’s still twirling the amber in his hand as he hears the familiar scraping of a nearby barstool against a wooden floor. There’s a scent that follows, a floral perfume that doesn’t match with the musk of the dive bar. He doesn’t look at her directly, doesn’t need to when he can see her from the mirror behind the bar. Her top is low, flashing more skin that it’s covering. She’s closer than he thought.

“Is that for me?” She’s bold.

He’s reminded of those early days on the force, when he wouldn’t even have to talk to a woman. When he could just flash her a smile and she’d be on his arm heading out the door to her place. He’s not that guy though, he’s salty and cynical, and the look he flashes her is closer to a smirk.

“Excuse me?” “Well, you’ve been toying with it for almost twenty minutes. I just thought maybe you were waiting for me to walk into your life.”

Was he this bad at picking up women?

“Look, I’m not trying to be rude, but I’m not in the mood for woman.” “So you’re gay?”

It’s a good thing he hasn’t started drinking yet because he damn well might have chocked otherwise. He doesn’t get a chance to respond though. The bubbly blonde that served him his rum has returned with a spray bottle in hand. “Mary of Mothers. Didn’t I already have you escorted out of here tonight, Teresa?”

“Bite me, Tinkerbelle.”

The girl behind the bar might be all of five foot tall but there’s a beast inside her that towers over any man in that bar and before he knows what’s happening the bartender is drowning the girl in what smells like stainless steel cleaner and the words coming out of her mouth would make any Navy man blush.

The girl ends up running away and Killian isn’t sure what to make of any of it. He’s broken up bar fights before, but he’s never seen anything quite like that.

“Sorry about that. I know this little bar might not seem like much, but it’s all I’ve got and I’ll be damned if I let the likes of her selling her body in here.” “Oh, she wasn’t-” “Trust me, where you had agreed upfront or not, you would have been light whatever cash you have left in that wallet before the night was up. And I’ll bet you dollars to pennies you would have had a lovely little itch or two down there.” She nods her head towards his crotch before switching the subject like she hadn’t just implied the poor woman from before was an STD ridden whore. “So, I haven’t seen you here before. Where you from?”

He’s not sure how she’s disarmed him so quickly, but he finds himself telling her all about himself over the next hour. Business has slowed down and her other barmate seems to be more than capable of handling the few strays still walking in.

She makes him laugh too with her feisty spirit. It’s been far too long since he’s felt at ease like this. They talk and talk. Not about much in particular, just random conversation. She bought the bar about six years ago, and tells him about how it’s let her build the family she always wanted and never really got. She’s carved out her own little place in the world and he envies her that. The way she can just lay her whole life bare to a complete stranger while he can’t even talk to the people that know him best.

The night rolls on and it’s time to close up. He half expects that she’s going to invite him upstairs, to the little apartment she mentioned earlier, but she surprises him. She’s done that a few times tonight, but this one hits him in the gut. “So, what’s her name?”

This time he actually does chock on the water she’s poured for him.” “I’m sorry, what?”

“Killian, in the last few hours, you’ve told me your entire life story, everything from your shitty father to your arrogant brother, your job, your leave of absence, but you haven’t mentioned a girl one single time. You’re holding back, which means there’s something to hold back.”

“You don’t know that. I could be gay.” “Um, ya, I saw you check out Teresa’s rack earlier, definitely not gay. So what’s the deal.” He doesn’t want to talk about it, but he doesn’t want to be rude either. So he gives her as little as possible, but she sees through him. In fact, she actually asks him what the hell he’s waiting for as she pushes him out the door.

He doesn’t really know what he’s waiting for to be honest. He’s wanted to go back to Boston, but there’s just so many threads he left unravelled when he left.

#These Wounds Won't Seem to Heal #Captain Swan #captain swan ff #CS fanfics

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quicksiluers · 3 years ago

Note

for the writing prompts, maybe…48 (could be college rather than high school?) or 23? no need to do both, pick whichever gets the words flowing! (and Grant/Sherman for the ship, unless you’d rather write something else lol, I don’t much mind)

so I went with 23. meeting on the train au, but I love 48 as well so I think I MAY write something for that?? I'll keep you posted!

Once again, I went overboard...cause why not, it's what I do best. Under the cut, hope you enjoy! (and yeah it's Grant/Sherman, I'm on a roll with them so why not lol)

“Folks, we appreciate your patience during this time. Our crew is working hard to fix the issues we seem to be having with the controls. We’re estimating another half hour before we start moving again…”

Grant sighed, gazing out the window. The leaves of the trees were slowly starting to change over from deep green to a smattering of orange, yellow, and red. Some of them blew off their branches, dance like in the wind as they spun around. His eyes followed them as they blew further away before they were lost to him. If he was resulting to watching leaves being pushed around, then Grant knew he was truly bored out of his mind.

Normally, the train was more reliable than this. He had been riding this same line for years and never once had any issues. There was a first time for everything of course. Luckily it was for a trip where he wasn’t in too much of a rush. As much as he wanted to see his family, he didn’t mind a small delay in having to confront another issue with his father. He could already play out the scenario in his head and was exhausted by the idea of it.

Something poking him in the shoulder brought him out of his thoughts, “Hey, do you know if the outlet is working?”

“I believe so,” Grant looked down at his phone, noticing the little charge symbol still over his battery. His eyes caught the brown ones looking back at him, his fellow passenger with a scowl on his face. Either he looked like that all the time or the wait was making the redhead impatient.

It could be a mix of both.

“It is, let me just…,” pulling his charger from the outlet, he held out his hand to the other man, “I can plug it in for you.”

“Thanks,” the other man muttered, “Can’t believe we’re stuck sitting here like this…”

The plug was passed over to him and quickly Grant pressed it into the outlet. He had seen the redhead a few times on the train before. It was hard to miss him. Going to school in DC as he did, it still was rare to see someone with such red hair. He liked it, though he wouldn’t tell his fellow passenger that. He’d think he was some type of creep.

“Well, hopefully, they can get it fixed.”

Scoffing slightly, the ginger raised his eyebrow at him, like the idea of that happening was foolish, “Do you really think they will? I’ll bet it takes another hour.”

Grant frowned at that, the other man’s tone striking a nerve, “Well I think it’ll be a half-hour like they said. Care to make a bet on it?”

Amusement flashed in the stranger’s brown eyes, “What’re we betting?”

“I’ll buy you whatever you want from the dining cart.”

“I have a better idea,” the redhead grinned, “What stop are you getting off at?”

Confused, but unwilling to back down, Grant replied, “New York City.”

The other man’s grin grew, “So am I. Whoever wins has to buy the other one’s dinner. At any place of their choosing.”

“Is there a price limit on this?”

“Why?” He crossed his arms smugly, “Think you’re going to lose?”

The stranger was pushing buttons. Grant stared at him, trying to see past the overconfidence, “Just want to make sure I don’t run you dry when you lose.”

Laughing, the other man put out his hand, “Funny. Fine, how about $50?”

“Seems fair,” he grabbed the other hand, giving it a firm shake, “Grant, by the way.”

“Sherman,” the grin stayed in place, looking down at his phone, “We’ll have to wait and see. Just know that I like spicy food, so hopefully, you can handle that.”

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

“I still can’t believe those assholes fixed it that fast.”

Grant bit into his noodles, covering up the grin on his face. His new friend had been cursing about losing for over an hour.

About five minutes after their bet, the conductor came back over the speakers and said everything was back up and running, much to the delight of the other passengers. Grant kept his face neutral as he watched Sherman’s drop, much to his delight. It wasn’t often that the things he bet on won out in the end.

There was a ramen spot he always stopped at when he was in the city. When he had mentioned it to Sherman, the taller man tried to not be too pouty about it, making Grant laugh.

“Well, maybe next time you’ll have more faith in them,” he teased, mixing over the noodles, trying to absorb more of the flavor into them. Though tempted to find a more expensive spot, he knew better than to be boastful about his win. Any free meal was a good mean in his book, “It is their job.”

Slurping loudly, the redhead grumbled something under his breath that Grant didn’t catch. He rolled his eyes before digging into his food again, savoring the simple flavors. His eyes caught Sherman’s hand going for the spices again and he shook his head, “How can you even eat anything with that much spice?”

“I should be asking how you can eat something with such mundane flavors,” Sherman countered, catching himself at the annoyed expression on Grant’s face. He sprinkled a few more flakes onto the noodles, “I mean…I just don’t understand how you don’t like any spices.”

“I like some,” objected Grant, “They just can’t be…too spicey.”

“Which defeats the purpose,” Sherman pointed out, emphasizing it with his chopsticks, “The spice gives it a rich flavor! And there are so many different kinds, combining them makes anything better. You’re missing out.”

Grant frowned, eyes flickering over to the spices on the table. Why was it bothering him? He barely even knew this guy! People always teased him about his lack of taste before and it never bothered him. But it was different with Sherman, though he couldn’t place why.

Reaching out, he grabbed the container and sprinkled it on top of the remaining noodles. Mixing the flakes in, Grant gathered up a good portion of the noodles and stuck them in. It didn’t seem too bad…

Sherman stared at him, his eyes slightly wide, “Oh shit Grant, you really…”

That determination he prided himself in melted away quickly. His mouth felt like it was on fire, the flavor overwhelming, and he wasn’t sure if he was going to choke or suffering finishing up the food. Quickly, he swallowed the rest, his throat burn as they went down. Grant began to cough into his elbow, squeezing his eyes shut as the burning sensation found its way to his chest.

A glass was pushed into his hand and without even looking he brought it up to his lips, swallowing the contents. It took him a second to realize it wasn’t water, but milk. The pain slowly ebbed away, his tongue still tingling.

A low whistle brought him out of his heat-related pain. Grant looked up, watching Sherman thank a waiter before turning back and looking at him with that dumb smile on his face, “You weren’t kidding about that lack of tolerance.”

He couldn’t tell if it was from the heat of the spice or the rush of embarrassment that made his cheeks burn. Grant grabbed a napkin, whipping his nose with it while glaring at Sherman, “You could have mentioned it was really hot.”

“Hey don’t blame me cause you went all gun-ho with that,” Sherman held his hands up, trying hard not to laugh, “I didn’t dump all of that spice on your food.”

Abandoning the rest of his food, there was no way in he was going to finish it now, the two got up and paid, leaving the restaurant behind. The cool fall air refreshed Grant as they walked along the sidewalk, his tongue still tingling from the awful sensation. The pair walked in silence, the constant city noises filling the void.

“Hey,” Sherman pointed out, grabbing Grant’s arm lightly, “there’s an ice cream place over there. Let me make it up to you since you didn’t get to finish your food.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Grant reasoned, “I was the one who did it.”

“I insist,” the redhead replied, stepping in front of him. Grant’s eyes gazed up at him, furrowing his eyebrows. He hoped he didn’t make Sherman feel bad about what happened. It was just a dumb, spur-of-the-moment decision on his part.

A screeching horn made them jump closer together, heads whipping around toward the noise. The drivers were cursing at each other, one of them shaking their fists, before speeding off on the green light.

Typical New York City, Grant thought, laughing to himself. He felt himself pressed up against something warm and quickly realized how close he was to Sherman. Heat rushed to his face, embarrassment taking over, “Sorry, didn’t realize the car horn made me so…”

Looking anywhere but the redhead, he went to step back when he felt the grip on his arms tighten. Grant froze, looking down at Sherman’s hand. His head felt like it was spinning out of control, emotions all over the place.

“It’s fine…”

Their eyes locked, the noises of the city life around them fading away. Grant wasn’t sure who made the first move but it didn’t matter when their lips came together, the redhead’s chapped slightly from the colder air. Tilting his head, Grant was overcome with a taste of spice that lingered in Sherman’s mouth. He felt his eyes close as he melted into the kiss, sighing softly when Sherman’s lips left his for a moment before taking them again. His hands slide under Sherman’s arms, gripping the back of his coat tightly. Another wave of warmth ran through him when he felt the ginger’s arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Their noses bumped into each other, causing them to part.

Grant stared up at him, trying to catch his breath. Sherman’s chest was rising and falling rapidly, a pink hue covering his cheeks.

“…If that’s how you insist on ice cream, I guess I’ll have to say yes.”

The redhead stared down at him with a bewildered expression before laughing, leaning his forehead against Grant’s. Grant leaned back, trying to dig his hills into the cement to support the sudden weight, smiling. Their noses brushed briefly, Sherman lightly kissing again.

“I’m happy to hear it.”

#replies #aceofthyme #writing prompt ask #i also mixed in a bit from araiz's drawings...you'll see how :D #again i got overboard but ugh...i'm having fun with these dumb little meat cute aus

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singledarkshade · 4 years ago

Text

Can I Return This Gift

Summary: When Gideon's former friend sends her an email on her birthday, she has no idea that it contained government secrets and would change her life forever. The TimeShip Chuck AU no one asked for but I had to write. Author’s Note: I was watching Chuck and somehow my brain came up with this AU. I blame @incendiaglacies completely. Anyway, enjoy. ********************************************* “You know this is your party,” Gilbert said, sitting beside his sister, “For your birthday. Why are you hiding in your room?”

“Because everyone here are all friends of you and Gary,” Gideon frowned, “And none of mine.”

Gilbert frowned in the way only an overprotective older brother could, even if there was only ten minutes between them.

“All the people here have connections. They are able to help you get a proper job,” Gilbert frowned, “One where you’re might actually live up to your potential.”

Gideon clenched her fists in annoyance, this was an argument they’d had many times and she didn’t want to repeat it.

“The last time I had an interview they asked why I didn’t finish University?” Gideon snapped, forcing her annoyance down, “And I can’t lie because they check. They won’t believe I was kicked out for something I didn’t do.”

Wrapping his arm around her, Gilbert hugged him sister, “I know but it’s been five years. I just want you to show part of the ambition you had back then.”

Gideon opened her mouth to retort but as she heard Gary outside, she sighed, “Let’s go to the party.”

Zari leaned back in the computer chair with her feet on the bed, “I love your brothers, but some of their friends are…” she shuddered.

Gideon smiled, “I know.”

Zari took another bite of the cake she had stolen from an annoyed Gary, while Gideon unclipped her hair and shook it out.

“Hey,” Zari said suddenly, “Miranda Coburn remembered your birthday.”

Surprise filled her, “What?”

“Miranda Coburn, the bitch that lied and got you kicked out of school has sent you an email,” Zari told her.

Gideon let out a sigh, “That’s unexpected.”

“Not the word I would use,” Zari noted.

Opening it Gideon frowned, “What the hell?”

Zari read the email, “The ship has been boarded by pirates and you have no way out. What do you do?” turning to Gideon she asked, “What does that mean?”

“It’s from one of the text based videogames we used to play,” Gideon said, frowning in annoyance at the memories this was bringing up, “We created our own around a group of time travellers on a ship.”

Zari laughed, “Okay, you’ve always been so cool,” she stretched, “Alright, I have to go. I will see you in the morning.”

Gideon hugged her friend, “Thanks for coming.”

“Would not have missed it for the world,” she smiled, before she climbed out the window leaving Gideon alone.

Brushing her hair out Gideon kept glancing at the computer wondering why, after all this time, Miranda would contact her. She tried to ignore it, but her curiosity was far too strong, and Gideon reopened the email.

“Strap yourself in,” Gideon typed the answer, “And open the airlocks.”

The screen suddenly seemed to melt and pictures flashed before her, Gideon couldn’t look away standing frozen until the screen flashed ‘Download Complete’.

Gideon stared at the screen for a moment before she collapsed in a heap on her bedroom floor.

“I didn’t think you drank that much last night,” Zari noted as Gideon sat with her head on the desk of the AI Crew booth.

“I didn’t,” Gideon groaned against the strange headache she’d had all morning, before sighing and looking around, “Where’s Felicity and Cisco?”

Zari smiled, “The kids are getting coffee to keep going as they come off their energy drink high.”

Gideon sighed, “You know soon they’ll graduate and leave us here as they head to their exciting careers.”

Patting her shoulder, Zari replied, “Time to be the responsible one in the crew.”

Felicity and Cisco appeared carrying their large cups from the specialty coffee place just a few doors down in the shopping plaza.

“Okay, guys,” Gideon said, “We have a computing killing virus making the rounds. It is on Isabel Roschev’s website, yes the porn star, so lonely guy calls are going to be….” she trailed off as the information on the televisions playing around the store distracted her and strange images filled her head along with knowledge she shouldn’t have, “He’s already here,” she murmured.

“Are you okay?” Cisco asked.

Gideon shook her head, “Yes, sorry. Everyone should get back to work.”

As they dispersed Gideon shook herself, it was going to be one of those days.

Gideon sat going through paperwork for the offsite work the team did. It was something she tried not to let pile up, although every so often it was inevitable.

The bell rang and she grabbed it, “Not now, Zari.”

“Should I come back later?” a man asked, surprisingly with an English accent.

Gideon winced realising it was a customer, and slowly looked up to see a man standing with an amused smile on his face. And it was a nice face, with sharp kind green eyes, sandy hair and beard.

“I’m sorry,” Gideon realised she was staring, “What can I do for you?”

He pulled out a phone and passed it to her, “I’m having issues with my phone. I don’t seem to be getting calls and can’t make them either.”

“Oh,” she recognised the model, “Yes, this is a common problem with this type of phone. If you give me a few moments…” she opened the back and pulled out the battery explaining as she worked, “The sim card needs to be locked in place and although it might seem to be in correctly, it isn’t always,” she replaced the battery before closing the case and handing it back to him.

“Thank you…”

“Gideon,” she smiled.

“Gideon,” he said before reciprocating, “I’m Rip. Thank you for your help and not treating me like I’m a complete idiot.”

Chuckling softly Gideon nodded, “Well, that’s what I’m here for.”

“It’s also nice to hear a familiar accent,” Rip told her.

“I was thinking the same,” Gideon replied softly, “I moved here a few years ago to go to school. You?”

Rip shrugged, “I travel for my work.”

“Gideon,” a call came across the floor.

Sighing she said, “I apologise but I’m needed. It was nice to meet you.”

“And you, Gideon.”

As she headed over to help Nate, Gideon turned back to look at where he stood. He smiled before heading out the store.

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

Gideon wondered how this week had turned out to be so weird. After the email from Miranda, her computer crashed, someone broke in to the apartment trying to steal said computer (where had Zari learned to throw a tennis ball like that) and the odd flashes of information in her head, Gideon just wanted the week to end.

Zari had decided that they were heading out to get a drink and have some fun. Reluctantly Gideon agreed which was why she was heading into Zari’s favourite club. The blasting music surrounded her the moment she stepped inside, and Gideon followed her friend to the bar. Zari pushed her way in, making sure the barman saw her to try to get their drinks before anyone else.

“Can I buy you a drink?” a familiar voice asked from her side.

Gideon turned, “Rip? I didn’t expect to see you here?”

He smiled at her and Gideon felt her stomach flutter slightly, “I wanted a quiet drink, I appear to have chosen the wrong place.” At her confused look, he chuckled, “A friend of mine works here and he’s letting me stay with him until I get a place of my own. I’m just picking up the keys.”

She laughed.

“Would you like to go somewhere for a drink that we can talk?” Rip asked, hope in his gorgeous green eyes.

“She’d love to,” Zari spoke up.

Gideon turned to her friend, slightly annoyed, “I can’t just abandon you.”

“Of course you can,” Zari grinned, “I can see some of the other guys in the corner. Go, have a drink, have some fun.”

Rip was waiting as she turned back to him, “Don’t feel under any pressure.”

“I’d like that,” Gideon said softly.

He motioned her to join him and they headed to a bistro just along the block, managing to get a table quickly and soon Gideon had a glass of white wine while Rip had a scotch.

“I’m glad you agreed,” Rip said, “I don’t know many people in town and I’m moving here so it’s nice to make a new friend. Especially one as smart and beautiful as you.”

Gideon chuckled, “You just want to keep on my good side, so I’ll set up your home computer.”

“No,” he protested before smiling, “My TV and home cinema system actually.”

They talked for an hour or so, Gideon enjoying herself immensely.

“Do you feel like a walk along the strip?” he asked, “You can show me the best places to eat and where to avoid.”

Gideon nodded, “Only if we stop for ice cream.”

“I will follow your lead,” Rip slid off his stool and offered her his hand.

The night was warm as they walked slowly still deep in conversation. She found that she liked Rip. It had been a while since she’d liked anyone in that way, not since Andy.

Hearing footsteps behind them Gideon caught the reflection of a blonde woman and several men walking behind them.

“The ice cream shop is coming up,” Gideon said, confused when Rip wrapped his arm around her waist and propelled her past it, “What are you doing?”

“I’m so sorry, Gideon,” Rip stated as he suddenly produced a gun making her yelp in fear, “But I lied to you. We’re being followed and the people following us are after you.”

“What do you mean they’re after me?” Gideon demanded.

He tugged her along one of the alleys, pulling her back against him placing his hand over her mouth as the blonde and her friends walked past.

“Okay, I need you to listen to me,” Rip said softly in her ear, “I work for Argus and I need you to tell me if you’ve heard from Miranda Coburn.”

“Miranda?” Gideon demanded when Rip let her go.

“Yes, she’s an Argus agent too.”

“I,” she shook her head, “I got an email from her a few days ago.”

“Did you open it?” Rip asked, starting them moving again, “Gideon, this is very important. Did you open it?”

Gideon nodded, “It was just something from an old game we’d made and then pictures.”

“You saw them,” Rip said, pulling her towards the tower building as he suddenly started talking into thin air, “This is Hunter, extraction required.”

“I don’t understand,” Gideon cried, unable to stop him from pulling her onto the rooftop, “What are you talking about? You’re saying Miranda Coburn is a spy?”

“A rogue spy,” Rip replied, “I know you’re scared and I’m sorry, Gideon. I truly am,” he let out a sigh, “I’m going to point my gun at you in a moment and I need you to not panic.”

Confused, Gideon froze as a woman’s voice came from behind her.

“You know,” the blonde who had been following them said, “This was supposed to be a nice easy mission. Grab the geek, get the information and get out of here. But as usual, Hunter you have to get involved in things that don’t concern you.”

“Well we don’t all try just to shoot or punch our problems, Sara,” Rip retorted.

While they were both distracted, Gideon took the opportunity to try and run hearing Rip call her name, she stalled as more information filled her mind.

“They’re going to kill him,” Gideon said.

Rip frowned, “Kill Who?”

“Eiling, the general,” Gideon told them.

Sara frowned, “General Eiling?”

Gideon rubbed her hand over her eyes, “Look, something is wrong with me, okay? I don't know what it is, but something is very, very wrong with me, and I'm remembering things that I shouldn't know.”

“Gideon,” Rip said softly, “Talk to me.”

“I don’t know,” she cried, “For example, there was a demolitions expert in plaza today. That's kind of odd, wouldn't you say? Look, last week the blueprints were intercepted, blueprints of a hotel, that hotel. And then a file of schematics of a bomb was found in Star City. The bomb is in that hotel.”

Sara frowned, “She was working with Miranda.”

“No,” Rip argued, “She opened Miranda’s e-mail,” he turned back to her, “Gideon, those pictures that you saw were encoded with secrets, government secrets. If you saw them, then you know them.”

“There were thousands of them,” Gideon breathed.

“Wait a minute,” Sara spoke up, “You're telling me all of our secrets are in her head.”

Gideon shuddered as the red dot from the gun the other woman held moved to her forehead.

Rip sighed, “Gideon is the computer.”

“What?” Gideon demanded becoming more panicked by the minute, “What does that mean? What’s happening to me?”

Rip moved slowly to her, “Gideon, listen to me. You said there was a bomb. Is there time to stop it?”

Gideon stared at him, “Are you crazy?”

“No,” Sara snapped, “We’re the good guys. We get paid to keep bombs from exploding.”

“I can’t,” Gideon whispered, “I just fix computers. Call Miranda, she’ll be able to do it.”

“Miranda is dead,” Rip stated coldly, “She died sending you those secrets.”

Gideon stared at him horrified, “Miranda is dead?”

“Yeah,” Sara interrupted again annoyance in her voice, “And she's gonna have a lot of company unless you start talking. So, pretty please.”

Rip caught Gideon’s hand making her look at him, “It’s all there in your head. You know this. Can you trust me for a little longer?”

Shakily, Gideon nodded.

Rip turned to Sara, “Let’s go.”

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

The sun was beginning to rise as Gideon sat on the beach going over and over in her mind what had happened the evening before. Managing to stop the bomb, listening to Sara and Rip argue over what they wanted to do with her. When they mentioned her friends and brothers, Gideon spoke up and told them in no uncertain terms that nothing happened to the people she loved.

“You leave my family alone,” she had stated, “You need me and right now, I’m going home.”

She’d reached the door to the apartment she shared with her brothers before turning around and heading to the beach unable to talk to them right now.

A shadow crossed her, and Gideon turned as Rip took a seat at her side. He handed her a chocolate croissant and cup of tea.

“Thank you,” Gideon said softly, “How long have you been here?”

“All night,” Rip shrugged.

Gideon took a shuddering breathe, “There’s no where I can run, is there?”

“Not from us,” he replied softly.

“I have a computer in my head,” Gideon whispered, “And I can’t understand why Miranda chose me for this. What happens now? Although I can barely focus on anything right now so tell me in small words.”

“Well, you had a long night,” Rip noted, he waited until she’d taken a few more bites and had a few sips of tea before speaking again, “For now, you go back to your own life. We'll protect you and you'll work with us,” he took her hand and held it tightly, “I know you’re scared and I know everything you learned is overwhelming but I promise I’m here to help and protect you. I just need you to do one thing, Gideon.”

Sighing she asked, “What?”

“I need you to trust me.”

Turning to watch the sun come up, Gideon knew her life was never going to be the same again.

#fic #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #gideon #timeship #chuck AU

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soulwritting · 4 years ago

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Battery

I am a rather boring individual. At least that’s how everyone I know calls me, it’s not that I don’t have any big hobbies or passions is just that I always had low energy. Whenever I’m in a group of people I feel drained away and talking, discussing things just seems like an unnecessary waste of the little energy I have. So, whenever I need to talk, I make sure to answer quickly and to a point. I guess that makes me boring. So, I have been researching how to gain more energy to become more ‘’interesting’’ and took upon meditation, reading that increasing my ki would help, but all that did was made me more relaxed and spaced out, not really what I was looking for. Honestly the more I read about the positive impact on meditation the more confused I got and decided to drop it. I also started to drink a lot of coffee, I love the taste and it’s something I always started to look forwards in the morning, but all that does is make me use the bathroom more often and prevent me from napping too much. One day, as I was reading random articles online, I came across a study done on how trees can be classified into 3 different categories: energy emitters, energy absorbers, and neutrals. It states that certain trees like oak, birch, pine, and maple emit energy which we humans can absorb, so it recommends buying furniture made of such trees to make your home full of positive energy and make you feel lighter. It also stated that trees like spruce and alder absorb energy making the furniture gloomier and blander, can be used to release anger and sadness, but I don’t get angry or sad, I’m just tired most of the time. This sounded interesting to me and I thought it wouldn’t hurt if I replaced the furniture in my house with wooden substitutes that would give me the energy I need. I live in a one-floor house with a small basement. It’s cozy and enough for one person to live comfortably. So spending the good part of my salary replacing furniture and surprisingly did make me feel better. Maybe we humans are quite similar to plants, I mean both suffer stress, have energies which we give away to others or absorb from them. This helped but even so, it wasn’t enough. I needed more energy, I needed to be able to socialize more without getting tired, to be able to go out and party from time to time without being call boring. So I continued to do research and look for furniture that supposed to give more energy to me, and I found a couple of very interesting things. One was a sturdy wooden butcher table, made of oak wood and had engravings of bones and flowers on its frame. I bought it. At the time wasn’t entirely sure if it was worth 500£ but once it arrived it seemed perfect. I was happy to see it, which took me by surprise as I’m used to feeling numb. Now the second thing I found was another article. This one was about alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. This species of plant that can release a specific enzyme when it’s low on energy, which breaks down the cellulose of neighboring vegetation and I thought if plants can do it why can’t I? I mean if plants eat plants and us humans eat both plants and meat. What is the real difference between human meat and animal meat? Meat is just meat. It’s a very well-known fact we gain energy from eating, so with this new knowledge, I changed my morning routine. I wake up around 6:30 am, go to the kitchen and start brewing some coffee. With a fresh cup, I walk down to the basement, there on the beautiful oak table lays a male guy, I don’t know the guy, he was homeless who I invited over a couple days ago. I take out a knife and start slowly make cuts in his skin, pouring some of his blood into my coffee. This usually jolts awake the person but what he can do when he’s unable to see or say anything as his mouth is gaged and eyes blindfolded, and his arms, and legs tied up to the bony protrusions of the table. As I stare at him thrashing so lively, using up so much energy it honestly thrills me. As I drink the bloody coffee, I get the energy I never thought I could have and makes me so so happy. As I finish the cup, I pick the knife again and make slow, accurate cuts to get small slices of his thigs, that’s going to be my dinner later. Since I changed my morning routine, nobody calls me boring, I’m the star of every conversation, everybody wants me around to hand out, and been called a party animal on quite a few occasions. I always lookout for the lively ones now, the ones always so full of energy. Nobody can blame, right? I’m just special, I’m trying to become an energy absorber, but I need a specific battery to recharge. Too bad that I keep using them up so quickly.

#thriller #shortstory #plants #energy #tw: body mutilation

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grownups-are-the-real-monsters · 5 years ago

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Alone Again (Naturally)

Summary: Bill pursed his lips. “I think-...yes. Yes I did.” He didn’t sound too sure about it which she found odd but decided to let that pass until he brought that up for himself, if ever. “I ran with a group. I can’t give names but I can feel it sometimes. Those summer days and shit.” He chuckled. “Jesus, they must have been my best friends in this shitty world...-Pardon my French if you’re a religious man.” He laughed in an eerie way that time.

Word Count: 2,702

Ships: Bill/Audra, mentions of Reddie

{October, 1964. Still-shot of large suburban home. A pile of dry orange leaves marks the lawn. There is a concave dent in the right side which caused an autumn invasion in the grass, suggesting the playfulness of children in the home-}

Bill Denbrough sniffled to choke back a nervous nose-bleed and set aside the movie script.

His coffee table was glass plated so he could see the mound of crumpled papers that were burrowed into the maroon carpet. He tried hard not to think about the mix of faded words typed across those folds because they’d cost him a social life to write but they’d been seen & rejected.

He was the leading man in this shit-show he called a life and he so desperately craved a cigarette. He’d never been that much of a smokin’ kind of guy but it was just that kind of night.

The body of the lonesome drip he was being was thrown over the bar counter in the Hotel’s finest drink station. That’s where he was physically. Mentally? He was on the porch on that fake October 1964 autumn day. It was much better than admitting to himself that at least six or seven people had already walked past him with expressions of concern and pity. He’d much rather be inside his own story like being trapped an oil painting.

Rather, just the beginning of his story. He’d not want to even touch the ending which had somehow become inexplicably horrifying in the process of writing. It was something he absolutely adored on paper but didn’t want to live for himself...though something about it spoke to him in a familiar voice.

“Howdy partner.” Came an irritably cute voice from over his shoulder.

Sure enough, bathed in the flickering gold lights was the tallest drink of water. Audra Phillips was sporting a criminally cute smirk and bouncing on her toes. There was a lovely painting of a sunset behind her head that framed her well. It was the picture of whatever cowboy western movie Bill couldn’t think of where the lead woman sparks fire in the cowboy’s interest...or whatever.

She strolled on over and leaned her crossed forearms atop his legs which laid across the bar. “I tease, sorry.” She gleamed. He knew she’d done the southern accent to simply bounce off his past jokes about the ghost of a British accent she had now yet didn’t come with at birth.

“Hey, hey, hey Audra. You come for a drinking buddy?” He flicked his empty glass and she let her long honey hair fall a bit into his lap when she twisted to look up at him.

“Not tonight, Bill.” She winked. “Just wanted to see how you were....” Her voice faded as she pinched some loose jean fabric that hovered above his knee. “I just that part in the screen-play where-...” The woman begins to mime stabbing her right eye “The man accidentally stabs himself with those kids craft scissors when he trips, you know...?”

Bill nodded with an amused smirk.

Audra begins to giggle. “Do we, in the film, have the artistic license to change the color of the scissors from blue to purple?” She could barely ask without starting to giggle again and Bill wondered if she’d started to drink before him.

He raised a brow and crossed his arms in a funny way. “No. You see, the blue symbolizes the sorrow that character had been feeling, Audraaaaa.” He pinched her. “Why do you ask?”

She ceased her giggling. “I wanted to see if authors really do hide deep, meaningful symbols in...the simplest of places.” She shrugged and Bill found her presence incredibly endearing.

“They do...but not with that. You could change that. I was lying.” He laughed and heaved his body around to hang his legs over the side of the bar while Audra leaned against it to his right. She giggled again.

“Why do you write such...horrifying stories?” her voice went velvet soft.

Bill considered her question and hummed. “I don’t know. Quite honestly, it does seem pointless, huh?” He took on a minor British accent for some odd reason. “Where do I get off scaring all these people.” He laughed.

“I’m concerned about where it comes from...is all.” She glanced into his eyes and shrugged.

“You think I’m...messed up, Audra?” He laughed though it was astoundingly not funny. His favorite gal just shrugged again.

“There just stories. They scare ya for a minute or two before you forget em��. This is just my time to be...spitting blood into the wind...” He gestured out in the open. “It’s all pointless but...I love it.” His hand fell back into his lap.

“More than a minute or two...those craft scissors might as well be stabbed through my eye right now with how often the image pops up in my mind.” She shook at the thought.

“Pop it goes, huh?.” Bill mocked in her accent again. “Like a balloon...only the balloon is your swelled eye tied to no string but your spindly nerves.” He chuckled, wiping his chin.

Audra gagged. “Disgusting. Keep going, Billy and I might revisit my dinner.” The gag choked into another round of giggles but Bill had danced off in side-tracked thoughts.

“My brother called me Billy.” Was all he said and he figured he’d been silent far too long because his girl glanced up with minor shock and concern.

“George?”

Bill nodded and swung his legs back and forth slowly. The two of them exchanged looks and fell silent again. Outside the hotel, snow was hurling towards the grounds of New York and burying itself between the cracks of the side-walk. There was a particularly nasty crack just outside and around the block. Many ‘walk-arounders’ would trip on it the next morning. Including a man that Bill Denbrough might have once recognized as Eddie Kaspbrak. It’d be a freezing night and an even brisker morning by the look of it.

Audra could’ve asked about the screenplay many crew-members were intensely curious about but upon seeing her friend sitting there, perched on the bar, she decided it was far from a good time. There’d been something so...off about him lately. She batted her eyelashes and turned again to face the bar, slapping her hands in a playful tune to which Bill responded by ruffling her hair.

“It seems to me...-” He started and hooked his gal instantly only to fade his voice out once again. But with the soft look of concern painted across Audra’s young and wonderful face, he decided to suck it up. “I cried for three days straight when my father died, you know that?”

That stopped Audra’s heart for a solid minute or two and he couldn’t blame that wide-eyed deer expression because what a sentence twist.

“That third day...I think a lot of those tears came from the fact that I knew it would soon be my turn to be that tired old man.” Bill shrugged. “I miss when the turn from Summer to Fall was dreaded because of ‘back-to-school’ and not because the threat of seasonal depression was very real for me, y’know Audra?” He thumped his palms against his jeans and was grinning kind of wickedly.

The ‘back-to-school’ girl that had once been in Audra was also long gone because she was approaching thirty-two. So she nodded with understanding.

“I didn’t want to admit that some of the tears might have also been genuine fear to return home for preparations.”

Audra raised a gentle brow and rubbed his thigh for comfort.

“I was scared to go home...to that town, Audra.” He met her eyes and something ignited a frightening flame. “I don’t know why...but I could have thrown up thinking about having to go home just for my fathers funeral...I didn’t want to go at all. Does that make me a bad person?” His speech was starting to frighten his company but it felt uniquely euphoric to get this shit out of him. “Didn’t end up mattering anyway. My parents had moved up to Castle Rock just some months before and didn’t bother telling me. They could be a little...neglectful with me sometimes. I don’t consciously hold it against them.”

Audra reached for his folded hand and rubbed something circles against his skin with her thumb.

“My mother...” Bill leaned back on the beam and sighed. “Bless her but she...” he raised his hand and let it fall back into his lap. “Has just been having such a difficult time accepting that the only man she loved is gone and when you pair that with the long-lost littlest son from years ago...she’s a wreck. I try to encourage...to get her to keep going but...” He spared the phone hanging on the wall nearby a quick glance and scratched under his chin.

“A big brother without a little brother...well he’s lost the years of practice with encouraging talks that he could’ve had with him. So, this thing with my mother is...bigger than me, Audra.” Bill downcast his eyes and Audra could see that small-town living behind them.

She breathed in deeply and gave him the softest smile that she could manage. “Bill, my friend...” She squeezed his hand. “That’s a lot to take in so I can’t imagine how it felt to have that living in your chest. Thank you for sharing it with me. I think of us as...good friends...best friends even?”

Bill nodded his head. It wasn’t quite like the friendships of his childhood which had long since slipped his mind of true clarity but his thing with Audra was it’s own special kind.

“Good.” She nodded back, cheeks blushed. “So let’s take a step back, yeah? Instead of sitting at this bar like a couple of...”

“Sad sacks?”

Audra giggled and thumped his leg. “Yes, Sad sacks. Let’s take a walk in this Christmas snow. Forget the film...” She gestured back towards the halls of hotel room doors. “And let’s go buy those batteries I need from Walgreen's or something.” She shrugged and helped Bill hop off the bar.

“You still haven’t bought those damn things? What has your remote been dead for two weeks now, Audra?” He chuckled, taking her arm in arm as they strolled out of the fancy building.

“I haven’t watched television since! I keep forgetting.”

They laughed into the night. Audra’s warm giggle was enough to blanket the freezing air for a little while.

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

The convenience store was littered with glittering Christmas bulbs, string-lights and wonderfully home-made crafted wooden Santas.

Audra waited patiently for Bill’s return and flirted with purchasing a particularly adorable blushing Santa Claus while the hot chocolate in her hands kept her warm.

Elvis was singing of those classic Silver Bells that she ached to hear over the loudspeaker. It was enough to make the girl want to move on over to stand right under it which she did...only there was a minor bump on the way who ended up being a man.

She chuckled nervously. “I’m so sorry...I should watch where I’m going, shouldn’t I? Oh my, I got this all over you!?” Audra barely made eye-contact and hovered her hand close to where her hot chocolate had become stains on the guys shirt.

His hand came to block her view and she first noticed the little pinky ring he sported and then she finally picked her head up to find his face. “It’s fine-don’t worry about it. A little hot, is all. But no big deal.” The man sounded a little frustrated as he fanned his shirt away from his chest a little but Audra could tell he wasn’t about to have a fit over it. “If I wore that sweater like my girlfriend had begged me, the cable-knit might’ve soaked up all the chocolate before it even got to touch me, huh?” He was kind of mumbling that more to himself but Audra giggled anyway.

“Maybe so. A free drink for those knitted Reindeer...” She chuckled awkwardly at the sad attempt for a joke but the man genuinely giggled.

“Actually, no deer. Just some snow-flakes...she knitted it herself. Took a class every Tuesday & Thursday’s for a while before she got homesick.” He laughed again and his smile was handsome and kinda dopey but in the cutest way. Audra tilted her head and got a picture of that Norman Bates fellow from that ‘Psycho’ film. She hummed.

“You sure-?”

“Yeah-yes. You’re totally fine. It’s just a shirt.” The man pulled his jacket over the shirt and zipped it tightly as if to display this opinion. Audra nodded with a kind grin before turning back and finding Bill standing at the counter without the new prize of candy bars she’d collected.

“I’ll be off then, thanks for the kindness.” She patted his arm and with his nod of understanding, she took off for Bill once again.

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

“In that small-town of yours...?” Audra started, standing in scary waters as Bill took on a curious eye. “Do you remember having any friends? Or was it...that bad?” She blinked, not sure why she was asking but she didn’t like to think her good friend was just so lonely in a place that reduced him to tears just some time ago.

Bill pursed his lips. “I think-...yes. Yes I did.” He didn’t sound too sure about it which she found odd but decided to let that pass until he brought that up for himself, if ever. “I ran with a group. I can’t give names but I can feel it sometimes. Those summer days and shit.” He chuckled. “Jesus, they must have been my best friends in this shitty world...-Pardon my French if you’re a religious man.” He laughed in an eerie way that time.

“Can you miss people you barely remember?”

“I should think so.” Audra rubbed up and down his arm. “If they were as amazing as you make it sound...then of course. Life passes us by and takes some of our memories but not our feelings.” Audra didn’t want to glance up...in fear that small-town was back in Bill’s stare.

“Eddie....” Bill mumbled, kicking a pebble down the street like it would be their map. Wherever it rolled, whichever street, the two of them would follow it. “I remember-...him. A bit.

Audra nodded, letting him have his map.

“We were gonna build a dam or....I dunno.” Bill sniffled, letting the memory go. “I remember a bike ride where I could barely see through a film of tears...-” He broke to laugh though it wasn’t very funny. “But that might’ve been Richie...? Seemed to me that he might’ve looked at Ed’s the way I look at you.” He shook his head with a grin and kicked his little Eddie memory pebble. They took the next street in which it had rolled.

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

Audra and Bill were giggling messes as they took on the Hotel’s stairs and flung themselves through the revolving doors. It was the most euphoric sense of relief either of them had experienced in a long time.

Her fingernails picked at the wrapper hanging over her fist which was curled around half a chocolate bar. They went back to silence as they strolled back to the bar and listened to the distant cries of Christmas tunes.

“You gonna be alright to sleep? Or are you going to stay up writing?” Audra poked his arm and Bill shrugged. It didn’t seem to be the confident answer of ‘sleeping sounds good’ that she wanted so Bill poked her back gently.

“I’ll be fine, Audra. Thank you...you know for...” He gestured and his gal nodded to her man.

“No thanks needed.” She leaned against his arm briefly, kissed his cheek and started on her way back to her room. Both of them felt the gentle idea of asking the other to their room but neither had the courage to ask. Instead, Bill watched her walk off with a blushing wave and Audra stole quick glances of him as she left him in that lobby.

#this is like the first writing piece I've finished since this depression #I LOVE IT #???#idk i just do #pls read and reblog if you do too #bill denbrough #audra phillips #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #reddie #the losers club #it chapter 2 #it chapter two #it chapter 1 #my fanfiction

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raybansandcoffee · 5 years ago

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Adventure of a Lifetime: Chapter Eleven

You can find the previously published chapters of Adventure of a Lifetime here.

“Dad, I’m really glad you suggested the homemade pizza for tonight. It was perfect,” I said as I leaned back in my chair. The weather was nice enough that we’d all piled around the table on the deck.

“It’s the family tradition for special occasions and while today, tomorrow and the rest of the weekend will be hard, all of us gathered around one table as a family is special. We don’t get this very often anymore.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I should come home more.” I looked down at the beer in my hand before taking a drink. I had avoided going home as much as possible and I shouldn’t. My family was my everything and I’d allowed my fears to keep me from them.

“The first year was hard,” Mandi said. “It will start to get easier as you become more accustomed to how the kids’ lives work. You’ll be able to come home more.”

“I’m trying to convince her to come home for part of the summer. She’s thinking about it,” Frankie blurted out. I scrunched my face up. Her verbalizing that to the whole family meant all of them, and Jeremy would try to convince me to go back to LA.

“You didn’t tell me that.” Jeremy was sitting next to me and looked me dead in the eyes. I knew he was leaving, we’d talked about how he was leaving and I’d not mentioned the idea of going home.

“She just started in on me about it today. She thinks I should go home for the trial.” At this point, the kids were all running around in the yard playing while Axel was getting passed back and forth between my family members. Now was there time to soak up snuggles before everyone else rolled into town and staked their claim as biological family members and godmother.

“You should,” Dad interjected. “Your victim impact statement will be incredibly important when it comes to sentencing. The prosecution has a solid case against him. It’s unlikely he’ll get off and if you were to come give a statement it’s possible he’d be behind bars for life and you’d never have to be worried about him again. I know it will be hard, but we will be there to get you through it.”

“All of us will,” Jeremy added as he reached for my hand.

“I don’t know. It might take a long time. I’ve given my condo to Jane because she’s going whether Robert is or not.”

“You can stay at home with us. I told you that.” Mandi had told me that. Repeatedly.

“You could stay with me too. Ava and I have space for the three of you.” I smiled at Jeremy as I caught over his shoulder the smiles spread across my stepmom and sister’s faces. Here was this guy willing to be there for me through something horrible and emotional and even let me stay at his house.

“Won’t you be coming back here when Ava is with Sonni?” I asked. We’d talked about it and the first part of the summer that she was with her Mom he wanted to stay but then he was going to come back here.

“Not if you’re there.” He looked at me like I was an idiot for asking that. “Plus didn’t you say that Stevie was going to be in town for part of summer? You’d get to see her without having her with you 24/7. You’d have my house, your Dad’s, Frankie’s to go to so that you can decompress.” Dad started to laugh.

“Are you sure you haven’t met Stevie?”

“I’ve heard a lot about her,” Jeremy answered.

“Our house is not safe,” Ryan said. “She showed up on a kayak at 5:00 in the morning on a Saturday the last time she was home. She let herself in and started cooking breakfast for everyone. You’d need to stay farther. Preferably somewhere with a gate and a security system.” Frankie hit Ryan. We both made jokes about Mom being a little overbearing at times, everyone did. But she was our Mom and we loved her even though she was a bit weird.

“I have a gate, a pool, a recording studio that could use your help.” Jeremy was trying really hard. This was going to earn him a lot of points with Frankie.

“And my cats?” I asked.

“Bring them home,” Mandi said. “They travel surprisingly well.”

“I could watch them.” Everyone turned to look at Tony. “What?”

“If I go home, you’re coming with me. Savannah could stay for school if she needed to.”

“My classes are all online this summer. I could go for a few weeks in LA this summer.”

“You can have your pick of the apartments.” Mandi put her arm around Savannah hugging her close. “They are both empty right now. You could choose one and if Tony didn’t want to stay in the main house he could take whatever you didn’t pick.”

“Seriously? I mean I could stay with my Mom or even my Dad.”

“Of course you can if you want to but you are also welcome to stay with us,” Dad added. “The kids are fairly used to having you around every day. I think Ellery might miss you.”

“You have a point. I do love the studio apartment.”

“We will figure it all out IF I decide that I’m coming home for part of the summer. I mean I need to start getting crap together around here. I need to find somewhere for Ellery to take dance.”

“I’ve got that covered,” Jeremy answered.

“I should find something for Axel to do so that he starts to socialize with other kids.”

“That won’t be difficult to find,” Savannah chimed in.

“Maybe I just like living in the middle of the woods.”

“You also really like living on the beach.” I looked at my Dad. “And I really like you living at home. You don’t have to stay. I get why the kids are in school here. I get the benefits of being here. Hell part of me has considered buying a place near you because the tax break would be fantastic.” Everyone laughed. “But it’s going to be another hard summer and this Dad might want his little girl around.”

“UGH. I’ll think about it. Now all of you let’s change the subject.”

“So what is the plan for tomorrow?” Jeremy asked.

“My family lands in Reno around noon,” Savannah answered. “I offered to go pick them up but Mom is of course controlling and feels she needs to have a car so they are renting a car to drive here.”

“Guests are scheduled to arrive at 5:00,” Frankie added. “We will have hors d’oeuvres and cocktails until 6:30 when everyone will sit down for dinner.”

“Are we cooking all day?” There he was with a 'we.' He was willing to jump in and help when needed.

“No,” I answered. “Frankie and I worked with a caterer to have tomorrow and Saturday handled. A tent company gets here tomorrow to set up a space for tables and we will start decorating probably around 11. We have rented a bunch of stuff that gets delivered tomorrow morning, bright and early. What time will you need to go get Ava?”

“Handoff is scheduled for 10:00.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” I asked.

“No, you don’t need to be a participant in that. It will hopefully be fast but that’s unlikely. Divorce, don’t ever do it.”

“Amen to that,” my Dad added. “The second marriage is definitely the right one.”

“He told us the night we got engaged to act like our marriage was a second marriage. Be blunt about what we want to do, what we are willing to do and where we will make compromises. I thought it was weird that my future father-in-law was basically telling me not to do everything his daughter wanted but he was also my mentor and boss so I listened.”

“You do so much in a first marriage to try and make the other person happy that sometimes isn’t what you want to do. Case in point, Stevie didn’t want kids. I am lucky that she isn’t angry with me and blames me for ruining her life. She had never been interested but I was, she compromised for me, thankfully because I love my girls and so does she. But if she had her life to do over…” Dad stopped not wanting to make Frankie or me uncomfortable.

“She wouldn’t marry you,” I said bluntly. “She wouldn’t have had us. She tells me all the time that she wishes she’d stuck to her guns because she feels like she failed us as a mother but that she doesn’t regret having us because you are the best Dad she’s ever met.” I looked at Jeremy. “He gave me the don’t compromise talk the first boyfriend I had in college. He gave it to me again when I was with Dickhead.”

“Wait!” my brother and sister both shouted.

“You told us we couldn’t call him Dickhead,” Frankie argued.

“And there you go calling him Dickhead,” Tony added for emphasis.

“I realized today that while I will always love Patrick for what he was in my life he was also a Dickhead for what he wasn’t and it has nothing to do with that little boy in your arm, T. It was more that he struggled to embrace me and what I needed.”

“What made you come to this realization?” Frankie looked stunned and I was certain she’d barely been able to form that sentence.

“Jeremy.”

“How so?” Mandi was now curious too.

“I told her that once you guys are out of town either I can take all of the kids to my house for a day and watch them or we can bribe Tony and Savannah to watch all three of them so that I can take care of her. A weekend filled with people and socializing and the memories that she’s being forced to relive are going to put her in a place where she needs to recharge her batteries. I want to let her do that.” My whole family seemed shocked. They all knew that if I’d ‘peopled too much’ that I had to become a hermit to feel okay.

“In the end, I was checking into a hotel for a few days after super busy periods of time because it annoyed the crap out of Patrick that he lived with someone who would shush him for whispering because she couldn’t deal with it.”

“You are a good man, Jeremy.” My Dad nodded his approval. This was exactly how I wanted tonight to end. I wanted my family to know the kind, caring, and funny man I’d come to enjoy having as part of my life. Especially considering the rest of the weekend would be filled with people he didn’t know and perhaps judgment towards both of us. Two single parents, one who barely has her feet wet in the role, trying to start a relationship with each other was questionable. Shouldn’t we both be focused on our kids instead of each other?

“I’m okay watching all three kids. Especially if Tony is willing to help,” Savannah said. “You take care of Charlie, she’s gonna need it after a weekend with my Mom.” Everyone laughed an uncomfortable laugh. “Oh come on. I’m her daughter I’m well aware of how she behaves. This entire evening was a very detailed plan in Chucky’s head about how to get all of you on Team Jeremy so that when my mother shows up tomorrow and starts dropping her judgments like nuclear weapons that they survive it. She doesn’t even really know Jeremy exists, showing up to him feeling comfortable enough in this house that he knows where everything from the coffee mugs to the children’s ibuprofen is located is going to throw her for a loop. I also am well aware of her absolutely ridiculous behavior towards people in the entertainment industry. I am the daughter of the actor and screenwriter that is the reason she hates every actor and screenwriter, remember?”

“It’s gonna be okay. I can charm anyone.” Savannah laughed, loudly.

“My Mom is going to be the exception to your rule. She does not charm easily. It took her at least six months to accept Michael and he was a producer and studio exec. He had a steady income and made really good money. She always silently judge Sam and Charlie for being musicians instead of finding reasonable, responsible jobs. Why do you all think I’m pursuing early childhood education in school instead of going into the fashion program? I know my mother. When she flies out Sunday morning I’m going to need someone else to be the responsible driver to get home from our pool day because I can guarantee that I’m going to need a drink.”

“You aren’t old enough to drink,” I said in my best Alex impression. Savannah flipped me off.

“You let me drink here and have never cared. You know that I have a fake ID and drink when I go out with friends. I am unbelievably responsible. I have a 5-star rating on Uber and Lyft. My Mom likes to wear blinders when it comes to what I do and that’s okay. I just have always felt lucky that the De Luca family refused to wear the blinders and let me be me.”

“I picked her up from the first party she got drunk at,” Tony said. “She puked in my car.”

“I am lucky you still talked to me after that.”

“Like I was gonna yell at a cute girl for puking in my car. Also, you weren’t the first one to do it either.” I caught Savannah blush at Tony calling her cute so I quickly raised my hand.

“That would be me. Poor kid had JUST gotten his brand new car after turning 16. I had a pretty pricey detailing bill to pay the next morning.” Everyone laughed at my admission and attempt to cover for Savannah.

“You guys have been my family with me through the best and the worst of it all. When she got married and tried to cut my Dad out my life it was Vince that told her she not only couldn’t do that but that she shouldn’t do that. Max would be a wonderful stepfather but it was important that my Dad and I remained connected. Every moment a girl would normally go to her Mom for I was going to one of you three women. My Mom was usually busy with work or raising the boys. When I had no idea what to buy my first boyfriend for his birthday it was Ryan that took me shopping. It was also Ryan that yelled at that boyfriend when he broke my heart. I didn’t just come here because I wanted a change or out of my Mom’s house. I came here to be with you Charlie because you are my family. You’ve never treated me as anything else. You passed up on dates to watch me when I was a kid. You took care of me when I was sick. You would bring me to work with you when I needed someone to watch me. You were the first person to take me out of the country on vacation. You and Sam were like big sisters and bonus moms all rolled into one. I am here because of the babies. They are important to me too. They are my family and being here with you through this has not only been an honor but a privilege.” At this point, I had tears streaming down my face. I stood up from where I was sitting and walked to the end of the table where Savannah was sitting next to my brother. She stood up and hugged me.

“Savannah Joy, I love you. You will always have a place in my home, my heart and most importantly my family. No matter what.”

“I love you too, Charlie. Thank you. While the last year has been the hardest it’s also been amazing. I feel lucky that I’m the one that has gotten to watch you fall so beautifully into the role of mother.”

“Okay, now I’m crying.” Mandi stood up to come hug the two of us.

“Same,” Frankie added. Eventually, it was the four of us standing and hugging each other.

“This happens a lot doesn’t it?” Jeremy asked making all of us start to laugh through our tears.

“Constantly,” Dad answered. “Because all of the girls lived with us in college, Savannah grew up in my house. She was like an extra kid. She wasn’t a good sleeper when she was a baby and because the girls were in school and as I’m sure you can tell, Alex lacks patience, Savannah was like the fourth kid for us.”

“I did the late nights with her while the girls were in school because I wasn’t working full-time and my studio was at home.” Mandi had done just about everything. She’d modeled. She’d danced. She’d been a legal secretary. Hell, she was a Lakers cheerleader when she met my Dad. She was also a brilliant interior designer and had done that part-time after Tony was born until a few years ago. I was fairly certain she was trying to write a memoir or a novel but didn’t really want any of us to actually know about it, only that she wanted to write it. “Some of my fondest memories were when she was little. She and Tony were far enough apart in age that it wasn’t like having two babies but I could take them on walks together, go to the park together. At first, I thought they’d grow up like siblings but then once we weren’t all under the same roof I noticed they’d become friends and would hang out on occasion despite their age difference. Until you guys moved here I was fairly certain someday I’d get to watch them get married.” My brother started to choke on the beer in his mouth at that.

“Mom, you can stop talking any time now.” Everyone at the table laughed at how uncomfortable my brother appeared. I started to take dishes into the house so we could get away from the table. Savannah immediately jumped in to help me while Mandi took Axel upstairs to get him put in some pajamas. Jeremy and Tony headed down to the fire pit to get a fire started for all of us to sit around. Frankie dug around in my pantry for necessary items required to make smores. Once Mandi was downstairs with a very comfy, footie pajama covered Axel we went down to meet everyone else. Tony had gone inside and turned music on and opened the doors so it could flow outside. Jeremy had grabbed a seat on one of the loveseats that surrounded the fire. I sat down next to him and pulled my legs up while covering up with a blanket. He put his arm around me and I rested my head on his shoulder.

“How are you feeling?” he whispered.

“Okay. Anxious but okay. Thank you for being here.” I felt his lips press against the top of my head.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

“Admittedly I’m surprised Tony turned music on.” I spoke loud enough my whole family could hear it. “I figured we’d have our very own De Luca family concert tonight.”

“I got it out of my system earlier today. Plus I have to save my performance skills for Saturday.” Tony had offered to play guitar throughout part of the Celebration of Life. He and I had planned on doing a couple of songs together that Sam and Michael really loved.

“I feel like I have been hogging Axel all night,” Mandi said.

“You’re fine,” I replied. “Jeremy, Tony, Savannah and I get him every day. I’m just so surprised he’s been so snuggly today. Lately, all he wants to do is run.”

“She’s not kidding,” Jeremy added. “He’s a speed demon.”

“Do you want some snuggle time with your little guy?” My stepmom was concerned that I’d be angry she had him all night.

“Enjoy your time. Tomorrow all of you have to start sharing him. Alex will want time with him and probably dominate his time, she did at his birthday party. But all of Sam’s family will be here so hopefully, they will want to snuggle the little guy too.”

“Are they still not bonding with him?” Frankie asked.

“It’s been a challenge. He was so young. The first time any of Sam’s family met him was at their funeral. They never experienced him as ‘theirs’ they experienced him after everything.” Ellery climbed up into Jeremy’s lap and rested her head on his chest. She and Ava had figured out how to both sit on his lap when they were together, this was the first time Elle hadn’t had to share him. He wrapped the arm that wasn’t around me around her as I moved my blanket to cover her too.

“Are we okay talking about this?” Ryan asked as he gestured at Elle.

“She’s who brought it up to me. She’s a smart kid. She noticed that when she’d stay with her grandparents the first few times that Axel spent most of his time in the swing that I’d bring for him or his pack and play. I think it’s just been hard for everyone in Sam’s family to adjust. He looks exactly like Michael. So it’s not like it is with Elle where they look at her and see her Mom. And they were grieving too much to bond with him when they first met him.”

“I heard Grandpa and Grandma talking so I told Mom about it. They said that Axel was a great kid but he made them sad. I know they miss Mommy and Daddy but Axel is so funny and I just love him so much. I don’t understand how he can make them sad.” I frowned a bit and buried my face into Jeremy’s shoulder hoping I wouldn’t cry.

“When you’re ready to go to bed let me know. We can go whenever you’re ready. I know you probably need some quiet time.” He was still speaking quietly. I nodded to acknowledge that I heard him. I was getting quieter the later it got. It had been a long day and the next two would be longer. If I was smart I’d go put the kids in bed and then go to sleep myself. But here I was just sitting and quietly watching my family. These 11 people had gotten me through the last year of my life and now that there was a 12th maybe my life would settle in place a little more.

“Are you getting tired, Mom?” Ellery asked.

“I am. Your Aunt Frankie kept me up past my bedtime last night. I am very tired.”

“Go to bed, sis,” Tony said. “I know how to get this under control before I go to bed.”

“I would be happy to put Axel to bed for you.” Mandi had always loved bedtime with any baby. I remember it all the way back to when my brother was a newborn.

“I’ll get Ellie put to bed with the girls,” Frankie added. “We need to head that direction soon anyway. We’ve got a big few days ahead of us and the twins get here tomorrow.”

“I’m okay,” I replied as I yawned. “I can stay up for a while longer.”

“Let’s get you in bed,” Jeremy said as he helped Ellie off his lap.

“Will we see you in the morning?” Ryan asked Jeremy as he pulled me up off of the seat we were on.

“Depends on how early you are up.” Jeremy laughed. “I need to go home and pack stuff for Ava and me to be here for the rest of the weekend.”

“I get to have a slumber party with Ava AND my cousins?” Ellie asked excitedly.

“Yeah, your Mom thought you’d like it if all of you could be together. So after I go pick Ava up tomorrow we are going to come back here and be here the next two nights. Would you like that?” Ellery nodded her head excitedly. She’d really missed her best friend the last week. Jeremy had FaceTimed Ava a few times while he’d been at the house so the girls could talk. I loved seeing Ellie develop a friendship like this. She’d had close friends in Los Angeles from her preschool but she hadn’t seen any of them in a year.

“I will see you in the morning, Ellie Belle. I got you your favorite cinnamon roll to have for breakfast tomorrow morning. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.” I hugged and kissed her before leaving her with my sister. I went to where Mandi had Axel and pulled him into my arms for a minute.

“Sleep well, little man. Mommy loves you.” He placed his hands on my cheeks before our noses touched. I kissed him softly before hanging him back to Mandi. “See everyone in the morning.”

“Goodnight,” came my family’s collective response.

“Get some rest, Charlie,” Dad said. I nodded as Jeremy grabbed my hand and we walked into the house and upstairs.

“Do you need to go get stuff out of your car?” I asked.

“I do. I brought a change of clothes and stuff to shower here in the morning. Though I do need to run home to get stuff for the weekend so I could technically shower at home.”

“You’ve seen my bathroom. It’s bigger than most New York studio apartments. There’s space for you to get ready in there. Go get your stuff and I’ll see you in my bedroom.” He leaned towards me and gave me a quick kiss before heading outside as I sprinted upstairs to my bedroom. I went into the closet and changed into pajamas. I found a clean pair of black shorts and a different t-shirt to wear than I wore last night. Most of the ones I slept in were well worn, some cut up, and all from college. This one was a simple dark heather gray with red letters reading USC. I’d cut it up so it hung off my shoulder and showed a tattoo or two if it hung properly. I went into the bathroom and pulled my hair up to wash my face and do my evening skincare routine. I heard the bedroom door shut a few minutes later and before I knew it Jeremy was standing in the doorway looking at me as I had an oxygen mask on my face. He laughed at the sight the bubbles cover my skin. He’d already changed into a pair of sweatpants and a different t-shirt than he’d had on earlier.

“What are you doing?”

“My normal Thursday night skincare routine. It’s an oxygen mask night. Want to try?” He laughed and nodded. I made him wash his face first and then put the Bliss Triple Oxygen mask on his skin.

“It tingles and smells like an orange dreamsicle.”

“I know, it’s amazing.” I was sitting on the counter by my sink as I waited the five minutes the mask took. “Thank you for everything today.”

“No thanks necessary, it’s what friends do for each other.”

“I have a sneaking suspicion you’re more than my friend.” He smiled a very wicked smile at me.

“I mean it was my intention to be more than just your friend so if it’s moving towards that direction you can consider me very happy.”

“I’m happy too, though I don’t know that it was my intention to have you be more than my friend.”

“Oh, it absolutely was not. When I met you on the last day of school you looked terrified that any parent would even want to talk to you. You were not at all sure how to talk to me and the first full day you seemed surprised that anyone would want to do anything to help you and Ellery. It made you even cuter than you were when you were just the Mom in the parking lot.”

“There’d been so few parents at school that even cared that I existed. To have one care was one thing, to have someone who looked like you care well that about knocked my socks off.”

“You thought I was hot?” He seemed so proud of himself as he raised his eyebrows at me. All I could do was laugh as the bubbles on his face were slowly starting to deflate.

“Am I human?” I giggled a little bit as he leaned in to kiss me, the bubbles on our faces smooshing together. “We need to take this off.” I bent down to wash my face off as he went to the other side of the bathroom and used the other sink. The sink that had sat empty for 10 months. I’d refused to move any of Sam and Michael’s things out of here, Frankie did that for me when she decided we needed to redo the bedroom so it felt like mine and not theirs. Jeremy was the first person to use that side of the bathroom since I moved in here. Even when Frankie slept in my room we both used my side. He grabbed his toiletries and brushed his teeth and did whatever his normal nightly routine was on that side. When he reappeared on my side of the bathroom he had glasses on. “I didn’t realize you wore glasses.”

“Yup, I normally wear contacts, especially when I’ve got sunglasses on and off.”

“You look cute in glasses.”

“It’s good that you think so because I can’t see without them.” He followed me into my bedroom and I started to turn all the lights off as he laid down on my bed. “So TV, movie, music, talk?”

“Put some music on and we can talk. Someone said he thought he needed to see my tattoos. The TV might distract that.”

“You barely have shorts on and your t-shirt is cut up and tied so it’s basically a crop top. I can see most of them.” After I had all of the lights off except the ones on the nightstand I climbed over Jeremy and into bed. “Now let me have a closer look,” he said as he straddled me in bed making me laugh so hard. He pulled the neck of my shirt to see the tattoo on my left collar bone. “These are cute stars.”

“It’s a combo of two sets of stars that mean the most to me. The stars from Peter Pan and the stars in the corner of every page of Harry Potter.”

“Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.”

“Yes, that,” I answered.

“And this over here,” he said as he pulled the collar to the other side revealing that on the front of my shoulder was a small outline of a butterfly.

“It’s the cover to Coldplay’s live album ‘Left Right Left Right Left’ and Sam had a matching tattoo on her left shoulder so if we stood next to each other the butterflies would fly together.”

“That’s awesome. That was the Coldplay tattoo?” I nodded. “I expected something more.” I rolled underneath his legs on to my right side so he could see the tattoo on my left ribcage. The top was a sun drawn like a stick figured and beneath it the lyrics ‘the sun must set to rise’ going from top to bottom. “Wow, that looks like it was painful.”

“Oh, it was. I do not recommend rib cage tattoos. They are the ones that hurt the worst.”

“Well, it looks really great. What’s the meaning behind that one?”

“It’s Coldplay lyrics, it’s from the song Paradise. To me, it means that to experience and fully enjoy the light moments in life you also have to experience the dark. One’s idea of paradise is often based off of the pain of the hard moments. Sort of like you can’t have a rainbow without storms. For the sun to rise it has to set first. I don’t know, it was just a thing that stuck with me. It’s my newest tattoo. I got it on New Year’s Day, it was six months after everything happened.”

“I like it a lot.”

“So is it just the family crest tattoo for you,” I asked as he climbed off of my waist.

“No, I have one more.” He turned so his back was facing me and pulled down his t-shirt so a tattoo on his back at the bottom of his neck showed. I have no idea how I missed this every time we were in a swimming pool but I did.

“What is that?”

“It’s an Avengers tattoo. The original six got them, well except Ruffalo. Inside the tattoo is the Avenger’s A and a 6 for the original members. Then there’s something representing each of our characters. Iron Man’s Arc Reactor, the star of off Cap’s shield, Thor’s Storm Breaker, the sign for something toxic for Hulk, Widow’s symbol and most importantly…”

“An arrow for Hawkeye.”

“Yes, an arrow for Hawkeye,” he said as he laid down beside me and pulled me into him.

“You weren’t done finding all of mine.”

“I know. I’ve picked up that you are the queen of tiny tattoos. Let’s leave some for a future surprise.” He leaned down to kiss me and pulled me into him. It was by far the longest and steamiest kiss we’d shared so far, mainly because we were laying in bed beside each other and even the minor height difference between us was removed. “Are you feeling a little better?”

“I am. Thank you for realizing I was overstimulated and just needed some quiet time.”

“I’ve started to pick up on the signs. I will watch for them all weekend. Maybe we should make a signal so if you need to have a few minutes of quiet I can interrupt whatever you’re doing with an excuse that ends the conversation you are in.”

“That’s a brilliant fucking idea. Can the sign just be me screaming loudly?”

“No, we need it to be secret. Like a signal or a phrase or something.”

“What if I just text you the screaming emoji? I mean I’m going to want to scream through most of the weekend so it seems appropriate.” He laughed at me again.

“I’ll come up with something and let you know when I decide what it is.” He started to kiss me again, his kisses moving down from my lips and to my neck and shoulders.

“Someone decide I was right last night and that making out would be fun?”

“You were definitely right and I was 100% wrong.” He laid me on my back and slid between my legs so he was looking down at me.

“It’s because I’m always right and making out is super fun.” I leaned up to kiss him and pull him down to me. I hadn’t done anything like this in so long. It had been almost a year since I kissed anyone, over a year since I’d had sex, and way longer since I made out with someone without knowing if the next stage would be sex or if it would just be kisses, super intoxicating kisses. Jeremy put more of his weight on me so less was on his forearms.

“Are you okay with this?” he asked as he broke our kiss, he was slightly breathless. “If you’re not and you want to stop just say the word.”

“I’m okay with this. I don’t know if I’m okay with anything beyond this,” I answered. I wasn’t even completely sure that my answer felt right but it felt as right as I could put words to. Kissing him felt good. It made me feel like I was a human. I could feel my heart race and butterflies in my stomach. It felt exhilarating and terrifying all at once.

“That’s fine. You just let me know when we’ve reached your limit. Okay?” I nodded my reply before he started to kiss me again. We eventually stopped kissing and climbed under the covers. We laid in bed facing each other and talking. When we both finally started to feel tired I glanced at the clock and it was nearing midnight. It had felt like 20 minutes but it had been hours that we’d been talking. It was odd the way time moved. When you were enjoying something and wanted it to last forever it felt like minutes. When you were in the middle of hell minutes felt like days. I knew this weekend would have me feeling off because of the way I always reacted to things like this. The dinner tomorrow night would feel like it was a week-long and Saturday would have me exhausted and ready for bed by noon. But here I was knowing that I needed to go to sleep, feeling tired, but not wanting to end the conversation we were having. “You need to sleep. You’re yawning.”

“I know but this feels nice. I feel like a little kid having a sleepover with my friend and being told by my parents that I need to go to bed when all I want to do is turn the lights off, find some flashlights and hide in a blanket fort talking.

“We are totally making a blanket fort on Monday after your family leaves.”

“Fuck yes!” I giggled as he pulled me close to him and held me. This time, no kissings, no talking, just silence and his arms wrapped around me.

“Are you a snuggler?”

“I’ve been known to be. Why?”

“I wanted to know if you were better at being the little spoon or the big spoon.” I laughed really loudly at that.

“The little spoon.” I rolled over in his arms as he pulled me tight to him. He was warm. The sensation of another person’s body next to mine that wasn’t one of the kids or my sister was one that I clearly missed because I fell asleep easier than I had in a year. I heard an alarm go off at 7:30 and felt the warmth that had surrounded me all night leave. I opened my eyes and rolled over to see Jeremy reaching for his phone to shut off his alarm. “Good morning,” I said.

“That is one awesome morning voice.”

“Shut up.”

“Why do you only have one eye open?”

“I can’t see with them both open. You’re blurry. It’s a weird thing. I have to let them adjust for a while before I can see normally out of them both.” He laughed before standing up and heading into the bathroom. I followed him heading for the sink to brush my teeth as he shut the door to use the toilet. It was rather nice that the bathroom had a separate area for that because it made this morning a whole lot less awkward. I finished brushing my teeth as he was done and we essentially swapped. As soon as I was back in the main area of the bathroom he wrapped his arms around me kissing me.

“Good morning,” he said, his lips still pressed against mine.

“Mmmhmm that’s a very good way to start a morning. You’re a much prettier sight to see first thing in the morning than Frankie.” He laughed as he hugged me to him, the two of us just standing in the middle of the bathroom not moving.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Surprisingly good. Last night was the best night of sleep I’ve had in a year.”

“I like knowing that. I was worried that because you were out of practice sharing a bed with someone that you’d sleep like shit.”

“No, surprisingly I slept really well. I felt comfortable and safe. Though calling me out of practice was a little bit of an ego blow this morning.”

“Not meant to be. More that you haven’t been with anyone in a year. I didn’t want it to be awkward or weird for you. I wanted you to feel just like you did. Comfortable and safe.”

“So are you saying you’re not out of practice?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Not a conversation we are having this morning or preferably ever.” He laughed an uncomfortable laugh. “I’m clearly no innocent virgin as I have a child to prove that, but I’m also not sleeping around with every Mom in a fancy-ass SUV in the school parking lot.”

“Just half of them?”

“Charlie…” He gave me a stern look before I laughed.

“I’m giving you so much shit right now. You literally could’ve had sex with someone three days ago and I wouldn’t have cared. Two days ago and I would’ve, I mean unless it had been me.”

“It’s been long enough that I didn’t know you, other than being the cute Mom in the parking lot who picked up my kid’s best friend.”

“Good to know. Let me get you a towel so you can shower. I need to change clothes so I can start to deal with the deliveries that will start arriving soon and the fact that when I go downstairs most of my family will be awake. They are all morning people, it’s annoying.” I dug into the cabinet with the towels and threw one to Jeremy. “You can use anything in the shower that you want.”

“Thanks.” One quick kiss and I left the bathroom. I hadn’t made it far when I heard the shower turn on. Part of me wanted to turn around and see if I could catch a glimpse of anything, the rest of me knew that I absolutely needed to get changed and downstairs. I changed from my shorts to a pair of yoga pants and slipped a bra on under my shirt. When I made it to the main floor I was right. My entire family was up.

“Good morning, sis,” Frankie said. She looked at me in a way that I knew she was trying to read how my night went. Did I have sex? Did I sleep decently? Did I have yet another nightmare?

“Good morning,” I answered. I walked towards the cabinet I kept my giant travel mugs in and started to make myself an iced coffee.

“How’d you sleep?” Savannah asked.

“Really well. I don’t think I’ve woken up feeling that rested in a year.”

“They totally had sex,” Ryan said. I spun around and saw that thankfully my Dad and Mandi were watching cartoons with all of the grandkids and hadn’t heard that.

“I did not. I just slept really well.”

“She didn’t,” Frankie stated definitively. “I can tell and she didn’t.”

“How can you tell?” Tony questioned.

“There’s a look. You have one too. I’m your big sister. It’s my job to know the look. It’s a finely honed skill.”

“She also has a look. It’s the one that’s on her face right now.” I smiled proudly as my sister glared at me.

“I hate you.”

“Actually you love me you just hate that you aren’t the only sibling with the skill.”

“So where is Jeremy? Did he leave already?” Tony asked.

“He’s upstairs showering so he can just pack stuff when he gets home and go get Ava.”

“Pack stuff? So he really is staying here this weekend?” I nodded in response to my brother-in-law’s question. “Brave soul. There will be a lot of people here.”

“I know. He’s trying to come up with a signal that I can give to have him get me out of awkward conversations. He told me it couldn’t be me screaming really loudly though. He wants it to be a phrase or a hand signal or some shit. He’s a total fuckin’ keeper.” My coffee finished and I jumped up onto the counter with it as all of the stools at the island were taken. “Speaking of needing signals and saved, is your Mom’s flight on time, Savy?” Everyone started to laugh, including Savannah.

“It is. She text me that she had all of the stuff ready and they were at the airport. You know how she is. She’s there two and a half hours early just in case the boys cause her problems. That one time they decided to refuse to walk and she missed a flight has left her terrified of not being there extremely early. I’m sure both of my little brothers will be absolute nightmares by the time they get here today.”

“Every single one of the kids will be. The girls were up later than they probably should’ve been last night,” Frankie said.

“Did you all wind down shortly after Jeremy and I went to bed?” Despite them being basically outside my window I hadn’t noticed how late they’d been up. I was too busy enjoying the time with my slumber party buddy.

“Yeah, don’t kill me but it was almost 10 by the time all three of the girls were asleep,” Frankie said.

“Axel was down at his normal time,” Savannah added. “He fell asleep while your Dad was holding him and we got him in bed.”

“Eh, I’m sure we will all have a short fuse the next couple of days. It’s going to feel long and then you all get to go home and enjoy the beach on the 4th of July. I don’t envy the people taking care of your kids for the second half of next week.”

“I don’t either. Do you guys have plans?”

“Probably either watching fireworks somewhere or hanging out at Jeremy’s since he has a pool and I do not. But honestly, I don’t really care. I might still be sleeping. You never know with me.” I started to eat the bagel I’d grabbed before hopping onto the counter. It was nice to have a little bit of time this morning with my siblings, Ryan and Savannah without having to worry about much else.

I felt a little guilty though. I hadn’t put my kids to bed the last two nights and they were snuggled up with my parents watching cartoons while I avoided responsibility for the few remaining moments I had before I had to start working on stuff for tonight’s dinner. I should be over snuggling them or making them breakfast, though I could see that Ellery had already devoured the cinnamon roll I brought home for her. Plus they were with their cousins. Something they didn’t get to do often. But the Mom guilt I had was always the strangest sensation. It was similar to what regular Mom guilt felt like, at least based on the massive amount of Mommy blogs I read the first few months where I could barely sleep. What made it different though was that I didn’t just feel guilt towards the kids for not being a good Mom, I felt guilty that maybe I wasn’t doing it the way Sam would have or that I should be enjoying it even more because I was doing it for me and for Sam. But in reality, there were still mornings when I woke up and wondered what it would feel like to not have kids. After that feeling dissipated I usually felt sick to my stomach with guilt that I’d imagined that they weren’t mine, though normally I imagined that it was because they were still with their Mom and Dad.

“Good morning,” Jeremy said as he walked into the kitchen. His hair was still a little wet and while he’d styled it a little it wasn’t his normal hair. Clearly he knew, like the rest of us, that looking our best this morning wasn’t necessary, he just had to look presentable to pick his daughter up. I handed him his coffee as he came over to where I was sitting.

“Good morning,” everyone in the kitchen replied.

“How much time do you have before you need to leave?” I asked. He’d leaned against the counter in front of me and I rested my chin on the top of his head.

“Not long. I’ve already gotten the threatening text messages about if I’m even a second late picking her up at the airport. It is moments like this that I wish teleportation was a thing and that I could just beam Ava into my house.” I laughed. “Do you need me to get you anything while I’m out running around this morning?”

“I don’t think so. Do you guys need anything?”

“She ran out of tequila and whiskey yesterday,” Tony said.

“I will grab some from my house. Anything else? How does Ava need to be dressed tonight and tomorrow?” I pointed at my sister.

“The girls all have dresses for tomorrow, super-bright colors. Tonight both of mine will have on leggings and cute little tunic tops.”

“Ellery demanded a rainbow tutu dress for tomorrow. She really wanted to dress up as a unicorn but that was so not happening. Tonight she’s wearing black leggings and a white ruffle top.”

“Okay. I am sure I can throw some stuff together for Ava. I might text you pictures and let you ladies decide if she will look appropriate or not.”

“Sounds good to me. Good luck with your ex this morning.” He turned to look at me.

“Thanks. Text me if you need anything and I will let you know when I’m on my way.” He kissed me quickly before saying goodbye to all of my family and walking out to the driveway.

“Is it just me or does Chuckles have the stupidest smile on her face right now?” Ryan asked.

“She does. It’s super stupid and I love it,” my sister exclaimed.

“I hate you all.”

“Except you don’t,” Tony said. “You love us all. And you look ridiculously happy. As the person in this room that has gotten to know him best that shares DNA with you, I am really fucking happy to see you look ridiculously happy. He’s a good guy. He’s a great dad. He cares about not just you but also your kids. And he’s a hell of a lot of fun to be around. You’ve had a history of dating guys who are on your level intellectually but don’t have a lot of interpersonal or social skills."

“And if they aren’t on your level intellectually they are social butterflies, pretty and also pretty stupid,” Ryan added through laughter. “Dickhead was really the only one that could do both and well he was…”

“A Dickhead,” all of us said together.

“Jeremy seems like the real deal,” Frankie said.

“He is,” Tony corrected. “He’s been a huge help in getting me settled. This week Chucky took the girls for a few hours, Savy watched Axel, and he helped me paint the bedroom in the apartment. He’s helped me put furniture together because we know that is one of the few areas of like where Chuck is a total idiot.” I flipped my brother off. “And he takes NO SHIT from her. He also throws it right back. But beyond that, he can sit in the basement with her for hours while they don’t even talk much, they mumble in musician code and play.”

“He’s writing his first album. It’s a huge challenge. While I’ve never quit being a songwriter in favor of a composer, I can’t imagine trying to do what he’s doing.”

“What is he doing?” Frankie asked.

“Writing the music for an animated feature-length film. He’s also the voice of the lead character in it. He wanted to be in a movie that Ava could go see in the theater. It’s not like he’s gonna sit down and watch The Hurt Locker with her or something. They have to fit the movie while also essentially being a traditional pop/rock song. I can do one or the other, I’ve never tried doing both.”

“You could do it if you tried. You can do anything with an instrument and it’s insanely annoying.” Frankie glared at me. She’d tried really hard as a kid, music didn’t come to her naturally or really at all. Tony and I were both naturals and it really just depended on the instrument as to which one of us was better. Frankie had always wished she could be the girl with the lead in the school musical, she was usually just lucky they let her have a role because she was a decent actress, just not a great singer. I’m the one that could’ve arranged the musical but opted to just be the pianist for rehearsals.

“I might be able to but I’m telling you, it’s super challenging. It’s drastically different than what I do for a living. He’s got a songwriting partner in LA, he just needed someone to kick stuff around with so I volunteered. I missed having a songwriting partner.” I smiled at my little brother. A year of working alone, struggling and really not enjoying it and here was my the person who had been my partner-in-crime most of my life arriving to assist just when I needed him most.

“It’s been fun, sis.”

“Okay. While this moment is really touching, there will be deliveries coming any minute,” I said as I jumped down off of the counter. I was right, it wasn’t long before the notifications at the gate started coming. Frankie and I directed things around while Ryan, Tony, and Savannah helped where they could. Once the tent and tables were set up Frankie and I started in on the decor. All of this seemed overboard but I knew that Sam would’ve loved the way we decided to do it. I felt her presence today and saw her in each of the little details. The explosion of color was completely Sam, she had honestly tried to convince Michael that the colors for their wedding should be a rainbow. Thankfully, he won or I’m fairly sure she would’ve dressed me up as a unicorn.

The morning flew by. We’d put on some music to keep us going. I found myself singing along to the playlist Frankie had picked. It had a little bit of everything and I happened to be singing, perhaps a little bit too loudly, to Kacey Musgraves “Butterflies” when I felt Jeremy’s arms snake around my waist. I smiled feeling him hug me. I turned to face him and gave him a soft kiss before swaying and singing to him.

“Kiss full of color makes me wonder where you've always been. I was hiding in doubt till you brought me out of my chrysalis. And I came out new, all because of you. And now you're lifting me up instead of holding me down. Stealing my heart instead of stealing my crown. Untangled all the strings round my wings that were tied. I didn't know him and I didn't know me, cloud nine was always out of reach. Now I remember what it feels like to fly. You give me butterflies, yeah. You give me butterflies.”

He smiled down at me as I just kept singing and I’m sure smiling like an absolute idiot, but honestly it was like the most perfect timing. The lyrics described how the start of this was feeling for me. I’d forgotten what it felt like to fly and here I was looking into the blue eyes of this guy who, despite having only been on one date with him, I knew that the role he was going to play in my life would be lasting. Even if it was just because our kids were friends. I mean, he was willing to deal with all of this crazy shit this weekend and it’s not as if he was even getting sex out of the deal. Patrick would normally groan about something involving my family for this long or something work-related and make thinly demands usually involving sexual favors. Here Jeremy was doing it voluntarily when he didn’t have to, showing up WAY early to help, and he seemed to be enjoying that I looked like a lunatic as I swayed back and forth in his arms.

“Now you're lifting me up instead of holding me down. You’re taking my hand instead of taking my crown. Untangled all the strings round my wings that were tied. I didn't know him and I didn't know me, cloud nine was always out of reach. Now I remember what it feels like to fly. You give me butterflies. You give me butterflies.”

“Oh really? Butterflies huh?” I nodded before he checked to see who was around, finding only Frankie and Ryan who were busy hanging this ridiculous set of rainbow paper lanterns that Sam had used for every birthday and celebration she could. Once he saw we were essentially alone he bent down and kissed me again, this time with the kind of passion and intensity our kisses had last night.

“Butterflies.” He laughed at me before kissing me again.

“Hello! We’ve arrived!” Alex yelled as she walked out onto patio by where we were setting up.

“Fuck,” I said quietly. I untangled myself from Jeremy’s arms and headed over to Alex and Max giving them both a hug. “Did you guys have a good flight?”

“We did.” Alex was obviously over-caffeinated because she didn’t stop to breathe while she was talking. “The boys are definitely going to need a nap, even though they will both claim they don’t.”

"We can get them into their room so they can a nap,” I replied. “I will need to put Axel down soon.” I saw Jeremy appear in my peripheral vision and he grabbed the hand that was behind my back and squeezed it tightly.

“The girls should probably take a nap too so they can last tonight. Ellie was up later than she should’ve been last night and Ava looked tired when I picked her up this morning. You know they are going to fight us on that though,” he said. I laughed.

“Naps? What are naps, Mom? We don’t have to take naps.” I started to giggle. “Where we’re going we don’t need naps.”

“Fact, about both of them. Ava is gonna give me her side-eye. So I might send you in. I don’t think I can handle the look. We also both know they won’t nap.”

“Of course not. They are sharing a room. Who sleeps when there is a slumber party?” I asked.

“Not you. Clearly.” He rolled his eyes at me.

“Who is Ava?” Alex asked. “And also, who are you?”

Well fuck. This was gonna be fun.

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

Thank you so much for your patience with me. I hit a road bump in my "I'm so closed to being done" when my work life got super busy. But that's okay with me. My work life getting busier is a GOOD thing it just meant that my writing had to take a back seat. So thank you for allowing me to do that.

Now on to the chapter...

I wanted to let this chapter feel a little slow. I wanted it to focus on the family. On Jeremy and Charlie building their relationship. I also knew that the sexual tension between the two of them has been is palpable. They are obviously both physically attracted to the other but they also aren't sure they want to immediately jump into full-on PDA around her family and more importantly in front of their kids. Their relationship has to grow very carefully. Their girls love each other and would be devastated if something happened between their parents and they weren't able to spend time together anymore. I also don't want that to stop them from progressing at a pace that feels okay to them. So we will see them continue to get closer and perhaps get to see the way it can get awkward with all of the kids around.

I also felt it was important for the reality of what this whole thing is about to be present. This isn't just a party to have a party. This is a party to celebrate the lives of two incredible people who aren't there anymore. It's heavy, but grief is funny and sometimes it involves laughter. Like laughing when you remember that your friend wanted you to essentially be the maid of honor in her wedding while dressed like a unicorn. I've been going through the weird grief process lately with my grandpa and yesterday (Oct. 31, 2019) marked 9 years since I lost one of my best friends. Grief comes in waves and yesterday I was drowning. Today I'm doing better.

Charlie's family all wanting her to come back to participate in the trial is something that had to be discussed. She's not sure she's emotionally prepared to have to give a victim impact statement even though she knows that it would carry a lot of weight in the trial and any subsequent sentencing. But to see Jeremy want to be there to support her and offer her a place to stay (EEK!) is a big deal. He wants to show, not just Charlie, that he intends on being there to support her, he wants her family to know it too.

So Alex has arrived (well by the end) but prior to that I wanted to show the importance of Savannah to the De Luca family. She wasn't just Charlie's friend's unplanned kid. She was part of their family. She is loved unconditionally by this family and welcomed with open arms at all times. Savannah is a great kid who is growing into a great young adult. She wasn't dealt the easiest hand with her own family dynamic. Having parents who don't get along and feeling like your Mom got married and started a new family can cause problems and I'm sure that has impacted Savannah greatly.

The Butterflies moment. Basically, the song was playing and it felt like it fit the moment and the characters. I really love Kacey Musgraves, her vocal abilities are incredible and she's a great songwriter. I've been listening to her a lot during the writing process.

Okay, I'm going to stop analyzing the crap out of this so I can hit publish. I can't WAIT to hear from you. What was your favorite part? Do you think Jeremy and Charlie are moving too fast or not fast enough? What do you think the outcome will be from Alex arriving at the end? I'd love to hear your feedback (positive and constructive) on this chapter. I've got the Hamilton soundtrack going and I'm going to start working on 12 right now.

xx. Annie

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somuchanxietysolittletime · 5 years ago

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Okay, so most of us know that capitalism, while tolerable in theory, has devolved into a garbage fire of a system that preys on the poor. This is particularly true in America, and doubly-especially true in in red states.

I live in a red state in the deep South. Namely Alabama. I don’t have the money to move to a blue state, so I have to live with a deck stacked against me.

Some background:

My family had a change of income recently. I moved from being a contractor at my work to a full-time hourly employee. I’m paid more paycheck would now have taxes and insurance taken out. So where I was paid about $1,000-1,500 every two weeks before, I was now getting about $800 in that same timeframe.

None of this, mind you, was my work’s fault.

But, obviously, this changed the ecosystem of my family’s income.

We were already fighting bills and this just made it worse.

Which brings us to the main story: Car Loans.

We’ve had our car for three years and pay $250 a month for it. For most of that time, we would call and pay each month, manually. The problem was 1) There was a $10 charge to pay by phone and 2) My husband and I are forgetful people. So, reluctantly, we decided to switch to the automated system. I get paid more, so we set it to take out the 2nd of every month, the day after I’m paid (To make sure it wouldn’t try to pull before my check is deposited).

Three years, we never miss a payment.

One day, about two weeks after the payment was due, the car stopped working. We thought it might be the battery, so took it out to get it checked and changed. Everything we put it through said that it was fine and so we had no idea what was wrong with it.

Three days later, it was taken by Repo men at 3:30 in the morning.

At this point, I thought this was shady. They made no attempt to contact my husband and I about missing a payment. We had to go through all of our bank statements, and found that we were short in October and December (Though we paid in November). There was no indication. No overdraft fee. No letters reminding us of the late payment. No calls to our personal numbers. No email to the contact we had attached to the account.

Nothing.

We called the bank and they let us know that they had no legal obligation to inform us that we were overdue. They’d apparently spoken to a third party - they wouldn’t say who - but never told us that the payment was late.

Initially, we were told that we have to pay $600 to get the car back, plus the $250 we owed for December.

So around $850. Fine. Whatever. We let them know we will pay and scramble over the next week to get the money together - which largely comes in the form of loans from family.

My husband pays the $850 and they tell him to call back the next day about the car.

He calls the next day and they tell him the $850 was just an estimate. We need to pay $330 more because they re-keyed it. It was about a week and a half since they repossessed the car.

So we do.

Then we’re told that the Repo men took all of our stuff from the car and to get it back, we have to pay them $50. To give back OUR PERSONAL POSSESSIONS. My husband and I talk about what we had in the car, like clothes, a few pieces of tech, and the like, and while it totaled well over $50, we just didn’t have that to spend. We agreed it was better to just give up on that.

Until we learned that they ALSO took the tags off the car. So for the vehicle to be street-legal, we HAD TO PAY for our personal property back.

The repo center was over a half-hour away and they took our car, so my husband had to borrow a relative’s truck - if he didn’t then we’d never get the car back.

The lot the car was taken to was two hours the opposite direction, and that location that opens late, closes early, and takes an hour and a half hour lunch break every day.

To recap:

My husband and I had an EXCELLENT payment history on our vehicle.

We used an automated system because the automated system was free and paying manually cost $10.

We missed 2 non-consecutive payments in the span of three years.

We were not alerted of the late payment in any way and there are no laws obligating that the bank alert us before having the vehicle repossessed.

Repo-men repossessed the car at 3 in the morning.

They brought the car to a location hundreds of miles away.

They re-keyed the car in about a week’s time, then forced us to pay for it.

They took our personal possessions from the car, including documentation needed to drive the vehicle, and forced us to pay to get it back.

They forced us to drive halfway across the state to a location that was closed more often than it was open to get our car back.

^ THAT is what it means to live in a red state in America.

A small mistake means a huge bank can exploit the impoverished, forcing them to pay over a thousand dollars of dollars and travel hundreds of miles over a missed payment of just two or three hundred dollars, all without any warning or the decency to reach out and try to make arrangements.There are no laws in my state dictating how long they need to wait after a failed payment, before sending repo-men. There are no laws saying they have to tell us that this may happen. There are no laws protecting repo-men from just taking out possessions and forcing us to pay to get them back.

And I need you to understand the speed at which this happened. It was about 2 weeks after our missed December payment that they took our car. It took about a week and a half for us to get the car back and in that time they had re-keyed it and set it up to be auctioned off in just another two weeks.

You can blame my husband and I for not being more responsible with our money and we should have been checking every charge out of the bank, but a mistake shouldn’t lead to this. This was a ridiculous display of power designed at every single turn to make it as difficult as possible for us to get our car back, all so they could resell it less than a month later. And if they had, we’d have had to buy another car through them, since there aren’t many options for car loans around here, at a MUCH higher interest rate because our credit is eternally fucked now.

#Poverty #Exploitation #Trickle-Down doesn't work #Politics #Political rant #Money

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mutantsrisingrpg · 5 years ago

Photo

Congratulations, GHOST! You’ve been accepted as PAN.

I’ll be honest, Ghost, when I say Eoin wasn’t originally a character whose skeleton brought out some deep emotional connection in me while I wrote it. But really, that made me all the more excited to see what someone would come up with, especially when I read your app and you made me really feel for Eoin. You gave his fighting a reason and brought direction to anger and made me want to know what’s next for him. I can’t wait for you to show me that on the dash, now!

Welcome to Mutants Rising! Please read the checklist and submit your account within 24 hours.

Out of Character Information:

NAME/ALIAS: Ghost

PRONOUNS: He/him

AGE: 30

TIMEZONE & ACTIVITY LEVEL: CET, but mostly operate on American terms; while I try to put in 100% where activity is concerned, I’m at the whims and mercy of both autism and ADHD, so it’s what it is

In Character Information:

DESIRED ROLE: Eoin Dougherty / Pan

GENDER/PRONOUNS: Cis man, he/him

DETAILS & ANALYSIS:

Pan, god of the wild, and wild he is. Eoin Dougherty hasn’t historically been an easy person to deal with. He’s the still waters that hold deep, dragging depths; the cyanide in your drink as your nose detects the bitter almonds, but far too late; the thick mist with the sense of danger beyond what you can see. It would be a lot safer for everyone involved if he was outwardly as wild as the mess of emotion inside him. But on the surface, he’s calm, unassuming, not someone you’d accuse of discord. It’s the calm on the surface that makes him unpredictable, and Eoin isn’t one to give out his thoughts and opinions for free. He listens, he watches, and when he disagrees, he’ll let you know, with actions rather than words. He’s the trouble in his own life, and his problems exist simply because he acts before he speaks — one day you’ll assume you’re okay, the next you’re getting your ribs beaten in with a four-by-four in a back alley. Anyone might think that he’s a very together person, quiet and good at following orders, but inside he’s an ever raging storm of dissent, of mistrust, of toeing the line and going a little further. The acid that drips until it’s burnt a hole through your fuse box, lighting up your whole house.

BIO: (tw: abuse)

Eoin had a rough start. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, his parents were a (self-)righteous cop and a housewife trying to keep the household together. Getting by on a cop’s salary was hard on everyone involved, and it would’ve worked out fine if his mother didn’t have to bear the brunt of his father’s rage. Perhaps it was a feeling of inadequacy, or frustration with the way his life stagnated, or feeling failed by society despite putting his life on the line every day, or perhaps it was a combination of all of the above; Eoin never bothered to psychoanalyse his father, and furthermore, never really came to a point where he thought he deserved it. Whatever the reason or non-reason, it lead his parents to fight almost every night. He and his mother would walk on eggshells whenever his father was at home, and the slightly comment or look would set him off. He’d had to watch his father’s fist connect with his mother’s face far too many times in his lifetime, had to listen to his mother cry quietly as he crawled into bed with her — the only way he knew how to comfort her.

From a young age, Eoin knew something was different about him. After another violent night, hearing his parents yelling at each other, there would be tiny handprints in his stuffed animals. His plastic soldiers would turn into a molten, bubbling mess in his hands as he listened to the cries of his mother and the rage of his father, alone in his room. He was almost a teenager when his father forbade his mother to buy him any more toys; the assumption was that he was breaking them on purpose and thus didn’t deserve nice things.

Teenage years didn’t bring much improvement. Eoin was quiet and never participated in class. He had no friends, so he was an easy target for bullies — or so everyone thought. Fighting became more and more common for him, and by the time he was fourteen, Eoin Dougherty was a name well-known by staff and his principle. His father accused his mother of being too soft on him, except his mother was the only one who didn’t blame him for the dark shadows in his eyes. His mother would always be his soft spot, his laughter and smiles, his safe place. When his father had to work late were the happiest nights for both of them, watching movies and eating popcorn until he fell asleep in her arms.

One night changed everything, as often it does when dramatic things happen. Another day at school of fighting, his upper lip still bloody, knuckles still busted, it hadn’t been his mother who had picked him up from school. It hadn’t been the soft sigh of his name, a gentle hand on his cheek, the sweet voice telling him he couldn’t keep doing this. Instead, it had been his father. The soft sigh was an angry growl, the gentle hand was a slap, and the sweet voice was a snarl telling him what a continuous disappointment he proved himself to be. Dragged out of the car by his hair, he would’ve been at the wrong end of his father’s wrath if his mother hadn’t intervened for his sake and taken the brunt of it.

There was something about seeing his father’s hand around his mother’s throat, about her head banging into the wall, about the blood dripping down her temple, that made something snap in Eoin’s gut. Without so much as a word, Eoin had grabbed his father’s face, and like the plastic soldiers from his childhood, watched his father’s face melt away without so much as a blink or a twitch of the eye, to the chorus of screaming from both his parents.

The thing with cops was that they backed each other up, so the news of his father’s death — visceral murder, really — didn’t go over well at the station. Eoin and his mother knew that this would put him away for a very long time under normal circumstances, but they’d both heard the stories about mutants and the rumours what would become of them. His mother had told him to keep his mouth shut whatever happened, and that’s what Eoin did. Even as the police arrived, even as she explained what happened, even as she told them how she’d poured the acid on her husband’s face, having snapped after the years of domestic abuse.

The sentence was fifteen years in prison, and her son cast off into the foster care system, with no extended family who would touch that particular situation with a fifty-foot pole. His secret was safe, but that was the only thing that was safe.

No foster family would have him long enough for him to settle and find some sense of normalisation, so Eoin spent most of his time out on the street, doing everything illegal and then some. Drugs, breaking and entering, assault, battery, theft, carjacking, even extortion. By the time he was eighteen, he’d made as many friends as he had enemies, and the system ejected him like trash — no prospects, he was a high school dropout with a mean streak, a reputation, and a talent for winning and ending fights. If things had gone on as they had, he would’ve lived a hard, fast life and a short one at that.

But they didn’t go on; a few years on the street, a person with a bone to pick seeing his powers and outing him as a mutant, life on the street turned into life on the road, dodging authorities and anyone who would care enough to out him or snatch him off the street, whisk him away to some unknown place to do who knows what with him. He trusted no one, and everyone was suspicious. Even as he arrived in Chicago, more lenient to his kind, and got in league with the Collective, trust was far from Eoin’s mind. He did as he was told, went where he was ordered, and watched, listened.

EXPANDED CONNECTIONS:

STELLA LI — Eoin is used to being a disappointment. Overall, that’s where he dwells, doesn’t care to prove otherwise, because giving people standards meant having something to live up to, and that just wasn’t what he cared to do. Eternal underachiever, maybe. But Stella boils his blood, not because he doesn’t want to disappoint them, but because he was written off on one mistake, a mistake that wasn’t technically even his mistake. What pisses him off even more is that he wants to prove he’s more than just that one incident, that he cares so much to try to lift himself from the disappointment he’s marinated in all his life, and prove to them that he’s more. Better. Problem is, he barely even believes it himself on the best of days, and they’re so… infuriating.

GERRARD BERMUDEZ — If there’s one thing Eoin knows how to do, it’s fight. When the offer comes, he doesn’t really think twice about it. He’s an unknown in this city, or at least, he doesn’t think Gerrard knows about his surface allegiances — his loyalty isn’t very easily handed out, after all — and it’s a good opportunity to flush things out of his system, to not go soft, a throwback to when life was… well, just a little bit easier. Does he trust Gerrard? Absolutely not, not nearly as far as he can throw them, but he doesn’t have to trust anyone to take advantage of a good thing. After all, isn’t that how he ended up with the Collective in the first place?

EXTRA: [Here] is mockblog. [Here] is pinterest. [Here] is playlist.

Worn leather jackets, hoodies, ripped jeans, and boots is basically Eoin’s aesthetic, he looks like he walked out of a trash heap and he’s not about to correct people, because that requires speaking to them.

He’s not a bad person per se, he just doesn’t care for authority or law or being told what to do, really, and if the fastest way to get from point A to B is illegal, well, then, call him a criminal, I guess.

There’s this thing about his powers in that… it’s like a tension that builds up in his body, and the longer he goes without letting it out, the more agitated he gets. Every now and then he just… needs to let it out, and it’s the best feeling ever.

Eoin often wears earphones, even when he’s not listening to music. There’s nothing more annoying to him than having to remove one because some asshole feels entitled to his attention. Fuck off.

Is there anything he owns that doesn’t have a hole or two in them? Probably not.

He’s a functional addict. Functional in the way that, most days he’s fine and he can manage without, and then one day shit gets too much and he just gets absolutely fucked up with anything he gets his hands on, and spends the next day or two out of his goddamn mind. Self-care.

Don’t tell him he isn’t allowed to do something. He will look at you pointedly and do exactly that thing.

Does he like that everyone thinks of him as a disappointment? No. Does he care enough to prove to people he’s more than that? Also no.

You can call him a bastard every day for a month and nothing happens, and then one day he rips off your jaw because he’s Had Enough.

ANYTHING ELSE: No. Kiss.

#accepted #accepted: pan

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okuraiani · 6 years ago

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Ikemen Revolution – Oliver Knight Route Part 2

I thought about it and since I already started translating the route (even though it’s a lot of work), I think I will continue with it. Of course, I don’t want to spoil the fun for anyone so remember that you’re reading this at your own risk. There will also be lines that might seem exceptionally strange because I struggled with either vocabulary, grammar or both. So please just ignore that and keep on reading.

And I also want to note that I will take this translation (however inaccurate it may be) down if I’m asked to, and will maybe replace them with short summaries about what’s happening.

PART 2 CHAPTER 1

[Oliver] “Put more force into sweeping the floor, stupid.”

[Alice] “I got it, so stop calling me stupid already, little Oliver.”

[Oliver] “I’ll think about it, if calling an idiot stupid is going to be forbidden by law.” “Also, the next time you call me little, better remember that the furniture will also be cleaned by you.”

(I knew it. Even though he’s cute, he’s so not cute at all!)

[Oliver] “Instead, you can pay with your body. How about it?”

[Alice] “Do you understand what you are saying!?”

[Oliver] “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t say it, would I?” “First of all, how about you show me what you’ve got?”

(I really thought he was being a precocious brat.)

But Oliver had only ordered me to clean up the stuff scattered in the garage.

[Alice] ”I’m relieved, though. That paying with my body meant to clean up...”

[Oliver] “Just what beside manual labor did you think it would mean?”

[Alice] “I won’t tell!”

Oliver, sitting in a chair and crossing his legs, laughed through his nose.

[Oliver] “Even if without my outer appearance like this, I’m not into brats. Especially not into careless little girls.”

(This kid is really nothing like a child at all.)

Annoyed I grabbed the broom’s handle tightly.

[Alice] “Even though you are only a kid, you are teasing adults.”

[Oliver] “Only a kid’?” “So if I was an adult it would be fine to tease you?”

[Alice] “Be it child or adult, I don’t like to be teased.” “But, if it were an adult, I’d dislike it a little less.”

[Oliver] “Oh, is that so?”

Oliver grins boldly, but his eyes aren’t smiling.

(Wha— What’s with that smile?)

A faint urge to escape running through me, I stepped backwards with small steps, when—

[Blanc] “Alice, you are late, so we came to get you.”

[Fenrir] “Alice, how is Oliver?”

I blinked at Fenrir and Blanc as they entered the garage.

[Fenrir] “Rather, what are you doing, holding a broom?”

[Alice] “There is a profound reason to this...”

[Oliver] “Uh-huh, profound.”

[Blanc] “Oliver, you can’t let a guest clean up for you.”

Gently taking the broom from my hands, Blanc places it in a corner.

[Blanc] “Really now, forcing a lady to do manual labor...”

[Oliver] “Where’s there a lady in here?”

[Alice] ”I swear to God...”

[Oliver] “Leaving that aside, Fenrir, do you have request?”

(I’ve been downright ignored!)

[Fenrir] “That shortens the talk alright.”

While enduring the gloomy feeling spreading in my heart, Fenrir hands Oliver a sheet of paper.

[Fenrir] “Can you take care of this?”

PART 2 CHAPTER 2

[Fenrir] “Can you take care of this?”

[Oliver] “So it’s a written request.”

With a small sigh Oliver looks down at the letter that was passed to him.

[Oliver] ”A weapon to invalidate magic...”

[Fenrir] “I’d like you to make it as a request from the Black Army.”

[Alice] ”Huh?”

(... Make... A weapon?) (... Oliver will?)

[Blanc] “Here you go, Alice. It’s a specially made black tea with a pinch of freshly picked herbs.”

[Alice] ”Thank you very much!”

At Blanc’s suggestion, we four sit around the table to have tea. However, the inside of my head was occupied with what I heard earlier.

[Oliver] “What are you staring at people’s faces for?”

[Alice] ”Well, you know... Oliver, are you really building weapons?”

[Oliver] “Of course. It’s my job after all.”

As he answers indifferently, Fenrir lightly claps Oliver’s shoulder.

[Fenrir] “I told you he is a genius inventor, didn’t I?” “In the first place, it was also Oliver who made my favorite gun.”

[Alice] “So it’s like that! Oliver really is amazing.”

[Oliver] ”Don’t compliment me as if I were a brat.”

Oliver turned his face away in a huff and my eyes fell on the written request on top of the table.

[Oliver] ”I have received various requests so far, but a weapon to invalidate magic is quite the challenge.”

[Fenrir] “There’s nothing we can do! Lately, scouts from the Black Army took hold of some strange information.”

[Oliver] “Strange?”

[Fenrir] “They say that recently the Red Army is buying up a large quantity of magic crystals.”

(Magic crystals... If I remember correctly, they are stones for using magic.)

In this world, anyone who possesses magic crystals can use magic. However, magic crystals are like batteries. If the stored up magic is used, they become nothing more than simple stones. Also, even though everyone can buy magic crystals, those with great magical power also cost an enormous amount of money.

[Fenrir] “So we held a war council the other day, but...”

PART 2 CHAPTER 3

[Fenrir] “So we held a war council the other day, but...”

-FLASHBACK

[Sirius] “They probably plan to launch a magic surprise attack once the war begins.”

[Luka] “Since they have many funds to waste, the magic crystals won’t run out so easily.”

[Seth] “Won’t it be really bad if we don’t have a countermeasure for that?”

[Ray] “You’re right. That’s why I have a proposal—”

-FLASHBACK END

[Oliver] “So the weapon to invalidate magic is the King’s suggestion.”

[Fenrir] “Yup. We have Alice with us, but if they attack from various points, there’s not much she can do.” “Even before that, we have no intention to let Alice stand on the battlefield.”

[Blanc] “Of course that’s how it should be. Including a lady into a war strategy is absolutely out of question.”

(Even then, everyone in the Black Army is so kind.)

[Oliver] “I have no idea how to make a weapon that invalidates magic.” “I will do the best I can, though.”

[Fenrir] “Awright, thanks a bunch!”

[Oliver] “However...”

Oliver turned a very meaningful gaze towards me.

[Alice] “Wha— What is it?”

[Oliver] ”Thanks to a certain someone who broke the inventions that are due soon, I not able to start developing the weapon immediately.”

[Alice] “Uh...”

(My chest really hurts!)

[Oliver] “Recently, request are coming in one after another, too. If you include doing detailed work, getting started will be delayed even more.”

[Blanc] “But since we don’t know when the Red Army might start attacking, isn’t Fenrir’s request more urgent?”

[Fenrir] “That’s true. But, well, what will be, will be.”

Fenrir laughed ingeniously, making no attempt to blame me.

(But this is partly also my responsibility, right?) (For the Black Army and as an apology to Oliver, what I can do is...) (I know!)

[Alice] “Hey, if I lend you a hand, Oliver, do you think you can get a bit faster to making it?”

PART 2 CHAPTER 4

[Alice] “Hey, if I lend you a hand, Oliver, do you think you will be a bit faster to making it?”

[Oliver] “Excuse me?”

[Alice] “Cleaning, office work, I will do absolutely anything!”

[Oliver] “Are you trying to tell me... that you’ll become my assistant?”

[Alice] ”That’s right.”

I thought it was a good suggestion, but Oliver’s face clouded over.

[Oliver] “You must be joking.”

[Alice] “Not at all. I still haven’t worked enough to compensate for your inventions, right?” “Moreover, if there is something I can do to help the Black Army, then I want to do it.”

(I think I can at least help if it’s odd jobs.)

[Oliver] “I don’t need someone who will be useless in a workshop.”

[Alice] “ You won’t know if I am useless or not, if we don’t try it.”

[Oliver] “No need. I already know you can’t do it. You’re an idiot after all.”

[Alice] “Calling me stupid again...”

[Blanc] “But, Oliver, didn’t you say that you wanted an assistant?”

[Alice] “Oh, really! Is that so?”

Interrupting Blanc’s words without hesitation, Oliver glares at him bitterly.

[Oliver] “...this damn talkative old rabbit.”

[Blanc] “Isn’t it fine? If Alice comes over, you will also be able to concentrate on your inventions.”

[Oliver] “That’s not the problem here.”

(I wonder why he is so stubbornly refusing?)

A: “Don’t tell me you are shy?” B: “Do you dislike me that much?” C: “I will come over, even if you don’t like it.”

[Alice] ”Even if you don’t like it, I will come over every day!”

[Oliver] “That’s some oversimplified way of thinking, stupid girl.”

(I already can’t count anymore how often he has called me stupid today alone.)

While staring at me, Oliver let out a small sigh as if resigning.

[Oliver] “Cradle is a much more dangerous place than you think.” “Don’t thoughtlessly go about.”

PART 2 CHAPTER 5

[Oliver] ”If you safely want to return to the Land of Reason, hole yourself up in the barracks.”

(But that’s...)

[Alice] ”Oliver, could it be you’re worried for me?”

[Oliver] ”I’m not worried. It’s a mere warning, you half-wit.”

(He’s insulting me like usual, but if he says that much I understand all the same.) (I thought he is just a cheeky kid, but he also has an unexpectedly cute side to him.)

Due to that newly discovered side, I couldn’t help but smile.

[Oliver] “Don’t make such a dumb face.”

[Alice] ”I’m not. Thank you for worrying about me.” “I heard that the Central Quarter is a neutral zone, though.” “Fighting is supposed to be prohibited here, so I guess it isn’t that dangerous!”

[Oliver] “You’re saying that because you don’t know anything—”

[Alice] “Also, I can’t hole myself up in the barracks just because it’s dangerous.” “I want to properly return the kindness the Black Army has shown me.”

[Oliver] “... ...”

(I’m not saying this with some kind of half-baked resolution.)

When I tell him my feelings without stepping back, Oliver smiled, frowning.

[Oliver] “Even for a credulous person, if you go that far, you’re only being an idiot.”

(Wow, so he can also smile like that.)

[Fenrir] “Oliver, I’d also like to ask you.”

[Oliver] ”What?”

[Blanc] “Fenrir, you don’t mind?”

[Fenrir] “Not at all! Above all, it would be boring for her to seclude herself in the barracks even though she came to Cradle, right?” “Of course, we’ll properly drop her off and pick her up. So, how is it, if we escort her?”

(Fenrir...)

Having even such a reliable backup, Oliver’s stubborn behavior crumbles.

[Oliver] “...Whatever. You’ll want to quit soon either way.” “I’ll give it a try and see you if you really are useful.”

[Alice] ”Thank you!”

(Thank god, with this he may be able to quickly make the weapon.)

[Oliver] “However, there is a condition.”

[Alice] ”A condition?”

#Ikemen Revolution #Ikemen Kakumei #Oliver Knight #Main Route #Oliver's Route #Quick Translation #Sketchy Translation #Translation Attempt #IkeRev Spoiler

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chobit92 · 5 years ago

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Small World: Joseph/OC Part 27

I do not have as much time as I would like for writing which is why it is taking me so long to get this fic finished. I already know how I am going to end it. I will hopefully be posting my other fic soon which is titled Home which I warn you is over 600 bloody pages...Anyone who is reading this and has been reading from the start I thank you. Enjoy!

Warnings: Self Harm. Death of a child. Suicide.

(Joseph sits hunched over in a chair looking at the floor. He is holding John’s cell phone tightly with both hands. He looks up at John who is lying in a hospital bed heavily sedated. His right arm is bandaged up. The cut was deep. If Joseph hadn’t found him when he did he would have bled out in the tub. Joseph will never forget the sight of his little brother lying lifeless in the tub surrounded by all that blood. John wasn’t messing around. This wasn’t just someone self harming. John was serious about ending his life. The nurses here know it too. Joseph looks down at the padded straps securing Johns wrists to the bed frame. Tears sting his eyes again and he lets out a sob as he takes his brothers hand. He prays quietly. He has been praying ever since he found John lying there like that. He is glad that Lillith wasn’t home. He is glad that she didn’t have to see John like that. He wishes he could un-see it. He finds himself begging the Voice for help. Begging for guidance. He prays that John will be okay. He prays that he isn’t locked away and pumped full of drugs. Drugs are the last thing that John needs. Joseph has worked in a psychiatric hospital. He has seen how the patients are treated. How they are shut away and hidden from society. The Voice does not answer him. Not that he expected it to. He hasn’t heard from the Voice in years. The door opens and Joseph looks up to see Lillith rush in. She lets out a small cry and goes straight to Johns side.). Lillith: Oh John. What have you done? (She leans down and rests her head on his inhaling the scent of his shampoo. She takes hold of Johns hand then looks down at the cuffs on Johns wrists.). Lillith: Why is he chained to the bed? He didn’t try and attack anyone did he? Joseph: No. He was very agitated however. They had to sedate him. He was a danger to himself as much as to others. Lillith: Do you know why he did it? Did he say anything to you before...? Joseph: No. I had been trying to get him to eat but he wouldn’t. He spent most of the day in bed. He wasn’t talking at all. I went to make him lunch and when I came back... (Lillith lets out a sob.). Lillith: I’m so sorry John. This is my fault. Joseph: No it isn’t. Lillith: I left him. He needed me. He needed looking after and I fucking walked out on him! (Lillith is suddenly sobbing.). Joseph: You can’t blame yourself for this. Lillith: I’m his fiancée. We’re meant to be getting married. Joseph: You still can. We are going to help him. Together. Lillith: For better or worse. In sickness and in health. I’ve already broken our vows and I haven’t even said them yet! (Joseph stands up and goes over to her wrapping his arms around her.). Joseph: You haven’t broken any vows. You are here by his side. Like you have always been. He has hurt you so much. You have been through so much. But you are still here. Your love for him is so strong that even after he killed your child here you are in his time of need. (Joseph places his hands on her cheeks and gazes down at her with adoration.). Joseph: You are a beautiful person Lillith. God has guided the two of you together. Just like he guided me to John and will guide me to our brother Jacob. I am so happy that John has someone like you in his life. He doesn’t believe that he deserves you but that’s not true. He just cannot see what a gift he has been given. But he will see. You and I are going to make him see. (He places a kiss on her forehead then wipes her tears away with his thumbs.). Joseph: Would you like a cup of coffee? Lillith: I...Yes. Please. Joseph: I’ll be back in a moment. (Joseph leaves the room. Lillith sits down and sighs. She doesn’t really need all of this God stuff right now. She’s never been one for religion. She isn’t sure she believes in God. Yet as she looks at John lying there pale and cuffed to the bed she finds herself praying anyway. * (Joseph sits sipping coffee. He looks over at Lillith. She is sat there stroking John’s hair, tears silently rolling down her cheeks. She has been as still as a statue for the past seven hours. John woke up several times but he was groggy and confused. Lillith told him that she was sorry and that she loved him. Joseph had to fight back tears as Lillith showed him exactly how devoted she is to his little brother.). Lillith: You can give up on me. You can give up on us. But don’t you dare give up on yourself. You’re not allowed to give up on yourself. I won’t let you. Do you hear me John? I won’t let you. (Joseph lost the battle and ended up going into the bathroom where he broke down completely. The door opens and Franky walks in. She goes over to Lillith who gets up when she sees her and the two girls hug. Lillith starts to sob.). Franky: Oh my girl. It’s okay. He’s gonna be okay. I came straight from work. (This is obvious as Franky is only wearing a tiny mini skirt so short that it might as well just be a belt and a black corset which doesn’t cover much. Franky rubs Lillith’s back then looks at Joseph.). Franky: I’m sorry. For how I was on the phone. I didn’t realise he was this bad and...I was angry at him for upsetting Lillith again. Joseph: It’s forgotten. Franky: Did anyone want coffee? Lillith: Yeah that’d be great. Joseph: Please. (Franky leaves the room. Lillith sits back down and takes hold of John’s hand. She then goes back to stroking his hair.). Lillith: I love you. Lots and lots with Jelly tots. John: And vodka shots. (Lillith looks up as John opens his eyes.). Lillith: Hey. (She lets out a sob. Joseph takes John’s other hand.). John: My head is killing me. Lillith: That’s probably the sedatives. John: I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Lillith: Sssh. (She leans over him and presses a kiss to his lips.). Lillith: Why didn’t you call me? John: You left. Why would I have called you? Lillith: Because you were obviously in a state. If you had called me and told me you felt like this...That you were going to... (She swallows a sob.). Lillith: I would have come back. John: You always come back. Lillith: Of course I do. I love you. John: I don’t deserve you. Lillith: Yes you do. Don’t talk like that. (Franky comes back in balancing three coffees.). Franky: Hey. You scared the shit out of us mate. John: Sorry. (Lillith squeezes his hand.). Lillith: It’s going to be okay John. John: No it isn’t. It’s all crap. All of it. Lillith: Even me? John: No. Not you. Never you. You have been the only good thing to ever happen to me. But I’m no good for you. Lillith: Well tough tits coz I love you. (She kisses the back of his hand.). Joseph: As do I brother. As do I. * (John sits on the bed staring at the wall. He looks down at his wrist where his name is written on a white band. He sighs. Sectioned. He has been sectioned of all things! He is once again glad of the wealth his parents left him. Money can buy a lot of things. It has bought him a very private facility. Very expensive. But the place is still very much like a prison. The door to his room is locked and he can’t switch off the light. Every so often someone presses their face against the window in the door to peer in at him. The room itself isn’t bad however. He even has his own en suite bathroom. They have confiscated several of his belongings, which Lillith went back to the apartment to fetch for him, including his phone charger. The battery died an hour ago. He can’t even contact anyone. He finds himself wishing that Lillith was here with him right now. He lies down and curls up on the bed. He closes his eyes and imagines Lillith lying next to him, stroking his hair and peppering soft kisses over his back and shoulder. His anger recedes giving way to tears. He cries far longer than he ever has his entire life. He hates the world and everyone in it. He hates his life and he hates himself. Sure he can kid himself that the charming lawyer big shot John Duncan is so important. But he knows deep down that if he were to remain locked away in here for the rest of his life nobody would notice or care. Nobody would give a shit. He grabs the pillow and hugs it to his chest burying his face in it to muffle his sobs. Why couldn’t he have just died?).

#Far Cry 5 #Mr Writing #Writing #Joseph Seed #Homeless Joe #original character #Small World #Chance Meeting #Rome Georgia #Atlanta Georgia #John Seed #John Duncan #Lillith Duncan-Seed

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fullmetaldevil-blog · 6 years ago

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Stitched AU Short: A Sick Day

While talking to a friend I was encouraged to try my hand at a few writing prompts since writing is new to me.

Anywho Batim Stitched AU short summary: A lot has happened for Allison, Tom and Benny since they got out of the studio and the last thing they need is a cold.

Early morning had risen on a modest home, and within a demon was stirring. Benny tossed and tuned on his bed moaning in his sleep before snapping awake and sat up looking around the room in fear. The demon looked around the space he was in dreading that he would see yellowed walls and endless hallways coated in ebony ink. Yet he was met with a soft baby blue wall and white trim. The spot were he was resting was his bed that Tom and Allison had recently bought for him. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the morning sun was shining through his window, and yet no one had come to get him. He was used to being woken at a set time by the the other residents of the home and yet he slept in. He listened carefully and come to realize that there was no sound of pattering feet or grumbling in the hallway. The normal sounds he had come to associate with mornings.

He lifted his blankets up and slid out of bed carefully to not make any noise. He opened his bedroom door slowly and saw that house had remained as still as it was the night before. The house itself was still sleeping and its occupants weren't a stir except for himself.

Benny quietly crept down the hall to the living room and den, no one was there. He drifted to the kitchen to find that it too was void of activity. He quietly groaned to himself that no one was up. The coffee pot was empty, there was no figure at the stove cooking, nothing. Just empty silence. The house was never quiet in the morning, someone was always up. The lack of sound was starting to make the little demon uncomfortable. It reminded him too much of the silence of the studio except for the occasional drip of ink or the moan of a tortured soul.

A sense of panic started bubbling up within the plushdemon. Why is he alone? Is this a bad dream where he thought he got out of the studio? Is he going to wake up and find the familiar yellowed walls of the factory and the stench of ink so thick you could gag? Will he be alone again?The edges of his eyes started to produce small droplets of ink before a rough but warm hand rested on the top of his head.

Benny whirled around and was met with a pair of tired eyes. "Hey, Benny. Good morning".

Tom smiled down at Benny and then noted the hints of ink at the demons eyes and knelt down. "Hey, whats wrong?" He rubbed his thumb on the demons cheek to wipe away the ink. A look of worry across the older man's face.

"I didn't see or hear anyone. There was no one here and I thought...I thought..." Benny's voice devolved into small whines as he leaned into Tom.

"Hey hey hey, it's ok" Tom hugged the toon and started to rub his back. "We're here and aren't going anywhere."

Tom knew all to well what Benny was probably going through. It was common for all of them to have horrid nightmares of being back in the hell hole of a studio. The yellowed wooden walls, the seemingly endless hallways dripping with ink, the creaks and moans of the building as ink was pumped through it like veins with the Ink machine at it's heart. Tom at least had Allison with him, but the plushdemon was separated from them. He didn't know what all the little devil had gone through since Benny didn't talk about it much, nor did he want to press him on it. One thing he knew for certain is that the demon had grown very attached now that the three were reunited. Benny had developed separation issues after the reunion, but he couldn't blame him. Benny was alone for so long just trying to survive the hell hole like everyone else. The only thing he could do was to be there for the toon whenever he needed him.

Tom just stayed there kneeling on his knee rubbing Benny's back while he waiting for the little toon to calm down. Benny's whining slowly stopped and he looked up at Tom. "Thank you".

Tom smiled and pointed at his leg for which Benny gladly clung to, sitting on top of Tom's foot as the man moved throughout the kitchen.

Benny watched as Tom drifted through the house opening up cabinets and drawers pulling out dishes and utensils. He set the table quickly and walked over to a stack of boxes and rummaged through them pulling out brand new pots and pans. Benny quietly sat and watched the man work his thoughts drifted to how he got to this point in his life.

It had been 2 weeks since they got out of the studio and Tom and Allison had no home to go home to since they were gone for years from being trapped in the studio. They had to start anew with nothing but the ink soaked clothes on their back and an old car long since rusted, a dead battery and flat tires. Luckily they still had a sizable bank account and managed to buy a house nestled in between some hills overlooking a valley. So much had happened so fast Benny had no clue what to make of it. The three of them had to move from one place called a 'hotel' to another one every few days, and they had to move at night so no one would see him. It felt like forever with moving from place to place with either Allison or Tom gone all day. He still remembered the day Allison came to the hotel room all grins shouting something about them finally getting a place called a 'house' and that they could move in in 3 days time.

This 'house' as he was told, is where he would be living from now on. It was much bigger then the hotel. He didn't quite know what to make of the place at the time since there were only walls, no bed, couch, fridge, or a device called 'television'. Tom insisted that Allison and Benny stay at the hotel one more day so he could try and get furnishings, but Allison countered with the argument that they needed to use the money for clothes, blankets and other necessities instead of a night in a hotel. Allison had told the man that she would gladly sleep on the floor of her new home and be at peace, then at a hotel. Tom was only able to bring home two sleeping bags since the beds would be delivered the following day, but it was more then enough for Allison. Their first night in the house was spent in sleeping bags on the living room floor with Benny sleeping with Allison.

The first few days made Benny's head spin. Either Allison or Tom were gone all day and would come home multiple times with boxes and boxes of stuff. Though when the delivery truck arrived to set up the beds and deliver the couch, Benny ran and hid under the kitchen sink till the crew was gone. As soon as the beds arrived Allison and Tom divvied up the rooms, he learned that he was getting his own room right next to theirs. He didn't like being separated from Allison, but Tom insisted that Benny have his own room so the he could have his owns things and his own personal space.

Though the house had little things that Benny liked about it. There was a strange wall where light came through the ceiling that Tom called a 'atrium' that spanned one side of the living room and opposite of it was a large structure called a 'fireplace and mantle'. He liked the living room cause it was large and he could run around, but his favorite place of all was the kitchen. Allison would always be in the room making something good to eat. He would watch her drift throughout the room opening cabinets and drawers stocking them with new utensils and china they just purchased. He always looked forward to what foods Allison was gonna make since the first room that was stocked with necessities was the kitchen. He often sat on the chair and hummed with her while he watched her cook. He really enjoyed it when Allison would ask him to help out, she would show him little things like how to cut fruit or vegetables without hurting himself.

His thoughts drifted to why Allison wasn't up yet and why Tom was. Normally it would be Allison up making breakfast and Tom would stumble out some time later. His thoughts were interrupted by a voice "Benny? Benny? You listening?"

Benny looked up to see Tom looking down at him with a worried expression. "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. What were you saying?" He looked up at Tom sheepishly.

"I asked; what did you want for breakfast, cause we only have eggs or cereal."

"May I have some cereal please?".

"Ok." Tom walked over to the cabinet and pulled down 2 bowls, a box of cereal from the adjacent cabinet, and set them down at the table. He went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of milk and he stopped and looked down at the still clinging toon while chuckling. "Benny you're gonna have to get off my leg so you can sit at the table to eat" Tom nearly forgot the toon was there considering Benny was pretty light, but if the toon expected to eat, he would have to let go the man's leg.

"...ok" Benny slowly lifted himself off Tom's leg and soon found himself being picked up and sat at the table with a freshly poured bowl of cereal being placed in front of him "Thank you".

"You're welcome little guy". Tom smiled while pouring himself his own bowl of cereal. He returned to the fridge and put the milk away and came back to the table and started to eat quietly.

Benny didn't take a bite of his food, but rather looked around before looking back at Tom. "Where's Allison?"

Tom stopped eating and sighed slightly "She caught a cold and isn't feeling well, so she is sleeping in for now."

Benny got instantly worried "Will she get better?"

"Yeah, she just over did it and tired herself out. All she needs is medicine and rest." he smiled at the worried demon.

Tom couldn't bring himself to say that both he and Allison were exhausted. Neither have been able to catch a decent break since once out of the studio they were jobless and homeless. It would have been one thing if it were just the two of them and they could take a little more time on things but with having Benny, they couldn't wait too long on anything. They had to hit the ground running. They were thankful they still had their savings from working with the studio and Henry was more then willing to help with lodging, but neither Tom nor Allison wanted to burden the older animator, especially now that he had his own demon to deal with.

Tom and Allison ran around everywhere and to their dismay, so much had changed. Stores they used to know were no longer around, and some areas that used to be grassy fields were all covered in either houses or shopping centers. Cars were a a different story all together. There were new vehicles and designs that to Tom looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, but it helped prove a point that neither he nor Allison liked: they were frozen in time while the world left them behind. Both he and Allison had to adjust to their new world just as much as their new companion, but they couldn't show that they were just as lost and scared as the toon was. Henry was heaven sent as he spent a bit of time catching Tom and Allison both up on current events and managed to show them around town so they wouldn't feel so lost. He was also kind enough to help them with the house search since he too was also moving out of his apartment and into a new home since he now had Bendy to look after. His small apartment just wasn't cutting it for the energetic devil.

"Is there anything we can do for her in the meantime?" Benny's voice breaking Tom out of his thoughts.

He looked down at Benny and smiled at the thoughtfulness of the toon "Actually, there is something we can do."

"What is it?" Benny leaned over the table, tom had the toons undivided attention.

"Well, we can make her some soup and get her some medicine, so she can get better faster."

"Yay! " Benny was about to leap off his seat when Tom caught the plushdemon's arm.

"Finish your breakfast first young man." Benny was met with a stern look from Tom.

"Ok!" Tom watched as Benny seemed to inhale his cereal before hopping off the chair with his bowl and dashing to the sink. He got on a step stool and placed his bowl in the sink before swiftly returning to Tom's side eager to get started.

The man nearly choked on his own food while trying to keep from laughing at the energetic devil. This was something he was going to have to get used to. Tom finished his cereal and washed the dishes with Benny following him like a little demonic shadow. He reached back into the box of pots and pans and pulled out a small pot and handed it to Benny.

"Here, can you set this on the table while I get the chicken?"

"Ok." Benny took the pot and step stool over to the table. He hopped up on the step stool with the pot and set it on top and waited for Tom to come over.

Tom went to the fridge and pulled out some chicken breasts, carrots, celery, an onion and 2 potatoes. He approached the table with all the groceries in hand and set them down. He returned to the drawers and pulled out 2 knives, 2 cutting boards, a potato peeler and returned to the table.

Tom washed and cut the chicken breasts very thinly and slid them in the pot and filled it with water, setting it to boil. While he waited, he helped Benny peel and cut up the veggies into small pieces so all the food could cook quickly. He was thankful Benny spent a lot of time with Allison in the kitchen and didn't have to watch him too much as Benny handled his knife carefully. The toon handled each vegetable carefully and steadily cut each one in equal sizes at a steady pace in comparison to Tom's 'slow and steady wins the race' pace. Tom felt a little embarrassed that the toon was faster at chopping up the vegetables, but at least Tom knew how to cook.

It didn't take too long for the chicken to come to a full boil with Tom stirring the pot on occasion. He grabbed the cutting board with the veggies and poured them into the pot along with some seasonings and let it continue to boil. While he waited for the veggies to cook, he gathered up the dishes on the table and started washing them and handed them to Benny so he could dry them. Benny couldn't quite reach the cabinets to put the cutting boards away but was able to put the utensils away. After handing Benny the last cutting board he waited for the toon to finish drying it and gingerly took the board from him and returned it to the cabinet.

Tom returned to his former position over the stove occasionally stirring the pot, while Benny had brought his step stool over and was was watching next to him. He took out a small fork and stabbed a piece of potato. Benny asked why he was doing that and he told him that when a fork can penetrate a potato easily then it is ready. He went to one of the cabinets and pulled out a box of macaroni noodles and poured them into the pot. After making sure the soup was on a high boil he covered the pot with it's lid and immediately shut the flame off.

"Why did you do that? The noodles aren't cooked." Benny looked up at Tom confused. He had seen Allison cook noodles for a dish called 'spaghetti' and she would only turn the flame off after the noodles were cooked, and that took awhile. Not in the matter of seconds.

"Bring water to a high boil and throw in noodles and cover it, after 10 minutes the noodles will be cooked from the heat contained within the pot." Tom smiled while scooping Benny off his step stool setting the devil down on the floor "Now, While that is cooking I need go to the store to buy some medicine."

"What do I do in the meantime?" Benny looked up at Tom.

"You can be a good boy and watch Allison for me while I'm gone, but don't disturb her. She needs her rest.".

"Ok". Benny gave a small mock salute.

He watched Tom put a coat on over his Pajamas, grabbed his car keys and headed out the door. Once Benny was sure Tom was long gone he turned on his heel and headed for Allison's room. He knew Tom told him to not 'disturb her', but how would he know if she was ok if he didn't check on her? He quietly approached the door and turned the nob slowly opening the door to be as quiet as possible. The lights were off, and he could make out a mound of blankets rolled up on the bed.

"Allison?" he quietly called out, but didn't get a response. He walked over to the bed and carefully crawled up on the bed and scooted over to her. "Allison?"

The blanket mound finally stirred and Benny was greeted by a tired shaky smile. "Hey, sweetie." Allison whispered.

Benny laid on his stomach and was inches away from Allison's face and whispered " How do you feel?"

"I've been better." She lifted her hand and gently petted him between his horns.

"Tom went to get medicine. Do you need anything?" He leaned into her hand purring slightly. It was then he felt how clammy her hand was, the contact made him frown slightly.

"Some water if you can. Please." She whispered. It was clear she was exhausted and very much out of it.

Benny nodded and removed himself from her touch and slid off the bed. He walked to the doorway and looked over his shoulder at the woman frowning slightly before leaving.

He walked into the kitchen and looked up at the cabinets that housed the glasses and the faucet where he could get water. All of them were out of his reach. He needed water, and normally he wouldn't care if he had to climb up on a stool to get and glass and fill it with water, but the last thing he wanted was to spill the water by accident cause of his small size. He took a deep breath and thought to himself that in his normal state he can't do much, but in his larger form he is taller then a human and can. Though Tom didn't seem to approve of his other form, but if it's for Allison, it should be ok.

Benny felt the fabric of his body expand as the ink within him adjusted and grew. Ink seeped from his face completely coating his right eye and half the stitches on his left either expanded or snapped all together, partially encasing a large singular black eye and yellow iris. His teeth grew sharp and his horns grew long as he gained height. His body grew lanky with the stitches on his stomach pulling open and large white teeth protruding from it's edges. His arms separated at each respective stitch and only remained connected to his body by the threads that held them together. Allison had dubbed his alternate form "Rag doll" due to how shredded and broken his body looked, but it was a form he needed at the moment.

With height now on his side, he walked over to the cabinet and gingerly pulled out a glass and filled it with water from the faucet. He had a bit of a tough time with the faucet since his gloved hands are much larger then a humans. With glass in hand, he walked down the hall and re-entered the Bedroom.

Allison looked up at Benny and smiled tiredly at him. She didn't seem to mind the demons change in physical appearance.

"CaN yOu SiT uP?" His voice came out garbled and deep. He winced at the sound of his own voice, but tried to smile without looking like a horror show.

Allison nodded and started to push the blankets off so she could sit up. It was then that Benny noticed her sheets were soaked as well as her clothes. He frowned at seeing her looking so pale, he didn't know what to do. He knew how to take care of himself, but never a human, let alone a sick one.

He watched as she seemed to struggle with sitting up, her body seemingly not cooperating. He carefully slid his large hand behind her back and helped her to sit up properly "HeRe" he handed her the glass of water and sat next to her.

"Thank you." Allison took the glass and started drinking.

While she was drinking the water, Benny got up from the bed and walked over to her dresser. He opened up the drawers looking for a change of clothes for her. He knew at least that humans change clothes when their current one is soiled, and she was soaked from sweat. Allison protested about Benny rummaging through her belongings, especially when he accidentally held up a bra and underwear. He settled on a change of pajamas and brought them over to her.

"PuT tHeSe On." He held out the clothes. His cheeks were dusted with hints of pink from finding her undergarments by accident. His eye darting around to look anywhere but her.

Allison smiled up at him and took the clothes from him "Thanks". She wanted to laugh at how shy and modest Benny was acting. He very much reminded her of Tom when he would stumble in on her while she would be changing ,and instantly hide his face or turn around.

Benny watched as she slowly got up from the bed, groaning the entire way up, and headed for the bathroom to change. While she was gone, Benny pulled the soaked sheets off the bed and tossed them in the laundry basket. He grabbed the bedding from his room even though they were a bit small and used them to cover the bed back up. They still didn't have a lot of bedding yet since they were still trying to make the house properly livable, but for now it will have to do.

He quickly made his way back to the kitchen to grab a water basin and fill it with cold water, taking care to not get any of the water on himself. He knew that humans sweat when they get too hot and he hoped that a cold cloth will help cool her down. While the basin was filling with water he checked the time and saw that more then 10 minutes had passed. The soup should be ready. He opened up the cabinet and grabbed a bowl filling it with the chicken noodle soup. He shut the water off in the sink and opened up a few kitchen drawers till he found a cloth and soaked it in the basin. Satisfied, he carried the basin in one hand, the bowl of soup in the other, and returned to the bedroom. He laid the basin on the floor near the nightstand and set the soup on the nightstand making sure to not knock over the lamp.

Allison came back to the bedroom and chuckled at the change of bedding, the basin sitting on the floor in front of the nightstand and a bowl of presumably soup atop the stand. She instantly recognized Benny's bedding. The demon in question was standing next to bed and tilted his head.

"ArE yOu FeElInG aNy BeTtEr?"

"I am now sweetie, now that I was able to freshen up a bit and that you're helping me out so much" Allison walked over to Benny and lifted her hand up and caressed the demons cheek which he eagerly leaned into humming a strange garbled purr.

With the demon satisfied Allison sat on the bed and grabbed the bowl of soup examining its contents, while Benny sat on the floor next to her. It was a very basic chicken noodle soup, tom's proclaimed 'specialty'. The man was very basic in his cooking saying that 'all you need are the bare necessities, nothing more, nothing less.' she picked up the spoon and started eating, all the while under the watchful eye of the over sized demondoll.

“Is It GoOd?” Benny looked up at her, a hint of nervousness in his eye.

“yes it is.” Allison smiled warmly. Truth be told she could hardly taste it, but for the little she could taste, it was delightful.

Benny hummed at her appreciation for the food “I'm GlAd, ToM aNd I mAdE iT tOgEtHeR.”

“And you two did a wonderful job” Allison reached over and scratched Benny between the horns resulting in a much louder purr. The demon clearly happy from her liking the food he helped make, and the show of affection he was getting for it.

Allison ate the soup slowly, savoring it's taste bite by bite. Such a simple meal yet contained so much love within it. Once she finished her food, Benny took the bowl from her and returned to the kitchen while she laid down in the bed trying to rest again. Benny came back to the room and double checked her sheets making sure she was tucking in for bed while he resumed his spot on the floor next to her.

After awhile he noticed that she would toss and turn in the bed and seemed to be shivering again. He lifted his hand up and placed it on her forehead to gauge her temperature and she felt quite warm. He knew he himself wasn't nearly as warm as what was viewed as the 'average' human temperature, but he was sure they weren't supposed to be that hot. yet she was acting like she was cold. That couldn't be right, she was sweating a lot earlier cause she was hot and now she's acting like she's cold? She has several blankets on the bed, including his. Yeah sure his blankets were smaller in comparison, but he laid them end to end to equate one adult sized blanket, so how is she cold?

"ArE yOu CoLd?"

"I can't seem to get warm for some reason." Allison pulled on her blankets tying to get more comfortable.

Benny frowned slightly, but smiled when a thoughtful idea came to his mind.

Benny made sure his stomach mouth stitching was nice and taut before he carefully slid his hands under Allison tucking the blankets under her, wrapping her like a human sized burrito. She noted the sudden movement and looked to see what he was doing "Benny? What are you doing?"

Benny slid his hands under Allison again getting a small squeak from the woman as he lifted her and moved her to the edge if the bed. With the opposite side of the bed cleared, he crawled next to her. He pulled her body close to his and curled up around her as best he could. His body dwarfing hers, he laid his head next to hers and had his arms and threads wrapped around her to keep her blankets close to her.

Allison instantly caught on as to what the large plushdemon was doing. His body was primarily fabric, and he was using his own body as an additional blanket. "Thank you sweetie" she pressed herself into him, already feeling warmer with the addition of the little body heat he generates.

Benny felt her body relax under him as he himself relaxed. He extended the threads of his arm and reached behind himself and pulled the cloth from the basin. He squeezed it as best he could and brought it back to his main body and laid the cloth on Allison's forehead. He watched her drift off to sleep while he occasionally would remove the cloth, re-soak it and reapply it. It seemed that Allison had finally stopped shivering and wasn't sweating as much anymore, he could only hope that whatever was making her hot and giving her chills had passed.

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

Tom pulled up to the house cursing that his 'easy trip' to the pharmacy took longer then expected. Traffic was a nightmare thanks to an accident and then at the pharmacy an old man was bitterly arguing about wanting his discount of all but 5 cents off his bill, while Tom stood behind him wishing the man would get a heart attack and drop dead so he could at least pay for his things and leave. Getting back home was a rerun episode of 'return of the traffic accident', 2 cars got into a minor accident and were arguing it out on the road like idiots instead of moving to the shoulder to clear the road. Tom could only hope that Allison was feeling better and that Benny wasn't too much of a handful. While the demon was by no sense of the word a 'problematic child' he was a touch concerned about Benny being left alone for extended periods. Yeah Allison was there with him, but she was sick and in no state to deal with the devil. He steeled himself for potential trouble and opened up the door to pure silence within the home.

"Benny?" He quietly called out. He didn't want to shout for fear of waking Allison, but was confused as to why it was so quiet.

"Ben?" Still no answer.

Tom closed the door and walked into the kitchen. The kitchen was undisturbed except for a open cabinet and a bowl in the sink. He then went to the living room and there was no one there either. Tom sighed and started checking the bedrooms. Benny's door was left open, and his bed had been stripped to the mattress. Tom investigated the room, but other then the missing bedding everything else was in perfect order. He knew he didn't need to spend any energy on the spare room since it was still empty and that only left the last room, his and Allison's.

Tom walked to their room and carefully opened the door and was instantly stunned by what he saw.

Before him, lay Benny in his Rag Doll form curled around a mound of blankets. Tom still wasn't quite used to this form of the toon. He had remembered the day Benny was born how the toon acted, curious and sweet. It was hard to believe that what happened in the studio would warp the sweet little toon into that of a monster. What surprised him the most was despite the demons physical appearance he was still the same sweet demon born of a doll and ink.

Tom walked over to the bed and Benny lifted his head to look at the man. Tom noticed that Allison was under him, she looked peacefully asleep, unlike her fitful sleep through the night as her cold worsened. He noted that the bed was covered in Benny's blankets and that their own blankets were no where to be found. The man smiled and set the medicine on the nightstand and look over to the large demon.

“Thanks Benny. When she gets up tell her that there is some soup. Ok?” the man whispered as to not disturb his wife.

“I gAvE hEr SoMe SoUp EaRlIeR”

Tom smiled, Benny was doing his best to take care of his wife while he was gone. “Thanks Benny” he reached out and caressed the demon between the horns.

Benny purred under Tom's hand and then laid his head back down resting next to Allison. Tom nodded, turned on his heel and quietly left the room shutting the door behind him. He knew his wife was in good hands, Benny would make sure of that. The demon more ways then one, viewed Allison as his surrogate mom and would do anything and everything for the both of them.

#benny the stitched devil #benny the stitch demon #benny the stitched demon #benny the stitch devil #allison pendle #allison connor #thomas connor #family fluff #writing prompt

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