#also this whole book I’ve hit my limit of thinking “white lady stand up for yourself”

[nanamiiiiiiin]

I wanted to read a book without having to think too hard so I took Funny Story by Emily Henry which is exactly what it is, but tell me why the protagonist’s father and father’s partner are named Jason and Starfire???

[fangirl-1523]

My Sworn Brothers [Luffy x Crossover!Sister!Reader x Ace x Sabo]

A/N: Hey, so I want to write a High School AU of the many, many anime I have watched/ read. Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Devil is a Part-Timer, Durarara, Fairy Tail, Fullmetal Alchemist, High School of the Dead, InuYasha, Kill La Kill, Magi, My Hero Academia, Noragami, One Piece, Ouran High School Host Club, Pokemon, Saiki K, Sailor Moon, Seven Deadly Sins, Soul Eater, Sword Art Online, Vampire Knight, Your Lie in April, and Yu Gi-Oh. And I was wondering who would you like to be apart of your friend? And would you like to have a relation to any of the characters of the world. 

Summary: [Y/N] is the oldest sworn sister to Luffy, Ace, and Sabo. And after finding Ace and Sabo aboard Luffy’s ship, the Thousand Sunny, she explains to them who she is, her other sworn brothers and sisters, embarrasses the three of them (a regular Tuesday for her), and threatens them with a chalkboard for interrupting her. Multiple times. In this story, most of the anime I am into is in the same world (Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Fairy Tail, Fullmetal Alchemist, InuYasha, Magi, My Hero Academia, Naruto, Noragami, Seven Deadly Sins, and Sword Art Online.  I might do a part 2. 

Warnings: spoilers for the above mangas and animes, also, even though this is along the timeline of after the time skip (at some point), I took the creative liberty to have Ace alive during this meeting for a quad family reunion, might be language

Word Count: 1, 668

“How the hell am I suppose to believe that my three idiotic brothers would be in the same place at the exact same time I’m trying to find them?” the girl with [H/C] hair, old enough to be Luffy’s age, maybe a year younger or a year older than him. 

“[Y/N]!!” the rubber boy flung himself at her in a hug.

She fell down on her butt from the impact of the hug. She groaned before pushing the boy off of her and standing up, dusting herself off. “Geez, Lu. I was on a job, just finished, and I heard something about a Straw Hat, a Fire Fist, and a blonde with a top hat that put the mad hatter to shame. I just came to see if the rumors are true.” 

“What job did you have, sis?” Sabo said as he sipped a smoothie created from Vinsmoke Sanji. 

“Well, you see. In the ten years I’ve been gone, I’ve been busy. Both with being lazy and being diligent.” the girl explained. “I am a member of Fairy Tail. Dragon Slayer Magic, particularly fire, water, earth, air, and plant. Requip the Knight. Some space jumping there and vortex opening here.” 

“You got the two mixed up, kid.” Ace said from his spot next to Sabo. 

The girl grinned an evil grin. “Oh, did I, Ace of Clubs?” 

The raven haired pirate groaned at the nickname while Luffy’s crew members wondered after the nickname. Ace kept giving her the don’t-tell-them-anything look with a cut-it-out motion. She, like most people she knew, did not listen to reason. 

“Well, when we were younger, I attempted to teach the pour unfortunate souls that you call Luffy, Sabo, and Ace golf. And we played mini-gold. First hole we went to, the club flew out of Ace’s hand and crashed into the window where the pour lady working the club stand was clonked on the head and fell unconscious. Another fun fact: I’m overly competitive and therefore master of mini gold. Luffy on the other hand... beat my bowling high score of just a little over four hundred points.” [Y/N] explained. 

“THAT’S NOT HOW YOU PLAY GOLF, YOU IDIOT!” Usopp shouted at his captain. 

“Ace was a lot worse. However, on the eighteenth hole, got a hole in one. Although with team sports, I always sided with Luffy ‘cuz he was the baby of the family.” she explained. 

“Never play Volleyball with her unless you’re Luffy.” Sabo warned the Straw Hat Pirates. 

“Could you... possibly.... explain who you are?” asked Nami. 

“That’s an easy and excellent question, m’lady. I am [Y/N] [L/N], the daughter of the Demon King from the Demon Clan, Niece of Solomon, adoptive daughter of the great dragon, The Curse of Depravity, a mage of S-Class ranking, the best older sister anyone can have, a Shinigami, and the Pirate Fairy.” [Y/N] said with her hands on her hips like wonder woman. 

“You’re not wonder woman, dumbass.” Ace muttered. 

She scowled at the boy (who was now physically older than her). “I know that, asshole.” Ace shrugged his shoulders at that. “Anyways, I should get going. I’m here with my teammates. And Salamander will have a cow if he finds out I’m on a Pirate Ship. Which may or may not include Natsu asking you all to fight him at once for his sister.” [Y/N] shrugged. 

“SISTER?!” Luffy screeched. 

“YOU ALREADY REPLACED US?!” Ace and Sabo said in unison. 

“This is why I never took you to Amusement parks or sat next to you on a ride.” she clenched at her swollen ears.  “No, I was merely saying that I have something called [Y/N]’s Council of Brothers. They’re basically a band of boys I feel need my protection, wisdom, and power to embarrass them until they’re six feet under and rotting.” 

“She’s dark.” Nami said. “But can you explain this whole Council of Brothers thing. Because I’m not sure they,” the ginger pointed to the three brothers, “understand.” 

“Alright! I will go over a lesson here!” and suddenly a white board appeared by her side with writing already on it. 

“Where did you get the white board?” asked Luffy. 

“That’s not important right now.” she scowled. “Yes, Sabo.” 

“Was that Whiteboard always there and we just never noticed it?” the blonde asked. 

“No. Ace if this is a question about the white board, I will smack you with the same gold club that flew through that window. All questions about the stupid whiteboard will be answered after I explained everything. Got it?” 

The three brothers grumbled out a, “Yes.”  

“Good. Anyways, to start it off I have two half-brothers. Meliodas and Zeldris.” she slapped a pointer stick against the whiteboard. 

“Did she always have that?” Ace asked, whispering it to his two brothers. 

“I don’t know. I’m just glad someone noticed it besides me.” Sabo murmured back. 

“SILENCE, YOU INSOLENCE FOOLS!” and she threw a frying pan which hit Ace in the head. 

Why does she have a frying pan in her requips? Sabo wondered in his head, not wanting to get hit in the head with anything else she might have to throw at them. 

“Anyways, Meliodas and Zeldris are my half-brothers. Zeldris is the captain of the Demon Clan’s ten Commandments while Meliodas is the captain of Liones’s Seven Deadly Sins of which I am co-captain and the Phoenix Sin of Darkness. To be fair, I look more like my mother and I think the only thing me, Meliodas, and Zeldris share is our dumbassery we inherited from our father. Second off, my cousin is Magi Aladdin since my mother is his father, Solomon,’s sister. Now, that’s enough of my actual biological family. Now, I won’t go into detail about those three. Because you already seem well-acquainted with one another. Anyways, onto the next one. The next one on my list of brothers is a half-demon named Rin who is the son of Satan along with his younger brother, Yukio, but he doesn’t really need protection. next is Kazuto Kirigaya also known as Kirito. I prefer to call him that. He got stuck in a game where if you die there, you die in real life, but he defeated them. next, we have Satan himself, a king of demons, Sadou Maou. He works as a part-timer for a fast food chain which is sad to be honest. Next, we have Alibaba Saluja, a prince and a king’s candidate, also my cousin’s best friend. He wields the fire djinn, Amon. Also, he’s trying to be a gladiator while figuring out his feelings for Fanalis and former slave Morgiana. Next, we have actual God Yato who is a former god of calamity and a current god of war. I think. I’m not quite sure. But he and his two regalia, Yukine and a Nora named Kazuma, but also Kazune under Yato, must be protected by me at all cost. Then, we have Edward Elric, a alchemist missing both a leg and an arm because he wanted to see his mom’s smile again which kicks me in the heartstrings whenever I hear it. His brother, Alphonse, is an honorary member of the Council of Brothers. And he used to be entirely a soul attached to a suit of armor. No joke.” 

“Does no one else notice that they are mostly raven haired or blonde?” Nico Robin commented. 

The Straw Hat Pirates turned to the three sworn brothers who just shrugged their shoulders at that. “I admit I am guilty for that. But my actual brothers are raven headed and blonde, so that may be the reason. Anyways, off to the next people. Now, this person could make Luffy look like a genius. Sometimes. Natsu Dragneel, a salmon haired fire dragon slayer, is the brother of Zeref Dragneel, the black wizard, and also simultaneously END, the most powerful demon of the book of zeref which makes him one of the top fifteen most powerful demons. Next, we have strawberry boi, Ichigo Kurosaki, a shinigami who I’ve been helping train. He could see the dead and then he discovered his spiritual power, stole the shinigami powers of Rukia Kuchiki, and started to exorcist hollows and send souls to the soul society. Then, we have my favorite band of brothers since they could literally be in a band. Broccoli Boi, Izuku Midoriya, kinda has a power augmentation quirk, best way to describe it without giving too much away, Porcupine Katsuki Bakugo who can blow things up with help from his sweat. Zuko Wannabe Shoto Todoroki who can wield fire and ice. Also, his brother Touya may or may not be Dabi. Then, Pikachu Kaminari Denki who can utilize elctricity, but too much and he makes Luffy look like a genius. No joke. Well… maybe… I don’t really know. Anyways, then we have speedster Tenya Iida. Oh, there’s sharkboy Eijiro Kirishima. He can make himself go as hard as rock, but he has limitations. Then, we have spidertape Hanta Sero that can shoot tape out of his elbows. Then, half-demon InuYAsha who is the son of a dog demon and a mortal woman. There’s also Shippo who is an adorable little kitsune. And I think I got everyone.” the girl looked at her board before smacking it again as she noticed Luffy had begun to doze off while Ace had totally fallen asleep. 

The action alerted the two boys to wake up at once and glare at their older sister. And then, a silver haired undead man with a flying blue cat landed on the floor of the ship. “Thank goodness we found you. C’mon. We got a mission and you and your ‘Team Natsu’ have a job request from the old man and a princess.” 

“So Hisui and Bartra both agree to have us do something, but what is this so-called mission?” asked [Y/N]. 

Ban smirked. “We’re fighting slave-trading pirates.” 

“I want in!” Luffy cheered.

[osmw1]

Dimension Wave   Chapter 34 — Limited Dimension Wave

“What’s with all the ruckus at this hour?”

Alto sleepily rubbed his eyes. Beside him stood Yamikage and Tsugumi, both of whom were asleep minutes ago as well. Yamikage had adjusted to living on the seas and has been sleeping properly too. Tsugumi was still half-asleep.

“The ship is being pulled along by something.” “Surely ‘tis but a wave.” “If it’s just a wave, then I don’t know why my Helmsmanship skill isn’t working at all.”

I was able to keep the ship from capsizing when the storm hit us, but I don’t know why it’s not doing anything now. Was it because I caught the Humongous Squid? That shouldn’t have anything to do with it. But if it is, then my fishing must’ve affected something. I mean, that doesn’t really make sense though. We should’ve only been jostled around a little by the drag of the squid. Maybe we simply triggered a flag for the Sea of No Return… but that would be awfully optimistic thinking.

“Be on gua—What?”

I turned around to see who tapped my shoulder. But there wasn’t anyone there. I mean, obviously not. Everybody on board is standing in front of me. To my right are Yamikage and Tsugumi. To my left are Alto and Sheryl. Ahead of me is Shouko. Who would be there to tap me on my shoulder?

“Kizuna, what if there were ghosts on the sea?” “Well, I’d expect you to be a little more scared…”

The lady standing right in front of me seemed as if she could see more than we could. I’m not scared enough to be shrieking out loud, but Shouko looked extremely serious considering the possibility of ghosts and stuff… Well, I know Dimension Wave is only a game, but I wish she would at least pretend to be scared. But someone else was.

“… phantom ships.” “S-S-Su-Surely you jest, miladies!” “Well, I s’pose ghost ships and pirate ships are nautical staples.”

Neither Sheryl nor Alto seemed surprised. It’s true that MMORPG’s usually have them as dungeons or events. Hell, it’d be more surprising if they didn’t show up on a nautical RPG. And why are you pissing your pants already, Yamikage?

“Yeah, you’re right… That would explain why the mist and the sudden chilliness too.”

Visibility had rapidly worsened. The fog, eerie and disturbing, was extremely well done on the developers’ part. Drowsy before, but Yamikage was now trembling. Was she that terrified?

“Hey, Yamikage. It’s a little clichéd, but would you let me scare you with a ‘boo!’?” “How! You would be such a knave!” “Figured you’d get mad.”

I don’t think my joke went over very well, but I also don’t think it made much of a difference that I warned her first.

“Thy mere suggestion has wrought me with fury!” “Fine… then how ‘bout you, Alto?” “No way, José! I’ve got the heebie-jeebies already!” “Heh, I never said I was actually gonna do it, but your guys’ reactions was amazing.”

It might’ve been more fun to push them, but the other three…

“Do tell why you are looking at me like that.” “… try me.” “You’re so oopy spoopy, big bro!”

Yikes. I don’t know what I expected out of my sister, but I really don’t want her to act all cutesy with me like that again.

“But in all seriousness, a ghost ship, huh? Sounds like it’ll be tough.” “Even during the day~!”

Well, the whole party’s leveled up a bit and even I’m at about half the Energy I used to have. I’ve also been using Transmutation to get some Energy out of the squid I fish up, but since the skill is only at rank I, it takes quite a bit of time to cast. Plus, since I get about 5-15 Energy per squid, that’s only about 700 Energy per hour. I’ll probably have to keep using the skill to level it up to II, but it’s yet to pop up even though I’ve been at it for a while now.

“I-I-Is that the ship, perchance?! Oh, but I am so frightened!” “What’s truly frightening is that you still haven’t acquired Night Vision.”

She probably sleeps through the night, but I’ve had it unlocked for so long already. More importantly, though, I looked over to the direction she was pointing. It was glowing in a ghostly white light, emitting a full body sense of dread. The realism of it all truly spoke to the beauty of VR.

The ghost ship was absolutely colossal. Our sailboat was only about 20 meters in length, but we were completely eclipsed in comparison. Sheryl explained that leisure watercraft over 25 feet (approximately 7.6 meters) are designated as cabin cruisers. But this was more like a yacht. It had the space for multiple living quarters and other facilities on board. It was probably, what, ten times bigger us and it had suddenly appeared in front of us. The sails were in tatters and its planks crumbling. If it weren’t for the mysterious white light that it’s emitting, you’d think this ghost ship is just some floating rotten junk. If this were a horror movie, there would be a theremin playing in the score right now.

“Yamikage.” “Gah!” “I… I just wanted to speak to you. No need to be shrieking or anything…”

And just for kicks, I turned to look at Alto and then gazed past his shoulders. He seemed out of it. Whatever it may be, their reactions are top notch. You’ve just gotta have at least one person in your squad like these two!

“I think I respect you a little less now, Kizuna.” “Whaaat? Just because there’s a ghost ship?” “But the look on your face!”

Haha! Oh, this guy. But I suppose there are more important matters at hand. Like the ghost ship.

“Like I was saying, let’s be on guard and prepare for combat. Something like this has gotta have enemies on board.” “Understood.” “‘kay.” “Mm-hmm!”

The three of them replied with confidence if not enthusiasm. The other two? Cowards. Especially that Yamikage. Get a grip! At least Alto’s got an excuse. He’s been busy trading up till now, so he might be a little underleveled. Yamikage, though, has the strongest stats out of all of us. With her Drain, her numbers are better than even Shouko. But, I mean, if she’s simply afraid of ghosts and spirits, then there’s nothing you can really do about it.

“If you two are that bad with ghosts and stuff, you wanna stay behind?” “… Stay behind? Here?” “Yeah.” “I shall follow you till the ends of the Earth!” “I mean, it’s probably safer if you stay here and wait for us.” “Hell to the no! It’s a billion times scarier to be here alone!” “I guess? I grew up watching a lot of this stuff, so I guess I’m used to it.”

My sisters and I used to always rent horror flicks and watch them together. There’s even new VR horrors where you watch in first-person. I’m not crazy about the genre as a whole though. But enough contemplating. Let’s charge on board.

Vrrt!

There was a crackling noise. It was a noise I’ve heard merely two weeks ago. It’s here… With a bright flash of light, time and space warped—

—Limited Dimension Wave.

Kizuna†Exceed (Captain)

Hakoniwa Shouko (Vice Captain)

Yamikage

Sheryl

Tsugumi†Exceed

Altorese

A menu popped up with a list of our names. Once past the blinding light, it looked like the dungeon was located below deck. There was no information on the minimap except for each of our locations. Everything else was pitch black. It’s probably one of those hidden dungeons that pop up in games all the time.

“Limited Dimension Wave?”

I muttered aloud to myself, but everyone else was similarly confused by what it meant. Shouko had already readied her weapon. It’s like she’s some sort of disciplined soldier, ready to engage in combat at the drop of the hat. Sheryl was simply looking around with her usual blank expression. Tsugumi had her battle scythe wielded in both hands. Her lower body trembled while her animal ears twitched agitatedly. Alto seemed out of it, just as before. And then there’s…

“Eeeeeeeeek! No, it’s too scary! Help meee!”

There was about one person who was almost repulsively afraid. But wait. Where did that verbal tic of her go? She’s actually that terrified? I mean, she was scared before, but… I don’t know, I feel bad for putting her through this now.

“Yamikage, it’s alright!” “… Kiz!” “… Who?” “… Miss Kizuna.”

I have so much to say about her correcting herself, but I can save that for later. I’m not about to ask her what she thinks about me though. But Yamikage. Just what is she? I’m sure if I got to know her, I’d understand her more and guess to how she is as a person. Not her character, but rather the actual player behind the ninja. I mean, of course, it’d be rude for me to pry. In online games like this, you never know who’s comfortable sharing what with whom. This is all just theory, but in my mind, Shouko is from old money, Sheryl… I’m not so sure about, Tsugumi is obvious, and Alto is probably… a little older. You know what they say about books and covers though.

“Chill, Yamikage. We’re in a game. Even if there were ghosts, it’s all just a game.” “… I understand, milady.”

From below her, I looked up straight into her eyes… And seemingly calmer now, she nodded in agreement. Alright, with her out of the way, I had to get a handle on the situation. I just had to pay no mind to Dark Shadow holding on to my sleeve.

“So, what’s does ‘limited’ mean?” “… With restrictions.” “I mean, if we look at it literally, then I suppose it’s a restricted Dimension Wave?” “I believe it to mean that it is limited to the current party listed in the information screen.” “Ooh, that makes sense…”

This was something I’ve seen more than once in MMO’s. It’s not dissimilar to instance dungeons and party quests. Tsugumi had played one that was all about co-op with your party members. It’s a total cliché, but I’ll bet that we’ll have to clear this dungeon and then defeat a boss. We’ll get quest rewards and boss drops at the end too. And we’re probably limited to doing this once a day or once a week or something. I get it now. That’s probably why it’s limited.

“Alrighty. No point to standing around like this. Shall we?”

contents: /prologue/ /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /ch014/ /ch015/ /ch016/ /ch017/ /ch018/ /ch019/ /ch020/ /ch021/ /ch022/ /ch023/ /ch024/ /ch025/ /ch026/ /ch027/ /ch028/ /ch029/ /ch030/ /ch031/ /ch032/ /ch033/ /ch034/ /next/

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[unhuman-feeling]

Such A Strange Shape Deleted Scenes - Chapter 1

I wrote a lot of extra bits and pieces that didn’t really fit or ended up getting omitted. A lot of these were just drabbles about Patrick’s psychology or things that we’ren’t essential to the plot so I just wrote them for myself, but now that the book is done I figured maybe some people would also like them.

These bits go around chapter 1, where Patrick is meeting Food Man for the first time, and yeah. If you want to read the fic, it’s on AO3. But here’s the extras :)

The room was very scary.

It wasn’t bedroom. It had weird things, instead of good things. Bedroom had things that he understood, like mattress and bathtub and Algebra volume 1.

This room had none of those things. The only thing he recognised in this room was the blanket and the pillow. So he grabbed both of those, found the least scary corner in the whole room, and tried to close his eyes and pretend that he was back in bedroom.

There were people, too. They tried to talk to him at first, and that scared him a lot, so he growled at them and now they just stood on the other side of the room. They looked weird. Different eyes and different hair and different skin and different clothes. These people must be the bad people he learned about, they must be here for him. They must have already taken his Mom, he was next. He was sure of it.

He was very scared already, but he was very scared when one of them sat down beside him. “Hey, buddy…”

He was crying, and he knew from Mom that other people didn’t like that. He tried to growl at this person, to scare them away, so he would be alone again and he could go back to bedroom. But it didn’t work very well because he was crying, and this was the first person that wasn’t very scared of his growls.

“Can I have a look at your hand?” The man asked softly, looking at where he’d hidden his hand under the blanket. The other lady in the box had put weird stuff on it and it was hurting bad. She had tried to kill him by putting weird white things on his hand. He’d taken them off now, which made it much better, but he knew that this person just wanted to kill him too and he wanted to start with his hand, just like she did.

He hadn’t had a blanket in a very long time. He remembered now why he loved them so much, because he could pull it over his whole body and hide.

“I’m not going to hurt you, buddy.” The man said gently, slowly lifting the blanket off his face. “I’m just here to help. I promise.”

When he screamed, because this man was going to kill him and he was so scared, the man was very scared too. He backed away a bit and looked very scared, and stared at him for a minute in alarm.

One of the other people walked over and spoke some nonsense words. He could hear them and know what each one meant, because dictionary was good for that, but when they were used together, and out loud it was so strange.

“Are you okay, Peter?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The man stood back up, and when he flinched, the man took a few steps back to give him some space. “He’s… he’s going to need some time.”

“Do you think he’s…?”

“He’s got no documentation, no signs of haircuts, no education and clearly limited human interaction.” The man looked back at him for a moment, and he hid behind the blanket for protection. “We’ve got a feral child.”

-

The man came back, a while later.

He’d made the corner nicer, getting another pillow and making a soft spot to sit where he would be safe. He’d get to go back to bedroom soon, he told himself. Until then, as long as he stayed under the blanket and away from the bad people, he’d be fine.

But then the man came back, and he had a plate.

“Here, buddy.” He said gently, placing the plate on the ground in front of him. “It’s breakfast time. Are you hungry?”

He didn’t know what to say to that. He thought about the dictionary and those words. This man only spoke strange nonsense words, and probably wanted to kill him. He held the blanket up to keep him safe, but he was looking at the man because he was strange.

He had hair, like his own, but it was short and the ends only stopped around the top of his head. More than that, he had brown eyes, not blue like his Mom’s were. But the weirdest thing about him was the little hairs, that were so small you could hardly see them, coming out from his chin.

The man stared at him, before squinting slightly. “Food. Do you want food? Are you hungry? I’ve got some pancakes here, they’re fresh and warm.”

He ignored the nonsense words and reached the hand that wasn’t sore out to the weird chin hairs. They felt weird. Spikey and short and not at all like the hair on the top of his head. Weird hair.

“Oh, okay…” The man didn’t move away from his hand though, which was nice. Mom did that, but he was nice and let him touch all over the weird parts of him.

There were lots of them. His hair was brown and his eyes were blue and he had weird skin with little holes that he could see but not feel with his fingers. The shirt was weird too, all stiff and not soft like the one he was wearing. Not to mention the little piece of metal that was on the front of it – it felt cold on his fingers and had more nonsense words that he didn’t recognise written on them.

“Here, buddy. Look here.” The man redirected his attention to the plate. “Here. Pancakes. Uh… here.” The man grabbed knife and made a smaller one, and picked it up with another piece of metal that he didn’t know. That was all okay, until the man tried to stab him with it.

He shrieked in alarm and quickly returned to the safety corner with the protective blanket. The man started apologising profusely, and put the piece of metal down. “Sorry, buddy! It’s just a fork. Here,” he picked it off and held it in his palm. “It’s a pancake. You can eat it.”

When he didn’t say anything in response to that, the man considered before gently picking it up with his other hand and placing it into his mouth. “MmmMMMMmmMMmm. Food. Do you want some?”

The next small piece was placed in Patrick’s hand, and Patrick stared at it. There was warmth coming from it, which was very, very scary. Warmth only came from Mom. Nothing else ever had warmth, and now it was in his hand and that was so scary.

“You can it eat. It’s really good.” The man smiled, making another small piece for himself. He ate that one and made the same MMMmmmMMMmmMM sound, before gesturing for him to do the same.

He tentatively nibbled at the edge, tasting the crumbs and making sure that it wasn’t going to kill him. When he swallowed those, and was still very much alive, and placed the rest of it in his mouth and chewed, the weird texture being a bit scary but it was okay. Actually, it was more than okay. It was the best tasting thing he’d ever had in his whole life, and the man smiled at him as a smile grew on his face.

“Good, huh?”

He leaned over, picked the rest of the thing up with his fingers, and then turned around and quickly ate it before the man had a chance to take it away.

The man laughed at that. “That’s probably the better way to eat it. Pancakes are good, yeah?”

He nodded, hesitantly, but the man only smiled reassuringly and he exhaled slowly. Pancakes.

-

Food Man wasn’t too bad. He didn’t want to cause pain, or make him die, or do anything bad. He was nice.

But this was a new person, and he wasn’t quite ready for that.

“Patrick, this is Tyler.” Food Man explained, gesturing to the other man in the new bedroom. “He’s a friend of mine.”

Patrick. That meant him. It was a nice word that meant him but it was still strange. Patrick. Patrick, Patrick, Patrick.

“I like your pyjamas.” Tyler smiled, and he scowled. This Tyler only spoke weird nonsense words. He was one of the bad people.

“Don’t growl at Tyler. He’s just like me. He’s nice and he’s just here to help.” Food Man told him when he started growling. “See, look Patrick! He brought pancakes!”

That made it better. After shoving his face full of pancakes, and a long explanation from Food Man about how Tyler was a special hand doctor who worked on making hands hurt less, he let Tyler put new bandages on the burn. It was a weird, weird feeling, but then Food Man had a small cup of red liquid that made his hand hurt less so it was all okay.

“Do you want to come for a walk?” Food Man asked next. “Not far. Just down to my office. We just want to take some measurements, yeah?”

When the words very clearly flew past him, Tyler rephrased. “Can you come with us to another room? It’s Peter’s room. We’d really like to take you there.”

He was silent for a moment, twisting his mouth around uncomfortably at the thought of leaving the new bedroom. This bedroom was still much scarier than old bedroom, but he liked it a lot more now. Going to a completely new place was very, very scary.

“Food Man’s bedroom?”

Food Man laughed. “Yeah, buddy. My bedroom. It’s not very far away.”

“O-Okay…”

It was weird, to leave his corner, and then even to be standing up next to Food Man because he was still very tall. But what the weirdest part was, was when Food Man held his hand out.

Patrick stared at it, and hesitantly poked it, because he wasn’t really sure what to do in this scenario. Food Man laughed again, and explained.

“Here. We can hold hands, to make sure we’re together and don’t get lost.” He leaned over and picked up Patrick’s hand in his own, and Patrick just stared at it.

“Is that okay?” Food Man asked.

It was so warm, like Mom’s hand. But when Mom would share her hand, then she would always end with pain. Patrick stared up at Food Man for a moment, trying to decide whether or not he would pull away to avoid being hit, or whether he’d enjoy it while it lasted. It was so nice.

So instead, he leaned right into Food Man, pressing his body up against Food Man’s coat and resting his cheek on his arm. Food Man had so much warmth, much more than Mom was ever willing to share with him. And Food Man didn’t pull away either, he just stood there and let Patrick enjoy it.

Tyler was giggling, but Food Man just smiled and put his hand on Patrick’s shoulder. “You alright, buddy?”

“You’re warm.” He mumbled, burrowing his face into Food Man’s doctor’s coat.

“Oh, do you need a sweater?” He bent down and stared at Patrick, before he realised what he was referring to. “Oh. I get it. Other people are warm, huh?”

Patrick nodded, eagerly trying to worm his way back under Food Man’s arm. “Mom… Mom didn’t like to share.”

“Oh, okay.” He thought about that for a moment, before smiling at the kid. “Well, you can have some of my warmth, but we have to go to my office first, yeah? Let’s just hold hands for now and we’ll see how we go when we’re done.”

Patrick nodded eagerly in response to that.

[millennial-medusa]

Help Me Piece It All Together, Darling

This was just supposed to be a little Jasiper drabble for my Baseball AU, but I love these two so much and it got away from me and, well...here’s 11k words of them being idiots and honestly barely any baseball. It is absolutely as cheesy as it sounds.

This is set their sophomore year, so earlier than the other fics I’ve written for this au.

Jason x Piper, rated T, read on ao3

Jason Grace might just be the death of her.

She’d thought he was attractive as soon as she’d started going to baseball games last year and spotted him from the stands. She’d thought he was gorgeous when she’d approached him at that bar a few months ago, the couple drinks in her system giving her the courage to toss her hair and tease him a little, the resulting blush across his cheeks and the electric blue of his eyes weakening her knees.

But now, sitting in the library watching him help Leo through a research paper with all the patience and kindness and—yes, she’d admit it, grace, no pun intended—of a seasoned kindergarten teacher, she was positive he was the most beautiful person she’d ever met.

And this was a problem.

It was a problem because Piper, despite being a decent flirt when she wanted to be, had absolutely zero skills in terms of getting a guy to date her. She’d had her fair share of one night stands and casual hookups, but those were easy; the kind of guys that were willing to do one night stands were willing to do them with anyone decently attractive and emotionally detached. Piper checked those boxes pretty well, minimal work required.

But Jason wasn’t one of those guys. The more time she spent with him, the more obvious it was that he was the kind of guy to hold open doors and only kiss on the third date and ask for a lady’s favor before going to fight a dragon for her hand because he was literally a knight in shining armor, and it sucked because Piper was pretty sure she was the scullery maid in that scenario. Or the evil step-sister. Or the dragon.

(Okay, she reasoned, she wasn’t that bad. She wasn’t evil. Just hopeless and delusional. One of the nameless court ladies who swooned at a glance from the knight, but was overlooked in favor of the lovely and virtuous princess he would live happily ever after with.)

So a crush on Jason was a terrible, awful, absolutely horrendous idea, but for some reason her heart didn’t get the message her brain was so desperately signaling to it with red flags and emergency flares, because it kept picking up speed with every blindingly white smile he sent her from across the table.

(What had she just been saying about swooning?)

“But I say right there what it’s about,” Leo was complaining, gesturing to his laptop screen.

“No, that’s your topic sentence for that paragraph,” Jason explained. He ran a hand through his already mussed hair.

Piper wanted to run her own hands through it, tugging on the blonde locks while her tongue explored his mouth.

“Isn’t that what a topic sentence is supposed to do?”

“Yes, but you don’t have a thesis. Or an introduction.”

“Why would I need one of those when you made me write that abstract thing that explained the whole paper anyway? I still maintain that invalidates even needing to write a paper, by the way.”

“Leo, have you ever written an essay in your life?”

Leo’s eyes darted to Piper’s, and twin smiles stretched slowly across their faces.

“Oh yeah,” Leo answered, turning back to Jason. “I’ve written tons, and they were fantastic. Totally winners.”

Piper bit back a laugh. “Honestly, Leo’s written some of the finest essays of our generation. I’m incredibly proud of my—ah, of his work,” she added.

Jason’s brow furrowed—in a non-totally adorable and distracting way, of course—as he glanced back and forth between the two of them.

“Leo,” he repeated slowly, fixing him with a stern gaze, “have you ever written an essay in your life?”

“Define ‘written.’”

“Are you serious?” Jason’s eyebrows hit his hairline, and Piper didn’t bother to hold back her laughter. “How did you get through high school? How did you get through all of last year?”

Leo grinned over at him. “Wilderness school didn’t assign too many essays, and when they did, they didn’t read them closely enough to realize the similarities in Piper’s and my writing styles.”

Jason’s eyes widened before landing on Piper. “You—you wrote his essays for him? For all of high school?”

Piper shrugged. “Like he said, there weren’t that many to write. Besides, I can knock out a three page paper in less than an hour, and Leo did lots of my math assignments to pay me back.”

“Yes, she drove a hard bargain, but every equation was worth it to not have to analyze Jane Eyre," Leo sighed.

“What can I say? The rates are high, but I provide excellent customer service.”

“Absolutely. I’d give you four stars on yelp.”

“Only four? That rhetorical analysis of Mark Antony’s speech got you a 98!”

“Sure, the quality is great, but your options are limited. You’re not writing this essay, for example.”

“You’re right, the uses of obscure elements is a little out of my scope of provided services. That’s what you get for taking chemistry.”

“What good are you comm majors if you can’t even write my essays for me?”

“You committed plagiarism for four years and got away with it?” Jason interrupted with a harsh whisper.

“Relax, Sparky, the teachers didn’t care what we did as long as we sat quietly,” Piper laughed.

“Which, naturally, we always did,” Leo added. “We’re both known for our ability to sit in silence and behave just like we should.”

Jason shook his head. “I have no idea how I ended up with the two of you for friends.”

“Aww c’mon, you know you love us,” Leo crooned.

Jason chuckled and adjusted his glasses. “You’re lucky I do. I would not risk having ‘aiding and abetting criminals’ on my record for anybody else.”

With that, the air shifted. Piper felt her stomach drop, and her eyes met Leo’s again, but this time the knowledge that passed between them was not of an inside joke. The laughter had disappeared from their expressions, and Jason noticed.

“Guys?” he asked tentatively, glancing between the two of them nervously before landing on Piper. “Is everything okay? Did I say someth—”

“So I don’t have a thesis,” Leo interrupted, “what is that, exactly?”

Jason was still studying Piper, who was avoiding his gaze. She could feel his eyes, all too perceptive, roaming over her drawn face and tensed shoulders, but she focused resolutely on the textbook in front of her.

“Your thesis statement sums up your argument and the key points you’re using to prove it,” she spoke up, her gaze trained on Leo now. “It’s like, a shortened version of the back of a book. Or a highlights reel. Or a movie trailer.”

Leo looked back at her blankly. “So…another thing that sums up the whole paper. Why do I have to write the whole paper if I can prove it in one sentence?”

Piper rolled her eyes, but, to his credit, Jason managed a small smile. “It doesn’t prove your claim, it just gives a little preview of how you’re going to prove it. It gives the reader an idea of what to expect,” he explained, far more patiently than Piper ever could have. She was good with words, but even Leo exceeded her patience at times like these.

Jason was just so good. Piper couldn’t think of anybody deserving of him, especially not herself.

Her heart ached.

Over the past three months, Jason had fit seamlessly into Leo and Piper’s lives, clicking instantly. She and Jason were easy friends in their own right, getting pizza together or hanging out in the apartment when Leo was out. Of course, she’d befriended Percy, Annabeth, and many of the other team members and their assorted friends in the same amount of time, but her connection to Jason was just…different, somehow. And not just because she was perilously close to falling in love with him already.

Leo would always be Piper’s best friend—they’d been through so much together that losing him wasn’t even a possibility to Piper, they were stuck with each other for life—but Jason, even after only three months, was already a close second. After their initial meeting of tipsy flirting, they’d bonded quickly over their shared love of baseball and Disney movies.

So now Piper knew just how kind and genuine of a person he really was. She also knew how much of a disaster she was, and how much he didn’t deserve to have to put up with that.

So she suffered in silence, hoping her little crush would go away painlessly and soon. The way her stomach flipped when Jason glanced over at her again, his eyes still slightly apprehensive, seemed to insist she would not be getting an easy out.

When she tuned back into the boys’ conversation, Jason was asking Leo when the paper was due.

“Tomorrow?” he yelped at Leo’s answer. “And you waited until now to ask for my help? Leo, you have six more pages to write, we’re gonna be here all night!”

“Nice rhyme, Dr. Seuss,” Leo teased, but at the look Jason gave him, he ducked his head guiltily. “I know, honestly I didn’t think writing a dumb essay would take that long,” he mumbled. “You guys can go home if you want, it’s pretty late and finals are in a few days and I’m sure I can figure this out—”

Piper just snorted. “Not going anywhere, Valdez. We’re a team.”

“She’s right,” Jason chimed in, patting Leo lightly on the shoulder. “I meant it when I said I’d help. If we have to stay until the paper is due, then that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Leo smiled at both of them, and they went back to work.

—

Three hours later, Piper felt her eyelids drooping. It was only 10 PM, but she'd had gotten up early and worked all day, so she could already tell staying up with Leo was gonna be rough. The boys, she noted, were looking a little frazzled too, so she stood and told them she was going on a coffee run.

Jason frowned. “It’s late, Pipes, are you sure you should be walking across campus alone?”

Warmth spread through her at his concern, but she shrugged it off and her jacket on. “I’m a tough girl, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Jason opened his mouth to protest, but Leo cut him off. “Just go with her, Jason, I need some time alone anyway.”

Piper nodded at Jason’s questioning glance, but she glared daggers at Leo when Jason turned to grab his coat. Leo just gave her a shit eating grin; he’d picked up on Piper’s crush early on and frequently found excuses to leave them alone together.

A few moments later, Piper and Jason were walking out into a wall of freezing December air that had Piper tugging her coat around her and wishing she could cuddle up to Jason. Strictly to conserve heat, naturally.

They chatted easily as they walked to a small coffee shop about five minutes away, the only one on campus open 24 hours.

“Are your finals bad?” Jason asked, his words a puff of steam in the frigid air.

Piper shook her head and buried her hands deeper in her pockets. “Nah. My media law final is the only one I’m really worried about, but I think I’ll do okay. What about yours? Is that political theory stuff still giving you trouble?”

“I’ve been studying for it, so I think I’ll be okay,” he shrugged.

“I wish I had the self discipline to already be studying for finals,” Piper grumbled. “I can’t get myself to study before the last minute.”

Jason laughed at her sullen expression. “You just need the right motivation, like a reward or a study buddy.”

“You offering?” She caught his eye and smirked; Jason blushed a pretty shade of pink that spread down his neck and disappeared beneath the collar of his peacoat. Piper found herself wishing she could see just how far down that blush travelled.

“Yeah—I mean, if you wanted,” Jason stammered, looking hurriedly away from her.

Piper cringed inwardly; she hadn’t meant to embarrass or pressure him. But she had to admit, having someone to make her study would be helpful—Leo was no help at all and Annabeth had her hands full with Percy—and she couldn’t bring herself to say no to spending time with Jason, even if she should for her own sake.

“I’d like that,” she found herself saying, and his resulting smile was so bright she forgot all about the awkwardness of the previous moment. His teeth were so perfect and straight, he could’ve done toothpaste commercials, she noted. And his lips—well, Piper had spent plenty of time thinking about them already; they were a little thin and a little chapped, but they were so frequently pulled into a smile and looked so inviting she knew she wouldn’t mind the roughness if they were working with her own. She wanted to bite the scar on his upper lip—where had it come from? She’d have to ask him sometime.

Her eyes traveled upward then, following the gentle slope of his nose to his bright blue eyes. Piper usually preferred brown, like her own, but Jason’s were so genuinely captivating, fringed with long, blonde lashes, that she longed to drown herself in them.

That thought snapped her out of her haze: she wasn’t this much of a fucking sap, and she couldn’t afford to be thinking things that sounded like they were written by a lovesick thirteen year old. She couldn’t take her eyes off his, though, and she noted the way they dropped to her mouth as her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

He was looking at her mouth. And his eyes were different somehow—darker? Or maybe that was just the shadowy lighting, but either way he was definitely staring at her mouth and either he was going to stop and kiss her or she had something stuck in her teeth. She really hoped it was the former, because they’d gotten so close their arms were touching as they walked and his eyes were flitting up to her own and back down again, and Piper prayed, oh she prayed that she was right because she was leaning forward now so there was no going back and—

Unfortunately, staring prolongedly at a boy who probably wasn’t even into her meant that Piper didn’t notice the patch of ice she was walking towards.

She shrieked as her feet slid out from under her, the dark pavement suddenly racing towards her. She braced for impact, but instead of freezing concrete to the nose, she felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and hauling her back to her feet.

Before she could fully process what was happening she found herself pressed entirely up against Jason’s front, his arms securely around her waist and his wide eyes blinking down at her from behind his glasses. Her hands settled on his chest as they stared at each other, and then slid down to grip his forearms. Neither his hands nor his gaze shifted.

Piper swallowed hard before noting just how nice his arms felt, even through his coat. All those workouts and baseball practices had really paid off.

Jason’s cheeks were stained crimson again—he blushed a lot, and Piper adored it—but he started laughing.

“Yeah, uh, I guess they have,” he said. Suddenly his eyes went wide. “Not—not that you’re heavy, or anything. Because you aren’t. I mean, you’re like, average weight I assume? For a girl your height? I don’t really know, I haven’t caught very many people—”

Piper was mortified her comment had been spoken aloud, but thankfully Jason’s own stammering had shifted the focus off of her.

“What?” she asked, cutting him off with a raised eyebrow. “You mean to tell me you don’t regularly swoop in and catch people? And here I thought you were some kind of blonde Superman. It’s kind of a let down that you don’t save the day all the time.”

Jason grinned, a little sheepishly, but without most of the previous nervousness. “Haven’t noticed too many people falling.”

Piper’s heart hammered in her chest, and surely he could feel it with the way they were still pressed together. Then you must be blind, she wanted to say.

Instead, she stepped back, letting his arms fall away from her. She instantly felt the chill seep into her as though she weren’t even wearing a coat.

“Guess it’s just me, then,” she quipped, tossing him a smile as they headed toward the coffee shop again. They were nearly there. “Figures, I’m pretty clumsy.”

A small smile appeared on Jason’s face at that. Piper saw him attempt to subtlety lengthen his strides—attempt being the key word, because it wasn’t subtle at all—and reached the door first, just in time to open it for her, ever the perfect gentleman. “Hey, every princess needs a little saving now and then,” he said.

This time, Piper was the one blushing.

—

Piper McLean was going to be the death of him, he was sure of it.

Jason had never been great with girls. He knew there had been girls who’d liked him in the past, definitely more than a few who’d flirted with him, but he never had much interest. The only relationship he’d ever had was with Reyna in high school, and that had been short lived; Jason cared about her deeply but not romantically, and Reyna…well. Reyna had ended up dating his older sister.

Where was he going with that? Oh, he was bad with girls. Right.

So when he’d seen Piper across that bar in September, he’d nearly panicked. She was gorgeous, looking him up and down with eyes that were shifting color, and she seemed to approve of what she saw, but Jason couldn’t flirt to save his life when he was sober, let alone several drinks in. Luckily she’d been about as drunk as he had, so she hadn’t minded his inability to keep up with her.

Since that night, Jason couldn’t get her out of his head. She was beautiful and brilliant and funny, and they just matched. The more time he spent with her, the harder he fell, and he knew it would end badly because she was clearly out of his league—but that didn’t stop him.

Being around her and knowing she would never be interested in him was torture, but if it meant he could make her laugh and watch her re-braid her hair and listen to the little songs she made up under her breath when she thought he couldn’t hear, then he’d gladly suffer every day of his life.

They’d gotten the coffee and headed back to the library after the rather embarrassing incident outside the shop (he wanted to die a little remembering how he’d basically called her heavy, and that he’d stood there and not let her go like some kind of clingy creeper. It was worth it to get to hold her like that—it just felt right—but still. And had he really called her a princess in need of saving? As if Piper needed him to save her. Piper was more like a badass queen who slew her own dragons, so Jason really had no idea what had possessed him to make that comment).

In any case, they’d made it through the rest of the night without any more awkward moments, and now, at nearly 4 AM, Leo was finishing up his paper. Jason’s eyelids had been drooping for the past hour even with the enormous amount of coffee he drank, and Piper had slumped forward and fell asleep on her arms some time ago. Leo, however, somehow managed to maintain his ridiculously high energy levels, which struck Jason as a little concerning. Did he ever sleep?

“Okay,” he was saying now, his fingers flitting frantically over the keyboard, “what if I shifted this quote down here, and I could add something up here about the chemical bonding process?”

Jason shook his head to wake himself up. It didn’t work. “Uh, yeah, if you’ve got more to say about…about uh, chemical bonding, I say go for it, man.”

He looked over at Piper. One of her arms was extended across the table in front of her, and the other was bent next to it. Her head rested on them at an angle that didn’t look comfortable to Jason, but either didn’t bother Piper or the discomfort was outweighed by her exhaustion. Her hair was a mess, thrown across her shoulders and sticking to her face. Jason’s fingers twitched on the table, wanting to brush it back.

Even when she was messy and undone and practically drooling onto her oversized flannel, Piper still made Jason’s heart skip a beat. It wasn’t that she was traditionally beautiful at all times (because that was just unrealistic), but she was her own kind of beautiful, and it was the most breathtaking kind Jason had ever seen.

He must have been staring, because Leo nudged his shoulder and shot him a knowing grin that heated Jason’s cheeks. “I’ve got this covered here, if you wanna take Piper to bed.”

Jason’s face went full red at that. “What? I-I wouldn’t—she’s, I mean that’s not really—”

And then Leo was laughing, laughing way too loudly for four in the morning. “Relax, Grace, I just meant take her back to our place. This is basically all written, but I’ll probably stay a couple more hours to finish editing and then print it and turn it in while I’m up, so I’m not gonna be able to take her back. And I don’t…I don’t like her walking alone at night, even if she says she can,” he added quietly, suddenly more serious. Jason nodded in agreement. The idea of Piper going out alone at night on a college campus made his stomach turn. He knew how a lot of guys their age could be and wouldn’t put it past them to try something, as horrible as that was.

And the thought of one of them trying something with Piper made him want to punch someone’s teeth out.

“You sure you’re okay here?” he asked. “I can stay if you need more help.”

Leo shook his head. “I’m good now. But listen…thanks. I know this isn’t your ideal Saturday night, so, um, thank you.” He kept his gaze down, fiddling with his fingers like he always did, but this time it seemed more…agitated?

Nervous, Jason realized.

He gripped Leo’s shoulder tightly until the other boy met his gaze. “Remember what Piper said about us being a team? That includes me now, and I’ve always got your back, Leo.”

A grin lit up Leo’s face, and he shoved the hand off his shoulder playfully. “Welcome to Team Valdez and the Crew, then!”

“That name needs a little work.”

“What are you talking about? It’s perfect!”

“I somehow doubt Piper signed off on it, and I may be late to the game but I know I hold some kind of veto power.”

“Fine, we can workshop it. Later. Right now you need to get the beauty queen home, because if she stays like that any longer I’m pretty sure her arm is gonna lose blood flow.”

Jason chuckled and moved to Piper, trying to gently wake her. It took a few tries—wow, she was a deep sleeper—but eventually she stirred.

“Hmm? Jason?” Her eyes blinked in the fluorescent lights of the library, and closed again.

“Yeah, Pipes, it’s me,” he reassured quietly. “Come on, let’s get your coat on.”

“Coat?”

“Yep, I’m gonna get you home.”

“Oh. ‘S cold outside.” Jason had to keep himself from laughing at her slurred words. Half awake was as good as he was going to get, he supposed, but damn, it was too adorable for him to mind.

“Yep, that’s what the coat’s for.”

“Where’s—” she yawned dramatically— “where’s m’purse?”

“On your shoulder.”

“…oh. Hmm.”

Piper’s eyes were barely open, and he honestly didn’t trust her to not walk into a wall or something, so Jason hesitantly wrapped his arm behind her waist, gripping her hip to keep her pressed to his side. She immediately nuzzled into the crook of his shoulder and sighed, and Jason’s brain sort of broke for a moment. He stared down at the top of her head, his heart pounding.

That doesn’t mean anything, he told himself. Pull it together, man. She’s basically asleep. She doesn’t know what she’s doing.

So he shook his head in an attempt to clear it and started to steer her to the exit.

“Grace!”

Jason turned back a little to half face Leo. “Yeah?”

“Be careful with her. She’s more fragile than she looks.” The normal teasing lilt to his voice was there, but his eyes were serious, piercing into his own with purpose.

Jason nodded solemnly. He knew Leo meant more than just to be careful tonight, though he wasn’t sure exactly what he intended beyond that. What Jason did know is that he would never hurt Piper.

Besides, his own heart seemed much more at risk than hers.

—

Jason was living in a dorm this year and didn’t have a car, but luckily Piper and Leo’s apartment was only a short walk from campus. Plus, the longer they walked, the longer Piper was wrapped up in his arm, pressed against his side and nuzzling into him like a kitten.

By the time they reached her apartment building, the chill and the walk had woken Piper up some, and she was a bit more conscious of what was going on, but Jason noted giddily that she made no attempt to move away from him. In fact, she may have even pushed closer, but that could have been his imagination. Besides, it was probably just because it was below freezing and she wasn’t completely awake.

(He really didn’t mind.)

Finally he had to release her so she could kick off her shoes and shrug her coat off and fall into bed. He felt colder without her, and almost…hollow, like something was missing where she had been? But that was just silly. They were just friends, and he was fine with that. He had to be.

“Okay, well if you’re good I’m gonna—” he gestured towards her door, starting to leave, but her soft voice calling his name stopped him in his tracks.

“Just crash here,” she said sleepily, her eyes barely open. “It’s late.”

“Only if you don’t mind,” he said, but he was praying she would insist because it was freezing, and his dorm was on the other side of campus, and he was almost as exhausted as she was.

“‘Course not.” She yawned again, and her eyes drifted shut. “C’mere.”

Jason blinked, confused. “Um, I’ll just sleep on the couch, Pipes,” he tried to explain, but even in her mostly-asleep state she was pushy.

“Couch is lumpy and I want you to stay here,” she insisted, though her slurred words made her a little less intimidating than usual.

Still, Jason hesitated. She was so tired she was practically drunk, she could not be thinking straight. She’d probably wake up tomorrow and wonder what was wrong with him that he didn’t ignore her.

“C’mon, Sparky, I’m cold,” she pleaded, and when he glanced back at her, her eyes were open and clear. “Please?”

As Jason toed off his sneakers, draped his coat over her desk chair, set his glasses carefully aside, and crawled into bed beside her, he was cursing himself for being so weak for this woman. He knew he’d regret it tomorrow, but, well…he just couldn’t say no to her.

—

Piper woke suddenly. She sat up and glanced around blearily, trying to find what had woken her up. Her eyes landed on her clock. It was 7:28 on a Sunday morning, why the hell—

A noise came from beside her, a kind of strangled yelp, and she jumped. Jason was lying in her bed—Jason was lying in her bed, oh, God—Jason was lying in her bed—and he was shaking, a thin sheen of sweat glistening on his frowning forehead. His chest was heaving, and Piper realized with a clench of her heart that he was having a nightmare.

She placed a hand on his chest, feeling his erratic heartbeat beneath her fingers. Then she shook him gently, trying to wake him up.

“Jason,” she whispered, repeating it louder when he didn’t stir.

Suddenly he jolted awake, gasping, his eyes glancing about the room frantically before landing on her face and softening.

“Piper?” he croaked.

“Yeah, Jason, it’s me,” she answered softly, unthinkingly combing his hair back from his forehead. He leaned into her touch and her heart nearly stopped. What was she doing? It had been stupid of her to ask him to stay; he would’ve been fine on the couch.

He seemed to notice something was off, and he coughed awkwardly as he sat up. “I should go,” he muttered, not meeting her eyes. “I-I shouldn’t have stayed, I’m sorry, you were basically asleep, you—”

“I asked you to stay, and I meant it,” she insisted. It was the truth, even if she was kicking herself now for practically forcing herself on him. He paused and wiped the sweat from his brow. Together, they waited in silence for something Piper couldn’t name.

“What was it about?” she asked hesitantly. Her voice was small and cautious. “The dream.”

Jason’s head lifted and their eyes met, sparks lighting up Piper’s spine. Her nickname for him was more accurate than he realized.

But he hesitated, and Piper rushed to add, “If you don’t wanna talk about it that’s fine, I shouldn’t have pried, I just thought maybe—”

“My mom,” he answered quietly. “My real mom. She—well, she was an alcoholic, so Thalia and I got taken away from her when I was really little. I barely remember her, just bits of memories here and there. I was only two, so...I found out later my dad is some politician, barely even knew we existed, and his wife hated us so she made sure they didn’t have to take us. We were put into foster care, different families. Took us years to find each other again.”

His gaze hadn’t wavered from hers, and Piper could see the pain in his eyes. She hadn’t meant to make him relive something that hurt so much, she hadn’t realized.

“Jason,” she breathed, her hand finding his. He gripped it hard.

“She died,” he said, his eyes finally dropping from hers to settle on their hands. “Went sort of crazy and drank herself to death a couple years after we were taken away. I only found out years later, when Thalia told me. I never…I didn’t get to see her again.”

His hand was shaking in hers, so Piper squeezed harder. Minutes ticked by in silence, and she wasn’t sure how else to comfort him. There was nothing she could think to say to make him feel better, and it didn’t feel right to try to brush past what he’d just admitted to her. He’d opened up a huge part of himself to her.

Maybe that called for her to do the same.

“I never knew my mom,” she said finally. Jason glanced up at her earnestly, questioningly. She took a shaky breath and continued, “My dad’s a movie star and all so I guess it could be pretty much anyone, but he never talks about her and shuts down when I ask, so I gave up on trying a long time ago. He was never really around either though, with his film schedule and press stuff. He tried, for a while anyway, when I was little. He used to come home more often and take me to the beach, but I was always a difficult kid and pretty soon it was visits for a day every couple weeks when he could make the time to fly out and see me. Pretty sure he didn’t even want a kid, but he was stuck with me.”

Jason was watching her, studying her face openly, but she couldn’t meet his gaze. Instead she focused on their entwined hands, as he had done. Her fingers played with his as she talked, and she took comfort in the fact that he let her.

“Anyway, Leo and I met in middle school and he got me through it. His mom was really sweet to me, way nicer than the nanny my dad hired to watch me most of the time. That’s around the time I…I started acting out? You know, doing stupid stuff to get my dad to pay attention to me, even if it was just to scold me or whatever. Leo was happy to help, and after his mom died and he got stuck with his awful relatives it just got worse, and we probably spent most of our time in detention. It wasn’t enough for me, though, and it kept escalating, and I—I was in a really bad place, but my sophomore year I got caught shoplifting some clothes.”

She paused to look up at him, expecting to see judgement written across his face, but she found only the same earnest expression as before.

“It was dumb, and my dad’s lawyers got me off without anything on my record somehow, but I finally got my dad’s full attention. He flew all the way home just to chew me out.” She laughed a little at the absurdity. “It was really bad, and the next week I was at wilderness school, which was like this boarding school for troubled kids out in the middle of some bumblefuck Nevada desert.”

“Shit, Piper,” Jason said, “I’m sorry.”

Piper waved him off. “Please, even the racial slurs those kids threw at me is nothing compared to what you just told me, and Leo acted up enough to end up out there with me, so it wasn’t the end of the world. I just thought I should be honest.”

Jason frowned. “You don’t owe me anything. I told you that stuff because I wanted to, Pipes. I trust you.”

“I know. I trust you too,” she answered, squeezing his hand. “So now that we’ve agreed that parents are shitty, wanna go back to sleep for a few hours?” She forced a smile and hoped he would miss the tension behind it.

He studied her a moment longer, but finally relented with a nod. Together they lay back down in Piper’s bed and drifted back into sleep.

Piper smiled to herself at the realization that they were still holding hands.

—

The second time Jason woke that morning was not to Piper’s voice calling him out of a nightmare, but to her hair in his mouth and Leo’s loud laughter, which was somewhat less pleasant.

Apparently they had shifted over the last few hours so they were no longer holding hands; rather, Piper was stretched out face down on top of him, one leg slung over his hips and her head nestled on his chest, hence the aforementioned hair in his mouth. Jason had instinctually wrapped his arms around her, and he thanked every deity he could think of that there was no morning…issue to deal with. The situation was embarrassing enough without it.

He stared down at her as she came to, blinking confusedly in the morning light before meeting his eyes. She seemed to realize where she was then and shot up, Jason’s arms jerking back immediately.

Leo laughed again from the doorway, wiping tears from his eyes. “Jason, man, I told you I didn’t mean it literally when I said take her to bed!” he was giggling, and Jason felt his face flush brightly.

He was gonna kill him.

“Leo, get out of my room before I murder you,” Piper snapped from behind her hands covering her face.

Never mind, Piper had it handled.

Leo did as she asked, but not before blowing them each a kiss and winking at Jason.

The pause that followed was tense, unsurprisingly.

“Piper,” he started, but she interrupted him.

“I’m sorry, I was asleep so obviously I didn’t really know what I was doing,” she rushed, sliding out of bed and hurrying around her room, searching the clutter until she found a hair tie to braid her hair back with as she talked. “I wouldn’t have—I mean, I shouldn’t have made you stay. Sorry.”

Jason grit his teeth. There was the rejection he’d been anticipating since last night. It hurt more than he'd expected, but it was his own fault. He'd known the risks. He should’ve just slept on the couch. He should’ve kept quiet about his mom. He should’ve stopped her, told her he wasn’t trying to pressure her into talking, into anything.

He should’ve known better.

“No, I’m sorry,” he muttered, trying to mask the hurt on his face and bending to put his shoes on. “I appreciate you letting me stay. I’m gonna head out.”

She may have nodded, or maybe she didn’t answer, or maybe she watched him go. He wasn’t sure, he walked out and didn’t look back.

—

Piper didn’t hear from him for the next several days, and kicked herself every time she checked her phone hoping to see a message from him. Of course he isn’t gonna text you, she chided, you basically told him you regretted letting him stay over right after he poured his heart out to you, and you were cuddling with him when he woke up. You’ll be lucky if he talks to you again.

So Piper went to Annabeth, the only person she’d actually told about her feelings for Jason, unsure of what exactly she was hoping for.

What she got was a frown over the carton of ice cream they were sharing.

“You’re taking all the cookie dough chunks,” Annabeth complained.

“No I’m not. Focus on the real issue here!”

“The issue of you not telling Jason how you feel? Because that’s the real issue.”

Piper rolled her eyes; they’d had this exact conversation about a million times already. “There’s no reason to ruin the friendship we’ve got because my stupid feelings got in the way.”

“You seem to think you’ve already ruined it,” Annabeth pointed out, nudging Piper’s spoon away from another chunk of cookie dough.

“It’s been three days, what am I supposed to think?”

“Maybe he got busy?” Annabeth suggested. “Maybe his phone got broken or lost, maybe he thought you didn’t want to hear from him. Have you tried texting him?”

Piper bit her lip and focused very hard on getting a decent spoonful of ice cream.

“You haven’t even tried texting him. Of course not. Piper, I thought you were good with guys!”

“I am!” she insisted. “Guys that I wanna sleep with and then never see again, or that I want to flirt with and not have to worry about their feelings. But Jason is all perfect and handsome and sweet and suddenly my brain feels like it’s been zapped by lightning.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “Well he probably thinks you don’t want to hear from him and is agonizing over why you haven’t texted him.”

Piper perked up a little at that. “You think so?”

“I don’t know, Percy said he was really off Monday but seems mostly fine now, just distracted. Sounds like it could have something to do with why he hasn’t said anything.”

Piper chewed on her lower lip, mulling the possibilities over. Either he was distracted by what had happened Sunday—though she hoped that wasn’t the case—or something else had happened and that was keeping him preoccupied. She just had to figure out what was bothering him, and then maybe things could go back to normal.

“So you think I should text him?”

Annabeth sighed. “Honestly? I think you should both wake up and realize you’re obviously head over heels for each other. But since neither of you is going to admit it apparently, yes, I think you should text him before it gets weird.”

Piper grinned and snagged a hunk of dough before pulling out her phone.

hey, she typed. Very eloquent. Definitely summed up the “please talk to me I’m really sorry and I miss you also I might be falling in love with you” sentiment she was going for.

But, having nothing else she could think to say, Piper pressed send and waited.

She didn’t have to wait long. Less than a minute later, her phone buzzed with an answering, Hey!! from him. Piper grinned, just as another message followed: What’s up?

“He answer?” Annabeth asked around the spoon in her mouth.

Piper nodded as her fingers flew across the keyboard. just haven’t heard from you in a few days, everything ok?

Yeah everything is fine, I’ve just been busy. he answered. Piper smiled at his perfect grammar. She’d tried to explain to him once that he didn’t need to worry about that with her, but he’d furrowed his brow and asked why she wouldn’t want the same consideration he gave to everyone else. She’d laughed at his seriousness and let the issue drop. She glanced down when her phone buzzed again. Are you still in need of a study buddy?

Only if it’s you, she shot back. It was a little risky, but she figured it was just a casual friendly remark. No hidden truths to be found anywhere.

Her anxiety mounted a little when the three dots showed up at the bottom of the screen and then disappeared. Was that the wrong thing to say? Had that sent her crashing through the thin ice she’d been standing on with him and right into hot water?

But no, his answer was simply, Tomorrow, 7 PM at the library? and she breathed a sigh of relief.

make it the coffee shop and you’ve got a deal

Sounds good. See you then.

Piper grinned giddily down at the screen. Everything was okay, and their friendship was intact.

She looked up to see Annabeth smirking at her from the other side of the couch.

“Shut up,” Piper muttered. Annabeth only shrugged and returned to the ice cream.

—

The “study date”, as Percy and Leo insisted on calling it, went smoothly, much to Jason’s relief. He’d panicked after not hearing from Piper for so long, thinking that either his storming out or the waking up cuddling incident had upset her, so getting a text from her was a huge weight off his shoulders. He focused on everything, including baseball, a little better when he was on good terms with her. It was dangerous, he knew; he couldn’t afford to let every disagreement with a girl he’d only known a few months throw him off his game, but he couldn’t exactly help it. He’d just have to settle for keeping her happy. (Luckily for him, keeping Piper happy was becoming a top priority at an alarming rate. Or…perhaps that was unluckily.)

Things had just about returned to normal between the two of them, and they hung like nothing had changed. Which, Jason reminded himself, was true. Nothing had changed. He just knew for certain that she wasn’t interested in him the way he wanted her to be. But he’d known that before. So.

Jason was just reflecting on this when Leo caught up to him, leaving the locker room after the last practice of the semester.

“You missed an easy shot at the end there, you sure you don’t need a little more practice?”

Jason raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s your average again?”

“Point taken. When are you headed home?”

“I’ve got one more final tomorrow and then I’m out. What about you?”

Leo looked down, his fingers tapping out an agitated rhythm on the shoulder strap of his bag. “I’m staying here, actually. Lotta money to fly to Houston, and I’ve got lots of stuff to work on here, so.” He shrugged.

“You’re from Houston?” Jason frowned. “I thought you and Piper went to school together.”

“We did. Piper lived at her dad’s little ranch house thing even while he was filming, supposedly so she didn’t ‘get sucked into the Hollywood stuff.’ Really it was because he didn’t want to deal with her.” Suddenly Leo glanced at him, eyes wide. “Shit, don’t tell her I said anything, yeah? I probably shouldn’t have told you that.”

Jason waved him off. “I won’t, but it’s fine, she already told me about her dad.”

This seemed to interest Leo. “She did?” A small smile appeared on his face at Jason’s nod, which seemed…odd, for such a serious subject. “Anyway yeah, we knew each other in Texas before we both got banished to the desert.”

“So she’s going home to Texas?”

“Nah, her dad sold the property as soon as she went to college. He didn’t use it, so no point in keeping it if you don’t need somewhere to stash a kid, I guess.” Leo’s tone was bitter, and Jason got the impression Leo felt about the same way toward Tristan McLean as his daughter did. “Besides, Piper’s only going to L.A. for Christmas because she has to, and then she’ll be back. We spend every New Year’s together. It’s tradition.”

“You’re lucky,” Jason commented drily, “my foster mom is great and all, but she’s a little…I don’t know, militant? Makes holidays kind of stressful.”

Leo grabbed his shoulders and pulled him so they were facing each other in the middle of the sidewalk. “Come back for New Year’s.”

“What?”

“I’m serious, you can stay in the apartment until the spring semester starts. You’ll still have Christmas with your mom, but you can have a little fun with us for the new year!”

Jason frowned, thinking it over. “I don’t know, Leo…”

“Piper will be there, too.” Leo wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Jason blushed.

“Are you sure she wouldn’t mind me staying for a couple weeks?”

Leo snorted and released his shoulders so they could walk again. “Please, Piper would love having you there.”

Jason started to ask what that meant, but before he could, Leo slapped him on the back.

“Great! Glad that’s settled. You’re gonna see Piper before you leave, right?”

“Um, I was planning on it, but Leo—”

“Smart man. Have a good break! See you at the end of the month!”

And then Leo was gone, leaving Jason with plans for the holidays and several questions.

—

“He what?”

Jason winced. He knew he shouldn’t have agreed without asking Piper first, but then again, Leo hadn’t left much room for debate.

“Yeah,” he answered once he’d swallowed the bite of pizza he’d been working on. “He kind of insisted, so now I guess I’m spending New Year's and the following couple weeks with you guys? I mean, if that’s okay with you. I can always tell him no,” he added, watching her chew her lip and resisting the urge to reach over and soothe it with his thumb.

“No!” she yelped, and immediately blushed. Probably remembering what had happened the last time he’d stayed with her, he figured. This plan was seeming worse with every passing minute. “It’s fine,” she amended more quietly, “I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“I’ll be sleeping on the couch, obviously,” he said with a dry smile. He’d hoped to reassure her, but her face seemed to fall, almost like…disappointment? But that didn’t seem right, unless she really didn’t want him there.

Her expression shifted almost immediately to one of excitement, though, and he didn’t have time to overthink anymore. “Right. It’ll be fun!” she was saying. “You can join in all our New Year’s Eve traditions, like drinking.”

Jason waited a moment for her to continue. She didn’t. “Oh, I thought you were listing things.”

Piper nodded, taking a sip of her soda. “I was.”

“So…?”

“That was the whole list.”

Jason laughed. “Of course. Well, it’s more traditions than I’ve got, so I’d be happy to join in.”

Piper’s answering smile lit up her whole face, and Jason had to swallow hard to keep his heart from jumping into his mouth. She was so beautiful it was just unfair.

—

As soon as Piper walked into their apartment on December 29th, she felt at ease again. Her Christmas had been stressful—which is completely unfair, by the way, it’s Christmas—because yeah, he was her dad, and he was trying and she got that, really she did, but she always felt a little on edge around him because, frankly, they didn’t know each other very well. It was easy for constant filming to get in the way of visiting your kid when you didn’t really want it in the first place.

So coming back to Leo, who always wanted her around and never made her feel awkward in the slightest, was an enormous relief.

“Hey, Beauty Queen, how’s it hanging?” he called from the kitchen.

“I’m sorry,” she laughed, “but I don’t think anyone has used the phrase ‘how’s it hanging’ since, like, the seventies.”

Leo only shrugged, abandoning his bowl of cereal to grab her suitcase and carry it to her room. “I’m bringing it back. The seventies had some great trends.”

“Such as?”

“Well, for starters, I could rock a pair of bell bottomed pants and one of those shiny disco shirts.”

Piper laughed and wrapped him in a tight hug, which he returned enthusiastically. “I missed you, Valdez.”

“Don’t be such a sap. You were gone for like a week and a half.”

“I know, don’t remind me.”

“That bad, huh?” He pulled back to examine her face. “You guys fight?”

Piper shook her head and started unpacking. “I’m just always on edge when I’m there. I hate L.A.”

Leo nodded in solidarity. “Wanna order pizza?”

“Obviously.”

Leo grinned and pulled out his phone.

—

As soon as Jason walked through the door on December 31st, he was treated to the sight of Piper wearing a blue bra, a beanie, jeans, and a single sock. It was in interesting look, but Leo was enough to distract him in socks, boxer shorts, a glove, and a top hat.

Jason was more than a little confused, but had the presence of mind to be grateful that Leo’s outfit was weird enough to take his attention from Piper in just a bra. That thought had the unfortunate effect, however, of directing his attention right back to her though, because Piper was in just a bra and Jason’s brain was sort of short circuiting because holy shit Piper was in just a bra.

(And the pants or whatever, but who could be bothered to look that low when Piper. Was. In. Just. A. Bra.)

Focus on something else, he told himself. Don’t be a creep. That’s super weird and predator-y and you’re not even dating. Yes, Leo’s top hat. Stare at that. Just focus on the top hat. He mentally patted himself on the back for pulling that off.

“Hey,” Leo and Piper called in unison, not even glancing up from the cards in their hands.

“Um, hey,” he answered, pausing to allow one of them to jump in and explain just what exactly was happening. Neither did. “What’s, uh…what’s going on?”

“Strip or sip poker,” Leo answered, laying a card down with incredible focus.

“Sorry?”

“It’s like strip poker, but you have the option of taking a drink instead of losing an article of clothing,” Piper explained, finally looking up at him. “It’s, um…”

Jason could swear her cheeks got redder when their eyes met; he knew his certainly did. Her loss of words made him feel a little better about his own at her state of undress as well.

“It’s our New Year’s Eve tradition,” she finished finally, looking back down at her cards. “Shit, Leo!”

Leo laughed triumphantly at whatever had just happened in the game.

“I thought your tradition was just drinking,” Jason commented, removing his coat and wheeling his suitcase farther into the living room.

“Didn’t you hear the drinking part of the rules?” Leo asked, grinning up at him from his seat on the floor. “Come on, I’ll deal you in as soon as this round’s over, which should be soon with the way Piper’s playing.”

Piper flashed her middle finger at him.

“You guys don’t think it’s weird that you play strip poker together every year?” Jason asked, running a hand through his hair.

“Why would it be weird?” Leo asked.

“You’re playing a game favored by couples and horny groups of teenagers because the purpose is to get naked.’’

“The purpose is to have fun and get drunk,” Piper countered. “Besides, we only strip until we reach our underwear. Then you have to forfeit or chug your drink.”

“I don’t know if I can keep up with these rules,” Jason laughed.

“Well you’re gonna have to learn quick,” she said, smirking. “Hurry up, Grace, it’s only two hours ’til midnight and I’m not even tipsy!"

“Alright, alright, but someone’s gonna have to explain how poker works because I haven’t played it in years.”

Leo and Piper groaned in unison, and Jason grinned as he took a seat where they’d left room for him beside the table. It was good to be back, even if he knew he was about to end up either drunk or naked very quickly.

—

As it turned out, it was a combination of the two.

By the time 11:59 rolled around, Piper had lost her beanie and her other sock, Leo was down to his boxers and top hat, and Jason was left with just his underwear (purple briefs, one of his nicer pairs which he was now thanking himself from this morning for picking out) because, as he’d expected, he lost horribly. He wasn’t nearly as drunk as the other two, however, as he’d had more items of clothing to lose and had to drink less to keep up.

He was exceedingly thankful for that as well, because he had no idea what drunk Jason would say to a half naked Piper and he certainly didn’t want to find out.

There were 60 seconds until midnight, and Leo was trying to get the other two to come out on the fire escape with him, insisting it was the best spot to watch the fireworks. Piper was laughing, definitely drunk but lucid enough to know it was way too cold for that. Jason was insisting Leo get back inside, that it was below freezing and Leo was going to catch a cold out there in just his underwear.

(Leo countered this by explaining he was also wearing a hat.)

There were 45 seconds until midnight, and Leo was attempting to translate Auld Lang Syne into Spanish. Piper was singing the English lyrics, since she didn’t know much Spanish to begin with and translating that was just too difficult. Jason was listening to Piper sing, because she had the most beautiful voice he’d ever heard, which was unfair because everything else about her was beautiful too, and it was keeping him rooted in place, just staring at her.

(Piper caught his eye more than once and her skin took on a pretty deep pink tinge, but Jason figured it was probably just the alcohol.)

There were 15 seconds until midnight, and Leo was beginning to count down, watching his phone to keep track of the seconds as they disappeared into the ether. Piper was warning him to be careful, that he was too drunk to be waving his phone around out there, that he was going to drop it. Jason was watching her inch closer to him, each second vanishing along with an inch of space between them until she was pressed fully to his side and his heart rate was skyrocketing.

(Jason was pressing closer to her too, he realized.)

Three, Leo was shouting over the railing.

Two, Piper was looking up at him expectantly through her eyelashes.

One, Jason panicked.

“Happy New Year!” the three of them yelled together, and Jason bent down, and Piper’s eyes fluttered shut, and he pressed his lips to her cheek, softly, so softly.

He pulled back to see Piper frown, looking almost disappointed. Maybe he wasn’t misreading signals then, maybe Piper really did want him to kiss her, and he’d majorly screwed up. But he wouldn’t let their first (and maybe last, if he really was just tipsy and she wasn’t into him at all) kiss be a drunken fumbling one for the sake of the holiday with Leo jumping around in his underwear. His brain was cloudy and he wanted so badly to press Piper up against a wall and hear her sigh his name, but he knew that she deserved better than anything that would happen tonight.

So together, shivering, they pulled Leo back inside and, after a bit of celebrating and watching whatever fireworks they could see, pushed him in the direction of his room. They all needed to get some sleep.

Jason found himself standing with Piper outside her bedroom door, which was across from Leo’s. She was studying his face, and had the same look in her eyes she’d had at midnight. It had Jason’s breath quickening, and his hands ached to brush her hair behind her ear or find her waist and pull her against him.

“What’s your resolution?” Piper asked, catching him off guard. Her words were only the slightest bit slurred, and her eyes were bright, the color seeming to change in the dim light.

“Haven’t really thought about it,” he answered truthfully.

Piper nodded solemnly, eyes still locked on his. Her voice was gentle, and soothed him even as the heat passing between them riled him up. “Wanna know mine?”

Jason nodded.

“It’s to go after the things I want,” she said, just a whisper, nearly drowned out by the sounds of partying and fireworks from outside.

“I like it,” Jason said. “Does it apply to anything in particular?”

Piper smiled coyly, and Jason couldn’t quite catch his breath. “Mm hm. But I think what I want can wait for another night, when I’m a little more sober.”

Unable to formulate a response to that, Jason nodded mutely again.

She turned and opened her bedroom door. “Goodnight, Sparky.”

“Happy New Year, Pipes.”

Her eyes sparkled at him, and then the door shut and he was left alone in the hallway.

—

Piper spent the first half of the next day hungover and hoping she wasn’t as obvious last night as she thought she’d been, and the second half regretting ever having made that ridiculous resolution because Jason fit so well with her and Leo and she really wasn’t looking forward to the awkwardness that would surely follow his rejection of her, but there was always a chance the heat in his eyes and the tenderness of his kiss last night hadn’t been a drunken hallucination, and besides, Piper had committed to going after what she wanted. What she wanted was him, and every time she thought about backing out she reminded herself that mama didn’t raise no bitch.

(You know, metaphorically, because she had no idea who her mother was and her father certainly didn’t raise her and the nanny didn’t put in much effort, so really it was more like…Piper didn’t raise herself to be no bitch. But that was too complicated, so she stuck with the original phrase.)

Actually telling Jason how she felt was a little more challenging with Leo hanging about—yeah, he lived there, but that was hardly an excuse—so before she knew it they were going to bed and she was lying awake, and then sneaking past a sleeping Jason to sit out on the fire escape, bundled in a hoodie and a blanket.

It was freezing, but the cold air helped her think, so she didn’t mind it too much. It was still pretty early for her, only a quarter past midnight, but the stars blinking down at her made it feel later than it was. A car honked in the distance. Someone in another building was blasting music.

“Jeez, Pipes, it’s freezing out here.”

And then Jason was sitting next to her, and it didn’t feel quite as cold as it had before.

She unwrapped one side of the blanket and held it open for him, letting him scoot closer and wrap the blanket around himself.

“It’s a good system,” she said, looking back up at the stars. “We can share a blanket and body heat.”

She hoped he couldn’t feel her heart pounding.

They sat in silence for what felt like hours, just drinking in each other’s presence and watching their breath turn to steam in the air, curling and entwining before vanishing into the night. Finally, it was Jason who broke the spell.

“Piper?”

Just her name, but it was enough to knock the wind out of her. “Yeah?”

“How drunk were you last night?”

She kept her eyes on the sky above them. “Not drunk enough to say anything I didn’t mean.”

He was silent then, but she could feel his eyes on the side of her face, watching her. She wondered what he saw.

“Piper?” he asked again.

“Yeah?”

“I came up with a resolution.”

She turned to look at him, and suddenly his lips were pressed to hers and the blanket was sliding down because his hands were on her waist, hot even through her hoodie, pulling her closer and closer and closer and somehow it still wasn’t enough, so Piper pressed back, one hand bunched in his shirt and the other finding his cheek. She needed air so desperately but she couldn’t pull back, not when his tongue was sliding against hers and she finally felt like she could breathe, and her hand slid up to wrap his hair around her fingers like she’d always wanted to.

She was practically in his lap now, nipping at the little scar on his lip, and she still didn’t know where he’d gotten it but she didn’t really care at the moment. His hands slid up, one around her back to hold her against his front and the other to her hair where it tugged on her braid, making her moan into his mouth. He must’ve liked that because he kissed her harder and his tongue dipped deeper and Piper had just about lost all presence of mind when she suddenly put her hands on his chest and shoved herself back.

She stared at him, panting, and he stared at her right back with his cheeks flushed gorgeously and his eyes wide. He opened his mouth and she knew he was about to apologize, he was going to think she stopped him because she didn’t want him to kiss her, and of course that couldn’t be farther from the truth, so—

“Jason Grace, how dare you have the audacity to kiss me,” she took a brief pause to catch her breath, not long enough for him to start to apologize but enough to scare him a little (she couldn’t resist messing with him just a tiny bit when he looked so adorably shocked), “when you knew it was my resolution to go after what I want, which is obviously you!”

Jason’s mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out. He blinked and frowned, and, “Um…what?”

“I was going to make the first move,” she sniffed. “I’d made a resolution and worked up the balls and even had a speech prepared. And backup speeches for different scenarios! I can’t believe you just ruined all those plans.”

Jason blinked several times, but a shadow of a smile had appeared on his face. “I’m sorry, I had no idea.”

“I basically told you last night.”

“I didn’t realize you were preparing speeches, though. I figured I’d save you the trouble with a resolution of my own.”

“You stole my resolution, too. Who’s committing plagiarism now?”

“Not true. Your resolution was to go after what you want. Mine was much simpler.”

“Oh yeah?” she challenged, picking up the fallen blanket to ward off the chill seeping back through her clothes. “What was it?”

“‘Kiss Piper.’”

She brushed back a piece of hair that had come loose from her braid—probably when Jason’s hand had tangled in it and pulled, she realized, the memory causing heat to pool low in her belly—to cover her smile. “Well that’s just…boring. Where’s the pizzazz?”

When she turned to look at him again, his face was much closer than it had been, his warm breath ghosting over her lips in a way that made them tingle deliciously. “I thought there was plenty of pizzazz. You need a refresher?” he teased.

Piper sucked in a breath. She had been far less prepared for confident, sexy, teasing, ready-to-kiss-her-stupid Jason than she’d thought, and it might just kill her. Trying to regain some control of the situation, she raised an eyebrow and said, “It still doesn’t make up for all the work I put in. Now I’ll never get to fulfill my New Year’s Resolution. I’m a failure.”

“Would it make you feel better to give me one of the speeches you prepared?”

“No, I don’t have one for this scenario.”

“You prepared for multiple scenarios but none of them included me kissing you?”

“I thought it would be at least another month before you made a move on me, Sparky, so no.”

“That stings.”

Piper laughed and nuzzled her nose against his, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment. “Can you blame me?”

“No,” he sighed, “I’m still pretty amazed I got it together long enough to kiss you. I’m sorry you didn’t get to give your speeches, though. You sure you can’t tell me one anyway?”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible, you’ll never know what I was going to say.”

Jason laughed. “You are a cruel woman, Piper McLean.”

She just shrugged, a smirk spreading across her face. “That’s what you get for stealing my moment.”

“How about I make it up to you?” His eyes were dark now, his nose brushing along hers and his voice deep. Piper shivered, and it wasn’t from the January air.

“I think we can work something out,” she whispered, and their mouths met in the middle as they reached for each other.

—

The first game of the season, Jason was third up to bat, and he was nervous as hell.

It was normal, especially for him. His nerves would decrease as the game went on, but that didn’t stop the shaking of his hands as he stepped up to the plate and took a couple warm up swings.

The first pitch veered to the left, just out of the strike zone.

The second was a fastball, and he was half a second too late.

He adjusted the straps on his gloves and tried to steady his breathing. This is normal, he told himself. You just need to pull it together and get your head in the game.

Great. Now I’m quoting High School Musical.

This, naturally, got I Don’t Dance stuck in his head, which wouldn’t even be an issue if Piper hadn’t made him watch the movies last week and sung that song at him constantly. (Not that he really minded; Piper’s singing voice was one of his favorite things in the world to listen to, even when accompanied by cheesy choreography.)

He glanced at the stands to his left, where he knew she was sitting with Annabeth, Grover, Hazel, and Percy’s family. He found her quickly, and she waved. His heart rate slowed, and the haze in his brain seemed to clear as he stepped back to the plate.

It probably wasn’t great to rely on her to keep him relaxed at bat. If they broke up, or fought, or even if she just missed seeing him play, he couldn’t afford to be off his game. He’d never had an issue working through his nerves before; he was sure he could do it without her, but it was so much easier to take one look at her and feel himself relax.

When he hit the ball way out to left field and made it to first with plenty of time to spare, he figured he didn’t mind relying on Piper so much. Watching her jump up and down, cheering in the stands, he got the feeling she wasn’t going anywhere.

[rawrkittenpurr]

Personal Trainer AU - Jack Maynard Imagine

Word count: 4068

Rating: Explicit (really, truly explicit. mostly pwp smut. please don’t read if you are underage and/or unconfortable with that)

Warnings: none

Summary: Jack is substituting for your regular PT. Sex ensues.

„Hi, my name is Y/N and I have a session booked in with Louisa at six”, you said to the girl at the reception, handing over your gym membership card.

„Oh, I’m so sorry, Louisa had to call in sick today. Someone should’ve called you, but they must have forgotten. I’m terribly sorry, it’s been a bit of a rush here today, with two of our trainers feeling poorly… But I’m sure we can find someone to cover your session, or you could go in and train on your own? Of course we will refund you the price of the training!” the girl said apologetically.

“Honestly, don’t worry about it. I’m sure all your trainers are equally good, I don’t mind if someone else takes over, truly. But please do find someone for me, because left to my own devices I know I will just spend 20 minutes on the elliptical watching Brooklyn 99 and call it a day”, you smiled at the girl. It was Friday night, you had a busy week of work behind you and you were not feeling very motivated as of that moment. You came to the gym straight from the office, because you knew from experience that if you’d had to go home to get your stuff, you would’ve just slumped down on the couch and probably not moved until midnight.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do for you. You can go ahead and get changed, and someone will be waiting for you when you’re done”, the receptionist said, handing you a lock and key for the lockers as well as a towel, “and thank you for being so understanding!”

You quickly changed into your workout gear – black leggings, a black sports bra and a flowy purple workout top with an open back –, pulled your hair into a ponytail so it wouldn’t bother you, grabbed your water bottle and the towel and headed out of the changing room. You were greeted by a blonde guy about your age, with really pretty blue eyes. He was attractive. This was going to be interesting.

“Hey, you must be Y/N. I’m Jack, and I’ll be kicking your arse today.”

“And I bet you’re going to enjoy that, won’t you”, you said to test the waters.

“Oh, I’ll make sure you enjoy it too, don’t you worry”, he replied, a cheeky grin spreading across his face. This was indeed going to be interesting all right.

“So I thought we could start with some warm-up, and in the meantime you can tell me about what you’ve been doing with Louisa, what your goals are, so that I can get a better picture of what you’re looking for, does that sound ok to you?”, Jack asked once you’ve walked over to the training area.

“Sure. I’ve been training with Louisa for about two months now I think. I don’t really have a specific goal in mind, I just kinda want to be the fittest version of myself if that makes sense?” you started to explain while Jack was directing you to do some jumps to get your heartrate up. “I used to always say to myself I’ll do it one day, like I’ll do it for my wedding or something, but then one day something in my brain just clicked and I thought why wait, why not do it now?” “So, no wedding coming up then?” Jack intercepted.

“Oh no, definitely single AF”, you laughed, “but it’s chill. I mean, I have everything I need”, you said, first of all to clarify that you were not desperate and second, because it was true. You were really not looking for a relationship and were perfectly happy with the arrangements you had going on when it came to sex. “Anyway”, you continued, progressively getting more out of breath, “don’t get me wrong, I still hate all of this. But then I see the results and I’m like yeah, it’s worth it.”

“I can see that”, Jack said, and you were pretty sure he was checking you out.

 Jack was not kidding when he said he would kick your ass. He gave you a very intense workout that pushed you to your limits, but you actually enjoyed it. You preferred working hard over half-assing your workouts; it gave you the satisfaction of knowing you did your best. You also had the feeling he had you do more squats than strictly necessary just so he could check your butt out, but you couldn’t say you minded that either.

“So, it’s Friday, you got any plans tonight?” Jack asked you as you were finishing up your stretching.

“I was actually planning on watching Netflix on my couch, but after this workout I feel strangely energised, so I might need to change those plans”, you admitted.

“Me and a few mates are actually going clubbing later, you can join us if you like. It’ll be around midnight though probably, so I don’t know if you’ll still be awake…”

This went easier than you thought. It wasn’t suave or smart, you could tell Jack was the sort of guy to rely on his looks and charm rather than his wit to woo over the ladies. But in all fairness, he was hot and he did ask you out and he was being quite direct about it, which you appreciated.

“I’m not actually a grandma, I’ll have you know. Midnight sounds good, text me where?” you held out your hand for his phone.

 Once you got home, you popped into the shower, washed your hair, moisturised thoroughly with a lotion that made your skin look glowing and smelled deliciously like a tropical cocktail on a beach, poured yourself a big glass of wine, then decided to potter around naked for the next few hours. At around 11, your phone buzzed with a text from Jack.

“Hey Y/N

You still up?”

At this point, you were about 3 glasses of wine in, and still naked, but at least you had successfully finished putting on your makeup.

“Yeah I’m good, just getting ready. Wby?” you texted back.

“Pre-gaming at Joe’s. Gonna get going soon though”

You wrapped yourself in your previously discarded towel, grabbed your wine glass and took a selfie. “Cheers!” you typed, sending the pic to Jack. His reply was a string of emojis, including the fire and the dancing girl one. He also sent you the name of the club and told you to meet them up front in half an hour.

It was time to get dressed. You decided on a set consisting of a high-waisted, tight midi skirt and a crop top. The outfit hugged your curves and showed off a bit of your tummy. Essentially, it put your whole body on display while still making you look relatively dressed up. You debated for a while if Jack was worth wearing heels for, but ultimately decided in favour of them. Then you grabbed your bag and headed down to your Uber.

The club Jack told you to meet them at was of the posh but tacky variety, trying really hard to look like it was in Vegas or something, with secluded ‘VIP areas’ with white leather couches and low, mirrored coffee tables. It was the sort of club mostly frequented by girls in their late teens and men of all ages trying to hit on them. You didn’t much mind the club though, because the music was good, a mixture of hip-hop and R’n’B, easy to dance to and in your opinion much nicer than the monotonous, electronic stuff. There was a little bit of a line forming out front, you hoped that the club would be decently full but not jam-packed. Getting out of the car, you spotted Jack standing a little bit off to the side with a small group of people, and walked over.

“Damn, Y/N”, Jack exclaimed, checking you out from head to toe as you were approaching him, “you looked fine this afternoon, but this is on a whole new level!” He pulled you in and kissed you on the cheek. He smelled really nice, cool and clean and fresh, but with an undercurrent of something spicy.

“You’re not looking so bad yourself, I must say”, you licked your lips. Jack was wearing a dark blue and red, tropical patterned silk shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a few of the top buttons unbuttoned, tight, ripped black jeans and white sneakers. His hair was tousled and wavy and somehow looked both softer and blonder than in the gym. You had the urge to run your hand through it, although you were quite sure it was probably less soft and way more stiff with product than it looked. Also that he wouldn’t appreciate you messing it up. Also that you would totally still do that later.

He waved you over and quickly introduced you to the bunch of people he was with: Joe, Conor, Mikey, Caspar, as well as a few girls whose name you didn’t bother to remember.

“It really isn’t fair”, you heard Joe complain to no one in particular, “Jack pulling these girls who are out of his league all the time.” Jack replied with a grin, saying how it was one of the perks that came with his job. You were not sure if this whole exchange was intended to be much more subtle or if Jack just didn’t care if his dates knew he was a bit of a player, but it was okay. You weren’t looking for anything serious either.

“Come on, Y/N”, Jack motioned you over and put his arm around your waist, skipping the line and guiding you directly towards the door, “this way.”

“Are you famous or something?” you teased as you realized you were entering directly through the previously described VIP lounge.

“I got connections”, he smiled, wiggling his brows at you.

Once inside, you each took a shot of vodka from the chilled bottle of Grey Goose that seemed to have materialised on the table in front of you as soon as the group walked in. A few of the guys took some pics and videos for their Snapchats and Insta stories that some of the girls with you tried really hard to be included in, while others were basically hiding. This was weird, but it was none of your business. A few minutes passed, and you were happily singing along to the songs the DJ was playing, dancing around a little on the spot. You really just wanted to get out on the dancefloor, so you took Jack’s hand and pulled him with you as the tunes of the new Jason Derulo song started blasting from the speakers. You were a decent dancer – definitely not able to come up with imaginative freestyle choreographies on the spot, and you were never quite sure what to do with your hands; but you were pretty good at copying other people’s moves and really good at twerking. What surprised you more was that while most boys tended to just hop from one leg to the other and stay in the background, Jack could actually keep up with you, pulling you closer and giving you space at the right moments while also showing off his moves.

“That was hot”, you exclaimed as the song ended. In return, Jack pulled you in close, grabbed your butt and kissed you hard on the mouth. It was a nice kiss, more lips than tongue, soft and wet and warm, inviting and exploring rather than aggressive and pushy. You had one hand on the small of his back, just above the waistband of his jeans, the other around his neck. You flexed your fingers and scraped your nails slightly against the back of his head, which he seemed to like, as he responded by squeezing you even closer to him, both of his hands on your backside still. Jack licked along your lips and you opened them slightly. Suddenly, he bit down against your lower lip and you pulled in a sharp breath, digging your nails into his skin. Opening your eyes and taking a step back, you broke the kiss and started dancing again. Turning you around, he drew you close to him again so that your back was against him, kissed the spot between your neck and shoulder softly and started to move against you, following the music.

The two of you spent the next hour or so dancing, grinding and making out on the dancefloor, only heading back to your booth twice for a bit of rest, drinks and a few words of shouted conversation over the music. As the night progressed, more of the buttons on Jack’s shirt became undone and you could now see quite a bit of his tanned chest. You have teased each other so long, both of you were completely turned on. You had butterflies in your tummy, a big smile plastered on your face and a pleasant, tingling sensation all over your body, as if your skin was electrified. You were also quite sure you could feel his hardness pushing against your thigh as you pressed into him while dancing. You lowered one hand and traced the outline of his bulge, palming him through his jeans. So far, you had no complaints.

“You wanna get out of here?” you heard Jack shout.

You nodded. “Back to mine? No flatmates, and it’s close to here. I’ll go to the loo and call an Uber, meet me at the booth in 10?”

When you got back to the VIP section, you found only Caspar and two girls at your table. Nevertheless, you said your goodbyes and made your way to the car already waiting for you outside. Thankfully, your flat was indeed close by and in the sparse night-time traffic it only took you about 10 minutes to get there. Which was for the best, because you two had a really hard time keeping your behaviour in the backseat decent. Your skirt, which normally reached to your knees, was pushed up to mid-thigh level, and Jack was stroking along the inside of your leg. Your hands found their way under his shirt, tracing out the hard edges of his body. You were kissing each other differently now, longer, passionately and with more intent, sucking and biting. By the time the car pulled up in front of your house, you were burning with anticipation. Although you usually didn’t tend to, you tipped the driver and made sure to give him 5 stars, he definitely deserved it.

Once you got up to your flat, you kicked off your heels and motioned to the left.

“Bedroom’s that way, bathroom too. Go on, I’ll be there in a minute. And wash your hands, will ya?”

While Jack took off towards your bedroom, you went to the kitchen, washed your hands and filled up two large glasses with cold water, then you followed him into your bedroom. Jack was lying back against the headboard of your bed, still completely dressed but with his shirt now completely open and hanging off his shoulders. He looked incredible, eyeing you expectantly. You handed him one of the waters and drank most of yours, setting the glass down on your dresser, a safe distance away from the bed. You shortly debated your range of movement, then decided to strip out of your skirt, discarding it on the floor.

“Nice”, Jack said in a low voice, sitting up a little straighter and putting down his glass of water. “Louisa’s been doing a good job”, he added, regaining his composure. You poked your tongue out and wiggled your butt at him, then walked over and straddled him, placing your knees on each side of his hips. Taking his shirt off completely, you finally had access to all of his upper body, something you have been looking forward to all night. You brushed your fingers lightly against his tattoos.

“You like them?” Jack asked you. “Yeah”, you admitted, your voice a little breathy, “They’re really nice.”

You kissed him again, then proceeded to kiss down the line of his neck and all along his shoulder, leaving behind little wet spots. All the while, your hands were roaming his body, grabbing and stroking. You couldn’t get enough of him. Moving downwards, you flicked your tongue experimentally against his right nipple.

“Come here”, Jack said, and you sat up a little. He took off your top and bra and started playing with your boobs, licking and sucking one of your nipples into his mouth while teasing the other one with his fingers.

“Mhhhhm”, you moaned, rolling your hips down onto his dick almost involuntarily. Pulling back slightly, you unbuckled his belt and worked his fly open, removing his jeans and underwear in one go. Then you took a few seconds to look at his now exposed penis. As you suspected, he was a decent size, slightly thicker towards the head, pretty straight and uncut. All in all, you were impressed. You took a sip of water, gave him a peck on the lips and leaned back to pull your hair up into a ponytail. You could see him perk up, after all, this was basically the universally accepted sign of ‘she’s gonna go down on you’.

Taking him in your hand, you swirled your tongue around the head, getting it nice and wet before taking it into your mouth fully. Keeping him steady with your hand, you bobbed your head up and down a few times, sucking slightly more as you were coming up, but not taking his whole length in fully yet.

“Talk to me, Jack”, you said, pulling off. “Tell me what you want.”

You were not averse to some dirty talk in the first place. Plus you pegged Jack for a talker, which hopefully meant he would be into this too. But most importantly, you had literally known him less than 12 hours, and you didn’t have any time to experiment. If you were both going to get what you wanted from this, you needed to ensure good communication.

Putting his dick back in your mouth, you started moving again, joining your mouth’s movement with your hand too, really getting into it. With each downward stroke you took him in deeper, until you managed to get all of him in. His right hand flew to the back of your head to keep you in place as you were moving just the tiniest bit, without really pulling back at all.

“Fuck, you’re good at this”, Jack proclaimed, and you would’ve chuckled at the compliment, except you didn’t want to choke nor gag. Pulling back, you started moving again, quicker this time, licking against the vein on the underside of his penis and swirling your tongue around the head at every move.

“Fuck. Okay, baby, keep doing that, but with a hint of teeth. Just like that, yeah. And play with my balls”, Jack was finally finding his words and you were on fire. You gave better head turned on, and giving it turned you on even more, so this was a win-win situation. Jack’s words went straight to your core and you could feel yourself getting wetter. You could also taste Jack’s pre-come in your mouth and felt his balls tighten as you were juggling them between your fingers, so by all means, this was working for both of you. With one last satisfied pop, you pulled your mouth off his Jack’s dick. Standing up, you took off your panties and opened the first drawer of your bedside table, taking out a condom and throwing it in Jack’s general direction on the bed. It was time to get things moving along.

“Do we have to?” he asked, with a slightly whiney but mostly just curious tone.

“Yes”, you cut the discussion short. Although you were on hormonal birth control too, so it wouldn’t have been necessary, you were sleeping with several people and you assumed Jack was as well, and STIs were really not fun.

Hopping back on the bed, you lied down next to Jack. Once he was done adjusting the condom, he lied back as well, turning on his side to face you. Cradling the side of your cheek with his left hand, he kissed you, reaching down with his right and swiping a finger along your pussy tentatively. You adjusted your position, opening up your legs to give him better access.

“You’re already so wet for me, babe”, he hummed appreciatively, “I wanna see how fast I can make you come.”

Pushing a finger into you, he pumped in and out a few times before adding a second one. Moving more in an up and down manner rather than in and out, he was brushing against your G-spot and you moaned out. Seemingly on their own accord, your hips moved against his fingers, meeting his strokes.

“Yeah… more… like that”, you brought out.

His left hand had never left the side of your face, now he swiped his thumb against your lips and you sucked his finger into your mouth readily. He continued stroking against you and you could feel yourself getting closer, your hips flailing aimlessly, desperately trying to find some more friction. Jack’s right thumb came up to circle your clit in time with his brushes against your insides, and in a few minutes you were coming, crying out and biting down on his finger in your mouth as your whole body flexed.

“Please, in me, now!” you exhaled desperately, grabbing the base of his cock and lining him up. He slid into you easily, pushing in completely and starting up a steady rhythm. You took a second to appreciate Jack’s figure above you. His carefully styled hair was more dishevelled now, a fine line of sweat forming at his temples along his hairline. You remembered your urge from earlier in the night to run your fingers through his hair. Curving your fingers around the back of his head, you pulled his face down to yours and kissed him. You were beyond words now, the only sounds escaping you being sighs and moans. With both of your hands around his neck, you held on tightly as he pumped into you, meeting his thrusts halfway. Slowly, you started to regain your composure. You could tell Jack was getting more tired, his rhythm growing increasingly erratic and irregular.

“Let me get on top”, you suggested.

Jack lied back gladly, helping you carefully readjust your position and sliding back into you. After a few slow and deep movements, you kept him buried deep in you, rocking your hips back and forth. You leaned back slightly, finding the perfect angle. Moving forwards and up, Jack was hitting your G-spot with every thrust, rubbing against the sensitive area all the way. Cradling your own breast, you started caressing your nipples, getting lost in pleasure. You locked eyes with Jack, who was watching you with pupils blown wide, his mouth slightly open.

“You’re so fucking sexy, Y/N”, he sighed in an exasperated voice.

“Touch me”, you replied and Jack obliged, one hand coming up to your waist as the other touched your butt, grabbing and massaging slightly.

Speeding up your movements, you could feel yourself getting close again, but you were also becoming impatient. You began stroking your clit with one hand, the combination of stimuli soon pushing you over the edge of your second orgasm. The pleasure rocked through your body, your eyes squeezing shut and your head falling back in ecstasy. As soon as you were able to catch your breath a little bit, you leaned forward again, supporting yourself on your elbows on either side of Jack’s body. He thrusted into you deeply a few more times before he came with a choked moan.

You waited a few seconds for both of your breathing to return to normal, then got off him carefully, sitting down at the edge of the bed and drinking a few sips of water. Jack got rid of the condom, then lied down, kissing you sweetly and pulling you down with him.

“That was fun”, he said, smiling at you.

“Yeah”, you agreed, wiggling down lower and pulling up the duvet to cover you; smiling back at him happily, “it really was.”

[forevercaroline]

Sneak peeks

@scarlet-fire1918 asked for 4,5,6,11,14,15,20,21 4: From geek to hot, Caroline is a model and one of the editors I'm chief of one of the biggest fashion magazines in the world her father hires nerdy klaus to be her assistant. The Salvatore family run the best fashion magazine empire in the world. Caroline is one of the models for the magazine she is also part editor in chief she shares the title with her older brothers Damon and Stefan. Caroline is in her office with her best friends who also happen to be models for the magazine, Katherine and Enzo. When a guy wearing glasses, jeans and a Star Wars tee shirt comes into her office. Caroline stops talking with her friends " Excuse me this isn't a comic book store this is a fashion magazine clearly something you don't have." Her father Giuseppe comes in " Caroline since your last assistant is still missing I have hired you a new assistant." " My last assistant was a wanna be she wanted to be me she told people she was Caroline Salvatore. It's not my fault she's missing seriously how long does it to get a bracelet and I don't need your help picking out assistants I got it covered." Caroline and Katherine share a smile. They love looking for new people it's a lot of fun. " All of your assistants have either vanished or quit saying you or Katherine slept with them." " Which is totally false they wanted us to sleep with them and only one went missing." Giuseppe points to the geeky guy next to him " This is Klaus he's your new assistant try not to sleep with him." Caroline groans as her father leaves her office. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 5: Caroline Forbes she can do anything, Caroline is extremely athletic she's practicing for a volleyball competition when her back hand serve hits someone on the beach. " Look out." Klaus Mikaelson was sketching on the beach he doesn't have time to move before a volleyball hits him in the head and lands in his lap. His younger sister runs over to him and his brother who was trying to surf saw the whole thing and came over " That was awesome direct hit I'd like to meet the person who threw that ball." Rebekah glares back at Kol " Kol Nik could be seriously hurt." Klaus pushes his sisters hands away from his head " I'm fine bekah I just want to know who threw the ball at me messed up my drawing." A blonde in a Aqua bikini comes running over " I'm so sorry my brother Damon always tells me to save my back hand for competitions but I wasn't thinking and instinct kicked in." Klaus is stunned at her beauty he stutters" I'm Klaus" The blonde smiles " I'm Caroline." Klaus knows he has heard that name before " Caroline as in Caroline Salvatore the I do every sport Caroline." Caroline smiles " I don't do every sport just surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, and volleyball. And yes." ------------------------------------------------------------------- 6: vampires in storybrooke, for Davina's whole life she has had the same dream every night a brown haired woman putting a baby in an enchanted wardrobe and saying I love you to the baby. Soon after her twenty eight birthday the dream changes now there is a man in a black suit she never sees their faces only clothes and hears voices. Granny asked the guy with a hook for a hand to take Davina to the Charming's. "Who's this?" "She was in grannies I think she's new to this world." Davina looks at the new people " New to this world I live in New Orleans I just need to know how to get home and before my boyfriend freaks out." The Charming's look at Davina who is looking around the apartment "I'm Snow White or Mary Margaret which ever you prefer and this is Prince Charming but everyone calls him David." Davina looks at Snow White. Davina herself is a witch who is dating one of the first vampires and lives with the first vampire family but she can't believe that storybook characters actually exist. " Snow White as in Snow White and the seven dwarfs, poison apple, evil queen, Is awaken by true loves kiss in a glass coffin, all forest animals love her." Snow nods. When Davina's phone rings " Excuse me." Davina goes outside the apartment " Oh thank god Kol." ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11: princess choice, it's princess Rebekah's twenty first birthday everyone is at her ball she must dance with every eligible bachelor. The one who just walked in and refuses to give his name intrigues Rebekah. As Rebekah is contemplating whether or not to go talk with Marcel someone else catches Rebekah eye " Sister who is that?" Freya looks over at the handsome brown haired suit wearing man that just walked into the ballroom " I don't know but he's coming this way." Rebekah straightens her dress and the man bows before the women " Your highnesses." Rebekah sticks out her gloved hand " Princess Rebekah." The man kisses her hand " You are more beautiful then your pictures." Rebekah's blushes " And what is your name?" " All in due time if we meet again it will be fate and I will reveal who I am." Rebekah has never met someone like this who is so mysterious and isn't intimated by her royal status " Then I hope we meet again." The man nods to both ladies and then he leaves. Rebekah turns back to her sister " I think I found my prince." ------------------------------------------------------------------- 14:kolvina on the run, when the ancestors cursed Kol Marcel told him to run Davina finds him and goes with him. " Do you feel better?" The ancestors cursed Kol to have an uncontrollable hunger and anger. Marcel told him to leave town. Davina found out Kol left and didn't even say goodbye she did a locator spell and found he was stealing some blood bags and she told him she's going with him. He tried to get her to change her mind by telling her it was to dangerous but she wasn't taking no for an answer she loves Kol she just got him back she's not losing him again. They just passed the city limits when Kol begins to calm down and relax " Yes you still shouldn't have come if this didn't work I could of hurt you and I couldn't live with myself if that happened." Davina looks out at the empty backroad there on " Pull over do you even know where we're going?" Kol looks down at the map on the hood of the car trying to figure out the best route to use " Right there the one place I really don't want to go but we're out of options." Davina putting the bracelet Kol asked her to locate the owner back in her pocket and looks where he's pointing. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15:the heart and head, in the dream world Freya casts a spell to bring the person who is not only in her siblings hearts but head to them. Elijah is the only one left " Elijah give me your hand. Even you deserve happiness." Elijah places his palm in his sister's hand and Freya chants. " Look behind you." Behind Elijah is Katerina Petrova. " Elijah. What is this place one minute I was running hell the next I'm here." Elijah looks surprised he cant believe Katerina is in front of him. " You run hell?" Katherine smirks " Queen of hell. Can you think of anyone better than me." " No I can't if anyone is the perfect person to run hell its you. This is a dream world my older sister Freya did a spell that brings the person who is in their head and heart to them." Katherine caress his face " Well it's good to know I'm still in your head and heart I questioned it after you dismissed me saying its our turn to be happy to stay with me and not to go New Orleans, and let's not forget the forehead kiss that seemed like you already had forgot about me at that point. You always forget I've known you for five hundred years Elijah I've seen you upset and I've seen you in love. The day you said goodbye to me you were sad you didn't want to say goodbye but you couldn't put your own feelings above Klaus' you had to follow him to New Orleans and look where that got you your in a dream world with a bite on your arm that if your sister wasn't a witch you would already be dead. Did you even know or care to know that I've been dead for years." Elijah looks at Katherine then at the floor ashamed of himself then at Freya who has been watching them with curiosity. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 20: Caroline stark and tony stark dealing with the aftermath of the avengers "As always sir a great pleasure watching you work." Caroline standing in the doorway of her dads workshop looking at her dad laying on the floor with pieces of his suit all around him " I couldn't of said it better Jarvis." Tony looks up at his daughter she's leaning her head against the doorframe she's in her pajamas shorts and tank top with ankle socks on she looks tired. " Caroline its two in the morning what are you doing up?" Caroline smiles at her dad and helps him pick up pieces of his new suit and put them on a table " I should be asking you that too. But to answer your question ever since New York every time I close my eyes I feel like I'm falling out of the sky and seeing you laying on the ground motionless scared that your dead. And it's not like I can talk to anyone about it because Katherine and Enzo were in the safe spot you told us to be in and I was a few feet from them but Loki's army grabbed me. It's not like I can talk with Klaus about it because he was here in California." Tony pulls Caroline into a hug and kisses her forehead he's going through the same PTSD that his daughter is going through. " I know New York changed both of us. I thought giving you space and me being down here doing what I know would be the best thing for us but from what you just said I've realized that we both need each other to get past New York. The only reason I have not cracked is because of you Caroline seeing you everyday smiling and being yourself everyday." Caroline smiles up at her dad " I just need my dad. We have been through so much together. Obadiah trying to kill both of us, you becoming iron man, the government basically declaring you terrorist and an unfit father, tried to get me to testify against you and give over the iron man suit when you wouldn't, Justin hammer trying to build a better iron man, you almost dying again because of palladium poisoning, Loki. We are Stark's we're genius's and people don't understand us." Tony laughs and squeezes Caroline in his arms" I love you Caroline." " I love you too dad." ------------------------------------------------------------------- 21:Loki is back and wants Caroline. Caroline and Klaus are coming back from their date when they get attacked by two guys in suits and thrown in the back of a van with black hoods over there heads " I've been trained by a deadly assassin I will kick your ass." The hood comes off Caroline's head and she looks around and sees Phil Coulson " What the hell Phil." "You are in danger miss Stark." Caroline puts her hands out for Phil to cut the zip ties that bound her hands. " Yes danger from you, you kidnapped me." Phil cuts the ties " No we will tell you more after we get rid of him." Caroline puts a hand on Klaus " Don't test me Phil, Natasha taught me to fight if you want me to go quietly with you he comes too." " Your just as stubborn as your father." " Except I'm worse I'm a girl."

[victorluvsalice]

Forgotten Vows Friday: Another “Fixing You” Cut Scene!

As Chapter 9 has been delayed by my working on my shorts for Valice Shipping Week (starts this upcoming Sunday!), I figured I’d share another scene cut from Victor and Alice’s trip to Fixxler’s! This is from a earlier draft where Fixxler ended up demonstrating a few more spells to the pair, because damn it I worked hard on that magic system back in the day and wanted to show it off. As before, though, I realized this version threw off the pacing too much and edited it down, removing most of the magical demonstrations (the only one that survived to the end being Fixxler showing off Nile’s Blessing) and changing the order of some things (you’ll notice that Fixxler’s backstory appears before the whole ‘Travel Into Fantasy’ revelation in the finished chapter). Again, though, I liked the demonstrations themselves, so I moved the scene over to my “odds and ends” file to see if I could salvage anything from it later.

It’s later! Hope you enjoy this second look at how things could have gone in the shop. I’m not entirely sure of the context this time (as this was first-draft stuff) but I’m pretty sure Fixxler was just explaining about how he can’t teach them Slip Through the Veil, since it’s such a high-level spell. . .

"That's a shame," Victor murmured. "But – are there any other spells you could teach us? I've got a few pounds on me."

"And I've got time! There's a few useful ones I think everyone should know," Fixxler said, pulling out a matchbox with a flourish. "Here, this one's easy." He extracted a match, snapped it in half, then squeezed it in a fist.

A moment later, he opened it to reveal a little ball of glowing light. "Glowing Orb," he announced to the marveling pair. "It'll work with any piece of wood about that size – and you can go bigger for bigger orbs. They stick around until dismissed, or until you expose them to direct sunlight for long enough – about ten minutes. Good amount of light but very little heat. I use them in my lamps to save on oil – which I then spend on candles," he added, shaking his head at the nearest dribbly stick of wax.

Victor reached out and brushed the tiny glowing ball with his fingers. "That's. . .so if I always carry a box of matches, I – I never need to be stuck in the dark again?"

"If he's carrying matches, he doesn't really need magic," Hatter pointed out.

Yes, but damned if I'm going to tell him that. Besides, I'm all in favor of anything that keeps my loved ones away from naked flame. "Sounds like it," she said instead, patting his arm.

Victor swallowed. "Good." He glanced up at Fixxler. "C-can I try?"

Fixxler tossed him the box. "Go right ahead. It's mostly just a matter of concentration."

Victor caught the box clumsily, and fumbled inside for a match. A few spilled out onto the floor – he scooped them up, then chose one at random and broke it. He shut his eyes tight and squeezed the pieces hard, screwing up his face in concentration.

Then it smoothed out into shock, and he opened his fingers to reveal his own little ball of light. He stared at it a moment, before turning to Alice with a smile that nearly split his face. "I did it!"

"You did!" Alice laughed. "Congratulations!"

"Not much to it, right?" Fixxler agreed, flicking his ball away and leaning on the counter.

"No, it just – I felt the match almost melt away in my hand, and then there was this warmth. . . ." Victor bounced the ball on his palm. "This is – this is amazing. I've wanted to be a wizard ever since I was five. And after meeting Elder Gutknecht and seeing magic was truly real. . .if things had gone according to plan after Emily, I probably would have spent my and Victoria's honeymoon tracking down as many books on the subject that I could find."

"Do you have a suite we could rent, Dr. Fixxler?" Alice asked, three-quarters joking.

"The place barely fits me and Guide, I'm afraid," Fixxler admitted. "But you're welcome to drop in anytime." He grinned again. "Want to see another one?"

"Of course!" Victor said, bouncing in place like an eager puppy.

"Great! How about a drink?" Fixxler reached behind the counter and produced two glasses –

which he promptly spat in. Victor's excited smile faltered. "Er–"

"Just watch." Fixxler picked up the glasses and held them tightly. After a long moment, both flashed blue – and just like that, the spit was gone, replaced with clear water. Fixxler held them out. "Nile's Blessing."

Alice delicately took hers and looked in. The water was perfectly transparent, top to bottom. No matter where she looked, she could find no evidence of taint. And yet. . . . "I think I'd like my own glass, if you don't mind."

"Should have figured," Fixxler said, taking the water back and handing her an empty glass. "It's wonderful if you're craving a cup of tea but don't feel like going to the kitchen – but I wouldn't recommend it for parties." Noticing Victor still staring into his cup, he added, "I promise you, the saliva immediately evaporates the moment the magic takes hold. That water's probably purer than any you would get out of the tap."

"Yes, I'm sure," Victor nodded. "It's just – hard to get around how you did it."

"You could always try it my way," Alice said, before spitting in her glass. "At least you'd only be drinking your own." She wrapped both hands around it and concentrated. Water water everywhere, so can I have a drop to drink?

The blue flash that followed said yes. Alice grinned at her success and took a long swallow. As Fixxler had promised, it tasted just fine. "Ahhh. . .the children would probably love this one. Is there a similar one for food?"

"Eden's Blessing, yes," Fixxler confirmed. "Requires a plate – or anything that you could easily say is one – and fruit seeds. It can make just about anything, but it does tend to taste like whatever fruit you used. I had some very appley steaks and sandwiches when I was first starting out here."

"Hmmm – perhaps I'll stick to letting June do the cooking."

Victor finally worked up the courage to try a bit of his water. "Well, I certainly don't taste anything odd. . .a friend of mine Downstairs could make shadows move on their own and twist into different shapes," he added to Fixxler. "What's the name for that?"

"Sounds like Shadow Play – was he speaking or singing as he did?" Victor nodded. "Right, that's how it works. You can make your shadow and any nearby look like anything you want, but they revert back to their natural shapes shortly after you stop speaking. Good for entertaining, especially if you're not talented at regular shadow puppets."

Alice snorted. "How about the one you told me about?" she asked, curious. "Where you can go inside someone's head?"

"Travel Into Fantasy," Fixxler declared. "I'm a little surprised you don't have that as your natural affinity, given how strong this 'Wonderland' of yours appears to be. . . ." He shrugged. "Anyway, as I said, you get written permission from your subject, then just hold hands and concentrate as hard as you can until – well, until you fall over unconscious, hence my suggesting you do it at night. Lasts for a maximum of eight hours, unless someone outside manages to pull you apart first. Which, according to the book, isn't easy to do."

"I think most people would say pulling us apart is already a difficult task," Victor chuckled. "So you could have come with me that night, Alice."

"You did fine enough on your own," Alice said, making him stand a little straighter with pride. "And maybe we managed to get a touch of it working with the wea-pons. . . ."

She trailed off as a thought hit her square between the eyes. If she could get into Victor's head with that spell. . . . "Dr. Fixxler – can we both cast that spell? I mean, you wouldn't have suggested it to me if you didn't think I couldn't do it, I'm sure, but what about Victor?"

Fixxler gave Victor a golden stare. "Yes, I'd say so. You look about the same in raw magical talent – just you've got a freebie and he doesn't. Why?"

Alice grabbed Victor's free hand with her own. "Wonderland," she whispered. "I can take you to see Wonderland!"

Victor's face lit up even brighter than Fixxler's eyes. "You mean – the Vale of Tears? The Wonderland Woods? Looking-Glass Land? Tundraful? Cardbridge?" She nodded eagerly. "Oh, Alice!" He squeezed her hand between his. "That's–"

CRASH!

Everyone looked down at the shattered remains of Victor's glass on the floor, in the middle of a spreading puddle. "S-sorry," he mumbled, blushing. "I wasn't – I kind of forgot about it."

Fixxler shook his head, amused. "Fortunately the repair spell isn't very difficult," he said, gathering up the broken pieces. "Don't look so embarrassed – do you know how many bottles and beakers I break in a day? If it wasn't for Mend The Shattered, I'd be at the glass blower's daily."

"Sounds like another good one for us to learn, then," Alice said, she and Victor crouching down to help him pick up the glass. "Though – is there some sort of limit to how many spells we can learn?"

"Yes, though it's not too bad – about twenty-five, I'd say? You should be good for a while yet."

Victor frowned a little. "That's not a lot."

"Most people get just the five," Fixxler replied, putting his pile of jagged edges on the counter. "And low-level spells at that. Hence why I set myself up as an 'alternative medicine' man instead of an open magician. People get – tetchy when they learn they can't do the big flashy stuff." He sighed. "And as you're well aware, there's also usually a religious arse or two ready to condemn you to Hell if you let anything slip."

Victor gave him a sympathetic look. "You had your own Pastor Galswells?"

"Of a sort. . .I'm actually from Alabama, across the pond," Fixxler explained, letting his natural accent slip out for a moment. "Grew up in a rural town where most people of my – persuasion spent their days harvesting whatever the white people thought needed harvesting. One of the local ladies decided it was her duty to educate the poor darkies, and that's how I learned to read. Stumbled across my first spellbook when some old codger kicked it and his family sold everything for a song. Fellow must have had an interest himself. . .the minute I realized magic was real, I was determined to use it to better the lives of me and my kin. Started spreading the word and set up my first shop out in the sticks." He sighed. "Lasted about a week before it got torched, and I had to make tracks before I found myself hanging from a tree limb."

Alice and Victor both winced. "Oh dear. . .I'm sorry," Alice murmured. "You and June make it sound awful in the States."

Fixxler shrugged. "I hear the northerners are a bit less likely to bite a black boy's head off. Main reason I decided I could make my fortune over here instead – you lot seem ever so slightly more inclined to tolerate my existence."

"So long as you put on the accent?" Alice asked wisely.

"If a stupid voice keeps me in business. . .at any rate, I'm honestly not sure why my first place was burnt down. Both the black and white preachers were none too happy with me for indulging in 'dark arts,' and I could easily see one of them stirring up a mob to 'cleanse' me and my 'taint' from the town. On the other hand, I was also a black boy making good surrounded by plantation owners, and they don't tend to like that. Could have been a bit of both, to be fair."

"It's still horrible," Victor said. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." Fixxler waved a hand. "It's in the past now, and I consider it a valuable life lesson in learning when to keep this yap of mine shut. I've got a good life going over here now – can't really complain."

"Not that ever stops anyway," Alice joked. "For my part, I'm glad you're here. I don't know if I ever would have stumbled upon the right way to help Victor if it hadn't been for your help." She looked down at her glass-filled hands. "And to see my parents and sister again. . .I'm going to owe you a debt for the rest of my life."

"Well, I take either cash or favors," Fixxler said with a wink. "But it's really my pleasure. Especially if I get to meet the famed Elder Gutknecht."

"I hope mine's the right one," Victor said, feeling around for the last slivers of glass on the floor. "Did you want to go to Burtonsville or Oxford first?"

"Well, Oxford's closer," Alice mused. "On the other hand, I am kind of curious to see your hometown in person. And I might need the promise of seeing my hometown again to stand being in close proximity to your mother."

Victor laughed. "I might need that too. . .well, we have to talk this over with Dr. Wilson anyway, don't we? We can figure out where we want to go, and when, and in what order – ow!"

He jerked his hand away from a hidden spike of glass, sticking his stabbed finger in his mouth. Fixxler shook his head, amused. "You do that, and report back to me so I can make some plans for my shop," he said, setting a friendly hand on Victor's shoulder. "In the meantime, though, why don't I show you a healing spell or two?"

"Please," Alice said as Victor blushed. "With him walking into doors while distracted and me occasionally mistaking my wardrobe for a monster, we'll probably need them."

[laurensmeraglia-blog]

Havana...

Havana Day 1

The first morning in Havana we were greeted with a wonderful breakfast that was served to us by our apartment neighbors. At precisely 8:30am a feast arrived at our door and was nealtly set out for us to enjoy. It was delicious and nice to have a relaxing morning sipping coffee and indulging in the delightful food. One the great things when you stay is a Casa Particular is that most of the host will offer to cook meals for you. It's an easy way for them to make extra money but it's definitely a convenience to you. 

After breakfast we made our way to the "Hotel National"  it's a beautiful hotel that sits right on the Malecon and over looks the water. It's absolutely worth checking out if only to sit and have a piña colada while you enjoy the view of the grounds or just to walk around and get a feel for the past. Either way it  was a nice start to our first full day in Havana.  

Another great  reason to visit the Hotel National  is that you can take care of all your show bookings and exchange money if needed. The concierge lady at the hotel called the National Ballet and The Tropicana for us to make reservations and we were able to buy tickets straight from her with no extra charge. If you don't do something like that you will have to go in person to the location and book or have a local call and hopefully arrange something for you.

We spent the rest of the day strolling around old Havana and it truly is a sight to see. There is so much lingering beauty hidden under the poverty stricken buildings. And the old cars that line the streets are an odd combination yet add to the hidden beauty of Havana. 

While exploring old Havana we came across an old Basilica at the Plaza de Armas that is now used as a music venue. Although the Basilica is no longer used for religious purposes it is still dressed in all its religious sacraments. At 6pm the Basilica was scheduled to host concert of classical music with a Cuban flare. So from 6-7pm we enjoyed beautiful music sitting in a very old Catholic Church.

When the musical presentation finished we strolled the roads of old Havana  and stumbled upon an incredible restaurant

LAMPARILLA 361

Lamparilla 361 e/ Aquacate y Villagas

Habana Vienna  Tel: 5 2895324 

The food and the drinks were both outstanding, everything we had was delicious and the drinks were beautifully decorated with fruit and presented in unique glasses. After dinner we headed to the evenings 10pm main event, also what I was the most excited about,  Tropicana!!!!

Tropicana was definitely a highlight for me, I've always wanted to see it and it was in no way disappointing.The show is beautiful and although I couldn't quite understand the words of the music the dancing and costumes told the story enough to understand what was going. The costumes were incredible they changed for each song which is pretty amazing in itself. If you have the opportunity to go to the show do it, you will not be disappointed.

Things to know about Tropicana 

1. You have to get there early!!! No matter which section you choose 1, 2, or 3 seats aren't assigned it's based on your party size and first come first serve. The early you arrive the better service and seats you will have. And don't be fooled row means tier, the first "row" is ground level 2nd is a step up and 3rd a bit higher.

2. Upon arrival you will receive cigars as a welcome gift so bring a cutters and lighter and you can smoke them during the show.

 3.  Technically they require you to buy a 5cuc pass to use your camera or phone but they never checked mine so if you hide it or say you don't have one you should be ok.

4. I'm not sure if there is an age requirement but there was no one topless only thonged butts. At the show I saw there was a song about how the colonial men came over and took the island women and I think it may have talked about rap due to the dance and body language.But honestly if you can't speak Spanish it will somewhat go over your head especially a child's, but again I'm not sure if there's an age requirement. It does however start at 10pm and finish at 12pm so time alone may limit a child's age.

  Havana Day 2

 We spent the day walking around the city again, we didn't plan much because we had tickets to the national ballet at 5pm so we couldn't really go to far from the city. We did stop in some street markets for souvenirs and I found the art to be a nice choice because most of it's original and represents Cuba well. It's also light because they just roll the canvas up which makes it  easy to pack.

We also stopped back by the Hotel National to exchange more money, our host could only exchange USD and some of had Canadian dollars hoping to get a better exchange rate. While we were at the hotel we also booked dinner reservations for the famous "La guarida". Using the Hotel concierges was seriously a Godsend, without them reservations would have been very difficult. 

The national ballet is said to be 3rd in the world, although that being that I've never been to a real ballet so I had no expectations or anything to compare Cuba's with. The theater itself is stunning, even more so at night, it's one building that has been very well preserved among the dilapidated others.

When the curtain opened reveling the stage and stunning backdrops I literally gasp. I was truly taken back by how beautiful it was. And the ballet it's self was wonderfully amazing!

The whole cast was incredible and although like I said this was my first experience at a ballet I'm not sure how much better another could get. For 30cuc this was definitely a night well worth my while.  

We finished the night up at the famous restaurant "La Guarida" if you have the time and can get a reservations I suggest checking this place out.

Paladar La Guarida, Concordia No.418 e/Gervasio y Escobar, Centro Havana, Cuba 

tel: (+53) 7 866 9947 (+53) 5 414 7852

It is a very interesting and unique experience to see such a dilapidated yet exquisite home turned into a 4 story restaurant. It's also a true Paladar, meaning it's run by self-employers and not government run. And it's also a resident, so like I said it's a pretty unique experience and the food is exquisite. 

Havana Day 3

For our last full day in Havana we decided that we would venture out just a little and hit one the beaches close by. We didn't go to Varadero due to the distance and time we had left in Cuba. But we did visit Mar Azul Playa del este, and for a beach 30 min from the city it was very enjoyable. The water is beautiful and the sand is soft although it's not white like what I'm use to being from the gulfcoast.

If your looking for a beach town experience, this is not it. There are a few bars near the road and a few very small restaurants along with souvenir stands. But other than those few tiny bars and a small hotel you are out of luck. I actually walked around looking for a bathroom other than the ocean and nothing other than the hotel offered me any help. But if you'd just like to go to a beach and soak up some rays then Mar Azul Playa del este is great. For 16 cuc we rented 6 chairs and 2 umbrellas for an all day rate, which I thought was pretty cheap! We also had a guy serve us drinks and food all day, we even ordered a lobster for 18cuc that came with white sweet potatoe and rice. Although I think my favorite thing offered to us was a fresh coconut, that rum was poured straight into. Even though the coconut wasn't chilled nor was the rum it tasted so delicious and refreshing because the coconut water was so perfect no ice needed.

 To sum it all up!  

All in all Cuba was an excellent experience!  We saw a lot in the short time we were there but there was also so much that we did not see and do. I would definitely recommend Cuba as a vacation destination, but make sure you can speak some Spanish even if it's just enough to get around. Otherwise have a guide or stay in a hotel where you're surrounded by help.

 Things to remember 

1. Currency exchange is a pretty big deal! I read all the blogs before I left encouraging to bring different currency other than USD. But I found that even though you didn't have to pay the 10% extra charge  it was a lot easier just to exchange USD. If you're staying with a host they can exchange it for you without the fee and USD is easier for them to exchange. 

2. Transportation cost more than you think.  It's very cool to ride in the old cars and there's no extra charge to ride in the old ones vs a new ones. If you aren't staying in the heart of old Havana you will be spending money on transportation so make sure you factor that in to the cash that you bring.

3. There is no ATM for US based debit cards, nor can you use any US credit cards so the money that you bring is the money that you have.  They also prefer to exchange large new bills, you may run into trouble exchanging if you do not have them.

4. Find a hotel and use it's concierge to make reservations for dinners and shows. Your only other option is to go to the location you want booked and make the reservation in person.