#after work i gotta go to the mall to pick up some shorts i ordered & then im gonna hang w my bff!! ꒰ ˃̶̤́ ꒳ ˂̶̤̀ ꒱

[yuukimiyas]

hiii friends ૮꒰ྀི˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶꒱ྀིა it’s thursday!! woo!! almost to the end of the wk!! i hope you all have the sweetest thurs ever & that your faves surprise you w your fave treat & a lil gift!! mwah!!

[woodandwaxwings]

Behind Blue Eyes

"He couldn't help but look at him and search for those familiar blue eyes he had come to love only for them to be not there, for doe brown eyes to be in the place of his favorite watercolor blues."

Warnings: PTSD attack towards the end. loosely described though.

(masterlist) (next)

Y/n sighed as the bus he was taking stopped outside Jericho's bus stop. Now he had to commit to leaving Florida and the other peculiars he had grown up with, went to war with. Now he was in Vermont in a small town nobody but peculiars and outcasts would give more than half a shit about. Y/n smiled as 'you can tell she's a princess' from some Barbie movie he had never bothered to watch came from his phone, garnering odd looks as he picked up the phone. "Hey, Claire. I see you've finally learned how a phone works." Claire laughed on the other end, "Shut up! Are you there yet?" Y/n could almost imagine her twisting the honey-blonde curls she let grow out between her fingers. "I just got off the bus in Jericho. Do you know how far Vermont is from Florida? Really far." Y/n walked down the streets of Jericho, probably looking like he had just escaped an old film with his luggage bag he'd had since 1939 before being sent off to Miss Peregrine it was garnered in stickers Abe had sent with his letters to Emma. His outfit didn't help much despite Jake taking him shopping not long after arriving in Florida. With his flare jeans and corduroy jacket, he looked like someone had let one of the characters from That 70s Show loose in a mall. And his tattoos of course didn't help the strangers in small town Jericho from staring.

"How's school in Florida?" Y/n asked Claire as he entered a small coffee shop. After all the traveling, he was thirsty and tired and could go for some coffee. "Oh my bird, it's awesome! I've made so many friends..." He let Claire rant as he ordered a coffee from a long-haired brunette boy behind the counter. Y/n smiled and gave the boy a "thank you," as he handed him his coffee. He heard someone yell at Claire over the phone as he set down in a booth facing the entrance of the coffee shop. "Hey, Y/n, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later, ok? Remember, don't be weird. Mwah," He smiled as he shut off his phone after she hung up and drank his coffee to regain the energy he had lost from the travel. "Where'd you come from?" Y/n looked up from his coffee to see another brunette boy with short hair. "Florida," Y/n spoke, her German accent pushing through his words making the boy laugh as he sat across from him uninvited. "Diese Schlampe,"(this bitch) Y/n murmured to himself. "Doesn't sound like it," The boy across from him said.

Y/n rolled his eye as he looked at the clock, "Ich habe keine Zeit dafür."(I don't have time for this) He said as he stood up and grabbed his bag, the boy across from him standing as well. "No seriously, where'd you come from." "Germany, then Wales, then Florida." He said as he pushed passed the boy in front of him, leaving the coffee shop and the annoying boy behind. He had only been there for about 30 minutes and he was already starting to hate this town, but a promise is a promise. He watched a different bus stop at the bus stop and several kids in uniforms exit. He knew he was supposed to get on that bus but as he looked for the driver's eyes, only for them to be concealed by dark sunglasses he decided right then it would be a better idea to walk to Nevermore. He'd take possible haunted woods over wights any day. He began to walk in the direction that the bus had come from, his fingers shaking as he had to turn his back to the man, mentally preparing himself to trigger his peculiarity hollows be damned.

"Well, look who decided to step out of the 40s." Y/n turned on his heels as he recognized the voice from behind him. "Yoko, hallo." She and the girl on her side walked up to him. "Was machst du in Jericho?" (What are you doing in Jericho) She asked him. Y/n vaguely remembered Yoko from his early years in the children's home before it became his loop. Her fathers were friends with Miss Peregrine. "Wieso bist du nicht tot?"(How are you not dead) She asked as she looked him over, noticing that he was 17 and not 13 or dirt. "The library is gone." He answered in English, noticing Yoko's companion's confusion. "It's real?" Y/n shrugged, "Was real." Yoko noticed his eyes darting back to the bus behind them. "Er ist ein Mensch." (he is human.) Yoko said and watched as his shoulders relaxed. "Benutzen Sie den Bus. (use the bus) It's faster than walking." Y/n nodded as he walked past them and got on the bus. "Another bus ride," Y/n thought to himself as he sat down and the bus began made its way back to Nevermore.

"Sorry for scarin' ya' kid." Y/n looked away from the window and to the bus driver. "You're not the first peculiar kid to try walkin' to Nevermore instead of getting on my bus." Y/n nodded, "Sorry for assuming." The bus driver shook his head as he stopped at the school, "Never apologize for being safe." Y/n nodded as he got off the bus, "Thanks for the ride." The bus driver nodded, "Just doin' my job." Y/n gave the man a smile as he walked through the front entrance of Nevermore. He sighed. If only Victor was here with him if only this was 20 years ago. "if only"s could go on forever, but here he was alone. "Hi," He looked down at the boy who spoke to him. "Hi," He looked the young boy up and down, he could only be about 14. "I'm Eugene Ottinger, peculiar. Principal Weems thought you would be more comfortable with one of us leading you around, and I was the only one available." Y/n nodded as he ranted he reminded him a lot of Millard. "I heard you came from a loop. Is that true? I've never been in a loop before. What can you do? I have a psychic connection to bees," Y/n followed behind him as the young boy guided him around the school. He suddenly stopped, "This is Weems's office. She'll get you enrolled and show you to your dorm." Y/n nodded as he knocked on the door, Eugene leaving him behind.

"You must be Y/n L/n." A tall blonde woman, who Y/n assumed was Principal Weems, said as she opened the door. "Come in," She pulled the door further open, letting him walk into her office. "Very rarely do we ever get peculiars here." Y/n nodded, "Most of us stick to loops instead of school." Weems nodded as she sat behind her desk. "School doesn't start for another 3 days so you should have plenty of time to get situated." She said as Y/n looked around her office. "Do I have to buy a uniform or are they provided?" Y/n asked as he finally sat down on the other side of her desk. "They are provided." Principal Weems set a paper down facing him, "You've already registered so no need for any mindless paperwork. I'll give you you uniform before showing you to your dorms and then your roommate can give you a tour of the school." Y/n nodded as Miss Weems stood and grabbed a purple box that was set off to the side. "Nevermore's welcome package," She said as she handed it to Y/n. "Shall I show you to your dorm room now?" She asked but it wasn't really a question as she opened the door to her office and gestured for him to exit.

"Nevermore prides itself on being a diverse learning environment for all of it's attendants." Weems began the welcome speech spiel. "You'll find that all of our outcasts intermingle well," Her words were said in a tone that screamed 'behave'. "And that is something our school would like to continue to pride itself on." Y/n nodded as she walked down the dormitory halls, "You'll be rooming with Ajax Petropolus." Weems said as she opened the door to one of the dorm rooms, "Who does not appear to be here," She mumbled under her breath as she let Y/n into the room. As Y/n set his suitcase and "welcome package" down on the bare twin bed on the right side of the dorm a boy rushed into the room. "Sorry," He said to both him and the principal as he fixed his beanie. "Hi, Ajax," He stuck his hand out for Y/n to shake and that's when he really got a look at him. Shit, he was screwed. The universe must hate him because he couldn't help but look at him and search for those familiar blue eyes he had come to love only for them to be not there, for doe brown eyes to be in the place of his favorite watercolor blues.

"Y/n," He finally said when he realized he was staring, hesitantly shaking his hand. "Cool," Ajax said, seemingly oblivious. "I'll leave you to get situated," Weems said as she left, shutting the door behind her. Y/n then stepped back and walked back to his side of the room, "What happened to your previous roommate?" He asked as he opened his luggage bag, placing the framed picture of him and Victor face down on his bedside table. "He graduated," Ajax said as he sat on his own bed. "So what's your deal?" Y/n paused in his unpacking, turning to face his roommate, "What?" Ajax shrugged, "Y'know, what's your thing? Are you a psychic? Werewolf?" Y/n nodded, "Oh. I'm peculiar." Ajax shrugged, "Well I wouldn't say peculiar, but you do dress a little weird." "Bist du dumm?" (Are you stupid?) Y/n asked as he shoved his clothes into the dresser drawer that also seemed to be a table. "Excuse me?" Ajax shook his head. "I'm peculiar, as in that's my thing." Ajax just gave him a confused stare. "Forget it. Aren't you supposed to give me a tour of the school or something?"

The gorgon shot up from his bed, "Right! Sorry, forgot." Y/n felt almost disoriented as he watched Ajax. Everything about him was exactly the same but so different to Victor, like the reflection in a distorted mirror came to life. "So this is one of four dormitory halls. There are two girls' dormitories and two boys' dormitories." Ajax begins as he exits the room, expecting Y/n to follow him and he does. "Nevermore was founded by Nathaniel Faulkner in 1791, the dormitories being added on in 1840 and were renovated in 1940." Y/n nodded as he followed Ajax down the stairs to the courtyard. "I'm not going to have to memorize any of this, am I?" Y/n watched as his brown eyes went wide like a deer in the headlights, "Huh? Oh, no. It's just a bunch of crap." Y/n looked around the courtyard to find it almost barren. "I figured there'd be more people here." Ajax looked over the courtyard as well, "Yeah, most people will be showing up tomorrow to get unpacked and stuff. Oh yeah, um, this is the courtyard. Mostly everyone eats their meals here." The two walked around the courtyard to an Edgar Allen Poe statue. "This is our statue in tribute to Edgar Allen Poe, I'm like 90% sure he was like an alumni."

"I don't give a shit about Edgar Allen Poe," Y/n said as he looked Ajax up and down. "Do we have to wear our uniforms all the time?" Ajax shrugged, "I mean most people tend to wear theirs while on campus." Y/n nodded. "So is that a no? yes?" The two stared at each other for a moment, and then a short blonde girl approached them. "Hey, Ajax!" She spoke excitedly. Both boys turn to face her as if being snapped out of a trance. "Oh hey, Enid. " Ajax looked between the two people in front of him. "Enid this is Y/n." HE pointed to Y/n and then pointed to Enid, "Y/n this is Enid. She's a werewolf." Y/n nodded and stuck his hand out for the girl to shake. Enid shakes his hand but doesn't let go of it. "Oh my gosh!" She turns his hand over so the back of his hand is facing upward. "I love your tattoo! Is it real?" Y/n could practically imagine a tail wagging behind her. "Yeah. A friend of mine chose it for me. She said to just use my peculiarity with it whenever I miss her."

Ajax furrows his brows as he leans to look at the thickly lined butterfly. "What can you do?" He and Enid asked almost in sync. Y/n smiled a cheeky smile as he placed his other hand over the top of the one Enid still had a tight grip on. "Wach auf."(Wake up) He whispered before removing his hand to reveal a live black and white butterfly sitting on his hand where the tattoo was. Enid giggled as the butterfly flew up to her nose, following Y/n's eyes as he mentally guided it. "Cool," Enid mumbled as it sat on her face. She jumped as Y/n swatted his hand out to grab the insect and the two watched as the tattoo faded back onto his hand. "Sweet. It's kinda like Xavier's powers." Y/n nodded despite not knowing who they were talking about. There then was a sudden boom that resembled a cannon being fired or a boulder falling. Y/n's heart picked up as he squeezed his eyes shut and slammed his hands so hard over his ears that they began to ring. Memories he wished he did a better job at pushing down came flooding to the surface as he grew lightheaded.

[oscars-wifeyyy]

Wife You Up

Imagine is under the cut.

This is inspired by the song Wife You Up by Russ which you can hear right here

There was a time before the MC and before adulthood had actually hit Gilly where he worked at a mall in his hometown of San Diego, California. Among those times and the present, there was always a constant and that was you. You had met at the mall and you were the one that showed him around the store that you guys worked at since he was the newbie at the job so as soon as lunch had come around, the two of you walked to the food court and continued to talk and hit it off and quickly became more than just coworkers and friends. The young love that had blossomed and felt like much more than young love had been cut short as Gilly had wanted to move to Santo Padre and be a part of the MC there and you wanted to go to college and become a lawyer for the people that couldn’t afford a fancy lawyer.

As time passed, the both of you had talked about each other to your closest friends. Gilly to Angel and Coco and you to yours. The both of you thought of the other as the one that got away. There was something about you to him that made you the only person in the world to him, from you supporting him through every decision he has made to even going out of your way to make sure he had everything and taken care of everything. 

Years later, the two of you still drifted your minds to each other, wondering if the other had a significant other and kids like they talked about. It wasn’t until you had an opportunity to move to Santo Padre and work for the law firm there so you quickly agreed and moved as fast as you could. It took a couple weeks until you were fully settled into your new house and environment and didn’t have to go to work until the next week so you decided to go to the only carniceria to pick up stuff for dinner since you were wanting something to do with steak.

When you were about to go up to the door, you saw a glimpse of a Harley in the front and you immediately thought of the big bear that had first captured your heart. It seemed like only a second while you were staring at the motorcycle only for it to be five minutes of you staring until a throat cleared next to you. You jumped and turned to the source of the noise, seeing a cute tall slim man with a beard.

“See something you like, querida?” Angel smirked.

“Oh! Is this your bike? Sorry for staring too long, just reminds me of somebody,” you smiled with a red cheeks.

“This one isn’t mine. Mine is right,” he pointed at the one two spots away, “there. This one is my brother’s,”

“Oh,” you softly smiled, “that’s cool. Well, I gotta go pick up some meat for dinner. See you later, I guess,”

You turned and entered the carniceria and smiled at the older man behind the counter before ordering while Angel quickly pulled Gilly back to his bike after he exited the panaderia with a concha.

“What?” Gilly asked after taking a bite of the concha.

“Dude, this chick just checked out your bike. She was hot with these curved like no other,” Angel gripped his chest.

Gilly rolled his eyes until the door of the carniceria opened and you came into his view as his jaw dropped, “(Y/N)?”

You turned and saw the familiar face that you had first loved, mabe even still do, “Gilly? Oh, my God! How are you? It’s been, what, years now?!” you quickly set down your meat and wrapped your arms around his neck for a hug before pulling away, “wait, do I have to worry about an angry wife or girlfriend that might beat me up?”

Gilly laughed, “Nah. Do I got a angry boyfriend or husband to worry about?”

“Boy, no,” you rolled your eyes with a laugh, “been single for a while, unfortunately,”

“Wait, this is the (Y/N)??” the man that stopped you outside asked, “well, shit, I didn’t think you existed. I’m Angel,” Angel reached his hand out for a handshake that you gladly shook, “well, mano. I gotta go to the yard, I’ll see you later,”

Gilly nodded before turning to you, “what are you doing here? Didn’t you go to school to become a lawyer?”

“Yes, sir. I got a job out here that offered and I immediately took it. Assuming you made it to the MC with the kutte. I’m proud of you, bear,” you smiled.

“Hey, ummm, do you wanna go on a date? You know, catch up and all that,” Gilly smiled.

“Yeah! Pull through at my place, I’ll make dinner and we can watch movies or something,” You grabbed a spare pen that you always tended to carry around just in case to write on his forearm, “this is my address so come at 7,” you gathered up all your courage and kissed his cheek before grabbing your meat that you ordered and rushed to your car to go home.

Fast forward, you guys have been dating for 4 months before Gilly had taken you to meet the MC that he considered his family since he already met your family and they loved him since the beginning. The moment you walked through the door, everybody had come up to you and made you feel welcomed with smiles and questions on how you met and how you could stay with the person. Unfortunately, Vicki’s girls were there so whenever you left to get something some would flock to Gilly, but he would wave them off and wait for you. Girls would give you glares and think that you were barely there and managed to get one of them.

“You know, he’s gonna leave you so he can mess with us,” one of them came up to you.

You chuckled, “girl, do you know our story? We’ve known each other way before the MC and way before you guys. I been there through it all so you can think what you want, but I’m not here for that,” you walked back to Gilly and sat on his lap giving him a huge kiss on the lips, laying your arm around his shoulders.

“Saw you talking to them. I’m glad to see that you can stick up for me and you to these sucias,” Gilly winked, resting his hand on your thigh, “I love you,”

“Forever and always,” you laughed as you brought the cheesiest thing that the two of you ever did when you were young.

[desertofsnowflakes]

Incorrect Order Chapter 4 (Nessian AU)

A/N: I know I haven't been able to update as fast as you'd want me to but I'll try to fix that. Your comments and feedbacks are very much appreciated. Do inform me if you wanna be added/removed from the taglist! If you happen to find my storyline similar to another fic or one of yours, I'm extremely sorry, I might've just not known. All characters belong to the author Sarah J. Mass. Enjoy!

Summary: Don't first impressions always affect the way you see someone? Well, what more with the Nesta Archeron? Nesta meets Cassian at few unexpected places and to say it didn't go well was a major understatement. Certain circumstances make them become enemies to tolerable company to friends to lovers.

Trigger Warnings: None really

1652words | Incorrect Order Masterlist | Read on AO3

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

The best way to keep whatever problems one has out of their mind was to do something they liked. That was the only way Cassian kept from spiraling. Since sending the woman to her own house, Cassian had more than a few moments when he wanted to repeatedly slam his head against a wall. That’s why he spent most of his time sparring with Azriel. He won’t admit he was simping for that woman in his free time too. Or maybe that was always.

Now, sprawled on a couch in front of the TV, with nothing to do but stare at a blank screen, Cassian led his thoughts to the box he kept all unwanted thoughts locked in. He thought about Tomas, her ex-boyfriend. Funny, he thought. I know her ex's name but not hers.

It took him a little too long the other day to realise they didn't exchange names. Again. He once thought that maybe she was purposely not giving him her name. That maybe, for her, he was just a random stranger who happened to save her life. He snorted. Surely anyone would know the name of the person they saved or was saved by— stranger or not. He supposed he'll have to make do with pronouns for now.

After she left his home, it took every scrap of self-restraint not to beat this Tomas dude to pulp and let him rot in the same alley he had the misfortune of meeting him in. He may or may not have been the cause for some extra injuries. Cassian appreciated the woman’s attempt at mercy. He, however, didn’t trust Tomas at all. He was dubious about just handing him over to the police. Who’s to know he won’t frame him and the woman for absurd things? Anyway, he left a note in Tomas’s house saying something like “Step out of line, lose your favourite part of anatomy. Name it and have it for your meal.” He made sure he printed so that no one would recognise his writing. Yet, all this didn’t calm his nerves one bit. He presumed he’ll have to stay on guard for some time now.

Now, back to the girl. He sighed. He didn’t dare change the sheets in his guest bedroom. He didn’t even let Mor use the room when she came over last weekend— which he could bet created suspicion. No, that room was only open when he craved her scent. He even realised one of his shirts was missing. He shrugged it off thinking he would've left it somewhere and just couldn't find it. Once she came to his house, he was constantly thinking about her. So much that now he started pinching himself often. It was the only way he could stop thinking about her— by creating physical pain.

Cassian glanced at the clock on the wall. 2.30 in the afternoon. He walked to the refrigerator and checked his freezer compartment. Huh. No ice-cream. He sighed, grabbed his jacket and keys and headed to the mall to get an ice-cream with a pout. He’ll have to leave for Rhys and Feyre’s first anniversary only around 5.30 to prepare everything. He has enough time to get an ice-cream and probably hang out for some time. Good enough to stop thinking about her. Or so he thought.

***

Nesta wasn’t sore anymore. Her headache was gone almost a week after the incident. Her nose didn’t hurt anymore. Okay, maybe a little bit. It didn’t hurt unless she bumped her nose against something. Today, her nose was dully throbbing because she hit her nose against a pillow yesterday. A very, very soft pillow and yet it hurt this much.

The man’s first-aid and medicines were really helpful.

It really wasn’t fair that he excelled at basic first aid too. It wasn’t fair that he looked so good. With black tattoos swirling over generously muscled arms and shoulder-length dark hair curling at the edges and gloriously tanned skin and hazel eyes with minute flecks of green and brown when taken a closer look at and dimples and—

A quiet “Who is it?” snapped Nesta out of her moping. She looked up to see Gwyn walking to her.

“Who is what?” she asked, feigning nonchalance. Gwyn's pursed lips and glare conveyed that her act wasn't enough.

“Who are you thinking about?” Gwyn clarified.

“What makes you think I'm thinking about someone?” Nesta retorted.

Gwyn sat on the chair next to her and started assisting with classifying the unceremonious heap of books on the table to be kept back in its correct positions on its own rack.

“Nesta,” Gwyn sighed, “Clotho assigned you this stack almost an hour ago. And you've barely finished a third of the stack. Normally, you'd finish stacks bigger than this in an hour. So there's clearly something.”

“It wasn't anyone,” Nesta mumbled.

As usual, Gwyn saw through her lie. “You were twirling your hair,” she said flatly.

Heat inched up her neck. “I was not!”

Gwyn murmured a “uh-huh” and they lapsed into an easy silence till they were almost over.

Gwyn's eyes lit up as it normally did whenever she got an idea. “Is it him? The guy you came with that day?”

Nesta scowled, “How do you know…” she broke off when she realised which 'that day' Gwyn was talking about. Nesta fought back a blush. “No, no, this isn't about him. We don't know each other. Much. Like, we've seen each other a number of times? That's it. Nothing else.” Cauldron, the first part was a complete lie. But at least the rest are true. Will Gwyn happen to know his name? Maybe I ought to ask her. Or maybe I shouldn't.

She should, she decided. She cleared her throat. “Uh, Gwyn? Do you happen to know his name?”

Gwyn frowned and asked, “He hasn't told you yet?”

Nesta shook her head and answered, “No, we, uh, forgot. I guess. We haven't really exchanged names.”

Gwyn nodded and smiled. “Well, he is—”

“Gwyn!” a voice called. “You can't expect me to come over to you and beg for you to help me. Help me only if you want to or don't work under me.”

Gwyn’s eyes widened. She abruptly stood up and mouthed, “Merrill. I gotta go. I’m so sorry.” She all but ran to Merrill, the very strict librarian Gwyn was working under.

Nesta sighed and continued her work. There wasn’t much left so she was able to finish fast. She picked her things and left the library with a word to Clotho, heading to the mall.

***

The best way to keep whatever problems one has out of their mind was to also eat something they liked. So, ice-cream it was. After having his ice-cream, Cassian was aimlessly walking around the mall. Here, not more than a month ago, he met her for the first time. Almost a month ago. He huffed out a breath. The fact that he was pining for her this long blew his mind off. He—

“This is your fault— not mine. I’m not taking the blame for this,” he told her. They bumped into each other. Again.

Her lips quirked up. “It is kind of my fault. But blame this—,” she poked his chest, “— for making my nose hurt again.”

Just like that, his mood sobered. “How are you?” he asked.

She pointed at the cafe to her left. “Coffee?”

He nodded. Who was he to say no to her?

So they ordered coffee and talked about everything and nothing. He grinned and she laughed. He laughed and she smirked. He wouldn’t say he knew her well but he’d never seen her so carefree. Her laugh was like nectar for a starving man. Her eyes bright and welling up with tears from laughing.

“I don’t think I’ve laughed this much,” she said.

Cassian put a hand on his heart dramatically and said, “I know, I know. I’m very funny.”

Her lips kicked up a notch. She straightened as if she just realised something. He was about to ask when she drawled, “So I just realised that we still haven’t exchanged names.”

Oh. Right. Of course. “Yeah,” he nodded. “Usually, when people meet, they start with introductions but in our case we’ve literally bumped into each other three times and still we don’t know each other.” He shook his head and extended his hand. “Well, hello there. I’m—”

His phone rang in his pocket. Fuck. He was going to kill whoever was calling him now. He was so close to knowing her name. He pulled out his phone to see an incoming call from Azriel. He apologetically looked up at her and said, “I’m sorry. I wish I could choose not to take this call and instead kill this idiot but I can’t. Just give me a moment, okay?”

She nodded and he picked up his call.

“What do you want?” he hissed.

“It’s 5.30 already, you idiot. We’ve got to get the things ready for the party. Mor already went to get the cake and you’re not even at home. Where on all earth and hell are you?” came Az’s faint voice.

“15 minutes only? Mother above, I’m coming.” he said.

Az’s “make it fast” was the last thing he heard before hanging up. “I wish we could stay here and talk forever,” he said to her, “but I have something up in a short while and I totally didn’t realise time was passing this fast. I’m so sorry. It was nice talking to you. Really. And I wish we could meet again. Though without the bumping part.”

He grinned when she smiled and said, “Bye. Have a nice day.”

“You too,” he called back. He didn’t want to think he imagined the subtle look of disappointment on her face because hell, he was a walking epitome of disappointment right now.

taglist:

@shadowsinger07 @im-someone-i-guess @saltyfortunes @cressjacquine @julian-blackthorn-supremacy @champanheandluxxury @zemiraa @ladygabrielli1997 @nehemikkele @heartless--aromantic @sv0430 @ddsworldofbooks @irenethaleia @sjm-things @dontgetsalmonella

[snarkwrites]

01 | upside down, steve harrington ; stranger things

Notes:

Guess who fell head first into binging Stranger Things? Again? Yep. This bitch. And I kind of came up with this at some point during. I’ve been dancing around writing a Stranger Things fic for a while, but here I go I guess?

A few big cautions up front... There will be things that change/differ from the fic and the show. I’m gonna sort of loosely follow the timeline set forth. But I will be changing a few things here and there. I mean, if enough people enjoy this that I feel like writing more to it, idk yet... We shall see.

I swear to God, I’m going to update my CSI fics and my Riverdale one asap. This just kind of caught me by the nose and demanded to be written...

Summary:

She moves back to Hawkins and manages to turn his life completely upside down. In the best of ways.

But how will everything play out between them? Also, can they handle all the weirdness ahead? We shall see.

Warnings:

loose canon compliance at best, total deviation at worst - this is just an up front catch all because sometimes, things happen that I don’t particularly care for (the senseless death of Barb, anybody?) and if you’re one of those canon only people, this is here to warn you that this is not the fic for you. language, occasional gore, monsters / fantasy elements, teenage drama and shenanigans - Obviously, teenagers are going to do stuff. They’re at that point in their life where not every decision they make is the best one. So if you’d rather skip over this kind of thing (teen drinking, fighting, etc) then yeah.. you’ve been warned. Slow burn / angst / mutual pining / eventual filthy good ness - because lets be real.. we’re all wondering when we’re gonna drop the plot and get to the good stuff. When this chapter occurs, I will flair it with an M. In the meantime, if you’re not into slow burn or mutual pining, then you’re probably not going to care about this.

Other Parts

[ soundtrack ] 

Other Stuff

[ faq - tag list doc ] 

Tagging:

There’s nobody on my list yet but... If you wanna be tagged for this, tell me pls. It will make me overjoyed. 

Throwing out a no pressure tag to @rampagewriting​ and @twistnet​ as well as @chasingeverybreakingwave​ just because. No pressure though bbies!

                                                            ONE

“Table six wants a burger and fries. Smothered for those fries, Jennie.” my nana’s voice shattered through my wandering thoughts. I closed the issue of Glamour I’d been reading and made my way out from behind the counter out in front, heading towards the dining area in the back. 

“Marlena quit again, Nana?” I inquired, shaking my head. Marlena quits at least once a year. Turns up a few weeks later, tanned and broke, begging for her old job back and it’s been that way since my mom and I lived here still, when I was around 6.

“Girl, what have I told you about callin me Nana?” my grandmother asked, laughing softly as she nodded. “Yeah. Said she’s headin out to California this time. Thinks she’s gonna be the next Brooke Shields.”

“Broke Shields is more like it.” I mumbled, taking an apron from the hanger on the wall. My grandmother spoke up again, giving me a nudge and smirking at me while nodding across the diner. “He’s baaack.”

“Nana!” I muttered, raising a hand to my mouth, giggling a little despite my best efforts not to.

“I’m just sayin is all. That boy is not comin in here for my good cookin, Jennie Bird.” my grandma shook her head and I eyed the booth where a lone Steve Harrington sat.

It’s only the thousandth time since I moved back to Hawkins in May.

And my nana is right. He’s probably not coming here for the food.

I’d just grabbed two of the orders and sent Steve’s order back to our short order cook Brett, -or the order I’m assuming was his, he always gets the same thing down to a T when he stops in, when a hand reaches out, grabbing my wrist.

I nearly jumped right outta my skin until I realized that it was Nancy grabbing my wrist and Barb laughing about it. They were sitting at our usual little booth near the window, nursing milkshakes as they waited on my upcoming 30 minute break. Just like we’ve been doing two or three times a week since May.

Come to think of it, it’s around that time that Steve started coming in too. I shoved the thought out of my head right around the time that Nancy and Barb noticed him. And naturally, the question arose...

“What’s Steve Harrington doing in here?” Nancy asked, glancing up at me. I eyed his table and shrugged, suck popping a cotton candy flavored bubble as I told her, “Cher, your guess is as good as mine. He’s been comin in here since I moved back.”

Nancy wiggled her brows and laughed. Barb spoke up. “My mom wanted to know if you wanted to go to the lake with us this weekend? She knows your grandmother is going out of town.”

I smiled and nodded yes, zero hesitation. After Nancy confirmed that she was going too, we made plans to go into the department store in town tomorrow afternoon to pick up some swimsuits.

Nancy’s eyes settled on my boots and she let out a low and appreciative whistle. “Are those the same boots that were in the mall last time we went? I wanted those.”

I smiled, lifting my foot so Nancy could see my boots better. Then I whirled around so she could see the fact that I’d made my favorite pair of Levis into cutoffs and sewn white cherry print fabric over the back of one of the pockets.

“I love those. I wish my mom would let me cut off my jeans.” Nancy pouted. I shrugged. “Ginger said it was cheaper than buying shorts, so I went for it. I did two other pairs too.”

“I’m bringing my old jeans over tonight.” Barb spoke up. I smiled, nodding. “Yeah. I’ll do you right up, hon.”

“I wish I tanned like you. Do you just live outside, Jennie?” Barb asked, pouting a little. I shrugged it off, laughing. Taking a deep breath as I nodded towards Steve’s booth as I gazed at my friends after finally managing to tear my eyes off of Steve. “I best get over to table six. Then I have to go pick up the bohunk’s order, I reckon.”

“What’s a bohunk?” Nancy giggled.

“Same as a himbo, I reckon.” I answered, wrinkling my brows because I didn’t actually know myself. I just knew my nana Ginger often called her long-time live-in boyfriend, Hank, the same thing and I could tell by her tone that it was a loving thing.

I made my way over to Ethel and Earl’s table, setting them up with their food. “Y’all need anything else? Just let me know. Marlena quit on us again, so I’m the server tonight.”

“We’re all set, dear!” they assured me and I made my way over to the second of the tables whose orders I’d picked up.

The next table was Jim Hopper. My mom’s ex boyfriend. He chuckled and shook his head as I approached. “I see Ginger put you right to work.”

“I put me to work, sir. I’m saving money for a Trans Am I found for sale in Rollins.” I smirked as I said it, twisting a strand of hair around my fingertip.

“Oh really now.. Let me know when you get it. So I can warn the rest of the guys and the rest of town to keep a wide berth when you’re behind the wheel.”Hopper teased, chuckling. I pretended to pout, but got him set up with the food he’d ordered before finally making my way towards the back again.

I had to walk right past Steve’s booth in the process, naturally.

I did my best to keep my eyes trained towards the front of the dining area, but Steve cleared his throat just as I walked past.

“Is tonight the night you finally say yes?” Steve flashed a grin as he asked me the question. I wanted to melt, lucky for me, common sense prevailed once again.

“Steve..” I complained, shaking my head. Pretending to pout at him.

“Aw, c’mon.” Steve chided, giving me that charmer smirk as he gazed up at me. I bit my lip, eyes locked on his, lost in the depths of his eyes for a few seconds. My nana’s calling my name had me coming back to the moment and I sighed. “I gotta go get your food, cher.”

I hurried up to the front, ignoring my nana’s pointed stare and nod as she mouthed, “Well? What’d he say, huh?”

I gave a mysterious shrug and picked up the tray containing his food. Started my journey back towards his booth. On my way over, Nancy gave me a thumbs up and Barb mouthed at me in teasing, “ Aww, you’re totally blushing right now.” to which I stuck out my tongue and shook my head no.

I was all business as I sat his food in front of him. Consulting my notepad that had his order scrawled on it in my Nana’s loopy scrawl. “That’s a loaded burger and smothered fries with a chocolate shake.” suck popping another gum bubble as I spoke.

“Yeah.” Steve answered, locking eyes with me. My hand raised, trailing over the loopy cursive of my silver necklace. I toyed with the cursive that formed my name and he chuckled, dragging his fingers through his hair, nodding to it. “You still have it, I see. The necklace, I mean...”

“Why wouldn’t I? My best friend gave it to me, cher.” I gave him a soft smile. I couldn’t resist it because believe me, I tried. I’ve been trying to resist the guy since May, actually.

“Oh. So you did think about me when you left Hawkins...Interesting. I mean… you’re still wearing the necklace I got you for your birthday...” Steve mused quietly. His eyes were absolutely fixed on me. Studying me. And I felt this warmth spreading through my entire being. Like that first sliver of sunlight on a cloudy and cool day. 

Then the calm. Be still my beating heart, the calm that took over when I dared to lock eyes with him as my own personal act of defiance. Popping another cotton candy flavored bubble as I did so. I bit my lip as I thought of the best way, read, least revealing way, to answer his question. This was venturing into very,very dangerous territory at present. Because if I said no I’d be lying and if I said yes, it would give him too much power. He’d know that maybe he was my first real crush back then. He’d know that maybe seeing him again after all this time had been like a burst of fresh air and somehow, felt as if maybe he’d taken all the air from me at the same time.

It was a huge risk. Huge.

“Maybe.” - it was the only word that would come presently. Blondie crooning Call Me from the old jukebox sitting at the back of the dining area shattered through the heavy lingering silence that followed immediately behind my answer. In a rush, I told him quietly, “I have other tables.”

“You’ve been on your feet all afternoon, little red. C’mon. Sit?” Steve nodded to the empty bench across from him.

I scoffed at him over my shoulder. Giving him a sweet but firm shake of the head no and smile. “As much as I’d love to sit, romeo. Sitting’s not what’s gonna put that sweet fire engine red Trans Am in my nana’s driveway by August.”

He pouted and called out as I walked away, “ I’m not giving up.”

This earned him giggles from the booth I usually filled with Nancy and Barb when I took my 30 minute break.

As I walked by them, Nancy teased out loud, “ Awww, look Barb! She’s blushing.”

“I am not.” I pretended to be offended by the suggestion. Mouthing to both of them as I fanned myself with some napkins in teasing and nodded in Steve’s direction, “Whew...He has gotten… Intense.” 

“That’s Hawkin High’s big man on campus.” Barb informed me. I went to clock out for my break and came back with a Diet Pepsi, flopping across the booth across from then. Someone put 867-5309 on to play on the jukebox and I grumbled through closed lids, “I hate that fuckin song.”

Naturally, Barb and Nancy started to sing along. Loudly.

I pouted at them both as I rose to a sitting position.

Steve wandered over, flopping himself down in the empty spot next to me. “Ladies.”

“You’re not at Hagan’s party?” Barb asked, a brow raised.

“Yeah, why aren’t you at Tommy’s party?” Nancy asked, shooting me a covert teasing smile.

Steve shrugged. Took a long sip of his chocolate milkshake, slurping it through the straw noisily. I eyed it.

“I’d kill for a strawberry one right now.” I mused, gazing at the cup in his hand. He muttered quietly, “It’s not strawberry, but…”  as he held it out.I eyed the styrofoam cup and him. Biting my lip.

Nancy and Barb were gazing at me intently. Teasing gleam in their eyes.

I sighed and reached out for it, taking a few sips. Holding it back out to him.

“I was there. Got bored. I like the scenery better here anyway.” Steve answered finally, shrugging.

“So you enjoy spending your Friday night in a diner packed with old people..” I muttered, locking eyes with him. Swallowing hard when I found him staring at me already. 

He chuckled, shaking his head no. “I said I liked the scenery here, little red. Not the dining company. If you’d say yes and let me buy you a burger sometime…” he smiled at me as he went quiet.

I felt Nancy and Barb both fix their eyes on me.

“We’ll see.” I answered, shrugging mysteriously and smiling at him as  I did so. I wanted to say yes so bad it was killing me, but given that I know the history of my grandmother and my mother, I was… Definitely erring on the side of caution.

Besides.. It makes things interesting when you play hard to get. I guess I figure that if Steve gets bored and moves on, then it’s better than agreeing, falling head over feet, making any number of bad life choices that seem to plague the women in my family and ultimately, winding up heart broken.

Call me a hopeless romantic. Overly cautious. I just want to wait until I know something is a sure thing before I dive in over my head. I want something that’s going to last a while. Not be this intense and scary whirlwind that starts off strong and ends just as fast as it began.

“Hey, were we all going to go for a swim later? Figured it was hot enough. Besides, Ginger and Hank are going to Rollins later. They won’t be back until 2. Or two days from now.” I mused, glancing from Nancy to Barb.

“Sleepover in the treehouse?” Barb suggested. Nancy nodded, giving me begging eyes. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. It’ll be like when we were little.” 

“That’s actually not a bad idea!” I smiled, laughing.

After we all made our plans for the night, they left to go back into town and this left me with ten minutes in my break. Alone in a booth with Steve Harrington.

Hot Blooded came on the jukebox in back of the dining area and I grinned. Humming along with the song as I eyed the last of Steve’s fries. He chuckled, shoving them in front of me.

“You won’t let me buy you your own food… Yet you’ll eat mine.”

“Mhm.” I answered, dragging a french fry through gravy. Taking a bite thoughtfully. Groaning at the taste of the food because I realized just how hungry I actually was.

Steve chuckled, gazing at me. “Do I need to leave you two alone?”

I felt his arm go around the back of the booth. Brushing right against my shoulder. Normally, I’d politely move a little. But if I’m being totally honest here, I’m tired. So tired of fighting the way I feel. I managed to stop myself from resisting the urge to lean against his side though.

“That’s not so bad, is it?”

I sighed and gazed over at him. Smiling. “It’s not.”

From the kitchen, my nana called my name. Steve stood and I slipped out of the booth, making my way back. Clocking back in so I could finish waiting tables. By the time I’d done four more tables and was counting my tips for the night, Steve wasn’t sitting in the dining area anymore.

“You be careful getting home tonight, Jennie Bird.”

“Yes Nana.”

I didn’t have to look at her to know she was giving me a playful dirty look at what I’d called her. She sighed, the sound giving way to soft laughter. “Maybe get that handsome little beau of yours to give you a lift.”

“Nope. Absolutely not.”

“You are the most stubborn..” my grandmother teased gently, laughing as she shook her head.

I clocked out for the night, stepping out into the parking lot after counting down the drawer in the gas station area out front. Steve was standing outside, leaned against the cinderblock wall, his thumb hooked through his belt loop. Smoking a cigarette.

I glanced around to make sure my grandmother and her boyfriend weren’t looking or anything and I stopped beside him. Speaking up quietly. “Do you think you have another one of those?”

He chuckled, digging around in his pocket, producing a slightly crushed pack of Marlboro Reds. I took one and as I pressed it between my lips, he dug out a silver lighter and cupped his hands around the end, lighting my cigarette for me.

“You’re not afraid your grandmother’s gonna see?” Steve teased, grinning at me.

I laughed, shrugging as I exhaled, a plume of smoke creeping upwards into the sunset. “It’s more tame than her special brownies. I know for a fact it’s a thousand times tamer than anything my mom did at my age. I just don’t openly do it all the time around her because it’s a respect thing.”

“Ah. I get it, I think.” he nodded.

We stood there quietly. Staring up at the sky as the sun dipped lower. I really didn’t want to walk away, but one of us had to. I smiled, nodding towards the road. “I should probably get going.”

“I can drive you.” Steve offered.

“I’m fine. It’s only like a mile up the road.” I answered, swallowing hard. Dangerously close to caving, yet again. It’s getting so hard not to cave lately where he’s concerned and that kind of makes me panic just a little, truth be told.

“Yeah, but it’s getting late. And your feet have to be killing you by now.” he nodded to my boots. I shrugged, flashing him a smirk. “You’re a charmer, Steve.” I muttered as I rose up on my toes, fluffing his hair before stepping away, then turning to walk across the gravel parking lot and towards the road.

His BMW slowed to a stop beside me and he rolled down the window just as I started to walk towards my grandmother’s house. “C’mon.”

I eyed the car.

Then glanced at the road stretched out ahead. My feet were throbbing in these stupid boots because they weren’t broken in completely. I dragged my fingers through my hair, mulling it over.

“Take me straight home?”

“Anything you want, Jennie.” Steve promised, smiling at me. “Scouts honor.”

“You are a lot of things… Somehow I doubt boy scout was one of them, you charmer. Okay, fine.” I gave in, going around to the passenger side of the car and getting in.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he teased gently. I stuck out my tongue at him and reached for the dial on his radio until I found something other than his preferred usual pop station. He chuckled to himself, reaching out to lower the volume. “I missed you.”

“Aw, be still my beating heart.” I pretended to swoon. But something about the look in his eyes had me feeling like all the air escaped my lungs. Giddy. Lightheaded. And yet, underneath it all, that sense of calm.

The rest of the drive to my grandmother’s house was quiet. The air between us filled with this heavy and almost electric tension. Like I was waiting on something to happen, I just didn’t know what.

He pulled to a stop behind Hank’s beat down old Chevrolet truck and I went to open the door on the passenger side. I was about to get out, when he stopped me. “Same time Thursday?”

I smiled, nodding at him as I shut the  door to his BMW and started towards my front door on very shaky legs. Once I was inside, I pulled off my boots and flopped down on the sofa, letting out several long and shaky breaths.

“Heaven help me. That guy is… Something.” I drawled. Resting until I heard Barb and Nancy knocking at my grandmother’s door. I got up to let them in and we went upstairs to find towels to take down to the river with us.

Then we set off, walking through the woods. Laughter and conversation echoing in the night around us. Diving into the cold water with ear splitting shrieks. Splashing at each other noisily.

 We flopped onto our towels on the bank, gazing up at the stars as they started to come out. 

“I can’t believe summer’s almost over.” Barb lamented, shaking her head. “It seriously feels like school just ended.”

“I don’t want to go back to school yet. Yuck.” Nancy agreed, shaking her head. “I mean there’s another month and a half but it’s flying by too fast.”

“At least we got a few classes with each other. I’m dreading starting at a new school. I mean it’s not new, but still..” I sat up, facing the two of them.

“It won’t be that bad. You’ve got us.” Barb pointed out and I smiled, nodding. “Yeah, you’re right. It won’t be that bad.” I echoed her statement.

“Hey, Jennie?”

“Yeah, Nan?”

“Why won’t you just give in to Steve. It’s not exactly a secret you like him.” Nancy eyed me expectantly.

I mulled it over, shrugging. “Guess it’s just the fear I have that I’ll give in and then everything will go wrong and I’ll wind up losing my friend too.”

The truth was… so much more complex than that. And I couldn’t even begin to explain it to myself, let alone my two best friends. 

“I will say this much though.” I started, going quiet for a second or two and taking a deep breath, speaking up again after, “It’s getting harder to fight it off. I mean when I moved back here and we ran into each other again, that old crush came back and it came back ten-fold. Enough about my weird hangups.. Is there some reason you’re not finally going for it with Jonathan?” I eyed Nancy expectantly.

“Every time I try it’s like my brain freezes? I don’t know, okay?” she laughed, shaking her head about it. Barb smirked. “Both of you are cowards.”

“Excuse… Says the girl who almost threw up because Logan, the guy she likes, winked at her on the bus back from an away game?” Nancy teased and Barb scowled at her, sticking out her tongue. “I’ll have you know, ha freaking ha, Logan is actually taking me to a movie on Friday.”

“Oh?” Nancy eyed her, wiggling her brows.

“Oh my god, details.” I spoke up, tapping my foot as I gave her an expectant look. Barb launched into the whole thing and I smiled softly, content to listen. Catching up on what I’d missed in being gone so long.

“Y’all. We need to get back down to my nana’s. It’s getting dark thirty.” I stood, reaching down to grab hold of Barb’s hand, pulling her off the bank of the river. Barb pulled Nancy up and the three of us went running through the wood and back towards my grandmother’s house.

Once we got there, we ordered pizza and went out to the old treehouse we used to play in out back to set up for the night. 

And at one point, we wound up playing Truth or Dare.

And naturally, the first dare I was given was to say yes if Steve Harrington asked me out again…

[pynkhues]

I hope you post your c & c Christmas fic! I am having a horrible Christmas alone bc of covid 19 and could use a little cheering up.

I’m so sorry you had a horrible Christmas alone, anon! And I know this is a few days late and a few dollars short, but I hope the first scene (and it’s a doozy of a scene at 3k words haha) from it helps? 

I’m trying to finish the fic now, so fingers crossed I have it all up by tomorrow. It’s ended up being really long, haha, so hopefully people still want a monster Christmas fic four days after Christmas! 😊

“No.”

And damn, if Rio doesn’t pop an eyebrow at that.

“No?”

The question is enough to make Jane’s bottom lip wobble as she rocks in her galoshes, the sound of her wet socks squelching inside them making somethin’ in Rio’s head twitch, because shit �� he’d tried to get her out of them at the back door. Tried to pick her up and cart her upstairs to the tub, ready to wash the snow Kenny had shoved down the back of her parka off, but she hadn’t wanted that neither. Had been content to dart beneath his arm the second he’d lugged Marcus up with his other; even more content to leave a trail of sludgy footprints behind her through the kitchen like she wanted him to follow, and he hadn’t exactly.

Or y’know, he had until she’d dashed past him again and he’d gotten a hand into the hood of her jacket.

“So you don’t want to get in there with him, huh?” Rio asks now, jerking his head back to where Marcus is already sprawled out in the tub, fuckin’ blissed out, his skinny arms slung over the rim and his body submerged in the steamy, sudsy water ‘til he looks like some eight-year-old mafia don. It’d make Rio grin – does – until he meets Jane’s look again, her bottom lip still wobbling as she furiously shakes her head, her rabbit beanie slipping down her icy wet hair.

Rio frowns.

“You ain’t cold?”

And shit, he knows she is.

Knows it because the second he’d pulled up to Glenvale Elementary School today to pick ‘em up, she’d been cold. A last-day-of-school snowball fight havin’ ballooned out until the faculty were left frantically trying to dry off forty shivering kids, and whatever, Rio had thought. It was good for them. Work hard, play hard gotta start somewhere, and he’d plucked Jane and Marcus’ tooth-chattering selves out of the fray and blast the car heaters the whole way home, but the second they’d tumbled out of the car, Kenny had thrown a snowball himself, and a fresh fight had begun.

And okay, maybe he should’ve stopped it sooner than he did, but he had Mick on call and the last drops to organise before the holidays, because apparently people buyin’ up supplies of prescription drugs as gifts for sick family members is a straight up thing (and call Rio Father Christmas, because damn if he ain’t deliverin’ on the fuckin’ miracle. Ain’t even price gouging, although that’s more because Elizabeth had turned a particular shade of purple at the prospect and he knew he’d never hear the end of it if he’d bloated prices, but - - damn, it would’ve put at least two of the kids through college.)

Point is, maybe he meant to pull ‘em in after half an hour, but by the time he finally got back outside it’d been close to two full hours and the kids were all red-nosed and tremblin’, their clothes soaked through, the evening just starting to yawn above them to swallow the last of the light whole.

“No,” Jane repeats now, sullen this time, and Rio feels his nostrils flare in irritation as he stares back down at her. At least the room is warm enough, he thinks, watching the steam curl the ends of her wet hair, the ebb of the heating warping the air as it pours from the floor vents. The kids’ bathroom is one of the rooms they’ve refit over the last year – a pet project of Elizabeth’s that Rio had found himself involved in, mostly because he almost got as much of a thrill out of inventing organisational systems as she did. The big, low white tub set back against the wall with polka dotted wallpaper above it, gold light fittings and a long, deep blue vanity that had as much storage as they could ever need. Still – it didn’t stop one of Emma’s bikini’d Barbie’s and a fuckin’ deluge of rubber sea animals from taking up space around the room.

“I’m a grown up,” Jane adds, sniffing wetly, pulling his attention back, and Rio’s second eyebrow raises to meet his first. “Grown ups don’t have baths with boys.”

“Om has baths with daddy,” Marcus says helpfully from the tub, and Rio gestures back at him, taking in the way Jane just huffs out a breath and stomps her little foot against the white honeycomb tiles and it figures, Rio thinks, that one of Elizabeth’s kids would end up with the fuckin’ stubborn powerball in that genetic lottery.

Figures it’d be Jane too.

“That’s different, they have to share everything because they’re a mommy and an od.”

At least the others ain’t this stubborn, he reminds himself, scrubbing a hand back over his head. At least he’d been able to pile ‘em up with towels and sweats and direct them to the downstairs bathroom while he handled Jane and Marcus, but then again - -

He trains his ears to hear ‘em – Emma and Danny’s giggles sounding through the floor beneath his feet, loud even over the downpour of the shower, and then:

The flush of a toilet.

Kenny screams.

Right.

Lotta other balls in that genetic lottery too though, huh?

He exhales sharply.

“A’ight,” he says, looking back down at Jane’s pink little face. “You don’t gotta share a bath since you’re all grown, but you can’t stay in your wet clothes.”

And it’s weird then – the look that Jane levels him with. Somethin’ too hard in the set to her mouth and too open in her wide green eyes, and Rio’s frown deepens, brow furrowing, because there’s somethin’ in that look that tells him this ain’t entirely just about stubbornness, when suddenly Marcus chimes in from the tub.

“Soup.”

And shit, no, they’re havin’ pizza for dinner – Rio’s already ordered it – but before he can say as much, Jane’s nose is wrinkling up and she’s rolling those too wide eyes and that hard set to her mouth is softening, and huh, Rio thinks. They ain’t talking about dinner either.

“Soup doesn’t have bubbles, Marcus.”

“This one does!” he tells her easily, and Rio turns to watch his son glide his hands through the bathwater, catching soapsuds, a too-innocent grin on his face. “It’s an alien soup. Like - - like from Neptune. I got abducted! I’m gonna get eaten! Help me, Officer Janey!!”

With that, he slides down into the water, flails his skinny legs up above the surface, fake yelling, and Rio huffs, exasperated as water spills over the top of the tub, but can’t quite hide the twitch at his lips when he sees Jane’s look tear – the urge to play too already warring on her face as she steps closer.

“No, Marcus! We can play later, not - - ”

“Help!! Hel - - blergh.”

Marcus splutters around a mouthful of soapsuds, and Rio does roll his eyes this time, grabbing a washcloth from the sink to wipe his son’s face.

“You gonna help him, Officer Janey?” he asks, glancing back from Marcus and they can all see Jane’s resolve weakening. She shifts her weight, puffs out her cheeks, and then, just like that, she caves.

“Okay, Sir Marcus, I’ll get you home for Christmas.”

And thank fuck for that, Rio thinks, keeping his expression carefully in check as Marcus grins in delight, squirming back up the side of the tub to make room for her. It only takes a minute for her to peel off her jacket, leaking freezing water everywhere in the process, and Rio edges forwards, starting to help her when his cell phone buzzes in the back pocket of his jeans. He pulls it out, checks the number, and hooks it under his ear as he crouches down beside Jane.

“’ey,” he says, and immediately he’s met with a wave of sound from the chaos of the mall – the tinny, tinkling melodies of Christmas songs and the thrum of shoppers, the distant sounds of static announcements and the too-close bray of Annie’s laugh, but it’s Elizabeth who replies, her voice clear and clean as a bell.

“Hi. Did we decide on the flatware set for your sister in the end? They’ve got one on sale here at this cute little kitchen place, and - - ”

Rio sighs, annoyance sparking at the fraying edges of his patience. He lifts up Jane’s leg as she dangles herself over the edge of the tub, pulling off one of her galoshes, and then the other, cringing when her soaked pink socks settle back on the floor, leaving a smear of dirty water on the tiles.

“We decided no, mami,” he tells Elizabeth over the line, pulling off Jane’s socks in one rough motion as Jane makes a grab for a rubber fish. “We already got her the - - ”

“Towels, I know, but she didn’t have enough forks for us when we were there last week, and if that’s going to be a regular thing now, I really think we should get her the extra flatware set.”

And shit, Rio thinks, moving to kneel so he can peel off Jane’s sopping wet sweater and shirt as she kicks off her jeans and undies, it figures.

It figures because Elizabeth’s been pressed about Carmen’s place since Carmen and Matt finally separated back in August, splittin’ up their assets and sellin’ the house. It had been a long time comin’, and Rio couldn’t say he wasn’t pleased about it – after all, him and Carmen hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye, but shit, she was his sister and she was a boss bitch, and Matt had always been the sort of belly crawlin’ fuck who’d soured at any woman who was more of one than him.

Anyway, it didn’t take all that much to figure out that Elizabeth was watchin’ Carmen’s marriage dissolve and her new life as a single mom with the sort of projecting fixation that - - shit - - just dredged up baggage.

Still, it was kind of fuckin’ funny too to watch Elizabeth try to help Carmen in the way she wouldn’t let anyone do for her back when she finally called it with her own dumbass ex.

“Yeah, those towels weren’t cheap,” Rio says into the phone, standing up and grabbing Jane underneath her icy arms to swing her into the hot water beside Marcus, letting her eyes slip shut briefly when Jane kicks a fresh wave of hot water onto the floor of the bathroom.

“Neither is cooking dinner for seven extra people.”

Grabbing his cell properly now that Jane’s in the tub, Rio drops his free arm down, grabbing Jane and Marcus’ wet clothes off the floor and striding out of the room, down the stairs and beelining for the laundry. He grins, pleased, when he sees Emma’s already put her own snow clothes in the washing machine, even if she’s managed to spill washing powder all over the floor in the process of it.

“One thing,” he sing-songs over the bustle of the mall behind Elizabeth’s voice. “Everyone’s gettin’ one thing. If you want to get Carmen the flatware set, that’s two things.”

And he can’t even see her, but he can feel Elizabeth bristle down the line.

“I might not be as quick with the books as you, but I do know basic math, thank you.”

Which - - shit, not what he meant. He grabs a rag out of the laundry cabinet, dropping down to wipe up the powder.

“Nah, you ain’t hearin’ me. I know you, Elizabeth. You get Carmen two things, you gettin’ everyone two things – Aida, my mom, your sister, your friend – we ain’t doin’ that this year. We decided that.”

Vaguely he can hear her sister laugh over the line again, and then Ruby say:

What about…

“No, I think she has one of those already,” Elizabeth replies, and Rio sighs, tossing the rag into the washing machine with the kids’ clothes. Vaguely, he can hear footsteps down the hall behind him, Jane and Marcus still playing in the tub, the shower a few rooms up, and he still has some business calls to make tonight, and damn, weren’t they going to figure out which presents were from Santa and which were from them later too? He checks his watch and frowns.  

“Elizabeth, what time you comin’ home?”

“Soon,” she tells him quickly, then, to one of the others: “No, that’s too much.”

Suddenly, a cold little hand grabs his wrist, and Rio glances down to see Emma clutching at it, already decked out in her pink fleecy sweats and rainbow fuzzy unicorn slippers, which’d be fine if her hair wasn’t hanging wet, soaking into the back of her dressing gown. He frowns, pushes his cell between his shoulder and head again to pull a hair elastic off his wrist and tie her hair back up off her neck.

“Od, can we watch Frozen tonight?”

And Rio briefly blanches at that, but grunts in affirmation, letting her go only for Emma to come back and cling to his hand again, splaying his fingers so she can fit her own between his. He blinks down at her curiously, picking up his cell again with his other hand, because damn, it ain’t like she’s never held his hand before – she’s always been a touchy kid – but he figured she’d be out of sight the second he told her she could put Frozen on. Like she’s seen the look on his face, she squeezes his hand and sidles closer until she’s practically on top of his leg, and so Rio crouches down instead, lugging her up and carrying her out of the laundry and over to the living room, letting her rest her head on his shoulder as she clings to his side.

“Annie, stop it,” Elizabeth says, annoyance growing in her tone, and Rio rolls his eyes, depositing Emma on the couch, and okay, maybe the kid’s just tired, he thinks, watching as she nestles back in the cushions, her big blue eyes only half-lidded.

He flicks on the TV while Elizabeth babbles to Annie and Ruby in his ear, like she’s half-forgotten to hang-up, and he’s about to do it himself instead when he hears the name Dean pop outta Annie’s mouth, which - -

Fuck that.

His jaw tightens, loosens, tightens again.

“Thought we weren’t doin’ all of that this year,” he hums, tryin’ to keep his voice light as he loads up Frozen on Disney+ and grabs one of the blankets to toss over Emma, because wasn’t that dumbass ex of hers off in Nevada this year with his new girl’s family?

“What?”

And sure, play dumb, baby, Rio thinks, striding out of the room as Emma wriggles down in the blanket. He heads back towards the corridor, hearing Jane squeal somewhere upstairs and Marcus laugh as he moves towards the downstairs bathroom.

“Thought we had the place and everyone in it to ourselves.”

“We do,” she tells him quickly, and he can hear her moving herself, walkin’ maybe – her sister’s voice getting further away.

“We ain’t changin’ plans.”

Because fuck – they’re a week out from Christmas, and they had shit on lock this year. Had decided on that together too after the whole mess of last year with Elizabeth having to do the six hour round trip to take the kids to South Haven after Dean’s car had broken down (fuckin’ allegedly, Rio thinks with a snort, because he could smell that bullshit a mile away).

“The plan isn’t changing,” she promises, raising her voice a little to be heard over the roaring opening chords of Last Christmas. “We’re still hosting everyone, and the kids are staying with us, it’s just - - something’s just come up which is - - I mean. It’s really not anything you need to worry about. I’ll tell you when I get home.”

Exhaling harshly, Rio scrubs a hand back over his head again, and shit – if this means Dean’s comin’ again - -

He pauses, distracted suddenly by the sight of Danny bouncing from foot-to-foot outside the bathroom, shaking with cold in his parka and beanie, melted snow dripping from his hair, waiting still for his turn in the bathroom. With a grunt of irritation, Rio strides up the hall, banging heavily on the door only to hear a strained in a minute from Kenny through the crack, and Jesus, Rio thinks.

Teenagers.

He covers the mouthpiece of the phone, glancing down at Danny who just shifts his weight again, snow-pale except for his bright red nose as he stares up at him.

“Use our bathroom,” he tells him, jerking his head upstairs towards his and Elizabeth’s en suite and Danny blinks owlishly back at him, shivering still, and Rio jerks his head in instruction again because it’d be just his luck to have to cart the kid to hospital for hypothermia again.

“Is everything okay there?” Elizabeth asks as someone says is this all today, ma’am?

“Fine,” Rio says shortly, and then, just to annoy her: “I’ll tell you when you get home, yeah?”

And it works, if her huff is anything to go by, and then when he hears cash or card? his lip curls.

“Elizabeth, don’t get the flatware set.”

The last thing he hears before she hangs up is the ring of the cash register.

[littlespoonevan]

I feel like we always see Mickey jealous of Ian and never the other way around! Fic idea maybe? Ian finally jealous of someone hitting on Mickey lol

mickey gets a promotion in this fic bc it’s what he Deserves so he’s no longer mickey, the scary old army security guard with the tattoos, but mickey, the hot mall security guard with the tattoos lmao enjoy!!!

*

Mickey’s gotta admit, making the step up from OldArmy security guard to overall mall security guard comes with some perks. Forone thing he doesn’t have to wear that ugly ass uniform with the lilac poloshirt anymore. The pay’s better and whenever he doesn’t feel like interactingwith people he can always spend a few hours in the back office watching thesecurity cameras. Not to mention the vague sense of smug amusement he gets atthe way his new uniform almost makes him look like a cop.

There is one downside though.

He’s acquired some…fans.

He gets it, sort of. The rest of his colleagues arebalding middle-aged men with beer bellies – well, all of them except Sharonwhose tattoos are even more questionable than his and who doesn’t exactly talkto shoppers so much as barks orders at them if they’re in her way – so he getsthat he’s probably the closest thing that qualifies as eye-candy for all theteenage girls with weird security guard fetishes that hang around the mall.

Doesn’t mean they don’t get fuckin’ irritating thoughwhenever they interrupt his lunches with Ian.

Ian, the piece of shit, finds the entire thingfucking hilarious and makes sure to tell Mickey as much every time he catcheshim trying to dodge one of them while he’s trying to take his break.

Honestly, Mickey would retire to the back officeindefinitely if it weren’t for the fact that he’s the only one besides Sharonwho can outrun the little shits that try to steal stuff. So that means heusually gets stuck on patrolling duty, stalking up and down the mall untilsomeone radios him about an issue.

The mall’s been relatively quiet so far today, prettystandard for mid-morning on a weekday. Mickey’s just considering taking adetour past the pretzel cart when Johnny radios him from back office.

“Mick, can you swing by Game Zone? The cashierpressed the panic button, looks like some kids are hassling him.”

Mickey holds in a sigh and unclips his walkie-talkie.“On it,” he says, turning on his heel to go back the way he came.

He’s so not in the mood to deal with teenage assholesthat should be in school trying to disrupt his morning patrol because they feellike stealing a fucking video game. When he arrives at the store he sees threekids, all about fifteen if he had to guess, cornering the cashier while afourth is shoving games into his backpack.

Rolling his eyes, Mickey squares his shoulders andcalls out a sharp, “Hey!”

The three over by the counter all snap their heads inhis direction and the one with the games freezes mid-thievery. Mickey marchesover to him first, grabbing him by the scruff of his t-shirt and snatching thebackpack from him. “I’ll take that,” he sneers, sounding menacing enough thatthe kid relinquishes the bag without a word. Mickey gives him a warning lookbefore glaring at his friends. “I’m gonna give you little shits five seconds toget lost before I’m bringing out the taser. Your choice.”

They don’t need to be told twice, hightailing it thefuck out there. Mickey pulls the kid he’s still got a hold of close and pitcheshis voice low. “I ever find out you or your friends step foot back in thismall, it’ll be the last thing you do. Hear me?”

The kid’s eyes widen in fear and he nods frantically,stumbling a step when Mickey releases him before running for his life.

Mickey watches him go with a faint smirk beforeturning back to the cashier. “You okay, man?”

The cashier stares at him, dumbfounded, before heseems to find his words. “Y-yeah! Yeah, I’m good, thanks! They just caught meoff guard.”

Mickey nods, suppressing a snort. The guy’s skinny asa beanpole, Mickey’s not sure how much good he’d be if he was on guard or not.He makes his way over to the counter then, upending the backpack full of games.“Have fun restocking the shelves, I guess.”

“Thank again, um…Mickey?” the cashier says, squintingat his nametag and holding out a hand. “I’m Robbie.”

Mickey nods and gives the guy a once over. He can’tbe older than twenty-one, probably some college kid just trying to make a fewbucks so he can get wasted at the weekend. Taking pity on him, Mickey shakeshis hand. “Those kids shouldn’t be coming back to bother you.”

“Thanks,” Robbie breathes, opening his mouth like hewants to say more but Mickey’s radio starts going off again.

“I gotta deal with this,” Mickey says, silentlygrateful he doesn’t have to stick around and socialise. “See you around.”

*

Mickey doesn’t think much of it when he starts seeingRobbie around the place after that. He just figures it’s one of thosesituations where now that he knows who the guy is he’s able to distinguish himfrom the faceless shoppers Mickey encounters every day.

And Robbie’s an okay guy. Mickey doesn’t mindengaging in a couple of minutes of small talk with him when he passes thestore. He gets that Robbie probably gets bored during his weekday shifts – old peopleand soccer moms aren’t exactly the target demographic for a video game store.

Honestly, he doesn’t think anything of it at all untilIan does.

Mickey is on his way to the food court to meet Ianfor lunch when he hears someone calling his name. He turns around to findRobbie jogging towards him.

“Hey,” he says with a slight frown. “Everything okayat the store?” He was just about to take his fucking break; he doesn’t needthis right now. Ian’s only got half an hour before he needs to get back to theambulance.

“Yeah,” Robbie assures him with a wave of a hand oncehe reaches him. “I just thought you might be on your way to the food court? Younormally take a break around now, right?”

Mickey raises his eyebrows. He hadn’t realised theywere at the point of learning each other’s schedules. “Uh yeah?”

“Cool,” Robbie says, falling into step beside him.“I’m on break now too.”

Mickey doesn’t recall ever seeing Robbie in the foodcourt at this time but then again, Mickey doesn’t tend to pay much attention toanything besides his lunch and Ian when he’s on his break. The walk is short andslightly awkward and Mickey breathes a sigh of relief when he spots Ian waitingfor him at their usual table, both their trays of food already laid out infront of him.

“I’ll catch you later, man,” he says, absently givingRobbie a wave before making a beeline for Ian and dropping into his seat.“Hey,” he greets, bumping his foot against Ian’s under the table. “Thanks forgetting the food.”

“Who was that?” Ian asks, an odd pitch to his voice.

Mickey looks up from his food with a frown. “Who waswho?”

“The guy you came in with,” Ian says, looking weirdlyintense at some spot over Mickey’s shoulder.

“Who? Robbie?” Mickey answers around a mouthful offood. “College kid who works at the video game store downstairs.”

Ian nods, mouth a tight line. “He seems…friendly,” hesays, voice all clipped and seriously, what the fuck is wrong with him?

“I guess?” Mickey shrugs, can’t say he’s ever thoughttoo much about Robbie’s personality before.

Ian nods again and Mickey fixes him with ascrutinising look. It takes him a second but he manages to place the pinched upexpression on Ian’s face. The last time he saw that was around Byron and…

“Holy shit, are you jealous?”

“Wh- no!” Ian sputters, face twisting into a scowlwhen Mickey laughs. “I’m not fucking jealous,” he insists, slumping back in hisseat and crossing his arms. “I just don’t like how he was lookin’ at you.”

“Uh huh,” Mickey says amusedly.

“Shut the fuck up,” Ian grouses, avoiding Mickey’seyes and suddenly appearing very preoccupied with his lunch.

“You realise we’re literally married, right?” Mickeypoints out, trying and failing to keep the amusement out of his voice. “Sometwenty-year-old hipster that can’t even defend himself against a couple ofteenagers isn’t gonna steal me away.”

“I know,”Ian huffs, rolling his eyes before meeting Mickey’s gaze with a pleading look.“Forget it, I was being an idiot.”

“Yeah, you were,” Mickey agrees, reaching across thetable to take Ian’s hand. “In case you missed the memo, I’m in love with you,dumbass.”

And finally, a reluctant smile spreads across Ian’sface as he squeezes Mickey’s hand. “I love you too,” he says and Mickey willnever get tired of hearing that. “Can we enjoy our lunch now?”

Mickey nods and releases Ian’s hand to pick up hisfork. By the time he has to get back to work, he’s all but forgotten the Robbieconversation.

*

A couple of days later Mickey’s shift is just aboutto end when he gets waylaid by Robbie.

“Hey Mickey,” he says, managing to corner Mickey justbefore he can get to the back offices to grab his shit. “You finishing up forthe day?”

“Yep,” Mickey says, impatient enough that he hopesRobbie will get the memo that he’s in a rush. Ian actually has the day offtoday and Mickey’s 90% sure they have the whole house to themselves and dammit,he wants a few hours alone with his husband.

“You got any plans?” Robbie asks hopefully,barrelling on before Mickey can answer him. “Because, you know, I still haven’tthanked you for helping me out that one time and I was thinking we could maybegrab a beer or-“

Robbie abruptly cuts off at the exact same momentMickey feels an arm settle around his shoulders.

“Hey, Mick,” Ian greets far too enthusiastically. (Mickeyisn’t gonna complain about the cheek kiss though.)

“Hey,” Mickey says, giving Ian an I-know-what-you’re-doinglook. “Get tired of waiting for me?”

“You realise how rare a free house is, right?” Ianasks, raising his eyebrows meaningfully. “We need to take advantage of everysecond we can.”

Mickey lets a slow smirk spread across his face andis just about to let Ian lean in for the kiss when he hears a noise that soundsvaguely like a squeak and remembers Robbie is still standing there.

He looks away from Ian and finds Robbie staringbetween them with wide, bewildered eyes. He’d almost feel bad for the guy ifseeing Ian get needlessly jealous wasn’t so funny.

“Oh I’m so sorry,” Ian announces, all faux-politenessas he turns to Robbie. “I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Ian,” he says,sticking out his hand. “Mickey’s husband.”

“Husband!” Robbie sputters, voice high-pitched andcracking, and Mickey makes a valiant effort to keep a straight face.

“Yeah, how lucky am I, right?” Ian grins, squeezingMickey’s shoulder where he’s still got his arm around him. And Mickey knowsIan’s only saying this shit for Robbie’s benefit but it still makes him preen alittle.

Robbie seems at a loss for words and Mickey finallytakes a pity on him, deciding to end the one-sided pissing contest.

“We better get going,” he says to Ian, touching hishand to the small of Ian’s back. He has to bite the inside of his cheek when hemeets Ian’s gaze so he doesn’t start laughing. “See you later, Robbie!” hecalls, hearing Robbie’s faint, “See you,” as Ian starts steering them away.

“You enjoyed that way too much,” he mutters to Ian assoon as they’re out of earshot and Ian scoffs.

“Says the guy who used to stand over me like a guarddog when I worked at the club.”

“Those guys were literally trying to shove theirhands down your pants!” Mickey argues, elbowing Ian in the side before lettinghis arm wind round his back again.

“Fine, so we’ve established neither of us likes toshare.”

“No shit,” Mickey snorts.

Ian hums, pulling him to a stop just before theyreach the door to the back offices. “I meant it though,” he murmurs, drawingMickey in close until there’s only a few inches of space between them. “I amlucky.”

Mickey watches him for a minute, feeling his cheeksheat up and attempting to cover it up with a casual. “Fuck yeah, you are.”

Ian only smiles, looking too fond and tooaffectionate and Mickey so isn’t prepared for those eyes right now.

Patting Ian’s arms, he looks up at him with asuggestive raise of his eyebrows. “Now how about you let me get my jacket so wecan go home and I can show you how lucky you are?”  

Ian’s smile transforms into something more and hesqueezes Mickey’s hips before releasing him.

Mickey hardly gets two steps away, however, beforeIan’s dragging him back into a kiss. He figures he’s pretty damn lucky too.

*

[little-fam-ily]

A Place To Call Home (Fam ILY) Chapter 1

Read it on ao3                                                                                              Rating: T                                                                                                  Warnings: Age regression, implied abuse Summary: Virgil is an age regressor. Patton, his best friend, is the only one that knows. Things change very quickly when Patton starts dating Logan, and Virgil slips hard.       

Ever since he was a kid, Virgil knew he was different. He knew he thought things, felt things in a different way than other kids. He tried making friends, talking with people, but all his words came out jumbled and awkward. He tried being positive, but it was hard when all he seemed like to other people was a disappointment. His thoughts were like a tight ball of knots that could never be worked through. This always left him feeling isolated and alone, and his neglectful parents didn’t help.

Things started to change a little when he met a boy named Patton in high school. He was new to the small town, and picked an isolated corner in the cafeteria as his designated lunch/hiding spot.

That didn’t last long, as soon a short, chubby-cheeked boy with curly blonde hair, golden freckles, and the brightest blue eyes he’d ever seen come up to him. “Hey there, you’re the new kid, right? I’m Patton, it’s nice to meet you!” He said with a smile, holding out his hand.

Virgil was taken aback. No one had ever come up to him like that before, especially of their own volition. He always seemed too bitter and angry to approach, and he honestly learned to like it that way.

“Virgil.” He said cautiously, taking Patton’s hand. Patton smiled even wider, and shook it gratefully. Virgil didn’t even know that that was possible.

“Hey, can I sit with you?” Patton asked, not even waiting for a response as he sat down next to him. Virgil shifted away slightly, out of habit, and Patton got the hint, not getting too close.

They sat in silence for a while, eating their lunch. Well, Virgil was in silence, Patton was rambling about a million different things at once.

Then the lunch bell rang, their signal to go back to class. Patton stood up first. “Well, I gotta go to my fourth period, math. But thanks for letting me sit with you!”

“Huh, I have math too.” Virgil noted quietly.

“Oh, that’s great! We have a class together! Here, let me walk with you!”

And by Virgil’s side Patton stayed, for the entirety of high school and beyond. It didn’t take long for them to become the best of friends. They could always count on each other for anything, whether that being keeping secrets or standing up for one another. They could finish each other’s sentences, and sometimes it felt like they could read each other’s mind.

Patton seemed like his exact opposite; cheerful and friendly, and always looking on the bright side. He was amazing with people, and somehow always knew how to make a new friend. He was caring and kind, and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Virgil figured that was why they got along so well, opposites attract.

There was something else in Virgil’s life that only Patton knew about. He was an age regressor, someone who adopted the mind of a child to help cope with stress, trauma, anxiety, and a multitude of other things. Trauma was his biggest reason, with help from his parents, and him.

He figured he had always done it, he just didn’t have a word for it until a little after high school, when he told Patton. Patton actually had heard about it before, since he was both a regressor and a caregiver himself. They did their research, and quickly decided that Patton would be his carer.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a burden…” Virgil mumbled.

“Don’t worry kiddo, you'll never be a burden to me. I’ll always be here for you, no matter what.” Patton reassured. Virgil needed a lot of that, since he wasn’t very used to healthy relationships.

It had been several years since then. They had grown up, gotten their own places, and started work. Virgil worked at the Hot Topic in the mall, and Patton worked at a local animal shelter down the street from his apartment. They considered moving in together, but Virgil figured he would appreciate the space of living alone more, and Patton understood.

It was late summer. They both had to work overtime, considering the onslaught of kids that would be coming to and from during their break.

Hey there kiddo, how’ve you been?

Virgil looked down at the text on his phone and smiled. They hadn’t been able to see each other very much recently, being so busy and all, so being reached out to by Patton felt nice.

been good, kinda wanna regress, but ive been too busy

Awe, I’m sorry about that kiddo! Are you free to come over? You can if you want!

sure, be there in a min

They’ve had this agreement since forever that whenever Virgil needed to regress he would always go to Patton. Virgil rarely regressed without him, only letting himself under dire circumstances. If Patton wasn’t able to be there, he would hold off and be big until he was.

He grabbed his backpack with his little gear in it and headed to the bus stop. He put his earbuds in and got lost in the sound of 2000s punk rock bands until he stopped by Patton’s apartment.

It didn’t take long for Patton to open the door. “Hey kiddo! Come on in!”

They hugged, and Virgil was rushed in, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that there was another man in the room.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Virgil, this is Logan, my boyfriend!” Patton chuckled nervously, motioning to the stranger. He was tall and lanky, and his dark brown hair was cut short and slicked back. His striking dark eyes seemed to stare straight into Virgil’s core.

“Pleasure to meet you.” He said, holding out his hand. Both his words and his movements seemed almost robotic, emotionless.

“Virgil.” He took his hand cautiously, suspicion quickly rising.

Patton watched this exchange warily. “Uh, Logan, sweetie, why don’t you get us some snacks and drinks, yeah?”

Logan nodded his head. “I suppose some refreshments are in order.” He stated before going into the kitchen.

“Hey, what’s wrong hon?” Patton stepped toward Virgil.

“How long has this been going on? Why didn’t you tell me?” He hissed quietly, straining to keep his voice low.

“I don’t know, I’ve just been really busy, that’s all! And I know you’ve been busy too. Besides, we’ve only been going out for a couple of weeks-”

“A week and a half.” Logan corrected

“See! A week and a half, it hasn’t been that long!” Patton reassured, putting his hand on Virgil’s shoulder.

“Does he know?” He mumbled. Patton furrowed his brows. “Know about what?”

Virgil rolled his eyes, motioning to the backpack slung over his shoulder. Patton’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh! Well, I told him about myself as soon as we started dating.”

“Did you tell him about me?” He whimpered, anxiety only rising.

“No! Oh, no, of course not! I wouldn’t out you to anyone without your permission, you know that!” Patton said, squeezing his shoulder. Virgil huffed, crossing his arms.

“You know that you don’t have to talk about me behind my back, right?” Logan walked in with a tray, with a bowl of popcorn and three cups of soda on it, since Patton didn’t drink.

Virgil shuddered, looking away. He scrunched up, making himself look as small as possible. Patton smiled nervously. “Logan! I’m sorry, we were just clearing up some things, that’s all.”

Logan stared at both of them for a second, but shrugged and set the tray down on the coffee table, not caring enough to get into it.

“I should go.” Virgil murmured, quickly shuffling to the door. Patton stopped him. “You don’t have to! You can stay if you want.”

He shook his head. “It’s fine, I’ll leave you two alone.” He shoved past Patton and walked hurriedly down the stairs and toward the bus stop, trying hard to stop the tears pricking his eyes and the lump in his throat.

Patton sighed. “I should go after him.” He said, biting his lip.

“I don’t know, maybe he just needs some space.” Logan countered, picking up a book and flipping through to where he last left off.

“Yeah, maybe…”

“I have a feeling he doesn’t like me very much.” He stated after a moment of silence had passed between them.

“He doesn’t mean it like that!” Patton said, turning around. “He’s just, been through a lot, and doesn’t do well with people.”

“I can understand that.” Logan adjusted his glasses. “But it’d be best to give him his space. He can probably handle himself.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Patton smiled sadly, sitting next to him and digging into the popcorn, knowing deep down that that wasn’t true.

Virgil burst into his apartment, stomping to his room and slamming the door. He threw down his backpack in a huff, plopping down on the bed. He grabbed the nearest pillow he could find, squeezing it as tight as he could.

The thoughts started pouring in. This can’t be happening. He’s gonna leave. He found someone new and now he’s gonna leave me.

He dug his face into the pillow, tears staining the pillowcase. He looked at his backpack with disdain, knowing that he was gonna have to be all by himself.

He put the pillow down, and crawled over to his backpack. He opened it carefully, and pulled out a small beanie baby bat stuffie named Vlad. He held it tight, feeling himself getting smaller and smaller.

He took a deep breath and sighed, opening the small front pocket. He pulled out his single pacifier. It was lavender with black rhinestones on the guard, the words ‘baby bat’ on the handle. A little bat charm was the centerpiece. Patton decorated it himself.

That’s when Virgil broke down. He sobbed quietly, tears falling down his cheeks. He held onto Vlad like he was holding on for dear life. He started rocking back and forth, his breath getting shallower and shallower.

The walls started closing in around him. The shadows were towering over his small frame. His field of vision was darkening, and static started to fill his ears. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest.

Flashes of the past swirled in his mind. Parents, school, but most frighteningly, him.

God, why are you like this? Jesus, why do I even put up with you? You’re worthless, you know that? I shouldn’t even be here, I’d be a lot happier if I wasn’t.

Then he stopped himself, reminding himself that nothing would get solved this way. He took big gulps of breath, trying to remember those breathing exercises Patton had taught him. In for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four.

He did this several times. The static had gone away, and his vision was a lot clearer. But there was still this heavy, empty feeling in his chest, and the lump in his throat was still there.

He stood up shakily, grabbing his sippy cup from his backpack and going to fill it with milk. It was a bit bad, but he didn’t care at that point.

He shuffled back to his bedroom, grabbing Vlad and his pacifier, and climbed into bed, burying himself in a pile of blankets. He got out his phone and went to Spotify, putting on his special littlespace playlist. He let his eyes flutter close, trying his best to go to sleep.

It seemed like the minutes ticked by slower and slower. Every time he shut his eyes, they would just pop open again. He groaned, taking his pacifier out of his mouth and sitting back up. The thoughts were coming back again.

He tried, he really did. He tried to be big, he tried to take care of himself. But he just couldn’t do it. He needed someone there, someone to take care of him. Specifically, he needed Patton, he needed his Papa.

The tears started forming again, and this time he was slipping hard. He grabbed his phone and scrolled through his contacts, tapping Patton’s name.

The phone seemed to ring forever, but he finally picked up. “Hey kiddo, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

“No.” Virgil sniffed, voice getting smaller. “Need you, miss you.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry, I should’ve come with you.” Patton sighed, silently cursing himself. “How small are you love?”

“Dunno, baby I think.” Virgil was really slurring his words.

Patton let out a breath, biting his lip. “Alright little one, I’m coming as fast as I can. Can you hold out until I get there? For me?”

A few more tears slipped down Virgil’s cheeks. “Mhmm.”

“Thank you, baby bat. I'll be there as soon as I can, I promise.”

Patton hung up the phone. He grabbed his wallet and his keys, and headed for the door. “I should’ve gone with him.” He said, facing Logan, who was still sitting on the couch.

“It’s fine, I shouldn’t have kept you. I didn’t realize how bad it was.” He said, looking up from his book.

“Are you sure?” Patton stepped towards him. He stood up, towering over him. “I’m sure. Go, he obviously needs you.”

Patton smiled. “Thank you.” He said, kissing his boyfriend goodbye before heading out the door.

They lived relatively close to each other, and Patton was able to get to Virgil’s faster, since he had a car. He ran up and knocked on the door, before realizing it was unlocked. He opened it carefully.

“Virgil? Are you here?” He called out, looking around warily. He stepped in, listening to any sign of movement.

He soon heard sobbing coming from the bedroom. He rushed in as quietly as he could, finding that the huge pile of blankets on the bed was shaking.

“Hey there sweetie, can I come in?” He asked, stepping towards the bed. He slowly pulled back the covers, revealing Virgil’s wide, scared eyes.

“Oh, oh baby…” Patton cooed, gingerly touching Virgil’s hair. “Can I climb under there with you?”

Virgil hesitated, but nodded his head. Patton smiled, pulling back the covers and getting in, pulling them back over them.

He noticed that Virgil was biting his thumb out of habit. He looked around, finding his pacifier near the edge of the bed. “Here, can you put this in, please?”

Virgil whined, looking away. Patton sighed. “Can you do this for me? I just don’t want you biting your thumb and hurting yourself.”

Virgil huffed, begrudgingly taking his thumb out of his mouth. He opened wide, letting out a relieved sigh as Patton put his pacifier in.

“Thank you, sweet boy.” Patton smiled, holding him close. “Do you wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

He burrowed his face in the crook of Patton’s neck. “Gonna leave.”

“What?” Patton asked, looking down at him.

“You’re gonna leave.” He sobbed. “You’re gonna leave just like DeeDee did. He’s gonna take you away from me.”

“Oh, oh honey, no no no. Look at me.” Patton gently held Virgil’s face in his hands, bringing their eyes to meet. “I would never abandon you like that, okay? Never, in my entire life. I’m here for you, always, and I’ll never let you go, okay?”

Virgil nodded, closing his eyes and touching his forehead with Patton’s.

“I, I like Logan, I do. But we’ve only been together for a short while, so we’re not really in the ‘I Love You’ stage yet. Besides, I could never love him as much as I love you.” Patton assured.

“Really?” Virgil asked, wide eyed.

“Really really. I pinkie promise.” Patton held out his pinkie for Virgil to take, which he did with a small smile.

Patton laughed. “Now, what do you wanna do? Do you wanna watch some TV, or?”

“Take a nap.” Virgil mumbled, eyes finally heavy enough to close.

“Alright kiddo, you take a nap. I’ll be right here with you.” Patton murmured, holding Virgil close and gently petting his hair.

Virgil hummed, snuggling up as close as he could. His breathing steadied, and he fell into a safe lull of listening to Patton’s heartbeat. His smell and his touch filled him with a cozy feeling of warmth. “Love you Papa.”

Patton smiled, heart melting. He knew he would stay with his baby boy for as long as he could, and he had a feeling he could do it forever. “Love you too, little one.”

[as-clear-as-crystal]

If I Couldn’t Find You (Prompt Fill)

Good morning! @theoceanismyinkwell This is to fulfill the prompt you gave me a couple months ago from the whump prompts list: "“I’m not hurt.” “You are actively bleeding.” “Oh, so I am.”

I was so happy to get a prompt; and I'm sorry it took so long to write. But! I had so much fun writing this story. It was longer than I first planned it, but I'm kind of a more is more type of person when it comes to fic. 😅

Anyway, thanks for the prompt, and I hope you enjoy! To read on AO3, click this link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898108 

Or, click to read more...

If I Couldn’t Find You

Tony was in a great mood. He’d spent the previous evening with Pepper, and his morning with Rhodey over brunch. The two friends were just stepping out of Rhodey’s favorite cafe in Manhattan when Tony got a call. He frowned when he saw the picture that flashed on his phone, swiping his screen immediately and putting it to his ear.

Rhodey raised an eyebrow, “Who’s that?”

Tony glanced at Rhodey, “It’s Peter’s friend... Leeds, you and Pete are supposed to be at a museum; please tell me you haven’t gotten yourselves in trouble.”

“Oh. Uh. Sorry, Mr. Stark, sir, but I think Peter might be… We were outside waiting to be let into the museum this morning, and he heard something bad going down a couple blocks away. Said it sounded like a robbery? He hated just standing there listening, so he snuck off to check it out, but he’s still not back, and that was two hours ago, sir, and I’m really worried. I’ve got a bad feeling; he’s got his phone turned off. I don’t know what to do, I’m so sorry, sir...”

Tony felt like he’d been doused with ice water. Rhodey edged closer to him, eyes narrowing in concern. Tony’s mind was racing with possibilities, but he had a procedure for situations like this.

First, track the kid.

“Friday, track Peter’s suit and phone. Pull up the location when you have it.” Tony said without preamble, praying that the phone and suit and his kid were all in the same actual location. “Leeds, you did the right thing by calling me.”

“Can you… tell him to call me when you find him? Please.” Ned sounded distressed.

“Yep, that’ll be on my list of things to tell him. Catch you later, kid.” Tony hung up as Friday pinged the locations for the suit and phone.

Locations, plural. The suit being in an alley a couple blocks from the museum where Peter’s class was meant to be that day, and the phone being forty miles north of that, in some abandoned packing-house, and Tony felt like he might vomit. Instead, he tapped his chest.

“Honey Bear, I need your help,” Tony’s pleading eyes turned to Rhodey’s, just before his suit formed around him, closing him off.

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

Tony was preparing his descent on the packing house when Rhodey called him.

“I’ve got his backpack, and his suit’s here, Tones,” Rhodey reported. “But, it sounds like Pete got himself in trouble. I spoke to a couple shop owners, they said the cops were here earlier responding to an anonymous call.”

“That was Peter,” Tony informed him, “Friday told me he’d made a call, before his phone was turned off.”

“Well, the shop owner said he was being held at gunpoint - and a teenager came in to say the cops were on their way; tried to talk the gunmen into leaving. They did, but they made the kid go with them.”

“Why the hell wasn’t he in his suit?” Tony would be pulling his hair out if he could. Why did his kid insist on doing stupid shit like this? Tony was going to ground him until he was forty. Fifty. He was going to implant a tracker in his -

“The suit notifies you when he wears it. Maybe he didn’t want you to know he’d ditched his class field trip,” Rhodey suggested.

“Well, surprise. I now know. Million dollar suit and he leaves it in his backpack. I swear to God, Rhodes, I’m gonna...” Tony took a deep breath, “Can you just… I’m gonna have Happy pick you up, and meet me at this location? What else did you find out?”

“No problem; I got your back on this,” Rhodey told him. “All I know is the cops are on the lookout for an unmarked white sedan. Surveillance cameras were unable to make out the license plate, and as you can imagine thousands of cars match that description…”

“I think I found it,” Tony told him as he approached a building. A dirty white car was sloppily parked near the side entrance.

“Don’t kill anyone,” Rhodey ordered.

“No promises.”

Tony eschewed all subtlety in favor of blasting his way inside. Friday’s sensors indicated four adult males, and zero teenage idiots, inside. But the kid’s phone was there, and those men were his only lead. They started shooting first, but of course the bullets ricocheted off his suit. He registered a lot of yelling, but that didn’t matter. He blasted two of them before grabbing the nearest asshole by the collar.

“Listen, Dipshit, you have ten seconds to tell me what you did with the kid you kidnapped this morning.”

“Whoa - what kid? - Shit! Hey!” Tony lifted the man up so his feet could barely tap the floor.

“Wanna try that again, Jackass? Because if he’s disappeared, then so do you -”

“No, wait, we didn’t do anything, that kid was crazy!” The man tried fruitlessly to loosen Tony’s grip.

“The hell are you talking about? Where is he?” Tony demanded. He didn’t appreciate man’s use of the word was. “Two seconds, and I’m gonna rip off an arm.”

“You’re insane! Put me down!”

“One,” Tony snarled.

“He jumped out of the car!” The man was practically crying at that point; probably recognizing how close Tony actually was to making very good on his threats. “We were going over a bridge and he- he just jumped out! We- we- you gotta believe me, we didn’t even touch him!”

Tony took a second to breathe. Peter was Spiderman. Peter could feasibly jump out of a moving vehicle and onto a bridge and still be ok. His kid could do that. In fact, maybe it was his best option to escape these assholes. Peter would be fine. Except, if he was fine, then where was he? Why hadn’t he called anyone? He had to know by now that at least Ned would be freaking out. Peter wasn’t the kind of kid to just make his loved ones worry like that. Uncertainty was gripping Tony’s lungs like a vice.

One thing Tony did know for sure was he didn’t feel any sympathy for the man crying in his vice grip. Peter wouldn’t have been jumping out of cars at all if he hadn’t been forced into one at gunpoint.

He pulled the man’s face close to his mask. “Where?”

“Wh-where?”

“Where were you. When the kid. Jumped out. Of the goddamn car?!”

Sobbing, the man finally gave Tony an actual location, and he wasted no time incapacitating the crook, asking Friday to contact local law enforcement as he grabbed Peter’s phone from one of their pockets. Then, he was shooting like a rocket towards the kid’s last known location.

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

Tony called Rhodey in-flight.

“I’m sure he’s fine, Tones, the kid’s strong.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know he is. Just, get here soon as you can. Please.”

Tony slowed down when he approached the offending bridge. It was short, spanning over a lazy, shallow portion of a river. There was a decent amount of traffic, but it wasn’t too bad. He had Friday scanning the area as he dipped under the bridge.

Nothing. There was nothing.

Considering it had been probably approaching two hours since Peter had escaped the moving car, Tony shouldn’t have expected the kid to still be there. But, then where the hell was he? Tony flew along the bank. There was a golf course on one side and a strip mall on the other. Had Peter fallen in the river? Hit his head and drowned?

No, no, no, no. Come on Parker, I need a clue, here.

He had another minute of freaking-out searching, before a new call was being pushed through. Given Tony’s calls were all filtered by Friday, he accepted it with a guarded hopefulness.

“This is Stark.”

“H-hey, Mr. Stark! Uh, so a crazy thing happened, today. Um, please don’t freak out - ”

Tony sucked in a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding. He’d been sick over the possibility of never hearing that voice again.

Thank God. Thank God.

“Pete?! Where the hell are you? Are you hurt? Friday, track this call - take me there now. And, please get Rhodes and Happy the new coordinates... Kid? Hey, I need you to answer me, Pete. Are you hurt?”

“Oh. Ok, this is not, uh, not freaking out.”

“Parker, are you hurt?”

“NO! I’m fine, Mr. Stark, I swear, it’s - OH, God, did Ned already tell you what happened?” Peter groaned miserably. “He did, didn't he?”

Tony loved this kid so much, and he was going to kill him.

“Tell me what? That you ditched school to interrupt a robbery, without the suit that I so lovingly crafted for you - to keep you safe - and that you were abducted at gunpoint and taken out of the damn city?”

“Oh, yeah, well that’s a lot more detail than I expected Ned to know about…”

“Rhodey, Happy and I have been searching for you since Ned called me an hour ago, which was apparently two hours after he’d last seen you. I just threatened to rip the arms off of someone, because I couldn’t find you, Peter! What the hell would I do if I couldn’t find you?”

“God, Mr. Stark, I’m so sorry…” Peter sounded like he might be very close to tears, and Tony shut his mouth, clenched his fists, counted to ten… He saw Friday guiding his suit to the call’s location. It looked like some old payphone at a service station on the other side of the golf course.

“I really would’ve called sooner, Mr. Stark,” Peter was saying, “but they had my phone, and everyone I approached acted like I was gonna attack them or something, they yelled at me and some of them threatened to call the police, and I didn’t know if they’d believe me if I told them I’d just been abducted, so I hid and looked for some spare change in the golf course, and then I found this really old fashioned pay phone...”

“Ok, listen Pete, it’s ok, just breathe.” Tony was going to wrap this kid in bubble wrap. He was going to put a tracker in his watch, and in his shoes, and...

“So, can you please maybe send Happy to come get me, sir, because I don’t even have my wallet so I can’t get on the bus, and May will actually murder me if she finds out that I ditched my field trip…”

“I’m gonna get you, kid. Come on, you know I’m gonna help you. I thought we were past this… I’m almost there. So, just stay where you are…”

He heard Peter sniff on the other end. “Wait, are you in the suit?”

“Am I in the suit?” Tony rolled his eyes. “Are you serious, right now, Parker? You were kidnapped. You better damn well believe I’m in the suit.”

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

Tony descended on the service station, to see his kid - finally, thank God - in the flesh, and felt his throat tighten. He was dismayed, but not particularly surprised, to see just how much Peter had undersold his injuries. He was soaking wet, missing a shoe, and he had a bruise on his chin and across the bridge of his nose. Dried blood crusted under his nose, and a trail of blood still dripped from a cut on his forearm.

But, he was there. He was alive.

Thank God.

Tony disengaged the suit as Peter ran into him. The kid wrapped his arms around him, and Tony just stood there senseless for a few breaths before he returned the embrace.

This kid was gonna be the death of him.

“Pete, what the hell?” He reproached softly. “You look like a damned drowned puppy.”

Peter started to pull back, but Tony held him by the shoulders at arms’ length.

“Mr. Stark, I really am sorry - “

“Hey, no - we can talk about that bit later, Pete, but you said you weren’t hurt…”

“I’m not,” he said, “I’m not hurt, I’m fine…”

“You are actively bleeding right now,” Tony remarked dryly, touching Peter’s sleeve right above the injury.

Peter looked down as if seeing the wound for the first time.

“Oh, so I am,” Peter said quietly. He looked back at Tony. “I must’ve scratched it when I jumped out of the car. I don’t even really feel it.”

Tony gently touched Peter’s nose, the bridge of which was a hazy blue, and swollen. “Do you feel that?”

Peter frowned. “It does not feel great.”

“May be broken... we’ll get it checked,” Tony said. “Did those assholes hit you, or did this happen when you leapt to freedom?”

“No, they didn’t hit me, they just tied my hands when I was in the car, and then… I didn’t know what to do, because I couldn’t break the rope while they were watching, right? Or they’d know I was too strong to be a normal... guy. So, I pulled the car door open and jumped out, but it was kinda hard to land with my hands still tied…”

“That was really dangerous, Pete, even for Spiderman…”

“They would’ve killed me, I think,” Peter looked at him, eyes haunted, and Tony felt a chill run down his spine. “I was really scared; I didn’t know what they wanted with me - to be a hostage or what - but they took their masks off in the car, so I didn’t think they were gonna let me go…”

Tony sometimes hated his mind, and the thousand possibilities that he could see all at once - the ways in which this whole scenario could’ve gone so wrong. The ways he could’ve lost this kid...

But, right then, Tony’s hands were still holding onto Peter. He was safe, and Tony promised himself he would do whatever he needed to do to make sure this scenario never happened again.

Tony cleared his throat. “You’re shivering. Come on, there’s a diner across the road. We can wait for Hap & Rhodey there.”

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

Tony gave a huge tip to the wide-eyed waitress who greeted them at the diner.

“He’s had a rough day,” Tony whispered to her after he’d sent Peter into the bathroom to at least wash his hands before eating. “We’re just gonna wait here until his dads come pick him up. You don’t happen to have any towels, do you? I’ll pay for them.”

The waitress, bless her, nodded and disappeared into the back. She returned with three fluffy hand towels and a stack of dish towels, just as Peter was exiting the men’s room. She then led them to a booth towards the back; a seat which afforded a good view out the window, so Tony would be able to see his friends when they arrived.

Thankfully, the place was nearly empty, and the patrons that were there didn’t seem to be paying them any attention. Tony ordered four large meals; not knowing when Peter’s last meal was, or if Rhodey or Happy would want anything when they arrived.

As soon as the waitress was gone, Tony picked up the fluffiest towel in the pile and tossed it to Peter.

“Dry your hair, Parker, you’re gonna catch cold.”

Peter caught the towel and eyed Tony warily before obediently rubbing his hair with it.

“Listen, Mr. Stark, I really am sorry…”

“Kid,” Tony sighed, feeling extremely tired, “every time you apologize, a fairy loses its wings.”

“I - I know, I get it, I keep apologizing,” Peter peeked at him from under the towel, and Tony’s heart clenched again with the thought of what could have happened. “But, I want you to know, I wasn’t just… trying to be reckless, or - or trying to ignore your rules. I just… Can’t let bad things happen to people if I’m there to stop it.”

“And what about you?” Tony raised an eyebrow, folding his arms across his chest. “Who stops the bad things from happening to Peter?”

Peter frowned, “I was fine.”

“Yeah, we’re gonna work on your definition of ‘fine.’”

“The man was begging for his life.” Peter whispered harshly, flinging the towel down against the seat, not wanting anyone nearby to hear, but clearly needing Tony to understand. Clearly thinking Tony didn’t understand. “I couldn’t just stand there with my class and go on into the museum and listen to him getting murdered. I couldn’t… I - I had to do something!”

“Then wear the suit, Pete,” Tony ground out slowly through clenched teeth, pitching his voice to match the kid’s, even quieter, knowing Peter could hear, leaning forward to add emphasis. “The suit I made for you, so you could go save people when bad things happen to them, and so I would know to go save you when bad things happen to you!”

“I couldn’t wear the suit when I was supposed to be in class!”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because then you’d know I was… out.”

“Yes. Yes! Then I would know! Yes, that’s the whole entire goddamn point!” Tony hit the table - not loud enough to get them kicked out of the diner, but loud enough to drive home the point.

Peter stared at Tony like he’d just grown two heads. He blinked several times, took a deep breath, and exhaled.

“Peter?” Tony reached over and poked at the kid’s arm. “Did I break you?”

“Ok, wait, so would you have been ok with all this if I’d just worn the suit this morning?”

Would he have been ok with all this?

Something Rhodey had said before they’d left on this whole wild goose chase came back to him…

”Maybe he didn’t want you to know he’d ditched his field trip.”

Tony leaned back in his seat; trying to put himself into the mind of a 16-year-old. When Tony was 16, he was a little shit. He was already enrolled at MIT, going to parties and getting into trouble he had no business being part of, and the whole time… He had wondered if his Dad was ever going to give a damn what his son was up to.

He’d wondered if he’d ever get into enough trouble for his father to finally notice him. He’d wondered if he’d ever get into so much trouble that his dad just disowned him.

But, Peter wasn’t getting into trouble to get attention. Peter was cursed with the ability to know when something terrible was about to happen, and unlike most grown-ass adults, the kid actually gave a damn about someone other than himself. So, this morning, he’d been stuck in a catch-22.

Option One: Ignore the genuine terror of a man a block away, when he could’ve potentially helped.

Option Two: Go help the man, but get in trouble for ditching school.

“God, Pete, I’m sorry,” Tony sighed. He grabbed one of the clean towels and dipped it in his glass of water, sliding out of his booth and crossing the table.

“Scootch over, Web-head,” he said softly.

Peter obliged, and Tony sat next to him. He examined the cut that was still sluggishly bleeding, and carefully dabbed at the blood.

“I don’t want you patrolling when you should be at school,” Tony said, finally.

Peter opened his mouth, but Tony held up a hand before the kid could start to argue.

“This wasn’t patrolling, though, Pete. This was… you over-hearing an emergency situation.” Tony applied pressure to the cleansed wound. Happy had a first aid kit in the car, so they could bandage it up once he arrived. “In the event of an emergency like the one that happened today, I’d much prefer you to wear the suit. I can’t promise you won’t ever get detention if you ditch school, although the fact that they didn’t notice you were missing makes me doubt their abilities to keep you safe… I’m just thankful you have a friend like Ned.”

“Oh, shit, Ned!” Peter looked up at Tony, then clapped his hand over his mouth. “Sorry.”

“Another fairy, kid,” Tony laughed. “You can call Ned in a minute. Let me finish my heartfelt speech, please.”

Peter nodded, lips turning up in a slight smile. Tony ruffled Peter’s hair before continuing.

“I can’t honestly promise that I won’t ever get mad, or not lecture you… But, I promise to listen to your side of the story, and no matter what, I’m not gonna ditch you. Even if you have a month of detention. You’ll just have to visit me after you’ve served your time. And, I’m not gonna take the suit. I’m gonna help you. I think we’ve established today that I physically cannot handle losing you. Similar to how you cannot seem to physically handle not helping people out.”

Peter was quiet for a moment, seeming to process what Tony had just said. Then, his eyes grew misty, and he lunged at Tony, wrapping his arms clear around his mentor, so the man couldn’t move. The kid rested the side of his face against Tony’s chest.

“I really love you, Mr. Stark,” the kid whispered, and Tony’s brain short-circuited - fireworks exploding in his mind. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, just looking down at the kid’s head, before Peter sat up again, blushing.

The waitress came with their food, and Peter stabbed his stack of pancakes with a fork, shoveling them in his mouth with an appetite that only teenagers seem to have. In the meantime, Tony texted the kid’s aunt to tell her Peter was with him, and Ned to tell him Peter was ok. By the time Rhodey and Happy pulled into the parking lot, the kid had eaten all of his meal, and half of Tony’s.

“Look, who’s here,” Tony said quietly, as Rhodey and Happy entered the diner.

Peter put his fork down, frowning at Happy’s scowl. “Am I gonna get another lecture, now?”

“Probably,” Tony said lightly, “But that just means they love you.”

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 30

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 5,379

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"Chorus?! That's bullshit! There must be some mistake, lemme see that thing," Lea snatched the paper off from where it'd been taped to one of the auditorium doors, causing it to rip a little as he did so.

Sighing, I stretched a hand out to try and retrieve the cast list from him, "Don't be silly, it's fine. It makes sense."

He yanked the sheet out of my reach, squinting at it with a perturbed frown before scoffing. "Makes sense my sweet ass. Where's Marluxia? Me and that cotton-candy-haired punk are gonna have words."

"You'll do no such thing," I finally managed to get my hands on the paper, prying it free of his fingers. Seeing it was now horribly wrinkled to boot, I grimaced and taped it back to the door, doing my best to smooth it back out. Then I slipped my hand into Lea's and started half leading, half dragging him back towards where he'd parked his car. "And it does make sense. They don't know me. They've never worked with me before. On top of that, I did choke a bit at the start of my audition. They can't trust a starring role to someone that's inexperienced and that they're unfamiliar with, not until I've shown them how I do in a background part as well as shown them that I'm capable and that they can rely on me."

"But you were the best one at the whole damn tryouts!" he huffed back. "What are those numskulls even thinking? I tell ya, if I were the director, it woulda been no contest. You'd be the leading lady like that," his fingers snapped.

"You're sweet and not at all biased," I rolled my eyes with a soft snort. "...honestly, I'm actually a bit relieved to be starting in chorus. I'd rather take it slow, ease myself back into theater and not take on too much responsibility right out the gate. It'll give me a chance to feel it out and see if this is something I really want to pursue. And if it is, I just have to put in the time, do the grunt work and by the next time they're putting on another production, maybe then they'll have enough confidence in me to give me a lead part."

Lea harrumphed. "They better. Otherwise I'm gonna kick Marluxia's stupid butt."

I hid a small grin behind my fingers, "He might not even be the one directing next time."

"Don't care. His ass will still be the one I kick outta pure spite."

A snerk escaped me, followed swiftly by a tiny, bubbling laugh. Lea glanced towards me, the corners of his eyes crinkling. As we came to a stop on the passenger side of his car, he tugged on my hand, pulling me up against him. He slipped one arm around my waist while his other came up to tuck some of my hair behind my ear as he ducked his head down, kissing me thoroughly.

Breath? Gone.

Knees? Jelly.

Brain? Mush.

As he pulled away and I struggled to remember how to take in oxygen again, I asked, "What was that for?"

"Just cuz I can," he winked, planting a light peck to my forehead. "You know this whole dating thing we're doing? Huge fan. Ten out of ten. Would recommend."

Face warming, I gave a derisive snort. "Sap."

"Yes, but I'm your sap," he nuzzled his nose to mine before releasing me to unlock my door and hold it open for me.

"Sap squared," I promoted him with a chuckle as I took my seat, reaching for the buckle. "Cliché sap squared."

"Too true. And you wouldn't have me any other way," he beamed before shutting the car door. My eyes followed him as he made his way around to the other side of the vehicle, one corner of my lips twitching up.

No. I suppose I wouldn't.

"Alright, next stop," Lea said as he plopped down into his own seat, retrieving his shades from where he kept them tucked in the sun visor and slipping them onto his nose. Thankfully, it was only his aviators. But I seriously doubted I'd seen the last of those ludicrous heart-glasses. "Lay that address on me, chica."

I fished the little piece of paper it was scrawled on out of my pocket and he tapped it into his phone as I read it off to him. Then the device began reciting directions in a bored monotone, his engine roared to life as he started the car and we sped off. We hadn't even been driving for a full minute before I heard a… peculiar noise coming from the back seat. I blinked, then glanced back over my shoulder. Had I imagined it? ...no, wait! There it was again! And it seemed to be coming from the floor behind my seat, where piled in a rumpled heap was…

"Um…" I quirked an eyebrow at Lea. "...your jacket seems to be barking…"

"Hm?" He was keeping his eyes on the road, but I didn't miss the hint of a smirk tugging at one side of his mouth. "Oh! Yeah, that. It does that from time to time. Needta train it to be better behaved."

My eyelids drooped. "...maybe you should feed it or take it for a walk."

"Nah, that'd only encourage it and then I'd never be able to get the damn thing to quit yapping," he snerked as he stopped at a red light. Then he was reaching behind me to shove his leather jacket aside, revealing a big box, its lid decorated with a frilly bow on top. He hoisted it up with a small grunt and deposited it into my lap. "Here. Was originally supposta be a Congratz-On-Landing-The-Lead present, but now it's more of a Congratz-On-Being-Glorified-Scenery present," Lea chuckled, scratching his cheek.

I lightly swatted at his shoulder. "There are no small parts, only small actors," I quoted with a shake of my head before directing my gaze back to the gift. I could feel it twitching and shifting slightly in my lap as it gave another couple of muffled barks.

Gee. What could it be? I really do wonder.

(Note the sarcasm.)

I was just glad to see several air holes poked into the lid. Come to think of it, Lea had been keeping his windows rolled down too. Sighing and smiling despite myself, I lifted the lid up. Sure enough, a puppy poked its head out to greet me, one that was a super white ball of pure fluff. The same one that's stolen my heart at the pet store when Lea and I had stopped by a while back. The one I'd dubbed Marshmallow. "Lea, no. I told you already that my complex doesn't allow pets." My chiding words were at odds however with my delighted chuckle as I picked the little guy up to hug close. "You shouldn't have gotten me a dog."

"I didn't," he said brightly as the light turned green and he stepped on the gas once more. "I got myself a dog."

I stared at him blankly as I felt the pup flicking its tongue along my chin. "...so wait. In essence, you got yourself a gift to celebrate me being glorified scenery in the play?"

"No, I got myself a gift to celebrate you getting the lead in the play. Not my fault you failed to live up to your half the bargain," he tsked before laughing as I gave his shoulder another smack, this one with more force behind it. Then as we shifted lanes, he flashed a smug grin, "'Sides, keeping the furball at my place gives ya an excuse to come visit me more often."

Petting the puppy's soft fur, I snorted, "Manipulative."

"Hey, what you call manipulative, I call incentive."

"You're right," I hummed as my fingers scritched behind Marshmallow's ear, a sly curve to my lips now. "You're definitely not enough of an incentive on your own for me to make the trip."

"Rude! You're lucky I think you're so cute," he reached over to pinch my cheek. I ignored him, holding the dog up in front of my face so we were nose-to-snoot. Marshmallow wagged his tail, licking the tip of my nose and I heard Lea grumble, "Oh sure. You he gives puppy kisses while all he ever gave me was tooth hugs."

"Tooth hugs?" I echoed, brow furrowing slightly.

"Lil furball's been tearing the shit outta my ankles nonstop," his face pinched sourly and I couldn't help a small laugh.

Once I'd sobered, I said, "I thought you said Saïx would murder you if you ever got a dog. How are you not dead?"

He flicked on his turn signal. "Oh trust me, it's not for lack of trying on his part, but bastard's gotta catch me first. The trick is to never stop moving when I'm home. Stay in one place too long and I'll get pulverized. Also got six different deadbolts locking my bedroom door now to keep him out, though I'm just waiting for him to get pissed enough to Kool-Aid Man his way through our shared wall."

"Hope I'm there to see that," I grinned, shifting to cradling the puppy in my arms in order to maximize belly rubbing efficiency. "Surprised the little guy managed to stay quiet for so long."

"Me too. Squirt was yipping up a storm the whole drive over when I was coming to pick you up. Was worried he was gonna ruin the surprise. But musta just wore himself out eventually and took a nap or something."

"Mm," I just hummed distractedly. "Also kind of shocked you were able to snag him. We saw him at the pet store, what… two weeks ago? Would have thought someone would've adopted him already in that time."

"Heh… well, I didn't exactly pick him up today..."

"Yesterday?" I glanced towards him and he gave a weak chuckle, shaking his head. "Then when?"

Lea scratched a finger behind his ear. "Er… same day we went to the roller rink?"

I blinked a couple times, then deadpanned, "...as in the same day we went to the pet store?"

"That'd be the one!" he nodded as he pulled up to a stop sign, his hand coming up to pluck at the short hairs at the nape of his neck. "After you left to go home, I went back. Ya just liked the lil mutt so much, I couldn't help myself. It was an impulse buy. Five seconds after I became a proud, new dog dad though, I felt like a total dumbass. But woulda felt like shit if I'd tried to give him back, so..." he shrugged, "I kept him."

My gaze returned to Marshmallow as my lips pursed to one side. He panted happily back up at me. "...I didn't see him that one time Saïx had me over for dinner. How'd you manage to hide him?"

"Stashed him away at Xion's for the night. Couldn't risk you finding him and realizing what a twitterpated bonehead I was," he snerked as the car propelled us forward once more.

I bit back a little grin. "But it's okay for me to find out now?"

"Well yeah, course! Since you're my girl and all now. Back before we were dating, me buying your dog was weird and possibly a lil creepy." He shot me a smirk, "But now it's just sweet and endearing!"

"If you say so," I murmured, only listening with half an ear as I smooshed and squished the pup's face.

His head turned slightly towards me and I could practically feel the slight narrowing of his eyes behind his aviators. "...crap, I'm gonna have to compete for your affections with that damn fleabag now, aren't I?"

I struggled to keep a straight face as my finger booped Marshmallow's cute little nose. "Is it really a competition if you've already lost?"

"Oh-ho, I see how it is," he snorted as he checked the rearview. "Well don't be too alarmed if next time ya see me, I'm down one dog and up one pair of a brand spanking new white, poofy earmuffs. The two things'll be totally unrelated. Pure coincidence."

I gave a tiny, amused huff and rolled my eyes. Then I leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for the puppy. You're very sweet."

He ruffled his hair, "Shit, if it's always gonna make you this happy, I'll have to buy myself more gifts!" I made a noncommittal noise in my throat, all my focus diverted once more to playing with the dog. Lea gave a defeated sigh but smiled. Then he asked, "So… how's Anna been doing?"

I frowned slightly. "...okay. She's… better."

The altercation with Hans had been a few days ago now. By the time Anna had gotten through with him, he'd staggered out of my apartment with a limp and a black eye. I hadn't heard from him since, though part of me did wonder if he was just taking time to lick his wounds before coming back to further profess his supposed love for me. Guess it just depended how much of a hard time his parents would give him and how easily he'd break under the pressure.

As for Anna, once she'd spent all her rage on rearranging Hans' face and had nothing left, she'd proceeded to bawl her eyes out. She never took breakups this hard, but apparently she'd really thought Hans was it. The One. After such a rude awakening to the fact that he wasn't and having her heart shattered, I didn't blame her for having a bit of a breakdown. She'd ended up staying over and Rayne and I had turned it into a sort of a girls night to try and cheer her up. We'd binge streamed romcoms until 3 a.m. which honestly, with Anna wailing through every single one, I had no clue if they were making things better or worse. But she was the one who kept putting them on one after the other, so I'd just let her as I hadn't had the heart to deny her.

In the days since, it was obvious Anna was still down, even though she tried to hide it behind sunny smiles and loud laughs. Still, she seemed to be on the road to recovery.

"She's strong," I added softly after a brief lull, fingers absently toying with Marshmallow's paws. "She'll bounce back. Just needs a little more time, that's all."

Lea's phone suddenly gave a small ding, announcing that we had arrived and our destination could be found on the right. Luckily a spot had just opened up on the curb for him to turn the car into. I unbuckled my seatbelt as the engine shut down and opened my door, stepping out onto the sidewalk. My arms were still holding the puppy and I unfortunately had to concede that I probably shouldn't bring him inside. Spinning one-eighty, I set him back down inside the car and he immediately tried to hop out to follow me. My hands shot up to block him and he retaliated with sad eyes and a whimper.

Oh, this little con artist.

Laughing, I stroked his head soothingly, "Now now, Marshmallow, no need for all that… we'll only be gone for a few minutes, I promise."

"Awfully presumptuous of you, naming my new pupper," Lea teased as he appeared at my side now, a paper shopping bag that he'd retrieved from the back seat on his way out of the car now dangling by the handle from his fingers. Rubbing a curled knuckle over his chin as he glanced skyward, he smirked. "I was thinking something more along the lines of…" now he stretched a hand out, dragging his splayed fingers through the air as if the words themselves were magically materializing in front of our very eyes, "...Imperius, the White Death and Destroyer of Worlds."

I shot him a dull look. "...bit long to fit on a dog tag, don't you think?"

"Not if we use really teeny font!" his grin twitched wider and my eyelids just drooped in response. "Fine, fine, ya have a point. Hm… compromise? How 'bout... Marshmallow, Destroyer of Worlds?"

One corner of my lips turned up, "I can live with that." Giving the puppy one final scritch under the chin, I cooed, "Be back soon, Mr Worlds," before locking and closing the car door. As I turned to fully face Lea, it came to my attention that he was now scrutinizing me with a squint and a little frown. My eyebrows knit together. "...what?"

Without a word, he abruptly bent forward and friggin' licked the side of my neck.

With a small yelp, I squirmed and jumped back, hand flying up to clamp over the now damp skin as my cheeks threatened to spontaneously combust. Lea's face twisted in distaste as he spat and razzed his tongue, "Yeck, concealer. Thought so. Knew there was no possible way my masterpiece healed and faded that quickly."

Ah. He was talking about the Mother Hickey. I nodded with a sigh, "Yeah, Rayne helped me figure out how to cover it up."

Stepping closer, he hooked a finger under my chin to gently turn my head to one side so he could take a better look, muttering, "Hmph. Nice job, Raindrop. Matched your tone perfectly, never woulda even known it's there. But also… so not cool. I'm an arteest! A maestro deserves to have his pièce de résistance on display for all the world to see."

"Not when your canvas is my neck, maestro," I snorted, getting on tiptoe to plant a quick peck to his lips as I took the bag from him. Inside it was a powder blue sundress, a pair of ankle boots, and a phone book.

He gave a tiny pout, but it quickly melted into a grin as he took hold of my free hand, lacing our fingers together. "So… you ready for this?"

I spotted the little store we'd come here for and started walking towards it. "Ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

"Ya sure the dude even wants all this junk back? It's more than a lil used now."

"Well, it's a used clothing store, so I'm sure it's fine," I shrugged.

Lea chuckled, "That old phone book is rumpled from water damage and is practically a rat's nest. No, scratch that cuz calling it that sullies the good name of rat's nests everywhere."

"It doesn't matter," I exhaled heavily. "I told the man I'd bring it all back and that's what I'm doing. If he won't take any of it, then I'm happy to pay him back for it all with interest." On that note, we stepped through the automated sliding doors beneath the big sign that read Wandering Oaken's Trading Post.

The store looked the same as the last time I'd been here. The cluttered racks, the secondhand clothing all but bursting out of every nook and cranny, the rustic decorations on the walls and hanging from the ceiling… all of it exactly the same. It honestly surprised me a little. I would've expected some changes since it felt like my last visit had been absolute ages ago. I had to remind myself that in reality, it'd hardly even been two months since.

I hoped the man (employee? proprietor?) who'd assisted me back then wasn't also exactly the same as I remembered him. All angry and stocky and big. I gulped, feeling my breathing turn shallow as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Surely, he wasn't still mad and wouldn't rip me limb from limb on sight, right? And surely, my memory had to be lying to me and exaggerating. No one, not even Lea, was that hulkingly ginormous… right?

"Hoo-hoo! Big summer blowout! Half off swim su-" the familiar voice immediately cut off as its owner, that same man I'd recalled, locked eyes with me from across the store. "You!"

Nope. He was exactly as terrifyingly ginormous as I remembered him.

Suddenly - and I don't quite know how exactly, because I didn't remember moving - I was hiding behind Lea.

Huh. Seemed like my latent surprise teleportation powers had activated to catch me unawares once again!

Taking a deep, steadying breath to settle my nerves and get a grip, I slowly creeped back out from behind him to respond to the man with a shaky smile and a tiny, "Me?"

He abruptly came charging at me and I swallowed a squeak, screwing my eyes shut.

This was it. The final countdown. The last roundup. I could already see the fabled white light. Was already watching my life flash before my eyes. Could hear an angelic choir singing somewhere. All but feel the-

Those giant tree trunks he had for arms unexpectedly wrapped themselves around me, crushing me to him in a spine-cracking hug that lifted me several feet off the ground and forced a surprised grunt out of me.

Um…?

"What is this?" I wheezed as I was swung to and fro like a ragdoll. "I don't understand what's happening."

Lea snerked, being absolutely zero help as he simply crossed his arms and watched the absolute epitome of bear hugs continue. "Apparently, this is how he deals with shoplifters. His own unique brand o' vigilante justice."

"Well it's cruel and unusual punishment!" I croaked out, kicking my feet and trying to wriggle free. "How do I make him stop?!"

Miraculously, he chose that second to release me of his own accord, shooting me a big smile that took up over half his face, "Oh thank you, deary! Thank you!"

...okay, not quite the greeting I'd been expecting.

Like, at all.

Both eyebrows shot up my forehead as my hand went to rub at my elbow, "You, uh… you remember me?"

"Of course, deary!" he nodded eagerly, tapping his fingertips together.

I squinted at him uncertainly. "...and you remember that I… stole from you?"

More enthusiastic nodding, "Ya, ya!"

...was I the only one totally bewildered right now?

My eyes darted over to exchange a brief glance with Lea, who just shrugged his shoulders.

Oh good, so it wasn't just me then.

Looking at the worker once more, I hesitated for a split second before awkwardly thrusting the bag out to him, heart thudding loudly in my ears as I began, "Well I… I brought it all back like I said I would… even the phone book! It's all still in decent shape… er, except for the phone book, that is. I can compensate you for that though and… and the dress and shoes too, of course! That is, if that's what you'd prefer... and I'll even pay inter-"

"Nonsense!" he gently pushed the bag back towards me. "Keep it all, it's yours. And your munny's no good here."

I stared at him blankly. "...I'm sorry, I'm confused."

The man beamed at me now, "Your dress, deary! The one you left behind in the fitting room and said I could have? I must say, that had to have been some costume party you came from! I sold that gown for enough munny to pay for all four of my sons' college tuitions! So I insist, keep those items! And please let me know if you see anything else in here that you'd like, ya?" A sudden low chime rang out overhead, signalling that another customer had walked into the shop. Gracing me with one final warm grin, he then plastered on his customer service face and walked past me, waggling his fingers in greeting, "Hoo-hoo! Big summer blowout!"

Frowning slightly, I watched him go before I heard Lea say in realization, "...you left your wedding dress here."

My fingers twisted and fidgeted with the bag handles. "Sort of… yeah."

He shook his head with a snort. "Shit, El, a gown like that made for your upscale, hoity-toity, blueblood wedding? You didn't shoplift, you way, way overpaid!"

Feeling heat creeping into my face, I gave a tiny scowl and huffed, "Well, it certainly felt like shoplifting, the way he was yelling and chasing after me when I ran out the store!"

"Babydoll, you just lost some serious street cred," he chuckled, pressing his lips to my temple. "Seriously though, just ditching it in some random fitting room? You coulda sold that thing for bookoo bucks and made this whole striking it out on your own thing way easier on yourself."

"You said the same thing about my car back at my parents' home. But just like with the Ferrari, that dress was bought and paid for with my parents' munny," I sighed, crossing my arms. "I don't want to accept so much as even a single cent from them if I don't have to… I don't want to feel like I owe them anything. And I just… I didn't know what else to do with the dress, really. I just wanted to be rid of the wretched thing."

He tsked, tapping a finger to my nose, "Oh you. Always gotta do things the hard way, huh? Silly." Reaching for my hand, he then started us meandering about the shop, idly perusing the racks and shelves as he went on, "If it'd been me, I wouldn't have thought twice 'bout pawning that dress for some quick cash. What's the big deal where the munny came from? All that really matters is how you spend it to give yourself a better, happier life. Turn bad into good, ya know? I- sweet!" he cried out abruptly, eyes lighting up as he happened upon a clump of feather boas draped across the corner of a chaotic, jam-packed shelf. Snagging one that was made of red feathers marked with black stripes, he wrapped it around his neck with a flourish before batting his eyelashes at me. "How do I look?"

I rubbed my fingers over my tiny smile. "Beautiful. Simply gorgeous."

"Damn skippy!" he chirped, now spotting a full length mirror nearby and moving to admire himself in it.

From insightful to kid playing dress-up in under two seconds flat. That had to be some kind of record.

Seeing that the employee had returned to his post behind the cash register, I walked over to him. "Hi again. How much for one-"

There was a sudden giggle at my ear that was distinctly Lea's, followed swiftly by a second feather boa being looped around my neck, this one comprised of blue feathers with white tips. With that, Lea zipped off once more, this time heading towards what looked to be the toy shelf.

I blinked in his wake, then shook my head with a soft hum of a laugh. "I'm sorry, how much for two feather boas?"

"Holy shit, this orca action figure comes with a tiny machine gun! And-" Lea gasped, running back now to excitedly show it to me, "-it also turns into a goddamn freaking robot!"

Patting him on the cheek, I turned back to the cashier with a sigh, "And the toy too."

"For you, deary?" he asked, still happily tapping his fingers together. "Free of charge!"

My head rocked back slightly. "What? No, but-"

"Oh hell yes! Thanks, big guy, and have a great day!" Lea cut me off, snatching up my hand and bolting out the store, forcing me to stumble after him as the cashier called out after us to do the same.

As we exited through the automated doors back out onto the sidewalk, I said, "Lea, wait!" I dug in my heels, bringing us both to a lurching stop. Then I frowned over my shoulder back towards the little shop. "I'm not comfortable with this. He's only giving us this stuff because of that stupid dress and I told you already-"

"Don't look at it as benefiting offa your folks munny," he grinned, taking the bag from me to tuck the toy and his boa inside with the other stuff. Then he set to work uncoiling mine from around my neck. "Instead, try this on for size: ya did a good thing with that dress. Maybe even the best possible thing ya coulda done with it. You donated it to the worthy cause of paying for the education of that dude's small army of kids. And if that's not enough for you, here's another way to look at it: ya traded in a wedding dress worth a sultan's ransom and all you got in return was a handful of cruddy, secondhand junk that altogether costs maybe twenty bucks max. On the divine cosmic scale of ethics, I think you can consider your conscience clear and your heart light as a feather."

Now fully freed from the feather boa, I released a tiny huff through my nose as I watched him slip it inside the bag too. "Well, when you put it that way…"

"It's settled then," he beamed, slinging an arm around my shoulders and guiding me back towards his car. "Now onto the next item on the list!"

My head tipped to one side. "There's more? But with this place checked off, I thought that was the whole list."

"Maybe your list, but we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of mine. And first up is immediately correcting one epic fail on my part."

"Oh?" I arched an eyebrow at him.

He nodded, "Mm-hm! For ya see, I've been grossly neglectful in my boyfriend duties. Can you actually believe I have yet to take you out on our first proper date since officially becoming a couple?"

A tiny smile fought its way onto my lips. "For shame. The absolute scandal."

"I know, right? People are already beginning to talk, my good name is being dragged through the mud," he puffed out an overdramatic breath, shaking his head.

I laughed. "Well then, what did you have in mind?"

As we came to a stop next to his car, he tapped the window glass where Marshmallow was pressing his paws up against the other side while barking his little head off. "For starters, how 'bout we take this lil fellah to a park somewhere for a few hours? Once he's all played out, we can drop him off back at my place. Make it real quick, in and out before Saïx wakes up and realizes he's been unknowingly volunteered for doggo-sitting duty." Setting the bag down on the roof the car, he then faced me, taking both my hands in his as he idly started toying with my fingers and murmured, "Then I was thinking I could take ya somewhere nice. Maybe Le Grand Bistrot? And after that…" he gave a lazy shrug, that dimple of his emerging, "well, guess we'll just see where the night takes us from there."

My eyes crinkled as I stared up the few inches that separated us. "Sounds perfect."

It'd been one wild and, at far too many points, absolutely absurd ride that had brought me here. And it was far from over for I still had a long road ahead of me. I'd yet to even determine what exactly I wanted the future to hold for me, and that was okay. I could hardly be expected to have the rest of my life already planned and mapped out after experiencing only a couple short months of freedom. Come now, that would be unrealistic.

But it didn't truly matter that nothing was really decided yet. What mattered was that I was the one who would get to decide, no one else. And for the moment, I was just deciding to focus on what was immediately before me. Today, I had a date with my boyfriend. Tomorrow would be a shift at my job in a mall ice cream shop. And the day after would bring the start of rehearsals for community theater. All in all, it was nothing grand, nothing fancy… but it made me happy. And for now, that was enough. More than enough. I could figure out the rest in my own time, and that sounded pretty good to me.

In fact, it sounded absolutely amazing.

THE END

…sorta?

Author's Note:  And thus we come full circle... it ends where it all began way back in chapter one... cheesy, I know XD Okay, I rarely finish stories and thus I don't have a lot of experiencing doing it, so factor that in however you will in judging this final chapter xD I know, it was stupidly, cavity-inducingly sweet and not a lot happened, but damnit it's my story and I'll end it how I want to! Oh, and the toy Lea found wasn't a reference to anything, it was just something stupid I found on the internet that I figured the goofball would go absolutely nuts over xD

So, you probably have questions about that "...sorta?" at the end there xD Well that, my friends, has to do with the good news I mentioned that I had for ya'll a couple chapters back! Although the big, main plot of the story is now complete, there will be *drum roll*... bonus chapters! Wooo! These are more like self-contained one-shots that generally have time passage between them anywhere from a few days to like a month with no real overarching plot connecting them, which is why I'm not considering them a part of the "main" story. However, I will still be just slapping them at the end of this story, keeping it all in one place as opposed to posting them as separate fanfics, just because I can! I do what I want, yo! These bonus chapters will cover various events (relationship and non-relationship alike) for our new happy couple - as well as some that are just for pure funsies due to random ideas popping into my head that I really wanted to write xD I just always write the "how they got together" story and have never written them as a couple, so I'm excited to finally have a good excuse to do that! Plus now I can share with you guys how things go from here - stuff like relationship milestones, fam drama, Elsa's further adventures in theater, and much more! If you guys have any ideas of your own for a one-shot you'd like to see, please let me know! I make no promises about actually writing it, BUT there's a very good chance I'll read your suggestion, the plot bunnies in my head will go wild and I'll have no choice but to write it anyway xD 

ANYWAY! I already have written and completed a few of these one-shots, so my once-a-week updates can continue for a little while longer! But fair warning - when (not if, WHEN) my updates catch up to as far as I've written, my once-a-week updates will be reduced to whenever-the-chapter-is-frigging-done updates xD

Whew! I think that's a wrap! Thank you so much for reading my lil story here, I super duper appreciate it! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far! Seeing those lil notifications pop up always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

See ya next week for the first bonus chapter, which is a silly, for funsies one-shot xD I'll give you a hint... helmets are involved! Ooooo, what could it be?! Stay tuned and find out!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[allicekitty13]

In 1987 Jasper and Alice meet at the local country club. With all the cards stacked against them can they find their way to happiness? 

Read On Ao3

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                     Let em' say we're crazy, I don't care about that.                  Put your hand in my hand baby, don't ever look back.                              Let the world around us, just fall apart.                       Baby, we can make it if we're heart to heart.

"Don't you have a shift today Whitlock?" The voice rousing Jasper from his sleep was accompanied by a dirty shirt being thrown at his head. The man opened one eye squinting against the bright sunshine currently streaming through his window to look at his best friend Peter leaning against the doorframe of his currently open bedroom door.

"Pete," The twenty-one year old groaned. "The fuck did we do last night?" Jasper remembered they'd decided to go out. He remembered Peter and Charlotte going off to do god knows what. Well, the man had a pretty good idea of what but preferred not to think about it. He definitely remembered the line of shots he'd done with his favorite bartender, Mara. But anything after his seventh Alabama Slammer was either extremely fuzzy or a black spot in his memory entirely. Judging by the way his head was pounding, the sick feeling in his stomach, and the intense craving for a nice greasy burger from McDonald's, it was really no wonder why he struggled to recall the events.

"We got drunk." Peter shrugged. "You know, like we do every Friday. But really man, you gotta get up. It's after noon."

"Haven't you any sympathy for the hungover?" Jasper rolled over as he spoke to lay on his stomach wanting nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep the condition off. Maybe to venture to the living room couch at some point and watch re-runs of sitcoms from the 70's on the sole TV in the apartment.  

"Not when I know you have to be at work in an hour. Rent doesn't pay itself, dude." With that, Peter left his friend alone to the misery of a bad hangover. Daring to open one eye, flinching at the still too bright sun, Jasper spared a glance to the digital radio/alarm clock sitting on the messy bedside table next to him. Although blurry, he could faintly make out the time of 2:13pm. That information caused him to awaken, fully sobering up in an instant.

Peter was right; he did in fact, have a shift soon. In approximately forty-five minutes soon. He would have to skip a shower, something his co-workers wouldn't be too happy about operating in such close quarters without air conditioning. That was nothing compared to the fancy customers he served at the country club who didn't exactly need an excuse to complain. Luckily it was Saturday afternoon, and most of his interactions would involve nothing more than shoving cans of Coors or Tab into coolers for the members to take out to the tennis courts or golf course.

Jasper threw on the polo style shirt he kept around specifically for the stuffy dress code required at the establishment and his cleanest, least beaten up pair of jeans. He quickly brushed his teeth and hopped into his beat-up 75' Gremlin hoping to make the thirty-minute journey in twenty.

Fate, as always, wasn't in the man's favor and he ended up being late. Only by about five minutes, but the glare Angela shot him when he finally arrived to take over the bar caused Jasper to feel as though he'd shown up hours tardier than expected. Once the irritated Angela rushed off to god knows where Jasper busied himself with making sure glasses were clean and everything well stocked for when the night shift arrived in five hours.

Of course, Angela being exceptionally organized and great at her job had, as usual, left very little for Jasper to actually take care of. He often wondered why she spent her time working at the club rather than going to college, but at the end of the day, they weren't really friends. The way Jasper saw it, her personal life was none of his business. If she didn't want to share, he wasn't going to ask. So with everything taken care of, the man figured he might as well venture over to the kitchen for a chat with the equally bored cook Emmett.

Jasper liked the slightly older man; he was a pretty solid dude. Emmett was trying to save up enough money to buy his girlfriend, Rosalie, an engagement ring. So a few months ago picked up a side gig working at the club as a fry cook. Emmett was hard-working, funny, and one of the most genuine people Jasper had ever met. They'd butted heads at first, having vastly different upbringing and thus outlooks on life. Still, over the past few months of working together at the establishment, Jasper found himself looking forward to Saturday shifts exclusively for their engaging talks.

Once he'd double checked to make sure there were no more menial tasks to take care of, Jasper swaggered into the kitchen and plopped upon an empty counter, ignoring the way his friend shook his head at the antics. They had a usual back and forth. Emmett warning the other man that if their boss were to walk in, not only would Jasper receive yet another meaningless warning about cutting his hair. Both parties would be lectured on how inappropriate it was for anyone, let alone an employee, to be acting so unprofessional in the workplace.

Of course, Jasper being reckless had received countless amounts of these warnings. The truth of the matter was that employees were hard to keep. High schoolers could only work so many hours, and most adults willing to take on such a job were quickly worn by the entitled attitude the customer's attracted to such an establishment possessed. Needless to say, turnover rates were high. Management couldn't afford to lose anyone for something like a haircut or unconventional seating choices.

So, as always, Jasper kept his place on the counter, chatting with Emmett about their respective weeks. Rosalie had recently taken a job at The Gap for an excuse to spend more time at the mall that her father couldn't argue with. Emmett had needed to replace yet another part on his frequently failing vehicle setting him back yet again on those engagement ring plans. And Jasper's band had finally scored an opening gig at one of the better-known bars in the area. Sure it wasn't headlining, but for the unknown musician, it was a big deal.

After just short of an hour of conversation, Jasper was in the middle of excitedly going rambling about his dreams of getting away from the California suburbs. Of how he wanted to pack up and head down to Los Angeles and the fabled Sunset Strip, when the bell at the bar counter rang, signaling a customer was waiting for his presence.

What he expected was another irritated woman, upset that she'd had to wait more than thirty seconds for another Tab. Possibly even a man who would chastise him because he paid hundreds of dollars for his families club membership. A fact that the members assumed meant they should somehow receive instant service. What he hadn't anticipated was the absolute goddess waiting patiently at the counter.

She was short, with permed chin-length black hair that she teased her fingers through as she leaned against the counter, talking animatedly with a younger girl. When he stepped behind the bar, she looked over at him with a bright, breathtaking smile. The girl uttered only four words, "Two Coke Classics, please." in her high pitched musical voice.  They were spoken pleasantly, and her attention had been redirected to him entirely, in stark contrast to what he was used to. Typically customers would bark their orders in the mans' general direction before immediately resuming conversing with their companions.

It could have been the breath of fresh air that her attitude brought. Potentially the reason may have been how entirely simple Jasper found it to get lost in her clear blue eyes. In either instance, Jasper must have stood frozen, staring for too long as the girl frowned slightly, her eyes glancing up at the nametag clipped to his shirt collar. "Jasper?" She spoke again, concern lacing her words rather than annoyance.

His name on her lips sparked him into action, "My apologies, ma'am." He finally spoke, reaching into the belly cooler behind him for her order with butterflies beginning to swarm in his stomach.

[sunflowerdjarin]

Fake Date

Pairing: Robin Buckley x Reader

Summary: Robin tells Steve that she has a girlfriend after he comes after her for bothering him about striking out with every girl. 

Warnings: None

Requested: 

i think ALL wlws want to be topped by robin you are correct skdjsj anygay may i request something where robin and the reader have to fake date bc robin told steve she was dating someone

“You know,” Steve started causing Robin to roll her eyes immediately. “You bother me about not having a girlfriend, but do you even have a girlfriend?” He turned his head towards Robin watching the appalled look spread across her face. He quickly retracted his statement as he held his hands up in a level of defense. “I’m just saying, you bother me about striking out, but I don’t see you trying.” Steve said snarkily. Robin’s jaw dropped as she blinked blankly at Steve. 

“Oh, I have a girlfriend.” Robin said, letting out a snort of a laugh. She wracked her brain for a moment, trying to find an appropriate answer or more so an appropriate fake girlfriend. She short circuited as she thought of the few girls in her life before she landed on you. “Y/N.” She coughed out trying to sound confident. Steve ceased in his movements as he looked at Robin. “Y/N? As in the girl who works at Merry-Go-Round and comes in to order the USS Butterscotch with caramel?” Steve’s hand fell on his hip. “Yep, that’s her.” Robin continued working as she avoided Steve’s eye contact. “No offense, but I’ll believe it when I see it.” He shook his head as he went back to taking orders.

Robin rubbed her temples in the backroom as she debated how she was going to do this. She slammed her hands down to her side walking out, “I’m taking my break, have fun. Maybe get a girl’s number while I’m gone.” She walked out of the food court and made her way to Merry Go Round to find you. Robin’s breath hitched as she walked into the familiar storefront lined with mannequins and clothes. “Hi, welcome in.” You refolded some of the shirts up front before looking over your shoulder to see Robin. 

“Oh hey, what brings you here?” You turned to face your neighbor. “This isn’t your typical spot.” You smiled sweetly. You and Robin had been neighbors for years. You two would study together. You went to all her band concerts and plays. You both had your own friend groups meaning the times were you two would hang out was mainly at your own houses. “I need a favor. A big favor.” Robin emphasized the second sentence. You nodded, “Go on.” 

“Harrington made his comments about me not having a girlfriend even though I’m hounding him about how awful he is with girls.” Robin rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Sure.” You said enthusiastically, catching her off guard. “Sure what?” She furrowed her eyebrows still sounding mildly offended fresh off of Steve’s comment. “Sure, I’ll be your pretend girlfriend.” 

Robin’s quick wit seemed to falter. Even the mere mention of you being her girlfriend caused her heart to race. “Wait, really?” Her eyebrows furrowed in a moment of confusion. “Yeah. You know I��d do anything for you, no questions asked.” You shrugged as you refolded another shirt. “Now shouldn’t you be getting back to work, babe?” You leaned back pressing a kiss against Robin’s cheek. 

You watched as she flusteredly looked between you and the door, “Yeah, I should.” She ran her fingers through the ends of her hair before walking towards the door. She was unsure if she should or could say anything more than that. She walked out with a pep in her step as she made her way back to Scoops. She pushed through to the backroom with a goofy smile printed on her face. 

“And where did you go?” Steve questioned. “I got a quick lunch.” Robin answered with a sweet tone as she eased herself onto the counter, her feet were swinging. “Oh, let me guess, with Y/N?” He playfully rolled his eyes before walking up to the front. Robin turned to open up the partition to the front. “Are you jealous, Harrington?” She propped her elbow up on the partition as Steve shrugged. “I mean, she’s hot, Robin, I’ll give you credit if it’s true.” 

You strolled into Scoops Ahoy 10 minutes before closing. “I’m not making you a USS Butterscotch, you gotta come in earlier for that.” Steve grumbled as he locked the register. Robin came out from the back making a beeline towards you. Your arms instinctively wrapped around her waist as you looked around at the empty storefront. “I wasn’t coming in for ice cream. I’m taking Robin out for dinner tonight.” Robin’s eyes met yours in confusion as you gave her a warm smile. 

“Really? Cause Robin never mentioned that.” Steve questioned placing his hands on the counter to lean against. Robin slipped from your grasp as she went to close the gate for the front of the store. “She didn’t know, it’s a spur of a moment kind of thing.” You said cooly, your response sounding natural. Robin was impressed, but she didn’t expect to have the feeling of butterflies in her stomach during this whole fake dating scenario. 

“I was going to let you pick since it was an off guard kind of thing.” You spoke again, but this time directed towards Robin. She had to bring herself back down to Earth as she realized this wasn’t real and you two were likely not going to get dinner. “I’ll have to think about it. Come back to me later.” Robin turned back towards you and Steve motioning for you to walk into the backroom. You waited for Robin to catch up to you before extending your hand out to her. She took it with a small smile on her face, intertwining her fingers into yours. 

Steve followed behind you two, mildly impressed with what he was seeing. “I’ll lock up. You love birds go out on your date.” Steve indiscreetly winked at Robin as you walked along the back halls. You made your way out as Robin broke away from your grip to make her way to her bike. “Hey, I was serious about dinner.” You stopped in your tracks looking at her puzzled. Robin stopped as well, her back towards you as she let out a shaky breath. 

“We can’t do this.” Robin turned to you, “We can’t go out on a dinner date after this.” Her eyes were steadily looking at her feet. “And why can’t we?” You lean your weight onto one of your feet as you crossed your arms against your chest. “Cause I’m already falling for you and if this carries on I’m going to get more immersed and then I’m left heartbroken. I’ve had the smallest crush on you for years and this just made it so much worse.” Her voice shook as she blinked back tears. She looked up to see you still standing there smugly. 

“But what if I want a dinner date with you? What if I want more than this fake dating scenario?” You let out onto her, sounding mildly frustrated. “But-” Robin started in an attempt to argue with you before you cut her off. “Please, Robin, just listen to me.” You dropped your hands to your side as you moved towards her. “Every time I’m around you, everything feels right in the world. I love being around you. I can’t explain it and I’ve been so fearful of telling you, but here I am.” You sighed as you shut your eyes preparing yourself for what was going to happen next. 

You felt Robin’s hands hold onto your face. You opened your eyes to see Robin’s eyes looking into yours. You both had tears swelling up in your eyes. You lifted your hands up to wipe her eyes, “Are you crying over me?” You halfway laughed causing her to laugh as well. “Don’t ruin the moment.” She smiled as she leaned into you, her lips finally meeting yours. The sound of the night echoing through the mall parking lot creating a perfect soundtrack for this kiss as you grabbed her face and pulled her more into you. The kiss still remained gentle with her soft lips against yours. You pulled away, resting your forehead against yours. “Let’s go get dinner.” Robin smiled sweetly as she turned to walk to your car completely ignoring her bike. 

Bonus: 

“I knew it. I’m a fucking match maker.” Steve snarked to himself as he pumped his fists into the air watching as you and Robin walked hand in hand to your car after experiencing the whole altercation.

[writer-k-pop]

GCF

어디 가고싶어? Where do you want to go?

Description: Jungkook loves filming your trips for his GCF’s. This trip is no different. Think of it as the snippets you see in a GCF but in real time. So it’s really the moments where he films.  Warnings: None Genre: Fluff Word Count: 1k

BTS Masterlist | Masterlists

“Jungkook, where are you?” I walk around our place looking for him. With the camera recording every step towards him, I continue to talk to him. “Where are you? Are you packing?”

“I’m in here.” He answers from his home office.

Strolling in, he’s sitting on the floor with his camera equipment spread around him.

“What are you doing?” I ask, sitting down in front of him, the camera focused on him.

“I,” He answers packing different items in the right order, “Am packing my camera up for our trip.”

I tilt my head to the side, “I thought we were only take the small cameras?”

“I know,” Jungkook runs a hand through his hair, “But last night I was thinking that this would be the perfect trip to shoot another GCF. Plus people have been asking to see you in another one.”

He picks up his camera and turns it on. “Starting now.”

I giggle and move to cover the lens with my hand, “Let’s finish packing before we miss our flight.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“(Y/n).” Jungkook calls from behind me as we walk towards the gate.

“Yes?” I turn around and meet a camera that hides his face.

“Smile.” He coos, planting a smile on his face.

I oblige to his wishes before snatching the camera from him and focusing it on him.

“Your turn to smile.” I instruct him.

He smiles and starts to skip around me. Following him with the camera, I can’t help but laugh at his playfulness.

Jungkook grabs my hand and pulls me forward again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

12 hours of flying later, and all I want to do is go straight to the hotel and sleep for forever. I lug my carry on behind me as we step off the plane and onto the jetbridge.

For a split second, I forget that I even arrived with anyone else. That’s how badly I want to get to a bed.

Turning around, I search for my traveling partner who is a few people behind me. I see him gaze focused on what the camera is capturing so I let him be and continue to walk to the terminal. Once out of the jetbridge, I turn and wait for my bunny to appear.

He slowly makes his way out, camera still out, and I walk towards him. As I get closer, I lean down and put my face right in the camera lens.

Jungkook laughs, stops recording, and puts the camera down.

“Perfect shot, huh?” I tease him.

“Obviously perfect.” He responds and links our arms together, “Let’s go get our luggage and then get to the hotel. I could use a shower. I stink.” He scrunches his nose up.

“I need a nap.” I add.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Day 3 of our trip and we’ve done a lot of sight seeing and eating. Oh goodness, so much eating. Not to mention the obscene amount of footage Jungkook has filmed. I fear I’m not going to see him for a week after we get back because he’ll be locked in his room, editing.

Today is a relaxation day involving the beach, lounging around, and food. Jungkook has a whole route planned for the day consisting of the best meal spots in town.

“Are you ready yet?” He whines, poking his head into the bathroom where I’m trying to tie my suit in place.

“Help me tie this and I will be.” I side-eye him and turn my back towards him.

“Gosh you take so long to get ready.” He teases but willingly ties up my suit.

“Says the one who spent way longer trying to find an outfit for the mall.” I combat.

“We were filming a Run episode!” Jungkook defends himself. “Had to look good.”

I slip on my cover up and grab my bag.

“Are you ready now?” Jungkook drags out the last word. He turns the handle and opens the door as I nod. With one last once over of myself, we head out of the hotel and straight for the beach.

Spotting an open chair, I quickly run over and claim it along with the one next to it. I lay out my towel and plop down on the chair. My eyes close as the sun’s warm rays hit me.

“(Y/n).” Jungkook grabs my attention.

“Mmm.” I hum in reply.

“Did you know tomorrow’s our last day?” He asks, fiddling with his camera.

I turn towards him, frowning, “Yes. Our trips are always too short.”

He nods, “I know, but I’m working with the company for longer vacation days.”

“We need to go farther next time.” I comment, facing the sky again.

“Where would you like to go?” Jungkook questions.

“Far away.” I murmur.

“How far?” Jungkook continues to probe.

“So far away that it feels like we stepped into Narnia.” I smile at him.

He laughs and finally puts the camera down. “I don’t know how close to Narnia I can get us.” Laying down, he throws his hands behind his head.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pulling the covers closer around me, I squint against the harsh sunlight coming in through the window.

“(Y/n).” Jungkook whispers, “We gotta get up. You have to eat before our flight.”

“I want sleep.” I mumble incoherently and reach for him.

I hear him chuckle then feel the bed dip as he lays down next to me. Smiling with success, I cuddle closer to his side.

“Next time, I’m not letting her book the flights.” Jungkook teases.

I scrunch up my eyebrows, “Who are you talking to?” I ask, peeking out from the blankets.

Looking down at us is Jungkook’s camera, which is being held by Jungkook’s arm, which leads to Jungkook’s wide smile directed at me.

I internally roll my eyes at him and stretch out. After running a hand through my hair, I give a small wave to the camera.

“Do we have to get up?” I pout.

Jungkook nods, “Yeah, we do.”

I pout some more and he rubs my back.

“We’ll go somewhere farther away next time.” He says before kissing my forehead. “I promise.”

[mymemoirs]

Unrecorded Memories & Missing Taiwan #7

I gotta admit that the last post (#6) seems much boring, it took a lot of effort for me to actually post that one. However, for the next post it’s going to be more exciting since we went to a lot of places and I’m also starting to feel better and have fun with my group mates too. So, I really was kinda reluctant that this has to end at some point. 

30) The day after our makerspace activity, we have classes as usual. Our professor gave us a group project that Thursday. He also let us have a day off on Friday for us to finish the project. The project is a group presentation and we’re required to present a video along with it. 

On Friday, my Thai group mates and I made an appointment to explore Taichung and find places we wanted to feature in our videos. Well, since the concept of our presentation is an international food court, I suggested going to ASEAN square. I knew this place because I previously stayed for a night with my parents in a hotel nearby. 

The entrance of ASEAN Square

When we arrived there, we can see quite a few Southeast Asian people and there’s also a lot of shops that sells Southeast Asian foods. Familiar writings of Thai, Vietnamese, or Bahasa can be seen all over this place. So, if you came from Southeast Asia and you’re homesick while living in Taichung, this is the perfect place to explore because it has that familiar vibe for Southeast Asians. 

I had to say that the ASEAN square is bustling with people only during evening or weekends because most Southeast Asian who came to Taiwan usually works on weekdays (duh?). This is because the place looks almost empty, like going to a market but they’re closing. I didn’t see much people that day when we’re exploring the place. I assumed it’s working hours and most shops might be active during the evening instead. 

After walking around the ASEAN square, we decided to find a place we could have our lunch. We kept on walking around inside the building, until my Thai friends got interested in a Thai restaurant. Since I’m okay with anything, we chose to eat there. My friends recommended me to eat Pad Kra Pao which is basically rice with stir-fried minced meat and basil leaves. All this time, I always goes for the Tom Yum when I ordered Thai food, so a change of menu is good too. I had to admit that Pad Kra Pao is an excellent choice, I can’t explained the taste but I just like how they cooked the meat. 

Pad Kra Pao with an egg. I feel this photo didn’t do the menu any justice, but it’s really good!

Afterwards, we continued to explore Taichung city. Some of my Thai friends wanted to shop while we’re in town so we entered a lot of shops. I am not really a shopper so I’m only tagging along. We also haven’t started filming our video, but we’re not really in a haste since we have all day. 

Since, I’m such a foodie, I only took photos of the food or desert I ate. That day, we went for a dessert! Yay! It’s Miyahara dessert yet again, but we’re not visiting the same store as before. This time we went to a seated store that sells the Miyahara Ice Cream. The place is called Fourth Credit Union in Google maps. Just like the previous store I visited, this store have exquisite interior too. Very interesting and worth to visit and it’s not really that far away from the Miyahara Ice Cream. It would be a 3 minute walk estimation from one store to another and it’s 210 meters away from each other. 

Mango Fruit Shave Ice, I think it’s a seasonal menu you can get in this store

And taraaa~! This is one of the desserts we chose and share with each other. It was worth it! Seriously! I really want to go back there just to taste it again! I am literally fangirling over the food right now. I think going to Taiwan is worth it for the food and personally for me it wasn’t really that expensive if you know how to plan your budget. 

After immersing myself with good food and company, we walk around the city again. I think we were hanging around the Taichung train station until it was evening. Then we head out to a mall and eat at the food court there while filming around the area. So that sums up my Friday. 

The evening view in front of Taichung Train Station

31) During the weekend, I went to a lot of places with my roommates. I kinda feel bad for my group mates that I didn’t accompanied them during the weekend to finish our group’s project but I think I did my part already and I have prior appointment with my roommates. I didn’t regret going out with my roommates. Iris always planned well for our trip and it was a fun one.

I think during this weekend, we only went for a one day trip on Saturday. If I still remembered it right, I think my roommates have a trip on Sunday. Together with my roommates’ classmates, Jasmine and Hui En, we went to Sun Moon Lake. Yep, I went there again, but we’re not really visiting the exact same place I went so it’s like I’m exploring new places too. 

One of the photo spots in Sun Moon Lake

For this trip, we have a taxi driver who act as a tour guide and our driver. I think each of us need to pay a certain amount. I forgot how much though but I think this way, we can visit more places and it’s a good thing actually. He’s not really a guide who took us to a souvenir shop but someone who took us to visit tourist spots. He also took us to eat tea eggs which he bought for us, he stop by a shop near Sun Moon Lake and said the tea eggs there is delicious. Speaking about tea eggs, you can also found tea eggs in most marts in Taiwan, like 7-Eleven. Although, I had to agree the tea eggs he gave us is fresh and tasty *laughs*.

He also took us to Feeling 18, which is a chocolate store. We don’t really buy anything there except from trying out free coffee or hot cocoa.  I bought and share some snacks from the street vendors there with Karen or Vincy, I think. He took us there so that we can eat first before going to our next destination. Well, girls eat light, so we didn’t spent that much time there. 

The main entrance of Qingjing Farm

Our next destination is very unique, it’s a farm! And not just any farm, it’s a sheep farm! It’s called Qingjing Farm. Unfortunately, when we went there the weather wasn’t sunny at all but cloudy with a light showers. There were even haze and it was so cold but I think it was a memorable experience nevertheless. To get into the farm, we need to buy tickets. That’s a given, but I don’t remembered it to be too expensive. The business hours is from 8 AM to 5 PM. 

The farm is a tourist spot with a vast grassland. The sheep are allowed to wander and the tourists are also allowed to get close to the animals. Since we came quite late, we missed most of the shows provided by the farm.  We bought sheep’s milk ice cream and spent the most time looking around the farm. 

At the top of the hill overlooking the farm and shows below

I don’t remembered much of what we did at the farm, but we there were a lot of walking and picture taking. The sheep are just so cute, so precious! We went to the souvenir shops and I think there were also some short of market that sells food at the end of the farm. In the maps it’s called “Food Court @ Qingjing Farm”. 

We eventually finished our farm tour and then we were picked up by our driver. He dropped us off in one of the night markets near our campus so we can go back by ourselves using the bus. We end our day with a dinner together before heading back home. 

- Reina

PS. Next post is a goodbye post :( since it will be the last of this series

[rebrobindoesmath]

JMM is just over a week away! Here’s a guide to Denver from a Denver mathematician.

I wish I would’ve had something like this when I went to the Joint Meetings in Atlanta and San Diego. Knowing the best spots to go for happy hour, for coffee, to hang out, etc. can make a trip less stressful. So here’s my attempt at listing some of my favorite places in Denver (all within walking distance of the convention center or a short Uber ride!)

FIRST: If you are arriving by plane, I’d recommend you take the train to the city and not call a Uber/Lyft. The airport is really far away from the city and a Uber/Lyft can cost upwards of $30 one way. A train ticket is $11 and also functions as a public transportation day pass.

Note: The public transportation in Denver can get you around the city -- but be prepared to wait for a bus/train due to operator shortages. Personally, I’d recommend you take an Uber if you’re planning on going somewhere too far to walk. Denver does have a free shuttle that runs up and down 16th Street Mall. This is a great way to get around downtown.

See below the cut for my list! This ended up being pretty lengthy, so I didn’t want to take up too much room on anyone’s dash!

FOOD

Ahhhh, food. One of the most important things (perhaps second only to coffee) for a mathematician to have enough energy to sit through so many talks! Here are some of my favorite places:

Illegal Pete’s 

Very much like Chipotle. Only much better. Relatively inexpensive, and it’s a quick hop on the free Mallride Shuttle from near the convention center. Happy hour is also really good: free chips and salsa when you order a drink at the bar, $5 margaritas that’ll kick you in the ass, and long happy hour hours (3-8).

Komotodo

Sushi burritos. Need I say more?

Denver Milk Market

Contrary to the name, milk is not sold here. It’s a conglomeration of a bunch of different food stalls -- there’s even a wine bar, beer bar, and liquor bar too. This is my favorite place to go when we can’t all agree on one place. Honestly, it’s just really cool inside too.

Steuben’s

This might be more of an Uber trip but it’s totally worth it for their late night special: $7 Cheeseburger & Fries and a Montucky Cold Snack. Yum.

Sassafras

Okay, so this one is just breakfast. Everyone raves about a restaurant called Snooze...NO. GO HERE. If you like Southern style cooking, you will love this place. It’s so good.

Fat Sully’s/Atomic Cowboy/Denver Biscuit Co.

A restaurant of many names... This is my favorite pizza place in Denver. Gigantic, thin crust, NY style pizza. So. Good. Also in the morning they have amazing biscuit sandwiches. Late night special is also good: $5 for slice and a beer.

COFFEE

Aside from food, you gotta have coffee. After all, “a mathematician is a machine that turns coffee into theorems”!

The Market

It’s your favorite hometown coffee shop. Reasonably priced good coffee. They also have plenty of seating, so you’d never have to worry about finding a table to work on. They also have good food as well. (Make sure to check around back for the free baked good sample basket!)

Little Owl

Great, great coffee. Con is that there is little seating inside, so this is a good place to grab and go.

There’s Also A Starbucks on Every Corner

THINGS TO DO

Not every hour is spent in a math talk, so here are things to do when you’re not at a talk!

1-Up

It’s a barcade. Really fun place. You have to be at least 21 to enter! There’s no food, but the beer is reasonably priced.

Ace Eat Serve

It’s a ping pong and ramen bar. It’s so fun! I’ve never had the food but I’ve spent quite some time playing ping pong in the back. I have reserved tables day of, but they don’t really like that, so call at least 24 hours in advance to reserve a table. I believe it’s around $15/hour. They do have some walk-in tables, but be prepared to wait a while for those.

Hang out in Union Station

Honestly, I love Union Station. I love being surrounded by hustle & bustle and it’s definitely there in Union Station. The outside of the building is cool to look at too. This is also the main transit hub of Denver, so it’s a good place to catch a train or bus.

Museum of Nature & Science

They have an exhibit on the Science of Pixar right now. Too cool.

Walk up and down 16th Street

There’s tons of shops and restaurants lining 16th street.

Denver Art Museum

Honestly you have to at least just walk by it because it’s one of the coolest looking buildings ever.

NIGHTLIFE

Alright all you 21+-ers. Here are my favorite bars and breweries.

Euclid’s

If not just for the name, this is one of the favorites places of the grad students in my department. With a beer list sorted by levels of mathematical concepts, it’s definitely a place for math people.

Pourhouse

You like cheap beer? Here you go. Happy hour M-F open to 8pm with BOGO domestic drafts. Makes it like $2 a beer... Plus: shuffleboard table.

Freshcraft

You like craft beer? Here you go. Beer is a little on the pricier side, but they usually have a really good tap list. Also: really good food.

Falling Rock

Another craft beer bar with an extensive and varied tap list.

You want some breweries?

Here’s what you do. Take an Uber/Lyft to Our Mutual Friend Brewing. Have a beer. Pick any of them -- they’re all good. Then you can walk just a couple blocks to any of the following: Stem Ciders, Ratio Beerworks, Epic Brewing (attempt The Gauntlet -- a flight comprised of a 4oz sample of EVERY ONE OF THEIR BEERS), or C Squared Ciders.

Okay, but what about downtown breweries???

Okay, fair. There’s Wynkoop Brewing Company, opened by former governor and former presidential candidate John Hickenlooper. I’ve never been though so don’t take my word on it.

There’s also Tivoli Brewing, located on my school’s campus.

You also have Jagged Mountain and Rock Bottom.

On the other side of the river, there’s Denver Beer Co. and Prost Brewing. Both are great! Go to Prost if you like German-style beer though!

Blush & Blu

An LGBT-friendly bar. I had a great experience there. Everyone (staff and guests alike) is very friendly and welcoming.

I hope this list serves helpful to anyone who would like it! If you have any questions about the city, feel free to send me a message! I hope everyone has a fun and safe JMM trip! If you see me around, please say hi!

[fallen-imagine-angel]

New in Town - Steve Harrington x Reader

Notes: I love John Mulaney so that’s why I titled it the way I did. Sorry not sorry :) but this fic is short & sweet! Let me know if you guys want a part 2 because that is definitely possible. Please leave a like/comment/reblog, it really helps! Thank you!

Summary: You’re new in town and the cute boy at Scoops Ahoy wants to get your number.

New in Town

Steve Harrington x Reader

Requested?: Yes, by anonymous: “Could I request a Steve x reader where shes Dustin's cousin, and Robin & Dustin work together to be Steve's wingmen on asking her out?”

Word Count: 1,245 (short but sweet)

Warnings: I don’t think there are st3 spoilers? Otherwise, it’s pure fluff, babyyy. 

You walk into Starcourt Mall. It’s your second day in Hawkins, Indiana. You were supposed to be going to college this year, but your mother forced you to take a gap year and stay with your aunt and cousin, the Hendersons. You had argued against it, but once you saw Dustin again, you decided that ultimately it was for the better. You needed a break from the craziness of your hometown.

Little did you know, the craziness of Hawkins, Indiana outweighs your hometown tenfold. 

“One, uh, small chocolate ice cream, please.” You tell the guy at the counter.

“You...look familiar. Do I know you?” The boy asks, his fluffy hair bouncing as he moves. You raise your eyebrows.

“Um, no? I’m new here, I just arrived a couple of days ago…” You trail off, furrowing your brows.

“(Y/n), there you are!” Your little cousin, Dustin, arrives at the ice cream shop.

“This is your cousin you were telling me about?” The guy behind the counter’s eyes go wide. You frown.

“You told people about me?” You look at Dustin with confusion.

“Only him,” Dustin replies, winking at the guy. Steve gives the curly-haired boy a dangerous look.

“Um, I’m sorry, who are you?” You turn to the guy.

“I-I’m Steve. It’s nice to meet you.” He extends his hand.

“(Y/n)...nice to meet you, too,” You say, shaking his hand. You let go and look at Steve expectantly.

“Oh- your ice cream!” He gasps and gets to work making your ice cream.

“Steve’s a real lady killer, (Y/n).” Dustin nudges you. You give him a weird look.

“Okay, weirdo, I don’t care. I’m not from here, remember?” You nudge him back. He chuckles.

“Is this another point for the ‘you suck’ side?” A girl pops out from the back room, putting another tally on a whiteboard.

“Wha- no! Robin, stop!” Steve goes red in the face, pushing the girl into the back room and shutting the windows.

“Can I just...get my ice cream, please?” You frown sadly, looking at the ice cream half-heartedly.

“Um, yeah, sure. Sorry.” Steve gets back to making your ice cream, still red. He finishes and gives it to you. 

“How much?” You take out your wallet.

“It’s on the house.” He smiles at you. You raise your eyebrows.

“You sure?” You ask, shocked that he’d give a stranger free ice cream. You suppose you know him by association, though.

“Yeah, totally. I’ll see you around?” His face seems hopeful as he smiles at you again. You give him a small smile back.

“Yeah, hopefully.” You nod and walk off with your ice cream.

~3rd Person POV~

“Dude, did you see that? She smiled at me!” Steve looks over at Dustin once you’re out of earshot.

“Yeah, I did. But my cousin’s a tough one, just because she smiled at you doesn’t mean she’ll date you.” Dustin warns Steve.

“Dude, just because a girl smiles at you never means that they necessarily want to date you.” Steve hits Dustin lightly in the shoulder.

“True.” Dustin shrugs.

“Big deal, she smiled at you. So what? No, Steve, you need to get her number. That’s when you should celebrate.” Robin walks out of the back room, ice cream scoop in hand.

“How do I do that?” Steve asks as worry etches onto his features.

“Next time she comes here, you just smoothly ask her for her number. You can say something like you want to give her a tour around town from a local, or something. Maybe even say that you’d like to become her friend. Be nice, be casual.” Robin crosses her arms, acting like it should be obvious.

“How will I be sure that she’s going to come back?” Steve asks, running a hand through his hair.

“I’ll make sure she does. I’ll get her here.” Dustin smiles at the pair of teenagers.

“Perfect. I’ll be in the back room the entire time. It’ll go down tomorrow after lunch, got it?” Robin points at Dustin.

“Got it.” Dustin salutes and walks off.

“Are you sure I can do this?” Steve asks, doubting himself.

“No. But I am sure that I give great advice, so you’ll be fine, Steve,” Robin pats his arm, “now get back to scooping ice cream. My lunch break isn’t over yet.” 

~Back to your POV~

The next day, you’re hanging out with Dustin. 

“(Y/n)! Let’s go get ice cream. Please, please, please?” He pleads, dragging you over to Scoops Ahoy. You roll your eyes.

“If this is to get me to talk to Steve--”

“No! Why would I do that?” He cuts you off, acting way too nonchalant. You sigh.

“Hey, you’re back!” Steve perks up when he sees you walk into the store. You nod.

“Yeah, Dustin wanted ice cream. I suppose I’ll get some, too. Can I have a scoop of chocolate ice cream? And Dustin can have his usual.” You tell him, looking over at Dustin. If you’re being honest, you wouldn’t mind Steve asking you out, he is cute. You’re just not sure why your cousin is so set on getting the two of you to date.

“Coming right up.” Steve gets your order ready, setting it down. You pay.

“Alright, Dusty, you ready to go?” You hum, taking a bite of your ice cream.

“Um, not yet. I gotta go to the bathroom. Wait for me here?” He grins at you, giving Steve a thumbs up as he leaves.

“Kids.” You scoff, laughing as you take another bite of ice cream.

“I know...right? They’re, um, weird.” Steve rubs the back of his neck nervously.

“You know another thing that’s weird? You, right now. What’s going on?” You ask, pointing your spoon at him.

“M-Me? Weird? What, that’s...crazy.” He clears his throat, giving you a weak smile. You give him a look.

“Spill.” 

“Fine, I just want to ask you for your number.” He sighs dejectedly, looking down at the counter.

“Okay, do you have a pen? I’ll write it down.” You set your ice cream down. His head shoots up.

“Wait, you said yes? I wasn’t expecting that.” He grabs a napkin and a pen, handing them to you. You write your number down.

“Yeah, sure. I mean, your cute and you’re good friends with my little cousin, so what’s the problem?” You slide the napkin back over to him, your number written neatly on the front.

“I- um, wow. Thanks.” He breathes out, sticking the napkin in his pocket.

“I expect a call from you soon. Preferably to ask me to dinner or something.” You hum, picking your ice cream back up as you see Dustin coming back.

“W-Wha-- seriously?” Steve’s eyes go wide at your words.

“Oh, look, Dustin’s back. See you later, Stevie.” You wink at him, pushing yourself off the counter and walking away with Dustin.

“Wait! (Y/n)!” Steve calls after you, ultimately giving up. Robin walks out from the back.

“She’s good at what she does. Hey, mind if I get that number off you, Steve?” Robin grins, nudging him in the arm. He stares at you as you walk away, laughing with Dustin.

“No way, Robin. She likes me and I am not going to screw this one up.” He breathes out, a wide smile making its way onto his face.

“Whatever you say, Harrington. You better call her tonight.” She snorts, going behind the counter.

“There’s no way you can stop me from calling her tonight.”