#Mess with me I’ll make them siblings just for that extra bit of spice | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

phantomchick · 4 years ago

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List of wips - aka struggles

Call Me A Jason Todd fic I started two years ago and still go back to poke at longingly, will the second and final chapter ever be posted? Who can know for sure.

I tell myself that I don't need Anyone (But the truth is no one needs Me) Another Jason Todd fic I haven't completed, posted two years ago for whumptober, it was the only day of whumptober I participated in, intended to be full of Captain Atom and Jason Todd interacting during the fall out of Bludhaven getting chemo'd but he doesn't show up in the first chapter and have you ever tried to read Infinite Crisis? It's a fucking mess. With this wip I have a close to justifiable excuse in that I refuse to write without knowing the canon, and reading through all the canon that's relevant is A Task.

The Monster in The Man A Merlin fic floating around my drafts, currently at a good bit over 5k wherein Merlin gets POSSESSED by an old enchantment gone mad. Written because a Merlin fic I read ended on a horror style cliffhanger and I couldn't handle it so I charged my way through the first 2k of a sequel and I've been adding to it ever since. Angst with a hopefully happy ending, if I ever frikking finish it.

The Dragon Lord In the aftermath of his father's death after Merlin inherits his father's dragon lord abilities he notices some minor changes to his interactions with his friends, the thing is that Merlin is a dragon lord and unusually what he hoards is people, things might just turn out the better for it.

Maelstrom A Naruto time travel fix it fic that wouldn't leave me alone until I got the first chapter out, ironically it has left me entirely alone since I finished the first chapter and I have no idea if inspiration for it will ever return or when that will be.

You Don't Know Anything Long long ago in a land of asks and a time of legend @paradise-runway sent me a fic request for "one where the other Bat boys find out the circumstances of Jason's death and resurrection and their reaction?" it has been lingering in my drafts haunting me ever since, someday, someday I shall fulfill what has been promised.

Of Curses and Covenants A longfic exploring the magical underbelly of Gotham's history, focuses on the intertwined relationship of the Wayne Family and the Zatara Family brought about by how often Waynes through the generations have ended up being cursed. I have an index of all the curses ready, the problem with this one is the plot and the story.

Vicki Finds a Bat (temporary title) Vicki Vale stumbles upon a still alive young adult Jason Todd at a wafflehouse on the way back from snooping into Cobblepot's latest criminal schemes. Convincing the young man to go back home to his loving father might prove more of a challenge than she thinks however. (will have a happy ending if I ever fucking finish it, for now it looms in my drafts like an unhappy gargoyle)

Hug Deficit A fic about Jason being touch starved and his family fixing it, hurt/comfort all the way, post resurrection.

Stephanie Brown and The Mansion of Man Pain Robin Era Steph, she and Alfred have pumpkin spice lattes together, it's their thing because I say it is. Includes, Alfred raised 5 boys counting Bruce, he's not sure how to handle a little girl and Bruce trying to dad plus Steph trying her best. Would be a lot easier to write if I was any good at comedy.

Another Time, Another Place Some twenty years or so after their death, Martha and Thomas Wayne appear in the middle of Wayne Manor's ground floor parlour room, the major problem with this? Not only are Bruce and Dick away, Alfred's on holiday in England! Which is why Jason as the eldest has been unwillingly nominated by his younger siblings to deal with the situation at hand. Martha and Thomas in this are heavily inspired by @unpretty's amazing portrayals in her fics with them.

- Queen Blackfire and the Lazarus Lord An au with Soulmate identifying marks: Jason Todd was having an okay time as de-facto leader of The Outlaws, a band of misfits and rebels with hearts of gold (or at least silver) saving the world the best they could and filling in the gaps the more straightforward heroes tended to miss while they were at it. Then he found out he was soulmates with the Alien Warrior Queen bent on declaring war on planet Earth if the Justice League didn't find her soulmate for her. Things with his friend, team mate and potential future sister in law Kori just got super awkward and the only good thing he can find about this situation is how angry (and protective? But maybe he's just imagining that) Bruce seems over the whole thing.

Side note: Kommand'r freaked out during the years Jason was 'dead' and accidentally brought peace to a huge chunk of space and intergalactic society via building up her empire after throwing herself into work to escape the grief.

- To Grasp The Hand of a Fox Naruto and Kurama travel back in time to save the world but unfortunately they land in the same moment that Kurama's just been put under a genjutsu by Madara Uchiha, Naruto has to make his way to Konoha and wake Kurama up before the villagers seal him away inside Mito. Can he save his friend in time to save them all?

Those Winter Sundays Mcu fic. Snapshots of Tony working hard for the avengers and no one noticing. Civil War Team Iron Man.

- Salvation Rides a Solar Wind Iron Man fic in a Science fiction / Western style fic where Tony's presence is described through the eyes of the aliens he helps. Au where the war with Thanos goes very differently. The type of fic that needs like 5 multi chapter fics in a single series to truly shine, hence why I will likely never finish it.

And We Break Away Again Jason goes back to Talia after Damian is brought back from the dead by Bruce. It's not that he begrudges his little brother his resurrection, the opposite, but he can't ignore what Bruce did to him by taking him to the magdala valley and he can't ignore what Bruce doing for Damian what he didn't do for him, (do for Dick, do for any of them besides the blood related one) means. So he decides to go back to the only person who ever seemed to understand why he wanted to avenge himself in the first place, the only person who seemed to agree that he had a right to be angry that he'd died at all, the only person he can trust to hold him together while he feels like he's falling apart that won't judge him against the heroic mold while they're at it. Not sure if this will be a oneshot or a series but we're going good Talia with this one regardless, DC's been ruining her lately but through fanfic all things are possible so fuck them.

Fan The Flames In the aftermath of a magical fire taking hold of the Daily Planet in Metropolis, Superman is missing, can Batman and the rest of the Justice League find their friend as well as the identity of the evil arsonist before Lex Luther does it first?

In a Whisper (In a Wish) Ichigo Kurosaki protects people, it's not just who he is, it's what he is, down to the core of his very soul. The only problem is, that a few weeks ago he sacrificed half his soul to protect the world. It aches inside where he knows something important used to be. When everyone he cares for is avoiding him and he's starting to feel more like a shadow than a person, that aches at him too and he can't help but wish, quietly, privately, painfully, to himself if no one else that things were different, that he wasn't so broken or so alone. But if wishes were fishes they'd fill a whole sea (just be careful not to whisper them within the hearing range of the Hōgyoku).

An Honest Conversation (Is A Bitter Thing To Crave) Jason kidnaps Bruce but things don't go as Bruce expects. First of all the reason Jason was able to kidnap him was because Stephanie of all people was his insider, why would she support someone Batman knows she's only met once. And second of all the reason he's been abducted - So that Jason can drug them both with the same substance. And when Bruce asks what he's doing this for Jason only responds, "We don't trust each other enough to have a truthful conversation otherwise" and refuses to say anything more while they wait for it to kick in. What will be revealed by this forced honest encounter on both sides? -

carrying the world on thin shoulders Midoriya Izuku deserves better from literally all the adults in his life so this is part whump part hurt comfort part fix it fic that sprawls out from time to time but it's pretty bad tbh, at some point I'll probably make it neater and give it something resembling a coherent plot. Hopefully. -

Trust Issues HP fic. Harry gets dosed with a potion that's supposed to reinforce your strongest survival instinct, the person who drugged him might've intended to be helpful but said potion happened to be at extra strength and he was given what would be a normal fix for the regular version but for this one is twice the recommended amount. Great.. The biggest problem about all this - beyond his internationally wanted godfather Sirius endangering himself by hiding out in a cave near Hogsmeade against all rational advice, his best friend Ron hating him, everyone in school besides his other best friend Hermione also hating him or avoiding him and the entire Goblet of Fire problem - is that he can't bring himself to trust anyone enough to tell them what's wrong.

Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies A post marvel avengers story, thor pov probably, made because I like to dive into a pool of thor & loki sibling feels sometimes: Starts off as Thor regales his new human shield brothers with the story of his banishment and return to Asgard ending with Loki falling into the Void and the Avengers have some questions, questions Thor had not thought of, remarks on things that Thor doesn’t know how to explain away. After he goes to Loki’s cell and asks him some things he becomes more and more angry despite having no one he can punch > Gets drunk and criticises Sif and The Warriors Three after they try to calm him down > mention of Loki still being underage by Aesir standards during Thor 1 seeing as Thor was being crowned due to being of age in the movie > heavy inspiration drawn from queen regnant by peaceheather. “For while the Treason I detest, the Traitor I love still.” Currently just an outline.

Separation Split personality disorder Red Hood and Jason Todd, alternatively, Red Hood is a demon/parasite latched on to Jay. A lot of work necessary considering right now it’s currently just an idea inspired by a cool tumblr fanart.

A Trinity of Head Wounds The dcu trinity in the aftermath of a fight against some alien invaders (or something along those lines), whump, hurt/comfort, starts with them arguing, ends with them bleeding on each other in a friendship way, whole thing should take place in a single room on the watchtower and be a oneshot so it's gotta be a short and sweet one-two gut punch with the feelings which is difficuuult.

A Stark in The Stars an mcu fic, a really over complicated mcu fic, mostly because of Steve Roger's timeline fuckery, Tony's alive but he's not supposed to be, but so are a lot of people who were dead but aren't now you might say what with the snap and the blip. The thing is that Steve's timeline fuckery is making it so that everyone keeps getting confused between the two different timelines of events, obviously more confused the more that their characters were connected to the films/the events that were altered, the punchline of this particular fic though is that Tony's still alive and he's unaware of the timeline of events where he died. And as he's currently in space he's also unaware that everyone on Earth thinks he's dead (because why wouldn't they? he died in endgame after all). That makes this fic super tough to write because like ultimate unreliable narrator right here and not sure how to tie in the whole 'oh wait actually everyone on Earth thinks I'm dead because of the canon timelines' thing in or at what point of the story to do that at. The fuckery of it all gives me a headache. Plot is hard. Also all of that's basically background to the actual focus of most of the fic thus far which is Tony travelling around space in an Iron Man suit up until the point where it won't be background.

Magic Chained Merlin au. When you put magic restraining cuffs on Magic himself you don't just bind him you bind all magic the world over. It is therefore, infinitely lucky that Uther Pendragon never became aware of this fact.

A Child in The Cold bnha Midoriya deserves better also Recovery Girl and Aizawa have shit to answer for as far as I'm concerned.

#i have #so many #wiiiiiiiips #there's probably more hidden in various word docs but #blah #personal

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ollieofthebeholder · 4 years ago

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leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall): a TMA fanfic

Tumblr tag || Also on AO3

Chapter 26: Jon

When Jon’s grandmother passed away peacefully in her sleep, not long after his twenty-fourth birthday, he quickly discovered that her life insurance and savings weren’t enough to cover all the bills that needed to be covered and put the house he’d grown up in on the market. He only vaguely remembers the whole procedure, as he was in something of a state of shock at the time, but he does remember accepting the first offer presented to him despite the realtor’s comments that he could “probably hold out for a bit more” if he wanted. Thus, he’s the only one not really startled at the speed with which he, Martin, and Tim find out that they’ve got the house.

To be clear: He’s not startled at the speed. He is, however, startled that they got it. Surely someone must have been willing to pay more for it, been better qualified. But no. They learn their offer has been accepted less than a week after the Primes’ disastrous encounter with Basira’s partner and the closing is scheduled for the following Friday. Martin theorizes that their position at the Magnus Institute gave them some extra clout. Tim jokes that it’s his charismatic personality. Jon frets that Elias might have had something to do with it for nefarious purposes.

Sasha finally does some research and tells them that it’s being sold by a pair of siblings barely out of their teens whose parents died unexpectedly and probably just need the money fast.

Martin doesn’t have much, just the little he managed to bring with him to the Institute when first escaping Jane Prentiss and the few things he’s re-acquired since then, and Jon’s things are still packed up from when he declined to renew the lease on his flat in August, so it’s mostly just Tim who needs to decide what he’s keeping and what he’s ready to part with or needs to replace. It takes them the better part of two Saturdays, but they manage to get everything boxed and sorted in time to move out the last full weekend of September.

The moving-in process is surprisingly fun. Sasha and the Primes even come to help (Tim suggests the latter so that Martin Prime knows his way around the house from the get-go, which is actually really sensible) and they make a party of it. Tim insists on setting up the sound system first, then gets everyone to contribute a certain number of songs to a playlist on some app he has on his phone. He puts it on shuffle and lets it play while they work together on the various rooms.

“Oh, my God,” Sasha moans after the eighth song that she evidently didn’t pick comes on. “Do any of you listen to a single band that’s put out an album since 1984?”

“Yes,” Martin says indignantly, his cheeks coloring slightly.

“Remasters don’t count.”

Martin Prime grins. “None of mine have come up, either.”

“What did you put on?” Sasha asks suspiciously.

She gets her answer a few minutes later when, after shuffle coughs up a Spice Girls song they all tease her mercilessly about, an honest to God sea shanty comes on. Tim and Jon laugh at Sasha’s dramatic, despairing groan, but it’s hard not to respond to the Martins’ enthusiasm as they—surprisingly—harmonize along with the recording while they set up the living room.

They’re almost done assembling the new bed Tim bullied Jon into buying (“You’re not in uni anymore, you don’t need to be sleeping on a futon, and anyway, when was this made, the Thatcher premiership?” “Brown, and shut up, Tim.”), which is the last piece of furniture they need to put together, when there’s a sound from the front door—two firm, solid knocks, audible all the way upstairs. Jon nearly drops the screwdriver as his heart kicks against his ribs. It’s stupid, and he knows it’s stupid, but two knocks like that always makes him think of that book.

Tim makes a noise in the back of his throat. “God, hope the music isn’t too loud.”

“I don’t think that’s it,” Martin says, but he sounds uncertain. “I-I mean, it’s been ages.”

Jon pushes himself to his feet. “I’ll check.”

He hurries out of the bedroom before anyone can comment on the clear break in his voice. He is, and there is no way to deny it to himself, legitimately afraid of what might be outside. The likelihood of it being a being of another entity is slim, but…well, there was Mr. Spider, and Jane Prentiss knocked on Martin’s door more than a few times to keep him off-balance, so there’s always the chance. It’s something he feels he can deal with, though, so he heads out to face it.

He does not, however, expect to open the door and be faced with what is either a small child or a casserole dish with tennis shoes.

“Hello,” a tiny voice says brightly from behind the dish. There’s a bit of shifting, and then two big brown eyes and a mass of curls appear over the rim. “I’ve brought you a cake.”

Jon will deny to his dying day that those words freeze his blood in his veins and make his heart stutter to a stop, but since this might actually be his dying day, he’ll be lying if he tries. His lips part, but no sound comes out.

“And a casserole, too,” the child continues, completely oblivious to Jon’s unwarranted panic attack. “That’s not as much fun, though, but Nan says it’s important to eat good, hearty food when you’ve been doing lots of work and that cake shouldn’t be a whole meal. I think there’s no point in being a grown-up if you can’t eat whatever you want, but…” The child heaves an enormous, dramatic sigh that seems too large for such a small body. “My Nan’s very, very old, and you don’t get to be old if you don’t do something right, so she must know what she’s talking about. Anyway, we made the casserole with lots and lots of cheese and she said that was okay, so at least it’s a little better.”

“Ah—thank you?” Jon manages. “H-here, let me…take that.”

He manages to extract the casserole dish, which certainly feels as if it’s laden with cheese; it weighs the proverbial ton. Quite possibly a literal one. It’s solid enough to anchor Jon to reality, though, and he studies his benefactor. The child can’t be more than seven or eight, at the most, with a round face and limbs hidden in an oversized, threadbare sweater that looks like it’s been handed down through more than a few generations. Dangling from one arm is a wicker basket that does indeed appear to contain a cake.

“It’s a chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting,” the child says. “I tried to write ‘Welcome to the neighborhood’ on it, but I didn’t put the tip on the piping bag right and it came off, so now it’s just a mess, but it’ll taste just as good, I promise. My Nan makes the best cakes.”

Jon smiles in spite of himself. “I don’t think I have enough hands to take it from you now. Would you mind bringing it into the kitchen for me?”

“Oh, sure!” The child practically hops over the threshold. “I always wanted to see what this house was like on the inside. Tibby used to babysit for me sometimes, but she always came over to our house, never me coming over here. Nan says it’s better that way, and Tibby always said it was laid out exactly like all the other houses, but it’s not the same as seeing it for yourself. Firsthand knowledge is best, that’s what I think. What do you think?”

“I—I think I agree with you,” Jon says. He also feels a bit like he’s staring at his younger self. “I assume you live in one of the other houses on the row?”

“Two doors down,” the child agrees cheerfully. “With the window boxes. My Nan likes to garden a bit, but she can’t bend over so much anymore, so Toby set up the window boxes for her a couple years ago.”

“And, uh, who is…Toby?”

“Oh, sorry, I thought you knew. Toby McGill. He and Tibby—that’s his sister Tabitha, but everyone calls her Tibby—they were the ones selling this house after their parents died. He’s at Surrey University now and he says he’s going to stay out there when it’s all said and done, and Tibby got a job on a boat.” The child sounds deeply impressed. “I want to be a sailor someday, too. Can you imagine getting to see the whole wide world by water and getting paid for it, too? I’d never want to leave. I told Tibby she has to save a spot on the crew for me and she laughed and promised, so I can’t wait. I’m going as soon as I grow up. I’m not going to university. You don’t need to go to university for everything, you know. I know Nan really wants me to go ‘cause Mum didn’t and neither did Dad and she doesn’t want me turning out like them, but you can turn out well even if you don’t go to university, can’t you?”

“Absolutely,” Jon says gravely. He casts an involuntary glance in the direction of the stairs, thinking of Martin. “One of my housemates didn’t go to university, and he’s one of the most brilliant people I know.”

“How many of you live here, anyway?”

“Just three of us.” Jon has no idea how much this child has seen and how many people he knows are in the house at the moment.

“Oh. There used to be three of us in my house, too.” The child scuffs a toe against the carpet just before they step into the kitchen. “And then there was going to be four, but Mum died and the baby did, too.”

“I’m sorry,” Jon says softly, feeling a pang. “I grew up with my grandmother, too.”

The child looks up at Jon and smiles, in such a way that Jon can’t help but smile back. “And you turned out okay.”

“Debatable,” Jon says. He sets the casserole dish on the counter. “I’m Jon, by the way. Jonathan Sims.”

“I’m Charlie. Charlie Cane.” The child smiles up at him and hands over the basket. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. Tell your grandmother we said thank you. I don’t know that any of us will have the energy to cook tonight. We’ll bring back the dishes tomorrow.”

“There’s no hurry. Nan doesn’t go anywhere.” Charlie flashes Jon a grin that’s missing two teeth, then turns and waves to the doorway. Jon glances up to see Martin, looking somewhere between worried and amused. “Hi! I’m Charlie Cane. Welcome to the neighborhood. Do you live here, too?”

“Um…yes. I’m Martin Blackwood. It’s…nice to meet you?” Martin raises an eyebrow at Jon.

“Charlie and his grandmother made us a casserole,” Jon says, gesturing at the counter. “And a cake.”

“That’s very nice of you. Thank you.” Martin smiles at Charlie and winks, although Jon doesn’t quite understand why.

“Welcome.” Charlie’s beaming smile could probably light the house for a week. “I’d best go before Nan thinks I’m doing something stupid again. See you later!”

He’s out the front door before Jon can respond, or even blink. He looks back to Martin, who isn’t even trying to hide his amusement. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, Jon. We were just wondering if you were okay. You were gone for a while.”

Jon gestures vaguely at the front door. “I don’t think that child has many people to talk to. Or at least not many people who will listen to him.”

Martin snorts. “I think you’ve got yourself a new best friend.”

Jon almost wants to say something flippant like Just what I need, but thinking on it, he actually doesn’t mind all that much. “Considering how much I would have given to have an adult pay that kind of attention to me when I was his age, I think I can handle that.”

Martin reaches over and pulls Jon into a hug. Jon lets himself be comforted for a moment, then extricates himself gently and smiles. “Come on. Let’s see if the others are ready to eat.”

As it turns out, the others finished putting together the bed and even made it while Jon talked to Charlie, so they’re all too happy to come into the kitchen for a hearty meal. It’s exactly as cheese-laden as Charlie promised. Jon recounts his conversation, to general amusement, although something flickers briefly across Martin Prime’s face and Jon Prime shoots Jon an understanding and slightly frightened look when he repeats Charlie’s opening words. If anyone else notices, they give no sign of it.

Tim lets the music keep playing while they eat. Jon mostly tunes it out, no pun intended, and he rather suspects the others do too. But just as they’re scraping their plates clean—the food is delicious, and Tim declares he’s going to try and charm Charlie’s grandmother out of the recipe—Martin Prime suddenly tilts his head to one side, as if trying to catch a sound. A smile twitches at his lips, and he stands up and holds out a hand to Jon Prime. “May I?”

Jon Prime looks startled for a split-second, then smiles—no, grins—and places his hand in Martin Prime’s. He lets Martin Prime pull him away from the table and into his arms, and the two of them start slow-dancing.

Jon pauses, fork suspended over his plate, and watches them. Jon Prime lets Martin Prime lead him in a simple box step, one arm draped casually over Martin Prime’s shoulder, while Martin Prime’s hand rests firmly at his waist; their other fingers are laced together in a way that would make it difficult to telegraph intended moves if they didn’t—probably—know each other so well. The space between them is so little it’s a wonder they don’t constantly trip over each other’s feet, and before long their foreheads touch. The song is gentle and plaintive, encouragement from one partner to the other to trust and relax and allow the first to take care of the second, a promise that the second person won’t be considered weak or lesser if they allow themselves to be comforted.

I promise you’ll be safe here in my arms…

Martin Prime lifts his arm and spins Jon Prime around gently, and when Jon Prime comes back into the closed frame, he leans his head against the shoulder where his hand isn’t resting and closes his eyes. Martin Prime pulls him closer and rests his cheek alongside Jon Prime’s as they continue dancing. It’s one of the most intimate and romantic things Jon has ever seen, and he almost has to look away from it.

Almost. Not quite. Something keeps him drawn, and there’s a tiny part of Jon’s brain that suggests it probably isn’t just the pleasure at seeing someone who’s basically him safe and happy and in love mixed with the vague sense of longing for something like that—maybe not that exactly, but something like it. It may also be that watching the Primes slow dancing means he doesn’t have to look at anyone else.

The song plays itself out. Martin Prime turns his head slightly; Jon Prime turns his at the same time, and their lips meet gently in the middle. This time Jon does look away. He’s never quite been able to figure out how he feels about kissing, to be honest; it’s one of the things that sent his and Georgie’s relationship down in flames, was the fact that he always acted like you think I’ve got poison in my lip gloss, according to her. But he finds himself wondering for a moment what Martin’s lips would feel like against his, if they’d be as soft and warm as the rest of him. If it might make a difference to kiss Martin instead of Georgie, or Meredith, or Kelly. And that’s not a question he’s comfortable asking himself just then, let alone trying to answer.

The scrape of a chair breaks his attention, and he looks up to see the Primes sitting down like nothing happened, although they’re still holding hands. Tim clears his throat. “Who wants cake?”

The cake is, as promised, a bit of a mess—it looks like someone tried to tease out the blob created by the icing tip popping off with a toothpick or something, but the resultant design looks like the pictures someone showed Jon once of a web woven by a spider that had been fed caffeine, and the fact that the icing is bright red doesn’t help—but it is absolutely delicious.

Afterward, Tim and Jon store the leftovers while Martin and Sasha start on the dishes. Jon Prime glances at the kitchen clock and touches Martin Prime on the shoulder. “We should probably go. The later it gets, the more likely that…someone might cruise by the Institute, and I’d rather not risk that.”

Martin Prime squeezes Jon Prime’s hand gently, and Jon swallows on the sudden surge of nausea. They haven’t seen anything of Detective Tonner, and Basira didn’t say anything about her when she showed up last week to switch out the tapes, but the memory of the Primes’ faces when they stumbled back to Tim’s place to change and return his car is a hard one to shake. Even though Jon Prime swears he and Daisy eventually became friends, it’s the eventually that sticks out, and Jon isn’t sure what he’ll do if Daisy turns up at the Institute. It’s also obvious that the Primes are more afraid of her than they’re letting on.

Tim opens his mouth, probably to invite them to spend the night or something, but Sasha beats him to it. “Can you wait a few minutes? I’d rather not walk to the tube station by myself, if it comes to that, and I think you said there’s an entrance to the tunnels near there.”

Jon Prime frowns slightly. “I…don’t think I did, but there is.”

“We’ll walk with you, Sasha,” Martin Prime assures her.

Tim sighs theatrically. “I feel a little better, which is a relative statement not to be taken as approval.”

“Your objection is duly noted.” Sasha hands Martin a plate to dry.

All too soon, everything is cleaned up, just as the playlist comes to an end, and there’s really no way of stalling them further. There’s a round of hugs and see-you-Mondays, and then Sasha and the Primes head out the door, leaving Jon, Martin, and Tim alone in their new house.

It’s not that late, comparatively, so Jon suggests a card game. They’ve played most nights since Sasha went back to sleeping in her own flat; they’ve played a couple of games of Rummy or Go Fish, and Tim once tried to teach Jon and Martin a game he learned from his grandparents that uses a forty-card deck (Martin picked it up quickly, Jon did not), but most of the time they play Crazy Eights. Tim declares that they’re going to keep playing until either he or Jon or both manage to overtake Martin’s score, which is clearly going to be an impossible task, as he’s up by nearly a thousand points and consistently wins at least three or four games a night. Still, they give it a valiant effort. After Martin manages to go out while both Tim and Jon still have an eight each in their hand, though, they decide to call it quits for one night.

“Someday I’ll figure out how you keep doing that,” Jon says, shuffling the deck lightly before putting it back in the box.

Martin shrugs. “Practice, I guess? I used to play with my granddad a lot when I was younger. We kept a running total, too, and I think I was up three thousand points or so when he died.”

Tim gives a low whistle. “How old were you?”

“Nine. We’d been playing pretty regularly since I was five. At least one game every time I went to visit.”

Jon thinks back to the conversation he and Martin had in Tim’s kitchen the morning after Prentiss’s attack. “Is this the grandfather who had the cherry trees?”

“You remembered.” Martin looks pleased. “Yeah, he was my mum’s dad. I never met my dad’s family, that I remember anyway.” He pauses. “You, uh, you told Charlie you were raised by your grandmother. Was that…?”

Jon didn’t know Martin was there, but he’s kind of glad he doesn’t have to figure out how to bring it up. “My father’s mother. She was…formidable. My father died when I was two, from an accidental fall, and my mother died a couple years later. Surgery complications.”

“I’m sorry,” Martin says softly. “That must have been hard on you.”

“Harder on my grandmother, I think. I was barely old enough to remember them.” All Jon remembers of his father is his laugh, and he’s fairly certain that most of his memories of his mother come from his aunt.

Tim leans forward, resting his arms on the table. “Is she still around? Your grandmother?”

Jon shakes his head. “She died just before I started working at the Institute. What about yours, Tim?”

“My dad’s dad is the only grandparent still around. I think.” Tim worries at his lower lip with his teeth for a moment. “I’d like to think someone would call me if something happened, but I don’t know.”

Martin hums sympathetically. “Is he…in a home?”

“Not as far as I know. Last I heard, he was still living with my parents. Moved in when Granny died, just after I left for university.” Tim sighs. “We’re not…close. After Danny…”

Jon reaches over and touches Tim’s arm gently. “It must be hard on them, losing a son. No parent expects to outlive their child.”

“That’s just it. Mum refuses to believe he’s dead.” Tim smiles weakly. “No body, you know? Dad isn’t sure, but he also thinks I know more than I’ve told them. Grandfather all but accused me of having a hand in Danny’s disappearance.”

“What?” Jon blinks, shocked. “How could anyone think you’d—you would never.”

“I know, but…well, Dad’s family was always a bit conservative, blue collar and all that, and I’m…well, me. I think that’s why Dad encouraged my hiking and camping and all that. Hoped it would knock some ‘sense’ into me,” Tim says with a wry twist of his lips. “Once I came out as bi, though, I think they decided there was no hope left for me. It just got worse after Danny died.”

Martin’s expressive face closes down, and Jon’s stomach lurches. This is the most they’ve talked about their families in…ever, he thinks, but from the little bits of information Martin—and Martin Prime, for that matter—have let slip, Jon has formed a very unfavorable impression of Martin’s mother. He’s always kind of had a hazy idea that Tim’s family situation was better, especially after he heard the pride in his voice when he talked about Danny when giving his statement, and finding out that it wasn’t much better than theirs…

“How old were you?” he asks, not sure why. “When you—told them.”

“Seventeen. There was a guy I’d been seeing—nothing serious, really, but we had fun together—and we went out for Valentine’s Day. My parents were confused because they knew my girlfriend and I had just broken up before Christmas and I hadn’t mentioned another girl, so I told them about Steve.” Tim gets quiet for a second. “Mum cried. Dad just…told me to stop upsetting my mother and never brought it up again. Not until Grandfather started in on me.”

Jon swallows. “You’ve a great deal more courage than I have. I—I never admitted to my grandmother that I ever had any interest in boys, let alone dated one.”

“Only one? You’re missing out.” Tim’s grin is a pale echo of his usual one, but it is at least genuine. “How ‘bout you, Martin?”

“A few.” Martin relaxes with a visible effort that makes Jon’s heart ache. “Been out since I was fourteen. Mum reacted…about as well as she reacted any other time I told her something she didn’t like or did something she wasn’t expecting. I never brought anyone home to meet her or…really talked to her about my dating, and she only ever brought it up in relation to herself. Like saying it was a good thing there wasn’t any risk of me passing on any of my numerous undesirable traits to a helpless child.”

“I don’t think your mum understands what ‘bisexual’ means,” Tim points out.

“Probably not, but it doesn’t matter. I’m gay.” Martin grimaces. “I’m also ace, so no risk there anyway, but…”

Jon wants to say any child would be fortunate to count you as a father or I can’t think of a single undesirable trait about you, but what actually comes out is, “Ace?”

“Uh, asexual. It’s—I don’t…get attracted like that. Romance, sure, aesthetic stuff and all that, but not…” Martin gestures vaguely. “Tried it anyway, for a couple of guys I was with, but i-it didn’t go well.”

Jon’s world view shifts abruptly on its axis. Tim, though, looks suddenly worried. “Are you okay? They didn’t—”

“No, no,” Martin says quickly. “It wasn’t—I just don’t like it. That’s all.” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Never bothered telling Mum that part. She wouldn’t…I’ve done enough damage.”

Tim pulls Martin into a quick one-armed hug, and Jon reaches across the table to squeeze his hand as gently as he can, but they change the subject after that.

They end up sitting up for a while in their new living room, relaxing. Tim props his feet up in the recliner and works on a crossword; Jon curls up at one end of the sofa with a book he’s been meaning to read for years that Jon Prime assures him he’ll love; Martin sits at the other end and knits. It about bowled Jon over completely when he learned that Martin made most of the sweaters he wears, but the sight and sound of him working away has become increasingly familiar in the last few weeks, especially after the Primes and the rest of the crew collaborated to get him an array of needles and knitting wool in all colors of the rainbow for his birthday. Jon usually finds the gentle clicking of the needles soothing, but tonight it’s just a hair distracting, and he keeps glancing up from the page to watch Martin’s fingers as they expertly manipulate the yarn or Tim tap the eraser of his pencil thoughtfully against his jaw while he contemplates an answer. He’s not even quite sure what he’s looking at.

Finally, Tim lays down his puzzle with a sigh. “I think I’m gonna turn in,” he says, sounding oddly reluctant. “Long day and all that.”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna—” Martin works a couple more stitches and folds up his project. “Probably a good stopping place for tonight.”

Jon considers saying he’s going to stay in the living room and finish the chapter he’s on, but if he’s being completely honest, he’s been on the same page for however long it’s been and hasn’t taken in a single word. Silently, he slides the scrap of paper he’s currently using as a bookmark back between the pages and closes the book. “Well. Good night, then.”

“��Night, Jon.”

The bedrooms are all upstairs, two on one side and one on the other with the bathroom handy, and the three of them wish each other goodnight again before disappearing into their rooms. Jon closes the door and looks around the room, his room.

There’s not much to it, to be honest. A nightstand, a dresser, a battered desk he’s had since he was a child, a lamp and the bed. He sets the book on top of the desk and changes into his comfortable sleep clothes, then crawls into the bed and pulls the covers up over his shoulders.

It’s…odd. No, not odd. Jon can’t quite think of the right word for it. But the sheets feel unfamiliar against his skin, and they don’t smell right, either, probably because they’re new. The mattress that felt perfectly comfortable when he tested it out in the store doesn’t seem to afford the same comfort now, and he wonders if the floor model has simply had much of the stiffness tested out of it over time. Even the pillows, which he did retain from his old bedroom setup, seem determined to thwart his attempts to find a comfortable position.

He rolls onto his back and stares up at the ceiling, arm draped over his midsection. He won’t fall asleep like this, he’s always been a side-sleeper, but his mind is a seething roil of emotions and he needs to get his thoughts under control before he can even have a hope of getting comfortable enough to sleep, he guesses.

Asexual. Jon probes at the word, at what it describes. I don’t get attracted like that. I just don’t like it. Honestly, until meeting Georgie, Jon had no idea that sort of attraction really existed; he thought it was just something out of the lurid romance novels his grandmother favored and he’d read once or twice in sheer desperation. It was something she’d wanted, though, so he’d tried a few times, but his efforts hadn’t satisfied her and he never really saw what all the fuss was about. He can take it or leave it, preferably the latter.

He never knew there was a word for it.

Suddenly, he wants to talk to Martin about it, about how he realized, how he knew. Where he found the word. If there are many more like—well, like them, he supposes. If that’s one of the reasons he was reluctant to tell Jon how he felt. He wants to ask about Martin’s experiences, if they were bad just because his body didn’t want them or for some other reason. A part of him also wants to cry from sheer relief. He isn’t broken. There’s nothing wrong with him. Well, not in that respect, anyway.

He sighs heavily and rolls onto his side again, plumping the pillows and curling one arm around them. They’re too flat, he thinks idly, too soft and yielding. Which is odd, because that’s never bothered him before. He can’t seem to get warm, either, which is also bizarre because it’s been an unusually mild day for late September and he’s under the duvet he’s had for years, which suddenly seems too light and insubstantial. The room is too quiet and still. It all feels…wrong, somehow.

Jon closes his eyes and stubbornly tries to force sleep, to no avail. The sense of wrongness pervades his being, curling through him and keeping him tethered to consciousness. He runs through the list of problems he seems to be having and tries to come up with which one might be keeping him awake. The only thing he can think of is the unfamiliar mattress. Everything else is exactly the way it was in his old flat.

And when was the last time you slept there? The thought hits him all of a sudden, and his eyes snap open. He forgot. The last time he slept in his apartment was the night before Jane Prentiss attacked the Institute. Ever since then, he’s been sleeping in Tim’s living room…or in Tim’s bed. With the others.

That’s all it is. He isn’t used to the silence of being alone. He’s not used to not knowing, right away, exactly where Tim and Martin are and if they’re safe. He’ll just go and check on them, see that they’re safe, and he’ll be able to get to sleep just fine.

He throws back the covers, slides his glasses back on, and heads into the hallway. Jon somehow ended up in the room by the bathroom, while Tim and Martin are on the other side of the hallway. Martin’s room is first, though, so Jon heads there. He’s as careful as he can be. Martin is probably asleep by now. He definitely seemed tired while they were still in the living room, and Jon wonders if he lingered because the other two were still sitting down there. It makes him feel slightly guilty, like he should have called it a night earlier so Martin can get some sleep. And after all, they did have a very emotionally draining conversation, which probably exhausted him as well. All that runs through Jon’s mind as he slowly, slowly eases the door open and peers around it to see into Martin’s room.

It’s sparsely furnished; nothing but a bed and one of those flimsy pop-up cloth jobs bisected into cubes, which is serving as his dresser. Martin’s laptop and phone sit on the floor, both connected to their chargers. The bed is mussed slightly and shows signs of having been occupied, but Jon’s heart rate accelerates when he looks at it. It’s empty.

There’s no sign of a struggle, he tells himself, and he heard nothing, so surely everything is fine. Martin’s probably just in the bathroom, or downstairs getting a glass of water or something. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. Jon will just…go check on Tim and Tim will be fine and then he’ll go find Martin and make sure he’s fine and it…will…be…fine. He pulls the door closed and turns to Tim’s room.

The door is slightly ajar, and there’s a faint glow coming from the room. Jon hesitates, then taps lightly on the door three times before easing it open. Tim is sitting up on the bed, cross-legged and leaning forward slightly. And—Jon’s shoulders slump in relief—Martin is there, too, on the edge of the bed, one leg hanging off the side and the other tucked underneath him. They’re talking quietly, but both obviously exhausted. They look up at the sound of the door opening and watch Jon stand in the doorway. He opens his mouth, then realizes he doesn’t know what to say and closes it again.

“Couldn’t sleep either?” Martin asks gently. The circles under his eyes are almost black.

“No,” Jon admits. “I—I just wanted to—” He breaks off, still not sure what to say.

Wordlessly, Tim holds out a hand. Jon lets the bedroom door shut behind him as he comes forward and takes it. Martin wraps an arm around him from behind, and the two of them pull Jon onto the bed and into a lying-down position. Tim rolls over and snaps off the lamp by his bed, then pulls the covers up over all three of them. Jon manages to reach down and snag the middle to help.

“Better,” Tim murmurs.

It’s not a question, but Jon hums in agreement anyway. Trying for levity, he says, “Shame to waste money on new beds, though.”

“We’ll be able to sleep there eventually,” Martin says. Jon only realizes how much stress was in his voice when it’s drastically lessened. “At some point we’ll probably want the space. But for now, there’s this.”

“For now, there’s this,” Jon agrees. He tilts his head back briefly to rest it against Martin’s shoulder, and Martin scoots in closer.

Tim does, too, the two of them sandwiching Jon securely between them. “Get some sleep,” he says. “It’ll be all right tomorrow.”

Jon yawns and closes his eyes, and it doesn’t really surprise him when he falls asleep straightaway. The nightmares are as present as ever, but in the morning, he can almost fool himself into believing they weren’t so bad.

Almost.

#ollie writes fanfic #leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall)#tma #the magnus archives #jonmartin #referenced homophobia cw #internalized aphobia cw #panic attacks cw #please click that link and listen to the song #it'll make that bit so much better

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ren1327 · 4 years ago

Text

Sweater Weather Ch. 6

Kenji noticed how quiet Ben was as he packed his suitcase again, too focused on folding his shirts a certain way.

“You excited?” Kenji asked.

“About what?”

“The hotel stay?” Kenji asked.

“Oh! Yeah. We’re coming back after the run through, right?”

“Yeah, it’s just a week.” Kenji said and stared at his suitcase.

“Oh…Um, will it be that short?” He asked.

“Do you wanna just…stay here?” Kenji asked. “I mean, we still go in a couple days and make it the night before if you want. Have some time to cool our heads.”

“Will that be okay?” Ben asked.

“Sure!” Kenji said. “Let me just go tell my Dad.”

Candy hugged him extra tight.

“I hope your cold feels better, Mijo.” She said and smiled at Ben, who smiled back, bundled in pajamas and a blanket wrapped around to his ears.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to take Carmen?” Kosei asked and his daughter huffed.

“Daddy! I can feed myself and I’ll stay out of the way. Besides. That means I get to know Ben better!” She said. “I can make him caldo and spiced atole!”

“I don’t know what those are, but I’m gonna eat them.”

“Heck yeah, we are!” Kenji said excitedly. “Cause I’m gonna help!”

“You still cook, Mi Bebe?” Candy asked with a smile.

“I…I lived alone.” Kenji said. “It’s not as good as yours but…”

Candy cocked her head and kissed his cheek, pinching it.

“Pobrecito…” She said with a laugh. “Be safe and stay warm.”

“Owen will bring you two back in two days.” Kosei said and hugged Carmen close.

“Okay. Have fun!” Carmen yelled as they left.

She turned around with a grin, scooping up Bumpy.

“I’m going to make caldo for dinner, but for now, me and Bumpy are gonna go watch Ducktales and eat jerky!”

“Floss after!” Kenji called as she ran up the stairs.

“Think they bought the sick act?” Ben asked, dropping the blanket from his head down to his shoulders.

“Nope. But they’re catering to you.” He said, placing his hands on Ben’s exposed shoulders.

“Isn’t that my boyfriend’s job?” Ben asked with a smile.

“Just act sick today and we can do something tomorrow.” Kenji said, turning around to hide his blush.

“Okay.” Ben said. “So…I’m assuming most of this act will be bumming around and cuddling?”

Kenji cleared his throat.

“My parents aren’t here…” He said.

“Practice.”

Kenji blinked and looked at Ben, looking up from hooded eyes.

“I…okay. You wanna read a book while I look at my phone?” Kenji asked.

“You know me so well, Honey.” Ben said with a tilt of his head.

Kenji’s heart thudded as he looked down at his pretend boyfriend.

Carmen knocked gently on the door and Kenji called out to let her in.

She opened it slowly and peek in, the smell of rich chicken soup wafting through the house.

“Kenji, can you help me with something?” She asked.

Kenji looked down at Ben, who was curled up in another one of his sweaters and sleeping soundly.

“Sure.” He said and wrapped a blanket around Ben, kissing his forehead.

“Aw~” Carmen cooed.

“Shut up. You’ll get it.” He said knowingly.

He followed her to the kitchen, where she had a large crockpot full of shredded chicken and veggies.

“I always get the spices wrong even when I follow Mama’s recipe.” She whined.

“I got ya.” He said and grabbed a rotating spice rack of glass shakers filled with chopped herbs, ground spices and full leaves.

“First off, no cilantro. It taste like soap to some people so just better to nix it. Next, we add cumin, black peppercorn, a whole bay leaf and chili paste.” He said, making a showoff adding the spices and stirring it with a wooden spoon. “I don’t smell that certain…twang.”

“Not everyone can handle your spice!” She reminded him. “But…maybe jalapeno juice?”

“Ding ding ding! Prize to the cutie in Steven Universe socks!” He said and she smiled, getting him a bottle from the fridge.

He added a splash, stirred it once more and covered it. “And now we wait two awful hours.”

“We can start the rice after about an hour and a half, right?” She asked.

“So…what do you say we go all the way with this meal?” he asked.

“You mean-?!”

“Chocolate time, Baby!” He said and she squealed.

He quickly grabbed a few bowls and pans. Carmen placed her phone in a speaker and quick tempered guitar sounded in the kitchen.

It was no secret that the Kon siblings took after their mother’s culture when it came to food. They joked that was how she had seduced their father before winning him over with her empathetic personality. They had explored her childhood hotspots, from the River Walk, to the Art Museum to Fiesta Square and the Quarry Market, they had walked and shopped with their Mama and visit old friends in the barrios near downtown to check on them.

“When I was little, my Tia lived with two other families in a house meant for one. But they cooked together and worked hard so their children could go to school and do something with their lives. And we made sure to return and take care of them.” She said as their old Tia sat in a plush chair, eyes closed in content and body relaxed as Carmen chattered on about her day at school, Kosei watching them worriedly to make sure the old woman did not get overwhelmed in the small hot kitchen.

“But I remembered the food and how good it was. Even if there wasn’t a lot, there was still so much love and flavor in it.” She said, stirring the red rice and a teen Kenji adding peas and sliced jalapenos to it. “So when I cook, I remember the love and care that went into it and remember what my family did, where we came from. How a lot can go into a little still.”

She then held out a small spoon of rice and Kenji took a bite; lemon, tomatoes, and pepper blending together perfectly into the rice and blooming over his tongue. He felt his Mother’s kiss on his forehead and smiled.

He sighed happily as he mixed the chocolate and then held the spoon to Carmen to taste. She took it and happily put it in her mouth with a hum.

Had Ben experienced what his mother had in her childhood?

Had his mother shown him her love in what little she could give. Kenji Recalled how he and Carmen had nice clothes and food growing up. How Carmen asked for a game and got it the same day.

His parents worked their butts off and he…

He had just run away.

No wonder his father was so pissed at him all those years and now…

Now he saw him and Ben and looked hopeful. Like Kenji might pull himself together for Ben and that…that…

“That’s not fair.” He said out loud and noticed Carmen had paused holding out the small desert bowls decorated with diamond.

“Kenji?” She asked.

“I…I’ve been such a dick.” He sighed and hugged Carmen.

“Um, let’s plate these and put them away and then…you wanna talk?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Kenji said and she held the bowls as he filled them.

Carmen placed them in the freezer, and they started on the dishes, washing them by hand this time.

“I’ll wash, you dry.” Carmen said and Kenji nodded, both of them rolling up their sleeves in unison.

As they settled in a nice silence, Kenji looked at Carmen.

“I ran away after the breakup and I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing to me?” She asked.

Kenji took a breath and turned to his sister, leaning against the counter top.

“I know about the bullying.”

“I…of course you do.” She sighed.

“Carm, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it’s no big deal.” She huffed, handing him a pot.

“It is to me!” Kenji said, aggressively wiping it down with a towel. “My little sister is hurting and I…”

“What would you even do?” She asked.

“I…I don’t know, something!”

“Kenji!” She said and looked at him. “You’re here. You’re here and that’s…”

She sniffed as her voice cracked, eyes filling with tears.

“You’re here and I’m okay.” She sobbed the last word, Kenji gathering her in his arms.

“Yeah…” He said and rubbed her back. “And I’m gonna be here for you no matter what.”

“What about—”

“Shh…” Kenji whispered. “Let me be here for you.”

Carmen nodded into his shirt.

“I have something to tell you.” He said. “About Ben.”

“That you two are obviously not an item?”

He pulled her back.

“What the heck, Carmen?” He yelled.

“I could tell, duh. You two are so not okay in each other’s arms and you are so forced.” She said with a smirk. “You can fool Mama and Dad, but not me.”

“So…”

“Explain.” She said and Kenji sighed.

“Well…”

Ben woke up to Bumpy licking his face.

He took a deep breath and Carmen was there, eyes watery and clutching her dress.

“Carmen?” He asked, then huffed when the teen hugged him around the neck.

“I’m so sorry!” She cried. “I didn’t know my brother dragged you into this dumb mess!”

“Uh…” Kenji said, his left cheek red from a slap.

“You told her.” Ben said.

“He did and I am so mad and sad and…”

“He wanted to make your parents proud.” Ben said with a sigh. “And I needed to get away for a bit.”

“Do you two even like each other?” Carmen asked.

“I…” Ben bit his lip. “I cant answer that right now. I’m comfortable with your brother.”

“You shouldn’t settle with someone who hurt you!” Carmen yelled and Ben looked up at Kenji.

“You told her—”

“Everything.” Kenji said.

“Carmen.” Ben said and pulled her to sit next to him, taking her hands. “Listen. I hated your brother back then.”

Kenji cringed.

“I thought it was his fault my mom got too stressed and…” He took another deep breath. “It wasn’t. We were just stupid kids doing stupid things at the worst time…And yes. Your brother hurt me. Scarred me in some ways. And you know what happened?”

“What?”

“I dated an absolute scumbag cause I thought, ‘hey, I could take years of abuse from Kenji Kon, I can handle this.’ But I couldn’t…He…” Ben covered his mouth and gagged a bit, Kenji grabbing the trash can and holding it under Ben’s head.

He pushed it away, shaking his head.

“He hurt me so bad.” He said and Carmen covered her mouth. “And I was okay with that.”

“W-Why?” She asked.

“I’ve been a victim,” Ben said, voice wobbling. “Like, my whole life. And I hated it. And now, I’m homeless and leeching off the only people who have ever been nice to me. And I hate it.”

He sniffed and wiped his hot face, vision blurry.

“So when I realized I could find a way out with your brother’s help, I thought, ‘well, he owes me’. And yet…He has shown me something I cant believe. He’s changed, Carmen. And I never thought I’d be excited to see Kenji Kon, than I am when he comes through a door. And yeah…maybe this is fake, but I’m happier that he’s willing to help me stand on my own two feet by showing me that change is possible. He went from an absolute dick—”

“I was.” Kenji interjected.

“—to a kind and devoted older brother who adores his parents, his friends and wants to make up for what he did to me.” Ben said. “And I’m giving him this chance. I’m sorry we lied.”

“This is still really messed up. What if Mama and Dad want you two to…y’know…stay together?” She asked.

“I’d tell them everything. In all honesty, it was mainly to show I had gotten over Brooklynn.” Kenji said.

“Have you?” Carmen asked.

Kenji made a face and Ben huffed, grabbing his boots and coat. “Excuse me.”

Carmen watched as Kenji quickly followed Ben out the hall and to the backyard.

“This was so stupid!” Ben yelled into the trees.

Kenji grabbed his arms and pulled him back. “Dude, you’re in pajamas!”

“I don’t care! This is…This was a mistake, Kenji…” Ben said.

“Ben…please, hate me all you want, but I need you, not just for this stupid lie.” Kenji said. “I…You make me happy, Ben.”

“Happy?”

“You make me calm and like…like I can have this.”

“And what is this?” Ben asked with a shake of his head.

Kenji pulled him into a tight hug. Ben blushed as he felt the other’s chest thudding.

“Kenji?”

“I liked you. Back then, I liked you and I was such an asshole.” He said.

Ben shoved him away. “That is such…You are such a…”

His face was red and his nose wrinkled and Kenji could see tears building again.

“I think I still do…” Kenji said, taking a step forward.

Ben covered his face before reaching out and yanking Kenji down by his shirt collar, kissing him as snow started to fall. Ben pushed him back a bit, to glare at him with almost no heat.

“Then do this correctly.” Ben hissed and pulled him back into another kiss.

After a moment, Kenji put his own coat around Ben.

“Let’s get you into a warm bath. It’s too cold for you here.” Kenji said and led him back into the house and past Carmen, who seemed to be grinning behind her hands.

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

Sorry this took so long. But hopefully, I can continue when I have time, and power. Hopefully Texas will get back to normal soon.

#jw fanfic #jw sweater weather #kenji x ben #jw benji #benken #kenjamin #wildcity #its back y'all #camp cretaceous sweater weather #camp cretaceous fanfic

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chilling-seavey · 4 years ago

Note

I LIVE for the uncle Chi Chi in your ABM blurbs so if you’re looking for more to write I would LOVE more uncle Chi Chi fluff!! Maybe with all three girls and he takes them on like a group “date” or something?! Idk do with this message as you want hahaha I’m sure I’ll love whatever your write!!

I’m so glad someone agrees with me that Uncle Chi-Chi is the cutest thing LOL I also wrote this at 7am as SOON as I woke up so sorry if it’s kinda trash 🧡

Out of his siblings, Christian’s probably the one who wakes up the earliest, not that he was a morning person or anything, he just enjoyed starting his day with enough time to do lots of things. This was especially when his nieces were over for Christmas break and he moved back home for those few weeks to spend time with them, meaning he was almost always up with the birds with them. The girls always shared Tyler’s old room which was right next door to his own and on every morning – except Christmas morning – Clementine and Penelope would go right in to wake him up.

It was the December after Lucy was born, meaning Daniel and Florence were back to being woken up at all hours of the night to tend to the baby. Christian was glad to give them extra time to sleep as he sent the oldest two girls downstairs before he tiptoed into Daniel’s room to grab Lucy before she could wake up her parents. The six-month-old was already awake, thankfully, staring up at him from the crib and she kicked her legs excitedly at the sight of him. Christian scoped her up and set her on his hip as he headed back out, closed the door silently behind him, and started downstairs.

Clementine and Penelope were in the living room waiting for him and he ushered them into the kitchen after him.

“What are we doing?” Clementine asked as Christian pulled out the step stool from beside the fridge and opened it up so the two girls could reach counter height.

“We’re going to make breakfast.” Christian said with a smile.

“For everyone?” Clementine gaped.

“Yep!”

“That’s a lot of Cheerios.” Penelope whispered.

“We’re making something better than cereal.” Christian promised, petting Penelope’s dark hair back from her face. “How does French Toast sound?”

“Good!” the girls grinned.

Lucy was buckled into the high chair near by as she wouldn’t be much help with the cooking process but she was still part of it. Christian gathered the ingredients on the kitchen island and finished it with a mixing bowl.

“Let’s wash our hands, okay?” he grabbed Clementine around the waist first and carried her over to the sink, holding her up so she could wash her hands and then switched out for Penelope when she was done.

“All clean!” Penelope held up all ten fingers to him and he pressed a kiss to her head.

“Sure are.”

Christian did most of the measuring but let the girls take turns dumping the ingredients into the bowl. He made sure to teach them how to clean as they went so the mess wouldn’t be too big when they finished. When the ingredients were all in the bowl, each girl had a chance to whisk. That only got so far as the entire bowl nearly poured onto Penelope when she tried to mix it and Christian pulled an impressive lunge to rescue it before she was covered in raw egg and cinnamon.

So he took control of the whisking, the girls staring at him with adoration as he held the bowl and whisked the eggs and spices and other ingredients together. When that was ready, he handed each girl a slice of bread and they got to dunk it into the egg mixture. Clementine stuck her whole hand in the bowl with it, pressing the bread down against the bottom before taking it out, dripping, and held it out to him.

“Okay, wow, thank you.” Christian held his hands under it to keep anymore egg from dripping onto the floor and he set her slice on a plate while they finished soaking the rest.

Penelope held her little pinkies up as she poked her slice gently in the egg mixture, almost afraid to get her hands covered in it.

“Hurry up!” Clementine ordered.

“Hey. Be nice. She can take her time.” Christian said softly.

“I’m done.” Penelope whispered, looking up at him shyly as she took her hands out of the bowl and held them out to him.

“Good job, pumpkin.” Christian smiled at her, wiping her hands off with a tea towel.

“Can I do another?” Clementine asked.

“Of course.” Christian handed her another slice of bread and she dunked it into the bowl. He took their finished slices and turned on the stovetop to begin cooking them while the girls finished up the last pieces in the bowl.

“Chi-Chi!” Penelope called, making him turn around quickly, spatula still in hand. “I wanna get down.”

“I got you.” he held out his free hand to her and she took it so he could help her jump off the step stool.

He turned back to finish cooking the last few pieces that Clementine brought over from the kitchen island and when it was all done, he turned off the stove and set the plate of stacked French Toast on the island and dumped the remaining few mixing bowls and utensils in the sink. Christian lifted up the girls to sit at the breakfast bar and wheeled over Lucy who was starting to get fussy.

“What’s up with you, huh?” Christian unbuckled her and lifted her out of the highchair as he grabbed three plates and some cutlery for them to eat their breakfast. Lucy sat on his hip with her head leaning against him as he poured the oldest two girls cups of orange juice and served them each a slice of toast. He poured a zig-zag of maple syrup over each slice and sat down to have two hands free to cut up the toast for the older two, the baby sat on his lap.

“Thank you!” Clementine and Penelope said at the same time as he passed down their plates to them and they began eating.

“Mama!” Lucy cried, squirming against him desperately.

“Mama’s still sleeping, Lucy Lu.” Christian bounced his leg to try and soothe her a little bit. He scooped up a bit of maple syrup from his plate onto his pinky and she opened her mouth for a taste. Lucy stared up at him with wide blue eyes as she sucked off the sweet syrup from his finger, breaking into a cheeky little smile. “Good, isn’t it?” Christian laughed lightly as she reached out for more. He scooped up another little bit and let her lick it off eagerly.

He didn’t hear the footsteps on the stairs before Daniel voice startled him, “First you steal my baby out of my room and then you give her pure sugar at nearly seven in the morning.”

“Daddy!” Clementine and Penelope grinned.

“Good morning, my little ladies.” Daniel smiled, walking over to kiss each of their heads and then give his older brother a smack. “Scared the hell out of me, bro.”

“Sorry.” Christian chuckled. “Just thought I’d let you two sleep.”

Daniel leaned down to his youngest, peppering little kisses to her chubby cheek, cooing, “Is uncle Christian getting you hooked on sugar this early?”

Lucy giggled, pressing her tiny hand to his face.

“Daddy! Have a French Toast! We made it!” Clementine said, pointing to the pile.

“You did? They look good.” Daniel smiled, walking around the island to open the fridge. He pulled out a bottle for the baby and got to work warming it up, serving himself a slice as he did so. He made sure the bottle was proper temperature before passing it over to Christian to feed Lucy.

“Bro, I haven’t even eaten yet.” Christian gestured to his untouched toast with the tip of the bottle.

“You wanted the baby up so you’re in charge of her now.” Daniel shrugged, pouring maple syrup over his breakfast before taking a seat beside his girls at the breakfast bar.

Christian looked down at Lucy who stared back up at him, reaching for the bottle, “Mama!”

“I’m not Mama. I look nothing like Mama.” Christian tisked, offering her the bottle and she drank happily, leaning against him.

“You are feeding her breastmilk currently.” Daniel teased between bites. “So to her, and to her taste buds, you’re mama.”

“Great.” Christian sighed. Clementine and Penelope giggled from beside him and he glared playfully at them, “Eat your toast and don’t make fun of me. That’s not nice.”

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theinfiniteamount · 5 years ago

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hiya! when you get this, if you want, answer with five things that make you happy, then send it to the last ten people in your recent activity list. have fun! (- studycrim)

• My adopted orange cat son

• Taking walks with my cat in the forest

• My uncle’s (substitute dad) hugs, he gives the best hugs. All warm and safe and comforting, and he’s tall so I just disappear being surrounded by a half-giant. It’s great. Also just hugging people I care about in general.

• Whenever it’s raining, but especially during autumn or summer, even better if it’s pouring. Also the smell from the forest/asphalt after rain. But also the three best places when it’s raining: inside reading a book or watching a movie, at my favourite café/coffee shop, or outside in a place that’s stress-free and not crowded.

• My favourite drinks at my favourite café/coffee shop, none of which are coffee 😂 because I don’t like it and can’t drink it anyway. 3favourites: So their (winter/cold season) white hot chocolate because it’s extra sweet and they add marshmallows and the foam is also kinda marshmallowy. They have this warm and sorta foamy spiced apple drink (nothing like apple cider) which is unfortunately also only available during winter/colder months. Their chai latte, iced or warm (without espresso shots obviously.)

• Being the youngest sibling. Which means it is my duty in life to bother and annoy my brothers on purpose, and also to eat the cookies in the pantry and blame it on them because I know I’ll get away with it (unfortunately much harder when you no longer live in the same house.) Also beating my brothers is Crash Team Racing, or any game in general. I’m usually not competitive tbh, but older siblings, the literal bastards, must go down.

• My plant babies. A mixture of literal rescues, random seeds I’ll find/buy, sometimes seeds/plantlings (just gonna call them that) from fruits/vegetables/herbs. A few: My (more or less) sister-in-law gave me this really cute purple-pink plant that also shifts in green-yellow and it’s super cute, she also gave me this card (like a present card) that’s recycled paper with seeds in pressed in it and it’s really cute. I also find my teeny tiny mango plant trees that I planted from mango seeds absolutely adorable.

• Swimming in a lake during late afternoon/summer nights before it gets completely dark, and the lake is covered in so much fog you can’t see more than 1-3 meters head depending on how far out you go

• Wake up early just to watch the sunrise on the beach with someone

• The sunset here during late autumn, there’s this one train station quite far up compared to the highway, and when you take the train and pass forests/small lakes, you get to see the most beautiful sunsets

• Mangoes 🥭

• Baking, or making a general mess in the kitchen

• Also being a general mess, like when painting

• Some of the 70’s styled fashion

• Jumpsuits/playsuits, but wide/not tight legs if long. The ones with wide legs have the same effect as wearing a sweater with too long arms that you can swish around

• Pretty much most yellow things

• My favourite book series, Skulduggery Pleasant

• Music, like my ridiculous amount of playlists on Spotify could tell anyone that

• Scents/smells I like, or people that smell good. I have way to many body sprays, perfumes, lotions, flowers/plants, etc just because I have a tendency to collect nice smelling things 😅😂

• Saving small trinkets and tickets and pictures and things from moments, travels, random usual moment or moments I want to remember in general

• Polariods, or just pictures in general on paper, it’s just nicer and more special/authentic than something in your phone

• Large old fashioned libraries, or walking around bookshops

• Cute small towns with funnily named drinking beverages, ice cream places, antique stores with cool, funny, pretty, weird things

I may have gone a bit past five ok bye

@a-burrito-named-brainy this is really cute thank you 🧸

#studycrim #a-burrito-named-brainy #happiness #my happy

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thebrotherswholoved · 6 years ago

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dreaming a festive little dream

summary: You always look back on the bad times when you're standing in front of everything you've always wanted. Perhaps Santa brought him that astronomy book he wanted as a kid, or maybe his gift already arrived and he'll be reminded of how lucky he truly is.

content: dadchesters, parent!wincest, family bonding, only fluff/a bit of saddening nostalgia I guess, kiddos causing trouble, domestic bants

read on Ao3

Sam would be lying if he said he'd always adored Christmas.

For the longest time, it was the complete opposite. He abhorred the holiday and those stupid ornaments, tacky trees, and annoying carolers that would come to the motel door every year without fail, even though they never spent any two Christmases in the same place. Class parties were upsetting and made seven-year-old Sam run to the bathroom with tears rolling down his pudgy little cheeks at the sight of all the parents surprising their children at school. The teachers would forget about him and continue pouring green and red Kool Aid into cheap Dixie cups while he plucked at the strings of his short-sleeve, too-thin-for-winter shirt in a dingy restroom to make the tears stop. In fact, the only reason he'd return to class at all is because those candy apples, mince pies, and dollar store chocolates would make up the only meal he'd had in two days. Dean would try to feed him at the room after school but he'd say that he had lunch there so his older brother would feed himself at last in lieu of sacrificing yet another meal for his chubby little sibling.

Sam would ignore the rumbling in his stomach when he woke up on Christmas Day to find stolen presents under the dining table and an air freshener tree taped to the side before rushing to hug and kiss Dean's eleven-year-old cheeks and watching as he tried to hide his frost-nipped fingers from view, which happened without a doubt the night prior when he stole gifts from the neighbors. He wasn't as oblivious as Dean had hoped, after all.

John would call them for four and a half minutes tops and tell them to clean the guns and pack their things to leave in a few hours when he'd return, but not after a trip to a dive bar decked out with tinsel and Nat King Cole playing on the radio, which would be the only thing to remind him that he missed another Christmas with his sons—not that he cared. The blood of some ghoul or monster would stain his hands when he handed over a twenty dollar bill to pay off his tab, which is twice as much money that he gave to his boys for a few days. He beat the monster and to him, that's all that mattered.

Twenty-eight-year-old Sam Winchester wakes up with a start from his nightmare and shudders at the lingering feeling of cold numbness in his nose from the blizzard his mind had flung him into for the night. He sits up and expects the familiar chilly air and lack of insulation in another podunk motel room and to feel the abrasiveness of scratchy ninety-nine cent sheets on a Dateline oh-god-I-hope-that's-paint mattress, but finds nothing of the sort. Thirty dollar flannel sheets layer over him and shield him from the thermostat-regulated seventy-six degree room, which is painted a nice grey instead of the peeling wallpaper he saw in his dream.

The clock on his bedside table reads just before ten o'clock, a time which is verified by the gentle sweeping of sunshine bleeding into the room through the curtains. The room is splashed a golden yellow by the rays of light and this bright intrusion prompts him to stand up onto his feet and begin walking through his house. His dream created a film inside his mind and he feels foreign in this beautiful home—no empty beer bottles or pizza boxes, no flickering lights or broken taps, no neighbors going at it like animals in heat or pipes squeaking under the pressure of water coursing through their copper interiors. The chair rail is painted white and matches the molding strips; there are pictures framed on the walls of children—their children—taken professionally for birthdays and Christmases and anniversaries; and there’s a clanging sound coming from what’s presumably the kitchen given the open layout, followed by a gruff voice laughing and shushing the source of the sound.

Sam looks down at what he’s wearing and it all starts coming back to him: his red and white striped pyjamas were pointed out to him as a joke by Dean in a Pottery Barn catalogue but were bought anyway, the smell of pine needles and spice are coming from the tree in the corner of the living room, and the noises are indeed resonating from the kitchen. Something is dropped onto the floor with a bang which makes him jump, and he concludes that it’s not just him who’s startled by the sound of the shrill screech and gruff ejaculation that follows.

“Son of a—a gun!” Dean places a hand on his chest and catches his breath after the scare. He then looks at his and Sam’s children with an incredulous glare. “Which of you little monsters just took twenty years off my life?”

Sam leans against the entryway wall and watches as their oldest, Caden, smiles with maniacal eyes and raises his hand, making his Dad roll his eyes.

“Of course!” He swings the four-year-old into his arms as they both laugh, Caden letting out helpless giggles as Dean tickles him. “You are a little rascal.”

His eyes then shift to his and Dean’s youngest child, Paisley, who shrieks and claps her hands when she sees him, climbing out of her chair and waddling with bowed little legs over to him. She calls for “Daddy” and he meets her in the middle of the room where he scoops her up in his arms and sees her bright green eyes light up with glee when he pokes her chubby middle. Paisley’s tiny hands grasp at Sam’s hair which prompts him to push it back behind his ears and kiss his daughter’s tiny freckled nose. Whenever he has the chance to get a good look at Caden’s and Paisley’s features, it hits him for the umpteenth time how much they resemble their fathers.

Dean frowns when he sees his husband with their daughter, but not for the reason one may think. Caden pats his Dad’s cheeks with hands coated in powdered sugar and hoists himself onto his back to piggyback ride him and he pouts.

“You’re supposed to be asleep, Sasquatch.”

Sam hums when Paisley starts to bite at her little chewy bracelet they have her wear for oral stimulation, per suggestion of her pediatrician. “You guys aren’t exactly quiet, are you?”

Caden shakes his head and lets wavy hazelnut hair fall into his eyes. “Dada’s letting us cook.”

“We decided to make you breakfast before opening what Santa brought last night,” Dean explains and rubs his neck when their son drops down off his back.

He claims it’s because he has “cervical spine issues” that just decided to surface at age thirty-two but he gets just as flustered and nervous around Sam as he did as a teen and as a young adult when they first started “dating.” Admitting that to his husband, however, would be like admitting to murder—murder of his masculinity, that is, which is already fragile since the season of PETA adverts began. Sam still curls the longer pieces of his hair around his fingers whenever he finds himself more vulnerable than usual to Dean’s cuteness and susceptible to seduction after the kids are in bed. Nothing’s changed since their first date—with the exception of a house, marriage certificate, and two kids, of course.

“Aw,” Sam puts Paisley down on the floor and she runs as fast as her stubby, bowed legs will carry her to whatever her brother is doing in front of the TV. “I am loved after all.”

Dean lets out a huff and snakes his arms around his husband’s waist. “We have suspiciously fluffy pancakes, some extra crispy toast, scrambled eggs with a bit too much milk, and some actually decent hot cocoa.”

“I’ll take whatever’s edible, “ he knocks their foreheads together, “if you give me a kiss.”

“Ugh, I guess I can comply,” Dean rolls his eyes and leans in to kiss the love of his life, sleepy eyes fluttering shut in the safety of each other’s arms and in the security of the life they’ve built together.

Sam pulls back with some blue frosting on his nose and gives his brother a questioning eyebrow raise. He exhales with a soft laugh in reply. “We also baked cookies. Blue trees and green snowflakes like Pais wanted.”

“You’re such a great dad, De,” he rubs the other man’s shoulders with a grin. “I love you.”

“I know. You got lucky, Sammy,” Dean kisses him again. When they part, he whispers against his lips and runs his pointer finger over his chin. “Now the kids might actually kill us if we don’t let them open their presents, so can you go distract them while I get breakfast ready?”

Sam can’t help but laugh at his comment yet nods nonetheless. “I’ll keep you safe from our four and one year old children, I promise.”

“You’d better!” He calls over his shoulder as he walks back into the kitchen to clean up the mess and plate the viable food. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

“Yeah, Merry Christmas, Jerk,” Sam shouts, walking to the family room to watch the Scooby Doo Christmas special with a kid under each arm, all four of them wearing those hideous matching pyjamas.

After all, he’s got the best gift ever already. That said, he still wants those matching flasks they saw at the store to take to the more boring little league games. Oh shit, he’s not supposed to mention that.

Merry Christmas from the Winchester family—the most dysfunctional clan on earth.

#wincest #sam x dean #sam/dean #fanfic #parent!wincest #domestic boys #family matters #otp: and they were soulmates #merry christmas #happy holidays #i hope you like your gift #im not a lazy oaf see #my fanfiction #read on ao3

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abdicatedarchive · 4 years ago

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dinner disaster || cody and bella

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: summers house // late march.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: cody x bella ft. charlie, nathaniel, mr. and mrs. summers, mr. and mrs. langston.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: discomfort.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: cody and bella are forced into a joint family dinner, and they devise a plan that might be stupid.

Cody arrived at Bella's room and knocked on the door. Begrudgingly, he was dressed for the occasion. He had chosen to not wear a tie, even though his mother asked him to. Cody rested his arm against the door frame while he waited for the girl to open it, god, how he didn't want to be here at all. This whole dinner was weird, and honestly he felt like it was really out of the blue. The fact that Charlie was going to be there too? And Nathaniel? Just so unnecessary, not to mention both sets of parents. They had done dinners like this before, but it was when they were younger. Like when it was a dinner party for the parents and all the kids would get to sit in the kitchen and eat different food. Now they all had to sit at the dining room table and make small talk. It was going to be insufferable. "You ready?" he asked when she opened the door.

Bella looked at her reflection in the mirror, trying to convince herself that her dress was pretty. But it wasn't. Her mother sent it over to her because she didn't trust her daughter's fashion choices. It didn't send the right message. Her mother wanted class, and Bella's clothes were just a little too much. She got startled by the sound of the knock and ran over to the door, "Hello Cody Summers." she said, not thinking too hard on that fact that she called him by his full name. It made her think about if he had a middle name. Should she know that for this occasion? Would she be tested? She didn't want to embarrass her family. "What's your middle name?" she blurted out. "I am also ready. See? The dress is sort of weird, isn't it. You look nice." she spoke quickly, trying her best to be friendly with him. "Do you want candy before we go? I always keep some with me."

Cody wasn't ... really one for small talk, especially not with quirky girls. He liked playful banter, but if he wasn't in the mood (like the current reality) then it was just like talking to a wall. "Beckham" he responded as he took a deep breath. The dress she was wearing was ... well, to put it nicely: she looked uncomfortable to be wearing it and it showed. She looked a little alien in the territory. There wasn't anything wrong with it, and on another girl ... he would probably be into it. "Thanks" he replied to the compliment, ignoring her voicing her insecurities. If his mom was here she would have nudged him to compliment her, but she wasn't here. "What kind?" Cody asked, he wasn't sure what kind of strange candy this girl might be into. He always liked to know what he was getting into before he said yes to her.

"Oh that's fun. Are your parents a fan of Bend It Like Beckham?" Bella smiled to herself as she asked the question. It was some kind of an attempt at joking around, but she hoped it didn't make her sound stupid. "I'm just kidding. I'm fully aware of David Beckham. Posh Spice's husband. But if you were named specifically because of the movie, that's very fun. Mine is Jane." Bella made a mental note to try and get to know Cody more. He wasn't exactly someone she ever thought she'd talk to, but she was sure there would be something they could relate to. "You know those Arcor strawberry candies? They're my favorite." she walked over to her night stand and opened up the drawer to retrieve the candy. "Here you go. I'll bring extra just in case. Now I am ready to go. Do you need a minute to mentally prepare, because I understand. I found that the sound of ocean waves helps me relax, so I found a 10 hour video on Youtube of waves crashing on the shore. It helped a lot."

He let her ramble for a bit, "family name" Cody clarified. He was well aware that her middle name was Jane, back in middle school his friends had taken an enjoyment of calling her BJ after she received a few initialed things for Christmas. Not only had he definitely not stopped them, but he had joined in on the fun. "I'll take one" he said casually, they were one of his favorites too. They were something grandmother Summers always had in her purse, and when he was young she had taken to giving him special attention because he was the fourth. She was a fourth child too, so she felt especially called to Cody. "I think I'm good on the ocean noises" Cody replied with a laugh as he popped the candy in his mouth. Why the hell would you listen to ocean noises when you could just .. go to the beach? He took his keys out of his pocket as they left her room and headed out. Unlocking the car, he knew that he should probably open her car door for her but instead he just got into his side of the Hummer and started the car up.

This dinner was going to be a pain, but he knew on some level she also did not want to be here at all. If she had wanted to come she would have fought harder on the clothing thing, he assumed. When they arrived at the house, Charlie was getting out of his car. "Charlie" said Cody, "Cody" said Charlie before he turned his attention to Bella. "Bella it is great to see you, that dress looks lovely" said Charlie giving her a friendly hug, "Alice says hello, I think she didn't want to hear me and Nate talk about work. She also had a mild allergy to my parents, understandably" he added with a laugh. He wasn't sure why he had said yes to this dinner, mostly out of respect for Nate ... and to watch Cody squirm. Charlie had his suspicions about what this dinner actually was.

Bella was no stranger to family dinners, but that didn’t mean she particularly enjoyed them. There was too much pressure on her to be perfect. She felt like she tried so hard every time, but by the end of the night, her parents always seemed disappointed with her. “Hello Charles. Thank you.” She instantly felt her heart drop the moment she realized what she called him. Bella had known of Charlie long enough to realize that he preferred being called Charlie. She wasn’t a fan of being called Arabella, so she should have known better. It felt incredibly hypocritical. Even the tiniest mess ups made her panic. “Hello to Alice too then, wherever she is. Also, congratulations on the engagement.” Pretty much everyone in their hometown knew about the couple’s relationship status, and she honestly thought this dinner was some kind of celebration towards that. “My brother speaks very highly of you.” she decided to say as they headed into the house, thinking that the dinner was about Nate and Charlie’s job since it clearly was not about his engagement.

Charlie smiled, "Thank you, honestly I feel like Alice should get down on one knee and give me a ring too, that way I have something to show people when they congratulate me" he replied with a laugh as they headed up towards the house. Her comment about Nathaniel liking him made him feel a lot better about where he was at with work. Nathaniel working at the office had been a nice surprise, but he was really uptight. Charlie felt like he was never doing a good enough job. "Gives me a wave of relief, you know how he is" said the boy with a smile. Cody just stayed quiet, at least the two of them had someone to talk to. When they got to the door Cody rang the doorbell before stepping back among the three of them. Mrs. Summers answered the door, "Goodie, you're all here. Derek, Irene, and Nathaniel are already here" she said before she gave both her boys a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. "For you" said Charlie as he handed her a bottle of port, "from Alice with her regrets." Mrs. Summers nodded, sad that the girl had not come with Charlie. She wanted to fawn over the ring again, but with Alice came the possibility of older Altmans being invited. That was no good. "Arabella, you look so darling in that dress" said Mrs. Summers as she gave the girl a hug. "Don't you think she looks nice, Cody?" she prompted. "You look nice" said Cody to appease his mother. They were basically like small children at this point in the conversation. The three were let in and joined everyone in the sitting room. "Charles, whiskey or a g&t?" said Mr. Summers as he was standing at the bar cart. "g&t sounds great, thanks Dad" said the boy as he sat down. "Sodas or La Croix for you two?" he asked Bella and Cody. "Whatever is cold" said Cody with a shrug as he went to go shake the Langston's hands.

"Yes, he's... very serious. About work especially. He means well, it just takes a bit for him to open up." Bella tried explaining, her siblings were pretty similar to their parents. A lot cooler, but still had that uptight attitude. Once Mrs. Summers opened the front door, she forced a small smile on her face. Her expression softened a bit when the woman didn't mention her sister, Fiona. She didn't exactly talk to her siblings about this dinner, but she assumed they'd both be here. Her sister always had great luck with just about everything, if only Bella could relate. She made sure not to show any change in emotion when Mrs. Summers called her Arabella. Then she was saying her dress was pretty. Was she just being polite? Was everyone's taste here terrible? Was Bella the one with terrible taste? Seemed likely. "Oh thank you." she said to both Cody and his mother. She was curious to know if Cody was in the same position she was in with her parents. When they'd force her to act and talk a certain way around others. Bella went to Mr. Summers and said her hellos before being asked about drinks, "Soda please. Thank you." she spoke softly. Nathaniel walked up with his parents, giving everyone a kind smile, "Always nice to see you Charlie, you too Cody. Of course. I'm sure this dinner will be, lovely." he said, still a bit confused by the whole dinner. It seemed very sudden. Mrs. Langston walked up to Bella with an approving smile on her face, "You look beautiful, Arabella. I knew the dress would suit you, and very nice shoes." Her mother always had to bring up Bella's height and how she was the second tallest in the family, behind Nathanial. She grew very insecure about it, but she would never bring that up to her mother. "We're so happy you could all make it. We thought it would be nice to catch up, see how you all are doing." Mr. Langston told the children. "Shall we head to the dining room?"

Charlie pulled Nathaniel to the side, "I have strong suspicions that this is a set up" said the boy as he took a sip of his drink, "my Mom asked me a few weeks ago if Cody was seeing anyone, and Bella's name was slid into the conversation." Cody wasn't usually one for gossip outside of his usual gang of friends, but Nathaniel might have some information on why this was happening in general. Or why the two of them had been brought along. "No one is taller than my Cody" said Mrs. Summers with a friendly laugh between the two moms, "I have no idea how he got so tall. When he passed Charles we were all wondering when it would stop." The two families headed to the table, and Cody and Bella were seated next to each other across from the Langston parents. They had Nathaniel on their side, and Cody had Charlie on his other side. There were little name cards and everything: very planned. The cook brought out their first course and Mr. Summers got down to business, "So, Bella. I'm sure you have your major all sorted out? Sophomore year, time for some decisions. This one can't seem to stay in a major" he said with a friendly laugh, but it was absolutely a dig at Cody. "Dad, Channing didn't pick her major until Junior year. In due time" said Charlie, keeping things a little better off. He had applied for the business school, so technically speaking Charlie had picked his major before even applying to school. He assumed Nathaniel was the same way, Nathaniel didn't really leave things to chance. That man consistently had a plan ... for everything. Though the comment was added by Charlie, it didn't make Cody feel any better about his family standing right now. He had really rested on his laurels when it came to Channing being the family disappointment.

"You think so too? I'm glad we're on the same page." Nathaniel spoke quietly to Charlie as he looked around the room. It was nice to know that Charlie was just as observant. "My mom kept bringing up the founders day ball and how she hoped we'd all have dates for it." he referred to the big event that took place in their town. People like their parents took that night very seriously. Once everyone was seated, Bella and Nathaniel gave each other the same smile. Nathaniel was pretty used to these dinners, but he knew his sister found them to be rather difficult. Bella almost felt guilty for having some kind of plan when it came to school, while Cody was still figuring things out. She didn't want to make him look bad. "I'm an art major right now. Once I get all my general courses finished up, I was going to see which direction I'll go in. But ... I know a lot of people who still aren't sure. It's so tough sometimes." Bella tried her best to defend Cody. "Of course it is, especially in a major like that. Being a full time artist is a very ... ambitious goal, but we could tell you're confident in your abilities. We trust you'll succeed." Mr. Langston said to his daughter with a smile. They weren't too fond of her going to school for art, they thought it was a waste of time and money. If it weren't for her grandparents being by her side, Bella probably would have caved and went into something else. "She is really talented, always has been." Nathaniel chimed in, knowing his sister was her worst critic. "I'm sure she'll be able to show you some of her work if she hasn't already." Mrs. Langston told Cody. "You both have known each other for so long, do you see each other often?" Bella hid her confusion as she ate. Sure she knew Cody, but it's not like they were ever friends. There wasn’t much of a reason for them to constantly cross paths.

Charlie nodded, "Founders day, yeah. Mom's probably freaking out about which girl will be in our photos this time. Last year was a mess" he recalled. The two boys went to join everyone else at the table for the grilling. Cody had most recently decided on exercise science, but he wasn't going to make a big deal about it. Last time he did, he started to hate the classes as soon as he mentioned it to his parents. "I haven't seen anything since the AP art exhibit senior year, I went for extra credit" said Cody as he took a bite of food. He was confused at the topic, why was he being asked how often he saw Bella. The two ran in completely different circles, "we don't run into each other often. Same dorm though" said the boy. He liked the Astoria dorms, and he wasn't ready to live in a house with friends yet. Most of his friends were just as shitty as him, and he liked having some space from all the chaos. "Well I'm sure you two can find time to see some of Bella's art" said Mrs. Summers, "whens the next showcase?" she asked. Charlie looked over to Nathaniel and nodded, their suspicions were right. "I hope it's before Founder's Day Weekend" Mr. Summers added, "not enough events going on because the historical society is overrun with plans. I heard this year was going to be bigger than ever."

Nathaniel immediately looked over at Charlie and nodded back before looking over to see Bella's reaction. Her facade was starting to crack, and at least he could tell that she was starting to look visibly uncomfortable. She couldn't stop shaking her leg underneath the table. "In a couple weeks. After everyone's received their critiques for their midterm project." she answered calmly. Bella's eyes travelled back and forth between her family members once Founder's Day Weekend was mentioned. Her parents always looked forward to that, but they somehow managed to make it more stressful than it needed to be, especially when it came to finding a partner to go with. Fiona usually found a date pretty quick, and always got someone with a solid reputation. Nathaniel didn't have too much of an issue with that either, but Bella? Her dates seemed to get worse and worse every year. Then it hit her, she could feel her stomach flip. Surely her parents wouldn't be putting her on the spot like this. "The Hastings haven't stopped talking about it, that's how you know it'll turn out good." Mrs. Langston said with excitement. "Fiona was just telling me about her date, they seem like such a lovely person. So respectful. I can't wait to see who you'll bring, Nathaniel, and it's always nice to see you and Alice, Charles. She always looks stunning." Bella's mother turned her attention to her daughter and Cody, "What about you two, are you both excited? Bringing anyone special?"

Founders Day. Of course this is what this was about. Fucking hell, his mother had been upset when he went stag ... and even more upset when he did bring a girl and she wasn't up to par for the family. "Katie was just inducted into the historical society" said Charlie before he took a sip of his drink, just to try and distract from whatever his parents were planning. "Alice and I wouldn't imagine missing it" he added with a soft smile at the compliment to his fiance. He knew how deeply uncomfortable everyone at the table seemed to be, so he was happy to be distracted thinking about Alice. Cody was blindsided by all of this. He still couldn't believe this whole dinner was orchestrated around him and Bella going to Founder's Day together. First of all: how was she less embarrassing than any other girl he ever brought? Sure, she could clean up well ... but it was Bella. She was one of the weirdest girls he had ever met. Second of all, why would they chose the two of them to bind the families together? Surely Nathaniel and Claire could go to Founder's Day together. "Uh no, not yet" said Cody just to respond, he was a man of very few words ... especially when he was uncomfortable, "but I'm sure there's a nice guy on the team that I could set Bella up with." He knew how to read a room, and if he played just dumb enough he might be able to get out of this. It didn't help that this girl was bouncing her fucking leg under the table, it was driving him absolutely up the wall. Fidgety people were so distracting, and it was taking all his attention and focus to hear anything anyone was saying to him. He had half a mind to put his hand on her knee to stop her, but he didn't want to give her any ideas.

Bella knew her parents were upset with her from last year's Founder's Day. Her date ditched halfway through, but it wasn't her fault, she was even shocked and hurt by it. But to think her parents were setting her up? With Cody of all people? She always looked for the good in people. Unfortunately she hadn't found that yet in him. She was hopeful though, not as hopeful as usual ... but still hopeful. It didn't mean she wanted to go with him to this. Sometimes he came off a little too intimidating for her liking. She could never get a read on him and what he was thinking. "Oh no thank you, I'm sure I'll find someone." Bella completely shut Cody's offer down without realizing what he was trying to do. She was just so nervous. Her mind was racing, so she wasn't thinking straight. "There's still time for both of us to figure it out." she tried to stay as positive as possible in hopes that her parents would have a change of heart. "Well we wouldn't want you to stress about that for too long. This ball is supposed to be a happy time for everyone." Mr. Langston wasn't budging. "Besides, if you already figured out your date now, you'll have time to get to know them better before the event." Bella was starting to pick at her dress under the table now. She wanted to shut down any possibility of having to go with Cody, but the words weren't coming out. She couldn't imagine her parents' disappointment if she flat out said no to them in front of a family like the Summers.

God, this girl could not take a fucking hint. He was trying to get them both out of this. He nodded when she said she could find her own date, and Cody knew it was absolutely time for a scheme. Suddenly, Mr. Langston was doubling down on things. Clearly they were about to ask for something. So he went into panic mode. Cody knocked over Bella's cup while reaching for the salt, "Oh my god, I am so sorry Bella" he said as he moved his napkin over to start cleaning up the spill. Thankfully it had gotten all over her, "Here, let me take you upstairs and you can borrow something of Claire's or Channings" said Cody as he looked to his mom. She nodded, "Of course, anything up there is yours for the time being" said Mrs. Summers. Cody quickly ushered her out of the dining room but before they got out of ear shot he put his finger to his mouth to tell her to stay quiet. Cody quietly listened to the conversation, "see, they're already friendly. It was only a matter of time" he could hear Mrs. Summers prattling on. "Those two will be the most darling couple at the event, and their heights? Marvelous." Cody wanted to slam his head against the wall, but he quickly motioned for her to follow him as they headed up the stairs to Claire's room and he shut the door behind them, "I couldn't find another way out of that" said the boy, actively not apologizing but he didn't really notice how callous he was being, "you hated the dress anyways."

Bella instantly jumped in her seat as her drink got all over her. This couldn't get any worse. She grabbed her napkin and tried to clean her dress as best as possible. "No no, it's okay. I shouldn't have place my drink so close to the edge of the table." she said frantically, already putting some kind of blame on herself. She couldn't even look at her parents, so she simply nodded her head and gave Mr. and Mrs. Summers a shy smile, "Thank you." As she followed Cody out of the room, she kept quiet, listening in on what was going on at the table. She bit down on her bottom lip as they talked about them. There was no need for any of this, she just wanted to run out of the house. Instead of course, she headed to Claire's room, looking up at Cody with furrowed brows as he spoke, "You did that on purpose?" she asked, clearly shocked. "Now I'm all wet and sticky..." she mumbled to herself. Bella did hate the dress, and it deserved that. But she didn't. "Don't we have to go back down there anyways? Or are we making a run for it? I don't know if I could do that. I don't have great stamina, and I don't think I'm mentally prepared for that. Can I still change?" she started to ramble, her nerves were out of control. Bella reached into her bra and pulled out one of her strawberry candies and unwrapped it before popping it in her mouth quickly in hopes that it would calm her. "I'm sorry, do you want one? Are you nervous too? You seem calm, I can't tell."

"I had to think fast, they were just about to push us into going to Founder's Day together" said Cody shrugging a little. The situation wasn't dire, but they should have thought about what this dinner was about before they had arrived, he just didn't know that her parents were as scheming as his. "We are definitely going back down, we just need a game plan" he said as he opened up Claire's closet and pulled out a few things. Then she pulled candy out of her bra, "I'm good on the bra candy" he said calmly as he opened up Claire's bedside table and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and took a pull, "liquid courage?" he offered after he took another pull. This whole thing was absolutely fucked, "I don't know why they get off on meddling so bad, I feel like this is fun for them. Even bringing Nate and Charlie here as some sort of shiny example for what good futures look like. It's all too planned" he rambled. Usually he did not speak this much in front of Bella, or to Bella for that matter. But they were teammates now. He knew his calm exterior was alarming to her, but he got sort of robotic when it came to things like this. It was a game, and it was a game he wanted to win. "I wish I could just get them off my back, you'd think with the fourth kid they would let up some" he said as he sat down on his eldest sister's bed.

"Game plan? I'm not good with game plans." Bella shook her head, she wasn't sure what they could possibly do to change the outcome of this dinner, but that was mainly because she never went against her parents. All she wanted was to make them proud. She then looked through what Cody pulled out from Claire's closet and decided on one dress. A definite upgrade from the one she was wearing. "Please tell your sister I say thank you but that I'm sorry for using this without her permission. Also please turn around. Or close your eyes. Or both." she held onto the dress for a minute before turning around herself and changing outfits. "And done. Better, right?" she asked with a pleased smile as she looked down at what she was wearing. Bella stayed silent for a moment after Cody offered some of the whiskey. She wasn't too much of a drinker, but one sip wouldn't, or at least shouldn't, hurt. "Yes, thank you. I'm not feeling very courageous right now. I feel shaky. One, because the room is cold, but two, I get all shaky when I'm nervous." she wiggled her fingers as some kind of demonstration before taking a sip from the bottle. Bella clearly related to what Cody was saying, they were both stuck in the same situation, but talking about those kinds of feelings? It wasn't something she did very often. Or at all. "Well ... I'm sure it'll all work out in the end. My parents always tell me they just want the best for me. Maybe it's the same for you." she was trying her best to remain positive.

He did as she said and turned around, covering his eyes for an added measure. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want to take a peak, but then again it was Bella. Did he actually want to take a peak? Probably not. When he turned around, she actually looked better. Nice even. Claire's taste prevailed. Cody laid back on the bed as she took a drink, "Yeah, they tell you they want what's best for you. But when's the last fucking time it was a good thing and they actually cared about what you wanted or what your dreams are?" he poked at her with his questions. He knew it was going to get under her skin, but he had a big ask. Big asks came with getting under someone's skin first to get them moving, especially an optimist like her. God, it drove him crazy how positive she was being about all of this. "Hear me out, we do go to Founder's Day together, and family barbecues, and all the dumb shit that we have to do. I know it's stupid, but if this pans out for them ... they will let me do whatever I want. Easy free pass" said Cody. He was always looking to work smarter not harder. It was a dumb idea, but if she agreed to it ... it would make everything easier.

Bella felt her heart sink a bit after hearing Cody's question. Her parents didn't care, or at least they didn't show it. They never showed interest in what she loved, they even missed her last art exhibit. To them it wasn't that big of deal, but it crushed Bella. She couldn't even answer his question, her silence was an answer in itself. Sure she didn't know how Cody's parents were with him, but did he have to be so negative about it? It must have been so draining. His suggestion completely caught her off guard. She wasn't good at game plans, but even she thought this was bizarre. "Wait, what? I thought the whole point was that we didn't want to go together. No offense! I'm sure you're a very fun time," she said innocently of course. "but we're just not close. At all. Which is fine." Bella was terrible with saying no to someone, no matter how strongly she felt. She just wanted to please people as much as possible. "I mean, if you're getting something out of it, do I?"

He knew that it was lacking some logic, but from his perspective Bella was a walking and talking get out of jail free card. "Seriously, think about all the things you could get away with, or all the positive attention we would both get. Give the golden children a run for their money" said the boy as he theorized the way to get the most out of this. "I don't want to go with you either, but it's looking like we're going to be going together regardless. And a forced event where they're checking on us is way worse than an event where they think we're already dating but just not touchy in public" he continued. He was positive he had never spoken this much in front of Bella, and Cody sat up on the bed "we don't have to be close ... we just have to appear to be close. It'll just be family stuff, and at school we don't have to think or act any type of way. And if you need more convincing than that ... I mean I can help you get what you want out of it too?" he said as he ended on a question. He wasn't sure what else she could want ... they were both going to win in this situation.

The last thing Bella wanted was attention, but her parents always threw the family under the spotlight anyways. She was going to get attention regardless, so it might as well be positive. As Cody continued on, Bella found it harder and harder to turn this all down. If her parents had something in mind, they were going to follow through on it. She would have to go with Cody whether she liked it or not, so maybe if her parents thought they were already dating, they wouldn't give her such a hard time. She was about to agree to the plan, until he said that he'd help her get what she wanted. Right then and there, an idea popped into her head. Bella was hesitant to bring it up, but she was pretty desperate at this point. "Help me with my finals?" she asked with big eyes. "For my finals, we're doing a realism project. I need a reference, of the human kind. My problem is that I can't get anyone to help me with it but I really wanna do a good job. You don't have to do much anyways. I have all the supplies. Please."

Her eyes grew big, if she didn't repulse him so much he might find it endearing. But he was too distracted by the fact that she looked kinda like one of those lemur things from Madagascar? He wanted to laugh, but he didn't. He just shrugged, "I could sit somewhere for a few hours." Cody put out his hand to shake her hand as they sat on the bed together. He could hear footsteps down the hall and he quietly whispered to her, "sorry in advance" he said, as he put his lips against hers with his thumb on the side of her chin. The kiss was soft and sweet as he moved in to deepen the kiss, seconds later his mother came in. He waited to break this kiss until his mom had already seen, "so sorry you two, we were just wondering where you'd gone off to" she said. Her eyes were all lit up, thinking her plan had worked so marvelously. "Just get down for dessert, and I'll send you two home with some tupperware for extra dinner when you get hungry. And don't you two worry, it'll be our little secret" said Mrs. Summers as she shut the door behind her. Cody's hands had been on Bella's waist as his mom had talked, but the second the door shut he moved away from her and put his hands back in his lap. "We can discuss terms in the car, and I'm sure the rest of dinner will go fine.

Mrs. Summers quickly sauntered downstairs, "Well well well, not to toot my own horn but I was absolutely right. The two of them were upstairs getting cozy, I'm sure Founder's Day this year will be a delight" she announced to the table. The two of them came downstairs a few moments later and joined the table. No one said anything about what had just transpired, but Charlie and Nathaniel were making weird eye contact across the table. Charlie was going to ask Nate to come over for drinks after this ... strange dinner.

Bella gave a single nod and smiled. She was proud that she actually went for something she wanted and didn't just settle, but then it hit her that she would have to be with Cody quite a bit. It's not like there was anything wrong about that, but it didn't seem like it would be too fun. As she was reaching out to shake his hand, she furrowed her brows in confusion, not noticing the footsteps. Then his lips were already on hers. So many thoughts were going through her head, but the biggest one was WHY IS HE DOING THIS? She quickly realized what was going on when his mother opened the bedroom door. Bella looked at Mrs. Summers with the same big eyes as before, she was just in a full state of shock. She didn't think she'd be getting kissed tonight by a now fake boyfriend? She then relaxed a bit once she left the room, nodding her head in agreement. "Okay." It might have been the first time she ever gave him a single word response.

Mrs. Langston's eyes practically lit up once Mrs. Summers told them the news. "This is even better than I thought." she said with a pleased smile. By the time the two got back to the table, Nathaniel kept looking back and forth between Charlie, Bella, and Cody. He thought he had everything figured out, but this was a major curve ball. He'd have to discuss this with Charlie later on.

Finally the dinner was over, and Bella felt like she could finally breath. She was pretty drained by the end of all of this, but she knew her and Cody needed to discuss the terms. "So do you want to start? I've never pretended I was dating someone so this is all very new." she said as a way to keep things as light hearted as possible.

Cody had to laugh, "it's not like I've ever fake dated someone" the whole thing was her attempt at a joke, but it was preposterous. It's not like he ran around town dating anyone, let alone fake dating. If he was someone who talked and shared, Cody might say something like the last time I dated someone was in high school, and all of that was a little too real. But he wasn't. So he didn't. "I think we should talk about our terms, everything ... comes out even. You do me a favor, I do you a favor. The overarching thing: events with family do not count as a favor. But individual tasks during said event can count as a favor if they are out of the norm. I think at things with dances, we dance at least once an hour. Anything outside of that, for like a favorite song or something, that counts as a favor" he outlined. Cody liked having a game plan, he liked having plays set up. His outlook on life was that everything was a game: something you could win. This was no different.

Bella was trying to take everything in, but it was so much. This felt a lot more complicated than she thought and now she was worried that she was going to mess up somehow. Not only would her parents be disappointed in her lying, but then his family might not like her, and she didn't know if she could take all that. She wanted to be liked so bad. "I feel like I should be taking notes right now. Will there be a point system? Is this a competition? Will the winner get a prize? So many questions." Bella said before she gasped quietly. "What is your favorite song? One of mine is Flightless Bird, American Mouth." She always seemed to get so off track. "Oh I'm sorry. I agree, to everything. I don't mind doing favors, and I appreciate it you do me one." she said with a nod. "Question. Should we keep this from our siblings? Nate kept giving me a weird look and I was scared he was going to ask me something."

He zoned out for a second thinking about Alexandra, "no points, just keeping things even" he responded as he continued to drive. The girl kept popping into his head, it was distracting. He wasn't sure how long he had zoned out again, because she was talking about birds. Cody probably should have been listening, but she quickly moved on from the bird talk. "I mean, I don't really talk to my siblings much anyways. I get most of my updates from instagram" said Cody, being fairly honest. Charlie didn't want much to do with all of them unless there was something going on. Claire was always away, and Channing was ... Channing. "If you want to trust your siblings not to tell, and not to tell mine. You can? But the more people that know the more likely it will be to get out" he warned, "and to remind you again. I have not done this before, that's just how secrets work" he said, just making sure she knew.

"I don't either. He might ask though, but I can lie. I don't think I'm a good liar but maybe this whole thing will make me a better one. I don't know if that's a good thing though." Bella was very aware that her siblings were way closer to each other than with her, but it wasn't something she wanted to talk about. Saying it out loud would make it seem a little too real. Once he brought up not doing the whole fake-dating thing before, she gave him a small smile. She thought he was simply playing along with her joke from before, so she decided to push it. "You sure? I remember you being with someone back in high school. Are you like a fake dating specialist?" she asked, laughing a little afterwards. She of course meant no harm in it, but she definitely should have not brought something like that up. It's not like she enjoyed talking about her past relationships. She had only been with two people, and they treated her terribly. But of course, Bella blamed herself for it.

"I feel like lying is an important skill, how else would you tell children that Santa's real or trick your loved ones into going to a dinner" said Cody, he felt like his parents lied about things all the time. That's how they got anyone to do anything, especially their children. When she brought up Alexandra, he knew she meant no harm but it did hurt. "First favor" he said sternly, "never talk about her, or ask about her." He knew this meant that he automatically owed her one, but it was worth it to not have to get personal with her. She ruined Cody, he really thought he was in love. He thought he had found his person, and he was just dropped like it was nothing. It had been everything to him, to have someone to spend all his time with. Someone he could share with, he let all of his friendships go to be with the girl because she took up so much of his time. The last two years of high school had been rough, trying to catch up with everyone who had gotten close while he had been in relationship land.

"Yeah, that's true..." Bella mumbled, she wasn't going to argue on it. She never liked to argue. There was also some part of her that felt like she was lying all the time. If she kept in how she truly felt, was that considered lying? Was she just living an entire lie by pleasing other people? It made her embarrassed just thinking about it. Her eyes went wide when he ask for the first favor, she could feel her heart sink. "I'm so sorry. I won't, I promise. That was really stupid. I was just making a joke, not that I'm making an excuse or anything! I'm really sorry." she quickly spoke. Bella was going to mention how she didn't need the favor to be returned, but she didn't want to already go against the terms that were created. There was no need to upset Cody even more. Her knee started to bounce again as she looked out the window. Any little mistake she made set her off, she couldn't believe she would be so heartless and bring up something like that.

He took a breath, "it's fine, really. I just prefer to not think her into existence" said the boy. Cody had paranoia that if he thought about people they would suddenly pop up and make everything worse. Cody reached for his phone and put on Put Your Records On by Ritt Momney it was just a nice soft song. He didn't always listen to music like this, but it was relaxing. On the drive over they had been in silence, but he needed something to fill the space in the car that thoughts of his ex was filling. Taking the edge off was important because her fucking knee was shaking again, god did she have to wear her anxious energy so publicly? "Do you have any more terms you want to add in? Or do you want some time to think about it?" Cody asked. The most fool proof way for them to pull this off was for them to both be happy-ish with what they were getting out of it. That meant being clear from the start. "Obviously there's an unwritten rule that you don't fall in love with me" said the boy as they pulled into the school parking lot, he looked at her and smiled and then just broke into laughter. Bella Langston and Cody Summers being in love was the funniest joke all evening.

Bella bopped her head slowly to the beat of the song, but her thoughts were still filled with her little mess up she made a few minutes ago. She turned her attention over to Cody as she heard his voice, "Hm, well should we get to know each other better? Or get our story straight. Would your family ask us how we started seeing each other?" she asked before another thought came to mind. "Oh and that class of mine? It's on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Thursdays are for working on the project. Are Thursdays okay with you?" Once Cody mentioned the unwritten rule of not falling in love, she cracked a smile. That won't be hard. was the first thought that came to mind, but she instantly felt bad for even thinking it. Maybe she was still upset about those stupid BJ jokes from when they were kids, but she just knew that Cody Summers was not her type. Instead of saying what she initially thought, Bella saluted the boy, "Aye aye captain. Same goes for you."

Cody had been so lost in the game plans for in person interaction, he hadn't even thought about backstory. Maybe she was good for something, they seemed to be making a good team. Cody pulled the car out of the school parking lot, "If we're going to come up with a good story, we're going to need actual dessert, and by actual dessert I mean drive through ice cream. "Class on Thursday, I can put it in my calendar. You might have to text me and remind me anyways though" said the boy as he drove onto the interstate and went to the next town over for fast food. The worst thing about living here was definitely the lack of fast food, it was all healthyish small businesses. "So the docket is we need a good why we got together story, we need to know where we are in the relationship, how long we've dated, anything else like that?" he asked as he continued to drive, pulling into the DQ drive thru.

Bella's eyes lit up when Cody mentioned ice cream, "Very smart Cody Summers! Ice cream helps the brain work a little better." she tapped her forehead a couple times with an excited smile on her face. She wasn't used to spending so much time with someone, she usually kept to herself, but she was glad he wasn't completely sick of her yet. "I could do that." Bella went into her phone and put a reminder every Thursday to text Cody about the project. It's not like she was going to forget, this was the most important piece she's ever done for school, but having a reminder wouldn't hurt. "Okay, so maybe we haven't been together for too long. Just so we don't have to create too many fake stories or act like we know everything about each other. Right? Plus we definitely told them that we didn't have a date to Founder's Day. But!" she put her index finger up as if she had a plan. "I think I figured out a way to save us from that. We could be like, we didn't want to announce our relationship during the dinner in front of everyone, because this dinner wasn't just about us. We wanted everyone to feel important tonight." she pitched her voice a bit higher as she acted out the scene. "It makes us look all selfless."

Cody pulled up to the drive through and the two put in their order. "Yeah we don't want too many backstory things. Maybe just that it was casual at first" said the boy as he pulled up to the next window and paid, getting their ice cream and thanking the staff person. "We can even take it as far as we just weren't sure where we were at yet and didn't want to assume anything also" said the boy as he pulled into a parking spot and started to eat his dipped cone. "and that when we went upstairs we had a talk about how we didn't actually want to go with anyone else, because that's dumb" he added. He thought it might be easier if they set the timeline to as close to the dinner as possible, "and maybe we can even say that we decided we were going steady or whatever during that talk upstairs. That way you don't look like you've been lying." The whole plan was genius, every conversation he had with his parents from here on out would be about Bella and he could just lie and say things were good. There would be so much less talk about all the other moving parts of his life. It was going to be such a wave of relief to have that burden off of him.

Bella automatically reached into her bag to grab her card, but noticed Cody was already paying for it. "Oh you didn't have to do that, but thank you. Next time will be on me, promise." she said with a kind smile before listening to his plan. It really did seem like he had done this before, he pretty much had it all figured out. "Wow, you're really good with game plans. Is that some kind of sixth sense for football players?" she asked as she began to eat her ice cream cone, making sure to not let it drip in his car. "Should we say we started talking to each other sometime this semester? To keep it vague, since it didn't mean much at first?" she asked. Bella was going through every possible scenario in her head. She wasn't sure how much her parents would ask, but she did know they'd be happy about this. Even though it was a complete lie, she was sort of excited to experience her parents being genuinely proud of her. She felt so disconnected from her family, but maybe this would make her feel like she belonged. "We should get to know each other more, right? Just in general. I think that'll help."

It was his instinct to pay since it had been his idea, "we're gonna have a lot of things like this anyways, might as well keep it on the favor rotation" said the boy. It was only fair, and it wasn't like money super mattered between the two of them. They were definitely still getting that silver spoon from their parents, otherwise how would they even have the problem of having to date. "Sort of. With my siblings, you kinda need to learn strategy. And yeah, that sounds good, like it was just a casual thing from a party that turned into coffee and studying" said the boy shrugging a little as he went back to his cone. "I'm sure we'll get to know each other enough at the stuff we'll be at. It'll come as it would anyways, unless you want notecards with all my favorite things on them" he said sarcastically.

"Sounds like a plan." Bella gave Cody a thumbs up. Once he mentioned them meeting at a party, she quickly shook her head, "Wait, I don't think that's gonna work. Us hitting things off at a party? They'll know I'm lying, trust me." When Bella was at home, she usually stayed to herself. She never went to parties unless her ex, Landon, dragged her to something. If she wanted to be somewhere other than her room, she would go to the beach in the middle of the night. The girl liked her alone time. "Notecards? I like that!" she said enthusiastically, completely missing the sarcasm. Catching social cues wasn't her thing. "I'll make some for you when I get back to my room." Just then, another thought popped into her head, "Another question. What are we going to do about all the people here from our hometown? Some of them are going to talk, I just know it. Do we have to pretend here too? Oh no, and what about social media? Do I have to start posting you on my instagram?" she started to ask questions quickly, so many thoughts were running through her head.

Cody was mostly paying attention to his cone, but he knew that if they were going to do this it shouldn't be half baked. "Then hitting it off just ... like at school randomly?" He tried to think of a better idea, "what about one of those things where we literally ran into each other. That's always cute?" he wasn't really sure why he described it as cute, but he knew his mom would enjoy the story. Charlie and Alice had a really ... disgustingly adorable story. "Then we could have gotten coffee, realized we were a little different than our perceptions of each other in high school ... started hanging out more often. Studying together and stuff as friends, and from there it just worked" Cody was mostly spitballing, but he wanted to meet her where she was at. Then she started talking about notecards, and he really had meant it as a joke. But the sentiment stood, he didn't want to have her bail on him. They both needed to be all in, or else his parents were going to straight up yell at him and get way too invested in his life. "Um, I guess we ... have to date publicly? We don't need to do any posts, but like stories? And I promise to keep my extra curriculars, if you know what i mean, to a higher level of discretion than I'm used to" he leveled with her.

Bella was pleasantly surprised with how quickly Cody was able to come up with something, she felt like her brain couldn't work that fast. She almost asked him what his perception of her back in high school was, but she held off on that. She didn't want to hear the answer. Even though she never thought too highly of him, hearing what he would have to say would still hurt her feelings. Bella was never well liked by people in her hometown, at least Cody had friends. "Bumping into each other, getting coffee, hanging out..." she mumbled to herself as she was going over everything he said. "Yep, I think that's the one. Ladies and gentlemen we have winner." Bella wasn't exactly thrilled to hear him say that they needed to keep this relationship up at school, but it did make sense. There were too many blabbermouths from their hometown here. "Um, sex? You're talking about sex, right? Cause it's fine, you could say it." If she knew one thing, it was that Cody didn't keep that part of his life on the down-low. Did he think she was some kind of delicate, innocent being? It was kind of the truth, but she still felt a bit offended. "Just please don't get caught. I don't wanna get cheated on by a fake boyfriend. That's kinda sad."

Cody wasn't completely sure why he censored himself around her, she just seemed like the kind of girl who didn't really do much. She had dated Landon and another person, but ... it was Landon. "I mean, I don't want to be the guy caught cheating whether or not its real or fake" said the boy, emphasizing the word caught. He'd never cheated on anyone actually, and it wasn't something he was interested in. His friend had explained to him that cheating is never something anyone wants to do, it just happens in the moment. Or the temptation presents itself and it's too good to pass up. He had never particularly felt that way about anyone, and he hadn't dated in almost four years. When you're that young and in love, cheating doesn't really sound tempting at all. You're more thankful than anything that you have someone to spend time with. But she had gone and destroyed all of that, and him in the process. "I'll keep the sex to a minimum, you too?" he said, "because people would expect that from me, but from you? That would be a town scandal all in itself." He knew people thought he was a dirtbag, and most of the time he either believed it or he played into it. Cody finished his cone and started the car again, "I'm sure we're going to have plenty of things to go to as a couple anyways, so we don't need to spend any extra time together unless it's for a favor."

So you've never cheated before? The question popped into her head, and thankfully she didn't ask out loud. It didn't change the fact that she felt terrible for thinking it though. He just sort of seemed like he had. She had heard stories about a few of his friends, so she assumed he was the same way. It's not like they all acted too differently in her eyes. She tried to stay away from that kind of crowd, mainly because she was incredibly intimidated by them. "Oh. Yes. I will keep the sex to a minimum." she answered back very awkwardly, and for some reason, decided to give him a thumbs up as well. Bella was not having sex. At all. The last and only person she had been with was Landon, and that didn't seem like it was going to change any time soon. She was the kind of person that actively avoided the people she was attracted too, simply because she was too nervous to go up and talk to them. "I guess I should go ahead and apologize in advanced for my parents." Bella said as she thought about how often he'd be around them. "They're weirdos." she rolled her eyes as she finished up her ice cream cone. "Anyways, I'm fine with only seeing each other for favors, and thank you for agreeing to help me with my finals. I promise I'll do you justice, and if it's good enough, it'll be at the summer exhibit. That's what I'm aiming for."

This was more the behavior he was expecting from her -deeply awkward and uncomfortable-. "I also apologize for my parents in advance, they're really nosey. I have no idea how Charlie and Alice managed to deal with them, especially with the family feud. Luckily that's laid to rest" said the boy as he focused on the road and got them back to school. "I think this is going to be good, and when it stops paying off or one of us wants to be involved with someone else we can stage a breakup that will get us out of even more things for a very long time." He could see it now: a very public breakup for their only in public relationship. As much damage as Alexandra did to him, there was at least a year that his parents didn't really ask anything of him. They just let him be a lifeless robot and stay in his room all the time. That's how all the kids liked to operate, they were creatures of their rooms. You'd be shocked to know that six people lived in their house sometimes, everyone could leave the state on a Wednesday night and no one would notice until Sunday Brunch when they were suddenly alone at the dinner table.

Bella was well aware of the family feud between Cody's family and Alice's. Everyone knew about everything that went on in their hometown. She was a bit nervous about his parent's being nosey though. Bella always had to act and talk a certain way in front of parents, it was so draining. Now she had to add on to the lie and pretend to be their son's girlfriend. "Ooh what will be the reason for our breakup? Do I have to start learning how to cry on command? Do you know know how to cry on command?" she started asking questions quickly, but continued to speak before he got the chance to answer. "I guess we can figure all of that out later. It's kind of intense, I feel like I'm in a movie. Fake dating is a good trope, didn't think I'd actually live it out." Bella continued on with a smile before they arrived back at the school parking lot. "I think we have everything covered. I'll see you on Thursday? Oh, I'll also give this back to you too." she pointed at the dress she was wearing.

Bella did love the whole part of the fake dating trope where the people actually fall in love, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. She would never think about Cody Summers like that, it even seemed far fetched to imagine them as friends by the end of this. Before she got out of the car, Bella reached into her bag and tossed one of the Arcor strawberry candies into the cup holder, she made sure she had them on her at all times. "Goodnight, fake boyfriend." she said as she did a small curtsy. This wasn't how she expected her night to go at all, but all she hoped for was to get some good out of this. It was for her parents, and for her art. //END

#codyxbella #threads || bella and cody #bella and cody || 001 #codyxcharlie #codyxnathaniel #charliexnathaniel #cody: thread #charlie: thread #threads || charlie and cody #threads || cody and charlie #cody and charlie || 002 #charlie and cody || 002 #threads || nathaniel and cody #threads || nathaniel and charlie #nathaniel and cody || 001 #nathaniel and charlie || 001

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