#WE’LL KISS IN SATURNS RINGS

[starlooove]

what made u guys pick ur url's !

[aajjks]

he’s met his match 🤭 but let’s take a break and be soft

TPOL!JK

you listen to jungkook tell you how he doesn’t remember whether he wore protection and how she basically touched him without his consent. oftentimes pressuring him to have sex with her and it only pisses you off more knowing that if jungkook didn’t wear protection then there’s potential.

hearing jungkook mention getting chaeyoung to have an abortion does trigger you but you know he’s just frustrated because she’s really trying to ruin his life. he’s running on only a few hours of sleep and his exhaustion with all the bullshit that has happened with chaeyoung is reaching its boiling point and you can tell. you, jorja, ji-ae, and everyone is tired of chaeyoung’s antics but you know she won’t stop until jungkook gives in. she wants to break him and it leaves you wondering when his mugshot will grace the newspapers because since that night, there hasn’t been an article in sight that spoke of the situation and you know it’s chaeyoung’s doing.

“calm down, okay?” you say putting your hand on jungkook’s shoulder as he continues to vent how he’s feeling about what’s been running through his mind, including you.

you don’t know why unfortunate situations bring the two of you closer than when everything is normal but here the two of you are consoling one another and jungkook tries one last time to shoot for your heart.

“Yn… there’s something you should know” and your mind immediately thinks of the worst things like bam, he did something to namjoon, or actually told yugyeom the truth about yerin but instead, he confesses his feelings. the feelings that doesn’t seem to go away no matter what he does, who you’re with, or when you’re across land and sea.

he. still. loves. you.

and you know what?

you do too.

when he kisses you, you kiss him back with just as much fervor because you’re tired of playing “the floor is lava” with your feelings. you love him, you always have. even when you moved onto a better place in your life, you look up his name to make sure he’s okay or what milestone he crossed in his life.

you celebrate his accomplishments from afar and push him away when he gets too close because you were so set on believing he was bad but it’s like he’s a drug you just can’t seem to kick. even when you should walk out his life and let him deal with this alone, you just can’t.

even when he was rude to you, you were still kind to him and when you treated his feelings like tissue, he saved your life and had always been a shoulder for you to lean on.

so finally, FINALLY you can admit you’re in love with jeon jungkook. he’s the rings to your saturn, your soulmate.

words can’t explain how deprived you are of his touch so you settle for kissing him for as long and as much as you can. your fingers tug on his long locks, you bite and pull his bottom lip, tasting the mint on his tongue and before you two can go any further, jungkook pulls away with his head resting against yours and you’re still chasing after his lips.

“i love you too, jungkook and…” your eyes look at his “i’m sorry for what i put you through. if i would’ve just listened to my heart and went home with you when my mom passed you wouldn’t be going through this” and your eyes are filled with so much sincerity.

“and you better not get a vasectomy!! we don’t even know if the child is yours so let’s just wait, okay? if the baby is yours, we’ll figure something out and I GUESS i’ll settle for baby mama #2 but if the baby isn’t yours, then i better be your one and only baby mama”

He tsks, “of course, you’ll be the only one yn- and I hope that child isn’t mine.” He sighs against your lips. Then he kisses you once again, it’s because he’s missed you so much.

He’s missed you, your lips, and your body so much. It’s not even the best time to be horny- but he’s rock hard right now. “L-Let me take you home yn… please..” he begs after he breaks the kiss. His arms wrapped tightly around your waist.

Jungkook peppers kisses on your face. You’re the love of his life, he’s so in love with and now you’ve confessed that you’re in love with them too and that’s the best feeling ever.

You finally gave in and accepted your destiny, which is with him- he is your destiny. “ you’ll be safe in my home and don’t worry about your friends because I know the bodyguards are taking care of them… plus Chae isn’t dumb enough enough to attack them once again.” He groans.

She exhausts him while you bring him back to life, as you’re playing with his hair, his eyes almost roll back, your scent is overwhelming his senses.

it’s like he has the whole world beneath his feet.

“see we were always meant to be no matter who came into our lives how much you try to resist your feelings yn… we always came back to each other, one way or another.” He breaths as he hugs you tightly.

“and please don’t apologize. I really deserved what has happened so far because I have always been so selfish and you have really taught me how to be not selfish and how I cannot have everything I want.”

Honestly, you have changed him a lot, and for the better. You make him a better man, and he knows that he has to be with you forever. You’re the only one for him, and he cannot let anyone come between you two.

Not Namjoon- especially not chaeyoung.

[stardustbarbarians]

My Rosie

A Daniel Wagner Fic

Summary: Daniel spends the day with Rosie

Tags: pure fluff, Daniel became a doggie daycare, Rosie being a good girl

Words: 3.1 k

A/N: Hello, hi. I didn't mean for this to be as long as it turned out to be but I just kept getting carried away. Anyway, title taken from Mac Saturn's Plain Clothes Gentleman. Enjoy some Danny and Rosie content! (Also if you think Daniel wouldn't watch Twilight you're dead wrong and I will die upon this hill)

+++

Daniel hadn’t anything planned for the day, save for just lounging around and enjoying some free time. He’d been on his second movie in his marathon of the day: New Moon. He’d gotten to the scene in the film where Bella and Jacob had reunited - picking her up and twirling her around - when his phone started ringing. He looked at his phone and giggled to himself, Sam’s contact name of “baby Sam” with a rather unattractive photo of him taking up the entire screen. Pausing the movie, Danny answered the phone. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey Daniel, could you do me a favor today? If you can’t, I understand,” Sam asked, a tone of desperation in his voice. 

“What’s going on?” Danny sat up from his lounging position on the couch, alarmed at the urgency in Sam’s voice. 

“It’s nothing life threatening or anything, I promise. I just forgot that I had an in person interview today and I don’t want Rosie to be alone all day,” his best friend explained. Danny could hear shuffling from the other side of the phone. 

“You want me to watch Rosie for you?” 

“If you don’t mind. I know you said you were just gonna lounge about today, so if you don’t want her to interrupt, I’ll just ask one of the twins. But in all honesty, I trust you the most with her,” Sam replied. 

“No, I don’t mind at all. She’d be good company,” Daniel admitted. He was imagining spending his day with her; her cuddled up against him while they watched movies and then going for a walk later on in the evening after it cooled down. “Do you need me to pick her up?” 

“Actually, your place is on the way to where I’m supposed to be.” There was more shuffling, Rosie’s whines of excitement coming through the speaker of the phone. 

“Great, I’ll see you in a bit.” Danny hung up so that Sam could handle Rosie without having to hold his phone. 

It was a few minutes later that the two of them showed up at Daniel’s door. Sam looked a little frazzled, probably worried about showing up to the interview on time. He still gave Danny a big dazzling grin upon seeing him, though. He held Rosie’s leash in his hand, the dog looking out at the street at the cars passing by. “Hey, Daniel.”  

“Hello, you two,” Danny greeted before opening the door wider so they could enter his home. Sam led Rosie in, tugging gently on her leash to get her attention. Her long nails clacked against the hardwood floor, her collar jingling with each step she took. 

“So, I should be back by the time she needs to be fed dinner, but if not cooking up some rice and eggs will do the trick,” Sam informed as he handed the leash off to his best friend. 

“Sounds easy enough.” 

“You be good for Daniel, ok sweet girl?” Rosie’s tail began wagging at the sound of Sam’s voice. Daniel watched as Sam kneeled down and grabbed her head to give Rose a kiss on the top of her head, her tongue flicking out to return the kiss.

The bassist started to giggle and scratch behind the dog’s ears before getting up and addressing Daniel. 

“Thank you, again. I owe you big,” Sam restated, tucking his hair behind his ear. 

“Really, it’s nothing. We’ll have tons of fun, right, Rosie?” Danny looked down at the dog to find her staring back up at him, her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth. 

The two men both laughed in admiration, the dog’s charm and cuteness getting to them. 

“Ah, shit!” Sam exclaimed after looking at the time on his phone, “I’m gonna be late!” 

When he turned back to look at Sam and wish him luck at his interview, Daniel was not expecting his head to be grabbed by the sides and pulled down so that Sam could plant a kiss right on his forehead. Before he could ask what that was, Sam was halfway to his car. 

“Good luck!” Daniel managed to call out after the bassist before his car door slammed shut. He and Rosie watched him pull out of the driveway and take off down the street. 

“Your dad’s a strange man, you know that?” Daniel asked the dog, looking down at her before closing the front door. He absently touched the spot on his forehead Sam kissed before kneeling down and unhooking the leash from Rosie’s collar. 

Once he’d stood up, the two stared at each other. There was a moment of “what next” that passed silently between them. It had been a while since the two interacted and even then Sam had always been there. This would be the first time they would be alone together, really alone. 

“Well, I’m going to go back to watching my movies. You’re more than welcome to join me,” Danny offered, making his way back into his living room. He heard the clicking of Rosie’s nails as she followed him to the couch, but stopped in front of it. 

She looked at Daniel as if she was asking him something. It was different from the other times she looked at him from the way she didn’t look away. 

“What is it, girl?” The question prompted her to tap her paws on the ground, her tail wagging. She was trying to communicate what she wanted, but Daniel didn’t know her well enough to know what that was. 

He was going over what she could be asking for when it hit him. “Are you asking if you can jump up on the couch?” 

Again, she tapped her paws on the ground. It was what she wanted. 

Daniel felt his heart melt at the idea of Rose asking for permission to get on the couch. She was so well mannered. He patted the spot next to him for her to take. She wasted no time leaping up on the cushion, curling up next to Daniel. He gave her a few quick pats on her head before he unpaused the movie. 

+++

He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but suddenly he was blearily opening his eyes to find that he’d missed all of Eclipse. Bringing a hand to his eyes, he rubbed them before pausing the Cullens setting up for Bella and Edward’s wedding. It wasn’t until he moved to sit up that he realized Rosie had laid herself on top of his chest, contently snoozing away. She was coiled up in the shape of a crescent moon, her head resting on Danny’s pectorals. He took a moment to just admire how adorable she was before gently placing a hand on her back, her eyes flicking open at the contact. 

She looked over at him for a moment before he raised her head and yawned. Rosie shook her head before flopping over onto her side, her eyes once again meeting Daniel’s. They looked at one another before she brought her paw up and set it back down in a swiping motion. 

“What do you want, sweet girl?” he asked in a tender voice. Her tail began wagging at the sound of his voice. 

Again, she swiped her paw in the air before lifting it up to expose her belly. She kept looking up at Danny expectantly, her tail still wagging. 

“Do you want belly rubs?” Daniel recalled how much Sam would give her belly rubs when he saw them interact. She loved them and her back foot would kick feverishly when Sam scratched the right spot. Rosie swiped her paw one more time, nudging Daniel’s arm that she was resting on with her nose. 

Laughing and taking the hint, Danny used his free hand to start scratching a spot on her ribs. It took a few seconds, but eventually her foot started kicking in tempo with Danny’s scratching. He couldn’t help but chuckle as she continued scratching despite Danny having taken his hand away. They kept at this for another minute or so as their sleepiness left their systems. 

“Alright, I think I’ve had enough lounging about. Let’s go see if we can find a stick in the backyard,” Danny suggested before carefully scooping Rosie up in his arms and setting her down on the floor. He stood up from the couch, stretching his limbs and cracking his back in his unusual after-nap ritual. 

The pair walked together to the back sliding door, Rosie patiently waiting for Daniel to open the door before bolting out onto grass. He was very confused as to what would cause her to tear out of the house like that until he realized she was chasing a squirrel. He watched in amazement as she bounded close behind the animal, following its every move until it managed to scale the fence and perch atop it. The squirrel flicked its tail in aggravation, chittering down at Rosie as she stared up at it and paced. 

“Good girl, Rosie! Good job protecting my territory,” Daniel praised, his voice gaining her attention. She snapped out of whatever primal trance that squirrel put her in and bounded over to Danny, her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth. He bent at the knees in order to pet her fur upon reaching him. She circled around a few times so that she could get the maximum amount of pets from him, her tail wagging again. 

It wasn’t long until they were able to find a suitable stick to play with. Daniel would throw it for her, Rosie would bound after it and then she would bring it back for the cycle to repeat itself. There were a few times where Danny had to chase down Rosie in order to get the stick away from her, but he enjoyed himself greatly. After a while, Roise eventually tired out and she wanted to go back inside. Obliging, Daniel let her back in. 

“Are you thirsty, Rosie girl?” he asked her, filling up a cereal bowl full of water and setting it down on the floor. She immediately started lapping it up, Daniel running his hand over her back before sitting against his wall, pulling out his phone to check if Sam had texted him. 

Once she finished, she bounded up to him and started licking his face. Taken by surprise, Daniel burst out in laughter. She kept licking his face, inching closer and closer to get better access, Danny involuntarily sliding closer and closer towards the landing on the floor. He did eventually land on his back, his hands delicately trying to push Rosie away to save himself from her assault of affection. 

“Rose!” he laughed, finally able to get her to cease. He scratched at her sternum, using his other hand to wipe at the slobber on his face. Despite it being overwhelming, he couldn’t stop smiling at her. She would attempt to try and kiss his face every so often, but Danny would place his hand firmly on her chest so she would stay put. 

Eventually, he did get off the floor. His stomach growled, Daniel instinctively placing his hand on his stomach at the sound. It was then that he realized he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. Glancing at his phone one more time, he saw that Sam hadn’t even looked at his text yet and would probably be gone for another hour or so. 

“Guess I should start cooking,” Daniel announced, grabbing the handle to his fridge and peering inside. He decided that an omelet was a good choice as he had to make eggs for Rosie, anyway. 

Danny pulled out the egg carton, some cheese, some turkey lunchmeat. After looking up what type of rice is safe for dogs to eat, he pulled out a package of white rice and the rest of the ingredients for his omelet. He would periodically look over at Rosie while he cooked, checking up on her. She seemed a little bored which Danny didn’t take any offense to. Sam was always on the go, doing things with Rosie nearly every minute of the day he could. Taking pity on her, Daniel turned down the burner on the stove and walked back into the backyard. He managed to find the stick they’d played with earlier and brought it inside. 

She was waiting for him at the door, her tail wagging as he got closer. When he re-entered his home, she jumped up and tried to nip at the stick in Danny’s hands. He gladly handed it back to her, watching her trot off to the spot she was laying in the kitchen. She laid on her stomach and held the stick between her crossed paws, gnawing down on the wood. Periodically, she would glance back at Daniel and her tail would wag. 

After tying his hair up into a bun, Daniel finished up cooking dinner. He plated his omelet and then mixed the cooked rice with the scrambled eggs he made for Rosie. Setting his omelet down on the kitchen island first, Danny then placed Rosie’s food on the ground next to her water bowl. The two of them ate contently, Daniel scrolling through his instagram and seeing how the fans were doing. She finished eating before Danny did, licking her chops and laying down by his chair. 

“Did you like it? I know it’s probably not as good as what Sam can cook,” he asked, leaning over a little bit so that he could see her eyes. The dog kept licking her chops, maintaining eye contact with Daniel. After a moment, she licked Danny’s leg as if trying to reassure him that she enjoyed it. Chuckling to himself, Danny set his phone down and gave Rose a head scratch. 

Daniel collected the dirty dishes and put them in his dishwasher. Once that was done, he turned around and looked at Rosie to try and figure out what to do until Sam came back. He could go on a walk with her, but Sam might show up while they’re out. Maybe they could play fetch again? She seemed to really love that. 

While he was ruminating, the song playing through the speakers changed. A bluesy chord strummed on an acoustic guitar made his ears perk up, a familiar voice following soon after. It was Mac Saturn, a band he had become friendly with over the past year. They reminded Danny of his own band; a Michigan grown, blues inspired rock band just starting. It just so happened that the song that was playing was extremely fitting. 

My Rosie, scratch my back then she break it

My Rosie holds the leash to love

Daniel looked down at the dog sitting in front of him and smiled. He began singing along, directing the words towards the sweet pitbull that had kept him company all day. He started to dance along smoothly to the tune, Rosie following his movements and becoming somewhat of his dance partner. 

After the chorus finished and bled into the second verse, that’s when Daniel got down on one knee and cradled her little face in his hands. He felt the weight of her resting her head on his hands, the heat from her fur warming them up. 

“My Rosie need’s a man who’s gonna sit down and do it,” he sang, his tone coming out as if he was talking to a baby. 

“My Rosie needs a stone cold, sharp dressed, shooter,” he continued, leaning in close to her face and gently moving her chops back and forth to the tempo of the song. 

He wasn’t expecting her to lick his face, however, and he quickly recoiled as he smiled so big it scrunched up his face. It prompted him to let go of Rosie’s face, but she didn’t seem to mind. Her tail was wagging in delight as she kept nudging Daniel’s arm with her nose. He’d missed a few lines of the song, but he continued singing again when the lead-in to the chorus began. 

“If she’s got the answers, then why’s it so?” At the sound of his singing, Rosie’s tail wagged vigorously. She was excitedly tapping her paws on the floor of the kitchen, an open mouthed smile across her face as her tongue lolled out of her mouth. 

At the chorus, Daniel took hold of her paws in both of his hands and began dancing with her that way. The way he moved her front paws made it look like she was paddling in the air. He stayed kneeling on the ground so that she wouldn’t have to stand on her hind legs. 

He couldn’t stop grinning as they continued to dance. In fact, he was so in the moment that he hadn't even realized that someone had been watching the two of them for the better part of the song. 

“Should I start to get jealous?” came a voice to Daniel’s right. He and Rosie simultaneously whipped their heads around to look at who just startled them only to find Sam leaned against the wall  with his arms crossed. He had an easy smile on his lips that barely hid how endeared he was finding his best friend being so sweet towards his dog. 

Recognizing her owner, Rosie bounded towards him. Sam got down to her level, his arms opening wide to embrace the dog. Daniel got to his feet and watched in endeared silence as Rosie showered Sam with kisses and attention, Sam laughing freely and speaking sweet nothing to her. 

“So, how was it?” Danny asked after a moment. 

Sam gave Rosie one last kiss on the head before standing up. “It went well, although it was pretty exhausting.” 

Sam didn’t have to say so. Daniel could tell how drained he was just by looking at him. His smile didn’t have the same intensity it normally did and his shoulders were dropped lower than he usually carries them. 

“You were gone for a long time,” Danny added, choosing not to comment on how tired his best friend looked. 

“I’m assuming it went well with Rose? Am I going to have to share custody with you now?” Sammy joked, absently petting Rosie’s head as he slid against the wall down onto the floor.

“Aw, shit, I shouldn’t have sat down,” the bassist groaned, his face scrunching up as he cringed at the thought of having to get back up. 

“Sam, you can crash here. In fact, I’m not letting you out of that door,” Danny ordered, swiftly walking over to the front door and locking it. 

Sammy, seemingly too tired to argue, relinquished himself to his fate. Daniel had to physically pull him up from the floor, but other than that the rest of the night went well. Danny made Sam dinner and then ended up crashing on the couch together after Daniel made Sam watch Twilight with him. Rosie also fell asleep on the couch, stretching out across both of her favorite human’s laps. 

+++

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[tempestaurora]

in another time, a gladiator stucky au by @tempestaurora​

image IDs under the cut

IMAGE ID:

FIRST IMAGE: 

i.

 Sunlight dappled across the stone floor, casting cool, dancing shadows in the summer heat. Bucky yawned and stretched, flexing his toes into the sunspots and smiling from the warmth. He watched the newest boy to the school, a scrawny thing called Steve, stand alone in the courtyard.

He tipped his head to the side and called out, “New boy! Over here!”

Steve had straw blonde hair and eyes like the Aegean Sea. He seemed hesitant for a moment before heading over. When he arrived, he looked at Bucky like he might bite, but after sitting, he simply melted into the sunspot Bucky had found.

“You’re pretty small,” Bucky observed. “Your family sell you?”

“What? No, they didn’t.” Steve’s eyebrows furrowed; he seemed insulted by the mere notion. “Your family sell you?”

Bucky shrugged. “Indentured, actually,” he replied. “But they’re practically the same thing. Why are you here, then? You have dreams of being a gladiator?”

Steve scoffed. “No. I don’t. But it was either this or live on the streets.” He paused, twisting his fingers into his tunic. “My mater died, recently. She was all I had.”

Bucky stilled. “Oh,” he said. “Perhaps she is better off now; perhaps she is in the Land of Joy.”

Steve nodded, barely. “There are few places better than the underworld, these days.”

SECOND IMAGE:

ii.

Steve may have been small, but he was fast. He twisted and turned in combat, picked up the skills with ease, and learnt to use his size to his advantage. If he got hit, he was down, so Steve learned to avoid the punches thrown his way.

They trained year-round, through summer heat and winter snow, and soon they grew. Everything Steve learned about being small and fast was discarded when he hit his growth spurt at fourteen, suddenly taller than half his class and finally able to make the attacks, not simply dodge them. He watched Bucky often; the two of them nigh inseparable since his arrival at the school. Bucky was not a golden student, but he was a golden boy; his eyes were like Jupiter’s sky and his hair grew thick and dark in a shaggy mess.

There were few things Steve found himself caring about more than the only boy in all of Italia who knew him, inside and out.

[Beneath is a photo of  the ruins of a temple of Saturn, backlit by the sun. It is ethereal and quiet-looking, with green fields interspersed with crumbled architecture.]

THIRD IMAGE: 

iii.

 They had climbed up onto the roof of the gymnasium to gaze at the sweep of stars painted high above their town.

“Do you think you’ll be up there one day?” Steve whispered in the dark.

“In the sky?”

“The stars,” Steve clarified. “All the great heroes are immortalised in the stars.”

Bucky shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll be a hero – there’s not a drop of godly blood in me. What about you?”

“I don’t want to be a hero,” Steve replied. “I just want to travel; to see all of Italia and beyond. Pompeii and Corinth – maybe even see the Oracle of Delphi, one day.”

Bucky smiled. “I’d like that. I don’t want to be fighting forever.”

“Come with me,” Steve said. “We could go anywhere. We could go everywhere.”

Bucky stared at Steve under the star-lit sky and smiled.

FOURTH IMAGE:

iv.

                                        When they were eighteen, they moved to Rome. The Ludus Magnus gladiator school sat in spitting distance of the coliseum, and this was where they trained. They had long been learning their preferred style of combat – Steve, after shooting up and broadening, fought as a Thracian, with his broad-rimmed helmet, small rounded shield and curved sword. His only armour consisted of thigh-length grieves, while Bucky was granted a chest plate and greaves as a Dimachaerus, dual-wielding two swords.

They fought regularly in practice, but never in the ring drawn into the sand in front of an audience. There was a palpable fear Steve felt at making Bucky bleed. Some nights, he whispered prayers to whatever god might deign to listen – perhaps Mars, for war, or Venus, for love – and pleaded with them to never pit him against Bucky.

[On the right hand side is a close-up of a temple’s columns, with sunlight poking between.]

FIFTH IMAGE: 

v.

 Bucky knew Steve was watching from beyond the Gate of Life as he stepped into the ring for his first gladiatorial combat in the arena. Steve had already won his earlier that day in front of roaring crowds and amused royalty in the Emperor’s box.

Now it was Bucky’s turn, and he twisted his swords in his fingers, facing down his opponent across the ring. Bucky knew their job was to fight – fight and possibly even die – but he also knew his job was to give them all a show.

And Bucky was nothing if not a showman.

In the end, blood stained the sand a vivid red, but Bucky strode towards the Gate of Life, triumphant.

SIXTH IMAGE:

vi.

 There were always popular gladiators, and Steve didn’t know how to react, finding himself to be one of them. Women lined up outside the bathhouses he frequented; shared rumours that dipping their hairpins in his blood might bring them love, that his sweat would work as an aphrodisiac.

“I can see their point,” Bucky whispered one night, his mouth ravenous against Steve’s after a long day of training. Their bodies were always animalistic in these moments, whilst the school was empty and the others were out drinking the night away. They took everything they could get from each other; swallowed each sensation whole.

Steve never wanted these moments to end. He would throw all the glory and money away for more time with Bucky, for more nights like this.

SEVENTH IMAGE: 

vii.

 After amphitheatre fights, admirers and buyers alike would flock to the school where the gladiators lounged on cushions and benches, drinking wine and eating expensive foods. These were the nights Bucky enjoyed the most. No one was allowed to approach unless beckoned by a gladiator, and Bucky would often spend time toying with the admirers, allowing one or two over before sending them away again. Eventually, after the show, he’d slip away into the sleeping quarters or empty storage cupboard, and find Steve waiting there for him.

There was a miles-long list of things Bucky loved about Steve’s body, but number one on the list was how it fit against his own in the dark.

[Cut into the left side is a photo of the Coliseum in Rome.]

EIGHTH IMAGE:

viii.

 A few days before the festival, culminating in three days of games at the coliseum, their master told Steve and Bucky that they were scheduled to fight.

“It’ll be fine,” they told each other in the dark. “The fights rarely end in death. We’re not fighting to kill. We’re fighting to entertain.”

“We’re performers,” Bucky would say. “We’re just there to give them a good time.”

“Don’t act like no one ever dies,” Steve would reply, each and every time. “Don’t act like we haven’t killed our opponents before.” Sometimes, friends would enter the ring with them and never leave it. Sometimes, the audience called for their deaths.

It was blood lust, through and through. The men caught hold of that first splash of red and couldn’t let it go; they had to see more, they had to see death in all its forms. The gladiator could’ve fought bravely, wonderfully, and they might still end up slumped in the sand afterwards.

“Soon,” they would say, “we’ll retire and leave this for good. Soon, we’ll travel the world, like we always planned.” They would whisper lies and truths to each other, desperately tangling them together until they couldn’t tell them apart.

NINTH IMAGE:

ix.

 On the day of the fight, Steve stepped into the ring opposite Bucky and breathed in the cheering crowd; the hot, midday sun. They had kissed in the shadow of the underground corridors, and now faced each other, weapons raised, poised for battle.

It was bloody from the get-go; they were entertainers after all, and the audience was only entertained when they saw the streak of blood dampening the sand. They twisted and turned as if they were dancing, as if there was music playing and this was them, centre stage, having the time of their lives rather than anxiously hoping their blades wouldn’t cut too deep, that the bruises would soon heal.

And then Steve’s sword slashed too harshly at Bucky’s side and he faltered, hissing.

“Bucky—” Steve said, not moving in on the advantage, not moving at all.

Bucky straightened, removing his hand from his side, darkly red. “What are you doing?” Bucky asked, before raising his swords once more. “Fight me.”

“Bucky—”

“Fight me,” Bucky hissed, slamming his swords forward. Steve barely had time to raise his shield. He couldn’t stop staring at the thick blood leaking from Bucky’s ribs.

“No—”

“Steve—”

“No.”

Steve stepped back, feet almost at the ring’s edge. He dropped his shield, his sword to the sand. He held his arms out, palms towards Bucky, and said, “I won’t fight you, Bucky. Not ever again.”

So Bucky took the win, and the crowds jeered at Steve, and the Emperor held his thumb outstretched, unamused by the champion’s surrender.

“You won’t fight me,” Bucky spat, “but you’ll make me kill you instead?”

[Cut into the right hand side is an edited shot of the movie Gladiator; two gladiators rush towards each other to battle, with the crowds filling the stands. Much of the image is in shadow, with streaks of sunlight pouring down from the left side.]

TENTH IMAGE:

x.

 The sand was hot beneath Bucky’s feet; no lazy afternoon shadows in the centre of the amphitheatre. In front of him, Steve knelt facing away, his head tipped low to bare the spot at the top of his spine, all smooth skin tanned and unblemished.

The crowds roared around them and Bucky lifted his sword, pressing the tip at the base of Steve’s neck.

Steve flinched and said, just barely loud enough for Bucky to hear: “Perhaps I’ll go to Elysium… I hear there are few places better to be than the underworld, these days.”

But Bucky knew Steve would not go to Elysium. He was a warrior, but he was not dying righteously, not for fighting well. He was dying for surrendering, for caring about Bucky more than himself.

And Bucky—well he cared for Steve more than himself, too. They were the same that way. They always had been.

So Bucky stepped back, lowering his sword in his hand. He looked up to the Emperor, shadowed in his private box, and shook his head.  

“I won’t kill you, Steve,” he said, and Steve looked around in surprise, like it was really all that out of character. He held out a hand and pulled Steve to his feet, ignoring the roaring of the crowd, the anger that came from mercy.

“They’ll come for us,” Steve said, eyes wary. “They’ll kill us both.”

With one hand, Bucky cupped Steve’s cheek, thumb against his cheekbone, and with the other, he lifted the sword and twisted it. “Let them try,” he said. “But we have plans to travel the world. We’ve got no time for dying, Steve.”

And in the summer heat, they ran for the Gate of Life.

ELEVENTH IMAGE:

[A close up of two marble statues kissing.]

[END OF IMAGE ID]

[fearfully-fiction]

Odd Fellows Home pt.3- Alex Schroeder x Reader

word count: 3108

warnings: Language, fluffff!!, sarcasm lol!

Summary: Based on season3 episode 6 of DF. so, all credit goes to the crew, the show and the channel! The group gets ready to face the night ahead of them. Alex calms the reader about confronting her fear, and entering the Hospital. 

once again everyone, I am incredibly sorry this part is late! I was gone all day yesterday and i never got the chance to upload this part for you! I do hope you enjoy it! and I’d love to hear what you think as usual! alright, Love you to the moon and to Saturn!- M.G. 

(gif not mine!)

You sat on the couch facing everyone, while everyone else sat at the table. You were getting closer and closer to the location and your heart was beginning to skip beats. You had been worrying all day, especially after the information you received the night before. Alex had calmed your nerves last night but throughout the day they had built up again, but you decided it was best not to show your feelings too much. Alex glanced over at you while you fiddled with the old arcade ring he had won for you when you first started dating 3 years ago. He knew you always did that when you were deep in thought. The small daisy that sat atop the ring was a bit faded and you could see that it was not expensive seeing as he won it for you, but you wore it every day since the moment he put it on your finger. Everyone took a look at Alex seeing as he had gone quiet just to see him with a smile on his face as he admired you for doing the simplest thing. It made them smile, though the boys didn’t express what they thought of you and Alex as Chelsea did. But once in a while took small moments to appreciate the love you two had for each other, and it always made them smile. Chelsea had a big smile set on her face as she watched the scene in front of her. They started speaking to each other once again not wanting to keep staring and make things awkward for everyone. Alex got up from his spot, you noticed his movement and turned to look up at him from your place on the couch. He had a smile on his lips as he sat next to you. “Hey babe,” he said. “Hey Al,” you greeted him. 

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” he asked and moved closer to kiss your temple. You smiled at the gesture. 

“Nothing much, just thinking about the location, wondering how it’s gonna go this time around,” you told him. He could hear the hint of worry in your voice you were trying to hide from him. 

“I’m sure things will be ok. Like I said I’ll keep you safe ok. We’ll all be ok.” he reassured you. You looked up at him finally noticing just how close he was to you. You looked into his eyes and without thinking, you reached up and pulled him into a kiss. It was short and sweet, but it made you feel nothing but love, and a sense of calm even just for a moment. “You always keep me safe,” you said and his smile got bigger. “I always will.” he pulled back and pressed a kiss to your forehead. 

“As long as you have this.” he lifted your hand and placed a kiss on the small ring. “I’m always there with you,” he told you and you let yourself lean into him. Bringing your legs up onto the couch and tucking yourself into his side. 

Chelsea overheard the soft conversation between the two of you and it made her heart melt. She knew from the moment you met each other that there wasn’t going to be any way to stop you from falling for each other. 

Seconds later she was broken from her thoughts when she heard Alex ask her a question. “What?” she asked. “I just asked if you could pass me my camera. You ok?” he asked her with a furrowed brow. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine just spacing out.” she said and picked up his camera to hand it to him.” Here you go,” she said and Alex took it from her. You smiled at Chelsea and she smiled back. 

You picked up your camera as well and began filming. 

Chelsea was the first to speak up. “I know that rituals were performed at this location. I just hope it didn’t, like, stir up anything really evil or something that’s completely unwanted,” she said. You nodded your head in agreement. “I’m not looking forward to that,” Dakota said. “Neither am I,” you added. 

“Well, we’re getting really close. So, Tanner and Chelsea, do you wanna head up front?” your boyfriend asked. Dakota moved from his spot so that Tanner could get up to go to the front and Chelsea followed. “Alright let’s do this.” she said. You glanced at Alex before looking out through the front to see if you could catch a glimpse at what it looked like. 

“No way,” she said and turned to look back at everyone. “The road’s called Odd Fellows. We are close!” She exclaimed. She turned her attention back to the road and you took a deep breath, preparing yourself for the night ahead of you. 

Everyone had freaked out over the sight of the place when you first saw it. It was massive and to be honest it was intimidating to you. The sight sort of made you shrink back further into your boyfriend. “This is fucking crazy,” you said breathlessly. “Yeah, it is,” Dakota said and you turned to look at each other with wide eyes. 

You pulled up in front of the building and your breath immediately caught in your throat. Alex got out the door first and was followed by Chelsea, Tanner, and Dakota with you ending up in last place. You took a look at the building in front of you and it made you shiver. “This is gonna be terrible,” you whispered to yourself before putting your head down and walking forward to catch up with everyone. 

“Are you ready?” your boyfriend asked. “No!” Chels exclaimed and you chuckled. “Are you kidding me, Al? No. I am not ready!” you exclaimed while letting out a laugh. It seemed that no one had noticed you and it sort of made you deflate just a bit. 

“Dude, get out of here,” Tanner said in disbelief. “Look at this place,” Alex spoke up. “You’re crazy, babe. How the hell are we going to get through this whole th-.” you got cut off by Chelsea speaking up louder than you. 

“Odd Fellows Home. Seriously?” Chelsea said in nervousness. “Holy crap!” Dakota said.

“I feel like, we’re in like, a horror movie. Alex this is terrifying!” Dakota expressed. Alex climbed the stairs and turned back to face his friends. “This is messed up,” Chelsea said. She looked around and noticed you in the back of the pack. She fell into step with you. “Hey, you ok?” she asked in concern. “Oh, yeah, just nerves like usual,” you said and smiled softly at her. She looked at you with furrowed brows. “You’re usually super talkative, when we get to locations I haven’t heard anything from you,” she said and placed her hand on your arm comfortingly. 

“Guess my voice is just a bit softer today,” you said. “Well c’mon whisper, let’s catch up. Looks like your boyfriend is looking for you,” she said and dragged you by your arm over to the group. Alex’s eyes found you and he walked forward to take a hold of your hand, interlacing your fingers. 

“Even like, look out into the land we’re surrounded by it looks scary,” Dakota said. “Yup.” Alex agreed with him. You could see a smug smile placed on his lips, he was proud of what location he chose. 

Alex let go of your hand and opened the door to hold it for everyone. Tanner walked through the door and you could tell he was nervous. “Come on!” he exclaimed in frustration. You chuckled as you stood by Alex. He looked down at you and grinned. 

“After you, guys,” he said with a smug smile. “Go on babe, I’m right behind you,” he said and nudged you forward. You walked through the doorway and immediately you felt your stomach drop. You felt like something was off, you had no idea why, but you had a bad feeling about tonight and your want to not sleep alone increased tenfold. 

You took hesitant steps forward, and you jumped when you felt a hand touch the small of your back. “Hey, hey it’s just me.” you heard your boyfriend speak. You sighed in relief and reached back to grab his hand. He once again interlaced your fingers as you walked alongside him. Your flashlights are on and so you have to let go of your boyfriend’s hand. You still stood close to him though not wanting to be separated or get lost. “You’re being quiet baby, what’s the matter?” he asked you softly as you moved ahead. “I don’t know. I just. I have a really bad feeling about tonight. I feel like something bad is going to happen.” you said and shook your head. Your head was tilted down as usual while you walked to your destination. “I guess I’m just more nervous than usual, especially since there is a hospital here, and you know how that goes for me. I think I’m just feeling off, I’m sure I’ll be ok as the night moves along,” you said and glanced up at him. 

“Can you do something for me sweetheart?” he asked, coming to a halt when arriving at the place you were going. He lifted your head. “There’s my beautiful girl,” he said and kissed your head. “I want you to put your hand right here.” he grasped your hand after setting down his camera. He unclenched your fist and brought it up to place over his heart. “Keep your hand there for a second,” he told you. You felt his heartbeat beneath your palm and feeling the steady beats was bringing you back down to the ground from your thoughts swirling in your head. “Do you feel that? Do you feel how steadily it’s beating?” he asked and looked down at you. You nodded. “Yeah.” you softly spoke. 

“It’s because of you, you calm me in times like these. You are the only one that brings me back down and calms the racing in my heart at these locations. You are my peace, and so the heartbeat you feel is for you.” he said and rested his forehead against yours. “Remember the feeling of this ok. Remember the steady beat, and breathe to it. In for 3 beats out for 4. I’m next to you and my heart is beating right next to yours. So don’t worry, remember that I’m here, and I will make sure that everything is going to be ok, and you’ll know my heart is still beating and it’s only for you.” he tried to soothe you. Your eyes teared up, and you grabbed his hand to place it over your heart. “Mine beats for you too.” you whimpered and he pulled you in for a hug. You held him tightly. He pulled back and leaned down to kiss the stray tears away. He pulled away from you slightly and smiled down at you softly. “You ready?” Alex asked gently. You looked at him and nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready,” you answered. He placed a chaste kiss on the top of your head before turning back to the group to help set up the gear room. 

You walked over to Chelsea and helped her set up what needed to be. When all of you were done, Alex lead you all back outside. You stood next to Chelsea and listened to your boyfriend explain how things were going to go that night. 

Your camera was focused on your boyfriend as he began the night. 

“So we just got to the Odd Fellows Home. We set up a gear room in the orphanage behind me. I think right now what we should do is just go explore this place as a group.” he said and you nodded your head in agreement. “I like that idea. I love group activities,” you said and they chuckled. Chelsea looped her arm through yours as you walked. 

You had been walking for a little bit and you turned to glance at your best friend. “All this walking is going to give me my exercise for this entire year,” you told her. She let out a big laugh. “I couldn’t agree more,” she said and you chuckled. Alex looked over his shoulder at you and Chelsea and his heart swelled at the sight of your smile and genuine laughter after you had just been crying and scared moments ago. It was moments like these that made him feel even more fully that he wanted you for the rest of his life. 

It wasn’t much longer before Alex spoke again. 

“It’s so far away guys,” Alex said and you rolled your eyes. “I know.” Dakota agreed. You then heard Tanner pipe up. “This is gonna suck.” his statement made you laugh. “Yeah, it is,” you said. 

“This whole place is creepy dude.” Dakota expressed. “You think so Kota?” you asked, he turned to look at you with a raised brow. “Yeah, of course, I mean look around,” he said. “Well, that’s a shame. I think it’s a beautiful piece of real estate and would love to live here and call it my own.” You announced in the most joyful sarcastic tone you could.  He rolled his eyes, and you laughed. “Is sarcasm your default?” you heard Tanner speak up, and you let out a loud laugh. Alex turned to look at you and chuckled at you. “Yes, Tanner. Yes, it is,” you said and let your laughter die down.  

“Here’s the hospital.” your boyfriend announced and you flashed your light at the large looming building. It made your heart race, and your mind wander to past events that had taken place at the hospitals you’ve been to. You fell silent. “It’s way over here?” Chelsea asked as she took a few steps away from you to get a better look. “Are you serious?” she asked.

It was so far away from the rest of things and it made you begin to slow down, thinking of all of the things that could happen.  

“Apparently there is something very dark in this hospital. People have said to be chased out by shadow figures.” you heard your boyfriend explain and it made your heart skip a beat. You knew this was gonna be bad but you weren’t expecting this in the hospital. It made you extremely weary as you ascended the stairs. You had fallen behind once again, as you walked through the doors. Your boyfriend stopped walking and looked around to find you. He saw you all the way in the back with wary eyes and a timid stature. He moved to the back of the pack and grabbed your hand in his, interlacing your fingers. You looked up at him, and he moved your hand to his chest as a reminder of what he said earlier. You took a deep breath and held his hand tighter. “You’re not leaving my side, while we’re in here, I’ve got you,” he said. 

You fell into step with Alex as you made your way further into the old building. The area surrounding you was old and decrepit. It was wasting away and it made you even more creeped out by it. “Damn this place is just rotting away,” you said and shone your light into one of the rooms. 

“Oh my gosh, this is super rundown,” Chelsea said. 

“I’m gonna put my mask on,” Dakota said. “Yeah that’s probably the best idea right now,” you said and pulled out your mask to put on your face as to not breathe in anything that could be harmful to you. 

Once your mask was on you noticed Alex fussing over his and so you walked up to him and set your camera down. “C’mere babe,” you said and he walked over to you. “I’ll help you with the mask. Turn around for me,” you said and he did as told. You took the mask from him and helped him settle it on his face correctly.

Once it was on securely he turned to face and pull you into a side hug, he leaned down to press a kiss on your head like usual and ended up hitting the mask on the top of your head. Kissing you was just a natural instinct by now and so he didn’t even think about him wearing a mask. He felt you jump at the contact and you looked up at him. “I’m so used to being able to kiss you whenever I want, I didn’t even remember the mask was there. You chuckled, “tomorrow babe.” you told him and squeezed his arm comfortingly. “Great, I have to wait until tomorrow,” he said quietly and you giggled. “Don’t be dramatic,” you said and lightly slapped his chest

“You know we got that all on camera right?” You heard Dakota say. “I don’t mind.” You said with a shrug. Alex shrugs as well. “It’s not like people haven’t seen it before,” he said.

“Ok, well we should probably continue then,” Dakota said. 

You all continued to walk down the hall, with Alex in the lead and you directly behind him.

“Is there anyone down here?” Alex asked. You looked around nervously. “I don’t feel good about this place,” he spoke again. You took a deep breath and tried to remember the feeling of his heartbeat. It began to calm you down until a loud noise echoed through the hall. 

Your boyfriend instantly turned around at the sound and you shut your eyes.”Whoa.” Your boyfriend said. “What the hell was that?” you asked softly. “Did you hear that?” Chelsea asked. 

“It’s upstairs,” Chelsea said. “Right above us,” Dakota said. “That was a loud thud right above us,” Tanner added. 

“How do we get upstairs?” Dakota asked. “Right behind you, back towards the front.” your boyfriend explained. 

“I love going upstairs in haunted abandoned buildings in the middle of fucking nowhere,” you mumbled to yourself, but Chelsea picked it up, and chuckled. “I agree,” she said and it made you smile despite not being able to see it she could tell you were. 

You all got back to the front and started going up the stairs. 

“We should just check,” Dakota said. As you walked up the stairs your head was facing the floor trying not to trip on anything. You knew Alex was behind you and it made you have the slightest semblance of peace. You reached the top of the stairs and sighed. “This is gonna be a long night,” you said and everyone agreed. 

---

Taglist: 

@jaziona92

@beautybyfire

@thefandomthings

@kippykasey

@kristin813

@katelynanna​

[raindownforme]

“I love you” in Comic Sans (pt2!)

Charlie Slimecicle x reader [they/them used](CW: slightly sexist content)

Schlatt shoved y/n through the door way. The first person they looked for was Charlie, who was staring at them with wide eyes.

Of course Charlie was angry; he was angry and worried and quite honestly pissed off! Only moments ago Traves and Cooper had run in to tell him that Schlatt was holding y/n outside the front door. He had wanted so desperately to go out there and whisk them away from whatever Schlatt was planning, but before he could actualise a thought process they had both stumbled through the door. Watching y/n stand there, dressed to marry him, he felt his heart leave his chest and soar high up above him. The hood resting gently on their head and the cape swirling around their feet was pretty of course, but the second they made eye contact with Charlie, y/n smiled so wide that he felt invincible. He stood at the altar, watching as someone handed them the bouquet of flowers. He watched as they smiled, staring at the bright blue cornflowers, then smiling back to him. They mouth thank you and he felt his face burn bright pink.

He heard Schlatt mutter “come on” and shove y/n forward. As Schlatt slowly walked them towards the altar, Charlie felt anger boil from deep inside of himself. He saw Schlatt continue to whisper in their ear, and after what felt like ages (even though it was probably ten seconds) y/n and Schlatt now stood across from him at the altar.

“Thank you Schlatt, that will be all from you.” Ted did his best to excuse the man from the scene, but he didn’t seem to want to let go without a final word.

Schlatt turned to Charlie, poison dripping from each word. “Every bit as real as you think this is, the day this is over is the same day I put a bounty on both of your heads.”

Everyone watched as Schlatt walked towards the back few rows of the church and took the seat next to Connor.

Ted cleared his throat. “Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today....”

Charlie zoned out as Ted continued the speech. He stared at y/n, who kept glancing between either Ted or their conjoined hands. Charlie looked down at their hands, too. Ever so gently, he ran his thumb over the back of their hand, smiling to himself. y/n squeezed his hand and he looked back up to them. They silently mouthed to him, this is real.

Charlie smiled, unsure of how to feel. Off of basic instinct he was elated. The idea that the person he was in love with wanted to marry him set his soul on fire, but knowing that all of this was just political confused him. They must mean real for Schlatt, right? Real for him? Because Charlie was convinced there was no way this would be real like he wanted it to be real.

“Do you have rings?” Ted’s voice cut through Charlie’s thoughts and he came to the quick realization of-

“Oh my god I forgot the rings.” Charlie huffed in frustration. “I am so sorry-“

“Hey it’s okay. We’ll go get some tomorrow. We can pick out ones we like. Together.” y/n smiled at Charlie and then looked back to Ted. “We have no rings.”

Ted nodded, a small smirk on his face. “Any vows then?”

“Oh I’ve got this one covered.” Charlie let go of y/n to reach into his breast pocket and pull out a set of hot pink flash cards. “Here watch this.”

Charlie made a gesture to clear his throat and y/n let out a laugh. “Oh god I might divorce you now.”

Charlie laughed, adjusting his glasses a bit before diving into the speech. “y/n, I’ve only known you for probably a year. Maybe two. But I know that I can say with all of my heart that I will love you through thick and thin, especially through the slime of it all. But I love you and I’m excited to spend my life with you.”

He slipped away the cards to see y/n stifling a laugh. He went to grab their hand and they did their best to swallow the smile. “Alright. My turn. Uhm. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything special prepared like you but I can tell you that every single day you find some way to make me smile and every single day I seem to find some way to make you smile. And putting together everything I know, that makes me feel like you are who I am supposed to spend the rest of my life with, which is such a relief because I love you so, so much Charlie.”

The couple stared at each other, smiling, until Ted brought them back to the ceremony. He held out a small book and a quill dipped in blue ink. “With no objections, would you both please sign this?”

y/n went to sign the certificate in the book first, ending with a swirly flourish. Charlie signed the line underneath, but his looked closer to chicken scratch.

Ted closed the book and held it with both hands. “I pronounce you two, married!”

Charlie wrapped his arms around y/n’s waist, expecting a hug, but instead they grabbed his face and kissed him. Charlie could feel them smiling against his lips and he felt like fire works. He felt like sparks were running under his skin from everywhere they were touching; the hands on his cheeks, their lips against his, his hands against their back. He picked them up, arms still around their waist and spun them in a circle.

y/n stopped kissing Charlie to laugh and bury their face in the crook of his neck, but they didn’t want to. When they kissed Charlie it felt electrifying. It felt whole, like something that had been missing.

Charlie pulled apart from them, still keeping hands on their waist, still smiling wide enough to make sure his face hurt for the rest of the week. “Hey,” he whispered just loud enough for y/n and Ted to hear. “If we give Ted those flowers we can take the book and book it.”

y/n giggled and nodded. They quickly exchanged the items with Ted. And then, hand in hand, the two ran down the aisles of the church and out into the open air.

———

Three weeks had passed since the wedding. In that time, they’d been able to move all of y/n’s stuff to a new house buried in a forested hill. Their house and home garden were well-hidden, but even if something were to happen, Charlie’s home was a three-minute horse ride away.

It had only taken a week to dig out the hill side and build the house, but even after that Charlie had offered to stay with y/n to make sure they felt safe. So for the past three weeks, Charlie had spent every waking day and night at y/n’s house, save for the very few times he had something to attend to.

Today was one of those days. It was late in the afternoon. The sun was about to set, so y/n waited patiently next to the window until their husband came home. It wasn’t unusual for Charlie to be more late than he had originally said. The boy got distracted quite often, whether it was some antics one of his friends had gotten stuck in or something new someone made. But y/n still couldn’t help the anxious feeling that itched beneath their skin.

They sat in their obsessive thoughts for a while longer before they heard the familiar knock at the door. He always knocked the same way, and he would wait for y/n to knock the same way back, which they happily ran to the door to do, then they turned the deadbolt.

Charlie burst through the door, holding his arms out wide as if he were addressing a large crowd. “Hey!”

“Hey! Why are you breathing so hard?”

“Oh. Right.” Charlie shut the door behind himself and set a box from his back pocket on the table near the door. “Well I was in town and I’m not sure who it was but someone built the coolest thing! It’s this big planet and there’s a ring around it like that one planet-“

“Saturn?”

“-yeah Saturn! Which Is why I ran here to tell you because I had the perfect thing to say.”

Charlie opened the box he had set down earlier and pulled out two smaller black velvet boxes. y/n gasped, trying not to hold their breath. “Charlie, what is this?”

“I told you I’d get you a ring! And now you can be saturn! Or we could be Saturn!” Charlie opened the small box and inside was a simple silver band ring engraved with twisting vines and cornflowers to decorate the outside, but on the inside of the band, the wedding date was engraved in comic sans. y/n laughed at the gift, taking it out of the box and slipping it onto their ring finger. Somehow, it fit perfectly. Charlie started explaining something, but all y/n could focus on was not crying. They were gently snapped back into focus when Charlie placed his hand gently on their face and brushed their cheek with his thumb. “Are you okay? You look like you’re crying.”

“Yeah. No I’m fine.”

“Is it the ring? Because I can return them if you want. You don’t even have to pay me back.”

“Charlie its not the rings-“

“Is it something I can fix? At least tell me that-“

“Charlie I love you.” He released his hold on their face and stared in shock. “I’ve been in love with you forever now. That’s why I didn’t want to marry you. I knew you’d be too good of a guy and you’d make it so much harder to not say anything but I’m really worried now that whenever you leave me to marry someone else it’s going to kill me.” Charlie stared at y/n softly. They glanced to see the ring sitting in the box in his other hand and they groaned. “I just embarrassed myself didn’t I?”

“No, y/n-“

“No it’s okay I know you were being nice but you can leave-“

Charlie, with one hand against their cheek and the other wrapped around their waist, pulled y/n in for a kiss. His glasses pushed against their brow and they gasped before they could appropriately react, but Charlie melted at the feeling of y/n smiling against him and the fire works going off under his skin, and y/n smiled as the electricity raced through them.

Charlie pulled the two of them apart, but still rested his forehead against y/n’s. “When you kissed me, it was like fireworks went off everywhere. I wanted to do it every single day. I want to hold your hand every single day, and come home to you at night, and tell you about the wild shit I find in town, and maybe start a store or something so we don’t go broke, and I want to wake up with you. And I want to do all those things because I have loved you for so long. So when you told me it was real I was ecstatic. And you telling me this now makes me happier than I was then.”

“Charlie?”

“Yes?”

“I want the store with you. And the hand holding. And the coming home at night. And everything else you said.”

“Good. Now can you actually tell me if you like the rings? Because you didn’t before.”

y/n laughed, pulling Charlie into a full hug. “Did it have to be comic sans?”

He mumbled intoto the crook of their neck. “I love you too.”

————

Tags: @rosefreckles06 @short-potato

[acklesterritory]

Bad Ideas_Ch. 1

Hey guys, I'm back with a new story.

*First*: I want to apologize if I tagged you in case you didn't want to. Unfortunately I mixed up my tag list so please even if you don't read this story let me know if you're on my blog's

1. Dean tags or 2.series tags or 3.oneshot tags.

And reblog so the others see this post too. Thanks

**Second*I'm planning on finishing this story in 2 parts but sometimes it can take longer so no promises.

Dean x Reader

This chapter words~4k

Series Warning: +18, a/b/o relationships, Dom/Sub(No details. You know I hate spoilers), Angst, Smut, Unprotected sex (You're wiser that that), Cheating, Language, Hurt reader

Summary: She was supposed to get married and imprint her beloved wolf but what happens when a dominant hunter shows up to hunt them?

This chapter song: Wild by John legend feat Gary Clark Jr. Listen here

And I stole @jay-and-dean 's divider *sorry*

Happy reading and may you leave me something cause feedbacks are writer's fuel.

Mad, Sad, pretty, savage, seductive, crazy!

An obvious alpha.

I knew it from the first time I laid my eyes on her.

Couple of weeks ago I was at a luxury restaurant in my Fed suit to meet a businessman who could be involved in our new case. Doing that random investigation, I was getting convinced that there ain't any useful information and he was nothing but a waste of the time. So I excused myself and left the table to call Sam in the lobby. He had to know it was a dead end. But just when I was putting my phone back in my pocket, someone grabbed my arm from behind and pushed me against the wall out of blue.

"Say your name."

Wasn't my first time to face a seductive woman but for some unknown reason her whisper sent a shiver down my spine and I couldn't stop my eyes from gazing at her curves in that elegant black outfit.

"Listen. I got myself into this awful situation where I had to face this filthy woman announcing everyone in my birthday party that she was sleeping with my fiance. So before he show up to stop me, I need you to help them realizing something very important about me. And that help will be appreciated. So make your mind. You can just simply say your name and mention your price or I will kill you to make a scene and skip everyone's pitty looks part." She told me, running her right leg up, between my legs. To make me feel the bulge of her thigh holester underneath her dress: *She had a gun*

Wetting my lips, I looked down into her eyes for a second. She had some make up on but I knew enough to be sure that wild look couldn't be fake. She was a werewolf who probably had no idea what she got herself into.

"Name's Dean." I bit on my lip. Why I let her know my real name? I had no idea. I didn't want to think about it either. I just wanted to hold my gaze there, Letting myself to catch on those burning flames in her eyes.

"And sorry sweetheart. I'm off the sale."

I brought my lips closer to her ear so she could hear my whisper. However I hadn't to bend so much. Even without those elegant highheels, she was taller than a normal chick.

"What do you want, then?" She almost hissed on my lips before I pushed her back.

"Maybe I want you to be even more angry. Who knows?" I joked, distracting her for a second by my intentional smirk.

"You are a hunter, aren't you?" This time she surprised.

"What?" I narrowed my eyes and peaked out the tongue to wet my lips when she turned around for a second to catch a glimpse of whoever was approaching us.

"Just save my honor and then I'm yours. Kill, rape, torture. I don't mind anymore." There was no regret, shame or sorrow in her tone. She just stated it like a random proven fact. No hesitation, no hard feelings, no doubts. She was speaking like a smart commander in a war field, negotiating with her enemy to just save the day.

And to be honest I was stunned by that behavior. I know that I could resist her when she right away reached out but the thing is I didn't want to. As soon as she snaked her arms around my neck, her smell surrounded me like a trap. A captivating one. So pleasant! Then her lips were on mine in a shameless open-mouthed kiss. With her tongue dancing with mine.

I closed my eyes and immediately blood started to run wild in my veins. Every fiber, every cell were reacting to her warm body against my cold existence. It felt strange. I never was aroused by a kiss this fast. Not even when I was just a virgin teen.

"Y/n?!" A gruff voice called her. So she had to draw an unintentional groan out of me to break the kiss.

"That's him." She murmured on my lips. And I opened my eyes to look at a tall man in his fancy tuxedo. He was handsome. But not as much as he was wealthy. His watch could cost the whole hotel itself!

"What are you doing?" Eyes burning, he stared at me. Like he was watching the most terrible scene ever in his life.

"Well, ..." She smiled mischievously, getting out of my arms to stand next to me.

"Just enjoying my heat with a man who actually can handle it." She stated, smiling with her head up, radiating power.

"What..." The man's gaze shifted between us in disbelief.

"What do you ... what does ..." He was getting red by anger. And it seemed she couldn't care less.

"This is a break up, Jamie. I'm done with your endless excuses. I'm done with you, sleeping around while you can't even satisfy my needs in the bed. I need a better man."

*well, shit*

"You're … how you … can …" The man stuttered, shaking his head in disbelief. I looked around and found out people were gathering around us slowly. From the corner of my eyes I spotted two hunk in suits in front of the main door. They were definetaly bodyguards.

"That's it. We are done." She announced while everyone held their breath; watching her taking off her ring and throwing it toward her newly "ex".

"Y/N! …" The man took a step forward. His eyes were on fire and rage. Still his tone was soft, unlike his rough voice. "You can't do this. It's just a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?" She laughed, tilting her head. Everyone could see how her fangs looked perfectly white and sharp: Ready, challenging, threatening!

"Is that so, Jamie?" She mocked before bringing out her phone out of her tiny clutch, throwing it to the guy after playing a video on it. By the noises I could hear, it was a sex type that made the man sweating bullets in no time.

"Now get the fuck out of my way and out of my life." She retorted, grabbing my hand. And as I was planning to win over the two bodyguards who mightly would stop us, we just reached to the main front door.

"Miss Y/l/N …" To my surprise, one of the bodyguards approached us politely. looking cool, calm, and all in control.

"You two can go home, Mark. I'm gonna spend the night with …" She hesitated and shut her eyes for a second to remember my name:

"… Dee. We probably need some private time for the next few days. I'll call you when I feel I need to get back home. But til that, I don't want any interruptions." She declared and by her steady and sure tone I could say she used to talk with them.

"But …"

"Just don't let Jamie get close to me ever again." She cut the bodyguard's word carelessly and then turned her face to look at me.

"You got any car?"

"Of course I do." I gave her my most proud smile.

"Ok then. Let's go out of here. I don't want to even take one more breath in here anymore."

I watched enough movies and read enough comics and slept with enough women to know that Y/n was a whole different savage alpha.

She was on the baby's seat in just her one single layer fancy dress that barely covered her body while it was freezing cold outside. To the point I could feel the chill in my FBI suit and coat the moment we walked out of the hotel. And still she protested me when I turned on baby's heater.

"She was pregnant." She said bluntly, a few minutes later, looking out of the window like she could see anything in road at that dark night through baby's steamed up glass.

I looked over her and catch a glimpse of her tears before she could wipe them.

"I can't believe he did this to me. Out of all the people, Jamie was the last one I expected him to betray me." She was hurting but her voice wasn't shaky. She still sounded more angry than sad.

"Maybe he didn't. Maybe the chick misused the hit of a moment to trick him."

*Why I'm defending him? He is a freaking werewolf!*

I had no idea! Maybe I was trying to soothe her pain. But Why?

"Yeah, maybe. But after all he is the one who let the devil in!" Her sound wasn't more than a whisper but it woke the old screams of my guiltyconscience in my head:

*How many times I had let the devil get in me?*

"Screw him." She said through her clenched teeth. Then she threw her head back and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Screw him. Screw dad. And screw the whole royal pack. Screw everything!"

I sighed, knowing she will be angry for a while. So I turned on the radio, changing the stations to find something that might distract her. I just didn't need to watch that lady's upcoming tears.

I … wanna take you so far.

Out past the Saturn rings

And into my heart

The rhythm catched my attention immediately. It sounds like a nice song. A comforting one.

I wanna drive you

Wild, wild, wild

I wanna love you

For miles and miles

I chuckled, patting Baby on the wheels.

We can go slow,

we don't need to rush

I'll take the wheel,

make you feel every touch

I wanna drive you

Wild, wild, wild

"Where is the lie, Baby? I always do." I chuckled, enjoying how the song perfectly suit us.

"Are you talking to me or to your old ass car?"

I was so ready to make Y/n regret that harsh remark, yet when I turned to give her my deadliest frown, she got me almost chocked on my tongue.

"Wha …"

A lace black lingerie hanging around the right knee, she had her legs wide open on my passenger seat‌, playing with her bare core with her delicate fingers while her left foot was using dashboard to support her weight.

Lay on the passenger's side

Tell me how fast you want

We'll get there tonight

Her right strap dropped when she jolted in her sex fever, almost revealing whole of her bare chest. And all of this was happening while she still had her eyes closed, panting in pain. I felt like I lost the ability to even form a God damn sound.

Oh, fire, you set me on fire

I swear you're the only one

I'd take on this ride

"What … are you … doing?!" My voice sounded horrible, scratchy and far. I darted my tongue to wet my lips but my mouth was already dry by watching her. It was no surprise that she didn't noticed my question. She was already lost in her body. Her neck was glistening under road's occasional faint lights and now all I could feel was her warmth in the small room of the car, already surrendered to her astounding smell, in middle of a freaking winter night.

… Oh, oh

Yeah

Wanna love you

Wanna touch you

Wanna drive you

Wild, wild, wild …

I jumped out of my skin when a sudden honk drew my attention out … to the road and I finally noticed the truck that could crash us to hell if I couldn't rotate the wheel just on time.

*Dang* Something beside me hit the windshield the moment I stepped on the break. Then a shattering sound cut the air.

"Y/N!" I screamed, trying to pull over without making any other mess.

"Hey … you hear me?" I asked as I turned to see her face buried in her hairs on the dashboard. A part of the windshield was broken in an oval shape, broken pieces scattered mostly on the passenger side while the rest of it had some cracks on.

"Y/N!" I called her again but when I couldn't get any answer, I get out of the car to circulate baby and open the passenger door.

"Hey … look here, can you hear me?" I pulled her carefully back, to rest her head against the seat, securing her neck between my hands. That was when my eyes catched on the sight of a deep cut on her forehead, right under the hair line. And it was bleeding.

"Y/n?"

She moaned, goosebumps raised on her skin everywhere around my fingers.

"I think I need to lay down on the back seat." She said, before opening her eyes.

"Are you in pain?" I couldn't help myself, not knowing why I suddenly would care that much?

She smiled and I reached to wipe the oozing blood on my thumb.

"I got a first-aid box in my trunk. Just wai…"

Before I could finish my saying and right as I started to withdraw, she grabbed my arm to hold me still.

"No, help me to the back seat." For a second I got lost in her eyes, feeling an odd fultter in the dip of my stomach, pulling me like a meaningless swarf toward the magnet of her wondrous touch.

"Please."

Mostly humans know that drinking sea water or getting hit by a gunshot can cause their death. But could that knowledge stop them from exploring oceans or fighting for their honor in the war fields?

"Dean …"

"Alright."

Well, I was a human too. A human who could be attracted to unknowns, being aware that it could be very dangerous. Or maybe more marvelous.

"You ok?" I asked as soon as I had her on my back seat, gazing at the sweat running down on the side of her face while one of my legs were resting inside of car, the other: still out, planted on the ground.

"I think I've hurt my back." I spotted a tremor in her voice as she avoided my puzzled look and stared down to her lap like she was hiding a secret there. Was that weapon still hidden there in that holster?

I checked my gun to be where it should've been. If she (as a werewolf) was up to kill me (as a hunter), I knew this could be her best shot. And honestly if It was me, I would've used the same trick.

"Are you gonna wait there for the rest of the night?" She raised her eyebrows and instantly hissed as the deep cut on her forehead got wrinkled with this simple move.

Taking a deep breath, I pulling myself completely in and closed the door behind. Well, I was aware that without any way out, she could've killed me much easier. But what kind of human could touch the moon without taking any fetal risk?

However I still didn't want to hurt her. So I hoped she wouldn't do what an enemy should do.

As I was all ready to confront her attack, she slightly turned her back to me. Then she grabbed her long hair and put them aside, giving me the access to her spine.

"Can you check it for me?"

Well, if she wanted to play, I was game too. In the end, I had killed enough werewolves to know how I could manage an alpha one like her. But … it was about something more. Something way stronger: A wild need and an ancient desire to touch her bare skin on my fingertips, tongue and teeth. A perfect example of a hunter and his prey. And yet … I was feeling like the first man who was about to discover the fire too.

"Do you want me to unzip it?" I asked to be sure. Never wanted her to feel like I would hurt her honor just because we were enemies. Even when touching her was all I could think about at the moment.

"Yes, please." She whispered and I noticed the same burning wish in her soft tone. So I couldn't help my fingers run their way on her back and touch the velvety fabric of her outfit.

She inhaled loudly as I unzipped the dress, watching the goosebumps raising on her skin as I was tracking down on her spine.

"I don't think you got any wound here."

"Then why I'm in pain?" She asked, leaning back to me. And I subconsciously pulling her dress down, not knowing why my everything wanted to touch her more?

"Hunter." Her breaths got quickened and as she rested her head back on my right shoulder and nuzzled her nose in my neck, I could tell she was still burning up.

"I'm in heat." She said, panting. And that was the moment I realized she was already lost by just imagining me inside of her.

"Y/n …"

"Dean ..." She whined as her hand found the side on my head.

"Dean, I need you." With that she pushed me down to claim my lips in a lustful kiss.

I could be a caveman or a scientist, or even an astronaut but for sure she was more than a thunderstorm or the electricity or even the mars itself.

"Ah … " She whimpered, her body twisted in my arms, like an angry wounded animal that was seeking for a remedy. From her owner.

"This is such a bad idea." I said as my hands grabbed her waist, trying to control her moves when she started to roll her hips impatiently.

"That's what people always say. To Galileo, To Da Vinci, even to ..." She claimed, taking my fingers with her delicate ones, to guide my hands up on her body.

" … to whoever with … " I stole her breath as my hands reached to her soft breasts.

"With the …"

She took a shaky breath to keep herself together. But I was that man who just had landed on the moon and now wasn't able to stop trying. So I grazed my teeth on the skin of her neck, marking her with a hickey right as I squeezed her breasts, giving her aroused nipples the special attention they deserved with my thumbs. Well, she fought to not fall apart and I had to fill her blank spaces:

"Best ideas?" I asked before biting on her lips, feeling the burning heat that was coming out of her skin. Could moon ever be the sun too?

"Hunter!" She almost cried as my left hand travels down on her belly and hips to find her already swelled bud and part her labia. "HUNTER!"

This time she really screamed as my thumb brushed her bud again while my other two digits sank in her warm core. Her walls sucked on my fingers.

"OH GOD!"

I was still rubbing her nipple with my other hand when she dug her nails in my arms.

"No!" She gasped.

"No? I thought you said it's not a bad idea."

I whispered before taking her earlobe between my teeth and pulled on it as her back fought hard to arch against my body. She got speechless, drown in whatever the black hole we both had fallen into. Now time and place were lost for us so I tightened my arms more around her body.

"Shush, alpha. Take it easy." I said as I removed my fingers from where I was making her weak. And that was out of the bare truth of a human's nature. We love to possess and we love to own. Even if it's the moon and the sun or maybe a lost star in the Infinity of the universe.

She jolted forward in ecstasy and I had to grabbed her wrists firmly before she could end herself: "No."

"Please! … God." She whimpered. Thighs shaking with need and thirst. But I knew better.

"My name is Dean."

But what else could make a negligible creature like me feel like a God more than this wolf of women during her pleasure?

I kissed her shoulder and hugged her from behind, letting her cool down as our warmth were mixing in the small room of the car. She was panting again.

"Come here."

I turned her chin toward my face, tasting her lips in an open mouthed and yet tender kiss, taking my time to draw some deep moans out of her chest.

Til she was nothing more than a pounding heart or a throbbing mess and a mind which had already got blind by lust.

Somehow I wanted this prideful moment to last forever.

"Deeaaaan!" She rubbed her thighs against each other, trying her best to control her wild necessity to come. I could tell it was making her mad cause now she couldn't even sit up in my lap.

"Lay down, sweetheart" I encouraged. And as she did, I got rid of our clothes as soon as I could. When I was done, I noticed her passionate gaze on me.

"You'll be the death of me!" She admitted and I bent to lick her along her jaw.

"No, I need you alive. We still got some dirty work to do."

My whisper made her shiver. And moan. Again and again.

Looking down, I watched how her body were twisting under me, once more rubbing her thights together as I was holding her wrists up beside her head.

"Open up, alpha." I commended, reaching to her core, making her pants in pain as I mercilessly squeezed her bud.

She took another shaky breath, as she parted her legs for me. So I take the advantage to lube myself with her juice as she was already dripping.

"I said don't come yet." I slapped her breast and bent to bite her hard on the other one, sliding myself in her velvety heaven.

"DEAN!" She cried and her eyes rolled. And I tried to freeze this image in my mind. Could a God be more proud of himself?

But It was just the beginning. I decided to start my favorite rhythm to slam into her. And kept watching her bliss and how her soft and round breast were bouncing every time out hips met.

"You're doing good, sweetheart. I know you can." I could not stopped my smile when I realized she'd almost fainted, fighting against her mad orgasm.

"Aa…ha." She tried to answer but it sounded more like a painful moan which I muffled it in a kiss. Sweet and sore. Wet and shameless. We now were a part of one another. The mystery was solved. The cold God was melting in the arms of the sun. The man kind had won the moon.

"Come." I groaned and her walls clenched around me, sucking me inside of her.

Her back arched violently and I had to clutched at the leather seats to keep myself up when an unstoppable rush of pleasure hit both of us.

And just like that, we made the big trouble. The gravity that could swallow our futures all together …

"To be continued".

Temporary tag list: @akshi8278 @adoptdontshoppets @slamminmine @missafairy @anunstablefangirl @lauraashley93 @mimaria420 @roonyxx @chocolateheart @cocahood @pandaxo79 @bennyspengwing @holylulusworld

[ilyasorokinn]

taylor’s 500 follower celebration extravaganza!

hi! hello! so, i woke up this morning, and found out i hit 500! I really never imagined hitting 500. so thank you so much to everyone who decided to follow. it really means a lot of me!

so, as a way to celebrate, I've created yet another music prompt list because I was going through that other music prompt list, which will be linked here if you want to request, and I realized that I wanted to add a few more songs. 

so, if you want to request, please check out this list of players I do and don’t write for, and use that as a guide. also, please before you request, please say which prompt list you’re reuqests are from. say like “from the 500 followers prompt list” or “the music prompt list pt. 2″ it’ll just make things a lot easier for me. 

“haunted by the ghost of you / oh, take me back to the night we met” (the night we met, lord huron)

“i heard that you settled down / that you found a girl and you’re married now / i heard that your dreams came true / guess she gave you things, i didn’t give to you” (someone like you, adele) 

“you took my soul and wiped it clean / our love was made for movie screens” (all i want, kodaline)

“i like shiny things, but i'd marry you with paper rings” (paper rings, taylor swift)

“how can you miss someone you’ve never met? / ‘cause i need you now but i don’t know you yet” (idk you yet, alexander 23)

“when you’re high, i'll take the lows / you can ebb and i can flow / and we’ll take it slow / and grow as we go” (grow as we go, ben platt)

“something happens when i hold her / she keeps my heart from getting broken / when the days get short / and the nights get a little but colder / we hold each other” (hold each other, a great big world) 

“midnight, i've got trouble sleeping / i'm making my way up to the street where we last kissed” (midnight, kodaline)

“there were so many chapters that we never got to write / “like cereal for dinner” and “staying up all night” (the book of you and i, alec benjamin)

“i didn't mean to hurt you / so why’d i let you walk out the door?” (you and me, james tw)

“i've spent a lifetime giving you my heart / i swear that i'll be yours forever / till forever falls apart” (till forever falls apart, ashe and finneas)

“i have loved you since we were 18 / long before we both thought the same thing” (18, one direction)

“if i can't have you / i don't want nobody baby” (if i can’t have you, glee version or yvonne elliman

“you made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter / you are the best thing, that's ever been mine” (mine, taylor swift) 

“i don't mind spending every day / out on your corner in the pouring rain” (she will be loved, maroon 5)

“and at last i see the light / and it's like the sky is new” (i see the light, tangled)

'cause baby you look happier, you do / my friends told me one day i'll feel it too / and until then i'll smile to hide the truth / but i know I was happier with you” (happier, ed sheeran)

“if all it is is eight letters / why is it so hard to say?” (8 letters, why don’t we)

“and i bet right now you're probably thinkin' / that it's crazy i remember every detail, but I do / i can still smell your perfume / girl, that night was just like you / unforgettable” (unforgettable, thomas rhett)

“don't get too close, it's dark inside / it's where my demons hide” (demons, imagine dragons)

“we were staying in paris / to get away from your parents” (paris, the chainsmokers)

“with shortness of breath / you explained the infinite / and how rare and beautiful it is to even exist” (saturn, sleeping at last) 

“so say we'll be always, always / say it will be you and me to the old days / i let us be always, always / through the highs and the lows, we'll be always” (always, isak danielson)

“baby, i'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms / barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song” (perfect, ed sheeran)

“say you'll remember me standing in a nice dress / staring at the sunset, babe / red lips and rosy cheeks / say you'll see me again / even if it's just in your wildest dreams” (wildest dreams, taylor swift)

“and no matter how much time goes by / and no matter how much we grow up / for worse or for better, from now 'til forever / i'll always remember you young” (remember you young, thomas rhett)

“i really need somebody to call my own / i wanna be somebody to someone / someone to you” (someone to you, banners) 

“so, before you go / was there something i could've said / to make your heart beat better?” (before you go, lewis capaldi) 

“i'd walk through fire for you / just let me adore you” (adore you, harry styles)

“'cause we belong together now / forever united here somehow, yeah / you got a piece of me and honestly / my life would suck without you” (my life would suck without you, glee version or kelly clarkson) 

“you think i'm pretty without any makeup on / you think I'm funny when i tell the punch line wrong / i know you get me, so i let my walls come down, down” (teenage dream, glee vision or katy perry)

“if I die young, bury me in satin / lay me down on a bed of roses / sink me in the river at dawn / send me away with the words of a love song” (if i die young, the band perry)

also, everyone tagged here, thank you for everything you’ve done. you’ve all been so kind and mean so much to me. i really didn’t expect to make this many friends in such a short amount of time, but i did, and now i'm never gonna let any of you go. i love you, and you all mean so much to me. i love you all :) ❤️

@honeybearbarzal - @raysofcrosby - @softbarzal - @storiesbymads - @samsteel - @chicagoblackhawkslover96 - @beauvibaby - @boqvistsbabe -  @stardustseguin - @barzypatty - @barzzal - @prettyboycozens - @moritzseider - @2manytabsopen - @ollywahlygator - @babytkachuks - @aereres - @joshsandersons - @pierreslucdubois - @fallinallincurls - @punkharts - @teenagekook - @barbienoturbby - @calgarycanuck - @kiedhara - @npatrickz - @ipuckwithhockey - @myhockeyworld87 - @miracleonice87

[forasecondtherewedwon]

and the stars (they all aligned)

Fandom: Sex Education Pairing: Ola Nyman/Lily Iglehart Rating: E Word Count: 3887

Summary: Ola knows there's more to outer space than aliens with penis-fingers, and from their spot on the hill, gazing up at the night sky with Lily, it's never felt closer. They've never felt closer.

“Life can get small, you know?” Ola says sadly. The gravity inside her body still feels a little off, like her heart’s bobbing around, unsure whether to float or land. She’s sad, she’s elated, she’s aching for her mum, she’s grateful to have her girlfriend next to her on the grass.

“Like when I stopped writing my stories,” Lily suggests, frowning thoughtfully under her silvery makeup.

“Yeah. But the stars are so beautiful out here. I feel like, if I laid down and just looked straight up… blocked out the people and the lights from the houses… I could see really far into space.”

“You are seeing far into space, with some of these.” Lily points a pale, precise finger up above them. “The light’s coming from such a long way away that you’re basically traveling in time. And that’s real,” she quickly emphasizes, “not science fiction.”

Ola smiles widely.

“Cool.”

The other spectators are beginning to walk back to their cars and homes, but Lily and Ola lie back on the plaid blanket. Lily’s arm pulls her gently closer until Ola’s resting her head on her girlfriend’s chest. Just when it seems that the star shower has ended, another lone light flies past.

“They’re meteors, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” Lily says, but Ola can tell she’s held something back.

“If you want to say what you imagine them to be,” she prompts, “I’m here to listen.”

“Aliens,” Lily blurts, given permission, but then she adds: “Or angels.”

Ola lies very still for a minute, breathing, feeling the plasticky pink stripes on her girlfriend’s outfit pull on her cheek a little when she repositions her head.

“Angels?”

“Well, this was your mum’s favourite place,” Lily says, straightforward and unflinching, the way she explains everything that can’t possibly be real. “So maybe angels. Cosmic angels who ice skate on Jupiter’s frozen moon, Europa.”

“Aww, that’s lovely.”

“And hump the rings of Saturn.”

“That’s not really how I’d like to picture my mum’s spirit.”

“Sorry,” Lily says. Ola can hear the wince in her voice and gives her waist a quick squeeze to show she isn’t upset. “The cosmic angels could also be juggling moon rocks.”

“Tanning on planets that orbit three suns.”

“Riding spiral galaxies around like a carousel!”

“And when we see shooting stars,” Ola says with a smile, “they’re surfing.”

“Yes, I think that’s right,” Lily agrees, sighing contentedly beneath her. “You know—” She taps the nape of Ola’s neck like Ola’s seen her tap her desk when she’s writing and pauses to consider the next turn her intergalactic saga will take. “—you’ve got a really good imagination.”

Delighted, Ola lifts her head and smiles at her girlfriend.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

“So do I,” Lily says while Ola nods, “but maybe I use it too much? If I’d been better at living in reality, you wouldn’t have gotten sick of me.”

Ola frowns. She’s big on showing affection through physical contact and instinct tells her to brush Lily’s hair back from her face or something, but it’s too slicked down tonight, the silky length of it twirled into a magnificent pair of space buns, wound through with metallic thread. Her girlfriend is so creative, and so many beautiful things come from her brain. Ola hates that Hope, their classmates, and even her made Lily believe her ideas and the way she expresses them aren’t valuable.

“Lily. I was never sick of you.” She reaches to adjust the gleaming pleather collar of Lily’s outfit, then leans down to nuzzle her nose against Lily’s. “And I never want you to use your imagination less, or try to turn it off, or anything like that. The answer might even be to use it more.”

“More?”

“Yeah.”

Ola drops her head onto her girlfriend’s chest again, hugging into her side as a chatting couple wheel a stroller up the hill past them. She thinks of the new baby while Lily mulls over what she’s said. Joy. They’ll have to sedate her dad if they want him out of the hospital tonight while that tiny girl slumbers there. Joy will learn, when she’s older, what a good dad she had from the very beginning—watching over Joy and giving Ola, well, space. She stares up at the sparkling scatter of stars.

“Because there are other ways for us to enjoy having sex,” Lily says a few minutes later, no preamble.

Ola nods, face shushing across her girlfriend’s costume.

“We’ve done so much together already, but I’m sure there’s loads we haven’t explored.” She shrugs. “I might never have tried any sort of alien roleplay if I hadn’t met you, and you come up with new things you want to try all the time. You inspire yourself, through your writing, and I think that’s amazing.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Ola says confidently. “I do.”

“Your mom must have loved you really well,” Lily murmurs, “because you love really well too.”

Ola is a box. A clear, plastic box with a hatch where her heart is. She is an incubator, like Joy’s, housing a very fragile thing, and Lily has reached inside to cradle that thing in her careful hands. Ola sniffs and the stars smudge into a big, messy glow up above. She blinks fast as her eyes brim.

“She did.”

“I wouldn’t want to be abducted without you.”

Ola laughs wetly.

“Thanks, Lil.”

Lily speaks some more, but it’s not to her. She mumbles and traces lines up and down the sleeve of Ola’s green jacket. Ola can tell she’s thinking out loud; the words ‘pulsing’ and ‘Glenoxi’ and ‘penis-fingers’ hum in the air over their heads. She’s prepared to flip off anyone who looks at her girlfriend strangely, but the final stragglers march by in their own wild costumes, dragging signs with hopeful and blatantly sexual pleas. Huh. Some of these really are Lily’s people.

Once they’re alone on the hill, Ola sighs and rolls fully onto her back, head on Lily’s oversized round belt buckle as she lies perpendicular to her girlfriend. She kicks her legs out, feet apart, and folds her hands over her stomach. Lily’s fingers creep over and toy with her rainbow pin. Smiling at the warmth of her girlfriend’s hand through her jacket, Ola’s finally ready to do what she said before: block out everything else and look up.

The dark is comforting and lovely. When she relaxes the muscles in her face, lets her gaze go unfocused and fuzzy, all of that celestial light becomes a soft background for her thoughts and feelings. She imagines that she (and Lily, of course) are someplace else, far from this hill and the wonderful, painful complexities of their lives. Would she be able to see Earth? She supposes that she would, diving back through her memories to her childhood treehouse, the telescope her dad hauled up there for her and her sister. Ser du det, Ola? Det är planeten Venus. She’d forgotten about that clunky old telescope.

From a distance, Earth would twinkle too, reflecting the light of the sun. Magic. There are so many incredible things, Ola thinks, that are true. Facts that inspire fiction, and are in some cases more wonderful than anything most people could make up.

She rolls onto her stomach, propped up by her elbows.

“I’ve… had a thought,” Ola says, gaze sweeping up Lily’s torso to her face, where wide eyes swivel to stare back at her.

“About what?”

Ola stretches a hand out to trace her girlfriend’s upturned nose with a fingertip.

“Something we could do,” she says slyly. She brings her finger down to cover Lily’s lips and Lily bites the end with faux-ferocity.

“Here?”

Ola nods, grinning.

Eagerly, Lily sits up.

“Well, tell me,” she says.

“We’re going to go on a journey,” Ola informs her. Lily smiles reservedly, waiting for more. “And you can narrate.”

“Where are we going?”

“Space.”

Lily glances from side to side, at the hilltop that’s darker now everyone’s left with their torches and camera flashes and glow-in-the-dark clothes. Only their candle remains.

“Where are we really going?”

“Nowhere, technically,” Ola says, scrunching her nose. “We’ll do it right here.”

“Ok,” says Lily gamely. “What is it we’re doing?”

Pushing up onto her hands and knees, Ola leans forward to kiss her. It’s quick, but when it’s over and her girlfriend inhales like she’s going to ask another question, Ola kisses her again, smiling against her lips. Sometimes doing is better than explaining.

Lily’s hand raises and cups her cheek. It’s when Ola feels the other hand curl around the back of her neck and flex as Lily presses more enthusiastically into the kiss that she knows she’s got it, she’s understood. They kiss faster and Ola’s hands skitter across Lily’s belt, searching for a piece to undo until she realizes its overlapping ends Velcro together in the back, hidden by the cape. The ripping sound of the strips unfastening makes them both laugh. Ola lays the belt out on the blanket before planting one hand on her girlfriend’s far side, bracketing her as she reclines slightly onto her elbows and they continue to kiss.

Lily’s cape is designed like a vest, with holes for her arms to go through. Ola tugs at one, then accepts that she won’t be able to get it off over the massive, padded shoulder spike on Lily’s bodysuit. Not without help.

“You won’t be too cold, will you?” she checks, sitting back to allow Lily to maneuver out of her cape.

“Not yet.”

“And if I want to take this off as well?” Ola asks coyly, sliding her hands along her girlfriend’s outfit, up from the waist to knead Lily’s breasts through the quilted fabric.

Lily smiles back and tips her chin up, encouraging the deep kiss Ola sinks into, already feeling her arousal climbing with the anticipation of trying out this new idea. Maybe she should have found a way to talk to Lily about introducing some variety sooner, because it’s been a while since she felt this level of excitement for sex. She always enjoys herself, but it has been a little hard, acting out one of Lily’s fantasies after another without ever taking the lead herself. Hopefully, tonight establishes a revised balance in this area of their relationship—a fusion that’s partly Lily, partly Ola.

Locating the zipper at the back of Lily’s costume, Ola pulls back.

“This is ok, right?” she asks, because Lily never said out loud that she wouldn’t be cold.

“I think so,” her girlfriend says. She looks down. “I can snuggle into the blanket as well, don’t forget.”

Ola scans their surroundings.

“And there isn’t anyone around,” she says, grinning. Could she be into the idea of getting caught? She’s never considered it before! Not actually caught, of course, because she very much wants to keep this about the two of them, but there’s a thrill surrounding the possibility that Ola didn’t expect.

“Five, four, three, two, one,” Lily counts down. “Ignition.” She holds Ola’s gaze and lifts her eyebrows, some sort of a cue.

“Oh, got it,” Ola says, beginning to unzip the silvery bodysuit.

Arms wrapped around her girlfriend from the front, her hands slide down as she exposes Lily’s skin to the air. She can tell through the material that there isn’t anything underneath it—no lines, no ridges but her spine, her shoulder blades—so when the zipper hits the end of its track at Lily’s lower back and Lily peels the front of the outfit down, Ola isn’t surprised to be confronted with her girlfriend’s bare breasts.

The shinier segment of the costume winds up being a sort of torso-less shirt—the sleeves connecting to the high collar that encircles Lily’s neck. That part stays on as Lily wiggles and hops, getting the sleeveless bodysuit over her hips and bum, and Ola sees that the shiny leggings are separate as well.

“This is really cool,” she notes.

“Thanks,” Lily says, working the bodysuit off over her nearly-knee-high boots. “The cape…?” she wonders when she’s done.

“You can put that back on.”

“And you want me to talk?”

“Yes please. Just not about aliens,” Ola adds, watching her girlfriend’s expression cautiously for signs of hurt.

But Lily’s face is open, unoffended. She shrugs into her cape.

“Alright.”

“I mean, if you find you have anything you want to say,” Ola clarifies. She smirks as she slips her hand between Lily’s thighs, cupping her and rubbing a bit through the leggings.

“I think the ship—the normal, regular Earth spaceship,” Lily clarifies, breathing slightly unevenly, “—is monitoring a disturbance. A buildup of energy.”

“Oh?”

Ola smiles wider, then bends over her girlfriend, running her mouth along her skin below where her sleeve-top conceals her collarbones. Gradually, Lily lies back. As Ola hoped she would, Lily narrates, easily spinning a science-fiction story that’s heavy on the science for once. Ola kisses back up her throat as Lily’s high voice speaks clearly of stellar nurseries, dense with dust and gas. In spite of her flowing words and dreamy descriptions, the actual subject matter doesn’t sound that nice to Ola, until Lily announces the mission of this particular spaceship. (“Mmm?” Ola asks wordlessly, kissing below Lily’s jaw; Lily nods to acknowledge that Ola’s mouth will indeed be playing the role of the spaceship in this scenario.) It’s closing in on this cloud of stellar stuff in search of the new star that’s about to be born.

“Passing between huge planets,” Lily says, while Ola hunches hungrily over her body and kisses down between her breasts. “Gas giants. Jupiter, maybe.”

Ola nearly starts laughing when Lily confirms one of the planets to be Jupiter by the fact of ‘the ship’ spying its Great Red Spot—Ola’s focused in on Lily’s nipple, dragging it tenderly between her teeth before sucking to deepen the colour; with the blue of the night, that’s closer to purple than Lily’s normal rosy pink.

She keeps going and so does Lily, infusing every lick and tug with the richness of her imagination, as well as actual knowledge of the solar system, about which she seems to know quite a lot. For a risky, romantic hookup under no roof but the sky, it’s rather educational.

The minute Lily’s bent knees go flat as she straightens to her full length, Ola swings a leg over to hover above her. She redoubles her attention to her girlfriend’s breasts and caresses her hands swiftly up Lily’s sides. Lily shivers and Ola thinks it’s the cold getting to her after all, but when she raises her head to check in, Lily’s eyelids are drooping with pleasure. So Ola continues to touch her. And Lily continues to unravel their tale.

She recounts the rushing of a meteor shower as smoothly as if she was up there when it happened, half an hour ago. Ola matches her pace with her mouth, skimming kisses down her ribcage. Lily’s imagination turns her own bellybutton into the deep crater of a moon which the ship sets down to explore. (Lily is very kinky about her bellybutton being probed by Ola’s tongue, and Ola’s not going to leave that out, even if they are going in a different direction than usual.)

Progressing, Ola hooks her fingers into the waist of Lily’s leggings and, undistracted, Lily makes the story sound like something she’s reading out of a book—the spaceship setting a course that will take it beyond the most distant line humankind has ever drawn in the universe, farther than it’s ever been before. For Ola, touching Lily below her navel is far from uncharted territory. And yet, she’s sort of enjoying the dramatics.

Lily keeps the story fertile with details another storyteller would make dull (spaceship maintenance, the sleep schedule of the crew), but which grow like lush, otherworldly flora coming from her. The human interest side of things accompanies Ola’s descent as she strips the leggings down. Although they only get as far as the top of Lily’s boots, the leggings are stretchy enough to let her girlfriend part her knees so Ola can kiss lower.

A little lower.

Barely.

“I don’t think this is going to work,” Ola says with a laugh, raising an apologetic hand to interrupt her girlfriend.

“I do think I might be cold if I take everything off completely.”

“Well… hmm…”

While Ola’s still appraising the situation, Lily’s face lights up with epiphany. Legs locked stiffly together, she raises them into the air. Ola climbs off of her to see what she’s up to.

“Are you sure you’re going to be able to stay like that?” Ola questions, watching her girlfriend’s legs waver at a 45-degree angle to the ground.

“I won’t need to if you crawl underneath!”

Thank goodness Lily isn’t shy with her. Instead, it’s funny for them both when Ola moves down to lie on her stomach. Lily parts her legs enough to hook the half-lowered leggings behind Ola’s head, Ola’s face poking between her thighs. Lily lowers her legs back down until they rest on Ola’s shoulders and, basically, they’re in business. Holding happily to the top of her girlfriend’s naked thighs, Ola peruses Lily’s body admiringly before ducking her head.

“The nebula,” her girlfriend breathes, as Ola’s kisses near the soft nest of Lily’s pubic hair. The boundary’s been made unnatural by the squiggly shape Lily’s attempted to shave into it (something Ola might have called silly before her resolution of open-mindedness), and Lily uses that as fuel for the plot, making the spaceship’s journey treacherous, full of objects to navigate around. In reality, Ola pecks a straight line down to Lily’s cunt. Honestly, she’s relieved at the extra evidence—beyond Lily’s expression, her readiness to undress out-of-doors, and the quick pants that’ve become part of her breathing pattern—that Lily’s into this.

Ola wraps her arms farther around the top of Lily’s thighs until she’s able to brush her fingers between them, thumbing her girlfriend’s labia apart. Gosh, they haven’t done this in weeks, which is ages for them. The last vulva Ola saw was iced onto the top of a cupcake.

With Lily held open, Ola licks deftly between her legs with the tip of her tongue. Her girlfriend’s voice trembles. When Ola’s worked her way inward until she’s ringing just inside Lily’s vagina, Lily’s hand comes down and lands on the top of her head. She doesn’t really want it there though, isn’t being forceful. Ola understands this reaction, a common one from her girlfriend when she’s being eaten out, and frees one hand, blindly offering it up. Lily links their fingers together. Their joined hands fall next to her hip.

“Closer,” Lily gasps, arousal seeping slowly over and under Ola’s tongue. Her other hand slips down Ola’s neck and into the back of her top where she’s warm, almost sweaty, with the heat of being turned on. “They’re getting closer to the star.”

The commitment to the story, every time, is something Ola loves about her.

And so she indulges her girlfriend, sliding her tongue higher, easing a finger into Lily’s vagina to perform an unhurried in-and-out while her mouth closes in on her clitoris. Ola’s own clit is desperate for a fingering, blood pumping strongly towards her groin inside her baggy jeans, but she can wait, get Lily off first. Whenever they pleasure each other in that order, Lily always comes alive after, flipping Ola onto her back and smothering her in enthusiastic kisses and caresses.

Picturing this as the likely near-future, Ola hums blissfully against Lily’s clit (Lily squirms and lets out one of her moans that sound like a ghostly wail—yeah, Ola kind of loves those too). She closes her eyes to intensify the sensations and does the rest by familiar feel.

Her girlfriend babbles now, about the spaceship orbiting the new star that’s forming while Ola teasingly orbits her clit with her tongue. It takes a lot of effort to separate Lily from one of her stories when she’s on a roll, but broad, firm licks to her clit are enough to pull even Ola’s one-foot-in-outer-space girlfriend into the present moment.

“Oh god, Ola, I can almost see the cosmic angels,” Lily whines, striving exquisitely towards climax. “I’m going to see cosmic angels.”

Ola believes her. She believed this hill was special, she will believe in aliens, and right now she believes that Lily’s imminent orgasm looks like a flock of cosmic angels behind her eyelids. Sure. Why not? Her hand clasps harder to her girlfriend’s. She doesn’t care that Lily’s rerouted to the fantastical right at the end. They’re real. The elements that got them here are real: Lily’s storytelling, Ola’s desire to feel close to her in a world that wasn’t only Lily’s, loneliness, love.

Without speaking very loudly, Ola knows her voice will carry to her girlfriend’s ears—this evening, silver and pointed.

“Glenoxi,” she groans rapturously against Lily’s clit.

Lily’s hips buck once, then her body buckles, fingers twisting with Ola’s. Her voice rises brokenly into the night and Ola is on fire with how much she wants her.

Ola wipes her mouth on the blanket while Lily catches her breath. She quit moving her finger when her girlfriend clenched around it and came, but now she begins to hook it shallowly inside Lily’s sopping channel, coaxing her.

“You wanna again?” Ola asks, grinning between planting gentle kisses on Lily’s inner thigh.

“Yes,” Lily sighs. She twitches their joined hands. “But come up here beside me so I can take your jeans off. I want—”

There’s a snapping sound and Ola jerks her head up as much as she can in her current position. Under a hundred feet from them, someone’s standing, raising the chunky green glowstick they must’ve just found, dropped in the grass by an Eighth attendee, and cracked. The person turns, looks their way. Freezes. They won’t be able to see everything in the dark. Not everything, but enough. Ola hears a noise of surprise.

“Um,” she says, thinking quickly. Louder, she calls to the accidental intruder: “The aliens just beamed down this human woman! Quick! Go find a scientist!”

The person spins and runs in the opposite direction, back over the crest of the hill.

Ola looks down at Lily, who stares curiously back.

“Do you think they’ve gone to find a scientist?”

“No,” Ola yelps giddily, “I think they’ve gone to call the police because they’ve just seen two people fucking on a public hillside.”

“Are you sure they’ll think that? Your cover was rather good.”

“Thanks,” Ola says, extricating herself from between her girlfriend’s legs, “but yes! We’ve got to go!”

They scramble to their feet, Lily yanking her leggings back up. There isn’t time to fuss with the rest of her costume, so she snatches it up, clutching it to her chest along with the sign she brought. Once Ola’s grabbed their candle and gathered the blanket into a sloppy bundle in her arms, they sprint for the road and onward to Lily’s house.

The glow of the candle and Lily’s cape, reflecting it, are streaks of light in the black.

A blaze of brightness and joy. Their own two-person audience of believers.

[penned-cbarbosa]

Meet the Meiers | Thomeste

Featuring: Thomas Meier & Celeste Barbosa-Prynne, with the Meier family. Brief mentions of @emmie-fitzgerald​ & Chad the producer. Location: Ottawa, Canada (primarily) Notes: Thomas & Celeste’s weekend trip to meet Thomas’s family! Cuteness and some funnies below. Fair warning, this is a very long thread beneath the cut. If you do end up taking the time to read it all, 1) Thank you for taking the time! and 2) please treat yourself to a pat on the back, a cookie &/or kudos from yours truly.

--THOMAS--

When the producers told him that he won a weekend home with someone of his choosing to be with his family, Thomas couldn't believe it. "I won all that just because I wore your stupid dinosaur costume? Holy shit. I'm glad I wore it," he smiled. Thomas was close to his family and missed them. Before being on the island, he called his mum and dad once a week or so just to keep them in the loop about everything going on in his life. And he FaceTimed with his sisters and their kids whenever they wanted to talk and 'see' their favourite uncle. "I want to bring Celeste. I know that must be completely shocking to you," he chuckled a bit. "I think my mum's number is my emergency contact on my contract. I know you'll need to talk to her and my family to get permission to be on camera." Thomas knew there would be cameras along with them. It was a reality show, and even though he knew his family would love Celeste, he knew the show would want to record any possible tense or funny family moments. After he was given all the details about flying home and staying in a hotel for a bit, he found Celeste and sat next to her. "So, wearing that stupid dinosaur costume on the yacht paid off. I get to take someone home to meet my family. I want to bring you," he grinned. "If you'll accept, of course. I don't want to just assume you're ready to meet my parents, though my family will adore you, I already know my mum watches and likes you." Thomas thought back to the message she sent to the show. He thought it was funny that they were shown some of the comments, but he was relieved to know his mum already liked her. "We'll get to be in Canada for a few days, and we're being put up in a hotel. So after we leave, you can be totally honest about what you think."

--CELESTE--

Celeste had been sitting on the beach, knees drawn up like a makeshift easel with a notebook propped against her thighs. Whenever she returned home, she knew she would have to hit the ground running on her third book, and her editor would be on her about deadlines and checking in often about how the third installment of her series was going. She already had an idea of how the Saturn's Rings trilogy would end and she already had some outlines and notes jotted down. Now, it was a matter of connecting it all and completing its content. Seated far enough from the waves not to need to worry about the tide coming in, she took advantage of her down time and ability to focus and put pen to paper. Pages were handwritten already and she picked up where she left off before, adding several pages more when Thomas joined her. His greeting initially made her laugh as she moved the pen across the page but she stilled upon hearing what he said he'd won and wanted. Her eyes widened with the curious grin she turned his way, "Are you serious?" She clipped the pen to the notebook's spiral binding and looked up to the sky, "Of course I wanna go with you. I'm nervous and excited at the same time--getting to meet my..." Her gaze slid back to him as she realized and thought aloud, "Boyfriend?" They hadn't really put a label on each other after deciding to see each other exclusively. "'Partner' and 'significant other' sound so strangely formal and business-like. I can't take 'Bae' or 'Boo-thang' seriously. Ever. Plus I would never call you an 'anything-thang'."

--THOMAS--

Thomas nodded at the question. "I'm serious. Also, I'm sorry for interrupting your writing," he said and kissed her shoulder. Thomas couldn't help but laugh when she tried to figure out a label for him. "I don't think bae or boo-thang are appropriate for someone my age," he laughed. "I like partner, but you're right, it's a bit too formal." They also hadn't been together very long. "I guess boyfriend is the most appropriate, right? It just feels a bit weird to be 40 and a boyfriend. But it's the most accurate term, I suppose," he shrugged. "But I'm really glad you want to go with me! My parents and sisters will all want to meet you. I can keep it to a minimum with them, I think. Maybe tell my sisters to leave their husbands and kids at home if you want. I don't want them to overwhelm you."

--CELESTE--

"That's okay. I should probably give my eyes a break anyway," Celeste replied, smiling at his company snd the kiss he dropped on her shoulder. She couldn't help but grin, loving his laugh while she pondered labels and pet names aloud. "Does it? Feel weird, I mean," she wondered. "I mean I guess we could coin the term 'manfriend' and 'ladyfriend' for ourselves but that sounds very...mistress-y to me." She chuckled a bit and then listened, considering what he offered about less of his family being there while he was there. "That's really thoughtful of you. I'd kinda like to meet your family in whatever way you all usually get together. But should I meet less of them to start?" Thinking for a moment, Celeste's eyes widened a bit again, "Oh geeze, I'm gonna need a heavier coat too. It's gotta be freezing cold this time of year in Canada."

--THOMAS--

“A little weird. Just the word though. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been a boyfriend in a decade. What’s not weird is the implication that I am yours, and we’re exclusive. I like that part a lot,” Thomas smiled. “But you’re right. Manfriend and ladyfriend are just about as bad as bae.” He scrunched his nose a bit at the terms. “I just want you to be comfortable. We are pretty typical for a Jewish family. When there are holidays everyone kind of just shows up. You invite them and they don’t really say whether or not they’re going until they’re knocking at the door.” He kind of liked that though. “But extended family wouldn’t be invited for this. I think it is completely up to you. And they’ll understand if the husbands and kids aren’t invited. It’ll give them a little time away from them anyway,” he shrugged. “Oh, you will need a coat and boots and sweaters for sure. We’ll figure clothes out. I’m sure the producers can help with it.”

--CELESTE--

Nodding, Celeste leaned back, putting her weight on her palms, listening to him. She couldn't quite remember if he'd mentioned before how long he and his ex had been married before but she understood why it felt strange to him to be called a boyfriend again. But her smile softly returned, "I like that part a lot too--you being mine and vice versa." She leaned in when he scrunched his nose and giggled while pecking his cheek. "I appreciate you keeping my comfort level in mind. I don't mind being around a lot of people though, and I want to meet your family. Besides, it's not for too, too long and since we'll have a hotel room to sleep at, I can recharge my social batteries there, so to speak." She nodded again, "Oh the producers will definitely have to help make that happen. The warmest clothes I packed here were a couple pairs of jeans and a lightweight hoodie. I freely admit I'm spoiled when it comes to 'cold' weather. Layers are gonna be my best friend. Layers and boyfriend cuddles." She grinned, lightly nudging him with her elbow. "So when do we leave?"

--THOMAS--

Thomas grinned when Celeste kissed his cheek. He loved little affectionate moments like that and thought it was so sweet. “Well, as long as you don’t mind, I guess we’ll just see who shows up? No aunts, uncles, or cousins will be invited. I already told the producers to give my mum a limit. I said to lie and say they need space for the camera if they need to,” he chuckled.  “I’ll definitely need to do that after. I love my family, but they can be a lot sometimes. And the kids have a lot of energy.” He still adored being an uncle though. “I didn’t bring warm clothes either. Most of a suit really isn’t considered warm. But I promise to cuddle with you as much as you want and need. We don’t have too much time to prepare. We’re leaving Thursday so we can be there for the weekend. It’s the easiest to make sure everyone has days off.”

--CELESTE--

"That sounds good to me," Celeste replied, chuckling at the little lie Thomas had told. She was glad that he related to the need to have some space after socializing. Celeste was very much the same and tended to relax at home after going to parties or gatherings with friends, or even at large book parties and signings. "This trip sounds like a win all around then. Meeting your family. A weekend away, and all the cuddles I want? I'm okay with not having much time to prepare. Most of my stuff is still in my bag as it is. This is exciting! Right now I'm definitely more excited than anything else."

--THOMAS--

Thomas was very excited to take Celeste home. He hadn’t brought anyone home since Jordan, but he had a wonderful feeling about this relationship. “I’m glad you’re excited. I am, too. It will be nice to get away from the island. And I’ll get to spend time with you in a different kind of way. I’ll also get some Tims… I haven’t had coffee from Tim Hortons in so long. I’ll have to spoil you with good Canadian food when we’re there,” he smiled.

--CELESTE--

"Yes, I want the full Thomas tour guide experience of your hometown." She gave a playful groan, "Coffee. Ugh. It feels like it's been forever." Celeste shifted to dust the sand off of her hands while telling Thomas, "Honestly I think the producers here get some twisted satisfaction from all the things they deprive us from. But it does make getting to do things like this that much more of an opportunity to treasure." Celeste had a good feeling about the upcoming weekend away with Thomas and meeting the Meier family. She was sure that more nervousness would fill her, the closer they got to his parent's home but for now, she was bubbling with excitement.

--THOMAS--

"If that's what you want, that's what you'll get," he chuckled. "I know... the coffee withdraws were so real here the first week or so. It was miserable." Thomas remembered the near constant headache he had the first week because he wasn't able to get caffeine. He didn't think a few days of getting coffee would lead to that again, though. "I think they do, too. And it's a lot of stuff we're deprived of. But I agree. Getting this kind of opportunity is pretty incredible." Thomas was incredibly excited to introduce Celeste to his family. He wanted to do it anyway, and was already thinking of planning a trip with her to Canada after they got back to San Francisco, but this was convenient. And it would be paid for by the show. A couple of days later, Thomas was packed up, showered, and ready to go. He was wearing the warmest clothes he had. Jeans and a hoodie. And he made sure the producers were aware that they would need true winter clothes there. He even went so far as to give them a list of what he needed and in what size. Thomas made sure Celeste did the same thing. He wasn't going to freeze just to see his parents. The flight wasn't direct, which Thomas expected. They flew from the island up to Los Angeles, then up to Ottawa. Thomas was used to flying by now. He had been on flight after flight when he was playing hockey. But he was surprised he and Celeste were given first class tickets, along with one of the producers who kept an eye on them. The rest of the crew was in economy. "How are you feeling?" he asked when there was about about a half hour before they landed.

--CELESTE--

The next two days seemed to crawl by at a sloth's pace, but Celeste knew that it was because of the trip she and Thomas were taking. The night before and the morning of, she'd double-checked that all of her belongings were packed; she'd showered and also had jeans and a hoodie on for the flight, and was thankful for Thomas telling her about the list. While on the flights, she was surprised at the first class tickets but was happy about the added comfort. She'd slept for a part of the first leg of the flight but when they continued to Ottowa, the anxious-nervousness started bubbling up more in her. "Still excited, but more nervous than before," she admitted with a small smile. "Tell me some more about your family--what your parents and your sisters are like and what they do or like to do."

--THOMAS--

Thomas squeezed Celeste's hand when she said she was more nervous than before. "They're going to adore you. You're so sweet and wonderful, and you make me happy which is what they want for me," he grinned. "My parents are both retired. Dad was a teacher. Absolutely loved his students. And mum was a nurse. She's definitely the more strict parent, but not by much. Neither of them were very strict when I was a kid," he explained. "Sarah, she's two years older than me. She's a genius lawyer. Definitely the smartest of all of us. She has three kids. Two boys and a girl. Trisha, my twin, is a pharmacist. She has twin boys. They're identical but have totally different personalities. And then my younger sister, Matilda, is a cantor. So she sings and helps lead prayer at a synagogue. She just has one girl. Because Matilda is ten years younger than Trish and me, we have a different kind of sibling dynamic. We were never super close," he explained. "Trish and me are close, and then Sarah and Matilda are close. But the three girls all have a special relationship. They also live fairly near each other, so they see each other all the time. I'm the only one who lives far away."

--CELESTE--

Flutters started in Celeste's chest from Thomas's compliments, and more so from hearing that he made her happy. "You make me happy too," she told him, giving his hand a squeeze back. As she listened to him share about his family and their careers, she couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Our moms will probably get along really well. My mom's a nurse too." She realized that she hadn't really talked about her family much before but she was enjoying learning about Thomas's family while discovering more that they had in common. Her eyes widened a bit with a somewhat amused smile on her lips, "Wow, twins run in your family. Everyone sounds special to you though, even if your sisters have a different relationship to each than you. I guess that's kind of to be expected though, huh?" She gave a nonchalantly shrug and then asked, "So what made you move to San Francisco, rather than stay close to the rest of your family? I don't think I've ever asked you that before."

--THOMAS--

Thomas knew how he felt about Celeste. He was just waiting for the right time to say it. But hearing that he made her happy brought a big smile to his face, and he brought her hand up to his mouth so he could kiss her knuckles. “I’m glad I do,” he said. “Oh? I didn’t know that. Our moms would probably get along. They would have a lot of stories to swap, too,” he chuckled. “Yeah, they do. I think it is also more common for her to have multiples because she is a twin. But I’m not so sure about the genetics of it. Admittedly, science was not my strongest subject in school,” he shrugged a little. “Yeah, it’s to be expected. But even though some are closer than others, we are all still pretty close. When I played in Ottawa, I would see my family all the time. It was really nice. But I moved to San Francisco for work. The studio covers all of the Bay Area sports. But then I also cover national broadcasts. I analyse whatever games I’m told,” he shrugged.

--CELESTE--

Celeste's smile lingered through Thomas's kiss to her knuckles. "Oh definitely, they'll relate a lot. That's great that your parents have retired though. You said your dad taught. What did he teach?" She supposed she would be able to ask more of these questions directly soon but it was still nice to know a little bit before they arrived. "Science wasn't my strongest subject either. I liked it, but English was my forte," she said with a brief, knowing grin. After listening to Thomas, she told him, "I'm glad you have such a good relationship with your family. But I'm also glad that you ended up in San Francisco." She leaned in and pecked his lips, drawing back with a soft curl of her lips. The steady descent of the plane told her that they were nearly on the ground. Celeste leaned over to look out of the window, eyeing the chilly city below. "And I'm glad we were able to get warmer clothes before getting on the plane."

--THOMAS--

“Yeah, they worked hard for years. And now they get to reap the benefits. I also paid off their house and cars so they don’t have to worry about those bills. My dad fought against it, but I managed to convince him to let me pay. How many dads get to say their professional hockey player son paid off their house? Not many. But he was a maths teacher. I never had to worry about flunking maths classes because he’d give me extra lessons at home if I didn’t understand,” Thomas grinned. “I’m sure is was, Miss Best Selling Author,” he chuckled. “I’m glad I ended up in San Francisco, too.” Thomas kissed her back and wished they had more privacy so he could keep kissing her. Thomas held onto Celeste’s hand as they descended and he peeked past her out the window. “Me too. Is it bad that I’ve missed the snow?”

--CELESTE--

Hearing what Thomas had done for his parents made Celeste melt inside. "You're amazing. That's really true though that not many children are able to give back to their parents in a big way like that. But math, huh? I've always been impressed by math teachers, mostly because it was my worst subject," she admitted with a chuckle and soon smiled. "Yeahh, yeah," she giggled a bit before receiving his kiss. With the plane close to touching down, for some reason, Celeste was always drawn to watching from the window whenever she was flying. But she heard Thomas and turned her head back in his direction, "After all the sun and rain we've been in lately? Definitely not. I'm fairly sure I'm gonna be a popsicle even with the warmer clothes. Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons for a reason." She chuckled and seconds later, their plane touched down and reached the arrival terminal. Celeste grabbed the messenger bag she'd brought as her carry-on and headed off of the plane with Thomas and the accompanying producer. "So after we get our bags, do we check into the hotel first or are we going right to meeting your family?" She suspected the show would want an immediate introduction but Celeste hoped they could at least stow their belongings away first if that was the case.

--THOMAS--

Thomas shook his head a little when Celeste called him amazing. "I was just trying to be a good son and thank my parents for everything they did for me when I was a kid. Hockey isn't cheap, but they were happy to pay whatever for help me be successful." He didn't accept the 'no, thank you' from his father. "Yeah, maths. I don't know how he dealt with it," he chuckled. "I still can't wait to read your books." When he got them in his hands, he was going to pay close attention to every word. "I promise I'll keep you warm," he grinned. When they touched down, he grabbed his backpack from the overhead area and walked to baggage claim. It was weird being back with so many people along with cameras. "That's a good question." Thomas turned to Chad for the answer. "Mr. and Mrs. Meier are hosting dinner tonight. So you'll be able to go to the hotel first and get settled and ready," he said. "Perfect. We'll have some down time," he grinned. "Can we stop by a Tim Hortons on the way to the hotel? I'm dying for a coffee." He was given a thumbs up. "Thank goodness," he muttered and it finally clicked that it was Friday. "Oh, I just realised it's Friday. Shabbat dinner. You're going to learn a bit more about Judaism tonight, if that's all right." His parents didn't go to synagogue every Friday, but it was still a tradition at his house to light candles, say prayers, and his mum always made a big dinner. "I wonder if she's making or buying challah," he mused out loud.

--CELESTE--

"I've no doubt you've been that to your parents." And then Celeste laughed a little with him, "One thing I know about anyone who goes into teaching and does well in it is that you definitely have to love what you do." She knew that applied with other careers too but teaching deserved its own recognition. The next words out of Thomas's mouth made her blush, even as she told him, " I asked Emmie about getting them for you before we left. And one of Agatha Christie's novels. And I'm holding you to that promise, babe." The pet name was new and felt natural to use. Celeste listened to the brief exchange between Thomas and Chad, and as they continued moving through the airport to baggage claim, she found herself smiling again. "Oh yeah? That's more than alright. What makes Fridays special in Judaism?" she asked before her face lit up. "Your mom makes challah?!" She may not have known much about the Jewish faith and culture but she knew about challah and she loved it.

--THOMAS--

“He did love reaching. But he was also glad to retire,” he chuckled. “Oh really? I would have insisted on going to a bookshop if you hadn’t,” he paused. “Babe,” he smiled widely. Thomas liked the pet name. “Friday nights and Saturdays you celebrate Shabbat. It’s the seventh day when God rested. For Christians, it’s Sunday. For Jews, it’s Friday at sundown and Saturday,” he explained. “Oh, yeah! My mum makes the best challah. But I’m biased. You’ve had it before, I take it? Challah french toast is the best!” They reached baggage claim and found their suitcases fairly quickly. “We should grab the boots and winter jackets. Make sure you have tall socks on. Your short ones will fall off the heel in the boots. And you don’t want them scraping against your heel.”

--CELESTE--

Celeste followed Thomas's explanation of Shabbat easily. "Okay, that makes sense. So for Shabbat, you gather for dinner?" She grinned completely understanding him having a bias when it came to foods and things that a loved one made. She certainly had hers. "I have, yes! My aunt makes really good bread pudding and when she learned about challah, she almost exclusively started making it with that. Her bread pudding is really good, but it's what got me to buy challah on its own and it's one of my favorite breads." With them having their bags, Celeste listened and said, "That should be easy enough. I like fun socks and usually go for socks that go mid-calf since they have more designs." The accompanying producer and crew escorted them to their provided transportation, taking them first to a department store to get the winter clothes that they would need for the next couple of days. From there, the vehicle transporting them pulled up to a coffee shop Celeste hadn’t seen before, on their way to the hotel. She looked to Thomas, "Is this Tim's?"

--THOMAS--

Thomas nodded a bit. "A lot of Jewish families do dinner and then go to services. Or they do dinner and then go to services in the morning. It really depends on the family. It also depends on the type of Judaism you follow. My family is Reform. So it's less strict with rules," he explained. "Making bread pudding with challah would be perfect. Anything that uses eggs is great with challah or brioche, really." Those were two breads that were already pretty eggy. "I love all your fun socks. Like those R2-D2 ones. They're hilarious." He was glad they were taken to a department store. Thomas pointed out which jackets would be best along with boots. "It's not about fashion. It's about not dying in conditions that want to kill you," he shrugged. Thomas already knew what brands he liked for himself. When they go to the Tim Hortons, Thomas nodded. "It's the best. They have whatever kind of coffee you'd want."

--CELESTE--

Neither of Celeste's parents raised her with any religion, but she knew some things from friends and exes, some from school, and some from growing up in two large and diverse cities. But most of what she was learning about Judaism was from Thomas. "That's nice to know. And I love her bread pudding. You'll have to try it sometime." She then grinned, "I have a lot of them. But thank you, R2's one of my favorite characters." She appreciated Thomas's help in the department store and easily assured him, "Oh don't worry. You know I'm not trying to be cute over being warm. I'll keep the cute under my layers." She chuckled a bit and left the store with him wearing the new jacket, hoodie and scarf she'd just gotten. At the coffee shop her eyes were glittering at getting coffee for the first time in ages. "All of it. I want all of it," she stated seriously before laughing a bit and getting out of the car, "C'mon. I'm getting a nice, hot mocha with and extra shot of espresso and some hazelnut added to it."

--THOMAS--

"It's nice to teach you about it," he grinned. And he liked that Celeste had an open mind about it. "I'll definitely have to try it sometime." Thomas wanted to meet her family when they got back to San Francisco. It made him nervous, but he had a good thing with Celeste. Meeting her family came with that. "R2 is a great character." "Yes, exactly. You can be cute under the layers," he smiled. They got out of the car and he held her hand as they walked into Tims. "That sounds like nutella in a cup, and it sounds delicious," he grinned. When they went up to the counter to order, he asked for a large hot oat milk vanilla latte and then Celeste's drink. "It's on them," he said, pointing to the producers. And he stepped aside as everyone ordered. "I swear this place is better than Starbucks and Dunkin."

--CELESTE--

"That's the plan," Celeste told him with an affectionate nudge with her elbow. She automatically laced her fingers with his when he held her hand heading into the coffee shop. She grinned at Thomas's thoughts on her drink, "Right? It's my go-to drink," and chuckled at his frankness about the crew paying for their drinks. While moving out of the ordering line, she hummed, "Both of those places are decent but really overrated. I'm glad there's a ton of options in San Francisco. There's this one place that has these Belgian waffle squares that are sooo good with a warm mocha." It didn't take long for the show's crew members to put in their orders and for Chad to pay, and then shortly after, their drink orders were placed on the counter. Celeste brought the cup to her lips and took a careful sip, and then another. "Mmmm... yeah, this is amazing."

--THOMAS--

Thomas liked holding Celeste's hand. He didn't want to drop it, even as they waited for their coffees. "True. Both are overrated. You can find better independent shops and even better chains. I live near this great place in San Francisco. I'll have to try that shop with Belgian waffles!" It sounded amazing. When Thomas heard his name, he grabbed his coffee and took a sip. He practically moaned from being so happy he could have coffee again. "I told you," he smiled. Thomas was fairly sure there were people in the store who spotted him, but he tried to keep a low profile. "Do you want to try a sip of mine?"

--CELESTE--

"I'll take you there sometime. I go there to write sometimes when I need a change of scenery from my apartment. Plus the waffle snack pairs nicely with my mocha," Celeste added with a wink. With both of them having their drink orders and enjoying the first few sips of coffee, she had been so happy in that moment. She smiled up at Thomas and then said, "You did. I'm glad we stopped here." At his offer, she held her cup to him in exchange to take a sip if he wanted while replying, "Sure. Yours is a vanilla latte, right?" And after trying a bit of his, Celeste smiled from the vanilla flavor dancing on her tastebuds. She licked her lips, "That's really good too. We definitely need to come back here before we go back."

--THOMAS--

"It's a date," he smiled. "I really can't wait to go back to San Francisco with you and just get back to normal life." Thomas was confident things between them would be good, but being on an island where he could just spend all his time with her was different from how it would be once they got back home. They would both have work. They would have to figure out their living situation. It would just be different, though maybe not too different. Thomas thought the time with her amounted to so much more than a few months of dating someone. "Me, too. I definitely need this coffee today." Thomas took her coffee to take a sip of it. "Yes, a vanilla latte," he nodded and took a sip of hers. "This is delicious! I may have to get one of these next time we're here. I hope we come back on the way to the airport." The drive from Tims to the hotel took longer than he thought, but it was a pretty nice hotel. And it wasn't too far from his parents' house. "I hope they're letting us share a room" he said as one of the producers got them all checked in. "I guess we'll find out in a couple minutes."

--CELESTE--

"Good," she replied, feeling the happiness spread from her chest through the rest of her body. "Me too. It'll be nice get back to life in the City and continue spending time with you." She knew she'd have pressure from her editor to get her final book in her trilogy finished and she was sure that Thomas would have to get back to work as well but she was still looking forward to them getting to some of the dates and hang outs that they'd talked about since the two of them first met. She waited for his reaction to her drink and then stole one more quick sip of his latte before handing him his cup back with a guilty smile. "I'll give Chad my best pout and puppy eyes if I have to." By the time they reached the hotel, Celeste had finished off her coffee--partly because of the time it took but mostly because she had really missed having coffee. She admired the inside of the hotel as they stood with their bags while the infamous 'Chad' got them all checked in at the front desk. "If they aren't, are you going to sneak over to my room?" she asked, a curious smile playing at her lips. But they weren't given much time for the conversation to carry on before the couple was handed key cards and told their room number. "I don't think this will be a problem but if you guys want separate rooms while you're here, let me know." Celeste shrugged, "No problem over here." She and Thomas had been sharing a bed in the same bungalow each night since gaining access to the space. This didn't seem like it would be all that different. Wheeling her suitcase along the smooth floor, she headed with Thomas to the elevator and up to the floor where their room was. Once inside and alone with Thomas, Celeste abandoned her bag next to the door hurried over to flop face down on the queen-sized bed, and let out a happy sigh. "This is going to be so nice. Three days, two nights. No island life."

--THOMAS--

“Of course I would sneak over to your room,” he grinned and wrapped his arm around her waist. Thomas had quickly gotten used to sleeping next to Celeste, even in the small bed. A hotel bed would be bigger and much easier to sleep in. He was glad it wouldn’t be necessary to sneak into her room. “No need to get us separate rooms. This is perfect,” he said and thanked Chad, taking the room key. They took the elevator up, and he sighed when they were finally alone and in the room. It was nice, and the bed looked comfortable. He laughed when Celeste flopped onto it, and he quickly laid back against the pillows. “It’s going to be wonderful. But it’s also going to go by so quickly. What should we do before we have to head to my mum and dad’s house?”

--CELESTE--

Celeste leaned into Thomas when his arm came around her ans chuckled, "I knew it." Once they were up in their room and Thomas had joined her on the bed, she turned over and sat up long enough to remove her boots, letting them fall to the foot of the bed. "I know, I wish we were getting a little more time here." She crawled towards the head of the bed and sat beside Thomas, thinking over his question. "Well, i wanna do something different with my hair before we go, but that shouldn't take too, too long. Hmm... oh! I know," she shifted a bit to pull her cellphone from her pocket and pulled up the camera, tapping to flip it to selfie mode. "Let's get a picture. I wanted to take some pictures while we're here. And after that... ever played two truths and a lie?"

--THOMAS--

Thomas nodded. "I wish we had more time, too. We can come back here one of these days on an extended vacation. I'll show you around and we'll have more free time," he grinned. "No matter what you do with your hair, I'm sure it's going to be beautiful. I really like your hair and all the curls." He thought all different styles of natural hair looked wonderful. "Oh, we should definitely take pictures." Thomas sat up a bit more and looked at the lens, smiling as Celeste took a couple of selfies. "We look so damn good together," he said and pecked her. "I've played that, yeah. I'll have to try to come up with some good lies for the game."

--CELESTE--

"I'd really love that. I want to see more of where you grew up." His compliments about her hair made Celeste's smile return. She took some pride in her hair often did her best to take care of it, so Thomas's compliment and him saying that he liked it made her face warm. "Thank you." Leaning in so that her face was beside his, she smiled and snapped a dew photos--the last one of her pecking his bearded cheek. After looking them over with him for a moment and suggesting the game, she smiled, "Okay. I can start off and I'll go easy. So... I used to be a cheerleader. I grew up doing gymnastics for about half of my life. And I've lived in San Francisco my entire life."

--THOMAS--

"I'll definitely show you one of these days. When we can spend more than a long weekend here." Thomas also wanted to see where Celeste grew up, too. "You're welcome." Thomas really liked the last picture they took with Celeste kissing his cheek. He thought it was really cute. He wished they could post them somewhere, but they weren't supposed to get on social media. They also weren't supposed to watch anything or look up anything about the show. "Ooh, that's tough. I'm going to guess you didn't live in San Francisco your whole life?" he asked. "Cheerleading and gymnastics are pretty similar. So if you did one, it would make sense to do both."

--CELESTE--

"Do you try to come home for holidays and special occasions?" Celeste asked. She was happy to enjoy the down time in the hotel room with Thomas, even with something as simple as taking pictures together. She knew she'd be grateful for the memories later. And shed' gotten a tickle on her lips whenever they kissed, thanks to Thomas's facial hair, which she loved. nd after giving her two truths and her lie, Celeste shifted on the bed to face Thomas while casually draping her legs over his. She listened to him work out the possible lie and ended up grinning. "That's the lie. I was actually born in Sacramento but we moved to San Francisco when I was younger. I did gymnastics through middle school and cheered in middle school and high school."

--THOMAS--

“Oh, always. I make sure I’m home for birthdays if I can. Then I try to come for a couple days of Passover, and then the High Holy Days as well. We always go to my sister’s synagogue for those holidays. It’s fun to see her at work,” Thomas smiled. When Celeste draped her legs over his, Thomas ran his hand along her thigh and just let it rest there. “Oh hell yeah! I’m glad I got that one,” he smiled. “That’s really cool.” He hummed for a few seconds as he thought of two truths and a lie. “Okay. Hockey ones to make it tough. My career high for points in one season was 90. I wore number 99. And I was a forward.”

--CELESTE--

"Good to know. I know we haven't been here long but just from what I saw when we were landing and driving over here, I'm looking forward to coming back with you sometimes to see more. Hopefully there's a lot of summer birthdays in your family though," Celeste half-joked. She smiled at Thomas's hand moving along her thigh and then grinned as she listened to him. But her grin and amusement fell as she listened to the two truths and lie that he offered her. Her mouth had dropped open at some point and she'd been staring at him. ".....That's not even a little bit fair!" She told him, giving him a playful shove on his shoulder. But even with a bit of huffing, she was determined to get it right. "Okay. Um. I don't even know what it means but the first one. Was that how many points you scored in a season? If that's what it is, I'm going with that one for the lie."

--THOMAS--

"Yeah?" Thomas asked, grinning. "I'm glad. I promise to bring you back here. I think the city is one of the most beautiful places I've been to. But I'm also biased." Thomas especially loved the first real snowfall of the year. It was gorgeous. "There are some summer birthdays," he laughed. Thomas tried not to laugh more when Celeste said his two truths and a lie weren't fair. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. But that isn't the lie. There was one season where I got 90 points in 82 games," he explained. "We call that a career high. I got close to it a couple of times when I was younger and really was a point-per-game player. You get one point for a goal and one for an assist. I definitely didn't score that many goals," he explained. "I did not wear number 99. That was Wayne Gretzky's number, and it was retired by every team because nobody will ever play like him. There's a reason he's called the Great One. I wore number 18 by the way. Because that's my birth date."

--CELESTE--

"I was ready to add a trip back to our list but now that you're promising, I'll just hold you to that," Celeste grinned. She really did want to return someday and see more of where Thomas had grown up and the places that were the most familiar to him. When he laughed about the two truths and lie he'd given, she cast him a harmless scowl and stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeeeah, yeah. The only way I was going to get that right was on dumb luck. But trust me, I'll never forget that fact about number ninety-nine now. Or your number." Drawing in a deep breath, she said, "Alright, my turn again," and then thought about what she would say, "Okay here's mine. First, I have a Morris Award for the first book in my trilogy. Second, despite my family having Brazilian roots I have never been to Brazil. And finally, I have a pet snake."

--THOMAS--

“I’m a man of my word,” Thomas grinned. Though he wanted to show her around his old stomping grounds, he also wanted to see Celeste’s. “True. It would have been luck. I gave you difficult ones.” Thomas’ grin fell a little when she gave him more difficult options, too. “Oh gosh…” he paused. “I’m guessing the award is real. And you have been to Brazil. The snake is the lie. You don’t really have a pet snake?”

--CELESTE--

Celeste matched his grin with one of her own, "I know and it's one of the things I love about you." She leaned back on her palms, a brief but adoring gaze at Thomas, but as they played the game, her competitive side flared up, leading to the more difficult questions she posed to her boyfriend. After hearing his guesses, she made a buzzer noise and chuckled, "I do have a snake. A corn snake named Medusa. My cousin's supposed to be taking care of her while I'm gone. And yes, I've been to Brazil a few times. I was ineligible for the Morris Award because I'd already had work published before Saturn's Rings, and they only give that award to authors who previously were unpublished. But! I'm the proud recipient of three other awards for my novels."

--THOMAS--

“Thanks, babe,” Thomas smiled, loving that he could call her pet names. “Really? I never would have pegged you for a snake lover. But that’s really interesting. Good thing I’m not scared of them,” he chuckled. “I didn’t know that was a requirement for that award. I learned something new.” Thomas thought about another round of truths and lies. “Hm, okay. I only have girl cousins. I came out publicly after I got married. And I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 23.”

--CELESTE--

The pet name made Celeste's face warm with delight hearing Thomas use it. She grinned, "Yeah, she's easy company and easy to care for. I'm glad you aren't scared of them though. She's harmless and helped me overcome my fear of mice... mostly." While studying Thomas's face for anything that might give her a clue to the lie, a knock sounded at their room door, followed by Chad's muffled voice letting them know they would be leaving in about 20 minutes. Celeste's eyes widened slightly and briefly as she rolled off of the bed, landing on her feet and crouching at her bag to retrieve some of her hair accessories. As Celeste stood before a vanity mirror in the room, she spritzed her hair with conditioner, brushed and parted her curls down the middle and started to gather half up on one poof bun. "Okay um... I think the lie is that you only have girl cousins. It sounds like your family is pretty female-dominant but I bet you have like...one male cousin. I thought you told me something before about being outed..? But i dont remember if that was before or after you were married..." She finished her hair with two near-symmentrical buns atop her head and turned to face Thomas. "And twenty-three is a really specific number."

--THOMAS--

Thomas nodded a little. "I can only imagine what having a snake would be like. But if you have to her mice, then you'd have to get over your fear of them," he nodded. "Oh shit," he muttered at the knock at the door. He didn't feel like they had been in the hotel long at all. "That is the lie. I have two boy cousins. I did come out after I got married. And I didn't get it until I was 23 because I really had no need for it before. Especially because I was living in New York at the time," he grinned. Thomas got off the bed and changed into dark jeans and a green henley shirt, and he made sure he had wool socks on and laced up his boots just before they were ready to leave. "Your hair looks really cute like that," he smiled and kissed Celeste. "You all ready? You look nice and warm."

--CELESTE--

"I'll introduce you to her sometime. She likes to wrap around my arm for warmth whenever I hold her." Celeste chuckled, "I guess they're eager to see how this goes." She held a bit of eagerness herself but was still a bit nervous about meeting Thomas's family for the first time. "Are you older or younger than most of your cousins?" she wondered. While Thomas changed, she'd briefly caught sight of him and blushed while looking away, pretending not to done a little bit of ogling when he'd put the henley on. She pulled on the winter coat over the lighter weight jacket she'd already been wearing and after securing her feet back in her boots, she slipped on the new gloves and scarf she'd picked out while they were at the department store. "Thank you," she'd replied, tilting her chin up to meet his kiss. "As ready as I can be. And thank you. Not gonna lie, I was cold when we first got in the car here." After making sure she'd had her phone, wallet and room key on her, she placed a hand in Thomas's, ready to to walk with him out of their room and to the elevators. "When's the last time you go to see your family?" she asked out of casual curiosity. And after meeting up with the few members of the Ship-Wrecked crew in the lobby, she headed out of the hotel to meet the rest of the Meier family. She wasn't sure how far the drive would be. A part of her hoped it wouldn't be far as it would be less time to get too nervous. Yet she was still excited more than anything.

--THOMAS--

“Sounds like a plan. I’m not sure how comfortable I would be with letting her wrap around my arm, but I’m not afraid to touch her,” Thomas explained. “I’m sure they are. But I’m sure it will go really well.” That was his hope at least. He wanted his family to like Celeste and vice versa.  “I’m kind of in the middle. Some older, some younger than me.” Thomas didn’t even think about going into the bathroom to change. Celeste had seen him in swim trunks and he didn’t think boxers were much different. And if she got a look at him, he didn’t mind. “I was cold, too. Cold is cold, even though I grew up with it,” he shrugged. Thomas made sure he had everything he needed in his pockets, and he held Celeste’s hand as they walked to the elevator. “In the summer, I think? It was in the hockey off-season, and obviously before the show. And I FaceTimed with them when I told them I was going to be on the show,” he grinned. When they got in the back seat of the SUV that was taking them to his parents’ house, he held onto Celeste’s hand. “It’s going to be weird having so many extra people there. My family is obviously not used to the cameras.” It wasn’t too long of a drive, but it felt longer because of the anticipation. They were given some instructions for the way they were going to walk up to the house and knock, which seemed weird. But the cameras needed a couple of angles. “This is weird,” he chuckled and walked up to his childhood home.

--CELESTE--

Celeste chuckled, understanding Thomas's response, "That's fine. I have a couple of friends who are convinced she'll bite them even though she's never done that, and she's not a venomous snake." She continued conversing with him while the two of them got ready to go. Back on the island, she had absentmindedly ogled Thomas when he was roaming about in his swimwear but anytime she caught herself or wasn't so absentminded, her neck and cheeks would heat up. "You're more accepting of that than some people, which I appreciate. I remember in high school, this guy moved from Alaska and wore shorts all year round and always claimed being impervious to the cold in winter. I thought he was ridiculous."

As she walked with Thomas, she grinned back, "Oh they're going to be really excited to see you then." And when they got into the dark SUV, she had to agree with him about the weirdness, even without her having met his family yet. "Hopefully they won't be too intrusive. It'll be nice to just focus on enjoying the time with your family, without cameras constantly following anyone around or Chad spoon-feeding questions or trying to make something dramatic happen." She felt odd as well when they started to be prompted on how to arrive at the front door. Celeste tried not to dwell on crew and stayed at Thomas's side as they walked up. She wondered if any of the crew had already arrived ahead of them to set up within the house but the thought was abandoned as she heard a deadbolt lock shift on the door. Her nervousness and excitement swirled within her like a flurry inside of her chest, waiting to see who would be greeting them at the door.

--THOMAS--

Thomas shook his head. "It does get well below freezing in Alaska. It gets below freezing here, too, but even if you're used to it, you still get cold. San Francisco gets cold. I think he was trying to prove a point," he rolled his eyes.

"Oh yes. Mum will especially be happy to see me. And you," he grinned. His dad would be happy to see him, too, but his mum got the most excited. "I really hope they're not. I hope they just set up a couple cameras and let us do our thing." At least they didn't need to spoon-feed them questions. Thomas just knew his mum would be the one to answer the door. He smiled when he saw her. "Hi, mum!" He didn't get to properly introduce Celeste before his mum was pulling him into a tight hug.

"Thomas! God, it feels like so long since you've been home! And Celeste!" Edie smiled and hugged her. "I feel like I know you already! You are so beautiful, my goodness! Come in, come in out of the cold." She ushered the two into the house but left the door open for the crew to enter. "I'm Edie, and I'm so happy to meet you! Nathan, come here and meet Celeste!" Edie called for her husband. "Do you need tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate? I have everything here. And there's a fire going."

--CELESTE--

Celeste's heart thumped fast inside her chest as she and Thomas waited for the door to open. It hadn't taken Thomas's greeting for her to know that that was his mother. Right away, Edie had her smiling. She loved how instantly she'd felt the warmth radiating off of her was felt. "Hi Mrs. Meier, it's nice to--oh!" Celeste softly giggled when drawn into a hug but she returned the embrace, finishing, "It's nice to meet you! Thank you so much." Right away, she followed the older woman into the house while glancing over at Thomas.

She'd ignored the crew looming nearby, having found it a little bit easier with how much they'd been getting filmed for the past few months. Her eyes were taking in the house but they landed back on Edie with a slightly guilty smile, "I'm okay, thank you. Thomas introduced me to one of the local coffee shops when we got here but I'm really glad to be out of the cold now. You guys are a lot tougher than I am when it comes to the cold weather."

--THOMAS--

Thomas laughed a little at his mum's excitement. He knew she would be happy to see Celeste and himself, and he wasn't wrong. Though he should have warned Celeste that his mum was a hugger.

Edie shook her head a little when Celeste called her Mrs. Meier. "Call me Edie, please," she smiled. "If you're sure. The kitchen is right through there if you change your mind," she said. "Local coffee shop? Thomas isn't that fancy. Did you take her to Tims?"

Thomas laughed and nodded. "Yes, mum. I did. You caught me," he grinned. When his father came into the room, Thomas gave him a hug. "Dad, this is Celeste. Celeste, this is my dad, Nathan."

"We do first names, so don't even worry about calling me Mr. Meier," Nathan said and held out his hand to shake Celeste's. "I don't watch the show as religiously as Edie does, but she tells me everything. And she has nothing but good things to say about you."

--CELESTE--

The greeting from Thomas's mom made Celeste feel welcomed right away. "Thank you, Edie." The warm welcome kept the smile on her face and she'd chuckled a bit when Edit commented about her son not being that fancy. As she pulled her mittens off, and stuffed them into the pockets of her coat, she repeated, "It was really good. We haven't had coffee on the island since we got there so it was especially good.

When Nathan joined them, Celeste softly grinned at his introduction and returned the handshake, "I think this is the only time I'll be glad for the cameras then. I'd get the scolding of my life if my parents heard me speak to anyone's parents by their first name without being told otherwise." She chuckled and then finally said, "It's nice to meet you, Nathan. Thomas has only told me good things about you and the rest of the family. I'm really happy to be getting to meet you all and getting to know a little more about where this guy grew up." She lightly nudged Thomas with her elbow. "He told me that your family usually gets together for dinner on Fridays for... Shabbat?" she looked to Thomas a little quizzically, hoping she'd used the correct term and then her gaze darted between Edie and Nathan, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

--THOMAS--

Edie nodded. "Yeah, they have good coffee there. It's a go-to for a lot of people around here. And they're open pretty early or late which was a blessing when I was still a nurse," she said.

"There are a lot of parents like that, but we've always insisted on first names. Mr. and Mrs. Meier is too formal for our liking," Nathan said. "Glad our son is a liar and only says good things about us," he teased. "The girls are excited to meet you, too. They're all coming tonight. I told them to leave the husbands and kids at home this time. When you come back, you can meet them all then," he said.

Thomas squeezed Celeste's hand and laughed at his dad. "You know damn well I'm not a liar, dad." Edie smiled at Celeste and nodded. "That's right. Shabbat dinner tonight. Then Matilda has to leave early. She works at the synagogue. If you want to help me finish up the challah, I won't mind showing you how to braid it. Everything else is going in the oven or on the stove."

--CELESTE--

Smiling, Celeste told Edie, "Oh I believe it. Thomas you'd me you were a nurse. My mom is too. Congrats on your retirement by the way!"

She then listened to Nathan, giving a nod of understanding and then laughed at his quip about Thomas's kind comments. After he explained about Thomas's sisters coming, she squeezed Thomas's hand back while replying, "That sounds great. I told Thomas I'm excited to meet his family. I was a bit nervous before we got here but it's mostly just excitement now."

After listening to Edie confirm that it was Shabbat and then take up Celeste on her offer to help, the younger woman began undoing her coat and shed it and the lighter jacket underneath it. "Okay, I'd love to! Thomas said your challah is amazing and I'm really excited to try some." She looked to her boyfriend to ask, "Where can I hang these up whole we're here?" It really had been far warmer and more comfortable inside of the Meier home, which Celeste was deeply grateful for.

--THOMAS--

Edie smiled. “Thank you! Your mum is a nurse, too? I’m sure we will be able to swap stories if we eventually meet,” she grinned.

“I’m glad the nerves have calmed a bit. We won’t bite,” Nathan laughed. “But Thomas hasn’t brought anyone home since… well, I’m sure you know.” Nathan obviously took his son’s side in the divorce. And he and Edie both thought Jordan did Thomas wrong.

“I’ll take the jacket. It will go in the hall closet.” Thomas pointed so she knew where it was later. “Have fun baking with mum,” he grinned and pecked Celeste before he went into the living room with his dad. He was sure his dad would have plenty of questions about his relationship with Celeste.

  --CELESTE--

"She is, yeah! She's a triage nurse, mostly working in the ED and sometimes in the women and children's department if they end up needing the extra help. I told Thomas the same thing about you both having  plenty in common and a lot of stories." Celeste returned Edie's grin with one of her own, already imagining that she and her mother would get along well.

When her attention turned to Nathan, she giggled a little, "Thank you. Thomas assured me a few times but I guess the natural nervousness couldn't be helped." Hearing Nathan allude to Thomas's ex, she nodded, sobering a little with understanding. "I know family means a lot to Thomas and it does to me too. So I'm really glad to be here, meeting all of you."

With both her jacket and her coat off, she handed them to Thomas whole looking to where he was pointing, "Thank you, babe," she replied after he pecked her lips and then went to the kitchen with Edie to learn how to braid challah. Pushing her sleeves up to the bed of her elbows, she walked to the sink to wash her hands. "Okay, I'm ready to learn."

--THOMAS--

"Your mum sounds like a saint," Edie grinned. "Triage is difficult. I worked in the maternity ward," she explained. She was definitely looking forward to swapping stories one day.

Nathan liked Celeste from the moment she walked in, and he liked her even more for his son when she understood family was everything to the Meiers, whether that was blood or a found family. "That's good. Family is important. We're glad to have you here," he grinned.

With Thomas and Nathan in the living room, Edie led Celeste into the kitchen and washed her hands again. "I"ll teach you a simple three strand. I do more complicated ones sometimes, but the important thing is for it to be braided. That's how you get all the layers to it," she grinned. "You just grab three chunks of dough that has already proofed, and you roll it into the strands." Edie demonstraited. "It's pretty much just like doing hair." She put the three strands together, and squished them at the top so they'd stick together and braided them. "Then you tuck the ends under a bit. It goes on a baking sheet, and you brush it with egg wash to get the shiny top. And then you have to let it proof one more time. It's time consuming, but I don't have a lot to do these days."

--CELESTE--

Celeste smiled and admitted, "She's pretty incredible. But so are you from what Thomas has told me. I can imagine the maternity ward came with its share of challenges too, but probably a lot of happy stories too."

She was happy to have Nathan affirm the importance of family to Thomas. And if she was fortunate enough to have something long term with him, his family would become a part of her life as well.

While in the kitchen with Edie, Celeste listened and watched, giving the occasional comprehensive nods and accompanying, "Okay,"s to her explanation. "I can do that," she stated with certainty, following Edie's lead to the best of her abilities and taking her time, braiding the strands of dough after pinching one of the ends to keep it together. As reached the middle of the would-be braided loaf, she asked, "Do you enjoy baking often, or is it something you prefer to only do for Shabbat and other special occasions?"

--THOMAS--

Edie watched as Celeste made her own loaf. There was always enough dough to make more than one. "That looks great," she grinned. "I love baking. And cooking. I find it relaxing. Most of the time I'm just cooking for Nate and myself, but it's nice to make a big dinner, too. I do the most cooking around holidays, of course. Do you bake or cook?" she wondered. "I know Thomas can cook a little bit."

--CELESTE--

Smiling, Celeste replied, "Thank you." She listened to Edie as she finished braiding the dough and reached to brush the egg wash across the top. "That sounds really nice. I can understand how it would be relaxing to do." When asked about her own abilities in the kitchen, she smiling again and nodded, "I do both. I told Thomas I tend to stress bake, which my friends especially love. And I don't consider myself the most creative or original cook but I'm good at following recipes, so I've got a few cookbooks back at my apartment, and a few recipes from my dad and my Avó."

--THOMAS--

Edie chuckled a little when Celeste said she stress baked. "Thomas will probably like that, though he doesn't have a giant sweet tooth. I follow recipes, too. Baking is a science. Cooking is more of an art where you can measure ingredients with your heart." She didn't know what an Avó was, so she asked. "Is Avó a grandparent?"

--CELESTE--

Celeste chuckled a bit too, "He's bound to know very quickly whenever I have a deadline coming up, or when my writer's block isn't improving." With a few more nods, she agreed, "Exactly. I do like that about both to be honest, even though I haven't been all that adventurous with my cooking unless it's a recipe I've made multiple times." Smiling again, she said, "Oh! Yes, sorry I didn't explain. My Dad's originally from Brazil, and Avó is Portuguese for 'grandma'. She moved to the U.S. when I was a baby to help my parents out and has lived with them ever since. I learned a lot of my baking skills from her."

--THOMAS--

"I hope he doesn't bother you all that much when you're on a deadline. If he does, just shoot me a text and I'll tell him to leave you alone," Edie grinned. "I'm the same. Follow the recipe when I'm cooking the first time, then tweak the recipe to make it better." Edie nodded when Celeste explained where her family came from. "Oh! That's wonderful! I'm sure it was nice having your grandmother around. And to have her there to teach you family recipes, and probably family stories is great."

--CELESTE--

As she grinned back, Celeste laughed a bit, "I don't see him doing that but if he does, I'll be sure to let you know." Edie's comment reminded her to make sure she exchanged numbers with Thomas's parents and to also pass on her own parent's numbers so that they could talk whenever any of the four of them might want to. "That's the best way to do it, especially since everyone's taste buds can be so different, or something you hadn't considered before might be perfect for a new recipe you've tried." Her smile turned fond while memories surfaced in her mind. She nodded to Edie, "Absolutely, I really treasure the times I've had. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, she probably knows most of my embarrassing stories as a kid." Chuckling a little, she then lowered her voice conspiratorially, "Just don't tell Thomas that part."

--THOMAS--

“Good. I know he’s a 40-year-old man, but I’m still his mother. And I will keep him in line,” Edie grinned. She could see how genuine Celeste was and why Thomas liked her. But she saw that on the show as well. “Absolutely. I like spicy food, but Nathan can’t stomach it. So sometimes I end up making two different batches,” she said. “That is safe with me. But it’s really nice that you grew up with your Avó. Thomas’ Bubbies never lived with us, but they both insisted on being the ones to take care of the kids if we ever needed a babysitter. So if Nathan’s mother was busy, mine would come over and vice versa.” When the loaves were done proofing, Edie put them in the oven. “Those will take a bit to cook, so if you want to go into the living room while I finish a few things up in here, you can,” she grinned. Edie had only been vaguely aware of the camera in the doorway of the kitchen the whole time. And she looked at the operator. “I hope you can reverse the 10 pounds the camera adds on.”

--CELESTE--

Unable to help herself, Celeste giggled a bit, "I bet he knows it too." She knew her grandma was very much the same way towards her dad and aunt and found it just as amusing as Edie and Thomas. "Oh that must be a bit difficult sometimes depending on what you're making, but that's also nice that you both can have your meals together and in ways you both like." Hearing about Thomas's grandparents had been nice, knowing that they had something similar with the way their grandparents had been involved in their upbringings. "That had to have been a big help having them both close by." She'd been happy to lend Edie a hand, and after having the living room suggested to her, Celeste replied, "Okay, if you're sure?" She didn't want to end up in the way but she also didn't want leave everything to Edie if she could be of any help. As she inched her way past the camera operator and ended up heading out to join Thomas and Nathan, she heard Edie's quip and barely managed to stifle a laugh while exiting the room.

--THOMAS--

Edie chuckled and nodded. “Oh, he does,” she said. “With three kids close together, then Matilda, it was so helpful.” Edie hoped Celeste’s parents lived fairly close and could help if she and Thomas ever had kids. Edie knew her son wanted kids at one point, but he would never force them onto Celeste if she didn’t want them. Edie assured Celeste that she was fine finishing everything else and let her go off to the living room.

“Hi, babe,” Thomas grinned and patted the spot on the couch next to him. “You didn’t run out of here screaming, so my mum didn’t scare you off.” Though he knew she wouldn’t. His mum was a good person. “I was just telling dad more about the island. He doesn’t watch every episode like mum, but he wanted to know more behind the scenes stuff. I’m pretty sure what you see on tv is close to what we really experience.”

--CELESTE--

Celeste thought about how nice it was to have done something with Thomas's mom as she exited the kitchen, moving around the crew without acknowledging them, per their own instructions. When she saw Thomas, she couldn't help but smile. The grin on his face when he greeted her, and how easily his dimples appeared always made a warm lightness fill her up. She took a seat next to him, gaze moving between him and Nathan and gave a slow nod when he filled her in on their conversation. "Yeah, I'm actually surprised that they're not more involved in our day-to-day on the island, but I'm also really really glad they aren't. I feel like it's let us get to know each other a little more authentically... which is weird to say given we're all stuck on an island. But other than the tasks and the confessionals, they've been pretty hands off with us all."

--THOMAS--

Thomas nodded along with what Celeste said about the production. It was as hands off as a reality show could be. “It’s true. We have occasional tasks and challenges, but other than that we can just talk to each other. It’s nice. And it’s really how Celeste and I got to know each other,” he grinned and squeezed her hand. “I obviously haven’t seen how the show has edited everything together, but everything is genuine. No scripts. The only time we get leading questions is in confessionals.”

--CELESTE--

While Thomas backed her remarks about the show, Celeste looked to him, nodding a bit and meeting his grin with a smile. Absentmindedly, she wondered if his sisters would be there soon but for the time being, she was enjoying the chance to chat a little witn his parents. She squeezed his hand back, telling mostly Nathan, "I didn't know how well things would work out with this show and the 'finding love' department because of how reality TV usually is but..." Her head turned in Thomas's direction as he teeth shone brilliantly, "I'm glad it's been better than I had hoped."

--THOMAS--

Thomas grinned widely when Celeste said things turned out better than she hoped in the romance part of the show. “I’m glad about that, too,” he grinned and pecked her. He really was mad about her. She was everything he was looking for. Thomas was about to say something else when he heard the doorbell ring a couple times. “I guarantee that’s Trisha. I know the way she rings the doorbell. She’s been doing that since we were kids.” He offered to get the door, and he was right. It was his twin sister. “Hi!” He said and gave her a big hug. It had been a long time since he saw his twin, and she excitedly chattered about how thrilled she was that he was there and how she watched the show and was rooting for him and Celeste.

“Hi, Dad,” Trisha said and gave him a hug before she turned toward Celeste. “Hi, I’m Trisha. The prettier twin,” she smiled. “It’s so nice to meet you! Sarah, Tilly, and I have watch parties to watch the show. I knew Tom would fall for you. I made $20 on it,” she said proudly.

--CELESTE--

Celeste couldn't help the smile that returned to her face when he'd given her a quick kiss. It wasn't until Thomas was making his prediction about his twin being the new arrival that Celeste fully processed what she'd said before. She'd realized that she admitted to having found love. She loved Thomas. It wasn't so much her knowing this that had surprised her as it was that she'd said it aloud so casually for the first time. Her face heated as the thought settled in with her and Thomas got up to answer the door.

The arrival of his twin sister made it fairly easy for her not to end up looking a bit foolish sitting in the thought. She hadn't regretted it but if Thomas hadn't taken notice, she hoped she might get something of a redo later when they were alone or a moment that felt right t be more overt. Hearing Trisha's introduction made Celeste giggle, "It's nice to finally meet you, Trisha." Upon hearing the bet, however, the author laughed outright. "I'm glad I could earn you a little extra money."

--THOMAS--

Thomas shook his head at his twin. His sisters were a bit ridiculous, but he loved them. “I can’t believe you bet on who I would end up with. Actually, I can believe it. You three…” he shook his head, knowing Trish would know exactly what he meant. “

Yeah, yeah. But you love me, Tommy,” Trisha said and nudged her brother. “At least Celeste has a sense of humour about it. I could see his heart eyes through the television when you two were on that first date. It was cut with some sappy music. You should definitely watch it when you finally get home. Shouldn’t be long, right? Oh! By the way, the kids made you this,” she said and pulled crayon drawings out of her purse. “I don’t let them watch the show, but I showed them a promo picture of you two. They were proud of how they did your curls,” she smiled at Celeste.

--CELESTE--

"Thanks for betting on me," Celeste added with a grin to Trisha and a playful hip bump to Thomas amidst hearing the twins' very sibling-like banter.

She could tell almost right away that she would really like Trisha. She was witty and outspoken, and that already made her fun to be around. With another small laugh, she admitted, "I don't know if I'll go back and watch it or not. It sounds like it'd be embarrassing for both of us. I don't even like going back and listening to interviews or podcasts I've been on." Almost right away, her eye brows raised curiously while she watched Trisha reach in her purse and produce the drawings. Celeste instantly melted while accepting the kids' art. "Oh my gosh...this is so, so sweet! Please tell them thank you for me." She was all grins as she looked at each picture. "They're very talented artists. And my curls are poppin'! I love these and I'm going to take very good care of them so that I can put them up when I get home."

--THOMAS--

Thomas smiled when he looked the drawings. “These are great. My favourite part is that they drew me with a hockey stick,” he laughed. “Definitely tell the boys thank you,” he smiled. “We’ll have to make sure they stay in a suitcase so they don’t get crumbled or lost,” he said to Celeste.

“They’re almost at the age where they are too old to draw stuff for me, but they’ll do anything for Uncle Thomas,” Trisha smiled. “They were sad they couldn’t come over, but I understand mum and dad didn’t want a crowded house. And we don’t want to overwhelm you, Celeste,” she grinned.

There was another knock at the door and Trisha excused herself to go into the kitchen. Thomas knew she would end up sneaking a bite of something. Nathan got the door this time. “I bet it’s Matilda. Sarah is always late,” Thomas muttered to Celeste.

--CELESTE--

Celeste angled the drawings for Thomas to see them as she continued admiring what the kids had drawn and colored. She nodded in agreement with Thomas, "Definitely. I'll store them in the notebook I brought with me." She'd doubted she would get any writing done while on the trip but it was mostly habit for her to bring at least one with her anytime she traveled.

"How old are your kids?" she asked Trisha while adoring that Thomas's nephews seemed to admire him. "It was really thoughtful of them to make the drawings. And I hope to meet them the next time." She was hopeful of a 'next time' and really had wanted to meet the family members who met so much to Thomas.

Upon hearing the knock at the door, she looked up in the direction of the front door and then to Thomas, chuckling and whispering back, "Every family has to have a Sarah."

--THOMAS--

“The boys are almost ten. My heart dies a little to say that. In my head, they’re still my itty bitty babies,” Tricia said. “I don’t think you’ll be able to avoid it next time,” she grinned.

Thomas was happy to hear Celeste wanted a next time. He wanted a million next times and to share his life with her. “Oh, that’s true,” he laughed. “If we didn’t drag her to the synagogue, she would have been late to her own wedding,” he laughed. “Holy shit!” Thomas said when Matilda walked into the room, very clearly pregnant. “Nobody said a word! Oh my god!” He got up and hugged her. “Matilda, Celeste. Celeste, this is my little sister Matilda,” he said, introducing them.

“I told them not to say anything to you. You know I like to share big news in person. I’m almost at seven months. And we’re waiting to find out the sex this time,” Matilda said. “Anyway, I’m so pleased to meet you, Celeste. The whole family has been so excited ever since we got the call you two were coming here!”

--CELESTE--

"Aww," Celeste sympathetically crooned with a bit of a chuckle. "That's a fun age." She then nodded to Trisha, "I hope not. I love kids, and I now owe them a 'thanks' in person sometime."

Her free hand wound around the middle of Thomas's back for the brief moment they spoke with each other but hearing Thomas's reaction to his sister had her slip her arm away so he could greet Matilda properly. Celeste's cheeks were going to be sore from smiling so much before the end of the night but she loved seeing Thomas with his family.

Once he introduced her to his younger sister, she stepped forward and offered a hug to greet her, "Hi Matilda, it's nice to meet you too! And congratulations!"  She was grinning as she drew back, "I've been really excited too, and so happy meeting you guys. Hopefully we'll be off of the island sometime in the next couple of months so Thomas can meet his newest niece or nephew."

--THOMAS--

Matilda hugged Celeste back and smiled at her. “Thank you!” She said and rubbed her stomach. “A couple more months there? Oh wow. It feels like it has been forever already and we’re just watching it on TV. You two will definitely have to come back to meet the baby,” she grinned and sat down. Matilda couldn’t stand for too long. “Did Trish go raid the kitchen? I saw her car out front,” she chuckled.

Thomas sat back down and wrapped his arm around Celeste, rubbing her back. “You know her. She went in there right when you arrived,” he said. “And you know Sarah won’t get here until food is being put on the table.” He teased about his sister knowing she was well aware of her habit of being late.

--CELESTE--

Matilda's affectionate gesture coupled with her radiance made Celeste continue to smile. "I hope it won't be that long. I'm not exactly sure when they'll tell us that they're done filming but I guess they want to get everything they possibly can with how quickly they churn out the episodes. But we'll for sure make plans to come back late in the Spring, or during the summer." At her promising remark, she'd looked to Thomas and reached to squeeze his hand meaningfully.

After taking a seat beside Thomas again, she listened to his comments about his sisters and chuckled. "It's funny how routine people can be. Whenever my family gets together, my aunt always goes straight to the nearest bathroom while my uncle's more like Trisha and goes looking for food samples."

--THOMAS--

Thomas wished he knew when they would be allowed off the island and back to real life. He didn’t know if they had to wait for everyone before they did. Maybe they would go to another island where they would want for nothing before being allowed to go back to San Francisco. He just knew he wanted to get back to his life with the addition of Celeste. He chuckled when Celeste explained her own family’s routine. “That’s really funny. And it just shows that families are the same, at least in some ways.”

--CELESTE--

"Oh for sure," Celeste agreed with a smile. For a moment, she'd wondered when she would get to talk to or hear from her family. It had been months--the longest she'd ever gone without any communication with any of them. But being with Thomas's family gave her a feeling of warmth that, for the time being, helped her feel better.

Her hand casually came to rest on Thomas's thigh while she spoke to Mathilda, "So how are you doing, Matilda?" Thomas told me you're a cantor?"

--THOMAS--

Thomas thought it must have been a bit hard for Celeste to be there with his family when she hadn’t talked to hers in so long. He hoped there would be some kind of challenge and prize soon that would let her do that.

“Other than slowly losing the ability to look down at my own feet, I’m great,” Matilda grinned. “Yes, exactly. I’m a cantor. I work at a synagogue not too far from here. Not the one we grew up at, but the congregation is great. And the rabbi is a woman, too. So it’s girl power,” she smiled. “My mum is definitely going to ask you about religion by the way. You can brush her off. Don’t feel bad about it.”

--CELESTE--

Celeste chuckled, "Hang in there! I heard you say you're waiting to find out the sex this time... is this your second baby?" She listened to Matilda explain about her work at one of the local synagogues and smiled upon hearing that she and another woman led their congregation. "That's awesome. And I don't mind. I'm mostly an open book. Just ask Thomas," she said with a tiny nudge of her elbow. "It sounds like they must have cut that part out in editing but I actually have asked Thomas a lot about Judaism on our first date. I didn't grow up in a religious home but I enjoy learning about different faiths, cultures and customs."

--THOMAS--

“I’m trying,” Matilda laughed. “Yes, I have one little girl. She’s three now, and she is so excited to be a big sister! She always wants to help me do stuff around the house, especially when it comes to the nursery,” she grinned. “Oh? Maybe they cut it because religion isn’t the sexiest conversation topic.” And she knew how a lot of people felt about Jews. She saw Thomas nod, that it had been a topic they discussed. “It’s good that you have an open mind about that stuff. If you ever want to learn more about it, I’m happy to dive into it with you. And I would never pressure you to convert. Mum might…encourage you to consider it.”

--CELESTE--

"That's so cute! I bet that will continue after the baby arrives with her wanting to get you diapers and things for the baby." It really was a cute thing to imagine, even if she hadn't seen or met Matilda's daughter. Hearing the possible reason for the edit made Celeste nod slowly, "Ah, yeah that's a good point. Still, I'm glad that we were able to talk. I didn't really know much about Judaism before but I've been learning a lot from Thomas--happily." She cast a soft smile to Matilda, "Thank you. And that's okay if she does. There's no harm in considering, right?"

--THOMAS--

"Oh, I hope so," Matilda grinned. "I think she's going to be a wonderful big sister," she said. "I'm glad you were able to talk, too. I know Thomas doesn't go to synagogue every week, but being Jewish, and the traditions we have are a big part our lives." It didn't surprise her that Thomas at least told Celeste a little bit about Judaism. "No, absolutely no harm. It's a process to convert, so you'd have to be really sure it was something you wanted to do, if you ever decided you wanted to."

--CELESTE--

"You'll have to capture plenty of pictures for when she and her sibling are older. Those would make for amazing memories," Celeste mused. She didn't have any siblings but she had a couple of baby books, and she'd seen pictures of friends and their siblings when they were little, and had some memories from kids she previously babysat. Sitting there, conversing with Matilda had been nice. She nodded, "I thought so. And I fully respect how important your faith and traditions are in your family. I actually admire a lot of what Thomas has told me, and I like that a lot of the traditions involve gathering together. Thank you for telling me though, about it being a process and something to really know for myself."

--THOMAS--

"My phone is already all pictures of my little one. I'm going to need more space in the cloud when the baby comes. I do get pictures printed, though. I like having them framed around the house. It make it feel more like a home," Matilda grinned. She really liked Celeste and thought her older brother made a good choice with her. "Oh, yes. A lot of traditions are based around gathering with family and friends. Passover is a big family event. We go to someone's house for a big Seder. You two will probably still be on the island for it this year, though. It's coming up." Matilda nodded when Celeste thanked her for the warning. "Of course! I think it's important to be aware of."

--CELESTE--

"Aww I believe it. That's how my parent friends are back home. It's cute seeing the pictures and videos that get captured." While conversing with Matilda, Celeste made a mental note to buy her a gift while she had cellphone reception and already, she'd had a couple of ideas in mind. She was bound to use some of the time at the hotel looking through Amazon and would ask Thomas about the gifts and for the best address to mail it to later. She cast a brief, disappointed look when Matilda pointed out that they would probably still be on the island during Passover, "As grateful as I am for Ship-Wrecked bringing Thomas and I together and the friends we've made along the way, I won't be sorry to be away from the island when it's all over." She chuckled a little but meant it and couldn't wait to make up for the things that they weren't able to, once the show wrapped its filming for the season.

--THOMAS--

Matilda took out her phone and showed Celeste her little girl. "She's the best. She's so smart and hilarious. The stuff that comes out of her mouth sometimes," she shook her head and made sure to show Thomas, too. She had grown since he saw her last. "I'm sure you can wait to get back to real life. I read your books, by the way. They're so good! I couldn't put them down. I made my hubby take care of dinner one night because I was reading," Matilda laughed.

"I haven't had a chance to read them yet, but if Matilda likes them, I'll like them, too," Thomas smiled. "I'm grateful the show brought us together, too," he said, looking at Celeste. "But I'm ready to go back to San Francisco and see what happens when we're not together around the clock." He was confident things would still be good between them and they would find even more things in common once they could go out on dates, but he wanted to experience that for himself.

--CELESTE--

Leaning in, Celeste looked at Matilda's phone screen and grinned right away. "Awww! She's adorable. Way too cute!" Even though she hadn't been around a lot of them on a regular basis, Celeste loved kids. She'd nodded at Matilda's comment, "Oh definitely. I miss some of the places around the City, and Thomas and I have a list of dates we wanna have after we get back home. And I've been getting a lot written for my book, but I really miss my laptop." Upon hearing that Matilda had read her books, her features immediately changed to that of surprise and delight. "That's so great to hear--thank you!" She laughed along with her, "I'm really glad you liked them so much. Hopefully I'll have the last one in the trilogy done and ready to be on the shelves by the end of the year."

She returned Thomas's smile and told him, "Emmie told me she's going back home for a weekend and I asked her to get a copy, and a couple of Agatha Christie novels for you. And she said you could borrow her copy of the anthology of my short stories." His comment about them not being together all of the time made her nod. Of course she'd known it would happen at some point, but she did wonder what it was going to be like for them. For the time being though, she was doing her best to stay present and think about the night she was having with Thomas and his family.

--THOMAS--

Matilda smiled and thanked Celeste. Of course she knew she was completely biased in thinking her daughter was the cutest in the world, but she stood by it. "I'm sure you have thought of places. That's exciting that your book could be out by the end of the year. I won't have to wait too long to read it. If you ever want someone to read an advanced copy, send one my way," she smiled.

"I'll have plenty to read when we get back, then," Thomas grinned and squeezed Celeste's hand. He really was slooking forward to reading her books.

They sat and chatted for a bit, and Thomas got up to help his mum bring food to the table. When they were just about to sit down, there was a knock at the door. Thomas answered it and shook his head a little at Sarah. "You got here just in time for dinner."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Sarah said and walked into the house holding two bottles of wine.

--CELESTE--

Celeste grinned and whispered, aware of the cameras being nearby, "I'll definitely try to get you a manuscript." She kept a copy of each original for herself and had previously only shown final drafts to one or two other people prior to receiving the cover art and the finalization on the novels being published to the public.

"Definitely. Emmie had the right idea of bringing books with her. I'll never forget those cargo pants," she commented with a small chuckle.

As they conversed some more, Celeste found she'd enjoyed Matilda's company immensely. She'd given Thomas's hand a squeeze back before letting go when he got up to help their mom. She was about to get up herself and offered both hands to help Matilda to her feet just as the knocks sounded. Celeste remembered what Thomas said earlier about Sarah and sure enough, the last of the Meier children had arrived. Stifling a small laugh, Celeste tucked her lips in and then checked with Matilda, giving Sarah a moment before going to introduce herself. "Do you want me to get you some water or something?"

--THOMAS--

"I think the cargo pants will go down in reality show history," Thomas laughed. He was having a really great night. His family seemed to like Celeste, which was incredibly important to him. And Celeste seemed to like them, too. It looked like she was having a good time and wasn't too overwhelmed.

Matilda took Celeste's hands with a 'Thank you.' and stood up. She laughed when Sarah walked in. "You're so late!" She told her sister. "Oh, no. It's okay. There will probably be some on the table," she grinned.

"Sorry! I know. It wasn't my fault this time. There was a big crash that caused traffic," Sarah said and set down the wine in the kitchen before she emerged. "Celeste, hi! Nice to finally meet you," she smiled and gave a hug. "Do you want wine? I'll pour us some glasses."

--CELESTE--

Laughing with Thomas, Celeste agreed, "That'll be great. She'll either set a trend or be totally unique in that one." Sure enough, Thomas had been right about his family, and her nervousness had been for nothing. It was still early in her first time meeting them but each of them had been very sweet and welcoming, and she had been enjoying herself.

As she helped Matilda to her feet, she laughed a bit at one sister chiding the other. She smiled at the youngest of the siblings and gave her a nod of understanding regarding the water before walking with her over to the table.

She stood behind one of the chairs but looked to Sarah, "Nice to meet you too, Sarah. I'd love a glass, please. I like having a glass or two sometimes at dinner." Celeste then moved to take a seat on one side of the table between Thomas and Trisha, looking at the aromatic spread before them. "Everything looks amazing, Edie."

--THOMAS--

Sarah smiled at Celeste. “I knew I liked you,” she said and poured them both glasses. And she brought a few more to the table for anyone else, besides Matilda, who wanted some.

“Thank you, Celeste!” Edie said. There was matzah ball soup, challah, brisket, and salad.

Matilda led them in prayers over the wine, or in her case grape juice, and challah. And they lit Shabbat candles. When they were done, they were able to dig in.

“My mom makes the best soup,” Thomas grinned and dug into the matzah ball soup and grabbed some challah as well. He was so happy with the way the night was going.

--CELESTE--

Grinning a bit at Sarah's comment, Celeste accepted the glass of wine with a polite, "Thank you," and then joined the Meier family, taking a seat around the table.

Everything looked and smelled amazing. It was her first time at a Shabbat dinner and she was happy to learn what was customary. During the prayer, she bowed her head and she watched as the candles were lit.

Hearing Thomas's praise of his mom's cooking brought her smile back. She was, of course, eager to try the challah but added some brisket and salad to her plate as well, knowing she would fill up quickly if she didn't save the soup for last. And as soon as she got to try some of the freshly made challah, Celeste couldn't help the slow, "Mmmm" hum that vibrated in her throat as she chewed. The second her mouth was cleared, she told Edie, "Yep, Thomas was right--your challah is the best. I might have made a mistake in eating it first because I could easily eat this and nothing else tonight."

--THOMAS--

Thomas was so happy with the way dinner was going. His parents and sisters all seemed to really like Celeste. He knew she would fit in well with them. They all sat and chatted a bit while they ate. Thomas nearly choked on his food at one point when his mum pointedly asked Celeste if she would convert to Judaism before had kids. The question made Matilda chuckle and give Celeste a pointed look. It was just as she predicted. After he gave his mum a look, she shrugged and just told Celeste to 'think about it.' Jordan never converted, and it wasn't something he would ever ask her to do. It would have to be her own choice.

After the dishes were done, Edie brought her son upstairs and handed him a small box with his Bubby's engagement ring in it 'just in case' he needed it on the island. The gift shocked him, but he pocketed it. He didn't have plans to propose just yet, but he knew he'd eventually want to.

By the time it was time for them to go, Thomas was exhausted. He gave his family hugs, and took Celeste's hand. "They adored you," he grinned as they got into the car.

--CELESTE--

While Celeste thoroughly enjoyed dinner with the Meiers, Matilda's forewarning had come at an opportune time. She'd politely told Edie that she didn't know but she wasn't completely ruling out the possibility. Even with her and Thomas having grown close for months, she hadn't really thought about converting before tonight. But she was thankful the discussion hadn't stayed on the subject.

When dinner finished, Celeste offered to help clear the table but ended up chatting with Thomas's sisters for a bit. She hadn't thought too much about his and his mom's disappearance, figuring that the two of them were catching up for a bit the way that Thomas and his dad had when they first arrived. Getting to talk with the three of them had been especially nice after all of the things Thomas had told her about them on the flight over.

When the night at the Meier's home was over, she layered herself back into her jacket and coat, followed Thomas with goodbye hugs and held his hand on the way back out to the car. "It's one hundred percent mutual. Your family was lovely. Just really amazing. I hope to get to come back with you sometime, whether it's after Matilda has her baby, or another time."

--THOMAS--

Thomas squeezed Celeste’s hand. “I’m glad you had a good time. We will definitely come back at some point. I will want to see the new baby! I really didn’t expect that. There was no hint that Matilda was pregnant.” He definitely wanted to bring Celeste to Canada again. There were so many things to show her that they didn’t have time for now.

It didn’t take too long to get back to the hotel, which he was grateful for. After shedding his coat, he put the ring box in there, careful to do it when Celeste wasn’t looking. He would just check for it occasionally until it was secure back on the island.

Thomas got ready for bed and groaned softly when he finally laid down. “Thank you for agreeing to come here with me,” he said and turned toward Celeste. “You’re amazing, and I love you.” Thomas said the three words for the first time out loud, but he had been thinking them for weeks. He just didn’t want to say it too soon.

--CELESTE--

"Is it weird that I do too? Like I'm also curious to know what she's having," Celeste admitted with a small chuckle. "I didn't know she was married too. So all three of your sisters are married with kids?"

Once back at the hotel, Celeste peeled off her layers and exchanged them for pajamas and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wrap her hair for the night. She then climbed into bed beside Thomas, grinning at him, "My pleasure. Thank you for inviting me. It was really nice to get off of the island for a weekend, and it's even nicer getting to meet your family while doing it." As she turned to lay on her side, she heard him very clearly and stilled, her lips turning up at the corners. Leaning her upper body into his chest, she pressed her lips full on his, her fingers gliding through his hair as she kissed him deeply, putting as much love into the gesture as she could. When she pulled away, she whispered back, "I love you too Thomas. So much."

--THOMAS--

“I don’t think it’s weird at all,” he grinned. “I’m very curious about what she’s having. All three of the are married with kids,” he nodded. “You’d think that would mean my mum has enough grandchildren, but she harassed me for years about having some,” he shook his head a bit.

“I wouldn’t bring anyone else. I’m glad you got to meet them all. And I’m so sorry about my mum. I definitely glared at her when she asked about conversion,” he shook his head. After admitting he loved her, Thomas felt relief that it seemed to be okay. Wanted, even. He kissed Celeste back and wrapped his arm around her, keeping her close. “I am so happy right now. You make me so happy,” he muttered.

--CELESTE--

"Oh! That reminds me. I want to get her a gift." Celeste pulled out her phone and opened Amazon, and then locked her phone screen so it would be there as a reminder the next time she opened her phone. She listened to Thomas and chuckled, "Well if that day comes for you giving her a grandchild, I'm sure she's going to be as thrilled as if that child was the first one." Edie definitely seemed like the kind of mother and grandmother who would never be short on love to give.

"It's okay. I knew that your faith was important to you, and I learned that it was important to your family too. And Matilda tipped me off that your mom would probably ask me. But I appreciate you looking out for me." She softly smiled and pecked his forehead.

Happy to be kept close to him, Celeste thought her heart might soar right out of her chest. "Me too, babe. You've become so important to me, and I feel like... you've made me feel like I can really believe in a second chance at love. Like things that I wanted are actually possible again--a future with someone special. Someone I love."

--THOMAS--

“That’s so sweet, but you don’t have to! I’m honestly not sure what she needs. I’m not sure how much she kept since her little girl was born,” he said. “But it’s so nice that you want to give her a present,” Thomas smiled. “Oh, that’s absolutely true. My mum would be so thrilled. She would be happy with a million grandbabies,” he chuckled. All Thomas knew was that he would love to have babies with Celeste.

“It is important to me, and to them. Matilda was smart to tip you off about it, but I still don’t think she should have said it. It is for you to decide alone. I won’t ask you to convert for me.”

Thomas still couldn’t believe how lucky he was that Celeste loved him back. His face was starting to hurt from smiling so hard. “I think it is so special we are both getting a second chance at love together. We both know what we want in a partner, and we both know what we want for our futures. I just love you so much. It kind of hit me like a freight train a couple weeks ago. You did something cute and it was like a switch flicked on in my brain. That’s how I knew I loved you.”

--CELESTE--

Celeste listened to him. "That's a good point... buuuut maybe it could be something like a few books?" Grinning a bit hopeful, she added "You can never have too many of those and there's so many out there for babies and small children!" She laughed a bit hearing Thomas talk about Edie as a grandmother, easily picturing it especially after having just met the woman. Quietly, Celeste hoped that she and Thomas would be blessed with babies someday.

While listening to Thomas, Celeste took his hand and squeezed it. "I'm sure she meant well. I meant what I said though about not knowing right now. It's a lot to consider but it's not something I'm absolutely opposed to considering either." There were a few things Celeste thought about when the idea of converting came up but she figured it was a conversation she and Thomas could delve into more another time.

Hearing Thomas share his feelings made Celeste's insides melt. He was everything she wanted in a best friend, partner and lover. Although some of the fears of the past were scraping at her chest again, she saw a real future with Thomas. "You took the words right out of my mouth," she admitted. Hearing him share how he knew he loved her made the joy and love in her swell even more. She lowered her head to rest her forehead against his and shut her eyes, whispering, "I don't know when it happened for me but I'm so glad it did, and I don't see myself ever stopping loving you or being in love with you."

--THOMAS--

Thomas nodded. "Books would be good. I'm not sure what her baby book library looks like, but I'm sure she could always use more," he smiled.

He squeezed Celeste's hand back, grateful she wasn't too upset about being asked about conversion. "You don't have to decide any time soon. If you want to talk to an expert about it, we can always set up a meeting with my rabbi in San Francisco to talk more about the process and Judaism in general. I know a lot about the faith, but not everything. Rabbis go to school to learn about it all. You can even go to temple with me on a Friday night just to see if you like the vibes," he offered. "But again, you don't have to decide now." It was a big conversation to have sometime down the road.

"Did I?" he smiled. "I'm glad we feel the same. I'm relieved, actually." Thomas pressed his forehead against hers and grinned a little. He felt butterflies fluttering around his stomach, and just felt pure joy being there with Celeste. She was everything he could have wished for in a partner. "I want to love you forever. I'm in this for the long haul." He pressed kisses to her forehead, her nose, her cheek, and finally her lips. "We should go to bed. I'm hoping we can go out and do something before we have to go back. I love you," he said again before laying back, all the while staying close to her.

--CELESTE--

"Books it is then!" Celeste beamed, making a note in her phone so to place an order before they were on their flight back to the island.

Her smile was smaller but tender as she listened to her boyfriend. "Thank you, Thomas. I really appreciate you giving me the space to think it over and consider this." His stance on whether or not she converted meant the most to her and she was genuinely thankful that he offered her resources to go to in order to learn more, especially since she generally tended to make informed decisions when it came to her life.

"I honestly don't know how I couldn't love you, or fall in love with you. You're wonderful in so many ways and for so many reasons." In truth, she could have started listing them but probably would have fallen asleep before finishing, despite the bliss coursing through her entire body like a current of live wire. 'Forever' brought up mixed emotions for her, even though she knew that she wanted the exact same thing: to love Thomas forever and to be able to love him forever. And while she learned before that life didn't always care about what you wanted, she refused to keep herself from being with Thomas, loving him and making every possible memory with him that she could, for however long 'forever' would be.

Snuggling into hsi side, she wrapped her arms around him, enjoying each one of the kisses he gave and returning the very last one he gave. "I think we can. We were promised a weekend, so tomorrow can be a day of you and me." She tucked her head against his chest and shut her eyes, listening to his heart and taking in his warmth. As the long day came to an end and her closed eyelids grew heavier, she quietly told him, "I love you too. Always," and let his own declaration of love live on repeat in her mind like a lullaby as she drifted to sleep.

[fiercefray]

I posted 10,495 times in 2021

92 posts created (1%)

10403 posts reblogged (99%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 113.1 posts.

I added 3,468 tags in 2021

#other people's ocs - 1322 posts

#legacies - 303 posts

#shadow and bone - 302 posts

#about me - 268 posts

#funny - 239 posts

#dnd - 237 posts

#writing - 231 posts

#video - 219 posts

#prodigal son - 192 posts

#important - 155 posts

Longest Tag: 40 characters

#the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

See the full post

11 notes • Posted 2021-08-26 06:27:27 GMT

#4

See the full post

11 notes • Posted 2021-07-15 06:53:44 GMT

#3

Her eyes darted down. ‘Yeah, right.’ ‘I mean it,’ He said. ‘I want this. Whatever it is.’ ‘And if I don’t?’ He put his hands against the wall behind her. She could feel his breath on her ear as he leaned down, ‘I’d say you’re lying.’

Remi’s eyes wandered back up to his. Her breath caught as she looked into those gorgeous blue eyes she knew broke every heart in school. She thought of all those stolen glances in the halls, accidental bump ins at events, and now all these roof top nights when it was just them and their city. ‘And what about when the world goes back to normal?’ She questioned. ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,’ He smirked. ‘Or burn it.’ ‘Ground rules then.’ ‘Rules? I don’t do rules,’ said Max. ‘You will,’ she told him. ‘One, no kissing. At least not on the mouth.’ He raised a brow. ‘Everywhere but your mouth?’ ‘Same for me. Kissing leads to romance and we won’t cross that line. Ever.’ ‘What are the other rules?’ She smirked as she pulled him closer to her. She could feel the heat of his skin touching hers where their clothes didn’t cover them. ‘Tell no one. Not your friends, your dads, anyone.’ Her lips pressed into his neck, making him shiver. ‘The last rule applies for just tonight.’ ‘Which is?’ ‘You have control,’ she took his hands from behind her and put them on her. ‘Unless I say so later. But I want to see what the hype about you is all about.’ He smiled. ‘Don’t worry. You’ll get the full experience.’

tag list: @bookswillfindyouaway @foxesandmagic @malice1329 @missemmalie @ocappreciationtag @ocfairygodmother @witchofinterest

12 notes • Posted 2021-08-12 07:34:41 GMT

#2

𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕪 𝕝𝕪𝕕𝕚𝕒 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕥𝕠𝕟

Speaking of ghosts of the past, no one expected Dowager Lady Lydia Thornton rejoin the society after the untimely death of Lord Peter Thornton two years. Since her return to London, Lady Thornton has not left her home, save for the occasional party. Maybe her old acquaintances can entice her into showing the reclusive lady back into the ton.

But the larger question still stands. What has called Lady Thornton back? Is it to reconnect with society, to handle business left by her late husband, or possibly even to find a new husband? If anyone is going to discover the reason for her lady’s return, it is I.

inspired by @randomestfandoms-ocs and created because @perfectlystiles is getting us all into this awesome show.

tag list: @bookswillfindyouaway @foxesandmagic @malice1329 @missemmalie @ocappreciationtag @ocfairygodmother @witchofinterest

13 notes • Posted 2021-01-04 04:17:04 GMT

#1

This or That

I was tagged by my angel @foxesandmagic

sage green or baby blue | moon or stars | paperback or hardback | piercings or tattoos | drawing or writing | saturn or jupiter | line without a hook or mr. loverman (i don’t know this one) | ancient greece or ancient egypt | prague or amsterdam | dark academia or light academia | indie aesthetic or cottagecore | stargazing or late night drives | strawberries or watermelons | rings or necklaces | extrovert or introvert | dragons or griffins | ocean or mountain | silver or gold | dawn or dusk | creative or free spirit | early bird or night owl | cook or bake | dagger or sword

Tagging: Whoever wants to do this since I’m feeling lazy!

27 notes • Posted 2021-01-14 04:42:19 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[the-siren-and-the-sailor]

@kissthe-gogoat it's all done my dude, hell yeah

Stars glimmered outside the spacecraft's window, and the glow of Saturn's rings provided the room (and by extension, the woman in it), with just enough light.

Daphne stood in front of the extensive mirror, turning from side to side. The celestial glow glittered across her outfit; a tangerine dress with festoons that exaggerated her statuesque high heels.

Behind her, she could see that a figure in the Fleet Admiral's uniform had slipped inside the walk-in closet.

"What an outfit, mouse. How much did this one cost?" her husband chastised her, but Daphne smiled up at him (yes, up, even in those heels) innocently.

"Um... does it really matter, kitten?" she said sweetly. He didn't look impressed. "Alright fine. It was about, I think, three hundred Woolongs?"

Cain sighed and tapped his foot. "And where were you planning to wear this... extravagant outfit, during work?"

Defenses up. If Cain was going to be like this, so was she. "I was only going to go visit a friend! Super quick, you won't even notice I'm gone. Really!"

Cain stepped closer to her, trying to find some sign or clue of her true intent. Oh, Cain. He could be so damn stingy about responsibility and organization. In his eyes, this was justified; when it's 2178 and you've started a city on a spaceship that you must maintain, being somewhat steely can be a necessary evil.

In Daphne's eyes, Cain was, well...

"Oh, you can be such a jackass sometimes! Fine, I was going to see Teresa, and probably Abel, too. We were going to go giggle at paintings of you two in The Library and tell stories of all the stupid shit you two have done. Happy?"

The words streamed out of her and she was left with only the option to close her mouth and look at her toes. Cain huffed and lifted her chin to kiss her. She melted into it for just a moment before he pulled away.

"Just promise me you'll be safe. Abel and I are... trying. But-"

"Of course, doll," she held his cheek in reassurance. The mischief returned to her eyes once more, however. "So, is this you telling me I can go?"

Cain pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled through his nose. "I suppose, but-"

"Yes! Oh, thank you, darling, thank you! Bye!" She quickly scurried out the door, but tripped on her shoes after only a few steps.

"Darling, perhaps you should change. The docents will not appreciate the loud clicking heels much, anyway."

Daphne sighed, glowered at Cain, and defeatedly began to change. He chuckled, "That's what I thought."

"Oh go away, you!" she said in half-mock irritation, pushed him out the door, and shut it.

"Just tell Enoch I say hello..." Cain called through the door.

“Go away!”

~*~

Teresa’s ears twitched at the sound of a knock on the door. "I've got it," Abel grumbled from the living room as he got up.

He was already not pleased to have been moved from his comfortable spot on the couch, but the sight when he opened the door did little to lighten his mood.

Daphne had been smiling, but it faltered slightly at the sight of the man towering over her. Her expression and demeanor changed to that of someone who was both exasperated and a little nervous, all while trying to remain positive.

Abel, however, simply wanted to go back inside. "Oh, it's you," was all he said.

"Obviously. I'm here to see Teresa, are they here?" Daphne was impatiently looking past him and into the house.

He stepped, almost defensively, to block her view. "What would you want with them?"

"We were only going to go out on a little day trip. Leave the poor girl alone."

"Why don't you leave me alone, wench."

"Abel, what's wrong?" the voice sounded from behind him, this one much softer and kinder. Abel turned and there stood Teresa, watching the display curiously. Realization clicked onto their face when they saw Daphne, however.

"Oh, Daphne! Hi, sorry! I'll go get my stuff really quick!" they said before dashing off to another room.

This left Daphne and Abel in a very tense silence. They eyed each other, not saying a word.

Should she…? No, oh, it would be so rude. Hmm… but she couldn’t resist.

"Well at least your English has gotten better," Daphne muttered. Abel looked as though he could've killed her, and Daphne squeaked as she put her hands up defensively. Thankfully, Teresa came around the corner once more, now wearing shoes and carrying a purse.

Daphne sighed, relieved to be out of this awkward situation. "Alright! All ready?"

Teresa nodded. "Yep! See you later, Abel," they said, standing on the tips of her hooves to kiss his cheek. With this, Abel and Daphne shot each other one last look, and the two headed out the door.

~*~

"So how does this work, again?" Teresa was referring to how to get to the Library.

"Well, we use these things called 'Ways.' They're like, hmm. They can be almost anything, usually involving a door. If you do some specific steps, it'll let you in. It's sort of like apparating, I guess," Daphne fumbled her way through the explanation. Teresa still looked rather confused.

"Okay... So what steps do we follow?"

"Well, there's a door in the lower levels of the ship, and you use a certain key while dripping moon water on it. Uh, I think."

"Huh, okay. And, how do you make moon water? Um, out here, I mean?"

"Oh, I have no fucking clue. I just left a water bottle with a friend on Enceladus for a while."

"Oh, okay. Will that work?"

"Guess we'll find out!"

~*~

Somehow, someway, the Way opened for them. Why? Who knows, who cares.

Daphne and Teresa now stood is the grand halls of the Library. Teresa had quickly taken to looking around, asking questions about anything and everything.

"Girl, slow down! I don't know everything!" Daphne yelped, smiling.

"Sorry, sorry, I- Oh! Wow, how old do you think this book is?"

"Oh gosh, I dunno. Few hundred years? At least?"

Teresa's eyes widened as they began to open the book. Daphne laughed and gently pulled it away. "Weren't you the one who wanted to come here to learn more about Abel?"

"Weren't you just going to tell me about stupid stuff they used... to..." Teresa trailed off, their attention now on a painting behind Daphne.

"What'cha looking at now?" Daphne said, turning around. She quickly understood.

There, painted between two shelves, was a mural. It showed a grand city, sprawled across valleys and mountains. The city was surrounded by smaller icons, of sorts. Several the Teresa recognized, others not so much.

In the top corners were two women, one with light skin and black hair, the other with the opposite. Between them was a glowing man wearing an iron crown inlaid with what looked to be a star.

Their attention had mostly been drawn to the two figures below the black-haired woman. The first, a man with piercing blue eyes and a clockwork coronet in his hair. Another was a man with a strong face and winding rose thorns resting just above his ears.

"Cain and Abel. Right?" Teresa chirped. "Oh, look! Here at the bottom, it's them as kids! Wow, can you believe Abel was shorter than Cain at one point?"

Getting used to the sight, Daphne responded, "Oh yeah. I'm pretty sure he's something like, what, five years younger than Cain? And I think Seth is three years behind Abel."

"Wait, how do you know that? Or did Cain tell you?"

Daphne nodded, and Teresa's face lit up. "Wow, that's so cool! Can I..." she hesitated. "Oh, I mean, I don't want to pry."

"They’re our husbands aren’t they? Ask whatever you want," Daphne gave Teresa a daring smile.

And it was off to the races! Teresa asked about anything and everything they could think of. All the while, they searched out more paintings of the pair. Teresa’s favorite seemed to be the one that depicted the two with matching ear piercings. They were more than a bit tickled to find that they had gotten them behind their mother’s back.

Several others were more serious. Depictions of Cain’s banishment, Abel’s confinement, and Seth’s disappearance. Others showed them in more victorious circumstances; Cain and Daphne, as royalty, with their boys; Abel standing atop a golden throne having just defeated the people that kept him captive for so long.

And then they found one that have she pause. Teresa looked closer at it. It was a beautiful forest scenery, and depicted a tall man dancing with a smaller, goat-like person.

“Daphne, this painting of Abel… who’s that with him?”

Daphne smiled. “Who do you think it is?”

���Well, uh… maybe, uh, one of my siblings?” they said slowly.

“Do you really believe that?”

“…I guess I don’t. Huh…” they continued to gaze at it for a time.

After a few moments of this, Daphne quietly smiled to herself again. “Welcome to the hall of fame, kiddo.”

“Yeah…” Teresa had now moved to lightly touch the painting.

“Hmm. Hang on a sec, Goat. You stay here, I’ll be right back.”

~*~

Abel still looked ready to bite Daphne’s head off when she returned Teresa to him. However, she made her getaway as Abel was distracted by Teresa’s dreamy expression.

“What’s this?”

He followed her to their bedroom, where they had set a large and heavy book down on the table.

“It’s a story book. Look,” they flipped to a few hundred pages in.

It was a tale entitled ‘The Bard and the Barbarian.’ Teresa pulled it into their lap and patted the spot on the bed next to them. Abel took the hint and laid down next the them.

With this Teresa smoothed the page, drew in a breath, and began to read.

~*~

A/N: Yes that is a Cowboy Bebop reference in the very beginning :D And yes I am going to continue to call their city's currency Woolongs :D

Not sure if this is really my best work, but it was fun to write!

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #437

“you get what you pray for  /  you don’t get anything”

Do you tell your mom and dad everything? No. Who was the last person you talked about something that was bothering you with? Most likely my mom. What’s your favorite musical? I don't like musicals. Who did you last share a taxi with? I've never been in a taxi. If you’ve ever tried drugs or alcohol, what was your reason for first trying it? I've never done drugs, but the first time I drank was actually an accident. I'd come in from a long, hot walk, and I desperately needed water, and Mom offered me what I thought was just pink lemonade. Turns out it was a Mike's Hard Lemonade and I CHUGGED it before everyone around me was like "NOOOO!" because it was alcohol lmaooo. If you were far from home and needed to sleep for the night, would you choose to rent a crappy motel room for $60 or sleep in your car for free? I'm sleeping in my car. I'm afraid of things like bed bugs. Is there a situation where you caved into peer pressure and regretted it? I don't think so? Have you ever rolled off your bed in your sleep? Pretty sure no. What is your favourite planet? Saturn! Do you enjoy Mario games? Not really, honestly. They're just not my style. Mario Kart is fun every now and again, though. What flavor fruity drink is your favorite? Strawberry, in most cases. Ever done a keg stand? No. Who is the last person you lent money to? My mom. Do you have any health problems that are unusual for your age? I have carpal tunnel in my wrists from typing so much, but I'm not sure how "unusual" that is for young adults nowadays... I feel like there's something else, but it's evading me right now. Do you bite your nails? No, I pick/peel at them. :x What’s the longest nap you’ve ever taken? Oh god, hours. To the point it no longer really qualifies as a "nap." When people ask you about school, what is your usual response? Do you enjoy talking about school? Why or why not? I get all awkward and just reply that I gave it numerous shots, but my mental health couldn't handle it. I hate talking about school because I feel like a failure. Do you know how to fill a car’s tire with air? Have you ever had to do it? No to both. Do you like your best friend’s parents? Why or why not? Omg I LOVE them. They are spectacular people with massive hearts. I especially am drawn to her dad, whom I find incredibly inspiring. Both her parents are just great. I miss 'em. What do you like in your hot cocoa - marshmallows, whipped cream, candy canes? Do you even like hot cocoa? I loooove hot chocolate. I really just prefer it plain, but you can toss a few marshmallows in there. Which do you have a problem with: over-eating or under-eating? I'm way more likely to over-eat than under-eat. A girl likes her food lmao. The last boy you kissed, good-looking? He's by no means ugly, but I wasn't physically attracted to him personally. Do you love him? Not romantically, but definitely platonically. Do you like cherry Pepsi? I like cherry Coke. I don't like Pepsi. When was the last time you were given flowers? Ummm... I want to say the last time was many years ago when Tyler visited for the first time when we started dating. What do you want to name your children? I don't want kids. But hypothetically, Alessandra and probably Damien. Would you ever write a letter to someone you haven’t met yet, like your future spouse? No. I'd probably get too emotional anyway. Do you carry a mirror in your purse? No. Do you believe that there is beauty in everything? I've always thought this was such a stupid idea that tries to make reason out of life and its tragedies. Like yeah, cancer, rape, murder, etc. are definitely "beautiful." There is absolutely no beauty in a vast plethora of things. The first time you smoked, did you cough like a fool? I've never smoked before. When you were younger, did you have a Neopets account? Oh, yes. I loooooved Neopets, but not quite as much as Webkinz. I've actually remade a Neopetz account multiple times because I'd forget my info, ha ha... Who was the last person you got in a fist fight with? I've never been in a physical fight. Did you and your mom ever have a big fight that caused you to move out? Not "move out," no. We did, however, have a fight where I stayed with Dad for I want to say a week, maybe a bit less. Do you dislike anyone? Why? Well, yes. I don't know anyone who doesn't dislike somebody. There are a few people, in my case, that I'm not going to spend time going through and pointing out what I don't like. Do you think you will be in a relationship 2 months from now? No. Do you always feel like you’re making mistakes? Like constantly. Does your animal sleep with you? Roman usually does, yeah. Do you have any baby pictures of yourself on your computer? No. Mom has those in photo albums. What kind was the last chip you ate? I want to say traditional Lays? It was at my nephew's bday party. Do you eat onion rings? No, I'm not a fan. What was the last thing to disgust you? I think it was some thumbnail I saw on YouTube, even though it was (weakly) blurred. Where do you see your ex in 5 years? "The" ex, I don't want to think about it. Probably somewhere great for him, but would break my heart if I knew. Do your parents swear? Dad swears big time, while Mom tries to hold it back. You won't hear her say something like "fuck" unless she is SERIOUSLY upset. Do you ever drink warm milk? Warm milk sounds literally disgusting. Would you be really upset if Facebook ceased to exist tomorrow? No. I literally just came back from my break from it, so it'd be more funny than anything. The universe's way of telling me "nah, son." Who do you know that wears the most makeup? My friend Summer, but then again she's a cosmetologist. Have you ever had bronchitis? No, thankfully. Jason had it BAD once and I will neeever forget that cough, good Lord. Do you like to wear makeup? I hate applying it more than anything. Like, I love that it can help me feel prettier, but I pretty much never wear it because it's just a pain to put on, especially by myself because I have bad tremors in my hands. How many times have you been to the ER? Way too many times for being suicidal. How often do you feel lonely? Honestly, pretty much always. When are you most uncomfortable? I dunno, man. I'm always uncomfortable about one thing or another. Has anyone ever revealed a secret about you? Not that I remember... Have you ever revealed anyone else’s secret? No, that is such a shitty thing to do. Have you ever had a family member/friend that was hospitalized? Yes. Have you ever been in trouble with the law? No. Is there anything you want to experiment with? I mean, nothing that quickly comes to mind. There are things I want to try, but nothing major. What do you hope happens to you after you die? Mixed feelings. Sometimes I hope there's some sort of nirvana-like state we experience, I think it'd be wonderful to be reunited with loved ones, but I also sometimes think it'd be best if we just... stopped existing. Consciousness just stops. I dunno. I'll find out eventually. What is the most disgusting thing you have seen in person (not on TV)? Probably a maggot-infested deer corpse that I faintly remember from where I used to live. I thought it was the sickest thing ever lmao, in both senses. What is something others make fun of you for? Always holding some sort of technology. Just don't fucking comment on it. It makes me self-conscious as hell. Is your life turning out like you pictured it would? QUITE THE FUCKING OPPOSITE. Do your initials spell out a word? No. Has anyone ever given you roses? Yeah. Last baby you held? My older sister's youngest daughter. Whose wedding were you in the first time you were a bridesmaid or groomsman? My aforementioned sister's. What is something you would never do to your body? I mean, there's a large number of things. There are certain piercings and tattoos I wouldn't dare to get, I plan on taking care of my hair as best I can to avoid ruining it despite wanting to dye it a lot... *shrug* Stuff like that. How are you planning to decorate your house for Halloween? I don't know if we'll decorate. We haven't really for a few years now... I don't have the motivation to do it myself, and now that it's just me and her and I'm grown up (I know, I'm laughing too), Mom doesn't really bother with doing it. I know I DO want to carve pumpkins this year, though. Dunno what, but I'll figure it out. Ever lived in a trailer park? No. Do you like salsa that has fruit in it? NOOOOOOOOOOO Can you count in binary? No. Do you like hard or soft pretzels better? I'll eat both, but I have a strong preference for soft ones. When was the last time someone kissed you on the cheek? Who was it? I'm sure that was either my niece of nephew when I was leaving their house when I last visited for Ryder's birthday. What kind of ice cream did you eat last? Where’d you get it from? It was chocolate. I had a scoop at the aforementioned birthday party. Do you like flowers? What is your favorite kind to receive? I love flowers. I don't have a favorite to receive, really. Have you ever unblocked someone that you blocked before? Yes. Has anyone slapped you across the face before? If so, why? No. Do you prefer to have more or less in common with your significant other? I like to be pretty similar. Would you take a shot of heroin for a million dollars? No. I don't fuck with that, even for that much money. Why don’t you talk to your ex anymore? He wants nothing to do with me. Do you think it is okay to drive while high? Obviously not...? Do you find Halloween or Valentine’s Day more exciting? Halloween. Has anyone you know ever had serious surgery before? Yeah; my mom immediately comes to mind in both instances she had cancer. When she had kidney cancer, the tumor was larger than the kidney itself, and she lost the entire organ. When she had ovarian cancer, she had to have a complete hysterectomy because the cancer was EVERYWHERE along her reproductive system to an almost fatal degree. My mom's pretty metal. If you had the last person you kissed’s Facebook password, would you go snooping through their stuff? Why or why not? No, because that's a violation of privacy? You don't do that shit. Have you ever fainted? If so, when was the last time? If not, have you ever came close to? Yes. The only time that I remember was maaaany years ago, like, maybe '14. I've nearly fainted plenty of times since then for various reasons, but mostly just from low blood pressure. Ever take a keyboarding class? Do you type using the skills you learned in that class or how you used to before you took the class? Yes; I believe one course was mandatory in middle school. I type the proper way, yeah. Ever cut your hair (the entire thing – not just the bangs or a little part) yourself? Noooo. Would you ever open your own business? If so, what kind of business could you imagine yourself having? Well, I'd like to be a freelance photographer, but to be real, I'm starting to loosen up on that dream. It's been too long, I just don't see it happening anymore. Baby steps are one thing, but I've barely managed any of those in forever. Ever meet and talk to someone from an online dating site? No. Would you date someone you weren’t physically attracted to? Why or why not? Yes; I've done it before. I just care way more about emotional chemistry. Besides, historically, me liking someone for their heart has made each person a lot more attractive to me as a whole. Last person to hang up on you? I dunno. What’s your favorite scary movie? The Blair Witch Project. The second one is great, too, plus The Crazies. Which urban legend is your favourite? Oh man, you can't ask me this. I LOVE cryptids and conspiracies 'n shit. Are any of your fears completely irrational? Yes, like whale sharks. A whale shark ain't gonna hurt u boo but I see that mouth and am like no thnx Where is the light switch in your room? Funnily enough, I don't have a light switch; there isn't a ceiling light in this room. I instead have two table lamps that I can turn on on either side of my bed. Would you make a good lawyer? Hell no, I cry when I argue lmao. It's funny tho because I remember in TWO instances, in-depth surveys recommending jobs for you brought up me being a lawyer, and each time I was just like,,,,, no???????? Why did your family decide to live where you’re living now? It was more necessity than anything. Our old house had a LOT of issues to it, and with Mom's cancer diagnosis, she needed the cleanest environment possible, and that was NOT our old place. The house we live in now is owned by a family friend, and when the previous owner died, the timing just... kinda worked out to where that family friend I mentioned helped us pay our way into here. We really don't like this place because of the location, but it had to work. What was the best pet you've ever had? All things considered, I have to hand it to my boy Teddy. That dog was someone special. Very, very special. If you were allowed one murder without punishment, would you do it? Nah. Name one song you can play on an instrument, any instrument! I can probably still slam out "Hot Cross Buns" on a recorder. \m/ Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle? Noooo, I'm scared to. On the opposite sex, do you prefer muscles, average size, or scrawny bodies? It depends on the person, ig. I can be attracted to any of those. Just not EXTREME muscle. Not my thing at all.

[erics-meep-morps]

Stars in the Daytime Part 2

A self-ship fic with Lapis and Peridot

Part 1 here. 

Summary: I’ve always wanted to see space, and with the help of Peridot and Pearl they build me a spacesuit. Lapis carries me and Peridot comes along as we fly into the cosmos. I will note this fic isn’t quite scientifically accurate, but I hope it’s still a good story for you to read. 💙💚

We swiftly flew through up in the air, and I made sure not to look down so I wouldn’t get anxiety. I don’t have a fear of heights, but being so high in an open environment makes me a little tense. Of course it was highly unlikely I would somehow fall, and even if I did Lapis or Peridot could easily catch me long before I was anywhere near the ground.

“Doing okay,” Lapis asked me.

I looked at her and felt my heart jump a little seeing her hair blow gracefully in the breeze. “Never better,” I said with a smile and blushing.

Lapis blushed and giggled.

After a little bit we broke through some cloud cover.

“Hm, there’s a plane over there,” Lapis pointed out.

I looked in the direction she was looking and noticed it right away. It was a safe distance away, but still close enough that I could see what airline it was and the type of plane.

“Empire Airlines. Since it’s an Airbus A350 it’s probably on its way from London or Paris to Empire City.”

“Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofans,” Peridot added.

Lapis and I were surprised when she said this and looked at her curiously.

“What? Eric’s interest in jet propulsion passenger carriers got me curious in them.”

“I just realized this trip will probably be boring for both of you since, you know, you two can easily fly into space anytime. Plus it’s going to take awhile with not much to see besides that plane,” I said.

“Oh it’s no problem. We’ve done long trips before, and there’s nothing wrong with peaceful quietness,” Lapis said.

“But feel free to start a conversation anytime,” Peridot mentioned.

“And obviously if something’s wrong let us know,” Lapis added.

“Will do,” I replied. I think they had said that a few times already, but I knew they wanted to keep me safe.

An hour later the sky was becoming darker. “Pretty soon we’ll be in space,” Lapis said.

“Technically speaking anything around us is space,” Peridot pointed out.

Lapis grunted. “Okay, we’re almost in the space above Earth with a bunch of stars and stuff.”

“That’s... slightly more accurate.”

“Doing okay, Eric,” Lapis asked.

“I sure am,” I replied while staring at the sky as it became darker. Soon after I could start to see stars, a slightly weird feeling since it was 12 PM. I then looked to Lapis, as I always enjoyed watching her hair flow through the breeze. She looked down at me and smiled, and I smiled back while nestling into her for comfort.

“Welcome to the cosmos,” Lapis said and kissed me on the forehead.

“I’ve been on many adventures before, but this is something entirely new,” I said.

“We’re happy to give you this experience,” Peridot said and kissed me on the forehead too. She then checked the oxygen level in the tank. “There’s enough to get a decent ways out so you get a good view of Earth.”

“I really wish I could kiss you both right now, but for obvious reasons I can’t do that,” I said with a chuckle.

Lapis and Peridot smiled. “When we get back to Earth you can give us as many kisses as you want,” Lapis said.

For a few hours as we gracefully flew through space we talked about all the stars, planets, and galaxies Lapis and Peridot had seen before they started living on Earth. For them it was like seeing other countries; far away but no problem to get to by flight, or sometimes in their case warp pad.

“When I was a kid I wanted to visit Saturn, but of course under the conditions on that planet I probably wouldn’t last a minute. The next best thing for me was buying a telescope so I could see Saturn’s rings from Earth, which is pretty huge for me in itself.”

“Even though we can’t get you to Saturn, we can show you planets that are accessible via warp pad and have hospitable conditions for humans,” Peridot offered.

“That would be amazing,” I said with a few tears starting to form in my eyes.

“You okay,” Lapis asked with slight concern.

“I just wish I could show you two something amazing, but I don’t think there’s anything that comes close to this.”

“Awww babe, what about Earth? You’ve seen many places there that we haven’t,” Lapis pointed out.

“Yeah! We’ve only visited a microscopic amount of Earth’s surface. I’m sure you can show us the diverse places Earth has to offer,” Peridot added.

“That’s true. I would love to show all the places I’ve seen and visit new places with you two.”

“We look forward to it, but right now we want to show you something,” Lapis said. Her and Peridot stopped flying and turned towards Earth.

There it was before my eyes, the blue and green ball that is humanity’s home and the only home we’ve ever known.

“And now you can be one-hundred percent certain Earth isn’t flat,” Peridot commented.

“Peridot, sometimes I wonder if you spend too much time on the internet,” Lapis said.

“Hey, I’m getting better at not debating people on the internet who are clearly wrong.”

“I suppose. Anyways, what do you think Eric?”

“I remember you two telling me about previously thinking Earth was a miserable rock, and to be honest... sometimes I’ve felt that way too. Earth and especially humanity are far from perfect, and I’ve done my best to accept those imperfections about the planet and humans including myself. I think seeing Earth from this perspective with my own eyes definitely helps for me to view my home more positively. I’m rambling at this point, but it’s just... beautiful. I don’t know what else to say about what I see right now.”

“I’m sure it’s a little overwhelming seeing something that only a small number of humans have seen,” Peridot said.

“It is. I’ve always seen my home planet from the ground or from a plane so it’s always been huge, but from here it’s like a grain of sand on the beach. From a universal perspective it’s insignificant, but for humanity it’s everything to us. It feels wonderful to experience this, and you know what’s more wonderful? The fact that out of all the places in the cosmos you two could’ve been, it ended up being Earth and we managed to cross paths.”

Peridot sniffled. “If your objective was to make us cry then consider it accomplished,” she said while wiping away tears.

Lapis let go of me for a quick second and then tightly hugged Peridot and I. “That was beautiful Eric. I had a rough beginning on Earth, but I came out of it smiling and feeling glad to be here. Thank you, both of you.” For a minute we floated in silence and embraced each other. 

“Not to break up this beautiful moment, but didn’t Pearl want us to take a picture,” Peridot asked.

Lapis and I laughed. “We might look a little gross after this emotional moment, but sure let’s do it,” Lapis said and took out her phone. With smiles and Earth in the background we took a picture.

“Want to record a short video so you can always look back on this,” Peridot asked.

“That’s a good idea, even though I’ll probably be awkward since I’m not sure what to say.”

“It’s alright. Just speak your mind,” Lapis said and started recording.

“Hello friends and family. As you can see behind me, that is Earth, and I’m in a spacesuit. No this is not a green screen, this is real even if you don’t believe it. With the assistance of my two wonderful partners Lapis and Peridot-”

“Sup,” Lapis said simply and then pointed the camera at Peridot.

“Greetings,” Peridot said, and then Lapis pointed the camera back at me.

“As well as the assistance of our good friend Pearl, I have achieved something I wanted to do at least once in my life, and it’s something not many humans have done. I’m in space, out in the infinite cosmos looking down at the only home humanity has ever known. It’s been an amazing and emotional experience for us.”

“I only cried a little,” Peridot mentioned.

I chuckled. “Anyways, thank you to them, and I hope this video finds you well. Take care.”

“Very nice,” Lapis said after stopping the recording.

“So uhh, now what,” Peridot asked.

“If you want we can just float around out here until you’re ready to go back to Earth,” Lapis said.

“That sounds good, as long as there’s enough oxygen,” I said.

Peridot checked the oxygen level. “Yep, you’re good.”

“You know what would be fun? Space cuddling,” I suggested with a slight blush.

Lapis giggled. “No matter where you are you’re in the mood for cuddling,” she said and held me. With me in the middle and Lapis and Peridot holding me, we looked around at the cosmos. There wasn’t any significant stars or planets to see, but it was still a beautiful view and the setting felt right for cuddling. Best of all was virtually no chance of our peaceful snuggling being interrupted.

It was so peaceful that we ended up falling asleep in each other’s arms. Peridot was the first to wake up, smiling at the fact all three of us were still holding each other. However, she suddenly became concerned and looked at my oxygen level. It took around 6 hours to get where we were, and now there was enough supply for 5 hours.

“Psst, guys, wake up,” Peridot said and shook Lapis and I.

For a moment I forgot we were in space, but it was nice opening my eyes to the stars and my partners by my side.

“I don’t want to alarm you but... Eric doesn’t have enough oxygen to make it back to Earth unless we fly a little faster and Eric is conservative with his breathing.”

“Oh jeez. Alright, let’s get you home,” Lapis said and once again held me tight. We sped towards Earth, and very slowly the planet grew bigger.

“See you later cosmos,” I said.

Lapis smiled. “Pretty amazing, right?”

“Oh my stars it was everything I could’ve hoped for. Well, besides my oxygen running low,” I said with a forced chuckle. I was slightly panicking but I knew I couldn’t breathe heavily.

“Do your best to remain calm, okay,” Peridot instructed.

I nodded, and nestled into Lapis to help myself remain relaxed. She took my hand and squeezed it gently.

The stars didn’t fade however, as it was night time when we were close to Earth.

Peridot checked the oxygen level again, and it was close to empty. We still had about an hour before reaching a level of the atmosphere where I wouldn’t need an oxygen tank.

Even though it was a scary situation, it was also exhilarating as we flew through the air at an incredible speed. If the human body could handle it I’m sure Lapis would be flying at supersonic speed.

“We’re almost there, buddy. Hang on,” Lapis said.

I nodded. “Not to be dramatic but I love you both so much,” I said calmly.

“There will be plenty of time to express your love for us when we get to a safe altitude,” Peridot said.

We were very close, but it was beginning to get difficult to breathe. Not terribly difficult, but I definitely noticed a change as the oxygen tank was nearly empty.

Soon after Peridot noticed a red light blinking, which indicated there was no more oxygen. “Just a little bit closer,” Peridot said nervously.

I tried holding my breath but it didn’t work for long, and I began coughing.

“Are we close enough now,” Lapis asked Peridot hastily.

“I hope so. Take his helmet off,” Peridot replied.

They slowed down and Lapis carefully took off the helmet. “Are you still with us Eric,” Lapis asked as she stroked my cheek.

I was still coughing a little but it felt relieving getting that helmet off. I nodded and tried to give a thumbs up but I was too weak. The further down we went the easier it became to breathe, and my cough eventually subsided. We were close enough to the surface that we could see Beach City clearly.

“Fuck that was scary,” Lapis said and sighed.

“Ugh, I knew we should’ve built an extra oxygen tank just in case. I could’ve easily carried it,” Peridot said frustratingly. 

“That was fucking incredible,” I said lightly with a smirk.

Lapis and Peridot looked at me with a surprised expression. Lapis giggled and then began to laugh. Her laugh was always contagious and I started laughing too.

“Are you clods out of your minds?! This was insane,” Peridot shouted.

After I calmed from laughing I took Peridot’s hand. “It’s okay. I’m here. It was a little bit of a close call, but we’re all okay,” I said and gently squeezed Peridot’s hand.

She sighed and hugged me. “If we ever do this again we’re bringing three oxygen tanks and one of us has to stay awake the whole trip.”

I chuckled and returned the hug. “Of course. Though I think I’ll take a break from space travel for awhile.”

“We should probably get you some food. Aren’t you hungry,” Lapis asked.

“Absolutely starving,” I replied.

Lapis chuckled. “Alright, there’s some leftover Fish Stew Pizza with your name on it.”

“Literally, since I wrote your name on it before we left,” Peridot said.

After landing on the beach Lapis set me down, but as I tried to stand my legs wobbled. I was hungry, dehydrated, and weak from the intense return trip to Earth. Lapis quickly picked me back up. “Let’s get you inside,” she said and gave me a soft smile.

After getting food and a lot of water in me, we chatted with Pearl about our space adventure. Although she was horrified when we told her about the close call coming back to Earth, she was relieved and happy that I still had an amazing experience. Even though I said I was going to take a break from space travel for awhile, I was still thinking about how amazing it’ll be to set foot on other planets. For now though, I just wanted to snuggle with my partners on the couch and have a deep and long sleep. With how exhausting the trip was it didn’t take long for all of us to fall asleep. 

Thank you for reading!

[turning-dreams-into-chaos]

Every Christmas with you

*Not My Gif*

Request: Hi! Could you write a Christmas imagine for Barry Allen? The reader is part of team flash but not a meta and the reader and Barry are dating? He proposes for Christmas in front of the team? Thank you :)

Requested by: @hahaboop

Post Date: 12-28-19

Paring: Barry Allen x Reader

Word Count: 1.4K

~Master~

~Flash Master~

You knew something was up when Caitlin and Iris took you out for ‘girls day’ on Christmas. Christmas has always been something you all would spend at the West’s house having a party, drinking their Aunt Ester’s eggnog, and singing Christmas songs. It was your favorite holiday. So when Iris showed up at Barry and yours apartment at 8 in the morning, needless to say you were a little off.

“Barry. Barry, tell her to go away.” You mumbled into your boyfriends neck, pulling your body onto his more as he laughed. Iris, who used your spare key, stood in the doorway of your bedroom, smiling at the scene in front of her.

“Come on Y/N, you promised you’d go with them.” He helped you sit up, propping you against the headboard but you just fell over again, pulling the blanket over your head. Iris just shook her head, heading out to the living area.

“Meet us at Jitters in 10!” She shouted as you groaned, hearing the slam of your front door.

“But... it’s Christmas.” You whispered, feeling the bed shift as Barry crawled up to you, slowly pulling the blanket down and seeing your hair splayed across your face.

“I know it’s Christmas babe, and later we’ll all be at Joe’s and celebrate together.” He brushed the hair back, showing him the Y/E/C eyes he fell in love with as the two of you smiled. You pressed a kiss to his nose before rolling onto the bed and finally getting up and ready for the day.

Iris and Caitlin took you to all your favorite shops, your favorite nail salon, and your favorite restaurants for lunch. And you were suspicious the entire day.

Barry in the other hand was anything but suspicious. He knew exactly what was going on. He asked Caitlin and Iris to distract you for the day, giving them money to go to all your favorites as he set up his plan. “Joe, it has to be perfect.” He tried explaining, looking around every few seconds for checks. Joe, knowing that Barry would obsessed over every little detail, grabbed his shoulders, making Barry stop and look at him.

“It’s gonna be perfect.” He assured him as Barry relaxed slightly. “You love her, right?” Barry nodded his head. “And she loves you. Right?” Barry again nodded his head, feeling a smile on his face. “Barry. You and Y/N are meant for each other. There’s no way she’s gonna say no.”

Barry knew Joe was right, he always was. Y/N and Barry were made for each other and he was going to be sure he got to spend the rest of his life with you.

His phone dinged a text from Caitlin, telling him you all were on your way back as Barry felt his heart start racing again. “Ok, we’re going do this.” He said as Joe patted his shoulders.

You, Caitlin, and Iris headed back to the Wests house and when you got there, you took your bags to iris’s car. “We might’ve bought a little too much.” You joked as you tried to close to hatch, barely getting it closed before turning around to see both of the girls gone. “Iris? Cait?” You called out, looking towards the house. The lights were all off inside but the door was cracked open with a note taped on.

You read your name in big letters, smiling at Barry’s handwriting as you pulled it off the wood.

Y/N,

Sorry we didn’t get to spend Christmas together like we wanted, but I promise I’ll make up for it. Just come inside.

You chuckled, putting the letter in your pocket as you opened the door fully. “Barry?” You called into the house, stepping into the darkness. You barely got a few feet into the room before the Christmas tree lit up and you screamed at the sight of someone standing next to it. Your hand came up to your chest as you steadied your breathing, figuring out the man to be Barry. “God Barr, you about gave me a heart attack.” Barry gave you a small chuckle but you saw the way he fidgeted when he was nervous as you walked up to him, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Hi.” He whispered as he gave you a smile, just barely lit up by the tree.

“Hi. What’s going on Barry? And where is everyone?” Barry took a deep breath, looking around in the darkness with a cheeky grin.

“Oh, I’m sure they’re around.” He quipped as you raised a brow, letting him pull your arms from around his neck and holding your arms. “Y/N, there are some things I’ve been meaning to tell you for quite some time and then I’m going to ask you something.” He began as you felt a smile tugging on your lips, hoping, more like praying that he was talking about what you thought he was. “Everyday I get to wake up next to one of the most smartest, amazing, most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And every time I see her I fall in love all over again. But my favorite time I fell in love with her was 3 years ago, when she was the one who came speeding into my life and spilling coffee on me. Her smile and the way her eyes brought her to life, that’s what I fell for.” At this point you knew you were starting to cry as looked at him.

“You’re talking about me right?” You whispered, speaking as quiet as you could to not let spoil the moment. Barry just chuckled, nodding his head as he looked into those Y/E/C eyes he loved so course.

“Always.” He assured you, wiping away some of the fallen tears from your cheeks. “I know you really wanted to spend Christmas with me this year just like last year and the year before, and I’m sorry we didn’t get to that much today.” You were about to protest, telling him it was alright, but Barry was faster. He dropped down on his knee, holding a red velvet box in his hand as you brought your hand up to your mouth and covering it. “Y/N Y/M/N Y/L/N, will you promise to spend every Christmas with me for the rest of our lives and marry me?”

You tried to speak but you couldn’t bring yourself to form any words as Barry opened the box, showing you the beautifully cut diamond ring inside that sparkled in the Christmas lights. You nodded your head as fast as you could as Barry sighed, his smile a mile wide as he placed the ring on your finger and stood up, capturing you in a kiss as you threw your arms around his neck. He picked you up, keeping his lips on yours as he held your thighs and let you wrap your legs around his waist.

You pulled away for a breath, and held Barry’s face in your hand. “I’ll marry you Barry. I’ll marry you a million times if I get to spend the rest of my life with you.” You leaned in for a kiss again before the house lit up.

For the second time that night you screamed only this time you could bury yourself in the arms of your fiancé. You opened your eyes to the sound of people clapping, your friends, or rather your family, were all standing in the dinning room, crowding around each other as they watched the proposal. You jumped out of Barry’s arms, letting him wrap his arms around your waist from behind as the team came over for hugs.

“Congrats you guys!” Iris said as she pulled you in for a hug, as her dad gave Barry one as well. You were in tears, continuously wiping them away as everyone continued to congratulate you.

“You guys saw the whole thing?” You asked Caitlin as she hugged you, nodding her head.

“I got it on video too. I’ll send it to you tonight.” She promised you as you thanked her with another hug. You both turned towards Barry, watching him and Cisco freak out as Caitlin whispered in your ear. “You know you’re gonna marry that, right?”

You shot her a smirk, looking back at your fiancé. He stopped messing around with Cisco as he caught your eye, his once playful grin turning into a warm, loving smile and you found yourself blushing, looking down towards the ground. Caitlin nudged you from behind as you chuckled, meeting Barry’s eyes once more. “I’m gonna marry him. How lucky am I?”

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[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXXI

Part I of the Destined Series Chapter 31 : Regicide

word count : 5.7K (grab your tea, this one’s a biggie) masterlist | tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @galagd @speed-boop @lady-efriyeet

CW: corruption, mental instability, major character “death”, self injury.

I woke the next morning and the bed beside me was cold.  I sat up and yawned.  I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window.  My hair was messy and my eyes looked tired.  I stretched my arms and then ran my hands through my hair.  I didn’t know that Maverick had left me last night.  I slept far too well.  Better than I had in weeks.  I rolled out of bed and grabbed a robe.  My apartment was chilly.  The temperature was dropping day by day as the seasons were changing.  Winter was fast approaching.  I pulled on the robe as I walked down the stairs slowly, only to be met with the sound of sizzling food and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.  I walked downstairs and into the kitchen, and there Maverick was, cooking breakfast at the stove.  His Ghost was talking to him, telling him how to cook whatever he was making.  I smiled to myself and leaned against the door frame.  I didn't say a word.

“Be careful Maverick, you’re going to burn it!”  His Ghost scolded.

“I don’t know!  I’m really trying, okay!  Now hush before you wake her up.”

I watched as he flipped the spatula in his hand and heard the pan sizzle.  I smiled softly and walked into the kitchen, my bare feet silent on the floor.  The table was set with orange juice, plates, and silverware.  I was so flattered by his lavish attempts at making me breakfast.  

I walked up beside him and gently wrapped one of my arms around his back.  He jumped a bit and looked down, and he smiled at the sight of me.  I peered around to see what he was making, he was making French toast.  “Turn the heat down,”  I said as I reached around and turned the knob on the stove to medium-low, where he had it at medium-high.  “It will cook evenly that way.”

“Well good morning, Angel,”  he said happily.  “Did you sleep alright?”

I shifted around and hugged him from behind, my head leaning against his back.  “Mmm… better than I have since all of this started.  You think the Vanguard would be okay with us breaking protocol like this?”

“Ikora and Cayde, maybe.  They both have sympathy for you and I, and I know Ikora knows about us.  You know, because her Hidden are everywhere.  And Cayde’s, well, Cayde.  He loves breaking rules.  But Big Blue?  No way in hell.”

“That’s still two-to-one.”

“Yes it is.”

He moved around me and over to the table, then dished out the food to each of us.  At least, more for me than himself.  We sat down together and ate breakfast mostly in silence.  We spent most of the morning and early afternoon relaxing in the living room.  Maverick was telling me stories about his adventures that he hid from the vanguard.  I was sketching on a bunch of loose leaf, and the papers were scattered all around the room.  He was sitting on the corner cushion, I was laying on my back, head in his lap, knees propped up with my sketchpad resting on my thighs.  I could feel myself dozing off every now and then as he played with my hair, and he would wake me by either gently ticking me or giving me soft kisses.  I didn’t even think about our impending mission, but as the day rolled on, I was becoming more and more anxious.

I didn’t even want to put my armor on.  I was dreading this mission.  When it was reaching three o’clock and we were going to have to meet the vanguard in a few hours.  At least, Maverick was.  He was to get the mission briefing before we left for the Dreadnaught.  Skinner and I were going to be waiting for him in Orbit.

While I was armoring up, taking my time, dreading each piece that I pulled on, Maverick came into my bedroom.  I only had my pants and boots on so far, so I was only wearing the form fitting undershirt.  I looked up at him and gave him a wary smile.  He walked over to me quietly and knelt down in front of me.  

“It’s almost over,”  he said quietly.  “We are almost there.  This is it, Angel.”

“I know,”  I replied.  “I just… I have a really bad feeling…”

“Me too.”  He took my hands in his and squeezed them gently.  “But we will win, I promise you.  We'll make it out, together, as a team.”

I nodded.  “I know.  You should be heading out to the Vanguard, I’ll be waiting in orbit with Skinner.”

“I know… Meet Skinner in the Hanger.  We’re all riding in on my ship.  I’ve given you both access to it.  He’s going to take it to Orbit and I’ll be meeting you there.”

I nodded as he walked out of my room.  I finished gearing up, took my Monte Carlo, 1000-Yard Stare, and Choleric Dragon SRT-49, and left my apartment.  I was listening to some pre-Golden Age music records that I had found a long time back, the date on the record somewhere in the 1940s.  But it was Frank Sinatra, and the jazzy, vocal pop vibes gave me a sense of freedom and never failed to calm me down.  I met Skinner in the Hanger, my heart feeling lighter, my hope for victory stronger.  Light always prevails in Darkness.  For there is no darkness without light.

“Well, you seem to be in a better mood than just about everyone I know,”  Skinner commented as he approached me.  “Nice to see that someone on our team is hopeful.”

I smiled at him, but it was hollow.  I could feel the pit in my stomach growing.  “I have to hold tightly onto my hope,”  I said.  “Without hope…”  I looked away from him.  “Without hope, I have nothing left.”

“Aww, c’mon, Storm, don’t say that.  You have me.  And you have Maverick.”  He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gave me a hug from the side.

“I know,” I said.  “You guys… you are my hope.  You’re my family, you know that?”

“Yeah.  And you’re mine, too, Punchy.”

I laughed aloud.  “We should get into orbit.  Maverick’s expecting us.”

The Hunter nodded and we walked up to Amanda.  He gave the Shipwright Maverick’s ship codes, and we boarded.  Skinner took his place in the co-pilot seat and I took my seat behind the pilot’s seat.  He flipped all of the switches the ship hummed to life.  We waited for Maverick in orbit, in silence and mutual discomfort of what was to come.

Twenty minutes later, Maverick appeared on board.  He walked up into the cockpit with Skinner, gently kissing the top of my head as he passed by.  He took his place at the pilot controls and plotted our course for the Dreadnaught.  Before we left, he turned in his seat to look at us.  “Listen, I know…. I know I’ve been a shitty fireteam leader lately.  But no matter what, we are going in there as a team, and we stick together.  No matter what.”

“Semper fi,”  Skinner said.  We both looked at him with our heads tilted.  It sounded oddly familiar, like I knew what it was, but I wasn’t sure where it was from.  “Oh… it’s a pre-Golden Age saying from America in one of their defense divisions.  Marines, I think?  It means ‘Ever Faithful, Ever Loyal’.”

I smiled.  Of course, that’s where I heard it.  I had read about it in some old American war papers and it sounded off in my dreams.  “Oorah.”

“You’ve heard it?”

“In a distant dream, like a memory of my past.”

Maverick grinned.  “Alright team, let’s finish this.”  

He turned back to the controls and Skinner turned back to his, then we made the jump from Earth to the Rings of Saturn.  The entire time, we were all in silence.  Despite our overall sense of confidence in our abilities, it was clear that we were all on edge.  We landed in the Hull Breach, and the Vanguard channel started to come through, loud and clear.

“All of this was set in motion long ago,”  Eris said, sounding just as depressing as usual.  “He calls out, and the Darkness answers.”

“Okaay!”  Cayde cut in.  “Creepy sidekick.  Check.  Roguish commander.  Check.  And then we have the Fireteam, my greatest success story.  I'd say we're ready to get this done.”

“Push back the dark,”  Eris continued.  “End it.”

“She’s right, Fireteam.  There’s no doubt in my mind this could possibly work.  Now, get to that rupture.”

Maverick took the lead, motioning us to follow him.  And we did, straight through the wrecked Cabal ship to the Mausoleum.  When we got into the area, Cabal and Hive were fighting each other, along with Taken that were starting to pollute the area. We had to fight our way to the rupture.  It was never easy.

“Okay, this is where the Rupture should be,”  Maverick said as we approached the dias that we last fought the Echo of Oryx.

“Get it open!”  Cayde insisted.  “Once you’re through, send your coordinates.  We’ll lock down your signal and deploy reinforcements.”

As we approached, Maverick pulled out the Crystal.  The Rupture opened abruptly, making us all jump back ever so slightly.  

“The rupture can sense the soul you hold.  You are Ascendant!”  Eris exclaimed.

“Time to go kill a king, eh, Fireteam?  Good luck.”

Maverick turned around to look at us.  Skinner reloaded his shotgun and pumped it, ready for whatever army was on the other side.  “Well,” he said.  “I’m ready when you are.”

He looked at me directly, and I could feel his worry, but I didn’t want to let him feel mine.  I gave him a nod.  “Let’s go.”  

The moment we passed through that Rupture, with no exit behind us and nothing but static on all of the feeds, I got that sick feeling in my stomach again.  I was right.  We were trapped here.  “We’re going to have to finish this on our own,”  I said quietly.  “All of the feeds are dead and my Ghosts scans are returning nothing.”

We started to proceed forwards.  The only clear path was down this long hallway. Lanterns that lined the sides lit up as we passed by them.  Something about this place, the way it acknowledged our presence… it was like there was always going to be eyes on us.  That something was watching.

“We’re definitely… somewhere,” Maverick said as we slowed down.  He turned to look behind us at the lit lanterns that emitted an ominous yellow-orange glow.  “No sign of Oryx.”

As we approached the end of the hall, the ball of Taken energy, the one that led us here, the one that led my team on Phobos, appeared.

“Hey, Maverick, remember that bad feeling I told you about?”  I said as I held fast to my gun.  “It’s getting worse.”

“I hear you,”  he replied.  “Let’s just keep moving.  We’re bound to find Oryx somewhere in here.”

As we approached the Taken light, it fled further down the hallway, down the stairs and to the space between the pair of steps.  Skinner scoffed.  “Well, now we know we have his attention.  Hi, Oryx, you murderous bastard.”  I followed the two of them down, pausing a moment to gaze down scope at the platforms across the chasm.  They were empty, then again, the entire area was.  Like a stage.  The moment we reached the orb, Taken started to spawn in the room.  Immediately, Maverick started calling out orders.

“Skinner, on my six!”  He shouted.  “Storm, get up high and take out those snipers!”

Skinner nodded and ran down the steps with Maverick.  I ran back up and crouched at the top, positioned my sniper at my shoulder, and started taking out the Taken Hobgoblins.  One by one, they disappeared into nothing, but I had to take cover after every kill because they would send three projectiles at my location.  As I took out the last one, I opened the feed with Maverick and Skinner.  “How’s it going down there boys?” I asked as I peeked around the corner.  I started to snipe down what I could while they were running around like madmen, killing all of the Taken they set eyes on.

“Be better if you weren’t stealing all of my kills,” Skinner laughed.  It was obvious that he felt better now that he was finally getting some action out there.  While he was distracted stabbing a Psion, I sniped the Knight that had crept up behind him, finally ending the battle.  Skinner turned around and looked up at me.  “Really?  I had him!”

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” I chuckled.  I started to walk down to join the two of them.  Maverick gently clapped a hand on my shoulder.

“Nice shot, Storm.  Now let’s keep moving.  Oryx must be deeper inside.”  We walked up the stairs to the upper platform, and stood before a door that stretched from the floor to the ceiling.  We must have stood there for maybe a full thirty seconds before it opened for us, making me more and more anxious the longer we had to wait.  But when it finally did open, we walked through into the adjoining room, where another alter hosted a rupture.  However, before we even got far into the room, a Shadow of Oryx appeared, his voice screaming in both the room and taking over our comms.

“You… are the last hope of the Light?”  Oryx said as he gazed over our team.  “I have taken entire worlds!  You are not worthy to face me!”  The shadow disappeared and the rupture opened.  Ta’aun, the Hand of Oryx, the same Centurion that we saw him take in our first trip to the dreadnaught walked out and immediately began firing down on us.  Maverick crouched down behind some of the barricades in the room, Skinner and I behind another.  We all took turns getting his attention and letting the others shoot him.  Skinner and I were doing most of the damage while Maverick kept him from looking at us.  Before we could kill him, Baxx, the Hand of Oryx, the Ogre he took while we were stealing the Shard of Crota’s crystal on the Moon, walked through the rupture, and it closed behind him.  This just made everything more difficult, as we couldn’t keep damaging and distracting at the same time.

“Any ideas Mav?”  Skinner asked over comms as he dove behind another barricade, somewhat closer to the two Taken Ultras.

“Just one.  You got your Tether?”

“Um, duh.  I’ve had it for like twenty minutes now.  Just waiting for your signal.”

“Good.  Storm, you got your Radiance?”

“Just finished charging up.  I was hoping to keep it charged in case things get dicey when we fight Oryx, though.”

“Fine, keep it.  Skinner, on my mark, tether the two of them.”

“What mark?”

He didn’t need an answer.  Maverick jumped up and pulled a Hammer of Sol out of thin air, the clang of it loud and distinct as solar energy enveloped his body.  Skinner jumped up seconds later, pulling the Void string of his bow back, and shot an arrow right between the two bosses.  They flinched as they were tethered to the arrow’s landing mark, and their mistake was not starting to shoot again.  Maverick threw hammers quickly and precisely, until they fell and disappeared, defeated.  I came out from cover and caught up to the two of them.  

“Wish I could have helped you two better,”  I sighed.

“No worries, it’s better that you save that radiance for a time of need.  There’s only so much those fusion grenades can do.”  Maverick threw his last hammer at the last thrall left in the room.  Shortly after, the rupture reopened, almost like it was welcoming us into it. 

“Well,”  I said as I loaded a few fresh rounds into my sniper.  “Looks like we’re worthy now.”

We walked through the portal and it put us in a very narrow hallway.

“How many more of these damn things do you have to go through?” Skinner asked, irritated.

“I don't know, Skinner, hopefully that was the last one,” Maverick sighed.

We exited the Hall and came out to a big doorway on the other side of a chasm with Hive guarding it. There was no visible way across before Oryx began speaking.

“Come for me Warrior of Light! I will finish what Crota began!” As he finished speaking, the Hive guarding the door ran through it as if they were summoned back. As the last of the Hive went through the door platforms began to materialize. We made our way to them when I motioned for the two of them to stop.

“I'm not going first, not after last time,” I said firmly.  The last time I stepped foot on one of those platforms, it went out from beneath me and I fell to my death.

“Come on Storm, Oryx challenged us and by the Sword Logic he can't play dirty. At least he's not supposed too.” Mav said hopefully, “Eris said so.”

“Fine, but if this bridge fades from existence, I'm jumping off,” I said.

“Good luck with that Warlock,” Skinner mocked.  I lifted my gun his way then towards the bridge, and he held up his hands in defense, but laughed and went first anyway.  We walked across the bridge and stopped in front of the door.  Two giant carvings of stone on either side.

“Hold on,” I said and pulled out my Ghost, “Peu de lumière, who are these carving for?”

“Well obviously one of them is for Crota's,” she while she examined the one on the right, “but this one, there isn't anything in the World's Grave on it, but the engraved name just says Nokris.”

We walked through the giant door and were met with another carving.

“Let me guess this one is Oryx?”  Mav said.

“Yes it is.” 

We walked around the statue to a Taken flame on the ground.

“Oooh! I want to touch it!” Skinner shouted gleefully and ran toward the flame.  Before Maverick could stop him, he was close to it and it shot down the hall, and it left a trail behind it.  Then it ran up the door and it made a symbol, Oryx’s symbol.  It glowed white then darkened to a reddish-orange color before the door opened.  And there stood the Hive King, standing there covering the room in Darkness, chanting some kind of ritual.  I couldn’t see him, but we could sense his presence in the room.

"This is it, this is where it ends."  Maverick said, "let’s go guys."  Maverick took out his Necrochasm, the weapon he obtained from killing Crota.  It was almost fitting.  As the door closed behind us, the Darkness rushed to Oryx.

"At last!" He yelled as his sword levitated up from the ground and he grabbed it effortlessly.  "I will have vengeance!  It will feel good to kill the two Light Warriors who killed my kin!" He then glanced at me and I could feel his three eyes burning into my soul, so I positioned my rocket launcher on my shoulder.  "And a third as a trophy."  I closed my eyes for a brief moment.  He knew. 

“Maverick,”  I said over our private channel, my voice almost shaking.  “He knows.  He knows I survived Phobos.”

Before Oryx could make his next more, out of pure rage Maverick took out another round of Hammers of Sol.  But just before the first hammer collided, I felt all of my energy drain and I stumbled, as did Skinner.  The Hunter grabbed hold of my arm and dragged me behind cover.  When Maverick’s hammers were spent, he jumped behind cover with us.

"What happened? What did he do?"

"I don't know," Skinner said 

"It felt like he was draining my Light." I said.

"Your Traveler's Light can not reach you here!" Oryx taunted.

"If he keeps doing that I don't know if I'll have my Radiance for when I need it."

Oryx once again began the ritual and targeted Maverick with it, so he took out his Gjallarhorn and shot a rocket at him, breaking his focus once more. And he vanished and summoned Taken to take over.

"Yeah." Maverick said bitterly.  He must have had his light drained. " That's unpleasant, but let's kill these Taken and draw him out again."  It was more Acolytes and Hobgoblins.  We killed them without a problem, though it almost felt too easy.  Oryx then appeared to the right of the room and beckoned to us,  "What you call Darkness is the end of your evolution." He then raised his hand and the air around Maverick started to crackle, and before we knew it, hot, taken energy exploded right where he was standing, moments after he was able to dive out of the way, but the armor on his shoulder was singed and he looked hurt.

"Mav! You alright?" Skinner asked.

"I'm fine, just focus on Oryx!" he shouted.

Skinner and I both fired on him, and I emptied the last of my rockets into his skull, and yet he barely flinched.  Oryx summoned Taken Captains and Psions to keep us busy as he began his ritual again, this time targeting Skinner. 

“Skinner take cover!”  I shouted, dragging him out of the Captain’s line of fire.

“Storm keep them off me!”  Mav shouted.

“Sure thing,” I said and jumped out of cover and drew the attention of the Taken away by running through them, firing my auto rifle at the Psions and dragging a Captain’s attention away from him.  Maverick was launching more rockets at him, and the tracking clusters broke his focus once more.  We killed off the second round Taken before Oryx began to speak again.

“The Darkness is a gift!” He declared as he appeared at the pool on the outside and summoned Taken Phalanx's and Thrall again.  But instead of trying his luck with a ritual again he started to fight by rushing one of us firing his Darkness blasts and trying to kill us with his sword.  When he tried to attack one of us, the other two would attack on Maverick’s signal.  Once again, he vanished from sight but this time a giant blight formed around the pool of Hive gunk and it went quiet.  No more Taken spawned in the room and Oryx never came outside.  It was absolutely silent.

“What do you think he's planning?”  I asked. 

“I have no idea, but keep you guard up just in case.” Mav said.

Minutes passed and nothing happened. Skinner was just kicking around rocks. “Man, Oryx is being such a…” before he could finish his sentence he was surrounded by Taken energy. “Wh-What the fuck?!” He yelled before disappearing.

“Skinner?!” Maverick and I yelled together.  Maverick ran over to where he was.

“He's… he's gone.” he said.  He started to shake, whether from sadness or rage I couldn’t tell.  “No! I will not fail again!”  He then jumped up and unloaded his magazine at the blight, the magazine emptied in no time but he kept the trigger held down. 

“Maverick!” I said as I walked over to him carefully, placing my hand on his rifle.  I tried to put myself in his line of sight.  Firing into that blight was doing nothing.  “Mav, please just… lower your weapon.  There's nothing we can do, we… we just have to hope he's strong enough to survive whatever is in there.”  He slowly lowered his rifle.

“But… but he's gone Storm, I don't want to lose my best friend to Oryx.”  As his anger passed it was replaced with sadness, and his body language showed it.  His shoulders slumped and his arms dropped to his side.  “Storm I can't lose him, he's one of the only friends I have left.”

“I know Mav, we just have to wait,” I said as I walked him over to a rock and sat down.  I sat down next to him, clutching onto his hands, trying to comfort him, but I felt utterly useless.  It felt like hours past when it was only minutes when Skinner was dropped in front of us. 

“Skinner!”  Maverick yelled as he jumped up to help him stand.  “What happened in there?  What did he do?”  No damage to his armor, but he was out of ammo and his knife was missing.  He must have tried to fight whatever was in there.

He looked up at us and he was visibly shaken. “He…” Skinner swallowed, “he showed me my true fear and doubts.  Mav he's trying to break our wills, so we would be easier to take. Our strong wills and our Light makes it impossible for him to take us.”

“What?  How?”  He asked, but before he could get an answer, the Taken energy surrounded him and he was gone.  I screamed his name and ran towards the blight, but Skinner grabbed my arms and held me back.

��Storm, stop!”  He shouted, holding me tightly as I collapsed to my knees.  “There… There’s nothing we can do.  Mav’s strong, he’ll be fine.”

“No… no…” I could feel myself trembling as Skinner hugged me tightly.  “Skinner… what did you see?”

He was quiet for a long time before he responded.  “Betrayal.”  He mumbled quietly.  “Getting killed by my own team, getting killed by you… Betrayal is the worst when it comes from someone close to you.”

I looked at him, then at the blight.  “We need to get in there,”  I said quietly.  “I know Maverick’s strong, but there is only so much we can take before…”

“I know.”

There is only so much pain, so much trauma we can take before we break.

“Skinner… can you do me a favor?”

“Hmm?”

I took his hand and placed my Ghost in it, and the both of them looked at me suspiciously.  “Keep her safe.”

“Why?”

“Just… just a bad feeling.  I’m going to be next, I know… But in case anything happens to me in there, I don’t want Oryx getting a hold of my Ghost.”

“But if you don’t have your Ghost—”

Just then, Maverick appeared back in the room, standing tall, his rocket settled on his shoulder.  He whipped around as he realized that he was no longer standing in the blight.  Skinner let me go, tucked my Ghost into his vest, and walked over to him, his hands on Maverick’s shoulders before the two of them hugged tightly. 

“You’re okay…” Skinner muttered.

“He showed me our fireteam,”  Mav said quietly.  “I wouldn’t let him break me.  He sees into our minds, if we don’t kill him, he will keep trying to break us, one by one.”

But just as Maverick turned to face me, still on my knees, I watched the two of them get surrounded by the Taken energy and disappear.  “No!” I shouted.  I stood to my feet and started to run towards that blight, but the same energy surrounded me and I was teleported into darkness.  I stood and turned around wildly.  I wasn’t sure where I was.  But the darkness was cold and my skin crawled as if something was touching me, prodding at my mind.  I pulled off my helmet and tossed it aside, and clutched tightly onto my head.

I tried to block him out.

“You are weak,”  Oryx’s voice echoed all around me.  “You could not save them.”  

When I turned around, Gilly’s and Adam’s bodies were lying on the ground.  I felt my skin crawl at the sight of them, especially since I could see Adam’s face.  “You can’t break me!”  I screamed into the darkness.  My voice betrayed me and cracked with fear.  He knew everything.  I could feel his presence like tendrils pressing against my consciousness.  I tried to push him out, to ignore his presence, but it was still there, still pushing against me.  Any energy I could muster up to resist was being drained immediately.

“You let your grief consume you.  You are a shell of who you were.”

“I am not weak!”

“You have nothing left.”

“I have my team!”  I kept spinning in circles, watching, waiting for Oryx to show himself to me.  But then I saw it, and I froze.  My blood ran cold.  “That… that… can’t be.”  On the ground were the torn up Titan Mark and Hunter Cloak that Maverick and Skinner were wearing.  I ran over and picked them up, and sure enough they were real.  Tears spilled over onto my cheeks.  “No, they can’t be…”  I collapsed to my knees.  “They can’t be…” 

“They have fallen, another team you could not save.”

“Why?!”  I screamed into the dark abyss.  I could feel my heart breaking, all of the walls around me were crumbling.  I could feel Oryx prodding at my mind, but I couldn’t fight him anymore.  Without my Ghost, I was barely holding onto the Light that I had left.  I pulled off my helmet because I could barely breathe over the lump in my throat.  I couldn’t stop shaking and I clutched Maverick’s mark to my chest.  “Mon chérie, je suis désolé.  Je t'ai manqué.  Je t'ai laissé tomber.  Pardonne-moi.  Pardonne-moi…”*  I raised my eyes, and there he was.  Oryx loomed over me.  I reached for my gun, but I could barely hold it straight.  

For the first time in my years as a Guardian, I felt truly afraid.  

More afraid than I had felt on Phobos.

I stood shakily to my feet and backed away from him slowly.  “Je ne vais pas casser,”**  I spat out, like a curse.

“Why let your grief consume you?”  Oryx’s voice sounded... oddly soothing.  I mentally shook myself and tightened my grip on my gun.  I tried so hard to hold it steady.  “Why fight for the Sky, when the Sky gives nothing to you?”  

Oryx continued to move towards me, the flap of his bat-like wings knocked me back.  Every time I was knocked back, I pushed myself back onto my feet, but each time it was harder to stand than the last.  “Lay down your grief and your struggle, survivor of Phobos.”  He reached his hand out towards me, and I looked at the taken energy in his claws.  “Let my Will set you free!” 

I screamed loudly as my body was enveloped by pain.  I could see the Taken energy that started at my chest and spread outwards.  It felt like my soul was being ripped from my body.  It felt like my blood was freezing as the corruption spread, but I couldn’t fight it.  I didn’t have the willpower or the strength.  I fell on my knees and clutched my chest.

“Arrête ça!”  I screamed.  “Arrête ça!”***  

When the corruption finished spreading and Oryx picked me up by my throat, I only had a small, weak grasp left on my consciousness and my Light.  I didn’t even fight him.  When he let me go I collapsed to the ground.  When I looked up I saw that I was no longer surrounded by darkness, but instead surrounded by mist.  There was an urge in me, something primal and unfamiliar.  

An urge to kill, an urge to feed.

—————

You are a Guardian, Oryx’s voice echoed in my head.  Chosen from the dead by one of the Traveler’s Ghosts, you are a warrior forged in Light, a final hope in a universe falling into Darkness.  

You have been Taken.  

Put down your sniper, lay down your sword, let go of your Light.  Your purpose is no longer to defend.  Give them pain.  There is Magic for you, and a Knife imbued with it.  Give them their end.  You are judge, jury, and executioner. Take up the knife and use it.  

Take your new shape.

—————

I started to stand slowly.  There was a knife in my hand, the blade glowing white.  My hands and arms were filled with starlight.  This isn’t right, I thought to myself.  This isn’t you, Genesis.  You are Genesis Page, you are a warrior, you can fight—

Oryx’s voice became louder and broke my train of thought.  Deliver their pain.  Deliver their end!  Let my Will set you free!

“Genesis, no!”

I whipped around and ran towards the sound.  I didn’t even think.  I saw two figures in front of me, two targets, two Light Warriors to end.  I raised the knife, but the one in front of me was a Hunter, quick and stealthy, he was strong and held my wrist in the air.  I punched him in the gut, making him flinch and let me go, but he dodged backwards before I could land a blow.  The two of them wrestled me to the ground and I screamed in pain as the Titan knelt down on top of me, pinning my arm to the ground with his hand and his knee dug into my chest.  The Hunter held my other arm down and ripped the knife out of my hand.  I gazed up at the Titan as he pulled off his helmet and then pressed one of his hands down on my shoulder. 

“Angel,”  he said.  His voice sounded so familiar.  “Angel, I know you’re in there.”

Kill them.  Kill them!

I tried to move and look away from him, but his hands moved my face back to him and he held my face in place.  Since he let go of my arm, I reached up, but I couldn’t reach for his throat, I could only push back on his shoulder.  “Angel, it’s Maverick!  Fight him!  Fight!”

I felt something in me click, like a switch turning. I blinked rapidly and my heart thumped painfully in my throat.  “What?”  My own voice sounded foreign and distorted.  My grip on his shoulder weakened.

“Maverick.  It’s Maverick, you know me!  Do you remember Venus?  And Detroit?  What about last night?  Do you know me?”

“I—  I—”  Before I could say anything, I felt a flash of pain over my entire body, like the corruption was spreading further and deeper into me, and I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed.

“Her Ghost, Skinner, now!”

All of a sudden, a bit of my strength returned and my eyes shot open.  In one final attempt to break free, I pushed them off of me, scrambled away from the two of them, grabbed the knife that Oryx had gifted me, and drove it through my stomach.

---translations---

* “My sweetheart, I’m sorry.  I failed you.  I let you down. Forgive me... forgive me...”

** “I will not break.”

*** “Stop it!” I screamed.  “Stop it!”