#Isabella was just there and I feel like if you squint you can see how it could fit into the narrative

[milkymooshi]

I don’t trust people who hate Isabella. Like I don’t like you at all. I don’t think there’s really a reason to hate her. Like did she feel very rushed and shoehorned into the narrative? Yea, kinda, but at the end of the day she was just some woman that Ed felt like he was in love with bc she reminded him of Kristen. She’s an innocent woman who did NOTHING WRONG. As Ed and Oswald’s top paid lawyer, THAT WOMAN DID NOTHING WRONG. YOU GUYS JUST FUCKING SUCK AND HATE WOMEN FOR NO REASON.

[gokartkid]

Max’s feet were resting in Daniel’s lap. His hand was skating over the arches of his feet, up and pressing into the bones of his ankles. The house was warm, and he was sinking into the couch.

He still wasn’t used to it; it was December and the sun set at 9pm and the highest temperature of the day was 28 degrees, and he had red peeling skin across his back because he’d forgotten to put on sunscreen.

Isabella yawned performatively in front of them where she was sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth on the cushion, and everyone laughed, kindly. There wasn’t much longer to go, the TV screen cutting to a drone circling around the Sydney Harbour bridge. 

“Everyone’s got a drink, yeah?”

Michelle looked around the room checking in. Max nodded, smiling and raising his glass tumblr, still half full of a gin and tonic, crushed mint and a slice of cucumber sitting at the bottom. 

Isaac held up his apple juice self-importantly, sticking his nose in the air.

“I have an apple juice, which is better than orange.”

Isabella screwed up her face, opening her little pink mouth when Daniel cuts them off, laughing.

“Come on guys, don’t bring in the new year fighting or you’ll get stuck that way.”

Isaac looks comically horrified at the idea, fighting his sister for the whole year. Max pokes his toe into the muscle of Daniel’s thigh, right where his tattoo creeps up and under his shorts.

“It’s true,” he adds, and Isabella looks at him with her big eyes, “my sister and I were stuck the whole year fighting once, because you know, of course, you have to be nice when the year goes over or it's very unlucky.”

Michelle looks gratefully over at them. She’d been struggling with them for the past week between Christmas and New Years, frazzled with all the housework she was doing to help Daniel’s mum, and the two kids getting increasingly under her feet. They reminded Max of baby birds sometimes, chattering up with endless energy and need for attention.

There’s only a few minutes until the countdown starts. They’d decided not to get fireworks of their own this year, Daniel said, while they were walking around the field.

“It scared the dogs too much, y’know,” he was scratching at the back of his head, squinting up into the sky, “and we can watch basically the same thing on the TV so why not.”

Max slipped his hand into Daniel's where it was hanging by his side.

“I think it’s a lovely idea.”

It was nice to be sitting around on the couch, chatter filling the empty pockets of air, and not to mention the bliss of indoor air conditioning. Standing outside when the weather was hot and muggy; that was probably one of the worse experiences Max could think of. 

That, and the mosquitoes that seemed to love him, leaving their red-and-white bites up his legs. One had gotten right in the joint between his fingers, and he’d been so annoyed all day, the tingling irritation hanging onto the back of his brain.

Daniel’s hand rests in the curve of his knee, and he taps his index, a silent invitation.

Max pushes his fingers in to intertwine them, brushes the callus of his thumb up and over his knuckles. He can just see the curve of Daniel’s smile from his angle, how it bunches up the muscles in his cheeks, makes smile lines wrinkle out from his eyes.

There’s a half demolished cheese-board on the table still, most of the snacky bits gone but for random squares of cheese, and stray cut up bits of salami.

Max feels older than he ever has, struggling to keep his eyes open with every blink, the slow creeping exhaustion of not having stayed up this late in months crawling up on his skin. He feels like his brain is moving sluggishly as he sips from the sweating glass in his hand, liquid blissfully cold.

“There it is!” 

Isabella points at the TV, gets all of their attention. 

Daniel squeezes his hand.

“5!”

Everyone is smiling at each other as they count down.

“4!” 

Max sits up, pressed his thigh into Daniel’s.

“3!”

Michelle slips to the ground to sit on the rug between her two kids.

“2!”

Daniel turns to look at him, skates his hand up to sit at the curve of Max’s waist, fingers pressing into the softness of his body.

“1!”

He closes his eyes into the kiss as the fireworks go off, cheers erupting around the room. Daniel’s lips move against his, dry and chapped, his stubble just growing out from when he shaved that morning. He cups his hand around Max’s neck, pecks him again once, twice.

Max opens his eyes to see Michelle cuddling her kids into her chest, peppering their little blonde heads with kisses. Daniel’s parents are hugging, and swaying behind the couch.

Daniel is looking at him, and his smile is soft, and his hand is still on his neck, thumb rubbing small circles into warm skin.

“Happy new year Max.”

[fuckmeyer]

Come Nightfall deleted scenes: Esme's garden

[in which Bella, visiting the abandoned Cullen house, reminisces on a conversation she had with Esme]

I stopped at the slope of the backyard to stare at Esme’s garden. Abandoned. In the heat of the moment, everything must have been abandoned. Drawing closer to the enclosure, I noticed none of the fall produce had ever been harvested. She left it here to die.

They left this whole place to just...rot.

She met me on the other side of the wire fence, beaming a smile stretching so wide, she closed her squinted eyes. The black bow of her sun hat knotted at the corner of Esme’s jaw, the tails trailing down her caramel-brown waves of hair. She flexed her hands for me to see her donned in her new brown gardening gloves. “Oh, darling Isabella, I love these, thank you—and I certainly needed a new pair.”

Edward had been more than happy to oblige when I pressed him for gift ideas. “It’s the least I can do for all of the veg you’ve given us,” I laughed, blush rising to my cheeks. “And the gardening advice, too. I have more thyme than I know what to do with.”

I glanced back at the house. Whatever he was saying, I suspected it was about me. About us. Edward had gone inside to “briefly chat” (read: argue) with Carlisle.

Twenty minutes ago.

Or. Or not twenty minutes ago. Actually. Seven months ago. Maybe.

I unlatched the gate to the garden and stepped in. I don’t know why. I don’t know why I closed the gate behind me. I don’t know why I sat down on the dirt with my back brushing against the wire fence. I don’t know why—

“—you grow vegetables when you can’t eat them?”

When Esme gave me a small smile in return, I looked away at the rows of carrots. Everything had been perfectly planted, perfectly weeded, into a perfect, cheery green. Despite the recent rain, I could barely smell sodden dirt over Esme's scent: citrus and calming mint.

Her hands dug at a human’s speed into the dirt and pulled up the root system of a weed. “It helps pass time. It’s rewarding. Even though I can’t eat the vegetables.”

“It is a nice hobby,” I said. It made sense to mark the year in seasons. Years slipped quicker all the time, but seasons, at least, could not be ignored. “And it sounds rewarding—is rewarding. But—what do you gain?” If you can’t eat the vegetables? I refrained from saying that last part.

The Cullens all did that thing from time to time where they smiled sadly and stared off into the distance, catching up with some memory they thought they had left behind. Esme was no different, but her lips held steady at whatever memory she was recalling.

“Perspective,” she told me. “I’ve lost a lot in my life. In my early years, no matter how much I loved Carlisle and Edward, no one could touch the pain I held from my loss. I wouldn’t let them. And—let’s just say, I began to understand how vampires could go mad if they’re not careful.”

“It sounds so difficult,” I said with a sympathetic tone but knew it would come across as hollow. What did I know? “I’m sorry. I mean, I’ve lost too, but I can’t imagine...”

“Loss can be visceral no matter how many times you experience it,” said Esme. “It can hurt. But an eternity of holding onto pain will break you quite quickly. It very nearly broke Carlisle, once upon a time. Edward, as well. All of us.”

I looked around at the uprooted weeds strewn around her, the baby shoots that barely poked through the grass. “I’m sorry you’ve been through so much,” I said in a soft voice. “I know it—can be difficult. To let go. Sometimes.”

My cheeks burned. Everything I said was touched by the uncertainty of youth. Like a feeling I knew but didn’t understand.

“Sometimes,” she echoed. “The hurt dulls eventually. When I garden, I can understand loss—the inevitability of loss—in a detached context. I can learn what to let go and what to keep. I’ve given you many tomatoes this summer—”

“Thanks again,” I said with a grin.

She beamed at me. “Oh, darling. You know I’m always happy to provide. Of course, it goes without saying, most of my tomato plants died before they made it to your table. If I hadn’t weeded them out three months ago, the whole crop would have died.”

“No kidding?” I stared at the tomato stalks, still drooping with ripening tomatoes. “Do you usually have a problem with tomatoes? I heard they can be kinda tough to grow.”

“Mm. They are. Though the reward is certainly worth the effort.” She sat back on her heels and gazed at her garden. “I suppose I don’t ever see it as a problem, really. It always happens. All these carrots, the cabbages, the basil, they have all died at least once. They always die. There is always loss.”

“But I don’t get, like— What do you do with the vegetables that do grow?” It was the closest I would get to asking her why she even grew vegetables if she couldn’t eat them.

“I share. I’ve made pies for school fundraisers, I’ve sold produce at farmers' markets, asked gardening enthusiasts for advice…. It invites people into my life. It allows for a different sort of cultivation. Even when I lose, I win.”

And when she looked at me again, the smile that had leaked into her eyes now spread across her lips. It bled through the entirety of her.

My mind flashed to Emmett and his peculiar penchant for baking. “I thought that’s what vampires tried to avoid,” I said, and she chuckled with me. “Inviting humans into their life.”

“Most vampires do try to avoid integration for their sake. But we Cullens take the road less traveled. For good reason.”

“What’s that?”

The sparkle in her eyes returned, and when she turned to me again, the ribbons on her hat slipped off the back of her shoulder. Esme laughed as if the joy bubbling inside her couldn’t be contained. “The people in your life are what make life what it is! Even the people you’ll never know. That includes humans.”

Glancing back, I saw through the massive windows Jasper and Alice dancing together. Lost in their own world. Like always.

“I’m surprised you bother,” I said, then reddened. “I mean, I’m glad. Just. seems like the Cullen approach varies.”

Some, like Carlisle, were actively involved in the lives of humans. Others, like Emmett and Alice and Esme, had stayed in touch indirectly—through baking or fashion or gardening.

And then there were people like Rosalie. And Jasper. And Edward. Detached, seemingly, from everything.

Her smile never faltered. “Well. The others have their own reasons for being here. This is my reason for being a Cullen. I would have never survived if all I did was avoid the pain of loss and change. If I turned my back from my loved ones.” The satisfaction in her smile made me smile too. The fact she felt so sure about something made my heart pang with some longing that I didn’t pick up on at the time. “It helps. They help.” Her words died around us and got swept away in the warm summer breeze.

Jasper spun Alice and dipped her low; she flashed him all her teeth laughing. It made him laugh too. I couldn’t hear either of them.

“Aren’t you afraid?” I asked her, turning back. “That someday you’ll get hurt? Or that you’ll—hurt someone?”

“Loss and hurt come whether you invite them in or not,” she said quietly. Esme ripped another weed from the ground and tossed it into the growing pile.

“Then, I mean...I don’t get it.”

“Losses are much harder to endure without love to soothe the pain. It can swallow everything if you let it. If you’ve cultivated your heart, leave it open for others, you’ll find the loss easier to bear. And the fruits of your labor will taste even sweeter in the end.” She gave me a loving look. “Especially when they can be shared with the ones you love. Like you.”

“But can people really do it, you think?” I said, attention turning back to the house. “I mean, sounds kinda hard. Keeping your heart open. Knowing what—when—to let go.”

Another figure came into view on the second floor— Carlisle’s study.

Edward Cullen. Staring.

Heartbroken.

From my place in the dirt, I fixed my eyes on the dark, empty window.

“It’s always up to you what to keep and what to throw away,” was her whispered reply. “It is up to you to know when to move on.”

Wherever he was now, I hoped to god his choice had been worth it.

[chrissdollie]

you belong with me - m.s x reader

this is a submission for @annamcdonalds67 's writing challenge under the category 'fluff-angst' !! sorry if this was too short ( ˵>ㅿ<˵ )

summary: you've liked matt sturniolo ever since he moved into town. his girlfriend doesn't care about him like you do. you can treat him so much better.

warnings/notes: cursing, references to sex, characters are in hs, no happy ending, this is a oneshot so theres no part two unless i really feel like it wc: 1.3k

lana del rey lightly hums throughout your room, your laptop being open to your "winding down" playlist as you read your favorite book. you decide that you're finished for the night, closing it shut after placing your pink sanrio bookmark in the spine. you reach over to place the book on your nightstand before getting up.

you skip towards your window in your cute dainty pajamas and open your satin curtain. you look across the way and your long-standing crush’s window is there, open for you to see inside. matt sturniolo. he's studying and seems to be very focused. he wears a grey pair of headphones and a black hoodie that read words you weren’t able to see from the distance even if you squinted.

you smile softly and watch him for a few seconds before he looks up, his eyes catching yours. you shriek, your content smile falling. embarrassed, you close your curtains and run back to your bed where you curl under your soft fluffy blankets. you smile sheepishly at your childish behavior. you wonder if he thinks you’re a freak for looking at him so creepily.

your lips form a frown. you don't want him to think that of you. you decide to uncover yourself and peek through your window again. however, this time, his eyes are away from his desk. he looks off into the distance with his phone pressed against his ear. he looks annoyed, you can tell by the way his eyebrows scrunch up. you pout, feeling bad. although matt's been your next door neighbor over a year, you only see him in school, too scared to visit him any other time. but maybe you can go over and talk to him- oh shit he's looking

his phone is off his ear and resting in front of him on the desk. he's looking at you with a confused look. you smile, pointing a finger up, showing him that you need a second. he nods, and you grab a piece of paper and a pink marker. you scribble the words “hii!! you okay?” neatly onto the page before holding it up.

matt looks down for a moment after reading your paper to write his response with an exhausted sigh.

“tired of drama”, it read. you shrug in response awkwardly with an apologetic smile, writing down "sorry :(" onto the paper. he writes something in his notebook, but hesitates before ripping the page out and throwing it behind him.

he then writes on a separate piece, which he reveals to say, "can i get your number? im wasting paper here lol" he gives you a small smile, how can you say no?? you bite your glossy lip gently before scribbling onto the paper, "bella won't mind?"

isabella holbrook is matt's girlfriend. eugh, you hate the thought of her. you have no idea why someone so perfect like him is with a jerk like her. you have a simple guess, though. perfect hair, perfect body, perfect social status-- who wouldn't wanna date her? you understand perfectly, even though you're just making assumptions... maybe she could be a kind person behind closed walls?

no. absolutely not, you almost laugh at the thought of bella being nice.

matt chuckles dryly after reading your words. he quickly writes down two sentences. "nah she'd be pissedddd, my bad. see you tomorrow :)" he closes his curtains a few seconds later. your shoulders slump and your pout becomes more evident. you shouldn't have said anything. you plop back down onto your bed shamefully.

the next day, you're sitting in class. your seat assignment is two rows behind bella, and even from that distance, you can still hear her smacking on her gum like a fucking cow eating grass. your teacher has his back turned as he faces the whiteboard, giving bella time to scribble down something on the corner of her empty notebook.

she rips out the tiny piece, crumpling it up before "accidentally" dropping it on the floor. she gasps in faux surprise, "whoops!" she mutters.

she stands up, flipping her chocolate brown hair behind her before slowly bending down to pick it up. matt's eyebrows raise at the sight of her panties. he looks away quickly and clears his throat. isabella smirks, dropping the (what you assume to be dirty) note onto his desk.

he sends her a glance before opening up the note. his eyes widen slightly, crumpling the paper back up before anyone else could see it. "now??" he mouths to his girlfriend. she grins, sticking her tongue out nastily. you can tell he's uncomfortable, anyone could. she leans over to his ear, "you can't be a virgin forever, daddy." she whispers loudly enough for some people (including you unfortunately) to hear, causing them to snicker.

your teacher turns around abruptly, raising an eyebrow. "is there something funny?" he coughs out. isabella fixes her posture as if she's an innocent little girl and shakes her head. "no sir." you roll your eyes and gag.

you don't know what really happened after that since you had to leave in the middle of class to an assembly for perfect attendance. sixth period was thankfully skipped because students who're apart of band, the cheerleading squad, and of course the football team had to practice for the pep rally.

you kneel down onto the hard gym floor, hurriedly assembling your clarinet while matt and isabella stand close to you, hand in hand. "oh god, i swear, if we have to do one more of these rehearsals with these band freaks, i'm gonna puke." she spits, folding her arms angrily.

matt happily shoves his sweaty hand into his pocket. "freaks is crazy, you're the ones doing backflips and splits, that shit's freaky." he grins, looking into her eyes. he waits for a chuckle or atleast a smile. but she scoffs, clearly offended for some reason. you giggle as quiet as possible at his joke. his head turns and he smiles a real smile when he sees someone understanding his humor.

you meet his glance with a small smile and he nods towards you. bella grabs for his hand again, starting to chatter again. you blow a strand of hair out of your face, finishing assembling your instrument. matt takes a small step towards you, bending down slowly. he kneels next to you, catching your attention.

"hey, i thought you did percussion?" he raises an eyebrow and points towards your clarinet. it takes you a moment to reply, not knowing he paid attention to what you were playing. you nod and hum. "mhm! i did, but they needed another clarinet so i offered to learn. it's easier anyways.!"

you're such a bubbly person which makes matt's heart flutter in a way it shouldn't. you continue to explain why you like clarinet more, but he just can't listen. all he's looking at are your shimmery lips covered in lipgloss. then his gaze travels to your eyes, your pretty lashes batting at him so sweetly. he loves your hair too. it's so shiny and-

"cmon, they're starting." bella grumbles from above him, pulling him to stand up. his smile falters, but he waves to you anyhow. you wave back awkwardly, wishing she didn't drag him like a dog on a leash.

maybe it's for the best, matt thinks. he shouldn't have been staring at you so passionately when he has a girlfriend.

you watch him walk away with a frowny pout. your dainty pink nails tap on your clarinet unknowingly as you think about what could be. you could treat him one hundred times better! you wouldn't want him just for the fun of a relationship or for your status, who gives a shit about that anyways.

you want him for him. matthew sturniolo, the boy you've liked since you met him. you huff, still sitting pathetically on the rough gym floor. "you belong with me." you whisper to yourself.

tags !! <333 @leah-loves-lilies @latinasforchrizz @stargirlsturniololover @junnniiieee07 @mattsneezing @freshloveee @freshsturns @emma4eva @r6diosturns @matthasmywholeheart @donthugmeimhot @blahbel668

[teamfreewill58]

*Spoilers

In almost every scene of Isabella in Encanto you can see her struggling with the weight of having to be perfect. When she smiles it’s really wide and open mouthed, and if you look at her eyes especially you can tell that the “happy” doesn’t reflect there. She’s constantly switching her gaze from hooded to wide. Watch her eyes in the clip where Abuela spins her and then she looks up at the guy Dolores is in love with. I can’t explain it but that’s not the look of someone actually interested in him. When she is talking to Maribel after giving Peppa flowers the “a little sisterly advice” moment she looks at someone and gives a friendly but very forced smile in how she smiles and squints. When she talks and sings her voice is significantly higher compared to the “What Else Can I Do” and after that scene. During the breakfast scene and the engagement dinner look at how fast she is breathing and look at her expression when Abuela is talking about her “bringing in a new generation”. She is soooo uncomfortable! And she is breathing extremely fast. She can’t do a full smile here because she’s so worked up so does a half smile. She breathes extremely fast and when she yells at Mirabel “Have you lost your mind?!“ she’s again breathing hard like the girl is soooo worked up all the time! Also Isabella’s movements as she’s yelling at Mirabel and dragging her out of her room is extremely animated and expressive whereas in previous scenes they’re poised which she clarifies in the song is because it’s practiced. During “What Else Can I Do” her eyes and expressions portray the same emotion and strongly, like you can tell how she’s feeling very clearly compared to previously. Also just the entire dinner scene reflects this too. It’s cool how they sprinkled these hints in so it feels very real when she does express her struggle.

[maxburnett]

Epilogue to Summer Heat, Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers

-(fem!reader x Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers)

Summary: A glimpse of the months following Steve leaving Reader for Peggy. This is a part 2/sequel/epilogue of this fic for @syntheticavenger's 5K Follower Challenge

Warnings: This is mild! Mostly Fluff with slight Angst. There's a hint at Bucky eating out his very pregnant girlfriend if you squint. Bucky is soft. Steve is an idiot. Bucky really loves reader. (I stuck at these I apologize. Contains very minor Loki spoilers. I wrote this in like a hour on my phone so I apologize for any typos etc)

Please reblog/share and comment. I love to read your reviews!

Word Count: 2,060

It had been nearly 5 months since you had found out that you were pregnant. You and Bucky were letting everything fall into place as you were getting ready for the birth of your baby. He had talked you into finding out the sex when it was born, despite you wanting to hurry up and find out. You closed your eyes as you sat on the couch, your legs propped onto a pillow as you rubbed your stomach as your baby kicked.

"He's good," he says with a smile. "God, you're so beautiful," he says, and you chuckle.

"I'm a whale, Buck," you say and throw a blueberry at him, which he catches with his mouth. "There's nothing beautiful about me," you snort, and he glares at you.

"I'm a whale, Buck," you say and throw a blueberry at him, which he catches with his mouth. "There's nothing beautiful about me," you snort, and he glares at you.

"Baby, how many times do I have to tell you that you're beautiful?" He asks, and you sigh. You just feel so fat and unattractive, but Bucky still stares at you the same way he did before he made the first move and kissed you all those months ago.

"I don't deserve you, Buck," you smile and move, so you are sitting beside him. "I honestly don't deserve everything you've done for the baby and me-" he cuts you off as he wraps an arm around you and pulls you gently into him, kissing your lips with a softness that made you get goosebumps every time.

"Our baby," he says into your lips.

"Our baby," you whisper back and smile as he stands up and takes your empty bowl to the sink, and comes back to lean down to kiss your chin where you had some chocolate. His lips move up to his, and you run your hands into his hair pulling him closer as he gently devours your lips with his own.

"Need to taste you," he says in a rough tone before pulling away. His hands reach down, taking both of yours. He helps you off of the couch and walks you back to the bedroom.

~ 2 Months Later~

You woke up one morning hearing the birds chirping outside of your window and smiled as Bucky came in, bringing you some toast with avocados and eggs on it. You eat the toast as he leans and kisses your stomach, softly singing his favorite song with his head gently lying on your huge tummy.

You giggle as you listen to him singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as you close your eyes and remember your first kiss during "The Wizard of Oz" all of those months ago. You play with his hair, looking down at him, wondering how you got so lucky to have a guy like Bucky. Your eyes close for a moment. You can't help but think of Steve. You hate that he left you, you hate that he chose to be with another woman; but why couldn't you hate him?

If he had known you were pregnant, you know he would've stayed. Wouldn't he?

"Hey doll, you okay?" You heard Bucky ask, and you looked down at him. You smile as you nod your head down at him. You take a deep breath.

"I was just thinking about Steve ... not necessarily the bad stuff. I just ..." you couldn't find the words. "He just would have been a good father," you say softly.

"You're right," he smiles and looks up at you. "He was a good man," he whispers and closes his eyes. "I just ... wish he would've handled all of this differently. He should've talked to you," he said, his fingers gently moving over your tummy. You smile. His singing was always something that could calm the baby's kicking down.

When he moves to lay down beside you, pulling you as close as he could as he rested his head on your shoulder and his hand on your stomach. He closed his eyes for a moment and bit at his lip.

"At the funeral, he asked me if I liked you," Bucky whispered. He'd never talked to you about this before. "He said he saw something about the way we looked at each other. He wanted to know if I had feelings for you,"

You bit your lip as you listened to Bucky, and you placed your hand over his.

"I didn't lie to him. I told him the truth. I'm sorry if me telling him that caused him to leave," he said, and you place your finger over his lips.

"Bucky, even if I do miss him sometimes ... even if I do still love him. There's nothing like the love I have for you," you whisper and run your fingers through his hair. "This baby was made with Steve ... and even tho we told each other 'I Love You,' It is fate that you and I go through this with our baby."

Bucky looked up at you, his blue eyes beginning to tear up, and you smile as you run your fingers gently into his hair before you wiped at his face with your fingers.

"I love you so much," you say down to him.

"I love you," he says back as he kisses your stomach and looks up at you with his head resting against your tummy again.

"Let's get married," he says, and you look down at him about to say something. He smiles up at you. "I know it's not an ideal proposal," he chuckles. "But I don't want to wait, and I don't even have a ring ... but I can get one. I just want to marry you, and I want to grow old with you and our baby,"

"Let's get married," you say back with a smile. "We can just do it in the courthouse... I don't need anything but you, Buck. Maybe we can get Sam to come," you say, and he smiles as he pulls away and moves his dog tags from his neck to yours.

"Let's get married," he says again and kisses your lips.

Steve had promised Peggy that he would stop by the grocery store he walked out of the store with his paper bags and looked around as things began to freeze in time. He looked around strangely as everything began to move in slow motion. Holographic doors began to show around him, and three guards came out with guns and walked towards him.

One of them stepped towards him and looked down at something in their hand.

"Steve Rogers, on behalf of the Time Variance Authority. I hereby arrest you for crimes against the sacred timeline."

Before he had a chance to speak, he was zapped away with the strange people and was put on trial. He honestly thought this was some kind of joke. How had he messed with the timeline?

"You must be Captain America," a voice said from behind him. He was holding a file and stood to walk towards him. "I'm Mobius," he said.

"Why am I here?"

"You messed up the Timeline by going back in time to be with Peggy Carter," Mobius replied. "We figured we would give you the chance to fix things. Follow me," he said, and Steve sighed, following after the man.

He stopped at an area, and Steve turned towards a vast place with darkness, but soon the darkness lit up. He saw you and Bucky in front of him.

He saw how the two of you had fallen in love, and something inside him twitched as he saw how you looked at Bucky. It was a way she never looked at him before. Then he watched the night she had called him asking him to pick something up for her, and he gasped.

"I wouldn't have left if I had known," Steve finally spoke.

Mobius looked over at the blonde and shook his head. Then looked back at the screen.

"You need to make a decision. But know one thing, them falling in love was always supposed to happen. It would have happened if you would've stayed," he said, causing Steve to look at the screen. "We normally don't do this, but we will give you time to figure out what you want. You can stay here ... you can let them live their lives. Or you can finally man up and admit that going back into time to be with a woman you only kissed once was a stupid thing to do,"

Bucky smiled as he kissed your head as your 6-week old baby girl, Isabella Rose rested on your chest. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, and you didn't look any better.

"I still can't believe she's here," he smiled, looking down at the sleeping baby. "Here, let me take her. I want you to get some sleep," he said as he softly took her and stood up from the bed and walked her to her nursery, and laid her down.

"Hey sweet pea," Bucky says as he winds up the mobile and Isabella glances up at him and he swore she smiled before looking at the mobile. "All of this is new to me. But I promise I'm going to take care of you and mommy. It's going to be the three of us to the end of the line," he whispered and looked up at the mobile where he and you had hung Steve's dog tags that he had left behind. "Your daddy would love you so much. I miss him and I know mommy misses him too. You have his eyes and his hair. But hopefully, you aren't as hardheaded," he smiles and runs his fingers through her blond hair. "Go to sleep sweet pea,"

He came back into the bedroom and smirked, seeing you were already asleep, and he laid beside you and wrapped an arm around you.

He woke up a few hours later; Isabella was crying. He headed into the room and picked her up, comforting her with a smile.

"Daddy's here," he said as she wrapped her hand around his ring finger, and he smiled seeing her little fingers close to his wedding band. "Daddy's always gonna be here," he said, rocking her softly. He heard a knock on the door and carried Isabella carefully towards the door and opened it slowly.

Steve stood behind the door. He had a hand on the back of his neck as he looked out at his best friend holding his daughter just as you walked into the room.

"Buck, who's at the door?" You ask before you freeze as Bucky moves to the side, and Steve is standing there looking from you to Bucky and down at the little blonde-haired girl in Bucky's arms.

"Bucky, turn around," you say, and he backs away from you and turns his back, and holds Isabella close.

"How dare you!" You say as you slap Steve once and then again. "You left!" You say, and he reaches his hands out to grab ahold of yours. It's when he sees the rings on your finger.

"Y/N. I'm sorry. If I would've known, I wouldn't have left," he says, and you feel the tears building in your eyes.

"But you left Steve ... you left. You said you loved me, and you left," you shook your head. "I loved you, and you left," you said as you began to hit his chest before collapsing into his chest as he wrapped his arms around you.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he said as he held you close against his chest. "I came back ... I came back," he said against your head. "I know you and Bucky are together ... but I have to be here for her," he said, and you look up at him and feel his fingers wiping your eyes.

"Can I hold her?" Steve asks, his voice slightly cracking.

"Yes," you whisper and have him sit down on the couch as you motion for Bucky to take Isabella over to Steve. He hands Isabella over carefully, and she looks up at the strange man and wiggles a little in his arms as tears roll from Steve's blue eyes down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry I left you, little Angel, but daddy's never leaving you again," Steve said as he leaned and kissed her head and took in the smell of his daughter for the very first time.

Tagging:

@syntheticavenger @bitchassbucky @belladonnabarnes @stcrrynightsinneverlcnd @onceuponabarnes @fairyevans @balenciagabucky @honeysucklesteve @faeryloki @fuckandfluff @bibbidibobbidibucky @buckyblues @bloomingbucky @buckyssimp @mickey-henry @fluffycutecevans @midnightf @fallinforevans @buckys-blue-eyes @lokiscollar

[waywardimpalawriter]

Side Tracked (William “Ironhead” Miller x Plus Size Female Reader)

Side tracked 

Pairing: William ’Ironhead’ Miller x Plus Size Female Reader 

Rating: (E) Explicit, (M) Mature, NSFW, 18+ Only please

Warnings: Teasing, Smut, Protected Sex (p in v), if you squint Dom Will kink, unknown pain kink (in the form of cunt slaps),

Word count: 8,053 (I’m sorry but not sorry. Goes to show I can’t write anything short.)

Summary: Vacation is fast approaching but you haven’t told Will just yet. Along with a few other things you haven’t talked about with your new boyfriend. 

Notes: Sequel to “One Touch” written for the amazing @autumnleaves1991-blog​ Writer Wednesday. 

“Have any ideas for your vacation yet?” Taking a sip of her tea, eyes watching you slowly move the spoon around your own mug. Soft chuckles slips passed her smiling lips, “Earth to Y/N you with me sweetheart?” 

“Have any ideas for your vacation yet?” Taking a sip of her tea, eyes watching you slowly move the spoon around your own mug. Soft chuckles slips passed her smiling lips, “Earth to Y/N you with me sweetheart?” 

“Huh…” glancing up from staring into your favorite green Mandolorian mug with Grogu etched into the ceramic. Brain catching the fact that you haven’t truly answered her question.

Head tiled noticing the mug, “Moving in already I see.” Teasing edge to her quip a chuckle leaving right after. Swearing she heard it crack with how fast your head popped up, blank confused look filling your eyes. 

“What… what? No, I hav… we haven’t. I just love this mug is all,” bringing said cup to your lips for a deep drink mindful of the hot liquid inside. Finally catching on to the first question she asked, “And no there’s no plans for next week. Just staying home, clearing, packing up old shit to get rid of.” 

Smirk sliding over her lips she tries to hide knowing why the mug is so special and an added secret she keeps that Will hasn’t told you yet. “Why haven’t you told Will?” 

“Hasn’t come up really, besides I didn’t want to pull him alway from his job.” Nibbling the inside of your cheek thankful Isabella’s with the babysitters this late afternoon rolling the idea around to ask a delicate question. “Besides it’s early still in our relationship I wouldn’t want to impose or suggest…” 

Sensing a trouble deeper than just decisions about your vacation plans, she rests a hand on your forearm giving a gentle squeeze. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” comes out quicker than you mean it too. Giving away the fact something truly is wrong but having a hard time asking for help. 

Soft sigh leaves her lips, “Sweetheart you know we can talk about anything,” catching your eyes to convey without words the truth. “You’re my best friend so spill woman or I’ll sic Frankie on you.” 

“No please God not Morales he’ll nag like an old woman till I talk,” dramatically stating smile tipping the corners up but not reaching your eyes. Weary sigh follows, gripping the green mug a little tighter to warm your hands with the drink. “We, Will and I haven’t, not that there hasn’t been some heavy make outs but we haven’t…” Stumbling over your words trying to get them out as best you can without reverting to your shy self when it comes to intimate subjects.  

“Fucked that what you’re stumbling over?” Full smirk hidden behind her own plan mug. “Have you talked to him about why?” Shaking your head, eyes downcast biting your bottom lip in apprehension. “Communication is key for a health relationship sweetheart you know that.” 

“But what if he doesn’t want to? Maybe he’s changed his mind and doesn’t know how to tell me,” everything spilling out in a rush. Looking from the mug in your hands that Will bought you just last month to her kind eyes going soft with understanding. “I think I’m falling in love with him and it scares the fucking hell out of me.” 

Laughter full and deep leaves her lips, making you frown ready to pop her shoulder. “I’m sorry sweetie truly but I could’ve told you that just from how you talk about him. I’m not trying to make light of the situation in the least, but the two of you are as transparent as me and Frankie.” Patting your hand she takes giving a firm squeeze. “You should talk to him. Explain what you want and ask why he’s holding back.”

Neither women hear the front door open, keys quietly pressed into the glass dish on the end table behind the couch. Toeing his boots off by the front door, Will shrugs the jacket from his broad shoulders. Hearing your sweet voice tinged with uncertainty has a frown forming between his eyes. 

“I know, I’m just unsure how he’ll feel when I finally tell him. Only three months into our relationship but I’m done waiting,” hands coming up to hide your face in exasperation. “I don’t want to hurt his feelings but fuck I need more.” 

Nodding, eyes catching a shadow hovering around the outer archway into the kitchen. “You won’t know how he’ll take it till you explain yourself Y/N. Trust me when I say it’s not for the reasons you may think.” Trying to keep the smirk from her tone as Will rounds the corner. 

“Something you want to tell me honey?” Making you jump but not turn to face him. Will tries to tramp down his fear at hearing your words. True the relationship is new but he couldn’t see his life with you in it, bringing the sunshine in those dark days. Watching as she gets up from the table placing a kiss to your forehead before coming over to him. 

Hand resting on his chest giving a soft pat, “Tell her about next week Ironhead and stop hiding things from each other for Christ sake or I’ll sic Frankie on you to.” Tapping a little harder for emphasis before tossing over her shoulder, “See you tomorrow at work girlie have fun tonight,” before taking her leave the same way Will came in. 

Staring at your slumped back for a few moments, Will steps towards you right as you stand collecting the mugs to wash. Bumping into each other Will takes the cups from your hands, soft grin splitting his lips upon seeing his present. 

“You know I have mug’s here, you don’t have to keep bringing yours with you,” setting the cups in the sink, he turns to lean against the counter, hands on either side, body open much like his expression. 

Nodding, hands clasp in front of you twisting fingers in nervousness the movements pressing your generous breasts together and capturing his gaze. Clearing your throat, “I know but I happen to like that mug. It’s special,” finally meeting his stormy blue eyes. Seeing there darker and slightly blown, “You hungry?” 

“Yes,” voice gruff with arousal that he tries to clear then speaks again. “Can we talk first?” 

Worried about what could come next swiping your tongue over the full bottom lip capturing it to pull between your teeth making small indentations into the skin, “Bout what?” Cautiously stepping towards him wondering how much of your conversation he’d heard. 

“Us,” reaching out to take your hand, tugging you towards the living room. Sitting down first patting the space beside him which you take intertwining your fingers back with his once comfortable. Needing the contact for the moment to get through the conversation. 

“What about us?” Staring at joined hands, resolutely keeping your eyes away from looking into his. Thoughts chasing each other around your mind like cats after mice. Wondering if you could still back out and run home to hide. Insecurities doing damage to your confidence Will’s helped build over the last three months. 

Not letting you shy away from him, Will pinches your chin upward to capture your eyes. “What are you done waiting for?” Trying to keep his eyes pinned to yours instead of watching your lips or the gentle rise and fall of your breasts covered in a Burgundy blouse with a v deep that shows the twins off to perfection. 

Gathering your thoughts and nerves, going for blunt and ripping the bandaid in one. “Do you want to fuck me?” 

Of all the things Will’s prepared for your blunt answer isn’t one of them and surely not how you put it either. “You’ve been hanging around Fish and the misses too long.”  

Eyes rolling hard a small snort leaving your lips as you try to pull your chin from his grip. “You wanted to know Will so answer the question.” When that didn’t work you tug your hand free to cross with its partner under your breasts. 

“Actions speak better than words sweetheart,” gripping your arms, Will tugs you close. “Come here,” patting his lap your head shaking no garnering an impatience huff from his lips. Ignoring your resolute posture, Will grabs a leg and matching arm to manhandle you over his lap, shocked gasp parting your bitten lips. Till your thick thighs press into the couch on either side of his own. Rough hands drifting over your curves in reverence to settle around your waist. Gripping the softness of your body with enough pressure to keep you still. “Tell me honey what do you feel?” 

Bitting off a whimper to turn into an annoyed huff from your chest, hands going to his shoulders in the bid to keep from straddling his lap and sitting your weight into his body. The resounding growl vibrates through his chest noticing your efforts to keep from settling in his lap. Will uses his superior strength to press your curves against his angles. “Im too heavy for…” last words choked off as a gasp pushes passed first. Eyes fluttering shut at the hard ridge of his cock against your jeans covered folds.   

“Feel me baby? Feel how hard you’ve made me with just those simple movements of this fucking gorgeous body,” words escaping through clinched teeth. Gritting to keep from taking you right there on his couch like some horny teenage. 

Unable to stop your own hips from undulating against his, trying to find the right friction. Making your thighs shake, your head drops to his shoulder as he gathers you into the warmth of his embrace. “Could…” swallowing, burying your nose against the warmth of his musky cologne peppered with hints of pine and cedar scented neck. “You could have a flash light hidden in there or a Tootsie roll stashed in your pocket.” Going for a teasing tone but it comes out breathless, filled with barely repressed passion.

Gruff laughter, deep and warm shakes his chest, “Fuck you’re dangerous woman.” Brushing his lips over the shell of your ear, nipping the delicate skin with sharp teeth pleased at the gasp he draws from your mouth. Making you shutter around him, your hips rock twice more before his large callused hands pause there movements dusting his fingers under the hem of your blouse to touch skin. “Trust me honey when I say that’s no flashlight.” 

Repressing the shiver coiled to roll down you back, you reluctantly pull back to cup his cheek, thumb brushing just under his left eye, “Prove it to me Captain.” 

Low groan leaves his lips, resting your foreheads together. “God I want to honey so fucking much,” swallowing harshly raising his face so you could see the truth in his eyes. “When I make love to you for the first time Y/N I don’t want you to have any doubts about why or if I’m sticking around.”  

“I know you aren’t going anywhere Will,” leaning in to give him a chase kiss. “I just, I need more want more of you. All of you,” returning back to sitting on your knees, arms wrapped around his neck to catch his eye. Fingers card through the short locks blunt nails scrapping the scalp gently receiving a pleasure moan from the man under you. 

Cupping your cheeks, “You have me honey I promise you.” Bringing your mouth in for a deeper kiss. That barely brushed first press only serves to spark a hunger in his veins and a need to taste you. Slotting his lips over yours nipping the bottom one to make you gasp and slide his hot tongue into your warm mouth. Tangling the talented muscle with your own one hand sliding to carefully cradle the back of your neck. The other slipping down into a back pocket of your jeans, pressing you down against his harden cock and rocking you over his body. Slick gathering, dripping and coating your tights with each tangle and brush of his masterful tongue. Pulling another whimper of need from the depths of your soul. 

Air becoming a need and the only reason you break apart panting and gathering as much into your burning lungs. “Your gonna need to stop kissing me like that William or I won’t be held responsible for what I might do.” 

The use of his full name pulled a deep groan of need from his chest. The way you move against him doesn’t help his resolve to wait and make things special. “You’re making things extremely hard right now sweetheart.” 

“Oh it’s hard all right,” soft squeak exists your lips when he squeezes your ass, pushing your drenched core down against his erection a little harder. “I’m blame you for that one Mr. Miller,” eyes close to gather yourself before carefully untangling your bodies. An almost impossible endeavor with the tight grip he has on you. Holding back the giggle when you see a pout on his plush lips that you lean forward and kiss twice, “No pouts, you said we’re waiting and I’m going to hold you to that. So,” standing hands on your wide hips brow arched in challenge as you look down at him. Slowly licking your lips at the tempting sight he presents you. Tight black t-shirt covering a sculpted body of equal parts strength and softness. Arms crossing over that massive chest to glare up at you. “Put that glare away to, it’s your fault there will be no more kisses or hot make out sessions till we make love. I can’t trust myself,” eyes rolling at the smirk sliding over his kiss swollen lips. “Not to tear your clothes off and fuck you right there,” pivoting on the ball of your bare feet to head towards the kitchen. Trying to ignore the throbbing of your clit only amplified by each step away, and the fact you’ve soaked your favorite pair of panties in seconds because of Will Miller. 

“Tear my clothes off huh? Wanna get me naked that badly honey?” Getting a soft giggle in response but no actual words. Calling after you with, “We’re not done talking woman. Get back here,” low growl leaving his lips watching the sway of that generous ass he desperately wants to get his hands on. “Where you going?” 

“Dinner, we can finish our conversation in there,” tossing the words over your shoulder as you keep walking. 

Grumbling, Will stands adjusting himself to relieve at least some pressure from his cock. Wondering if he’ll make it through a bad case of blue balls intact. “Can’t I just…” the flow of words halt seeing you bent over in the refrigerator searching. Ass a ripe peach just begging to be bit into. 

“Just what baby?” Grabbing the salmon fillets, broccoli crowns and the bag of potatoes to stand. Turning to look back over at Will, who’s just standing in the doorway. Trying not to give away how his presents effects you, “You okay?” 

Gulping twice, “Yup prefect,” teeth gritting at the adorably sweet look on your face. Unaware of the affect on his body and heart you have. “Need help?” 

“Please,” bright smile tipping his own lips up to match yours. Head resting on his shoulder for a moment before you raise up on your toes to kiss him chastely. “You can cut the potatoes up while I take care of the broccoli,” setting everything down on the island to grab up two knives and bowels. Setting to work as Will slides up beside you, arms brushing while you both work. “What else did you want to talk about?” 

“Vacation,” small gasp alerts him to your slight distress. “Yes your best friend told me but I’d like to know why my girlfriend didn’t?” 

Silently cutting the broccoli from center stem, searching for words to answer. “I didn’t want to take you from your job,” giving a slight shrug. “Besides I don’t really have the money to go anywhere. I’d still come over every night or we could go out on day trips.” 

“Sweetheart you mean more to me than some job ever will,” pausing for a moment to kiss your temple. Small guilty grin spreads over his lips, “What about a road trip?” Glancing towards you, admiring the beautiful profile filling his vision. Not paying attention to cutting up the potatoes Will accidentally slices a small cut into his forefinger. Hiss sounds from his parted lips yanking his hand back from the cutting broad to check the damage. 

Catching the noise frown pulling your lips down seeing the bright red drops of blood pearling on the side of his finger near the tip. Training kicks in, grabbing for the paper towel to wrap around the wound. “Sit at the table,” voice holding a slight stern note as you rush off to the bathroom for the first aid kit and rubbing alcohol. 

“No need to fuse so honey I’ve had worse in my life than a scratch,” calling after you though your actions warm a part of Will he’s long buried to keep from getting hurt. 

Though he can’t see it you still shake your head, “Small as it maybe handsome infection can still set in and do damage just sit your sexy ass down and I’ll return shortly.” 

Entering right as Will drops down into the chair, you drag another forwards to sit. Opening the large plastic med kit and pulled items you’ve stocked up. Damping a couple small gauze squares and carefully taking the blooded paper towel from his finger. “I’m sorry,” compassionate gaze in your eyes that lock with his while gently dabbing the wound. Hearing a pained hiss exist his tightly held together lips. “My big strong Delta Focus Captain wincing at a little cut,” playfulness dancing in your eyes that stay locked with his bright blues that narrow on your face. 

“I’m injured and you pick on me,” taunting words as he keeps your eyes ensnared. “Where’s that bedside manners I’ve heard so much about?” 

Narrowing your own eyes playfully still wiping the blood away, “I don’t show my bedside manner to just any soldier.” Small snicker escapes finishing the cleaning task. “Though you’re special so I just might.” Dropping your eyes to inspect and make sure he wouldn’t need stitches. “Tis a scratch my brave warrior you’ll survive,” giving him a cheeky smile, proceeding to finish bandaging the small cut lovingly. 

Placing a gentle kiss once covered, glancing up into his eyes another gasp leaving your mouth this one different as heat floods your body. Pupil’s blown to crowd out the beautiful blue irises you love staring into. Scorching with the intensity, making you wonder how your body isn’t ash on the floor. Tongue peeks out to wet your lips dragging the bottom back between your teeth to press into trying to keep from whimpering. 

Watching every movement warring internally with himself, equal parts wanting to wait for the right moment and having come to the time now. Your mischievous banter making his heart skip a beat and expand with the very emotion he’s tried to put into words from the moment he met you. Knowing these simple gestures, the care with which you show him, how delicate you’re being or the soft press of your lips into his skin, shouldn’t ignite the desire in his blood. But here he is hard as stone with thoughts of taking you right in this very kitchen. “Come here honey,” voice deep and filled with passionate need. 

“What about our trip planning?” Swallowing your desire to obey his command, staying for a moment in your chair. “We keep getting side tracked it’ll never get planned.” 

Groaning, he hooks the legs of your chair with his feet to drag the seat closer till each of your legs slide between his. Hands gliding up your plush thighs, leaning forward and into your space, those deliciously callused large hands coming to rest on your hips. “Would you be angry if I said I’ve planned everything already?” 

Shock makes your eyes go wide then narrow slightly, “How long have you known I was taking off?” Trying to suppress the shiver wanting to run down your frame when those nimble fingers seek out the patch of skin just under your shirt. Drawing patterns that make you squirm in your seat and try to get away from giving up the secret that your back is sensitive to touch. Most especially his as desire filled fire dances across your skin heating your blood. 

“First of the month,” licking his lips slowly wanting his plans to be a surprise. But figuring now is a good a time as any, “I planned us leaving this Friday after work, everything packed the night before. Head to Arizona and drive through Navajo Nation’s Monument Valley Park.” Tracing little patterns over your soft sides as he speaks, “Do some camping, I even got us a tent attachment for the truck. Unless camping isn’t something you want to do?” Concerned lacing his tone while berating himself for not asking sooner. 

Love blooms crowding out the doubts from earlier, soft smile tugging at your lips as you lean forward to place them gently to his. Hand coming up to cup the side of his whiskered cheek. Teasing the seam with the tip of your tongue, “I happen to love camping William. Just one request?” Words ghosted over his mouth as you speak, adding two more chase kisses and pulling back to study his warring features. 

“Request away honey I’ll give you anything you ask for.” Fingers stilling on your skin a moment, breath held tightly waiting for your answer. 

Brushing your thumb over his bottom lip, soft gasp leaving when he playfully nips at the tip. “Would we snuggle in our tent?” 

“Of,” clearing his parched throat, wondering if that’s the only question. “Of course sweetheart I gotta keep you warm after all.” 

Shyly glancing from his lips up to those desire blown eyes, “Would you make love to me in our tent?” 

Damn near swallowing his tongue at your question. “If that’s what you want,” hands flattening out over your back under the blouse you wear. His touch making you squirm in his arms. Interest peeked by your movements and how your trying to escape his hands. “Something wrong sweetheart?” Watching in fascination as your eyes grow dark, libs getting heavy with arousal. Thighs pressing together seeking out some way to put friction on your clit. When you don’t answer him, Will drags his palms over your back slowly, garnering a low lusty moan from your lips. “Answer me honey is something wrong?” 

Mesmerized by the slow drag of your tongue across your lips, eyes opening and filled with dark passions. One hand coming down to rest on his thigh making his cock twitch painfully in his jeans. “No sir though if you keep dragging those wonderful hands over my back you’ll have something to take care of.” 

Low growl rumbles from deep within his chest at your emphasis on sir. Will files that away for a later discussion along with the fact that you so readily complied with his order. Another twitch makes a groan slip free, fingers digging into your soft hips to tug you forward and onto his thigh. The force making you collapse into his chest, hands gripping the back of his chair. “You’re making this really hard to keep my promise sweetheart.” 

Swallowing to moisten your dry throat, “Something is hard that’s for sure and it’s poking my leg right now.” Using your position and pressing into his thigh that flexes under you. Hips rocking in slow teasing motions, making a whimper leave your chest, head dropping to rest on his shoulder. “Touch me Will please,” ghosting your lips over his neck to nibble the patch right behind his ear. Feeling the shuttering gasp leave his body at the intimate touch. 

Pleading tone breaks him of the resolve to wait and he wraps his arms around your waist, bouncing his leg under you. Flexing the muscles just perfectly to get a gasp of pleasure to tumble from your parted lips. Breath fanning out over the mark you’ve left on his skin just south of his ear. “Thats my girl so fucking responsive,” remembering your words and movements from a moment ago, Will brushes the pads of his fingers over your back. 

Squirming in his arms a flood of arousal washes through your system making a whimper sound as you try to move away from those wicked fingers. “William,” his name existing on a whine of need as your teeth sink into the skin of his neck between shoulder and thick corded column. 

Grunting at the simple bite, body taunt like a bow string, ready to snap at a moments notice. Never this hard in his life feeling like a teenager again and unable to control himself. For you though he reigns in that need along with the desire to control the situation. A discussion tabled till later when he’s not desperate to sink balls deep into your warmth. 

Soothing voice stating, “Tell me what you need honey, I wanna hear everything and then give you what you want.” Sneaking his hands back under your blouse to touch soft skin. Interested by the fact you jump a whimper following close by more squirming in his arms. Light bulb going off in his mind. “Are you aroused sweetheart? Does my touch have that much of an affect on you?” 

Nodding against his chest where your head now rests on his collarbone, gasping for breath. Slick flooding your clinching channel that aches with each contraction. Clit throbbing with a deep need your sure only Will can fulfill. “You don’t have to sound so smug,” whimpering the words as his fingers brush along your spine till reaching the destination your bra clasp would rest. “It’s front closer,” raising your head, gathering your strength to rock over his thigh. Letting him feel the damp heat of your core, knowing it not long and his jeans will have a soaked patch just as your ruined panties already do.

“I’d say I’m sorry honey but I wouldn’t mean it.” Carefully bunching the blouse upward till he pulls it from your plush body. Tossing it somewhere behind him not caring where it lands just the position of his hands spread out over your back. Breasts filling a pretty purple swirled bra, temping his eyes and making his mouth water at the sight. “So beautiful,” leaning forward to graze slightly chapped plush lips over the tops of your heaving breasts. “Remember when you asked me if I was hungry?” 

Puzzled, desired coated eyes lock with the passion filled blues, slow nod bobbing your head. “Are you seriously stopping so we can cook?” Eyes narrow seeing a smirk pull at his bearded cheeks. On shaky legging you stand pulling your bottom lip back between your teeth to bite while your hands that he watches with peeked interest come to open the front clap on your bra. Keeping the cups in place you turn and only then drop the bra into his lap, “Shame I guess it’s plan B then.” 

Standing quickly, gripping your hips to pulling you back into his arms that wrap around our thick waist giving you a squeeze. “Plan B?” Eyes dropping to see hands covering your breasts. 

“Uh hmm, since your hungry I’ll let you eat while I go pleasure myself,” warm breath fanning out over your skin, mouth trailing kisses along the spine of your shoulder. Beard giving a delicious burn to your skin that sends a shiver through your frame. Normal insecurities long forgotten with the heat of his mouth against your skin. Those little nagging voices silenced by the hard press of his body and ridged shaft into the clef of your ass. The simple reason you’ve managed to stand in front of this man half naked and not run away belonged too Will. Who’s made you see with all the caresses, endless amount of kisses and words reminding you everyday how beautiful he sees you. 

“The fuck you will sweetheart,” sexy growl vibrates against your ear. Nipping the shell, “Move your hands baby I never want you to hide yourself from me. I wanna see all of you,” callused palms flat against your tummy, caressing the soft skin almost reverently. 

Obeying his command, body becoming pliant against his chest as your arms slide away. Replaced by the warmth of his larger hands, gently massaging each globe feeling the nipples harden and poke his callused palm. “If you’re teasing me William Miller I’ll beat your ass,” wanting the words to come out hard and full of authority. Instead issue forth on a moan chased by a whimper when his fingers pluck at your harden nipples. Tugging, drawing circles around the rippled areola hearing your breath hitch your head lolling back to rest on his shoulder. 

Dark chuckle leaves his lips brushing over your exposed neck, “Never sweetheart.” Turning you in his arms, to lock eyes as he lowers his mouth to yours. Capturing your lips in a desperate kiss, a battle of teeth and tongues. Hands groping your ass pulling you into his arms tighter. Your own wrapping around his neck, holding on like a life preserver in stormy seas. Fingers carding through his short hairs to tug being rewarded with a lusty growl. 

Breaking, panting for air, “Still hungry?” 

“I”m starved sweetheart,” walking till your back hits the cool wall. Hands splayed out around you while his body pins  you in place, “It’s not food I want.” 

Swallowing harshly, head tipping back to expose your neck which Will takes advantage up. Lips closing over your thumping pulse point returning the marking favor. As your nails scratch lightly through his dirty blond hair, tugging at the strands to urge him up towards your mouth. “Then what?” 

Rebelling against your urgent tugs, taking your hands from his head. Placing them on his shoulders  his own making a slow trek from wrist to arm, ghosting over the parts of your biceps he knows you hate. To your shoulders, gripping them tightly for a moment, as your eyes lock and you see the intend in those stormy blue orbs. “You,” licking his lips just thinking about giving your honeyed folds a taste. “I’m a starving man sweetheart and I’m gonna make you my last meal,” his words coming out on a growl that shoots straight to your core. Need throbbing your clit and press your thick thighs together trying to find friction, desire filled heat exploding out over your body. 

Whimpering, “Later,” needing him right then to sooth the ache building in your core, spreading out to tingle your tummy, heart beating triple time against your ribs. “I need you Will please. I need you to fill me, fuck me, just…” grasping at words to explain how much you need this man standing still clothed in front of you. 

Raking your nails down his hard chest, to dance across his toned stomach, gripping the t-shirt and yanking it over his head quickly. Tossing the garment somewhere unknown for the moment to press your hands into his skin. Heat embracing your palms, running the flat of them over his tawny skin and lowering your mouth to press kisses to his sternum. Bitting softly to drag a groan from the man surrounding you. 

“Is that what you want sweetheart? You need me that badly?” 

Raising your head determination fighting with desire in your eyes, gathering your courage to speak exactly what you want. “I need you desperately, I want you like no other man before. Your in my blood baby and I want you inside me,” slowly licking your lips you push his stunned body back enough so you can wiggle from between his wall of muscle and the actually wall. Pausing to brush your lips over his ear, “I want you to ruin me William, wreck me so badly I can’t walk tomorrow and feel it for the rest of the week.” Pressing your lips to his cheek before walking towards the bedroom. 

Leaving Will frozen to stare at the wall you previously stood, hands fisting to reign in the desire so potentate he’s surprised the seams of his jeans haven’t split with how hard he’s become. Breath exiting quickly as he leans into the surface for a moment till a soft moan echos from his room. Head whipping up, almost fearing a broke neck, straining his hearing to listen for another sound. This one a whimper of his name rips a growl from his mouth, feet taking up the path you proceeded first. Finding your Capri jeans dropped two feet from the bedroom, purple lace panties dangling from the doorknob. 

Pausing in the doorway filling the entrance with his wide imposing body eyes glazed over at what his vision takes in. There sprawled out over his bed the love of his life. Making that two things he’s filing away to think about later. Back arched, one hand tugging and twisting at your nipples the other toying with your clit. Drawing slow circles over the pulsing pearl, “Will please.” Another whimper existing your vocal cords, thick thighs shaking with need.  

Shucking off his jeans, box briefs tented and barely containing his throbbing cock that he palms a moment to get himself under control. That snaps the second your eyes open to focus on his. Sliding two fingers into your quivering cunt to pump slowly. Deep grunt exists, feet eating up the distance to the bed, palm slapping down over your quivering clit making you gasp and close your thighs against the sensations rocketing through your body. 

“No,” single word growled out, arousal flowing freely as Will gets on the bed. Parting your thick shaking thighs to wedge himself between. Fingers yanked from your dripping center and brought to his mouth to taste. Long low moan vibrating through his chest at the honeyed flavor of your essence. Sucking both fingers clean before placing that hand on his ridged cock. Chin dropping to chest when you cup the girth of him through the fabric, fingers dancing slowing over the pulsing veins. All thought of being gentle escapes his mind when you moan. “Top draw sweetheart grab a condom for me while I have my second taste.” When you don’t move to comply right away, Will lands another smack to your cunt garnering a moan of need from your chest. Hips cantering upward in a desperate bid for friction or to be filled. “My girl likes that huh?” Seeing the nod he groans, thumb brushing over your clit twice getting a mewl from you this time. “Words honey, use them and tell me if you like when I slap your pretty cunt.” 

“Yes sir,” gasping at the feeling of his moist breath fanning over your burning skin. Chase kisses planted all around except the one place you need him most. “Please Will.” 

Smirking from between your thick thighs spread open for his hungry mouth. Hands splayed over soft skin brushing back and forth to drag a shiver from your body. “Please what honey?” Not letting you answer, lips forming a perfect O around your clit and sucks deeply. Wicked tongue flicking like the beating wings of a hummingbird in flight. Extricating a scream of pleasure from your panting lips, back arching as hands shot down to card through his thick hair. Tugging on the locks harshly, trying to rut against his face. Whimpering when he pulls away to smack your pussy to reel your orgasm back in. Licking his lips of your essence, missing the bits still clinging to his bearded chin. “I need an answer sweetheart.” 

Head raising to half way on shaky elbows, glaring down at him, unprepared for the quick slide of two thick fingers deep into your quivering cunt. Choking out any form of coherent thought and dropping back against the sheets. One hand fisting the dark blue fabric as the other cups a breast, tugging at the nipple and adding little pinches to the gathering storm of need. Feeling those delicious tingles of pleasure lighting across your spine, dancing through your belly as the coil winds tighter in your body. With every thrust of those fingers, crooked upwards in a come hither movement, brushing against that little sponge spot making stars explode behind your eyes. 

Pride, desire and love dance across his veins at seeing you so wanton under his administrations. Carefully yet quickly opening you up by adding a third finger to stretch you. Pleasurable burn short circuiting what’s left of your thoughts, instead focusing on the indulgence of those thick fingers bottom knuckle deep inside you. “Look at you sweetheart, spread out over my bed, fingers deep inside this pretty cunt making you wither and moan my name. Fuck if you aren’t the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Mouth connecting with your clit dragging another loud moan of his name from your lips. 

“Like that Will, just fucking like that,” mumbling words, head thrashing against the pillows wanting to hold off till he’s inside you but with every thrust of the skilled fingers. Mouth drawing out different letters of the alphabet to make you quiver around his body. Moans and whimpers dripping from your lips punctuated with his name and various words of pleading. “Close Captain so fucking close.” 

“Cum for me sweetheart, fucking soak my hand and the bed under you.” Groaning at the use of his rank, cock twitching painfully inside the tight cotton confines of his black boxer briefs. Watching your back arch when he draws your clit between his lips and sucks hard, tongue flicking quickly to match his fingers. Groans added vibrations to your pleasure as his fingers keep the same quick pace sending you flying over the edge at his command careening into your orgasm. Breath gasping from your lungs, thighs trying to close around his head, shaking from the effort before they drop flat to the bed. His broad body blocks there bid as he works you through the high. Fingers sloshing through your soaked walls, mouth dropping to catch each drip to savor. Pulling from the squeezing depths that try to weakly suck them back in to his mouth and lick them clean. 

Surging up your body, cotton covered cock slotted against your soaked folds. Groaning when you weakly start to rut against him, eyes fluttering open to see him hovering over you on his forearms. “Hello there my Captain,” wrapping your arms around his neck and quickly bringing his lips to crash against yours. Nipping and tasting the remains of your tangy essence from his tongue that you promptly suck into the hot cavern of your mouth. Pulling a groan from the man above you who rocks against your drenched folds slick soaking through the cotton.          

Blindingly reaching over to open the top draw, grabbing a condom as your hands work to take his underwear off. Sighing in relief at being free, both of you fumbling together while lips are still locked in a heated battle. Gasping for breath and angling mouths to draw in air through your noses, sharing the hot commodity. Only breaking on a growl when your hand wraps around his hot shaft giving a hard squeeze and starting to pump slowly. Foreheads resting together, dragging the palm of your hand over the weeping crown, gathering the precum for lubrication. Till he pushes your hand away getting a huff of annoyance from your pouting lips. 

“Put that lip away sweetheart before I put you over my lap and spank that pretty ass of yours.” Ripping the condom package with his teeth and fingers, pulling the thin piece of latex from the confines. Only to have you snatch it up and slide down under him till your level with his throbbing cock. 

Placing a kiss to the angry red crown, lapping at the slit and getting a hiss from the man shaking above you. Smirk he doesn’t see but hears when you say, “You can owe me a punishment Captain but I wanted my taste.” Giving little kitty licks around the crown several more times. Enjoying how your making him shake, and rut against your body. You pull away to slide the condom over his cock, one last kiss to the head before shimming your plush frame against his and back up towards the pillows. Arms going around his neck to pull him back in for another kiss. 

Only to chase his mouth that he refuses to give you his lips, “Think your cute huh?” Rising up on his knees to spread your thighs over his, opening you up wide for him. Hands trailing over your body teasingly slow, pausing to pinch both nipples. Getting a whine from your chest that makes a smirk pull at his lips. Desire darken eyes lock with yours, “By the way sweetheart,” brow arched. Left hand wrapping around his cock pumping a few times before notching at your dripping entrance. Teasing you with just barely pushing the head in and back out. “That was one, I plan to pull at least three more from you before tonight is through.” 

Eyes widen at his declaration, “You…” choking on the words you’d planned to say with the hard thrust of his cock deep inside your tight channel. Silent scream forms on your lips, air quickly expelled by the force, hands scrabbling to grip his shoulders. 

Pausing to let you adjust to his girth, Will dips to capture a stiff peaked nipple into the hot cavern of his mouth. While arranging one thigh against your chest and draping the leg over his shoulder repeating the action with the twin. Folding you almost in half and sliding that much deeper into your pulsing depths letting your breast go to drop his head between them placing kisses trying to reign himself in. Not wanting to loose control and cum too soon. 

“Fuck sweetheart your so tight and wet for me,” moist breath heating your skin. Setting a hard punishing pace that has the head broad slamming into the wall with his masterful thrusts. Puling out till just the cock head rests at your entrance before surging forward hard and deep. Eyes rolling back as you gasp, clutching at his shoulders slick with sweat. 

Beading across his hairline to slide down his cheeks, cupping them with trembling hands and bringing his mouth back to yours in a desperate kiss. Tangling your tongues together, one leg slipping from his shoulder to wrap around his waist pressing into his pert ass and pushing him deeper if possible. The sheer girth of him splitting you open as he takes you hard and deep. Nipping his tongue twice and pulling away to gasp out just trying to gather air into your lungs. “Will,” name whimpered passed your lips fire dancing across your veins demanding more. 

“I know sweetheart, fuck I know,” growling low bringing your other leg to wrap around his waist. Reaching up to grip the head broad, thrusts shortening but still deep and quick. Chasing that high he knows isn’t long in coming with the way your walls quiver around him. “Honey you gotta give me another one, need you to cum for me.” Gritting his teeth, looking over your beautiful face soaking in the look of pleasure painted over your features, coated in sweat and desperation pinching your brows. 

Eyes tightly closed, little stars exploding, his words filtering through the sexual haze he’s brought over you. Heavy libs flutter open to watch him above you, rippling muscles, biceps flexing around you. Hands caress his back, coaxing his hands down to cage you in and press you deeper into the mattress. Hiking your legs higher on his waist, feeling his pelvis grind down against your clit sending shockwaves of pleasure to crest over you. Slipping one hand between your bodies needing a little push, only to have it brushed aside by Will’s larger hand. 

Callused fingers circling the little pulsing nub of your clit getting a breathy moan from your throat that chokes off into scream of his name ripped from your lips. Orgasm washing over your body, making you float between paradise and reality soaking his cock and making you gasp for breath, body shaking while surrounded by Will. His musky cologne, pine and cedar mixing with the scent of sex a heady fragrance that tingles your scenes. Silently chanting his name while he works you through the release. Little after shocks dance through your limbs, holding him closer and squeezing your still pulsing walls around him tighter. Feeling your slick spill out around him coating your inner thighs and down into the sheets. 

Bringing your mouth back to his for a sweet slow kiss, tangling your tongues together dragging a moan from the depths of his soul. Pace starting to falter with every quiver and clutch of your wet depths. Breaking apart to gasp for air, lungs burning, cock throbbing for release twice more he thrusts into your clutch channel. Emptying himself into the condom, movements slowing till he’s spent and drops carefully into your waiting arms. 

Brushing your fingers through his soaked hair, head resting between your own heaving breasts. Feeling moist air against your damp skin, hands sliding down his back, basking in the afterglow, “Definitely can’t get side tracked while  packing.”   

Pressing a kiss between your breasts looking up through heavy libs, “Why’s that honey?” 

“We’ll never leave,” soft giggles leaving your lips. Watching as Will raises up pressing kisses to each of your nipples, dipping to press one to your neck on one of the many marks he left behind. Brushing his beard over the sensitive skin of your throat, groaning when you clutch him tightly. “Not sure if I want to now. Might keep you in this bed that whole week instead,” smirk turned groan when he pulls from your depths carefully. Placing a quick kiss to your lips before sliding to the edge of the bed to tug the spent condom off, tying and tossing it into the trash bin on the other side of the night stand. 

Rolling to your side, head propped up on your hand watching as Will raises and heads to the bathroom to clean up. Admiring his firm ass, the play of muscles with each step, tongue peeking out to lick your lips at the delicious sight he presents you. On his return trip you shamelessly ogle his front, tugging your lip back between your teeth. “Fuck your gorgeous baby,” soft smile replacing the salacious smirk. 

“I can say the same about you sweetheart,” warm wet cloth in hand, he coaxes you to lay back and wipe the remains of your slick from your tender folds.

“Hmm, thank you William,” feeling shy in that moment, watching him toss the cloth into the hamper, before crawling into bed behind you. 

Strong arms wrap around your soft body to pull you against his hard chest, “Never have to thank me for taking care of you sweetheart.” 

Turning in his arms to rest face to face, placing a hand on his cheek, “Only if I get to thank you in other ways?” 

“And those would be?” Leaning close to rest your foreheads together. The arm around your waist pulls you flush against him warm palm cupping your ass getting a squeak from your kiss swollen lips. 

Tracing patterns over his tanned chest, circling a nipple giving a light pinch to the peaked tip. “You’ll have to wait and see, I won’t give away all my tricks so soon Tootsie roll.” 

“Tootsie roll?” Playful growl leaves his lips pushing you onto your back and hovering over you. “Oh sweetheart I’ll show you Tootsie roll.” 

Giggling and squirming under him thinking your life couldn’t be any better. With the man of your dreams giving you delicious beard burn and loving your body like no other. 

Till the weekend rolls around and you get to give him one of those special thank you’s. Waking him up with your warm mouth pleasuring him as the sun rose outside your tent and his deep moans echoing pleased smirk on your lips the rest of the day with how weak you made him that morning. 

[aggressive-positivity-network]

Phineas and Ferb:

How do you think they deal with probably having to part ways sometime in the future? How do they keep in contact and such?

Thx for answering in advance:)

Hope you get better soon, a friend of mine has had a particularly shitty break down and time for a while now but they’re getting better again even if it’s slow and not really linear…

Have a warm blanket and I do wish you someone willing and able to be there for you in whatever way you need it right now :)

Aww, that’s so sweet! I know Phineas canonically goes to a college in the Tristate Area (despite literally having enough acceptance letters to fill a small Chuckie Cheese-esque ticket wind tunnel), but the brothers will have to part ways at some point, whether to pursue their dreams or to raise a family.

This is a bittersweet ask…one that I will treat with the utmost respect as a P&F fan.

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

“From Another Mother” P&F Headcanons

Phineas, with his high energy and many dreams, would be the most likely to take off to pursue whatever popped into his head.

Ferb would never try to keep his brother back, nor would express his sadness until the final goodbye at the airport or bus stop.

Phineas would be distracted, talking about his plans or the piece of chewed gum he found that looked like Stephen King, then look back to see Ferb with massive, tear filled eyes.

“Aw, Ferb…”

Ferb would uncharacteristically go in for a hug, which Phineas would reciprocate while biting back his own tears.

“It’s okay, buddy.”

“No, it’s not.”

Ferb takes a deep breath.

“Every day of every summer, we have gone above and beyond to cure our boredom and test the limits of what can be done in a day. We’ve gone where no kid has gone before, and have achieved what most only dream of. We’ve made enough memories to last several lifetimes.”

Ferb sniffled.

“So why do I still feel that isn’t enough?”

Phineas sighed and put his arm around Ferb’s shoulder.

“That just means that there’s several lifetimes to remember! The roller coaster, rodeo, that life-size board game we pulled off, Candace’s weird personality clone…”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.”

“And there’s still so much more to do! I know the planet pinball game is in good hands.”

“Ferbtopia has just entered the Bronze Age.”

Phineas grinned. “See? You’ve got this. I bet the second I’m gone, you’ll cure cancer or something…”

“Again.”

“Right, right, again. You won’t even remember I’m gone.”

Phineas’s voice cracked.

“The backyard is all yours, Ferb. Use it well.”

Ferb squinted. “Phineas.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you trying to uphold your positive, upbeat persona in order to put on the façade that you are going through this transition well, when, in reality, you are deeply sad, but don’t want to make this any harder for either of us despite the fact that a controlled emotional release will probably give us both the closure and validation we both crave?”

Phineas blinked, bit his lip, then suddenly burst into tears, almost crushing Ferb with a second hug.

“I…d-don’t know what I’m gonna do without you!” he sobbed. “It takes me, like, twenty minutes to figure out which cereal I eat in the m-morning, and I can never find my tools, and Perry…a-and Candace…!”

“Shhh, I know…”

“I j-just don’t want you to forget about me…you’re gonna make a-all these cool inventions and I’m not gonna b-be th-there…!”

Ferb smiled one of his rare smiles. “It would take a memory erasing mechanism and a thousand multiverses for me to ever forget you.”

Phineas cried for a few more minutes, then quieted, wiping his eyes on his coat sleeve and hiccuping.

“Snf…you know me so well…”

“More than I’d like to admit, yes,” Ferb replied, wiping his own eyes.

Phineas swallowed. “I’m really going to miss you.”

“I know. That’s why I made you this.”

Ferb unzipped his backpack and pulled out a small, white cube. It had a red button on one side, and a small drawing of the brothers on the other. Isabella’s name was scribbled beside it.

“This is the PalCube.”

Ferb pushed the button, and holograms of himself, Candace, Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet were projected from a hole on top.

“If you ever need to talk to us, or want to see a friendly face…”

Ferb selected his own image by tapping the air, and he pulled out his own cube from the backpack. Like a video call, Ferb’s face and the airport behind him were projected, while a distant image of Phineas sat in the right hand corner.

He put the cube in Phineas’s hand.

“There are a few other things I have built into the PalCube,” Ferb explained. “But those are a surprise.”

Phineas bottom lip quivered. “A minimalist aesthetic with a mystery element? That’s my favorite kind of design…”

Ferb nodded. “And mine is powered with my bitter tears.”

“Ferb!”

“Only joking. I just wanted to be dramatic. It’s actually solar-powered with a back-up organic flow battery-”

“Flight 756 now boarding!”

A crowd of people on Phineas’s flight rushed to the front, and Phineas looked back with a desperate look on his face.

They both ran into one final hug.

“Ferb, what am I gonna do?”

Ferb smiled again, tears filling his eyes.

“I don’t know, Phineas. What are you going to do today?”

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

This ask was in reference to this post. It has plenty of other fandoms to request headcanons from, so feel free to peruse them!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go cry myself into a puddle.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Twilight (2008)

Twilight is not the 0-star picture so many people claim (or want) it to be. If you like it, I can understand why. That said, those who call it a great film are doing so because of their affection for the source material, which itself isn't particularly robust. This is getting overly complicated. Let’s just get to the review.

Seventeen-year-old Isabella “Bella” Swan (Kristen Stewart) moves to the small town of Forks to live with her father, Charlie (Billy Burke). At her new school, she gets along with everyone… except for the enigmatic Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). The boy seems almost repulsed by her but Bella is drawn to him. As it turns out, he - and his feelings for Bella - aren't what they seem.

There are some undeniable faults in this picture. The performances, for instance. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have proven themselves strong performances but director Catherine Hardwicke stifles any emotions that might've been present. Not helping is the screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, which directly quotes the novel by Stephenie Meyer often. You'll find plenty of clunky, overly wordy exchanges, the kind that comes from an author spinning their wheels, trying to buy time before a big reveal three chapters later by busting out their thesaurus and endlessly re-writing the same dialogue until it becomes a garbled mess.

Twilight is also a bit too ambitious for its budget. The special effects aren't convincing. It made me think back to the Smallville pilot, which would've been a good thing was this a TV series or non-theatrical movie, but someone should’ve looked at the fast-motion effects and recognized how silly they looked.

If you’re reading this segment of the review, you know that Edward is a vampire. Not the scary Nosferatu type, but a hundred-year-old glittering, sullen-faced, creature of the night that falls head-over-heels in love with Bella Swan. People will call this ridiculous but this is where I'll defend Twilight. Yes, the glittering thing is dumb, but it’s a detail. Considering every vampire in this film has a different superpower (which is an elegant way of blending the various myths about vampires), you can just pretend that’s Edward’s. I will also stand up for the relationship between the lovers. Bella and Edward have something about them that genuinely WOULD make them a good couple. When Bella comes to school, she’s basically loved by all. The boys want to date her, the girls want to be her best friend. All, except for one guy. Why? because Edward can read minds. No one in the world is a mystery to him. Holding a conversation, even with his fellow vampires is redundant but he can’t hear Bella’s thoughts. She's the only person in the entire world he could sit down and have a chat with.

There’s a germ of a good idea here. It’s the execution that's at fault. Perhaps the source material too. You might have to squint a bit but you can find scenes in the film that are good. The best example is a moment when the Cullens play baseball. It shows them as real “human beings”. People will call the scene where Edward admits that he likes to watch Bella sleep “creepy”, but that’s because he can't express himself well. As a vampire, he doesn’t sleep. He's been forced to live only with his kind and always drifts further away from normal human behavior. He hasn’t seen someone sleep in ages. He’s not “keeping an eye on her” at all times, he’s fascinated by every aspect of this young woman. Many of the interactions Bella has with her friends are charming and Billy Burke does good work with his role.

Twilight is harmless. It will appeal to those who've enjoyed the book and is sure to ensorcell young teenage girls. Unfortunately, the source material's weaknesses shine through, and neither director Catherine Hardwicke nor writer Melissa Rosenberg do much to improve upon it (trust me on that). This makes it nothing special for the rest of us but hardly a plague upon cinema so many people have declared it to be. I don’t see why it’s gotten such strong reactions either way. Perhaps the sequel, New Moon, will make it clearer. (Theatrical cut on DVD, December 9, 2016)

[sunshinelulusplatoon]

(This has been far overdue. So is the Calamity stories but that’s a different story.)

(Anyway, with Sora’s reveal, I finally got the kick to post this. So Enjoy!)

“You know,” Lulu started to speak.

“Hmm?” Lu remarked as she took another bite of her chocolate bar.

“You never did tell us how you were allowed to meet us,” Lulu remarked.

“Oh, I forgot?” Lu questioned.

“You did,” Lutarna commented.

Sitting on the side of the ramps of Blackberry Skate Park, the twins were hanging out with the Lulu from the Smash Brothers universe. Having grabbed some snacks, the girls were eating before getting back into some turf wars practice.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Lu replied through her chewing.

“We have time,” Lutarna replied after finish a bite of her ice cream, “And don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Geeze, sounds and acts like my Tarts,” Lu chuckled after clearing her mouth.

Deciding to stretch, Lu started to pull off one of the finger-less gloves she was wearing with her teeth. Once off, Lu held her hand up as a triangle mark was imprinted on the back of her hand; three triangles in whole with the bottom left filled in with gold coloring.

“Well, for starters, this is part of the reason,” Lu stated.

Leaning in, the twins were shocked.

“IS THAT-” Lulu began.

“THE TRIFORCE OF WISDOM???” Lutarna finished.

“Yep. Got this back quite a while ago. Not sure how but it was helpful,” Lu chuckled.

“So what happen?” Lulu asked as she leaned back and propped herself with her arms.

“Well, it happened a while ago. When doing some training rounds,” Lu started to explain.

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

“Hiyah!”

“RAAAAAAAAAAWWWWR”

“MEEEEHHAA!”

“HEEEEEEEEYYA!”

Early morning training was taking place on final destination as two teams were battling. Lulu and Min Min against Link and Bowser. As Bowser spouted flames, Min Min grabbed Lulu from a distance and tossed her into the air before jumping out of the way. In the air, Lulu tossed an ink bomb out before squid jumping and landing behind Link. As the bomb went off, Link got covered in some ink, blocking his view of where Lulu went, before be smacked from behind by Lulu’s roller. As for Bowser, Min Min was keeping him busy with her stretching arms and distance attacks.

Just as things were heating up, the ground below started to shake. The vibrations so strong, the stage it self started to shake as Lulu lost footing and was about to go over the edge. In quick timing, Link grabbed onto and pulled Lulu back up as the group was wondering what was going on.

GUYS! THE SKY!” Bowser called out.

All looking up, clear blue sky started to become twilight as the sun started to shine brighter and brighter.

“What is this?” Min Min questioned, confused by the changing skies.

“Tsshhhh, I recognize this!!” Bowser growled.

“It can’t be,” Lulu questioned as fear grew on her face.

Just then, a ringing sound from Lulu’s jacket went off. Pulling her phone out hastily, it was a call from Meta Knight. Putting it on speaker, Meta Knight spoke.

“LULU! ARE YOU STILL WITH LINK AND CO?” Meta Knight questioned as his voice was harsh.

“Yes! What’s going on?” Lulu questioned as panic crept into her voice.

“A HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE! GALEEM HAS RETURNED! WE’RE NOT SURE WHY BUT IT’S BEEN SPOTTED AT THE WORLD’S EDGE!!!” Meta Knight replied, “WE’RE JUST OVER THE RIDGE TO PICK YOU ALL UP!! YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE US!!”

Looking over, the Halberd was indeed coming into view. Grabbing their things, the group waited till the right moment before jumping off of Final Destination and landing on the Halberd where Zelda and Peach were waiting.

“Mario and the others are already at the world’s edge,” Peach explained.

“We’re not sure what is going on but somehow Galeem has survived. Whether Darkon has or not, there is not time to waste,” Zelda stated.

“Let’s go then,” Link replied.

Others nodding, the group rushed inside as the Halberd picked up speed and headed towards their destination.

Upon arrival, the battle had already presumed as smash members were fighting off master hands as Galeem hovered in the distance.

“Tsssh, guess nemesis brains couldn’t take the hint the first time,” Lulu huffed.

“Well, there is more of us now, so let’s give that ball of light a good ass kicking, shall we?” Bowser laughed.

“Ready to help as best as I can,” Min Min agreed.

As the Halberd came close, the group jumped off as Lulu pulled out a bomb and tossed it towards a master hand. The ink explosion causing damage to the hand, Lulu squid jumped on top of it to do a down kick before jumping off of it as the hand dissipated. Blowing flames, Bowser was taking multiple hands out at once as Link was shooting them down with Min Min’s help.

Joining up with the rest of the group, the smash members were taking hands down one by one but soon it became inevitable that Galeem could easy make more. One by one, the smash members were getting tired. Joining up with the rest of the turf crew with Banjo and Kazooie’s help, Lulu and the other were barely keeping the hands at bay when more kept coming. Trying to do jumps, one laser hit Lulu and almost tossed her to the ground. Though speeding through the attacks, Sonic caught her in time before getting pelted by and smack down from a hand.

“Thanks Sonic,” Lulu replied once they got to a safer spot.

“This is getting nuts. They just keep coming,” Sonic remarked.

“We just got to keep trying,” Lulu reassured with a fist pump and a determined look.

Nodding, the two did a hand slap before rushing back into battle. Yet the odds were against the group. More and more, the smash members were getting hurt and tired but Galeem still stood strong.

Then things went quiet. As the hands pulled back, the smash members were confused. Then the familiar sound started up.

The sound of Galeem’s ultimate attack.

None of them were in proper shape to try and dodge the attack; if it was even possible in the first place.

“All over again!” Lulu thought as she recounted how she came to the smash universe the first time.

As light started to build up around Galeem, the members were fearing the worse.

Then suddenly it stopped.

Galeem froze still.

“The shell?” Lulu questioned.

“It...it just stopped,” Kazooie remarked in shocked.

All confused, the members watched as the very light from Galeem drained to black as it’s body started to come apart in two. As the wings and the Master Hands started to dissipate, a figure loomed behind the decomposing corpse of Galeem.

“Who is that?” Sonic questioned.

Confused, Lulu caught glimpse of Cloud moving past them and towards the figure before stopping; possibly trying to get better view of the person.

Squinting, Lulu could barely make focus of the figure but faintly caught glimpse of a very long sword in hand. That’s when Lulu realized who they were dealing with.

“It can’t be,” Lulu stated in fear.

“Sephiroth,” they heard Cloud say.

All stood in silence as the newcomer revealed himself.

“Sephiroth?!? From Cloud’s universe?!?” Daisy spoke in fear.

“How?” Isabella cried out.

“How doesn’t matter at the moment,” Lulu remarked as she heard Isabella from a distance, “Right now, we got a much worse fight on our hands.”

Watching above as Sephiroth descended some, a sinister smile turned into a smirk at the sight of Cloud and co.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Sephiroth spoke as he extended an arm upwards, “Now I shall give Smash despair.”

Once a twilight sky, now bleed into a sinister gray as clouds thickened. Taking aim towards Cloud, Sephiroth dived down towards him before taking a swing at him with Masamune. Reacting quick enough, Link rushed in and took the hit with his shield. Bouncing back, the fight began with swords clashing as Link and Cloud fought against Sephiroth. Taking this opportunity, many of the members took to others to heal wounds and rest as others jumped into to help take down this new foe.

Having recovered her ink and tending to some wounds of hers and others, Lulu was about to jump into the match when Alex stopped her. Placing a diamond sword in her hand, Alex looked up at Lulu.

“Steve’s badly hurt.  I can’t leave his side right now but you know how to use this right?” Alex asked.

Nodding with an assured look, Lulu placed her gun in it’s holster as she took the diamond sword from Alex. Watching Alex waved as Lulu rushed into the battle.

As blades struck, Sephiroth bounced back both Link and Cloud as the rolling sound of an ink bomb was heard. As the bomb exploded, covering Sephiroth some, Lulu came from behind and did a long sweep with the diamond sword. Blocking the attack with Masamune, Sephiroth and Lulu stood clashing blades.

“So, the little light makes her appearance finally. It will feel good to finally strike you down before you get in my way again,” Sephiroth spoke as he pushed back on Lulu.

Jumping back, Lulu was confused by Sephiroth’s words as she dodged a forward thrust from him before taking a swing at him.

Thus the two began a dance of clashing blades as Peach and Mario got Link and Cloud out of there for the time being. Being a double welder, Lulu was easily passing the diamond sword from one hand to another to block and strike at Sephiroth. As easily as Lulu could toss them though, Sephiroth could dodge them. Back and forth the two went but slowly Lulu could see the diamond was cracking. Dodging a slice of the Masamune, Lulu back flipped and tossed a bomb at Sephiroth’s face. Using a reflect, Sephiroth went for Lulu. Using the last of the diamond sword’s strength, Lulu was sent back flying as the sword broke. Hitting the ground and rolling, Lulu landed hard on her back but was slowly able to get back up.

“Something...isn’t right here,” Lulu thought, “Almost as if a darker presence looms around us. It’s as if something is preventing him from falling.”

Breathing hard, Lulu was trying to hold things together as Sephiroth lunged forward towards her. Though before he could reach her, a blast form Samus’s gun hit the ground before him as Mario took a punch towards him. Dodging backwards, Mario and Samus stood in Sephiroth’s way from getting to Lulu.

“Lulu, we got this. Take heed,” Samus spoke.

Taking the hint, Lulu nodded as she rushed to take cover and find others.

Running, Lulu was trying to put pieces together of what was going on as she spotted Zelda and Palutania. Rushing to her, they got Lulu some distance away before tending to her wounds.

“It’s as if his body won’t tire,” Lulu spoke.

“Something tells me Darkon is behind this,” Zelda spoke, “As if another being is waiting in the shadows, it’s presence I sense.”

“I’ve been sensing it too,” Palutania replied, “Waiting for the right time to strike.”

“But why? How could they have survived?” Lulu questioned.

Before the girls could give reason, a voice spoke up.

“What does it matter. You will all die at my hands.”

Looking up, a new foe stood upon the rocks above them.

“WHO ARE YOU?” Palutania demanded.

Recognizing him immediately, Lulu took a fighting stance.

“That’s Kayuza Mishima,” Lulu growled.

“You know him?” Zelda questioned.

“Where I’m from, he’s from a game called Tekken. He was born with demon blood and a main antagonist of the series,” Lulu replied.

Jumping down from the rocks, Kayuza went straight for Lulu. Sliding in the way, Zelda used Din’s fire as Kayuza dodged.

“LULU! HE’S AFTER YOU!!! RUN!!!” Zelda shouted.

Taking hint, Lulu dashed and ran for her life as she tried to seek others. Though easily outdoing them, Kayuza took to the skies in his demon form as he chased after Lulu. Tripping on a rock, Lulu hit the ground hard as Kayuza landed near her.

“You can’t get away from me that easy little light,” Kayuza spoke.

Getting back on her feet, Lulu took a fighting stance.

“Going to fight now are we?” Kayuza spoke before thrusting forward at Lulu.

Dodging, Lulu threw a hard leg kick which knocked Kayuza to the ground.

“I may be tired, but I’m not out yet! I may be stuck in this inkling form, but I can still fight like an octoling!” Lulu huffed.

Getting back up and wiping some blood away, Kayuza smirked before going at Lulu again with punches. Dodging and weaving out the way from down thrust and attacks, Lulu was dishing her own attacks. Hand to hand combat, the two fought but slowly Lulu was getting tired. Stuck in the inkling form was her biggest disadvantage and with one hard trust to the stomach, Lulu was on the ground.

Trying to get up, Lulu was slammed back down onto the ground by a foot into her back.

“Hehehe, this is the end for you little light. Tell your maker she shouldn’t have disowned us like she did. Now she can see the effects of her mistakes,” Kayuza spoke.

Switching back to his demon form, Kayuza was about to attack Lulu as she tried to get back up when-

“HADOUKEN!!”

A ball of blue light, it smacked Kayuza away as Ryu, Ken, and Kirby on Dragoon came rushing up. Grabbing Lulu up, Ken placed Lulu on Dragoon with Kirby.

“Get her out of her!” Ken ordered.

Nodding, Kirby made sure Lulu was properly on Dragoon before flying upwards and away from the fight as fast as the little pop star fighter could. Far from the world’s edge and into the world of light, Kirby flew Dragoon as Lulu held on with what strength she had left.

Finally landing were the two first met, Kirby jumped off Dragoon as he rushed over to where some waddle dees and MetaKnight were waiting. With them were some bottles of ink and tomatoes for Lulu. Rushing over, the group went to work tending to Lulu.

“Thanks guys. Thanks Kirby. Always got my back, huh?” Lulu spoke softly as she ate a tomato before sinking down into the ink to rest; laying on her back.

“Poyo,” Kirby replied before patting her inkling head.

“Rest Lulu. What ever those two want with you, you need your strength. Right now we have you far enough away to give you time. The others should be able to hold them off,” Meta Knight spoke.

Nodding, Lulu closed her eyes as the sounds of the quite environment took over.

Resting there for a while, Lulu hadn’t realized she had fallen asleep till a voice spoke up.

“Seems Darkon won’t give up, huh? Has finally killed his brother and now has turned his aim at us. Because he wouldn’t do what I asked of him long ago. Even using new fighters for his work. I’m sorry you’ve gotten involved like this. He can’t reach me anymore so has turned his revenge towards you. I figured the first time bringing you here would be enough to deal with them but stubborn fools they were. I now have to ask you again to finish these things for me. But not alone. If things get tough though, you have the strength, will, and power to call for others. I believe in you princess. Use your light to guide others hearts towards you,” the voice spoke.

It took Lulu a moment to recognize the voice.

Her voice.

“LULU!”

Opening her eyes, Lulu sat up from the ink puddle to see Marge rushing towards the small group. Squatting down, Marge hugged Lulu; seeing her friend was alright. Wrapping her arms around her after the initial shock, Lulu hugged back.

“LULU THANK COD! EVERYBODY’S BEEN FIGHTING AND NOBODY CAN SEEM TO TAKE THOSE TWO DOWN AND I GOT WORRIED CAUSE I COULDN’T FIND YOU WITH THE OTHERS AND THEN I JUST,” Marge spoke in panic before starting to cry.

“Hey, I’m fine. But there is more going on then just two new fighters. I have… a feeling Darkon is controlling them. When asleep… this voice spoke…. My voice spoke,” Lulu explained.

Confused, Marge thought on it some.

“Perhaps the creator. Talking to you in a familiar tone,” Marge suggested.

“I think so,” Lulu questioned, “She talked about Darkon and Galeem. It seemed like they had a bigger role in our world at one time but they went against it. But were strong enough to survive the first attack we did to them. But now all that is left is Darkon.”

“What do we do?” Marge asked, fear in her voice.

Getting up, Lulu brushed off the leftover ink on her hero gear before looking towards where the fights were.

“We win this!” Lulu replied before holding a hand out to Marge.

Realizing her words and confidence, Marge took Lulu’s hand with a nod.

Packing up and getting back on Dragoon, Kirby led the way with Meta Knight following as the Waddle Dee’s waved goodbye.

Back at the world’s edge, things were looking grim. As the fighters pressed on, Sephiroth and Kayuza held firm. One by one, the fighters were falling to their knees with only a few still standing.  Fighting Sephiroth, Cloud was holding his ground as Ryu was doing his best against Kayuza’s demon attacks. Flying over, the two turf crew members watched.

“They need help now,” Lulu remarked.

“Lulu,” Marge spoke as she held out a capsule, “It’s not much, but it might have something handy.”

Taking the capsule, Lulu nodded as she popped the cap. Popping out, a staff fell into Lulu hands, the girls nodded before watching as Kirby flew them closer. Once in range, Lulu and Marge jumped off as Lulu did a down stab at Sephiroth.

Not reacting quick enough, Lulu was able to slice his arm as the fight turned into a two verses one. Helping Cloud get back on his feet from the last attack, Marge threw a bomb to cover her and Ryu’s tracks as they got Cloud out of there.

Taking lunges at her, Lulu dodged, weaved, and maneuvered through Sephiroth and Kayuza’s attacks as she dished her own out. Remembering what her grandfather taught her, Lulu was twirling the staff around for styled attacks and protection as the two fighters came at her. Staying determined, Lulu was keeping up as Sephiroth was starting to look annoyed.

“Tssh, not going down without a fight, huh? Seems you are more determined this round. Fine. I’ll just use my resources to better use,” Sephiroth spoke.

Looking at Kayuza behind Lulu, Sephiroth lunged forward with Masamune as Lulu dodged; stabbing Kayuza through the chest.

“You are no use to me anymore. One body is all I need,” Sephiroth spoke before blasting Kayuza away with a fire ball attack.

Shocked and confused as Kayuza’s body rolled and laid lifeless yards away, dark energy started to glow around Sephiroth as he rose into the air. Above, the sky started to crack and turn red, pieces fell as Darkon showed himself before Lulu once more.

“Now, let’s finish this,” Sephiorth spoke as he flew down towards Lulu. 

Dodging, Lulu swung the staff towards Sephiorth’s head but quickly grabbing it, Sephiorth was able to yank it out of Lulu’s hands before kicking her in her stomach. Falling backwards on the ground, Lulu rolled before Sephiorth could stab her with Masamune. Getting up, Lulu started to throw punches but Sephiroth with new found speed, dodged them before grabbing her by a tentacle, lifting her up and tossing her to the ground. Before even reacting, Sephiroth threw a fire ball with made Lulu roll. Casting a shadow flare, Sephiroth lunged forward at her. Dodging, Lulu did an aerial kick but Sephiroth was too fast for her; causing his shield as the flare went off. Taking heavy damage, Lulu was leaning forward, trying to calm her spinning head as blood dripped to the ground. Lulu barely noticed Sephiroth’s forward thrust. Dodging, a tentacle was cut off as Lulu lost balance and fell to the ground.

“Seems what strength you had is slowly fleeting now little light, isn’t it,” Sephiroth chuckled.

Slowly getting back on her feet, Sephiroth’s hits had taken too much out of her; as if they had drained her of all her strength. Thought that didn’t mean she was giving up. Lunging forward, Lulu took a swing at Sephiorth as he easily dodged before grabbing her other tentacle, tossed to her the ground, and stabbed Masamune through the tentacle. Crying out in pain, Lulu tried to pull the sword out, but Sephiorth slammed his foot on Lulu’s chest to know the air out of her. Couching up blood, Lulu tried to breath as Sephiorth started to walk around her.

In the sky, Darkon’s tendrils started to stretch out as Sephiorth stopped behind her.

“This was fun little light but I need you gone,” Sephiroth spoke.

In a loud roar, the tendrils came towards Lulu. Barely catching her breath as she struggled to even speak, her mind was screaming.

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!!!”

As if a calling, the triforce on her hand started to glow, shocking Sephiorth. As light grew stronger, in a flash, time stopped; just before the tendrils touched Lulu. Then things faded to black.

Pitch black.

Not a sound.

Except Lulu’s breathing.

Finally realizing all the pain was gone, Lulu moved her arm to feel for things. Instead of just feel inkling tentacles, Lulu found that she felt her octoling ones as well. Deciding to sit up, things around her were impossible to see. Getting up on her feet, Lulu didn’t know where she was.

“Am I dead?” Lulu spoke to herself.

Feeling her chest, Lulu could feel a pulse but wasn’t truly sure. Looking outwards, Lulu was confused.

That was until her hand started to glow again. Looking at it, Lulu saw the triforce glow in golden light.

“Hello?” a voice rang out through the darkness.

“Hello?” another spoke.

Shocked, Lulu spoke up.

“Hello? Is someone there?” Lulu asked.

“Hi, who are you?” one voice asked.

“My name is Lulu. And you?” Lulu replied.

“My name is Pyra. I heard someone call out for help. Was that you?” Pyra replied.

“My name is Mythra. Are you okay?” Mythra replied.

“Yeah, that was me. Though I’m not sure if I need it now. I think I’m okay. But my friends. They may need help!”

“What troubles you?” Pyra asked.

“A monster name Darkon has come back to reek havoc on my friends and I. They may need help! Please, will you help them?” Lulu begged.

Out of the darkness, a green light and a burning flame appeared in front of Lulu.

“We heard your call Lulu. We will help you,” Pyra and Mythra replied.

Appearing before her, two woman, one red headed with a red dress and one blonde with a white one, held hands out to Lulu. Smiling Lulu held her hands and grab each of their hands. In a golden light, the two disappeared.

Back in darkness, Lulu was confused.

“Hey, can I help?” Another voice spoke; coming from behind Lulu.

Turning around, light from under Lulu’s feet shinned as a stain glass image appeared.  In the glass was an image of Lulu holding the triforce of wisdom as smash members had pictures around her. In front of her, a young boy stood holding a key shaped sword. His brown hair was spiky as he wore a red and black outfit with poofy pants and big black yellow shoes. Surprised, the boy walked up to Lulu.

“I heard someone cry for help,” the boy remarked before looking at Lulu, “Wow, you look like someone from Atlantica. What’s your name?”

“Lulu. What’s yours?” Lulu asked.

“I’m Sora,” Sora replied with a smile.

“Sora? I like your name! Will you please help me? A great monster is attacking my friends. I wasn’t strong enough on my own to stop it,” Lulu explained.

“A monster? Is it some type of heartless?” Sora questioned.

“Heartless? I’m not sure what that is but it does lack heart and it wants to hurt my friends,” Lulu replied.

“Well, that’s good enough for me. I’ll gladly help,” Sora replied.

Holding a hand out, Sora smiled a big smile. Smiling back, Lulu grabbed his hand as he too disappeared into golden light.

Still left in the dark, Lulu was confused. But something told her things were going to be alright now.

“I have help. That’s a start. But how to deal with Darkon. He himself is so far away. And Sephiroth is just a vessel he is using. If I had a way to hit him at long distance,” Lulu spoke to herself.

“Will a charger do?” A voice spoke up.

Spinning around, Lulu called out, “You again!”

“You did good. You found help. But they can’t fight this alone! And you can’t deal with Darkon without some help. Here, hold your hands out,” the voice spoke.

Holding her hands up, Lulu saw a long light formed as a golden charger fell into her hands.

“It’s infused with the power of the light arrows. Should help. Good luck Princess,” the voice spoke again.

Nodding, Lulu held the charger close.

“Thank you. This time, I’ll do it. I’m not giving up!” Lulu replied.

As the triforce glowed again, Lulu clenched her fist, before holding it up and shouting, “LET’S GO HELP MY FRIENDS!!!”

Time starting again, the light shown bright as Sephiroth jump back as figure rushed at him. Blocking with his sword, a giant fire blade came down to clash with the Masamune.

“WHO ARE YOU?” Sephiroth shouted.

“Here to help out Lulu!” Pyra replied before switching to Mythra in a greenish light and taking fast swings at Sephiroth.

Coming to, a hand was held out for Lulu as Lulu realized it was Sora. Grabbing his hand, Sora helped Lulu up as Lulu held the charger; healed up and tentacle in tack again.

“You look different,” Sora commented as Lulu was back in her inkling form.

“So does your clothes,” Lulu remarked.

Looking himself over, Sora’s clothes had changed to a red outfit with a white jacket and big yellow shoes. Chuckling, Sora gave Lulu a smile.

Hearing Darkon roar, the two looked up at him.

“So that’s the monster?” Sora asked.

“That’s Darkon. His eye is his weak spot. We need to get close to it so I can shoot at it with this charger,” Lulu explained.

Noticing Mythra dealing with Sephiroth, Lulu realized the opportunity.

“While he’s distracted, we need to go,” Lulu pointed out.

Nodding, Sora grabbed Lulu’s hand as he pulled her forward into a run.

Running past Pyra and Sephiroth, the two were heading for the edge as tendrils were raring for an attack.

“Believe in fairies?” Sora asked.

“Met a few. Nice beings,” Lulu replied.

“Then believe you can fly!” Sora replied.

As the tendrils came down, Sora and Lulu jumped off the cliff’s edge as the tendrils crashed into the ground. In an upward swoop, the two flew off towards Darkon. Tendrils coming at them, Sora used magic to freeze them and burn them as Lulu took shots with the charger. Closer and closer the two got as Darkon tried to push them back. Dodging, weaving, and attacking, the pair were getting closer to Darkon’s eye. Though as a final attempt, Darkon shot multiple tendrils at them. In quick thinking, Sora pushed Lulu forward as Sora took the hit; knocking him out of the sky.

Now in range, Lulu held the charger out as she charged the ink. Not enough time to react, Darkon watched as light formed at the chargers end as Lulu pulled the trigger.

“EAT INK YOU FUCKING SIPHON!!” Lulu shouted.

With a large bang, light swirling around a long ink shot speed towards Darkon and hit him straight on. Split in half, the light shown bright as the Darkon and the tendrils started to dissipate.

Back on land, about to take a swing at Pyra, it was if the wind was knocked out of Sephiroth as he fell to the ground; shocking Pyra as she looked up to see Darkon falling apart.

“LULU DID IT!” Pyra cried out.

Hearing footsteps, Pyra turned around to see Cloud and Mario, bandaged up, as they were shock to see the sight.

Then a bright light flashed as the red sky turned back to clear blue.

Still floating in the sky as the golden charger faded out of her hands, Lulu took a moment to process things before realizing something. Hastily flying down, Lulu looked for Sora.

“LULU!” Sora called out, floating in the water below.

“SORA!” Lulu cried out.

Seems Sora was okay as she flew down and grabbed a hand to pull him back up and flying again. Pulling each other into a hug, the two flew around for a bit.

“WE DID IT!!” the pair shouted in excitement before heading back to the main land.

Waving, Pyra was waiting for them.

“HEY!!!” she called out.

“PYRA!” Lulu called out before landing.

Rushing up, Pyra hugged Lulu and Sora as the three laughed and giggled.

“LULU” Mario called out.

Looking around Pyra, Lulu called out, “MARIO!” before letting go and rushing to Mario.

Arms open, Mario hugged Lulu and patted her back.

“Wahoo! You did it!!” Mario spoke as he patted her back.

“Sora?” Cloud questioned as he spotted him.

“Woah! Cloud! Is that you?” Sora questioned in shock as he let go of Pyra and rushed over to Cloud.

“How did you get here?” Cloud questioned.

Rubbing the back of his head, Sora replied, “Uh...I guess through Lulu. I was on Destiny Islands when I heard a voice cry out for help and then the next thing I knew I met Lulu.”

Crossing his arms, Cloud gave a smirk and a huff.

Walking up, Pyra remarked, “I also heard Lulu’s cry for help. Are you all alright?”

“Now we are it seems. Darkon is gone and things have seem to gone back to normal. That is..” Cloud replied before tailing off.

Looking over, Sephiroth was still on the ground. All noticing, Cloud began to walk over when sounds of pain could be heard. Starting to rise up, Sephiroth rolled to a sitting position as he got his bearings.

“Where… am I?” he spoke.

“Smash world,” Cloud spoke.

Looking over, Sephiroth didn’t seem surprised to see Cloud.

“It seems we have been transported to this world,” Sephiroth spoke, “But I do not know how.”

“What do you last remember?” Cloud asked.

“Leaving the last world with you,” Sephiroth replied as he got up on his feet.

“So I was right. Darkon was controlling him and Kayuza,” Lulu remarked.

“Do you think he’ll cause trouble now?” Sora asked.

“He would be stupid if he tried,” Cloud remarked.

Looking around, Sephiroth noticed the others taking fighting stances; faces he had never seen before.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Sephiroth stated to Cloud.

“Long story,” Cloud replied.

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

“So what happen to Kayuza?” Lulu asked.

“Same boat as Sephiroth. Taken control by Darkon and mind controlled to be a puppet. Once Darkon’s control was free, he woke up confused and lost to where he was,” Lu replied.

“So what happen then?” Lutarna asked.

“Well, given their presence, it seemed they too were new smashers and thus we welcomed them in. Knowing how many were around, like the other villian characters, they agreed to behave and join the smash fights. Explaining everything to them on how the worlds worked, we showed Pyra, Mythra, and Sora how to get home and to come back and visit,” Lu explained.

“Man, talk about a crazy adventure. You have all the fun!” Lulu huffed.

“How did Sidon take to everything?” Lutarna asked.

“He insisted Link rest in the domain and my butt to stay out of fights for a while,” Lu chuckled.

“Fair enough,” Lutarna chuckled.

“Still, did the creator every give you answers on things?” Lulu asked.

“No sadly. No letter this time. I wish I knew why but perhaps it’s just left up to the wind I guess,” Lu replied.

Jumping up and stretching, Lulu hopped down the ramp before looking at the other girls.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but that story has me worked up now. Let’s get some more practice shall we?” Lulu chuckled.

Nodding, the two cleaned up the food mess they made before jumping down the ramp before rushing off to start a match.

Watching in the distance up in a tree, a being smiled as she watched the three play.

“I probably should have wrote a proper thank you but making that charger took a bit out of me. Oh well, things are good now. Might as well let it be. Still, to think my lower gods would betray me like that when all I asked was to just balance the smash world with what fighters were allowed in. Instead they grew power hungry and thought they could over throw my rule. Oh well, Maybe next time I’ll get better help,” the being spoke.

Smiling again, the being faded into nothing as the trio played their game; peace brought back again to the worlds.

[albertasunrise]

These Violent Delights - Chapter 4

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3

Summary: You notice that a mysterious, handsome man has moved into the apartment across from you. You can’t help but introduce yourself but how will your boyfriend react to your new-found friend?

Warning/Content: Mature, Angst, Blood and Injury, Pregnancy

Paring: Marcus Pike / Female Reader

~

‘What about Molly?’ You asked as the two of you walked hand in hand along the highstreet.

‘Oh no,’ Replied Marcus as he shook his head ‘I had a nasty breakup with a girl called Molly.’

‘Ugh, are we ever going to find a name?’ You grumbled as you scraped a hand over your tired face ‘We have like two weeks till the baby comes and we’ve not even agreed on one name!’

‘We’ll get there.’ Said Marcus softly as he threw his arm around your shoulders so he could pull you close 'We'll know it where we hear it.'

You’d taken the day to shop for the last few bits you needed for the baby. You’d been fortunate when throwing your baby shower that so many of the items you needed were gifted to you but you still required a crib and a few other essentials. You looked up at Marcus and smiled, giggling when he kissed the tip of your nose. You felt huge now. Your back ached and your feet were so swollen that you now lived in your Vans. You were looking forward to the arrival of this little one. Your attention was drawn to Marcus again when his body went rigid against yours. Looking up you saw a shocked expression plastered across his face and you followed his line of sight, your eyes settling on a dark-haired woman and a blonde man.

‘Agent Pike.’ Said the man as he grinned at the two of you ‘How lovely to see you!’

‘Jane.’ He replied, his tone a little irritated ‘Lisbon.’ He finished as he nodded at the woman.

‘And who is this radiant creature?’ Asked Jane as he studied you, focusing predominately on your swollen belly.

‘Jane, Lisbon this is my partner,’ He answered, telling them your name ‘I worked with them both back in Texas.’ He finished, his grip on your shoulder tightening a little.

‘Congratulations’ Said Lisbon as she pointed at your bump ‘When’s it due?’

‘Two weeks.’ You replied happily as you affectionately rubbed your belly.

‘Wow not long!’ She replied, her eyes growing wide as she looked at Marcus and then back at you ‘You both must be so excited.’

‘We are.’ He replied, his tone softening when he spoke to her.

‘Well, I’m so happy for you Marcus.’ She replied, giving him a warm smile.

‘Thanks, Teresa.’ He replied, feeling you stiffen next to him ‘What are you doing in DC?’ He asked, changing the subject.

‘We’re actually here for a small holiday.’ She replied as she looked up at Jane and smiled ‘We're going back tomorrow.’

‘Oh right.’ Replied Marcus, nodding with feigned interest.

‘We should all go out for dinner this evening!’ Said Jane suddenly, taking you both by surprise.

‘Oh I don’t know-‘

‘Come on Pike please.’ Said Jane in a tone that one could almost believe to be genuine ‘Would be lovely to get to know the woman who stole your heart.’

You both shared an awkward look before somewhat reluctantly agreeing. After exchanging the time and place that you were to meet them you went about your business, dreading the dinner later with the woman who’d broken Marcus’ heart. You’d managed to get the last few items you needed before making it back to the new apartment that you and Marcus had moved into a month back. You’d needed another room for the baby and after deciding that you didn’t want to live in your old apartment with all its negative memories, you found a new place and moved.

‘Why did we agree to this?’ You groaned as you rubbed your aching belly.

‘I have been asking myself that all afternoon.’ He replied as he placed a gentle kiss on your lips ‘We can cancel if you want?’

‘No, we can’t you.’ You replied, giving him a grim look ‘That would be rude.’

‘I swear you're more Canadian than you are American.’ He joked as he kissed your temple ‘You ready to go?’

You nodded, smiling at him as he gave your hand a gentle squeeze and let you out the door. The restaurant that Jane had picked was a mere five-minute walk from your apartment, much to your delight but you were taken aback by how fancy the place was. The server led you to the table where Lisbon and Jane were waiting for you, genuine smiles on their faces as you both sat down across from them. Lisbon was wearing a simple black dress that complimented her figure beautifully and a small part of you resented her for how good she looked. Jane wore a simple navy blue suit and a white button-up, the colours complimenting the colour of his eyes perfectly.

‘I’m so glad you both came.’ Said Lisbon as she got up to give you both a hug and you felt yourself relax a little from the friendly gesture.

The server returned a few minutes later to take your drinks order and you were over the moon to learn that they had an alcohol free Gin. You’d missed Gin. When he brought the drinks he then took your food selections and left, leaving an awkward silence in his wake.

‘So how did you two meet?’ Asked Lisbon with an awkwardness in her tone.

‘I moved into the apartment across the hall from her.’ The agent started, holding your hand under the table ‘She turned up at my door with a box full of cookies, I invited her in for a glass of wine and we got to talking.’

‘You were with someone at the time though weren’t you?’ Said Jane, his eyes studying your body language closely ‘Engaged I’d say. You met Marcus and left your fiancé for him.’

‘Actually, Marcus saved me from him.’ You answered abruptly, venom dripping from every word ‘He regularly beat me and raped me. One night after a particularly bad session from him I’d had enough and I left him. Marcus cleaned me up and took me to a friend's, after a few months of talking as friends I asked him out for drinks which ended in him getting stabbed by said ex.’

Jane’s jaw dropped open and you felt a small sense of accomplishment wash over you from being able to render the man speechless. Marcus gave your hand a squeeze as he placed a soft kiss on your temple but your eyes never left the blonde man.

‘How long have you been together?’ Asked Lisbon in an obvious attempt to change the subject after flashing Jane an angry look.

‘Um coming up to 11 months.’ You replied, your expression softening when you spoke to her.

‘Wow so the baby was-‘

‘A happy accident.’ Interrupted Pike as he placed his hand on your bump.

‘Birth control failed… Eight and a half months later and I’m a whale.’ You laughed, grinning at Pike as he looked at you lovingly.

‘Well, I really am so happy for you both.’ She stated, reaching over to squeeze your arm that rested on the table ‘He’s one of the kindest men I know. You seem perfect for each other.’

Your conversation was interrupted by your food arriving and you licked your lips at the sight of your food. You’d ordered the Mac and Cheese, having gone cheese mad over the past few weeks much to Marcus’ delight.

‘So do you know the sex?’ Asked Jane, his question surprising you.

‘Yeah, it’s a girl.’ You replied, reigning in your dislike for the man.

‘Oh, I bet Marcus was over the moon about that.’ Said Lisbon as she beamed at you both.

‘That he was.’ You chuckled as you shovelled a large mouthful of pasta into your mouth.

‘Picked a name?’ She asked as she pushed a tomato around her plate.

‘No.’ Marcus replied, scratching his chin as you let out a small sigh ‘We’re struggling to find a name with both like.’

‘Leia apparently is too sad.’ You joked, smirking when Lisbon snorted.

‘I think I have to agree with Pike on that one.’ She conceded, giving you a sympathetic grin ‘I’ve always liked the name, Isabella.’ Said Lisbon as she forked some chicken into her mouth.

Your breath hitched at the name, tears forming in your eyes as you tried not to show how much you loved it. Marcus gave you a look and you knew he’d read you like a book, so had Jane.

‘I think she likes that name, Teresa.’ He said as he nudged her with his elbow.

‘Then that’s what you should call her!’ She exclaimed, her face lighting up.

‘No, it's yours.’

‘Don’t be silly.’ She said as she waved her hand at you ‘It’s just one I like. I’ve never been one to have my kid's names planned out.’

You looked at Marcus let out a small sob. He chuckled at your reaction and gave you a small kiss before returning his attention to the couple across from them.

‘Who knew we’d go to dinner with my ex and she’d pick our daughters name for us.’ He joked as he took a swig from his beer.

The night went pretty smoothly after that. Jane had become more tolerable as the evening went on and you soon found yourselves talking as if you were old friends. You’d been over the moon when you had learned that they had sticky toffee pudding on the menu and after very little arm twisting from Marcus, he convinced you to pig out. Standing outside the restaurant you talked for a short while longer before learning that their hotel was on the same street as your apartment building. Walking together you couldn’t help but smile at how clear the sky was that evening, it was a rare treat indeed to be able to see any stars. Turning the corner that led to your apartment building you squinted when a car parked at the side of the road turned on his lights.

‘Well we’re just across the street,’ Said Marcus as he wrapped his arm around you ‘Thank you both for a lovely evening. Genuinely.’

‘It was lovely to see you again and lovely to meet you!’ Said Lisbon gleefully ‘You have my number. I want to see pictures of the baby when she comes! The least I get for helping you pick a name surely?’ She finished as she gave you a wink.

‘I’m sure we can do that.’ You replied as you poked your tongue out a little.

‘Well good night.’ Said Marcus, pulling you towards the crossing and pressing the button.

Crossing the street, you looked up at your love as he pulled you into a soft kiss, squealing with pure glee. Then everything went black. Marcus was roughly thrown across the street, his head hitting the tarmac hard and rendering him useless. He rolled his head to see you laying there unconscious, blood running down your face. He screamed your name but couldn’t move, the pain too much when he tried. Lisbon was at your side in a heartbeat, checking your pulse as Jane called an ambulance before running to Marcus’ aid.

‘Stay still Pike.’ He urged when the agent tried in vain to get up.

‘Is she- is…’ He sobbed, his eyes fixed on you.

‘She’s going to be fine but you need to stay still.’ He said, his tone firm as he held Pike's shoulders ‘You were hit by a car.’

The guttural scream that erupted from Marcus made Jane’s blood run cold. It was a sound that was filled with pain and despair and the consultant felt helpless, not knowing how to comfort him. The ambulance’s arrived a few minutes later along with two squad cars, Jane quickly firing off the registration of the vehicle to one of the officers. Marcus never took his eyes off of you, even when they strapped him to a full bodyboard and wheeled him to the ambulance. Patrick went with Marcus and Lisbon went with you, her heart in her throat as she watched them work on you.

‘Is the baby going to be okay?’ She asked, her hand firmly gripping yours.

‘They’ll do what they can to help them both.’ Was the reply she got and it brought her no comfort.

~

Jane and Lisbon sat patiently for news of you and Marcus, neither one able to believe the turn of events. She rested her head on Jane’s shoulder as she watched the tv in the corner.

‘He doesn't deserve this.’ She said numbly, her eyes fixed on the moving picture but not paying attention to what was going on.

‘No he doesn’t.’ Replied Jane as he kissed the top of her head.

‘Are you here for Marcus Pike?’ Came a voice, a young female doctor standing just across from them.

‘Yes.’ Lisbon replied, informing the doctor that they were there for you also.

‘Well he is out of surgery and he’s stable.’ She stated ‘He's suffered a severely broken leg which required some major work, a punctured lung and a concussion.’ She continued, giving them a grim look ‘He’s very lucky.’

Lisbon asked about you only to be told that you were still in surgery and that she had no news ‘A nurse will fetch you when Mr Pike is out of recovery.’

The both of them nodded, Jane feeling becoming awfully conscious that Pike would probably not want to see him. He decided then that he would wait in the waiting room whilst Teresa went to see the agent, not wanting to distress Marcus more than he already was. Teresa found Marcus surprisingly alert when she was taken to him, noting the anguish in his eyes as he stared numbly at the window across from his bed.

‘Hey.’ She said softly, stopping beside him ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Like I was hit by a car.’ He growled, his tone making her flinch.

‘I called in some favours with the bureau.’ She started, grabbing Marcus’ attention ‘The car belonged to a Stephen Robinson. Liam’s brother.’

‘That son of a bitch. If I ever get my hands on him I swear I’ll-‘

‘Hey, this isn’t going to help.’ She soothed, placing her hand on his and giving it a gentle squeeze ‘Let’s just focus on you, her and the baby okay.’

He nodded, knowing that she was right. Giving her a weak smile, he nodded in appreciation before glancing up at the door as someone entered.

‘Please tell me you have news.’ He pleaded, his voice cracking.

‘She’s out of surgery.’ He started, his expression impossible to read ‘She was lucky.’ He continued ‘She and the baby are both going to be fine.’

Marcus sobbed openly, thanking the doctor over and over.

‘We had to perform an emergency c-section as the baby was in distress but she’s healthy. No issues despite being 2 weeks early.’ He stated as he placed a friendly hand on the agent's arm.

‘When can I see them?’ He asked, his eyes hopeful.

‘I will get a nurse to take you.’ He said kindly ‘But you need to rest so not too long with her.’ He finished as he winked at the younger man 'You can see your partner in the morning when she's a little more rested. She's had a hell of a night.'

True to his word, a nurse was by a few minutes later and with the help of Lisbon, they managed to lower Marcus into the wheelchair she’d brought with her. Just as she was about to leave Marcus looked at Teresa.

‘Did you want to come?’ He asked, taking Lisbon by surprise.

‘Yeah, I would.’ She replied, flashing him a big grin.

They were taken into a room that was filled with strategically placed clear cots, most containing infants adorned with either pink or blue hats. When they came to a stop beside one that read, Baby Pike, his heart almost stopped. Tears forming again as he looked upon the face of his newborn daughter.

‘Would you like to hold her?’ Asked the nurse, smiling when Marcus nodded his head eagerly.

Carefully, she picked her up and lay her in his arms, giving him a few tips on how to hold her. He almost burst when she opened her eyes, staring straight back at him with what he could have sworn was recognition in her eyes. He just gazed at her for a while, grinning when her tiny hand grasped his finger.

‘She’s beautiful Marcus.’ Said Lisbon softly, her heart melting at the sight of him with his daughter in his arms.

'Yeah.' He said softly 'Just like her mother.'

‘Does she have a name yet?’ Asked the nurse as she stepped closer to the agent.

‘Isabella.’ He replied before placing a kiss on her forehead 'My little Isabella.'

‘Right we need to get you back or Dr Lane will have my head.’ Joked the nurse, leaning over to take Isabella from him.

‘I’ll see you soon baby girl.’ He said as he stroked her tiny cheek ‘I love you so much.’ He finished as he kissed her brow.

~

Marcus was allowed to see you in the morning, surprised to find you in better shape than he was. The cut on your head was a lot small than he had expected and was now framed with a black bruise. The doctor informed you both that you would likely be discharged on the same day, much to your shared relief. Lisbon and Jane had offered to stay behind to help but you’d both declined, instead Lydia had offered to come and stay a while whilst the two of you recovered. It had been a relief when you’d finally been allowed to go home, Joe from Marcus’ office picking the three of you up from the hospital with a mixed expression on his face.

‘Thanks for your help, Liddy.’ You said as she placed down a steaming cup of decaf coffee in front of you.

‘Hey, you guys have been through hell!.’ She replied, giving you both a sympathetic smile ‘Besides, I love baby cuddles.’

‘Well, it’s my turn right now.’ Joked Marcus as he held Isabella against his chest.

‘Baby hogger.’ She grumbled, a wicked smile crossing her lips.

‘Well, it’s not like I can do much else.’ He retorted, motioning to his leg cast ‘I cannot wait till this damn thing comes off. My left itches like crazy.’

‘I can’t wait to sneeze and not worry about peeing myself.’ You joked, everyone erupting into a fit of laughter which Marcus instantly regretted ‘I’m afraid you’re going to be pretty useless for a while though Hunny. They had to do a fair amount of work on your leg.’

‘And yet it’s my ribs that hurt the most.’ He grumbled, his cheek resting against the top of Isabella’s head.

‘They won’t take too long to heal.’ You replied, giving him a sympathetic smile ‘I really did get off pretty lucky. Lisbon said you flew.’

‘Felt like I did too!’

‘Well, I will be around for as long as you need me.’ Said Lydia, as she sat herself down in the decorative armchair opposite you ‘Perks of working remotely.’

‘God we’d be lost without you, Liddy.’

‘I know.’ She grinned, giving you a wink.

~

4 months later…

‘Oh, it feels good to walk on my own two feet again.’ Beamed Marcus, spreading his legs out across the couch.

‘I bet.’ You replied as you bounced Isabella on your hip.

She started to scream and your face grimaced at the sudden assault on your eardrums. Marcus was up in a jiffy, grabbing a bottle from the fridge and placing it in the warmer before taking his grouchy daughter from you.

‘Someone’s hungry.’ He cooed as he bounced her in his arms, her cries instantly stopping as she grinned at him.

‘I swear she hates me.’ You groaned, scrubbing a hand over your face.

‘She doesn't hate you.’ He replied as he kissed you sweetly ‘I’m just her favourite.’ He finished as he gave you a wicked grin.

The bottle warmer dinged to let both you know it was ready. Grabbing the bottle, Marcus brought it to his daughter's lips and giggled as her eyes widened as she sucked at the bottled eagerly.

‘Definitely hungry.’ He concluded, watching in awe as she drained the bottle dry.

You threw a cloth over his shoulder which he thanked you for and then proceeded to burp her, praising when she let out a teeny belch. Her eyes rolled around in their sockets as she fought off sleep, staring back at you with hooded eyes before Marcus shifted her in his arms.

‘Aw, my little milk dunk angel.’ He cooed as he looked at you with pure happiness plastered across his face.

Marcus was a natural father. He’d been so frustrated initially at how little he was able to do so as soon as he was able to stand for long periods of time, he was all over whatever he could. You adored watching him with her, the two of them thick as thieves and you knew that she was going to be a daddy’s girl when she was older.

‘God I want more.’ He said suddenly, taking you by surprise.

‘How many more?’ You asked, watching as he placed soft kisses on his daughters head.

‘As many as you’ll give me.’ He finished, his expression one of utter contentment.

‘Okay.’ You nod, grinning when he beamed back at you ‘But let me recover from this one first yeah?’ You finished as you kissed him softly, resting your head on his shoulder.

‘So another month yeah?’ He asks, giving you the goofiest grin you’d ever seen.

[amarantine-amirite]

Special Handling

I’ve made not caring what people think a large part of my identity. I don't follow the clothing trends of my peers, I listen to the music I listen to because I like it, not because everyone else does, and I refuse to hide any of that. As far as everyone else is concerned, I don't care about what other people think.

That is not necessarily 100% true. I care about what other people think more than I let on. I’m afraid of people talking about me when I’m not there. Deep down, I worry that they judge me without understanding what I’m going through.

Right now, I’m having a vivid nightmare where my consciousness is in the same room as two people; two strangers. They’re talking about me. “Lillian, did you hear about Isabella?” asks the man

The woman shakes her head “No, I didn’t, Mark. What did she do?”

“No idea, but it's all over the news,” he says he shrugs his shoulders.

Lillian’s eyes widen. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. Let me show you,” Mark says. He proceeds to turn on the TV to a news bulletin displaying the car chase. We all watch my mistake on TV.

Lillian tips her head to one side. “That car looks familiar,” she says, squinting.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I saw that car from my balcony.”

All three of us rush to the balcony. We peer over and see that same car zoom down the s-shaped road. “Yeah,” Mark nods, “It's pretty surreal looking out from the balcony and seeing that same car from the TV barreling down the road.”

“I know,” snickers Lillian, “She’s not just a bad driver on TV. She's a bad driver in real life, too.”

You don’t know everyone’s story. Just because someone looks like a bad driver on TV doesn't mean they are a bad driver in real life. They could just be driving in their sleep. I know because I’m driving in my sleep right now.

It all started when what’s-his-name drove me home. When he said, "We're home, Isabella," I looked out the window and didn’t recognize any of the buildings. I saw large flakes of concrete come off the sides. And you should not be able to see the sky out of your roof. I know for a fact that I don't live here.

“I don’t live here. This isn’t my home.”

He sighed angrily, "We've been driving for hours! How can you not live here?"

That makes absolutely no sense. It’s like saying you like to eat pasta because your house is made of bricks.

The further below the horizon the sunset, the redder the sky became and the more tired I felt. No more goofing around, I thought, I need to get to my real home.

I made my move when he stepped out to pee. I grab the car keys out of his pocket. Next, I

slipped into the driver's seat as he ran up to the bushes. The car was gone and I was on the road by the time he came back.

I don’t remember where I went next because I fell asleep. I didn’t pull over. I kept going.

Driving in your sleep is the creepiest feeling that you can imagine. You’re trying to do something and you wind up having nightmares about yourself while you’re trying to do it. You fight with your brain to keep the car under control. Eventually, you give yourself to the out-of-body experience part and lose track of the driving entirely. All bets are off as to where you end up.

Right now, my brain thinks it's on a balcony with Mark and Lillian, but it’s really still driving. I start to feel my vision blur. The idyllic suburban structures distort. One by one, the people and surroundings fade to black. I don’t worry that reality is collapsing. The dream is now over; I'm waking up.

I wake up and see that I’ve driven into a parking garage. It has very few signs and minimal lighting. It also lacks markers that tell you where to go, nor does it have space to turn around and back out. I could see cars parked in every single spot through levels A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, and so on. The cars at the lower levels looked identical, mirror images of each other. They all had dark tinted windows and no logo to distinguish the brand, make, or model. Some sections have cars crammed one on top of the other. Other sections have cars spaced far enough apart to squeeze another car in between two others. Worse, the road was so narrow you couldn't turn into the space between the cars.

Oh yeah, the levels. They go down a little too far. The garage has more levels than there are letters in the alphabet. After Level Z, they use the Greek letters. After Level Omega, they use Hebrew glyphs. I don’t know what comes after that. I never got that far.

I can’t drive anymore. Between feeling dizzy from the constant turning in circles going down the ramps of the parking structure and struggling to breathe so far down beneath the Earth, I feel so woozy that I struggle to even sit upright. Being here gives me motion sickness and a headache.

I move from the driver's seat to the back seat and lie down. I enter complete and total darkness. I hear no sound other than the sound my body makes on its own.

I have no idea where I am anymore. I feel lost in the maze. I wholeheartedly understand that everyone feels lost sometimes, but it's nothing like this. This feels far more dangerous.

Send help before I throw up.

@soprompt

[general-kenobi357]

Someday Soon-Chapter 1

Pairing: JJ Maybank x Fem!OC

Summary: The only goal Isabella Bailer has this summer, is to have a good time with her friends, the Pogues. But when they find a ship wreck after a hurricane their summer takes an unexpected turn. 

Note: So this is my first fic that I have actually properly finished and I am so excited to share it. I first posted it on Wattpad but I find that I don't really use that platform much so I wanted to post it somewhere I go on often. I hope you enjoy my twist on Outer Banks :) Also the I have written Iz to be as nondescript as I could so that you can imagine her however you want. 

Word Count: 10.5k (The first chapter is really long but later on the chapters get shorter.) 

🔅🔆🔅

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

The soft breeze brought the smell of the ocean to my nose while the sun shone brightly on my cheeks. I had to squint to see my friends through the bright rays. As the sun fell lower the day only seemed to get warmer, the beer in my hand brought a cool relief, after taking another drink a smile grew on my face as I listened to the conversation between Pope and John B. 

“That’s what, a three-story fall to the deck?” Pope asked, looking up at John B who was currently balancing on one foot on the edge of the roof. We were all hanging around one of the many mini-mansions that were under construction in Figure Eight. “I give you about a one-in-three chance of survival.”

“Hm” John B replied as he stuck a finger into the air pretending to check the direction of the wind. “Should I do it?”

“Yeah, jump.” Pope quipped, pointing a drill at him. “I'll shoot you on the way down.”

“You’ll shoot me?”

“Yep. Pow!”

“They’re gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers.” Kie told us shocked, as she emerged from the house that was yet to be finished. 

“Of course. Why wouldn’t they?” I inquired somewhat bitterly from my spot sitting next to JJ. Nothing Kooks did surprised me anymore, all they seemed to care about was their own vanity.  

“This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about turtles, I guess?” Kie asked, sounding somewhat defeated. I sent her a sad smile, wishing I had more power to change the way things were. 

“I can’t have cold towels.” JJ added sarcastically before we all directed our gaze towards John B. 

“Can you please not kill yourself?” Kie asked him sweetly as he continued to lean dangerously close to the edge of the building. 

“Yeah that would really ruin my summer.” I added, I had protested John B climbing onto the roof in the first place but once that boy got something into his mind, no one could change it.

“And don’t spill that beer. I’m not giving you another one.” JJ warned seconds before the can slipped through John B’s grasp and came crashing onto the deck.  

“Whoa! Oh, shit.” John B exclaimed as he attempted to regain his balance on the roof, I turned to look out at the ocean again, not wanting to see him hit the deck as well. 

“Of course you did. Smooth.” 

“A plus.” Pope commented as he leaned over the side of the deck before looking back at the group. “Hey, uh, security’s here. Let’s wrap it up.”

“Humpty Dumpty, let’s roll.” JJ called to John B while he hopped off of the scaffolding we had been sitting on, before turning around and offering me his hand to help me get down. “Sweetheart?”

“Thank you.” I replied, accepting the hand he held out as I jumped down onto the deck.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” John B agreed as he followed us down. 

“Gary, is that you?” JJ called out to the security guard as we gathered our stuff up. “It’s me. Gary, good to see you, man!”

“You’re just asking for it.” I told him as I shook my head trying to hold in my laughter. 

“Get ‘em! They’re comin’ your way!” I heard one of the guards shout from behind me as I followed Kie towards the van. “Hey! Stop!”

I spared a glance behind me as I exited the house and saw the guard catching up to JJ. 

“Not much of a hugger!” I heard JJ shout as he avoided the guard. 

As I ran down the front steps John B pulled up in the van, Kie hopped into the passengers seat as I climbed into the back leaving the side door open for the boys to jump in whenever it was they decided to show up. 

“Bus is leaving!” John B called out as he honked the horn. I peered out the back window watching as Pope started climbing over the fence, before promptly falling flat on his face. JJ hoped over next and helped him back to his feet. 

“Come on, boys!” Kie called.

I held out my hand for Pope who was struggling to get into the moving van. Once both boys were inside John B stepped on the gas and we all watched Gary hopelessly chase after us. We were all left in a fit of laughter after JJ was done teasing the poor security guard. 

🔅🔆🔅

The Outer Bank, Paradise on Earth. It’s the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes, one island. 

All right. So there’s Figure Eight, the rich side of the island. Home of the Kooks. So, guess where we don’t live?

And then, there’s the South Side or the Cut. Home to the working class who make a living busing tables, washing yachts, running charters. The natural habitat of… drumroll, please… the Pogues. 

That’s us. 

Pogues, Pogies, the throwaway fish. Lowest member of the food chain. Okay. So, the downside of the Pogue life is we’re ignored and neglected. But the upside of the Pogue life? We’re ignored and neglected, which means we do whatever we want, whenever we want. So, let me introduce you to the crew.

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

Next up is Isabella Bailer but we just call her Iz. A former Kook up until she was ten and her dad was caught embezzling money from his company and promptly arrested, her family basically lost everything. Shortly after that she moved in next door. Definitely the Mom of the group, she basically takes care of all of us, and when she’s not cleaning up our messes, she’s working with her Mom, cleaning houses for the Kooks. Iz is the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet until you threaten her friends then you better run the other way and hope she doesn’t find you. 

After Iz there’s Kiara Carrera, or Kie, as we call her. When she’s not saving turtles or listening to Marley, or getting a dolphin tattoo, she hangs out with us. I’m not really sure why though. So, she’s a rich kid, actually. Foot in both worlds. Her family owns The Wreck, this Outer Banks institution. Total cash cow with the tourists. You know, I’m not really sure how her parents feel about us. But I think we all have had a thing for her at one point or another. 

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

So, that’s my crew. And my name is John Booker Routledge. I’ve been living on my own for the past nine months in an old fish shack on the marsh. The Château, as my dad used to call it. Where is my dad? Well he disappeared at sea nine months ago, looking for a shipwreck. Who disappears at sea these days? I miss him. Any other possible guardians who could look after me, might be your next question? Well Mom split when I was three. Last I heard she was in Colorado and Uncle T who is supposedly my legal guardian is currently in Mississippi, building houses… 

Which means it’s just me right now, on my own, hangin’ with my friends. 

🔅🔆🔅

I swung lazily in the hammock that sat between John B’s house and my own as I watched the water. The sun was starting to rise higher and I could already tell it was going to be another long hot day. I was lost in my own thoughts until I felt the hammock dip to the side. Glancing up I gave John B a small smile as he tried to readjust the balance of the hammock. 

“You know I really hate this thing?” He told me still struggling. 

“I know it's ‘cause you don’t know how to relax.” I replied, teasing him as I shifted to help balance the hammock after the change in weight. 

“I’m gonna take it down one of these days.” He threatened, finally leaning back.

“No, I love this hammock, it's my favorite spot.” 

“I know I’m only teasing you, I’m not sure you would ever talk to me again if I took away your hammock.”

“You’re damn right I wouldn't.” I told him attempting to sound serious before letting out a laugh. We laid quietly for a few minutes before I spoke up again. “So do you have big plans today?”

“Um, yes.” He responded after taking a moment to think. “I get to go down to social services and talk to some people about how there are no responsible adults in my life.”

“Oh that sounds like sooo much fun.”

“I know right? You want to come with me?”

“As much as I would love that, JJ said he was going to take me out so I could practice driving the boat.” I had my license but I was not the best driver on land and I had barely ever driven in the water. 

“Oooh you and JJ alone on a boat?” John B asked, stretching out his words and wiggling an eyebrow at me. He loved to tease me about the very obvious crush that I had on JJ every chance he got. At his teasing I took the half empty beer he had brought out with him much to his protest. 

“No, number one, you and I both know that I will never be brave enough to make a move, number two, no Pogue on Pogue macking and number three I think that Pope said he was coming with us.” I rambled about the many reasons why what John B was suggesting would never happen before I downed the rest of the beer and handed back the empty bottle.

“Wow, thanks, I wanted to drink that.” He commented on the bottle in the grass beside us, I shrugged my shoulders as if to tell him he should have expected it after his teasing. “Also if I were you I’d go confirm that JJ still knew this was happening because he’s inside with a girl right now and they looked like they might be awhile.” 

“Seriously?” I groaned trying to cover up my jealousy with annoyance. I knew that I had no right to be jealous, JJ didn’t belong to me and I was far too scared to ever confess how I really felt, not that I could even figure out how I really felt. But it still hurt to see him with different girls all the time. “I guess I’ll go investigate.”

I quickly stood from the hammock before thinking, but it was too late. As I turned around and watched the hammock flip and John B tumble off onto the grass below. 

“Thanks for the heads up.” He grumbled as I helped him to his feet. 

“Sorry. I forgot how terrible you are at sitting in a hammock.” I said trying to cover the smile on my face.

“Yeah laugh it up, your friend just got attacked by a hammock, real funny.” He replied pretending to be upset as he dusted the dirt off of himself. 

“I mean it is kind of funny.” I called over my shoulder as I made my way back towards The Château to find out who was around. “I’ll see you later John B.”

I stepped onto the porch only to find Pope stretched out on the couch fast asleep. ‘I suppose he won’t be joining us.’ I thought as I walked past him into the house. 

In the main room Kie laid on the pull out couch blowing clouds of vapor above her. I sent her a soft smile which she returned before I turned the corner towards the bedrooms in the Château. 

Only one of the room's doors was closed so I figured that was where JJ was. I raised my hand to knock on the door but the sound of a shrill giggle stopped me. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know what was going on so my hand retracted back from the door and I walked back towards where Kie was. 

I laid down beside her with a sigh. Kie shifted closer to me as we both just hung out. 

“I’m pretty sure it’s some Touron who’ll be gone by the end of the week.” Kie finally spoke up, I raised my head to send her a questioning look. “The girl in there.” She added pointing to the room JJ was in. 

“Oh.” I nodded laying back down. I stared back up at the ceiling, contemplating whether I wanted more details about this girl. “Was she pretty?”

“I didn’t get a good look.” She responded. 

“Huh.” I responded, unsure if she was telling the truth or just trying to make me feel better. “Are you working today?” I asked, wanting to change the subject before I thought about JJ anymore. 

“Um, yeah. I have to leave soon.” Kie responded, glancing at the time on her phone. “Did you want to come with me, I might be able to sneak out fries for you.”

“No, I better stay here. I think my Mom has a few things she wants me to do before the storm tonight.” I responded, I also still half hoped that JJ would want to hang out. 

“Okay, well I’m sure that I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said, smiling as she stood to gather her stuff. 

“Yeah, tomorrow morning we’ll all go out and check out the damage.” I responded, standing up as well.

“Love you.” She cooed, pulling me into a hug. 

“Love you too.” I responded, before we both let go of each other. She then grabbed her backpack and headed for the door. “Stay safe!” I called after her as she walked towards her car. 

After Kie had left I had made my way to the dock, which is where I was now sitting watching the stormy clouds that were forming out in the open water. 

“Hey.” Pope spoke softly, alerting me to his presence, before he sat down next to me. 

“Hey, I figured you were going to sleep all day.” I teased, sparing a glance at him. 

“Yeah, I guess I was more tired than I thought.” He responded with a smile. “It looks like it’s gonna be bad.” He added, referring to the dark clouds that were beginning to move closer. 

“Yeah I just hope it isn’t too loud, last year Emmy had nightmares all summer from the thunder.” I said, remembering how bad my little sister’s nightmares had gotten. 

“Well there aren't any thunderstorms in Agatha’s path so there shouldn’t be much thunder this time.” He informed me. 

“You are too smart for me, Pope.” I said with a smile.

“Speaking of smart things, we should bring in the boat before it ends up in a tree somewhere down the road.” He said, I looked over at the boat which had sat in the water by the dock all day, waiting for us. I was more than a little bitter over the fact that JJ had stood me up. “Iz?” Pope asked, pulling me from my thoughts. 

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, yeah let’s bring in the boat.” I finally responded before standing up to help Pope.

We were able to bring in the boat before Pope had to head home to help out his Dad and I walked back to my house to help my Mom before the storm hit. 

🔅🔆🔅

The next morning I woke up to the sound of someone clattering around in the kitchen. After getting dressed I walked out to see my Mom and Emmy at the kitchen table eating breakfast in the dark. 

“No power?” I asked as I flipped the switch knowing nothing would happen. 

“Nope.” My Mom replied as she walked past me to put her bowl in the sink. “And no water. I’m gonna pick up another tank of water from Heyward on my way home from work. Seems like the storm took out the whole island. Listen I know that you wanna hang out with your friends but I need you to take down all the storm shutters at some point.”

“Mom the day after a hurricane is a free day.” I argued, I knew better than to argue with her most of the time but I still had to try.

“I know and I’m not saying right this minute but at some point it would be nice.” She surprised me with her reply, most days I would get a lecture about talking back. 

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked checking her forehead temperature. 

“Yeah are you feeling okay Mommy?” Emmy parroted from behind us, one of her new hobbies.

“Yes, I’m feeling fine.” She said, swatting my hand away from her forehead. “I’m trying to be nice, this is your last summer before you graduate and I know you’ve been working a lot.”

“Okay…” I replied, still suspicious that this was some kind of trick. Quickly kissing her cheek, I grabbed my bag and kissed the top of Emmy’s head, jogging to the door I left the house before she could change her mind. “I’ll see you when you get home.”

I heard them both say goodbye as I closed the door behind me and made my way over to where John B and JJ were standing clearing branches off the HMS Pogue. 

“Mornin’ boys.” I greeted the pair as I helped them finish clearing off the boat. 

“Someone's in a good mood.” John B suggested as he made his way over to the side of the boat I was standing by. “You and JJ have fun?” He asked in a quieter voice. 

“Nope, he completely blew me off. I don’t even think he remembered.” I replied, biting the inside of my cheek trying to not show my disappointment. “But it’s fine, today is a free day and we are going to enjoy it.” I said putting a smile back on my face as I looked over to where JJ stood oblivious to mine and John B’s conversation. 

🔅🔆🔅

“Well, look who we have here.” JJ taunted as we pulled up to the Heyward’s dock. 

“We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory.” John B added pretending to speak into a walkie talkie. 

“I can’t. My Pop’s got me on lockdown.” Pope replied sadly. 

“Come on, man” JJ grumbled from his spot beside me. “Your dad’s a pussy. Over.” he commented speaking into his own pretend walkie talkie. I turned to look at him surprised as I hit his arm lightly. “What? He is?” JJ tried to defend. 

“Oh, I heard that, you little bastard.” Heyward scolded JJ.

“We need your son.” I said as I directed my attention to Heyward. “Island rules. Day after a hurricane’s a free day.”

“Who made that up?” Heyward demanded moving closer to the boat. 

“Uh… Pentagon, I think. We have security clearance.” I added, trying to come up with excuses. 

“Yeah, I have a card.” JJ tried to add to my story. 

“You think I’m stupid?” Heyward challenged. 

“I'll do it tomorrow. I promise. Tomorrow.” Pope told his dad, getting ready to get into the boat. 

“You think... No, no. Hell no. You doin' it right now.” Heyward told Pope as he hopped into the boat. “Bring your ass back up here.”

“I promise I'll do it tomorrow, Dad.” Pope assured his father as we started to float away.

“We’ll bring him back in one piece.” I called back to Heyward as we started to speed off towards Kie’s dock. 

🔅🔆🔅

After picking up Kie, Pope had taken over driving the boat and the rest of us were sitting around watching JJ attempt one of his many tricks that he had tried a million times but that never seemed to work the way he wanted it to. 

“You’re getting beer in my hair!” Kie reprimanded JJ. 

In an attempt to avoid the same fate as Kie I stood up from my spot beside her. But just as I got to my feet I felt the boat shift under me and jolt to the side throwing me off the edge. After a moment underwater I realized what had happened and swam back to the surface. 

“Jesus, Pope!” I heard Kie berate Pope. 

“You okay, JJ?” John B asked, I assumed he had also been sent overboard. 

“I think my heels touched the back of my head.” I heard JJ reply from the other side of the boat. 

“Kie, you okay?” John B asked, shifting his concern away from JJ.

“I’m all right.” Kie answered John B after a moment of pause. “Where’s Iz?”

“Over here.” I called from where I was treading water, a moment later I saw JJ swimming over to where I was. We made eye contact for a moment before he scanned that rest of my face with concern making sure I was good. I gave him a reassuring smile before looking back at our friends on the boat. 

“Guys... I think there's a boat down there.” Pope said looking out from the ledge of the Pogue. 

“Shut up. What?” Kie asked moving to look into the water. “No way.”

“No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's a boat down there.” Pope added confidently. “For real. “

“Holy shit, he's right. Let's go.” Kie said, getting ready to jump into the water.

We all dove down as deep as we could and sure enough a sunken boat was sitting below the surface. 

“You guys saw that?” JJ asks as we all come up for air. A chorus of agreement followed JJ’s question as we looked at each other shocked. “That’s a Grady-White. A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy. That’s a primo rig.”

“Yeah. That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge.” John B informed us after we had all climbed back into the Pogue. 

“You surfed the surge?” I asked, concern filling my thoughts.

“What the heck John B?” Kie added in the same tone. 

“That's my boy. Pogue style.” JJ congratulated him, as John B nodded confirming what he had just said. 

“Wait, wait. Do we know whose boat that is?” Pope asked curiously, wanting to know more about the wreck. 

“No, but we're about to find out.” John B replied as he went to grab the anchor of the boat. 

“Dude, it's too deep.” JJ warned as John B made his way over to the edge of the boat. 

“Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ.” John B challenged as he readjusted the anchor in his grip. 

“Well, I'm not resuscitating you. I'm just making that clear up front.”

“That's fine.”

“Diver down, fool.” Pope said while giving John B a mock salute. 

“Diver down.” We all called as JJ pushed John B off the side of the boat. We all leaned over the side of the boat anxiously waiting for John B to come back up. 

“Should we go get him?” I asked the others in a concerned voice. It felt like he had been gone for ages at this point and I couldn't spot him in the murky water. Moments after I spoke John B broke the surface tension in a fit of coughs. 

“Oh, my God. That took forever!” Kie said, relieved as we all allowed John B some space to climb onto the Pogue. 

“I found this motel key.” John B supplied holding up the key while he got into the boat. 

“Great! We salvaged a motel key.” JJ spoke sarcastically as I inspected the key that John B had found. 

“Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard.” Kie suggested “Maybe we'll get a finder's fee.”

“Yeah, and not work all summer.” JJ added, hopefully as we speed off toward town. “Thanks, Agatha, ya batch.”

🔅🔆🔅

After an unsuccessful talk with the coast guard, as in we were completely ignored because they had no interest in what a group of teenagers had to say, we decided to head straight to the source and check out the motel. 

The boat slowed down as we got closer to the motel and began to take in the scene before us. It was a disaster, mattresses thrown on the lawn, windows broken, and trees that had been uprooted or close to it. I had to wonder how much of this damage was caused by the hurricane and how much was caused by a neglectful owner. 

“I thought the Château looked bad.” JJ commented from the front of the boat. 

“This place is a shitshow.” John B added. 

“Doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady-White stays.” I said, confused as to why someone with such a nice boat would be staying somewhere so rundown.

“No. Looks like a place someone with a Grady-White would get killed.” Pope suggested.

“All right. Here we go.” JJ started jumping out of the boat ready to tie us to the shore. “This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' in for landing.”

“We good?” John B asked, standing beside me. 

“Yeah, we good.” JJ confirmed. 

“All right. Here goes nothin'.” I stated, while I tried to take the key from Pope’s hand, who had elected to stay on the boat with Kie as lookouts. 

“Hey.” Pope said seriously, while he held the key just out of reach.

“Yeah?”

“Don't let them do anything stupid.”

“Yeah, I’ll try.” I gave Pope a reassuring smile as he passed me the key, still holding a look of uncertainty on his face.

“Uh, be careful.” I heard Kie tell John B from behind me. “I mean it.”

JJ offered me his hand as I jumped out of the boat but I just ignored it, still a little mad that he had forgotten about me the day before. I made eye contact with him for a moment and saw a look of confusion grace his features before disappearing. I began walking away from the boat as JJ waited a moment for John B to finish talking to Kie. I listened to them talking behind me.

“Just be so careful, John.” I heard JJ tease as I started making my way across the front lawn of the hotel. 

“God, you're so weird.” John B replied.

“What was that about?”

“I don't know. Maybe she wants us to be careful?”

“Ever since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's just been, like, <Oh! Be so careful, John B.>” JJ mimicked what Kie had told John B earlier as we started to climb the stairs to the second floor. “<Oh, just give me that John D already.> Just ask Iz she sees it too, right Iz?” JJ asked me. 

I paused for a moment when I reached the top of the stairs, turning around to meet JJ’s eyes

“Are you done?” I asked in a sour tone. 

“What?” He responded with confusion evident in his voice and the smile falling from his face. I rolled my eyes before turning around and beginning to count room numbers. “Why are you so mad at only me? What’d I do?”

“Dude.” I heard John B start saying. “You completely blew her off yesterday.”

I was curious what else they said to each other but their voices became muffled as I walked too far ahead. Stopping at the end of the hall in front of room twenty-nine. I turned to find the boys jogging towards me, John B gave me a small smile and JJ had a look that almost resembled remorse on his face. 

“This is it?” John B asked as JJ took the key that I was holding up in front of me. 

“Housekeeping.” JJ called out in a shrill voice knocking a few times on the door. 

“Should we try it?” John B asked, pointing to the key in JJ’s hand.

“No power. No security cameras. No one's gonna know.” JJ reasoned as he pushed the key into the lock. It felt like we could still get in trouble if we were caught but before I could voice my concerns JJ was already half way into the room.

“Huh.” I muttered, as the two of us followed JJ in. It was dark and smelled of mildew, definitely not the kind of place someone would stay if they had the funds to buy a Grady-White. 

“Check the bag. See if there's a name on there somewhere.” John B instructed JJ as I moved past the pair to open the blinds at the side of the room.  

“A jacket.”

“No name on the jacket?”

“No. It's a nice jacket, though.”

“Definitely over 50. He's got New Balances.”

I listened to their conversation as I walked across the small room into the bathroom. As I moved through the bathroom and rustled through the medicine cabinet, I heard the beeping of a safe in the other room. 

“Uh… JJ? Iz? You’re gonna want to see this” I heard John B call from the other room. 

Entering the room I looked at John B first who was looking over to where JJ stood with wide eyes. Following John B’s line of sight my own eyes widened as I realized what JJ was holding.

“Is that a gun?” I asked as if it could be anything else. 

“Put the gun back, JJ!” John B tried to reason with him. 

“This is a fucking spendy gatt, man. Just…” JJ said, eyes wide like a kid in a candy store. “Bam! Bam!” He mimicked the sound of a gun as he pointed it around the room.

“JJ, we’re not stealing anything.” John B told him for the hundredth time. 

“Just take a pic of me. Right here.” JJ pleaded with John B, but my attention had shifted to the sound of a rock landing on the window sill. 

I pushed past the boys as they continued arguing with each other, and looked out the window.

“Cops. Cops!” I could see Kie and Pope whisper yell while they pointed in the direction of the door. Turning around quickly I waved at the boys to get their attention. 

“Guys, the cops are here.” I told them in a hushed tone. John B moved towards the door to see if he could hear anything. “How are we gonna get out?” I asked them, feeling panic start to rise through my chest. 

“Out the window?” John B suggested as he pushed open the small window as far as it would go. 

With John B out first and standing to the right of the window, I followed quickly behind him moving to the left so that JJ could get out. In an attempt to keep us from being seen JJ pressed me against the wall of the motel, which meant that I was now pinned between him and the wall. My chest rose and fell unevenly as I squeezed my eyes shut hoping the cops couldn’t see us. As we we’re standing on the ledge I felt JJ’s hand grab on to mine and give it a reassuring squeeze. 

“Listen Sweetheart, I’m sorry I ditched you yesterday. I didn’t mean to forget.” JJ whispered to me, his head was right next to my ear and I could feel his breath fan out against my skin as he spoke. 

“As much as I appreciate your apology, I really don’t think this is the time JJ.” I whispered back terrified of every word that left my tongue. 

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right, sorry.” JJ replied, shifting his weight slightly. 

“Guys! Shut. Up.” John B whisper yelled from where he stood on the ledge. 

As we both turned to look at John B I felt cold metal touch my free hand, startling me I pulled my hand back swiftly and as I did I heard a clattering as something fell from the ledge. 

“JJ, tell me that wasn’t what I think it was?” I demanded as quietly as I could. 

“Well you tell me what you think it was and then I’ll tell you it wasn’t.” He said and I could hear the smirk in his voice, shocking me that he could still be joking when we were about to be caught at any moment, I rolled my eyes at him. 

🔅🔆🔅

After our narrow escape from the motel, myself and the Pogues were headed towards town, discussing what we were going to do next. 

“The cops took everything like it was a crime scene.” John B stated still sounding shocked at what he had seen back at the motel. 

“Did you guys find anything?” Pope asked us curiously. My gaze shifted to JJ as I already knew what he had taken. 

“Did we find anything? No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah, we did.” JJ responded smiling as he held up the gun, and to my surprise a wad of cash. I let my head fall into my hands wondering how JJ could be so dumb.

“What the hell?” Pope asked standing, panic written all over his features. 

“Dude, chill.” JJ started walking over to where Pope stood. “Better than cops having it.”

“I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh, sh, sh.” JJ said, grabbing Pope by the shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. “At least you have us, right?”

“I'm living the nightmare.”

🔅🔆🔅

After a trip to the marina and witnessing Scooter Grubbs get taken away by a coroner, we were back at the Château trying to figure out what to do next. 

“Okay. So, um... we didn't see anything.” Pope spoke up as he paced in front of us all. “We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia.”

“Actually, Pope's right for once.” JJ stated, looking at us all. “See, I agree with you sometimes.” He assured Pope. “Deny, deny, deny.”

“Guys, we can't keep that money.” Kie piped into the conversation. “We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma.”

“Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too.” I added referring to the gun JJ was still in possession of. 

“We gotta go dark.” Pope suggested. 

“None of it makes sense.” John B finally said, breaking his silence. “This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden, he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'.”

“So how does a marina rat get a Grady-White?” I asked, thinking out loud. 

“Prostitution.” Pope suggested making me laugh under my breath. 

“Okay...” John B stated, trying to move past Pope's comment. “Or maybe they're trying to fly under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?”

“They were straight smugglin'.” JJ finished John B’s thought. 

“Smugglin'.” John B confirmed. “And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck.”

“For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it…” Pope said and I could tell he was thinking about all the terrible outcomes. “...it probably belongs to someone else.”

“Minor details.”

“They could come looking for it.” Pope warned. “Taking it would be catastrophically stupid.”

“Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time.” JJ reasoned holding up the money that he had now decided belonged to us. “All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck.”

“Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal.” John B added. 

“Right. And how exactly do we do that?” I asked. I still felt like Pope was making a lot of good points that the others were not listening to. 

“Kegger?” Kie suggested looking at the rest of us for confirmation. 

🔅🔆🔅

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

Later in the day after the sun had set, the kegger was coming to life, basically the entirety of the island's teen population was in attendance and the beach was getting pretty crowded. Earlier on I had been hanging around with JJ, all had been forgiven between us and we were back to cracking jokes. 

Up until JJ spotted a girl he wanted to flirt with and I was left alone. Since then I had started chatting with a couple of Tourons who had taken one surfing lesson earlier in the week and now thought they knew everything about the sport. Desperate to make my escape I searched through the crowd for my friends. Just as I was about to make up an excuse I heard shouting from the water. 

“Sorry, I have to go.” I told the pair lamely. “I think that’s my friends calling me.”

“Okay. Bye.” They replied as I walked away. 

Much to my horror, once I had reached the shore it turned out to actually be my friends shouting, and the shouting had turned into a full out fight. I recognized John B in the water but the Kook he was fighting had their back facing me. I pushed my way through the crowd once I spotted Kie and made my way to stand beside her. 

“What the hell is going on?” I asked, looking at her face which was covered in fear. 

“Topper and John B started arguing and now they're trying to kill each other.” Kie answered, watching as the fight got worse. That’s when I noticed the Kook Princess, Sarah Cameron, trying to calm down her angry boyfriend. 

I used to know Topper when I was young. We had been friends but when I had moved to the Cut we lost touch. Now as he stood over John B I barely recognized him. He wasn’t the young boy I had once known, now he was a cruel person who thought he was better than others just because his parents had money.

“Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?” I heard Topper challenge John B.

After that comment I had had enough and I was desperately looking around the crowd trying to figure out what I could do to stop them. I felt useless as I definitely couldn’t just jump in there, I had no idea how to fight. But we had to do something before Topper killed John B. 

As my eyes scanned the crowd I noticed JJ who was already looking at me. His once bright eyes looked dark and it seemed like he knew exactly what he was about to do. I shook my head as I tried to make my way over to him, but he was already stalking towards where Topper and John B fought. I had a feeling I knew what he was about to do but I didn’t want to believe it. 

I held my breath as I heard the crowd go silent when JJ clicked the gun's safety off. 

“Yeah, you know what that is.” JJ threatened as Topper pulled away from John B. “Your move, broski.”

“Come on. Chill, dude!” Topper responded, trying to reason with him.

“Put the gun down.” Sarah cried desperately. 

“Did you say somethin', Princess?” JJ asked, not taking his eyes off of Topper. 

“We're good. We're good.” Topper tried to tell him, raising his hands in surrender. 

“Kie! Iz! Can you check your psycho friend, please?” I heard Sarah screaming behind me pulling me out of the trance I had been frozen in. I took a few steps closer to JJ but I didn’t want to get too close when he had a gun pointed at someone. I had seen him get in fights before but never like this, this was different. I really thought that he might kill Topper and that terrified me.

“JJ.” I spoke softly so as to not startle him. He turned to glance back at me but kept the gun pointed at Topper who was looking back at us. “Think about what you’re doing.” I continued speaking calmly, meanwhile I could hear Sarah practically sobbing behind me. “You have to let him go.” I said, at this JJ nodded ever so slightly before pulling the gun away from Topper. 

“Okay, everyone, listen up! Get the hell off our side of the island!” JJ yelled into the crowd of people before shooting the gun into the air. 

The second JJ moved Topper was out of sight and Sarah wasn’t far behind. While Kie and Pope began to berate JJ over his actions I ran into the water to go check on John B. 

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked John B once I reached him, holding his shoulders so he wouldn’t fall back into the water. He mumbled back something incoherent as he swayed in my grasp. “Guys! Can you help?” I asked the three Pogues who still stood arguing behind me. 

With their help we got John B out of the water and closer to the fire that had been started a while ago. We all sat silently there for sometime before John B was able to get up again and we all headed home. 

🔅🔆🔅

After a sleepless night, we were all back together at the Château, I sat next to Kie as she lazily hit a pair of bongos that sat on the table between us and Pope. JJ was further away in the yard throwing god knows what into the grass. I stood up as I saw John B make his way over to us. Meeting him halfway between the main house and where the rest of our friends were I pulled him into a bone crushing hug. 

“What was that for?” He asked, chuckling while he looked at me. 

“I’m just glad to see you’re okay. I can’t lose you, any of you guys.” I explained making myself think back to last night. 

“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” He joked trying to lighten the mood. 

“Yeah, I know.” I said the smile returning to my face. “Hey, by the way I saw the cop car driving away this morning, is everything okay?”

“Eh, it’s alright Peterkin stopped by, told me to stay out of trouble and to clean up the house.” John B explained as we made our way over to the others. “Look, I'm callin' it off. All right?” John B announced to everyone. “Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS.”

“And you believed her?” JJ questioned. 

“Yes, I believe her, JJ.” 

“An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop.” He added, trying to make his point. 

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

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

“Topper was gonna drown me?”

“Sure looked like it.”

“Alright, calm down.” I spoke up trying to get them to stop.

“Come on. They always win, don't they, man? Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win!” JJ started to raise his voice. 

“Look, it's okay!” Kie reasoned, also trying to help me calm them down. 

“No, it's not okay!” JJ argued, turning his attention to John B. “It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there, and you know it. I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go. You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk.” JJ added pointing a finger at Pope. “ And you...I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?” He asked Kie. “But us three.” He finished looking at John B and I. “We got nothin' to lose!” 

“I don't want to talk about this.” John B told JJ as he began to walk away. 

“So that's it?” JJ asked and I could tell he was losing hope in John B. 

“Just get out of my way, bro.”

“John B, listen to me. I have a plan.”

JJ telling us he had a plan? That was never a good start. 

🔅🔆🔅

We all gathered around Kie who was inspecting the tanks that John B had stolen from the Cameron's. JJ had tried to argue that we were going to return them so technically we were just borrowing them but I didn’t think the Cameron's would see it that way or the cops they would inevitably call if they found out. 

“This is empty. You took empty tanks? I…” Kie told John B sounding defeated. “Okay, this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us. Love it when a plan comes together. Does anybody know how to dive?”

“It's kind of a Kook sport.” JJ replied. 

“I... read about it.” Pope responded cautiously. 

“Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die.” Kie reasoned.

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

“If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends.” Pope told him.

“Bends like, bend over and…” JJ asked, making me roll my eyes at him. 

“The bends kill you.” Pope said seriously and JJ straightened up.

“I can do it.” I finally said standing up at the front of the boat. “I went diving a few times with my dad when I was younger.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” JJ stated, a look of worry crossing his features. 

“I’ll be fine, it’s like riding a bike, you don’t forget.” I reasoned. “Right?”

“Let me do some calculations real quick.” Pope said while he looked through his bag for a notebook. 

“Are you serious? You’re gonna do some calculations right now?” John B teased Pope with a smile on his face. 

“Hey, let the man do his calculations, alright?” JJ told John B before glancing over at me again. 

“That boat's about 30 feet down. Okay.” Pope stated, thinking out loud. “So it'll take 25 minutes at that depth.”

“Twenty-five.” I confirmed half listening to him half focusing on keeping my hands from shaking, suffice to say I was a little nervous. 

“Which means you need to make your safety stop at about... ten feet. All right? For two minutes.” 

“Okay, ten feet, two minutes.” I confirmed, attempting to remember everything he was telling me. 

Kie suddenly stood up from her spot and jumped off the side of the boat, disappearing into the dark water. 

“What was that all about?” Pope asked, distracted. 

“I don't know, but I liked it. A lot.” JJ commented. 

“Anything else I need to know?” I asked, looking at the boys who were all very clearly still thinking about what Kie had just done. 

“All right. Yeah. Uh, when you... uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold.” John B stated remembering where he was. 

“You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?” JJ told me, holding up a key and miming it in the air. 

“Yeah I think I know how a lock works JJ.” I told him sarcastically, as I took the key from his grasp. 

“Hey! I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down.” Kie said finally emerging from the water. “It's where you need to do your safety stop.”

“Okay, thanks.” I responded giving her a smile before pulling the heavy tank onto my back. I could barely pull the straps tight because of how much my hands were shaking. Seeing me struggle, JJ made his way over to me and finished strapping me in. Giving a thumbs up as he took a step back. 

“Keep an eye on this.” Pope said, pointing to the console attached to the tank before handing it to me. “You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress.”

“Okay, how much do I need?” I asked. 

“Unclear.” He answered truthfully after a brief pause. “Breathe as little as possible.”

“Zen. Think Zen, you know?” JJ commented trying to get me to relax. He took my hand in his while I looked around at everyone. 

“Yeah. Got it.” I responded, moving closer to the edge of the boat. 

“Hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so... better get a move on.” Pope said. I knew he was just trying to be helpful but it did not help me feel very Zen. 

I was about to pull down my mask from where it was sitting on top of my head when I realized JJ still had a tight grip on my hand. 

“I’m gonna need this.” I told him, holding up our interlocked hands. 

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that.” He said, awkwardly letting go of my hand and rubbing the back of his neck. “Be careful, yeah?”

“I’ll be fine.” I responded, but I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince him of myself. “Diver down?”

“Diver down.” My friends all confirmed as I pulled the mask down over my face before jumping into the water. 

🔅🔆🔅

A couple of minutes after Iz had dove off the edge of the Pogue, the rest of the group sat waiting anxiously in silence for their friend to return. Well everyone but JJ who was currently pacing back and forth across the floor of the small boat, seemingly mumbling something under his breath about how Iz would be fine. The other Pogues watched, baffled as to how he could do things like this and yet still not realize how he truly felt about the girl who had just dove into the water. 

JJ and the rest of the Pogues were pulled out of their thoughts by the sound of sirens and the flashing lights of a police boat. 

“Shit.” Kie said, alerting everyone that the cops were pulling up next to them. 

“Guys, that's the police.” Pope said, the panic in his voice rising with each word. 

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” John B said standing up. 

“Yep, that's the police. Just act frickin' normal.” JJ confirmed what they were all seeing, meanwhile acting the least natural the Pogues had ever seen him. JJ never panicked. “Evening, officers.”

“How you kids doing?” Deputy Shoupe asked the group, passing a rope over to connect the boats. “You know the marsh is closed?”

“No. No. Wow. I didn't know that. Why... Why is it closed?” Pope asked, trying to look calm.

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

“No. No boats. No.” John B responded. 

“Where's your other friend you always hang out with? Who’s that, Bailer’s kid, uh, Isabella? She here?” Shoupe asked.

“She's working.” Kie lied. 

“Hm.” Shoupe hummed, not entirely convinced. “I'm gonna check your little boat out.”

“Yeah, hop aboard.” John B said, waving a hand. “You wanna check... uh, check her out.”

Meanwhile below the surface Iz had found what she was looking for and began unlocking the hold. 

After Shoupe had inspected their life jackets, he made his way to the front of the boat, putting his sunglasses on and looking out onto the water. From the back of the boat JJ also scanned the water, he thought that he saw something move beneath the surface and prayed that Shoupe hadn’t seen the same thing. 

🔅🔆🔅

After getting into the hold I found a small bag and took it with me as I swam towards the anchor of the boat so I could make my safety stop before heading back up. 

From my spot ten feet below the surface I looked up, noticing the shadow of a new boat and someone looking into the water. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment as if that would help me keep from getting caught before opening them and looking at the console in my left hand. There was less than thirty seconds of air left and I was panicking even more than before. 

Just in time the figure left and moments later the second boat disappeared. With my last breath of air I swam to the surface pulling off my mask as I took a huge breath of fresh air. 

“There she is!” JJ pointed at me letting out a sigh of relief. “Don’t scare us like that!”

“How'd it go down there?” John B asked as I made my way to the ladder on the back of the boat. 

“Did you find anything?” Pope asked, pulling me up.

“Did I find anything?” I answered the question by holding up the small duffle bag that I had found in the hold. 

“Yeah, there we go! That's my girl!” JJ hollered scooping me up into a hug as John B took the bag from me. 

“Jeez.” I laughed as JJ let go of me again and Kie made her way to my side. 

“You okay?” She asked, a look of concern painting over her usual happy expression. 

“Yeah, I ran out of air.” I said trying not to worry her but realizing my words did the opposite of that. 

“You scared the shit out of me.” JJ said, snaking an arm around my waist. I knew he just thought of me as a friend but his actions still gave me butterflies, it was nice to know he cared. 

“Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh... we took care of 'em.” Pope informed me. 

“Hey, guys? Guys, bogey, two o'clock.” Kie said, pulling us from our previous conversation. 

“Do you recognize that boat?” Pope asked.

“I've never seen it.”

“What are they doing here? The marsh is closed.” John B asked and I couldn’t help but smile at the irony of his words, after all we knew better than to be there and yet here we were. 

“Let's not stick around and find out.” JJ stated, moving to the front of the boat. 

“Should we wait on 'em?” Pope asked. 

“Are you joking?” I asked, helping start the boat up. “JJ, hurry up.”

“Guys, don't wait for me. Go.” JJ told us as he pulled the anchor up as fast as he could. 

“Go right.” I suggested to John B who was standing behind the wheel, thinking if we went further into the marsh they might not follow us. 

“Let's go!” Kie rushed as the boat turned behind us. “Hey, guys, they're following us.”

“This can't be good.” I said as JJ moved to stand beside me.

“Dude, you gotta go faster!” JJ urged John B as the boat began to gain on us. 

“I'm going!” He said while trying to maneuver the marsh that was filled with thick weeds. 

Looking back I noticed that one of the men had leant down and was now standing back up holding something I could quite make out.

“Uh, guys what is that?” I asked as everyone but John B looked back. 

“What the…” Pope started but the rest of his question died out at the sound of a gunshot. 

As everyone one dropped down to the floor of the boat I felt as if I had been pushed, there was a heavy weight on my chest.

“Holy shit!” I heard Kie mutter as I opened my eyes realizing that JJ was on top of me. This was now the second time in the past two days that I had been pinned between JJ and another surface. Had it been under different circumstances I might have been able to enjoy it. 

“John B, get down!” I heard JJ yell as I felt the vibrations of his voice echo through my own chest. 

“We're gonna die!” I heard Pope say hopelessly from beside me.

“Shit! Pope, move.” Kie muttered, I couldn’t see much but I thought I saw Kie walking to the back of the boat carrying something. 

“Get down, Kie!” John B yelled as the man in the other boat continued to shoot at us. 

Then the shooting stopped as the sound of the other boat died out. 

“Oh my god.” Pope sighed, sounding very relieved as everyone started to get back up except for JJ.

“JJ?” I asked, looking up at him. His face turned towards me, inches away from mine as he hovered over me.

“Yeah?” He asked, sounding completely oblivious.

“You gonna let me get up?” I asked, smiling.

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that Sweetheart.” He said standing before he offered me his hand. A look flashed across his face that I couldn’t quite recognize, if I didn’t know better I would think it was disappointment?

🔅🔆🔅

After arriving back at the Château we all gathered on the dock. To take a look at what I had found in the hold of the Grady-White. 

“What do you think it is?” Kie asked us. 

“Gotta be money, right?” John B responded with another question. 

“That or a couple of keys with street value from the low-to-mid-mils!” JJ added. 

“Can we please just open the bag?” Pope let out looking impatient. 

“Wow, Pope. That's a rare outburst of emotion.” John B teased as he stretched out the wait even longer. 

“Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation.” I said in the same boat as Pope, urging them to hurry up. 

“Alright Sweetheart, calm down.” JJ said from beside me putting a hand on my arm to calm me down. 

“We almost died over this.” Pope added to our argument to open the bag faster. 

John B opened the bag pulling out a metal canister. After opening that too he let the contents spill out onto his hand. Disappointment rose up as we looked to see that all it was was an old compass. While taking a second look I thought that I recognized it from somewhere but wasn’t sure. 

“Oh, wow. Yup. That's about right.” Pope stated, standing from his crouched position. “Good job, everybody. We found a compass.”

“Dude, what? It's not worth anything.” JJ told John B who was staring at the compass in awe. 

“This was my father's.” Were the only words that left John B’s lips. 

🔅🔆🔅

After the disappointment of not finding much of anything after we all risked our lives we all headed home. Entering my house the sun was setting outside and it seemed empty. But my Mom’s car was parked just off the road and I could hear faint talking coming from the back of the house. I walked through the living room and kitchen, past the stairs that led to the loft which was my Mom’s room. Past my own room and the bathroom before coming to a stop in front of my little sister’s door. Leaning against the door frame, I saw my Mom reading Emmy a book by candle light, I assumed that the power was still out. 

Walking back to the main room I started to make myself a sandwich, realizing that I hadn’t eaten much of anything all day. Just as I was about to take the first bite. I heard Emmy’s door close and my Mom entered the room, holding a candle in her hand. 

“Hey, Honey.” She greeted me as she set down the candle. “How was your day?”

“Good.” I responded in between bites of the sandwich I had made. “Pretty uneventful.”

“Really?” She asked, almost surprised. “I saw Shoupe on my way out of town and he said that he saw your friends out on the marsh when they were doing their search for Scooter’s boat. He also said that you weren't there. Your friends told him something about you working, but I didn’t know you were working at all for a few days.”

“Oh really?” I said trying to figure out how to cover the real story up. “Um, Mr. Cameron came down and asked if I could pick up another shift. I guess his kids have been spending a lot of time inside since the storm so it was a bit of a mess over there.”

“He drove all the way down here?”

“Yeah well since the phone lines are down he couldn’t call.” 

“Huh, it seems strange he would come all the way down when he could just wait a couple more days for us to come over.”

“Yeah well it was really bad. I would have taken pictures if my phone wasn’t dead.”

“Oh no I don’t need pictures, I’ve met those kids and cleaned that house, I believe that they could make a terrible mess.” She said seemingly believing everything I was telling her, she paused for a moment before asking another question. “You don’t know why your friends were in the marsh do you?”

“Well” I started, thinking about what I could say that would get us all off the hook. “They were actually waiting to pick me up. Yeah. Cause I went up to Figure Eight with Mr. Cameron but I didn’t want to make him drive me all the way home. So they hung out in the marsh I guess while they waited.”

“How’d you call them?” Mom asked, picking apart my story. 

“Walkie Talkies.” I blurted out. “You know the ones that Heyward got Pope and I a few years ago? And that must have been why they were in the marsh even though it was closed. You know cause the walkie talkies only work for a certain radius, and the Cameron house is probably too far from here.”

“Yeah I guess so.” She said moving towards me to grab my now empty plate. 

“Thanks.” I said, as she put my plate in the sink. “I think I’m gonna head back over to John B’s if that's okay.”

“Of course just don’t forget to sleep at some point. You do still require sleep.” She told me. 

“I know, I’ll see you later.”

“Love you!” I heard her call after me as I closed the door and made the short walk over to John B’s where I saw him and JJ lounging on the porch. 

🔅🔆🔅

[authenticcadence18]

Prompt 7 with Phinabella 😋

7. “Person A being lovingly annoying so Person B pays attention to them.”

20 Displays of Affection Prompts

...

“Hey, Phineas!”

Phineas heard the gate creak behind him and couldn’t suppress the small grin that appeared on his face.

“Whatcha doin?”

He resisted the urge to look up from the desk he’d set up under the tree.

(Sure, it was a little chilly out, but he found he worked best outside...and he’d missed working in the backyard during the semester).

“Hey, Isabella!” he called out. “Just some homework.”

“Homework?” Isabella sounded perplexed. “It’s winter break, what kind of homework do you even have?”

Phineas heard her step a bit closer.

“Oh yikes...that looks pretty complicated…”

Phineas grimaced. Complicated was right.

“Hey, are you alright?” Isabella asked gently. “Do you want to talk it out with me? Maybe that would help.”

That offer was tempting...but Phineas didn’t want to drag Isabella into this.

“Hold on just a sec, Isabella. I’m fine.”

It wasn’t as if he WANTED to devote all his attention to the assignment in front of him instead of his girlfriend.

He’d practically had to wrestle with the Pavlovian instinct to whirl around and launch into a full spiel about the intricacies of engineering as soon as Isabella asked about it (...since he’d been doing that for practically his entire life).

But he had to focus. Not get distracted. Because the equations he was pondering would eventually evolve into a project worth 35% of his grade next semester and it had to be PERFECT, and he was finally getting into the groove of focusing.

...ok, perhaps he wasn’t quite “in a groove” just yet. To be honest, he was beginning to get frustrated with it all. The equations weren’t quite adding up, and he’d been sitting here for nearly an hour writing out idea after idea, but nothing felt right…. If Ferb had been home, Phineas would’ve asked him for help, but he wouldn’t be arriving back from England for a few more days.

“Phineas.”

Isabella’s tone was less gentle now, more authoritative.

“I’m sorry, Isabella, I really have to focus on this, just give me a minute. You don’t want to have to hear about it.”

“Hey, Phineas.”

Isabella’s voice got even closer. And then she was standing right behind him and leaning against his chair.

Phineas took a deep breath and squinted at the papers in front of him. He was determined to remain on task...no matter how adorably persistent his girlfriend was.

“Phineas, I need to tell you something.”

Now Isabella was playing with his hair, methodically weaving it into miniature braids and gently curling it around her fingers.

Gooseflesh rose up and down Phineas’s arms.

…at this rate, he’d never be able to remain on task ever again.

“Can it wait?” he managed to ask. “I want to be able to give you my full attention but I REALLY need to focus on this.”

“It’s importaaaant…..” Isabella sang. She leaned forward, draping her arms around his neck (today she had on a sweater...it was soft) and snugly resting her head atop his. “It can’t wait.”

“...are you SURE?”

Isabella hugged him a little tighter.

“VERY sure.”

The certainty in Isabella’s tone and warmth of her arms around him reminded Phineas why he was working on this assignment in the first place. He’d chosen to go to college to attain an engineering degree, sure...but he’d chosen to go to Tri State State to spend time with her.

….perhaps the assignment could wait a bit.

Phineas smiled and turned his head around, finally gaining sight of Isabella.

“Alright, alright. You win!” he chuckled. “What is it, Isabella?”

Isabella gazed down at him for a moment with a gentle smile before kissing his cheek and brightly exclaiming, “I love you!”

Phineas’s heart leapt, a lopsided grin unfurling across his face.

(Though he and Isabella had been dating for practically half a year, he still got butterflies in his stomach every time she professed her love to him.)

Her next words, however, sent him back to reality.

“Alright, I’ll leave you alone now so you can focus!” Isabella patted his shoulder before leaning back and heading away. “You can text me whenever you’d like to hang out.”

Phineas blinked as Isabella walked away.

After all that, she was just going to leave??

“Hey, wait a minute!” Phineas stood and turned around, just before Isabella could open the gate. “You can’t just leave!”

“Huh?” Isabella faced him, head tilted inquisitively. “But...I thought you needed to focus. You don’t actually have to tell me about your assignment, I was just trying to get your attention for a sec because it looked like you needed cheering up, that’s all. We can talk about it later.”

“I’ve focused on my assignment long enough,” Phineas replied with a smile, crossing the yard and coming to a stop at her side. “I’d rather focus on something else now.”

He took her hand in his.

“Oh?” Isabella raised an eyebrow at him and giggled. “And what might that be?”

Phineas leaned a bit closer and gingerly tilted her chin up with his free hand. “You.”

Isabella gasped when Phineas’s lips found hers (which was understandable, considering she’d spent the majority of her life--save for the past handful of months, of course--thinking he might never return her feelings at all). But the shock quickly melted away, as it always did, and gave way to joy, bright and exuberant and free, as she wrapped her arms around his middle and kissed him back.

If only the Isabella who used to enter this backyard everyday with the hopes of gaining an oblivious Phineas’s affections could see them now…

When Phineas pulled away, he smiled at her and whispered, “....thanks for giving me something else to focus on…”

Isabella couldn’t help but sigh dreamily at that. “...anytime, Phineas.”

She glanced over his shoulder and the assignment still sprawled out on his desk. “Do you want to talk through your assignment with me now? I really think that would help you.”

“Are you sure you want to hear about it?” Phineas asked hesitantly. “It’s pretty complicated stuff...sort of dense.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You shouldn’t have to spend your winter break listening to me ramble about equations.”

“Phineas, I just like spending time with you!” Isabella assured him. “If that means talking about equations, I’m all for it!!!”

She chuckled and squeezed his hand. “And, besides, I’m not exactly a novice at math. Let me help you.”

“Alriiiight.” Phineas drew her close and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “But if you get bored, you have to let me know so I can kiss you again.”

Isabella giggled. “Will do.”

....

Thanks for reading! And thank you sO MUCH FOR THE REQUEST, @simplynewyorkbound, I had SO MUCH FUN WRITING THIS!!!!! They are in love and love supporting each other 🥺🥰

[tangledstarlight]

so apparently carrie just speaks to me on a level i never saw coming and i got this done waaay quicker then expected. on the plus side to that, this one is like. not as sad as the previous two i swear. also btw. do i think bobby killed his band mates? no probably not. is it funny? yes, yes it is. do i still think he’s lowkey a dick? 100%. but he’s also a good dad.

but anyhoo! carrie doesn't need a redemption arc because she hasn't actually done anything that needs redeeming? she's just made some catty comments. carrie is a good person she just makes some shitty choices and is a typical teenage girl. name one teenage girl who wasn't a bit of a bitch at some point? bet you can't.

ANYWAY!! it’s another 5+1 that’s carrie centric.

also on ao3 (link in comments)

trigger warnings! death mentions (because they’re ghosts), mild swearing.

one.

When Carrie and Julie and Flynn are eight years old they watched The Lizzie Mcguire movie together on the big tv in Carrie’s living room.

They jumped around on the sofa, each taking a corner and hoarding their favourite snacks, making deals when someone wanted a twizzler in exchange for a handful of m&m’s. 

They sing along to the songs, making up the words when they don’t know them and strutting around during the fashion show. 

They gasp out loud when Paolo is revealed to be a liar and cheer when Isabella sings. 

Her mom comes down halfway through the movie, in a too tight dress and heels that make no sense for wearing inside, pauses behind the sofa to watch for a few moments before moving on, into the kitchen and then back upstairs. She doesn’t offer to get them snacks or drinks, to ask who their favourite characters are or if they like the songs. 

Carrie doesn’t dwell on any of that though, because she’s with her two best friends and it’s a Friday night so they have a whole weekend together and her dad had promised to take them with him to the studio tomorrow and Carrie couldn’t be happier. 

That is until they get to the end of the film and she turns to look at her friends, face as serious as an eight year old can be when she realises what could make the whole weekend even better.

“I want bangs like Lizzie!” She declares, standing up on the sofa and jumping once before falling down to her knees, the cushions not giving enough of a bounce. The two of them share a look, identical wide smiles growing on their faces, they’re eight years old and cutting your own hair is the best idea you can have after all. 

“I’ll get the scissors!” Flynn is up and off the sofa, socked feet padding across the floor as she rushes to the kitchen. They’re not allowed to touch the knives or the pans, but the cutlery drawer is open to all. 

Carrie sits herself on the living room table, legs just skimming the soft rug underneath it as Julie tilts her head in thought at her, brushing her blonde hair in front of her face and then away. Carrie can’t help but giggle as it tickles her nose and Julie sticks her tongue out in concentration but she’s smiling too. 

“I think we just...y’know cut it across here, right?” Julie’s holding a section of her hair between her fingers and makes a snipping motion near her forehead. Carrie has never cut hair before, she’s never even really paid much attention when other people have been cutting hair, but that sounds right to her. 

She shrugs, squinting at her two friends through the blonde strands. 

“Sounds right to me.” 

Flynn nods, holding the scissors out to Julie who shakes her head and then Flynn is scooting next to her on the sofa so they’re both leaning in close. 

“You sure about this?” She asks, scissor blades opening around her hair and hesitating, just in case. 

“Do it!” And Carrie squeezes her eyes shut in excitement. Already anticipating just how cool her new bangs are going to look. 

“What the hell are you doing!?” A loud voice has Carrie’s eyes snapping open and staring wide up at her mom who is half way down the stairs and glaring at the three of them. Flynn has dropped the scissors on the rug and Julie’s hands are shaking as she drops her hair. They’d only managed to cut half of it and Carrie notices that it’s much too short. 

“I-” she starts, but her mom cuts her off by storming down the rest of the stairs, heels clicking with every step and standing in front of the three of them, arms crossed and glaring. “I just wanted bangs,” she finishes quietly, eyes down cast and biting her lip. 

She hears her mom scoff above her, suddenly seeming so much taller then the three of them sitting down, so Carrie stands up too, pushing herself off the table and trying to make herself feel bigger. Her mom just glares harder, head shaking. 

“You’ve ruined your hair. Do you have any idea how long it will take to fix? Ugh, Carrie.” She sounds like she wants to say something else, like she’s restraining herself from certain words. But she just shakes her head again, sparing a glare for both Flynn and Julie before turning around and shouting up the stairs. “Trevor! Get down here!”

They wait in silence, Julie and Flynn fidgeting on the sofa while Carrie discreetly tries to wipe away tears she hadn’t realised were falling. Her dad comes down the stairs, black jeans and some fancy loose shirt that hangs open and pause when he reaches the bottom. Takes in her mom glaring and Flynn and Julie sitting quietly and her badly cut hair. Her dad smiles wide and lets out a loud laugh that startles them all. 

Her mom turns her glare on him and Carrie feels herself letting out a breath, not sure what she had been scared about but knowing she had been scared. While she's not thinking about that, her mom and dad have started arguing. They do that a lot. Carrie sits down between Flynn and Julie on the sofa when they make room for her, Flynn resting her head on her shoulder while Julie takes her hand, interlocking their fingers. 

“Sorry I cut it too short,” Flynn whispers as the shouting gets louder, none of them paying any attention to what's being said. 

“Not your fault,” she replies with a shrug, raising Flynn’s head as she does so and making the girl laugh. 

“Oh whatever! You deal with her then!” Her mom shouts, and Carrie flinches, just a little at the way she says ‘her’. She doesn’t mean to make her mom mad, but it’s like all she seems to do these days. From the corner of her eye she can see Julie frowning, looking over their shoulders and deep furrow appearing on her brow. The way she looks whenever she’s thinking about telling someone off. 

They don’t get to see what Julie might do, because there’s feet stomping up the stairs and then her dad is sitting on the living room table in front of them and he’s smiling again. Even if it’s not as big as before, Carrie still smiles back. 

“Don’t think hairdressing is in your future Flynn,” he says and Flynn laughs and it’s like the strange tension that had formed around them is broken. 

“Sorry I cut my hair dad,” she says quietly, because she feels like she needs to. But her dad just shrugs, leans forward and brushes the still too long strands out of her face and shakes his head at the much too shorter ones, but he’s smiling. 

“It’s just hair kiddo, it’ll grow back. And I’m sure between the four of us we can make this more rockin’, huh? Used to help a friend cut his hair way back when, y'know,” he gets a slightly far away look on his face when he says that but it’s gone in a blink and Carrie thinks maybe she just imagined it. 

He helps them cut the rest of her bangs, feathering out the edges and making it look not so bad anymore, then he sits with them, sharing their snacks and singing along while they watch The Cheetah Girls. 

And he must drape blankets over them after they fall asleep, Carrie thinks, because when she wakes up in the morning they’re curled together in one corner of the sofa, warm and safe.

 two.

Carrie didn’t think she was a bad person. She just sometimes did a bad thing. But she did it for a good reason. At least she thought it was a good reason, it was the only plan she could come up with at least. It wasn’t like she had hurt anyone. Other than her dad's annoying PR managers head. But Carrie had never liked her anyway, they were always too smiley - in that fake, overly friendly way, not like Julie or Julie’s mom who smiled a lot and never in that way that didn’t reach their eyes. 

Carrie didn’t like fake people. People who made promises that they didn’t keep. People who made plans only to forget about them. 

Her mom had been full of both. Empty promises and forgotten plans. Always saying one thing and then doing the opposite. Always smiling at her with that half smile that never reached her eyes or seemed like it was really meant for her. 

She didn’t know if it was her fault or her dads, because she did it to both of them. Made her fake promises and half smiles. 

And then she left. 

She left before Carrie even got home from school. Mrs Molina had dropped her off at the front door like she did every Wednesday afternoon and Carrie had been excited all day, she remembers, talking none stop on the car ride over, because her mom had promised to take her to the beach. 

But the house is empty when they get inside, Carrie calling out and getting no answer and Julie’s mom is looking at a post-it note (she'll remember that very clearly later on, when she's older, that her mom had left a post-it note with a single sentence. Not even a letter) on the kitchen counter, her face going pale in a way Carrie has never seen before. Julie is standing next to her, one small hand holding her small hand as they look around confused.

When Carrie thinks back to that day now, to being ten years old and struggling to understand why her mom isn’t coming home, all she can remember is that it wasn’t her dad that hugged her and dried her tears. Her dad had barely said five words to her before shutting himself in his bedroom with music barely blocking out the sounds of shattering glass. Mrs Molina had helped her pack some clothes and taken her home with her and Julie.

It was three weeks later when her dad showed up at the Molina’s house and took her home. 

And Carrie knows he hasn’t left her, has always come back to get her. But Carrie also knows that when she needed her dad the most he wasn’t there. Didn’t seem to have anytime for her at all because he was too busy with himself. 

So she starts stealing things. Lip sticks and candy bars and cheap plastic bracelets. The only way she knows how to get his attention is to do something wrong. To do something that is classed as bad. 

She sits in the uncomfortable hard plastic chair, eyes on the doorway behind the security guard and waits. They’d called her dad as soon as she’d coughed up a name and number and now they were waiting to see who would show up. The guard might have been hoping for her dad, maybe he wanted to get an autograph, but Carrie knew it would be an assistant of an assistant or if she was really lucky maybe even Mrs or Mr Molina. But only if her dad was talking to them again. He was pretty good at losing people she noticed. 

There’s a knock at the door and in steps as assistant she’s never met before, but he’s got a blackberry in one hand and bluetooth headset on, talking rapidly to someone on the other end. 

“Hi, I’m here to get Carrie Wilson. I’m Dave, one of Mr Wilson's assistants and I’m hoping we can get this all sorted out with minimal fuss.” He’s got one of those wide fake smiles that all her dads PR people have and Carrie rolls her eyes, slumps down in her chair and  stops listening to the conversation. 

Maybe she just had to steal something bigger, more expensive. Something that her dad couldn’t ignore her over.

 three.

For most of her life, Carrie has been Julie Molina’s best friend. It’s one of the few constants that she can rely on when everything else seems to be constantly changing around her. 

Until suddenly it’s not. 

And it’s her own fault. 

Carrie knows this, knows she’s brought it on herself, knows that the only one to blame is herself. But she does it anyway. Can’t seem to stop herself from saying the words she knows will hurt the most. 

It’s almost like she’s watching the scene unfold from above, can see herself talking and smirking, can see the moment Julie and Flynn realise she’s being serious. Carrie can pinpoint the exact moment she destroys her friendship with both Julie and Flynn. 

And it’s funny, because on Saturday morning all she had wanted to do was talk to the two of them, to share her excitement with them about everything she was learning while watching her dad record. All the ideas she had for Dirty Candi and how one day they’d be able to do the ultimate collab with Double Trouble.  

She’s rewatching an old video of the three of them performing some half-finished song and dance routine between classes, Julie and Flynn trying to help her figure out how to make it flow better for her group. She’s thinking maybe they need to be spaced out a little more, maybe add in a spin or individual moves, with a pen-lid between her teeth Carrie turns to a fresh page in her note book and makes some small notes.

“Is that your group?” Someone asks over her shoulder and Carrie turns to see the producer her dad has hired for his newest album watching her video. 

“Oh, no, no! These are just my friends, they were helping me work out the dance routine,” she smiles at him, because she’s proud and he seems impressed and while everyone always whispers how Carrie can get a record deal because of her last name alone, she wants to get one because she deserves it, has earned it herself.

“That one singing is really good, it’s not you is it?” He asks and Carrie feels her smile freeze in place just for a second before she relaxes and shakes her head. 

“No that’s my friend Julie. This is me singing now,” she adds, tilting her phone a little in his direction as she sees herself dancing in the middle and singing aloud. 

“Huh,” is all he says with a pleasant smile on his face. But Carrie has been around people like him all her life and she knows when someone is giving a fake smile and she hates it. “Well, you let me know if your friend there ever wants to record something, alright?” And then he’s walking away, back to fiddle with dials and bars and talking to her dad. Not even realising the storm he’s unleashed in her mind.

Carrie ignores her phone for the rest of the weekend, doesn’t reply to any texts or acknowledge anything she’s tagged in. She moves silently through the house, her mind whirling with jealousy and anger and annoyance. Julie is her best friend, she knows she’s talented, has always supported her. There’s nothing new about this information. 

But there’s something about the producer, watching the three of them perform and him singling out Julie over her, even while she’s sitting right there. It buries itself in her mind, digging in roots and taking hold and Carrie can’t shake it. 

The growing jealousy she’s never experienced directed at her friends before. 

So wrapped up in her own thoughts and emotions, she doesn’t even realise the moment she comes to a decision. 

It is, arguably, the worst decision she could ever make.

(And in a few years time when she's older and wiser, Carrie knows she’ll look back on it and know this was the moment when she let herself become something she hated, fake and insecure. And she'll hate herself more than she does at the very moment it happens.)

All she knows is that Monday morning at school as Julie is smiling at her and Flynn is waving, both trying to ask about her weekend, Carrie plasters on a fake smile (and she hates herself for it, hates the way it feels on her face, hates the way it changes her eyes), she tosses her hair over her shoulder and says the words that burn a fifteen year friendship to the ground. 

It’s later that week, when Carrie is at home doing homework and her dad strolls into the kitchen and asks her where Julie and Flynn are that she finally, fully realises just what she’s done. 

“We’re not friends anymore dad,” she says, tucking blonde hair behind her ear and trying to focus on her maths work. She can see him pause at the fridge, turning curious and worried eyes on her, his mouth opening to say something when she cuts him off with a shake of her head. “We’re not friends, it doesn’t matter. Just drop it, okay?”

And, thankfully, he does. Carrie doesn’t think she’d know how to explain herself if he hadn’t.

 four.

She finds an old demo cd and a tattered notebook tucked between a book on The Rolling Stones and an unopened copy of some Gordon Ramsey cookbook. The name Sunset Curve on a black background stands out to her and she flips it over to look at the short track list. She doesn’t recognise any of the titles but she knows it must have some importance if her dad has kept it. 

Walking over to the stereo she opens the case up, pops out the cd and has it halfway into the machine when she drops it, eyes caught on the pull out and the half of a face she can see. 

She knows that face. Has seen it on stage more in the last few months then she would like. But he was supposed to be a hologram of some guy from Sweden. Frowning, she slips the pull out free, there’s a printed out sheet of paper folded in quarters too she notices but ignores it for now, instead slowly opening up the pull out poster. Four faces look back at her, and she recognises three of them from Julie’s band. 

The bassist who keeps winking at Kayla, the drummer who seems to pour everything he has into the song, the guitarist who looks at Julie like she’s hung the damn moon. 

And her – it’s her dad.

Younger, clean shaven, hair a little shorter and without sunglasses. But it’s him, she’d know his eyes anywhere, they look back at her in the mirror each morning. Carrie can feel her frown deepen, bites her lip as she tries to work out why her dad is in a band photo with Julie’s hologram band. 

The second sheet of paper crinkles in her fingers and she forces her eyes away from the pull out and unfolds that instead. There’s another photo of the band, and she idly thinks it must be from the same photoshoot because they’re wearing almost the exact same outfits. 

It’s an article, she realises as her eyes glance down at the words and then back to the photo only to dart straight back to the headline. In bold block print is the words that have her hands shaking and eyes clouding over in confusion. 

A Hollywood Tragedy. 1995. 

She looks from the article to the boys faces, wracking her mind to try and remember exactly what Julie’s band looked like. But she doesn’t think there’s any possible way she’d forget any of their faces. Not that it answered any of the questions now crowding in her head.

Because the only explanation she was coming to was fucking ghosts and that didn’t seem like an explanation at all. 

Though it would explain why her dad had been acting so strange ever since The Orpheum. Why he’d been cagey and cautious and asking so many questions about Julie lately. If her band had died in 1995 and were suddenly out performing with her kids ex friend, she’d be acting a little weird too.

Carrie can’t stop the laugh that bubbles past her lips, it sounds strangled and half deranged to her own ears and she’s not sure what to do. How to process this information in her hands. She remembers the notebook she’s holding then, a heavy weight in her hand and she can see doodles and words scribbled over the cover. She can’t decipher some of them, but over and over in different styles is that band name. Sunset Curve. 

Hands still shaking Carrie sets the cd, pull out and printed article on top of the stereo and takes in a deep breath, counts to five in her head and blows it out. Her mind is still racing but she feels a little steadier in herself. She flips through the notebook quickly seeing nothing but words upon words littering the pages in handwriting that is nothing like her dads.

Opening the book to a random page she reads. There lyrics, she realises with a jolt. Lyrics she recognises. Lyrics she has sung along to whenever her dad’s song came on the radio.

Lyrics he hadn’t written?

She turns to another page and then another, flipping through half the book and recognising nearly every song she finds. She pauses, not realising how fast and hard she’d begun to breath until she’s trying to suck in air as her heart races. Because these are her dad’s songs but his writing isn’t anywhere in this book.

Turning it to the first page she gets an answer as to why. 

There, in block print, underlined and circled, the clearest the writing had been throughout it all, as if the owner had been warning people to stay away from it, was the words: PROPERTY OF LUKE PATTERSON. 

And Carrie can’t even think to stop the laugh that leaves her mouth, or the small choked sob that follows. She had always wondered why her dad had written and recorded a song called My Name is Luke. 

Now she had her answer.

It wasn't his fucking song.

She’s sitting on the ground, back against a bookcase and legs spread out in front of her, making her way through the notebook slower now, taking in each song, when her dad finds her. He’s got his mouth open, like he was going to ask her something when he freezes in the doorway. Noticing the notebook, the cd, the poster. Carrie can’t remember seeing her dad ever looking so worried or horrified. 

“You stole his songs,” is all she says as she looks up at him. There’s no need to mention a name, they both know who she’s talking about. 

“Carrie–” he starts, but either he doesn’t know what he’s going to say or just can’t form the words, whatever it is Carrie watches as he stumbled, mouth opening and closing as nothing comes out. 

“You never said you were in a band,” because that’s another new thing Carrie has learnt today. Her dad used to be part of a band and then that band had died and he had stolen their songs.

“It was–” he pauses again, sucks in a breath and lets one out. “It was a long time ago. And they– they died, Carrie. I went to three funerals. They were dead, but their songs were– His songs were there and they deserved to be heard.” He doesn’t mention their names, Carrie notes as she nods her head at him, her eyes going back to the notebook of stolen songs in front of her. 

“You can’t say anything about this to anyone. Any of it. We don’t know what’s going on, how Julie knows about them. If they’re–” He doesn’t say the word, but it hangs there in the silence between them. Ghosts. But he keeps talking, not letting her say anything. “None of that matters. You can’t mention anything to anyone. About Sunset Curve, or about the songs.” 

Carrie snaps her head up to him, opens her mouth to say something. To say how it’s wrong and how he stole them and how his first two albums weren’t even really his. But her dad is talking again, and he’s crouched down in front of her now, hands resting on her knees and staring at her with wide eyes. 

“This could ruin me Carrie. You can’t say anything, okay? Please."

She looks at him, bites her lip as she looks back at the notebook and then back at her dad. Nods her head once. It’s been twenty five years, even if they were ghosts did it even really matter anymore? (She did her best to ignore the little voice in her head that told her it did.)

 five.

When Nick broke up with her, Carrie had cried into her pillow for an hour. She’d watched five different rom-coms and eaten half a tub of ice cream. She’d written a song that Dirty Candi would never perform but helped her get her emotions out all the same. 

Carrie thinks she’s experienced heartbreak before. When she fully realised that her mom wasn’t coming back, when she figured out that no matter how many times she was nearly arrested her dad wouldn’t be coming to the mall to pick her up, when she set fire to a lifelong friendship and watched tears she had caused fall. 

All of those were heartbreak, she thinks. They’d all hurt her in ways she was still trying to understand. Old wounds that had scabbed over badly and were starting to get infected. 

But this heartbreak is different. It hurts, but when she examines the metaphorical wound on her heart it doesn’t hurt to poke at it. Not like it still hurts to think about her mom or Julie. When her dad had found out, he’d told her a first break up was always the worst, but that you could get some killer songs out of it. 

(Now, knowing all that she knows, she wonders how many of his heart broken songs were actually written by him and how many were written by his dead band mates.) 

The small cut on her heart gets a plaster and she picks up her emotions and stuffs them back into place and she puts her fake smile on her face and by Wednesday when she next sees Nick it’s like there hadn’t been any hearts breaking at all. 

She does so well in fact, at ignoring Nick, at pretending the last few years with him hadn’t happened, that she almost doesn’t notice the changes. 

They’re subtle really. The way he walks down the hallways. The way he holds himself just a little straighter, but leans just a little on an angle. The way he says onomatopoeia in english class without stuttering once even though Carrie knows he’s never been able to say it fully. 

It’s all these little things that people who don’t know him wouldn’t notice. But she does. There’s something wrong with Nick and Carrie, well she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do about it. If she’s even supposed to do something about it. 

He broke up with her after all. 

So she watches as Nick watches Julie, as he talks to Flynn, as he goes about his day just being a little off. And she doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t do anything. She doubts anyone would listen to her even if she did say something. 

It’s none of her business, that’s what she keeps telling herself. Nick broke up with her, and her heart broke just a little and now she has no responsibility for whatever is going on. It’s what she tells herself. She hopes she’ll start believing it soon.

 +one.

There comes a moment, Carrie thinks, when you have to choose who you want to be in life. 

If you want to be a liar and fake and jealous, and ignore your mistakes.

Or if you want to put aside the jealousy, smile freely and care deeply, and own up to the wrongs you’ve caused. 

Right and wrong. 

Wrong and right. 

Carrie’s pretty sure if someone was to tally up her life choices there would be more marks in the wrong column then the right one. 

But she’s seventeen and she’s pretty sure there’s still plenty of time to change it. 

She hasn’t stood in front of the Molina’s front door in a long time, she can barely even remember a time when she’d rung the doorbell (that’s not true, she remembers the last time she’d pressed the bell and it’s a memory she chooses not to focus on, there had been too much black, too many tears, and she hadn’t found the strength to even offer Julie a hug, but she’d tried to make Carlos smile and hoped that would be enough.), and she certainly doesn’t remember ever feeling so anxious as she stands outside. 

She shuffles her feet, pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and counts to ten in her head. She’s holding a plain brown gift bag in one hand, the rope handle rough along her palm and it’s grounding. She rubs her thumb along and it once and rings the doorbell. 

There’s a few seconds of silence followed by the sound of steps on the other side, someone shouting something that gets lost in the distance and then the door is opening and Ray Molina is looking at her. He blinks, an eyebrow quirking up and then he’s smiling at her, like he’s always smiled, warm and friendly and open and real. 

“Carrie! What a surprise. Looking for Julie?” There’s mild curiosity in his tone, but none of the animosity she’s always thought should be there. She’d made his daughter cry after all, shouldn’t he hate her on principle alone?

“If she’s around,” Carrie replies with her own smile, smaller and dimmer but she hopes it’s just as real. She’s still trying to work it out. 

“In the garage. Knock before you go in,” he nods around to the back of the house, gives her an encouraging smile and watches as she walks away. She hears the door shut only when she’s out of sight. And then she’s stood in front of another door. There’s sounds of laughing inside, the clash of cymbals like someones knocked into them, muffled voices all talking over each other. It all sounds very happy. She hopes she isn't about to ruin it.

She tightens her grip on the gift bags in her hand. When she had thought of what to do, when she had planned out every step and action and word, it hadn’t seemed so daunting. But now that she’s actually here, Carrie has never been so afraid. 

But she needs to thank them, she needs to apologise to them. 

All of them. 

Julie and her band of ghosts. 

She frowns at the thought, it only just occurring to her that she’s going to have to explain that she knows they’re ghosts. Though she supposes maybe the contents of the gift bag will do that. She hopes it does, she squeezes her eyes shut and rubs a hand across them. 

Maybe this was a bad idea. 

She could still turn around, walk away, act like she had never been here, pretend that she’d never decided she wanted to right some wrongs. 

She's half a step away from turning fully around when a voice whispers a stern ‘no’ in her mind. She’s not sure whose voice it is, though it is familiar and almost comforting. Blowing out a breath, straightening her spine and pushing blonde locks behind her shoulders, Carrie knocks on the studio door. 

There’s whispers from the other side, someone shushing someone else and then Julie is poking her head around the door and her eyes are widening as they land on Carrie. 

“Carrie. What uh– what are you doing here?” She asks, confusion clear by the furrow between her brows and the weary look in her eyes. Carrie swallows and does her best to smile, small and unforced. She’s not sure it works if the growing weary look in Julie’s eyes is anything to go by.

“I um…” Carrie closes her eyes for a second before opening them and nodding once. “I needed to talk to you. You and your band. And before you say anything about them being holograms, I know they’re in there. I heard them, actually I can still hear them they’re terrible at whispering.” 

Because she can clearly hear someone saying her name and another mentioning something about dancing and a very clear ‘maybe it’s about the haunting?’ ‘shut up Reg!’. Julie glares, this time over her shoulder at where Carrie guesses the guys are meant to be keeping quiet. But she opens the door a little wider and gestures for Carrie to come in. She waits to let out her relieved sigh until Julie isn’t looking her way. 

The studio garage looks the same as it always has, warm and inviting and inspiring. She suddenly remembers why they’d always spent so much time out here as kids. But there’s changes too, a drum kit set up, guitars and a bass in stands, clothes littered on chairs and draped over the banister of the loft. 

And of course the three ghosts. They’re a pretty big change. 

They’re stood looking at her.

Her dad’s dead ex-best friends.

His ex-dead-ex-best friends.

In the months since she first found the demo cd Carrie has done her best to learn a little about them all, out of curiosity more than anything. But it certainly helps now, to know who each of them are without an introduction. 

Alex, with his pink hoodie and hat on backwards has his head tilted, eyeing her curiously even as he taps a drumstick against his leg, but there’s also a slight smile on his lips and he even waves awkwardly with his free hand, Carrie thinks that’s a pretty good sign. Reggie has his hands stuffed into his jeans pockets, rocking slightly on the balls of his feet and eyes wandering from her to Alex to Julie to Luke and back again, almost as if he’s unsure and Carrie can’t blame him, she’s pretty unsure too. Luke is glaring at her, sort of at least, his eyebrows are drawn together and his lips are scrunched to the side and his arms are crossed across his chest, and you don’t have to be a body language expert to know what that means.

“Look, I don’t want to interrupt and you can. You can tell me to get out if you want. I just–” She pauses, takes a breath and tries to slow down. “I just wanted to thank you.” There’s four identical looks of confusion on their faces and Carrie really tries not to roll her eyes but she fails. “For saving Nick. Or finding the real Nick again? I’m not sure what you did. But I know it’s because of you guys that he’s Nick again and that he’s okay. And I just– I wanted to thank you for that.” 

Whatever they had been expecting her to say, Carrie knows it wasn’t that. Luke goes from glaring to gaping at her, Reggie stops rocking and almost falls in the process, Alex has stilled his hands and Julie has taken a half a step towards her, eyebrows raised. 

“How do you– I– We–” Julie starts, fumbles, throws her hands in the air and looks at the boys for help. 

“How’d you know we had anything to do with it? Not that we know anything about it,” Alex winces, almost as if he hadn’t meant to say that last bit and this time Carrie means to roll her eyes at them. 

“Yeah okay, lets not do the pretending thing. I don’t know all the details, I just know you guys helped him. And that you’re ghosts.” It was Carrie’s turn to wince now. She hadn’t quite meant to blurt that last bit out like that. And now they were really staring at her. And all shouting at the same time while Julie was pacing and Carrie stepped forward and pushed the brown gift bag into Lukes hands. 

They all shut up as he held it at arms length and looked at her. 

“Just– just open it.” Is all she can say, biting her lip and looking anywhere but at them. 

She hears the sound of sellotape being unpeeled and the crinkle of paper and then a soft gasp. 

“Is that–” Reggie starts and Carrie forces herself to look at them again. Alex and Reggie and Julie are looking at the notebook that Luke is holding carefully in his hands, but Luke himself is looking at her. Eyes a little wide and mouth opening just a little like he’s trying to find words to say. 

“I also came here with an apology,” she licks her lips and looks at Julie, because it’s Julie she really needs to say this too. “I’ve made a– a lot of bad choices in the last few years. And I think… I think a lot of them involved hurting you Jules and I’m. I’m sorry. For being a bitch. For not saying anything. For everything.” 

She’s not sure what reaction she is hoping for. Or what reaction she even wants. Forgiveness would be the best, but she’s pretty sure that has to be earned. Or something like that. Julie just keeps looking at her, and Luke seems to realise that she’s not going to say anything, that she needs a moment, so he’s stepping forward, notebook still held in one hand. 

“How’d you know this was mine?” He asks and there's such a serious look on his face that Carrie can’t help but laugh. 

"Your names on the front page. In like, huge letters, and circled. And underlined.” 

“Riiight,” he draws the word out, one hand rubbing at the back of his neck as he laughs and suddenly Alex and Reggie are laughing too, pushing his shoulder and Luke is saying something about it being 'a long time ago, shut up'. And then Julie is standing next to her, knocking her shoulder lightly with her own. 

“Thank you, for bringing him his songs back. And for the apology,” Julie gives her a small smile and nods her head towards where the boys have gathered around the piano, notebook open in front of them as they look at old songs. It’s an invitation, an offer, small and inconsequential. She can say no. Could walk away. 

But Carrie is tired of making the wrong choices in her life. Wants to make a few right ones instead. Rebuilding her friendship with Julie, with Flynn too eventually, returning lost work to ghost band mates. It’s a good start, she thinks.

[sophi-x-sims]

Dusty Ridge: Chapter 11.5

A day later; Sunday Night

♡ The Rivera’s Residence: 1:35am ♡  

Mara held the phone up, her arms starting to hurt, then said, “Yeah everyone over the summer seemed to have figured out their whole life plan.”

“We are about to start our junior year, but I don’t know it is kinda weird.” Isabella shrugged her shoulders on the screen. 

Mara paused for a second, looking over, eyeing her room. She then said, “Everything's moving so fast, I just wish it would slow down.”

“I know right. I cannot believe we start school in 2 weeks.”

“I so don’t want to start SAT prep.” Mara sighed, starting to remember the agony of school, studying, homework. And with another thing combined with it? This was going to be a rocky year for her.

“Are the SAT’s even required?”

“I think they are for us.”

“Ugh, that sucks. Why do I need to even take the SAT’s if I’m going to be a freakin’ florist?” Isabella rolled her eyes.

“If you change your mind I guess.”

“Probably.”

Mara moved shifted over to her side, resting one of her hands, and then asked, “So you’re really serious about this florist thing?”

“I mean yeah, it’s something I’m really interested in.”

Mara then asked her, “How’d you even figure out you were interested in it?”

“One day, inspiration just sparked I guess.” Isabella took a moment, thinking of something to say, as they had been talking for about an hour now. Finally, she said, “So what about you, have you fallen into this junior year haze and figured out what you wanted to do?”

“I wish. I just am not really interested in anything that much. For a whole career.”

“You’ll figure it out Mara, trust me, you have nothing to worry about. You’re the most organized and responsible person I know.”

“I hope so.”

Sheila quietly opened the door and peaked inside, seeing Mara on her phone, “What are you doing up so late?” Her mom smiled at her, seeing worry in her daughters face. She then asked raising her eyebrows, “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Is and me just got caught up talking. Actually, Is, I’ma let you go.”

“Okay. Please remember we’re going shopping Tuesday.” Isabella pointed her finger at her, squinting her eyes.

“I haven’t forgotten. Bye Is.”

“Byeee babes!”

Mara hung up from the SimTime call, looking up at her mom. Mara then asked, “Did you need anything mom?”

“No. Just came to check in on you.” She took another step in, analyzing her daughters face, “You sure you’re alright?”

“I-I... It’s just that everyone seems to have figured out everything so suddenly. Where as I have no clue what I want to do.”

Sheila then asked her, confused, “Figured out what?”

“Their ‘life plan’.” Mara looked down at the floor, biting the inner part of her cheek.

Sheila sighed, and came and sat down beside her. She then started to reassure her, “Sweetie, you’re 16. I didn’t figure out what I wanted to do until my 2nd year of college. In fact, that’s basically what college is for. To explore your interests.”

Mara looked back up at her mom, furrowing her brows. She then asked her, “So there’s really no rush?”

“No, not really. Of course I would like you to have some idea if I’m going to be paying a big college tuition, but that’s just a mothers worries.”

“Yeah, I mean I have a year until college applications open. Plenty of time I guess...”

Sheila paused for a second, then suggested, “How about trying some new clubs at your school when it starts? Maybe you can find some inspiration there.”

Mara then said, almost monotonous, a worry still on her face, “Maybe.” 

“I wish you wouldn’t be so stressed about this. You’re on track, okay? Rushing your life’s passion isn’t going to help you. You’ll find out what it is when you see it, when you feel that rush inside of you.”

“Thanks mom, I guess that kinda helped a little.” Mara managed a small smile at her mom, with Sheila returning the favor. 

Though the small light Sheila had managed for Mara would burn out, at least Mara would have some comfort, for now. But not forever, because what would high school be without a constant fear of not fitting in enough, or failing when you finally got out.

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