#always thought it was so cool he was just across the way in Minnesota too like i talked abt that way too much as a kid lmao | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mediocre-writerr · 4 years ago

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to build a home [leah rilke]

leah rilke x fem reader

requested: I love your works so much I have read all of them many times! I had an au where maybe Toni’s younger biological sister who happens to be Leah’s gf was also on the plane and when they crash Leah and Toni do everything to find her and keep her alive when they see she’s in bad shape

*not my gif*

You sat at the cool metal table from where you and the rest of the girls were being quarantined under.

There were two men sitting in front of you. They said they were your friends, but after you’ve been through on the island. All of the conspiracies you went through...there’s no way that they’re actually FBI agents.

“So you and Leah Rilke are dating?” Agent Faber asks and you just nod, “How did you two meet?” he asks again.

You took a bite of the sushi that they brought you after you requested it, “I was in the foster care system for a long time in Minnesota. I went around lot, but somehow someway I was in California. That’s where I met my adoptive parents and Leah.”

“Your adoptive parents were originally only supposed to foster you right?” they ask and you nod, “Seems like you made quite the impression.”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Kids this is Y/N, your new foster sibling.” Mrs. Baylee says, introducing me to the rest of their kids, “This is Atticus, Lincoln, and Elizabeth.”

I just wave at the three kids. Atticus seemed around my age, Lincoln was slightly younger, and Elizabeth looked like she could be in third grade or something of the sort.

“You’ll be staying in Elizabeth’s room and going to school with them tomorrow. Atticus here is in the same grade as you so he’ll help you manage.” Mr. Baylee explains and you nod softly.

He laughs to himself, “Don’t talk much, do ya?”

“Hudson!” Mrs. Baylee exclaims and you just laugh.

“Don’t worry it’s completely okay. I get that a lot.” you say, talking for the first time.

“Well we’re happy to have you and I hope to change that not talking thing.” Mr. Baylee says with a smile.

You look at the two men, “And you met Leah at school that day?”

Again just one nod.

“Alright well this is where your homeroom is. I don’t know if you need anything, but I’m here. Just give me a shout.” Atticus says and I nod, “I’ll see you around.”

He walks away down the hall towards the rest of his friends. You enter your classroom and see a bunch of hipster girls wearing cool clothes. And here you were wearing a t-shirt and ripped jeans.

“Crazy, right?” a voice says to you and you turn your head to find the sound, “It’s like required that the girls here have to be hipster posting on their Instagram 24/7.”

You were met with a beautiful brunette with bright blue eyes, “It makes me feel boring.”

“But the best girls out there are boring and beautiful.” she smiles at you coyly, “I’m Leah,” she says, extending her hand out to you.

“Y/N.”

“But there was more to your story than what meets the eye. You had an older sister, that you were separated from in the foster system.” Agent Faber says and you nod.

“How did the two of you meet again?” Agent Young asks.

You scratch the back of your head, “My foster parents said that we had to get a signature from my birth mom to officially adopt me. They asked a lady to help us, I think her name was Gretchen, to find my birth mom. Gretchen said that she was in Minnesota and that I have an older sister.”

“But you already knew that you had an older sister?” Agent Young questions and you nod.

“I was 7 when we were separated, I couldn’t forget the girl who always protected me.”

You sat at the cafeteria table in the rehab center your mom was in with your foster parents. Twiddling your fingers that was in your lap. Another girl with brunette hair came in with what looked like to be her mom. And then another middle aged lady came in.

All of us sitting at the table. No one willing to speak to each other.

The middle aged lady spoke up, “Hi girls.”

Me and the other girl who looked a little older than me stared at each other, “Toni?” was all you could whisper.

“You remember?” she asks and you nod.

“How could I forget my big sister?” you reply.

The both of you stand up crashing into each other’s arms in a hug. She put her hair in my hand and tighten my arms around her.

“I’ve missed you kiddo.” Toni whispers.

“I’ve missed you too.”

You don’t know why they were asking you all these questions. They would be more focused on the island than what happened before. So you decided to tell them the truth, but once it comes to the island...you’re gonna hide as much as you possibly can.

“Were you dating Leah before or after this?” he asks.

“Shortly after.” you reply simply.

The two of you were laying on the rough floor at the campsite you and your friends decided to go to.

Your foster parents let you go. After months of being with them they’ve grown quite fond of you. They really brought you into their home with open arms and even Hudson loosened you up and got you talking to them more. And the kids they’ve been nothing but sweet to you, but no one can replace your actual sister.

You turned your head to look at the beautiful brunette next to you. To find that she was already staring at you.

“Whatcha looking at?” you ask her softly.

“You.” she replies, “You’re so beautiful.”

Leah’s hand reaches out towards you. She cups your cheek softly and you lean into the soft touch of her hand. Her beautiful blue eyes staring at you in awe as they slowly drift down to look at your lips.

She does it once more, asking permission to kiss you. You nod subtly and the two of you slowly start to lean in, like two magnets being completely drawn to one another.

The two of you finally connect your lips moving in perfect harmony. And it felt like coming home. Kissing her felt like coming home after a long trip, finally getting to sleep in your own bed for the first time. In your whole life full of uncertainty, you finally felt at home. With Leah.

“Be my girlfriend?” you blurt out after the two of you pull apart.

Leah chuckles softly, brushing a strand of hair away from your face, “Take me on a date first and we’ll go from there. Deal?”

“Deal.” you say with a wide smile on your face before leaning back in to kiss her again.

Agent Young starts reading your file as you take yet another bite of the sushi they sent you. You twiddle your hands in your lap looking around the small interrogation room.

“So how did you two find out about the trip?” Agent Fader asks, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.

“My parents thought it would be cool if me and Toni went on a trip together. Since we’ve been separated for so long. Toni told them about Martha’s trip that her mom signed her up for.” you explain.

Agent Fader cuts you off, before you could continue, “Where was Toni staying at the time?” he asks.

“Martha’s parents were fostering her. She was the lady who came with her when we went to visit our birth mom,” you answer, “Anyway, Martha’s mom told my parents all about the trip. She signed Toni up, they signed me up, and eventually Leah convinced her parents to sign her up so we could spend the summer together.”

“But it didn’t go as planned.” Agent Young chimes in.

You nod with a tight-lipped smile, “Yeah it didn't.”

The two of you were in the backseat of your parents minivan. Your siblings were up in the middle seat, while you and Leah squished in the back.

“Why am I nervous? Should I be nervous?” Leah rambles.

You told Toni all about Leah and being the protective sister she is, she did not react well.

Saying things like: “If I see her be rude to you in anyway, I will not hesitate to throw my piss at her.”

You grab Leah’s hand intertwining your fingers together, before kissing her hand softly, “Lee, baby, breathe.” you say softly, “She’s gonna realize how happy you make me and everything will be okay.”

She lets out a deep breath, closing her eyes a little, “Thank you.” she whispers and you nod in response, kissing her cheek softly.

The two of you reach the airport. Your parents helping you guys get your luggage out of the trunk. They hug you tightly, kissing the top of your head.

“Be safe please.” your mom says to you, squeezing you a little tighter.

You nod, “I will, I promise.”

“Leah, look after this one. She’s a handful. If she ever gets too much just feed her to the sharks.” your dad jokes, giving her a hug.

“Oh I will not hesitate to do so Mr. Baylee.” she replies, returning his hug.

You stare at the two of them with an incredulous look on your face. Both of them laugh at your face before giving each other a high five. Your dad walks up to you and wraps his arms around you, ruffling your hair in the process.

“I’ll see you in a month, don’t be too much trouble.” he says and you tighten the hug.

“I’ll see you later.”

You give each of your siblings a hug, ruffling the boys hair which causes them to let out a groan in response.

You and Leah make your way to the gate of the private jet. Where Toni was already sitting in her basketball tank top.

“Oh God.” Leah mumbles.

“You got this!” you say to her, kissing her cheek to ease the tension.

You catch Toni’s eyes, running up to her to give her a big hug. When the two of you pull away she looks at Leah, extending her hand out to her.

“Toni.” she says simply.

Leah shakes her hand and I could see her swallow back her nervousness, “Leah.”

“And you must be Martha!” you exclaim at the girl who was sat next to Toni’s seat.

She stands up to give you a small hug, “Hi Y/N! It’s nice to meet you!”

You and Leah take a seat across from your sister and her best friend. Waiting for the chance to be able to board the plane.

“She scares me.” Leah murmurs under her breath, low enough for only you to hear.

“So the plane crashes, then what happened?” Agent Fader asks.

“I almost died.”

“Y/N!” Leah screams as she starts swimming back to shore, “Y/N!!” she yells out again.

Searching frantically for where you were. The last thing Leah remembers is holding onto you for dear life before passing out. The rest of it is a big blur.

“Leah!” Toni yells, running towards her, limping slightly.

“Have you seen Y/N?!” the two girls yell at the same time.

“Shit.” Leah says.

“Fuck.” Toni says at the exact same time.

The two run along the shore desperate to find your body. Until they see Dot doing CPR on a girl, the two instantly make their way towards her. Only to see Jeanette passed out and not you.

“Have you seen Y/N?” Leah asks, out of breath.

Dot shakes her head, “No sorry.”

“Help! We need help over here!” Rachel yells.

She was carrying a limp body in her arms running towards the rest of the group. Leah and Toni take one look at each other before taking off towards Rachel, meeting her halfway. Only to see you lying in her arms passed out.

Rachel lays you down on the floor, “She was drowning. I went in and I pulled her out.”

Toni immediately starts doing CPR, a little too fast. But she tries to get her posture under her control to save you.

“C’mon baby. Wake up please.” Leah pleads, tears filling her eyes.

Toni starts murmuring under her breath something incoherent. But she keeps mumbling it over and over again. Leah notices drops falling onto your lifeless face, she leans down a little more to see Toni crying.

“Toni let me take over.” the blue eyed girl says.

Toni just shakes her head, “No I’m fine!” she yells.

But she just goes back to murmuring under her breath. Martha and Shelby come up and everyone’s staring at the sight in front of them.

“Y/N I just got you back!” Toni finally screams, “You can’t die on me!”

“Please. You’re my home Y/N. I need you.” Leah whispers.

After endless amounts of CPR from Toni. The rest of the girls take turns when exhaustion starts to take over all of them. It’s weird that everyone here knows CPR.

Dot was about to give up when you start coughing up water. Leah immediately cups your cheek in her hand as you continue coughing.

“Oh thank God!” Shelby exclaims.

Toni looks at you with a worried look on her face. The ocean water making your hair wet as it plasters onto your face, “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” you say with a nod.

She lets out a relieved breath before hitting your arm hard, “Ow what the fuck?!” you yell at your sister.

“You can’t scare me like that.” she whispers, tears filling into her eyes.

She takes you into a hug, rubbing her back softly. You turn to look at your girlfriend who still had tears dripping down her face. You take her face in your hands, wiping away the tears.

“When I told your dad I’d get rid of you I was just kidding.” she says with a small chuckle.

You match her laugh, smiling at her softly. You kiss her forehead softly, “You can’t get rid of me that easily, Rilke.”

“All of the girls knew CPR. If just one of them didn’t, I don’t think I’d be here right now.” you state bluntly.

“What happens next?” Agent Young asks, looking at you intrigued.

“That’s what started our two months in Hell.”

#leah rilke #leah rilke imagine #leah rilke x reader #the wilds #the wilds imagines

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hockey-fics · 4 years ago

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When We’re 25 ~ Nathan MacKinnon

Summary: Twenty-five seemed so old for two eleven year olds sitting on the grassy field behind their school. Who would have thought promises made 14 years ago could change everything?

Word Count: ~4,000

Warnings: None

Video Source of Gif

A/N: Unedited and based a lot in the past so I tried to put together an accurate timeline but please forgive me if I didn’t get years quite right.

Nathan MacKinnon. People always asked about your relationship with him. People always had. Because you were inseparable from the day you met. It was when you were eight years old and your third grade teacher put him beside you while completing her seating plan for the year when you first met.

A few days later Nate invited you to come play soccer during recess. You spent all of five minutes playing soccer with the boys before heading off to the edge of the soccer field, picking a handful of wildflowers. You gave them to Nathan while walking back into the school after the bell rang and they stayed in his desk until they were shrivelled up and dead.

You started going to each others houses after school and on weekends. His parents and your parents grew closer through the frequent trips to each other’s houses dropping off or picking one of you up.

In grade four you weren’t in the same class as Nate and you cried the morning of your first day back at school. But still you still saw each other at every recess and lunch break. He would occasionally swap out playing soccer to spend the break with you. Other times you would drag your friends up to the soccer field to hang out on the sidelines, simply to be near him.

It started early, the teasing from your friends. They would giggle and talk about how they were certain you two ‘like liked’ each other. Your parents made occasional comments too. Comments that would make your cheeks burn and turn a dark shade of red. Through everything you had always denied liking Nathan.

When you were eleven years old your older cousin was getting married and your family took a trip across the country for the wedding. When you got back to school you were bombarded with questions from your friends about the trip. You talked about how magical it all was, gushing about the dress, the cake, the dancing, and in true childhood fashion, that the hotel you stayed in had a pool. Jeremy, a boy in your class, was sitting nearby, listening in on the conversation. “Too bad nobody will every want to marry you,” Jeremy muttered when you had finished talking.

“Jeremy, you’re so mean,” your best friend had defended quickly.

“it’s just the truth,” he had replied matter-of-factly.

You tried your best not to let Jeremy’s comment hurt your feelings. But the tears that welled up in your eyes betrayed you and before anyone had the chance to say anything else you were on your feet and fleeing to the closest bathroom so nobody could see your emotions.

You were in the bathroom for awhile before your friend came in, coaxing you out of the bathroom stall. “Nate punched him,” she had said, so simply, as if it didn’t mean anything.

You were shocked when she told you, scared about the trouble he was going to get into. And he did get into trouble, a week of missed recess breaks.

You sat outside on the grassy hill behind the school with Nathan that day after school.

“Sorry you got in trouble,” you told him.

“He upset you.”

“You shouldn’t have hit him.”

“He shouldn’t have been mean to you.”

You had looked over at Nate and knew in that moment that he didn’t even know why he punched Jeremy, didn’t know what Jeremy had even said, just that he had made you cry. “He told me nobody would ever want to marry me.”

“He’s wrong.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I’d marry you,” Nathan had told you so simply that it made you giggle even at that age.

“We’re too young,” you had replied, as if that was the only reason you two couldn’t get married.

“When we’re older then.”

“You’re going to marry me when we’re older?”

Nathan nodded, pulling a tiny wild daisy from the ground and handing it to you. “If we aren’t already married to other people.”

“When?” You asked him, twirling the flower between your fingers.

Nate contemplated the answer for awhile before saying anything. “Twenty-five?”

Twenty-five had seemed so far from that day. You were only eleven and you thought you would have it all figured out by the time you were 25. “Okay,” you had told him.

The two years Nathan had spent playing hockey in Minnesota were incredibly difficult for you. You were 12 and going through so many changes in your life. The only thing you really wanted was to have your best friend around.

When you were both 14 and Nathan had moved back from Minnesota to play in Halifax you went back to being practically inseparable. You went to as many of his games as possible. Even when you both had homework to do you insisted on being together, working quietly on separate assignments till it devolved into talking and laughing. Any opportunity to hang out together you would take it.

When you were 16 you managed to convince Nate to come to a house party with you. One of the kids in your class had been left alone for the weekend which inevitably meant he was going to throw a party. Nate spent most of the night sipping coca-cola while you consumed jungle juice and cheap beer.

Of course a game of truth or dare was suggested that night because you were all high school students who had access to alcohol and an unsupervised home. The lack of seating in the house had left you sitting on Nathan’s lap, his arms wrapped around your waist, your back pressed into him.

“Y/N,” Lexie said. “Truth or dare?”

You had immediately opted for a dare. You were a bad liar sober, you knew there was no way you could have lied convincingly if they asked something you didn’t want to admit.

“I dare you to kiss Adam.”

Adam was a year older than you, intimidatingly cool and attractive to you at the time. You had just turned 16 and you were beginning to feel embarrassed about the fact that you hadn’t had your first kiss. But that was not how you wanted it to happen. You hadn’t realized how long you had sat there in surprise till you felt Nathan run his hand over your arm. He knew. He knew that you hadn’t had your first kiss before and he had detected your anxiety immediately.

“She’s not doing that,” Nate had declared a moment later.

“Why not?” Lexie questioned, eyes narrowed and voice annoyed.

“Because we’re dating.”

You had tried to keep your composure in the face of such a bold lie. You remembered the looks your friends had given you, even they were uncertain whether it was a lie or not because of how believable it would have been.

“You’re lying,” Lexie had challenged.

“Why would I lie about that?” Nathan slid his hands down to your legs, tugging you sideways on his lap and bringing one of his hands to the side of your face, turning your head to look at him. “They’ll believe us if I kiss you,” Nathan whispers.

You swallow heavily, staring into his eyes. You wanted to kiss him, but you didn’t think this was how you wanted it to happen. You could feel the eyes of everyone playing the game in the room and suddenly the attention felt like too much. “I want to go,” you whispered back.

Nathan didn’t need to hear anything else. He placed his hands on your waist, quickly helping you up before standing up himself. “We’re going to go home,” Nate announced as you walked out with him, hearing a chorus of ‘oohs’ in regard to you two leaving together after that announcement.

You walked back in the direction of your house in silence for awhile until you passed by a park and you grabbed Nate’s hand, stopping him in his tracks. “Lets go on the swings,” you suggested.

The two of you sat on the swings and talked for awhile, not about what happened at the party at first. “I just want it over with,” you finally blurted out.

“Want what over with?”

You had looked over at Nathan, fingers grasping the chain of the swing so hard your knuckles had gone white. “My first kiss.”

“If we’re going to get married we may as well try kissing now,” Nathan had said, laughing as he did. You knew the part about getting married was a joke so you assumed the rest was as well, giggling softly.

Nathan stood up and walked in front of you, his hands moving to yours, gently pulling them off the chains of the swing. “I’m serious.”

Slowly you stood up, looking up at him with wide eyes. “What if I’m bad at it?”

“You won’t be,” Nathan had assured you, one hand around your back as he pulled you closer. “Do you want to?”

You had simply nodded, as if you were physically unable to say yes. Nathan had kissed you that night. Your first kiss ever. Afterwards you didn’t say much as he walked you home, waiting till you were inside before going back to his own house.

Neither of you talked about the kiss again. You told everyone afterwards that you didn’t work out in a relationship that you were still friends. But a year and a half later, when you were almost 18 you brought it up again.

“You know how you let me kiss you to get my first kiss out of the way?” You asked, sitting on your bed with your school work spread out in front of you. Nate had been sitting beside you with his math textbook and a messy sheet of equations in his lap.

Nate had looked over at you, eyebrows raised in curiosity. “Well I kissed you, but yeah. Why?”

“Would you do it again?”

“You can’t have your first kiss twice.”

“Not my first kiss….my first…time.”

Nathan had stared at you blankly for a few seconds, seemed skeptical, like you were tricking him into admitting something. “Yes,” he had finally told you.

“Okay,” you had replied, slowly moving all your books off your bed. And Nathan did exactly what he said, taking your virginity that afternoon. And he was gentle and kind and everything you were hoping he would be. You trusted him with everything and you were glad you had trusted him with this too. Even though it happened only a few months before he was drafted into the NHL and then moved to Colorado.

You stayed close when he moved. You texted and called and visited each other as much as you could. And you always remained determined that you were just friends. But you never felt the same connection you felt with him as you felt with anyone you had actually dated. You never felt as comfortable, as safe, as secure.

Nathan had always done his absolute best to make sure he was there for your birthdays. There were a few years where he couldn’t make it work because of games. A couple of those years you decided to go to him, celebrating your birthday with a few friends in a hockey arena watching an Avs game before dragging Nathan out for drinks with everyone.

This year he was particularly insistent about coming to visit for your birthday. It was your 25th and he was making it out to seem like a much bigger deal than you thought it was. It was just another day.

He had come up the day before your birthday and the two of you spent every waking minute together. The day of your birthday you woke up to Nathan making you breakfast, coffee already brewed.

“This is pretty impressive,” you said, shuffling tiredly into the kitchen and wrapping your arms around him, your head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“It’s your birthday, you deserve everything.” He wraps his arms around you, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of your head. “Now sit down.”

Giggling you pull away from him, taking a seat on one of the barstools at the kitchen island. “Ally said you guys made plans later but that I need to dress nice,” you comment, watching as Nathan flips a couple pancakes onto a plate. “Will you tell me what we’re doing?”

“No,” Nathan chuckles, setting the pancakes in front of you.

Glaring at him you pick up your fork. “Fine, but will you at least come with me and help me pick out something suitable to wear tonight?”

“Sure,” Nathan chuckles, getting himself some breakfast and joining you to eat.

Later that day you step out of a fitting room in a knee length red wrap dress, glancing in the mirror before looking at Nathan. “What do you think of this one?”

“You look incredible,” Nathan says, leaning forward in the chair he was sitting in.

You glance over as one of the sales associates comes into the back, looking between you and Nathan for a minute. “Anniversary dinner?”

Laughing softly you shake your head. “My birthday.”

“Oh,” she says, smiling softly. “You two are just really cute.”

“We’re going to get married,” Nathan chuckles.

“We’re not,” you tell the sales associate quickly, glancing at Nathan through the mirror. “He’s joking, we’re just friends.”

“Oh,” she comments again, grabbing a few dresses from a hanger before heading back into the store.

“Nathan, what the hell?” You exclaim, giggling as you turn back around to look at him. “Is this the one?” You ask, gesturing to the dress and changing the topic.

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

After changing back into your clothes you and Nathan take the dress to the front counter. When you notice Nathan pulling out his wallet you quickly push his hand away. “No,” you say quietly.

“It’s your birthday,” he retorts, pulling a credit card out of his wallet.

Rolling your eyes you give in, knowing you weren’t going to get out of letting him pay for it. Once you two leave the store you grab a coffee, spending the day doing nothing but hanging out with each other. And to be honest there wasn’t a single other thing you would have rather been doing. Whenever Nate was in town or you were in Denver it felt like a missing piece in your life was filled.

It was many hours later before you were fully dressed and ready for the night, heading out with Nathan who insisted on driving because he refused to tell you where you were actually going. But it wasn’t long before you realized it was your favourite restaurant which you didn’t go to often because of the price and fact that you needed to make reservations weeks in advance if you wanted to be sure you could get in.

Glancing over at Nate you smile softly, watching his eyes focused on the road in front of him. I love you. It wasn’t the first time you wanted to say it. In fact, you had even said it before. But it was always followed up by ‘you’re my best friend’ to take away from what it really meant. Nate looks over at you, catching you watching him.

“What?” Nate asks, looking back out the window as he slows down and pulls into a spot near the front of the restaurant.

“Nothing,” you tell him quietly, reaching over and unbuckling your seatbelt. “I’m just really glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” he replies, quickly climbing out of the car. Your attention is caught by the speed with which Nate hops out of the car, hurrying around the front of it.

You can’t help but giggle, watching as he gets to your side, pulling the door open. “Almost broke into a sprint there,” you tease, eyes widening as Nate grabs your hand to help you out of the car. “It’s my birthday, not my coronation.”

Nate chuckles, closing the door behind you once you were out of the car. “Anything for you.”

You glance down at your hands, Nate’s hand still locked with yours. But you don’t pull away, keeping the embrace as you two walk up to the restaurant and all the way to the table where a group of your friends were already waiting.

“Happy birthday,” your best friend cheers, hopping up to wrap her arms around you. “You and Nate look cozy,” she whispers in her ear while her arms were around you.

Laughing you shake your head, pulling away. “Just friends,” you remind her, for what felt like the millionth time.

“Right,” she draws out, rolling her eyes with a playful smile.

After a few more happy birthday hugs and hellos you sit down beside Nate. Chatter ensues around the table as drinks are ordered. Shortly after you have a glass of pinot noir in front of you and Nate has moved a little closer, his arm around the back of your chair.

The dinner goes by quicker than you would have liked. A few glasses of wine and a delicious dinner later your friends are handing over the gifts they had brought with them. After you had opened the gifts from your friends you notice Nate watching you closely, clutching a little box in his hand.

“Happy birthday,” he whispers as he hands the box to you.

Opening it slowly you look down at the gorgeous necklace in the box. You knew immediately that it cost more than all the other jewelry you owned combined and it was more than you could have ever asked for or anticipated. “Nathan,” you whisper, looking up at him. “Thank you so much…you didn’t have to.”

“Oh my god, put it on,” your friend comments, downing the rest of her martini.

You slowly and carefully pull the necklace out of the box and Nate stands up, helping you put the necklace on without hesitation. “Happy twenty-fifth,” he whispers before sitting back down.

As soon as the words leave his mouth it all comes back to you. 25. You look over at him, staring into his eyes to try and figure out if he knew the weight of 25 as well or if he was simply saying it because it was a fact, you were 25 now. But you know that he remembered too.

You try to keep your focus on the moment, on the dinner and your friends. But you couldn’t stop your thoughts from drifting the rest of the night. To Nate. To the necklace. To how much you loved him. To the fact that you were both 25 now.

After dinner everyone heads outside and you can’t stop yourself from taking Nathan’s hand, pulling him a little closer. Outside you say goodbyes as everyone heads off in their Ubers. There was no question that you would be spending the night with Nathan. Your friends were around all the time and they knew when Nathan was in town you wanted to be around him as much as humanly possible.

Once everyone was gone you turn to look up at Nate. The sky was dark, the evening cool but not too cold. The street was unbelievably quiet, as if the world had been put on pause. Everything felt perfect. “So we’re both twenty-five now,” you whisper.

Nathan takes your other hand in his, pulling you a little closer. “And neither of us are married.”

Laughing softly you shake your head. “Twenty-five seemed so old at the time. I really thought we’d have it all figured out.”

“I do have something figured out.”

“Just one thing?” you tease.

“One pretty big thing,” Nate tells you, voice quiet.

“And what is it?”

“That I love you,” Nate says. “So much more than I’ve ever let you know. And I would marry you right now if that’s what you actually wanted but I don’t think a daisy when we were eleven is a great proposal.”

You inhale sharply, your lungs not seeming to be able to take in or exhale air steadily anymore. “Nathan,” you whisper, taking your hands from his and quickly lifting them up to wrap your arms around him. “I…I love you too. I have for so long.” Pulling back you look into Nathan’s eyes for a couple minutes before leaning closer. Nathan gets the hint quickly, closing the space and kissing you gently. It’s soft and passionate and so full of emotions that you feel a little dizzy, like you weren’t even on the planet in that moment anymore. Like it was all a fuzzy, incredibly dream.

“Let’s go back to my apartment,” you whisper against his lips, still clutching onto him as if the second you let go everything that had just happened would vanish from reality.

But you force yourself to pull away from him, to get into your car and go back to your apartment.

You get to your apartment and you’re barely through the door before your hands are back all over him. He’s held you before, cuddled and hugged but when his hands slide around your waist this time it fills you with an unfamiliar excitement. Kissing Nate felt so natural, like you were made for each other. It’s not long before you’ve made your way into the bedroom, clothes scattered around the floor.

While it’s not the first time you had slept with Nathan it’s the first time that it felt like it meant something real.

The next morning you wake up wrapped in Nathan’s arms, a far cry from the mornings before when you woke up alone with Nate on the couch. The morning is slow as you climb out of bed, spending the morning cuddled on the couch watching tv and drinking coffee in nothing but Nathan’s t-shirt.

“What now?” You ask after being up for a couple hours, back pressed to Nate’s chest, his arm draped over your shoulders.

“What do you mean?” Nathan asks softly.

“This…us. You’re going back to Denver tomorrow morning and we…,” you trail off, trying to hold back the fact that you were on the verge of tears. Blinking quickly you try to keep the tears from spilling from your eyes.

“We what?” Nate’s voice is gentle but you can tell he doesn’t realize you’re about to cry, doesn’t realize how upset you are.

You can’t stop the uneven inhale that makes your shoulders shake and Nate clues into your emotions. He reaches over, taking the mug of coffee out of your hands and setting it on the table beside him. He gently tugs your arm to turn you around and face him, pulling you into him. You rest your head on his shoulder as you let a couple tears slip from your eyes. “I don’t want you to go.”

Nate swallows heavily, running his hand along your back. “Come with me.”

A sarcastic laugh shakes your body as you pull back to look into Nate’s eyes. “I can’t just go with you. I have a job here, an apartment, and you live in a different country. I can’t just…leave.”

“I’d help you figure it out, you know we can deal with all that,” Nate whispers.

“It’s so sudden, I don’t even know what we are. Are we together? Are we still friends?”

“We’ll always be friends,” Nathan tells you, leaning forward to kiss you gently. “But I think we’re beyond being just friends at this point.”

You kiss him back, you can’t stop yourself. Because it’s been years in the making. Years of developing feelings. It’s a few minutes before you manage to pull yourself back from Nate again. “What if I can’t find a job in Denver? Am I getting my own apartment? I can’t just move to a new country without some kind of, I don’t know…visa.”

“Slow down,” Nathan says quietly, chuckling. “You don’t need it all figured out today. Come visit for a couple weeks, stay at my place, we can figure out the rest together.”

“Okay…I’ll go with you.”

“I love you,” Nate says gently.

“I love you too.”

#nathan mackinnon #nate mackinnon #Nathan MacKinnon fic #nate mackinnon fic #Nathan MacKinnon fanfic #nate mackinnon fanfic #Nathan MacKinnon imagine #nate mackinnon imagine #NHL fic #nhl fanfiction #nhl imagines #hockey fic #hockey fanfic #hockey writing #Hockey Fanfiction #Colorado Avalanche

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avocadogirl216 · 4 years ago

Text

Left Behind

Anon requested: Hey! Would you be willing to write something where the winchesters drop their sister who is in her younger teen years (13-14ish) off at bobby's when they go on a hunt and shes super upset about it so she wont talk to them when they call or even when they come to pick her up? And it ends up with her and Dean having some big argument and Sam having to calm the down?

AN: This story took a lot longer than I expected to write and I am so sorry that you had to wait, whoever you are, I changed it up a little towards the end, sorry. And sorry if this was crap.

Summary: When Sam and Dean leave you behind for a hunt, you don’t take it very well.

Warnings: Angst, Sibling Arguing, Language, Fluff at the end.

Pairings: Dean x sister!reader, Sam x sister!reader, Bobby x reader

Word Count: 2252

Y/N’s POV

You were currently in the backseat of the impala listening to your older bothers conversation. Sam was talking about some hunt in Minnesota. Dean was nodding his head along with the conversation, both paying attention to Sam and the road in front of him. You listened with curiosity as you tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together in your head. There were bite marks on all of the victims, they were all missing blood but they were also missing their hearts.

“Sounds like we’re dealing with a vamp and werewolf combo.” You said as you leaned over the front seat between your brothers to be a part of the conversation.

“Or...” Dean said.

“Or what?” Sam asked as he started to scroll through the news articles to get more information on the case, not even bothering to look up from his iPad.

“Come on. I know you want to say it.” Dean said with a smile while looking over to the both of you. “A were-pire.” He said with a proud voice.

You and Sam both groaned in sync.

“Dude, just drop it already. There is no such thing as a were-pire.” Sam stated in a matter of faculty tone.

“Says you.” Dean said, returning his attention to the road.

“Anyways... how far away are we from the case?” You asked as you looked over Sam’s broad shoulder.

“Well lets see. We’re in Cheyenne, Wyoming and the case is in Stillwater, Minnesota. So we’re about 13 hours out.” Dean said.

You groaned yet again to the thought of being in the car with your brothers for that long.

“What are you groaning about over there Rugrat?” Dean asked.

“Maybe the fact that I have to spend 13 hours with you two dumb nuts.”

Sam looked up from his iPad and have you a weird look along with Dean. “Umm, you’re not going to.” Sam said.

You were now confused. “What do you mean? I’m gonna work the case with you two and in order for me to do that I have to get over there which involves me staying in the car with my brothers for 13 hours.” You explained in a duh tone.

“Who said that you were coming along?” Dean asked, still looking at you like you just grew two heads.

“Umm... well... no one but I thought that I was going to work the case with you guys. Right?” You asked with a hint of insecurity.

Sam and Dean shared a look, having a silent conversation with each other.

“That wasn’t really the plan squirt.” Sam said now turning in the seat to face you.

“Then what is the plan?”

“We were going to drop you off at Bobby’s and then Dean and I are going to work the case.” Sam explained.

“What? I thought that I was going to help you with the case.”

“Not quite. You’re not ready for hunting yet.”

“What do you mean? I’ve worked my ass off with training every single day for the past 3 years and now I can’t go hunting with you two. How is that fair?” You said in a pissed off tone.

“Y/N I know that you want to come but your just not quite ready yet.” Sam said in a patient tone, sensing your anger.

“The hell I’m not! I-” You were quickly cut off by Dean.

“Okay first of all, watch your language and second of all, your going to Bobby’s while me and Sam work the case. End of discussion.” Dean said in a tone that he used with you when you were starting to take things too far.

“But-” You started.

“No ands, ifs, or buts about it. I’ve already made up my mind and that is that, whether you like it or not.”

You sigh as you decided to go with the smart choice and keep your mouth shut. You leaned back into your seat and start to fidget with the bracelet that you always wore on your wrist, hoping that it would help you cool off a bit.

After another couple of hours in the car, you pull up in front of Bobby’s house. You grab your duffel from beside you and sling it over your shoulder. As you start to open the backdoor to the impala, Sam starts to speak.

“Love you kiddo.” He said with a small, loving smile on his face.

You get out of the car, slam the door and walk towards the front porch all without saying a word to either of your older brothers.

~~~~~~

Its been four days since your brothers left for the case without you. You hated that you couldn’t be there with them, saving people and hunting things. The family business that you were supposed to be a part of. Sure you were only 14 but you knew all there was to hunting and you take care of yourself.

Whenever your brothers are away on a hunt, they call everyday to check in. Usually you answer the phone happily, eager to talk to your brothers and see how the case was going, but this time it was different. You’ve been ignoring their calls and texts. They’ve even called Bobby to try to get a hold of you but you still declined. You were a Winchester which meant that you were hot headed and stubborn.

You were now scrolling through Youtube, trying to find an interesting video to pass the time. You’ve already looked at all possible cases on the police radar but there was nothing other than the case that Sam and Dean were working. You were about to lay down for a nap, hoping that it would kill a couple of hours but you were interrupted with a knock on the door.

“Come in!” You yelled as you turned off your phone and placed it onto the bed next to your thigh.

The door opened and Bobby walked in. “Hey Y/N. I was just letting you know that your brothers are back from the case.” He said.

“Oh, okay.” You said as you picked your phone back up, showing that you weren’t interested in going to see them.

Bobby sighed while he ran a hand on his face. “Look I get that your mad at them but at least acknowledge them.”

“I am acknowledging them. I am acknowledging the fact that I am mad at them and therefore I do not want to make conversation with them.” You said as you kept your attention on the small screen.

Bobby sighed yet again and walked out of the room while closing the door behind him. There was a minute of silence then the door opened again. You raised your head to see who walked in. You were disappointed and pissed as you watched Sam and Dean walk into the room. Sam came in first and leaned onto the wall opposite of you as Dean walked in and closed the door. Dean then turned to face you as he crossed his arms across this broad chest as he stared you down. You returned the gesture. After a minute of silence between the three of you Dean finally spoke.

“So Y/N, anything to say.”

“Nope.” You replied as you returned your gaze to your phone.

Dean made it across the room in four steps and took the phone out of your hand in order for you to be focused on him.

“Oh so this is the reason why you didn’t answer us, you were too busy being on the internet to give five minutes to your brothers.” Dean said as he held up your phone just out of reach.

You sighed as you leaned back into the headboard and crossed your arms, not even making a move to get the phone back. “If you want to assume that. Like you always do.” You said in an icy tone.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dean asked, anger flashing his eyes.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe the fact that I can’t hunt because I’m not good enough.”

“Who ever said that?”

“No one did. I’m just saying what’s on everyone's mind.”

“Now look at whose assuming things.” Dean scoffed.

“I’m not assuming anything. I’m just stating facts.” You argued back.

“Well no one asked you to do that.”

“Yeah well, no one asked you to come talk to me.” You said as you stood up and walked up to Dean. “No one asked you to be here.”

“No one had to. It’s my job to be here for you.” Dean said as he looked down at you with a deadly glare.

“Yeah? How can you be here for me when your on the other side of the fucking country? How can you be here for me when you just dump me here and take off? Huh? Riddle me that!” You said as tears start to form in your eyes.

“Y/N, its for your own good. Its for your safety.” Dean sighed as he drug his hand down his face. “We’ve been over this.”

“Yeah I know Dean but its stupid.” You huffed in frustration. “I’ve trained over and over again for the past three years without complaint. I’ve taken both of you down before and I know how to use just about every weapon known to man. Not to mention that you two will be there with me for every step of the way, protecting me from getting hurt or worse.”

“That’s what I’m talking about Y/N! I know that you can handle yourself, hell you’ve kicked my ass more times than I like to admit but there is always that possibility that something will go wrong. There is always that possibility that you will get hurt or worse on a hunt. We don’t take you with us because we’re scared of what will happen.” Dean explained with some of his anger melting away.

“Don’t you think that I know that Dean? Believe me, I know the risks of hunting. Look at Dad, Ellen, Jo, Ash and Pamela, they were in this life and they suffered the consequences of it. But one thing that I can trust is you two.” You said as you looked between your brothers. “I trust the fact that when you two are with me, that everything will be okay. I trust the fact that you will keep me safe.”

“Then there is your first mistake. Everyone that was in this life and knew us are now dead. Dad, Ellen, Jo, Ash and Pamela are all dead because of us. All we do is get the people that we are close to and love killed. We can’t protect you anymore than we can protect them.” Dean said as his voice broke. “We can’t protect you.”

As you heard Dean say those words, anger started to boil in your veins. The need to cry was replaced with the need to punch something, preferably your brother for thinking so low about himself and Sam.

You suddenly take a swing at your brother, catching him off guard. “Don’t you say that!” You cried as you punched him yet again in the face, making him take a step back. “After everything that you have done for us, for them! You cannot just throw that out there like it is true because its not!” You yelled at him as tears spilled down your face. You took a step so that you could punch him in the face again but a pair of strong arms wrapped around your waist from behind to stop you from going further. You thrashed against Sam’s hold as much as you could. You were practically bawling now. “You don’t get to say that.” You said as you finally stopped fighting Sam and you turned around and hugged his toned body.

Dean now had tears streaming down his face as he looked at you with both sadness and shock. Sam was shushing you, trying to make you calm down a bit. You had a death grip on his flannel as your tears started to make the material damp. After a couple of seconds, you felt Dean start to take you into his arms. You quickly turned and hugged Dean’s torso as tight as you could. You felt tears start to fall onto your head as Dean silently cried. After a minute of standing there you decided to speak.

“Don’t ever say that again. It wasn’t your fault that they died.” You said as you turned to look at Sam who also had tears in his eyes. “Or yours. Don’t ever think that. You understand?”

Dean sniffled and looked into your eyes. “Yeah.”

“And don’t ever think that you can’t protect me. I trust you two more than anyone. I know for a fact that you two will be there when I need you the most. And I’m sorry that I gave you such a hard time this past week. You were just trying to keep me safe even though I was acting like a total super bitch.” You explained. “I trust that I will go on a hunt with you two when I’m ready. And that doesn’t mean when I’m 30 either.”

Both Sam and Dean chuckled at that.

“Com´er.” Dean said as he engulfed you in another bone crushing hug. Sam joined in shortly after.

You knew that you were going to be okay now that your brothers are there when you need them most.

#supernatural #spn #spn fanic #supernatural fanfic #reader insert #late #sister!reader #dean winchester x sister!reader #sam winchester x sister!reaser #bobby x reader #angst #language #request #anon #anonomous #sibling arguing #ignoring calls

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angstysebfan · 5 years ago

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My Roommate’s Boyfriend 5/?

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Summary: Your roommate’s boyfriend and you do not get along. You don’t even know why anymore. When your roommate has to move unexpectedly across the country, you both begrudgingly drive her car to her new home. Adventure, angst, and secrets come alive.

Warnings: light swearing

You drive through North Dakota and make into Montana, before stopping for food. Bucky decides to actually eat at a diner, which you’re happy about. It’s been slightly awkward in the car since you left the motel is Minnesota, and you hope sitting down and talking will help.

The waitress gives you menus and coffee before walking away to give you time. Of course you notice her eyes undressing Bucky, which makes you scoff. Bucky looks at you confused, before he notices the waitress looking at him. He can’t help but smile into his menu.

After you both place your orders, you decide to start the conversation. “Um.. I know yesterday was kind of crazy, and there is a lot of things we should talk about, but... I think we should just forget everything that happened and move forward with the trip.” you say. Bucky frowns. “If that is what you want, then...” he trails off nodding.

You excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. Bucky sits there feeling like he got punched in the stomach. You want to forget everything! The kiss, sleeping in each others arms, everything! He doesn’t know how he feels about this. He thought you both were making strides, but now he doesn’t know.

You walk into the bathroom and look at yourself in the mirror. You know you don’t want to forget, but you feel it’s the best choice. Why though you are unsure. Is it because of Nat? Because he has been a complete asshole until recently? You don’t know. But you know you loved the way his lips felt against yours; you love the way he held you tight in his arms and made you feel safe.

You splash some water on your face and head back out. You see Bucky watching you walk back, and when your eyes connect with his, butterflies start fluttering and your heart rate increases. You sit down and maintain eye contact for a moment before Bucky speaks.

“Y/N, I know I have been a huge asshole to you for the past year. I thought you judged me and that hurt because I really wanted to get to know you. I don’t regret my time with Nat, and I care about her a lot, but I would be lying if I said I stopped thinking about you during the year.” Your eyebrows shoot up, you didn’t expect that.

“I know Nat and I agreed to break up, and I am not saying I want to jump right into a relationship, but I... I don’t want to forget what happened between us yesterday. That kiss was the best fucking kiss I have ever had, and I haven’t slept that soundly in years. I don’t know where the future will take us, but I want to see where this goes. Slowly of course.” He said looking at you sincerely.

Before you have a chance to respond, your food comes out. You dive right in, as you are starving. After a few minutes of eating, you look at Bucky. “Bucky, I... I have to think about this. Nat is my best friend and I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have by what happened yesterday. I know she cares about you a lot, even if you are breaking up. I don’t want to say yes to you, when I don’t know where she stands.” You say softly.

Bucky just nods and goes back to eating. You finish your meal in silence, and head back to the car. You continue driving west in complete silence. You look at Bucky and see that he is deep in thought. You are worried he is pissed at you for not giving him an answer, but he had to give you time. Things changed so drastically so fast, there is no way you can make a sane decision now.

As the sun begins to set, you are fastly approaching the Washington state line. You can’t believe how quickly you drove through Montana and the small amount of Idaho, but you are glad you are close to Nat.

“If you want, we can get a hotel for the night and meet up with Nat tomorrow. Unless you want to hurry up and get to her now.” Bucky says, not looking at you. To say you are surprised is an understatement. Bucky has been rushing you the entire trip and now he wants to make another stop before getting to Nat? “Uh... Whatever you want to do Bucky. If you are tired, then we should stop.” You say noncommittally.

Bucky doesn’t reply and drives on through the state line. You think he was going to go straight to Seattle, but are surprised again when he pulls into a hotel. You both get out of the car and grab your bags. “I’m going to run to the restroom real quick.” You say as you walk into the lobby. “Okay, I will get the rooms.” Bucky says.

You head into the bathroom quickly, having sat in the car for hours. When you come back out, Bucky is standing against the wall. “They uh... only had one room. I hope that’s okay.” He says looking down at his feet. You clear your throat. “Uh... fine with me, if it’s okay with you. You slept in the car last time that happened.” you say with a shrug of your shoulders. Bucky blushes and leads you to the elevator. When he presses the button for your floor, he looks at you. “I’m not going to stay in the car.” He says.

When you enter the room, you see a queen size bed, a TV on the wall, a small table, and the bathroom. Very small, but perfect for what you needed. “You want to shower first?” you ask him, throwing your bag on the bed. You turn around and look at him when he doesn’t answer. You find Bucky just looking at you. The butterflies start up again and your face gets very hot.

He finally clears his throat, “Uh, sure.” He grabs his bag and heads into the bathroom. You fan yourself as you feel the blush increasing. His eyes are just so intoxicating. You don’t understand what you are feeling. You are so confused. You wish you could talk to Nat about this, but you don’t want to break her heart.

After about 15 minutes, Bucky comes out in grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt. You are a little put out that he is not shirtless, but scold yourself for those thoughts. You quickly grab your bag and run into the bathroom to shower. Bucky watches you until you close the door.

Bucky POV

Bucky lets out a sigh when you close the door. He can’t control his thoughts today. You have consumed him so much in one day and he doesn’t know what to do. Ever since that kiss yesterday, all he wanted was to kiss you again. You want time, and he wants to respect that, but at the same time, he wants to grab you and hold you in his arms.

He can’t believe how fast his feelings for you are surfacing. He always had thought he held something for you, even after that night in the bar, but he never acted on it. For one he was with Nat, whom he really does care about, and two he thought you were stuck up and judgemental. He apparently was wrong about the second thing.

He thinks about Nat and their year long relationship. He does care for her, and if she wasn’t moving he likes to think they would have stayed together. But maybe not. Maybe, even though he cared for her, he knew she wasn’t the one. He thinks she knew it too, which is why she didn’t hesitate to take this job on the other side of the country.

You come out of the bathroom wearing black sweatpants and a tank top. You see Bucky lying on the bed staring at the ceiling. When he hears you, he looks at the door and offers you a small smile. You return it before walking over to your side of the bed. Bucky watches you the entire time. When you settle in, you turn on your side and look at him.

“You okay?” you ask softly. Bucky turns on his side to face you. “Yeah, I think so. Just a lot of things on my mind.” He says. He goes to tuck a piece of your hair back, but halfway through the movement, he rethinks and drops his hand. You look at his hand on the bed, and slide your hand over it.

“I do too.” you whisper. Bucky is looking at your hand on his, and he turns his hand over and interlocks your fingers. You both stare at your hands and then each other. “I don’t want to rush you, Y/N. But I want you to know that I meant what I said earlier.” he says softly.

You nod and squeeze his hand. “I know. Thank you.” you say, looking from his eyes to his lips. You feel like a magnet is pulling you toward him. Suddenly you release his hand and tuck a strand of his hair behind his ear. Bucky closes his eyes at the feeling of your hand in his hair. You palm his cheek and rub your thumb on his cheekbone. He opens his eyes and stares at you.

You feel the electricity between the two of you. You want to pull away, but at the same time you don’t. You start pulling his face toward you and gently place a kiss on his lips. This kiss is much softer than the one yesterday, but feels so much more powerful. The butterflies have gone crazy in your stomach. Bucky gently grabs your face and pulls you closer to deepening the kiss. He takes his time, slowly massaging his tongue against yours.

Bucky pushing you onto your back and lays on top of you. He continues to kiss you passionately. You wrap your arms around his neck, holding him as close as possible, while his hands start to wander down your body. Your heart is beating so fast that you think you will pass out, but you know this feels good. This feels right.

You’re screwed.

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Not much angst in this chapter like I originally thought, just tension. Oh well. It’s still coming! We will see what happens. If you are wondering, I am not going to be writing smut. I am not brave enough for that yet. Feedback is appreciated as always. Hope you like this chapter.

Taglist: @iheartsebastianstan, @jessyballet, @finleyjayne, @cap-just-said-language, @sarcastic-and-cool, @humbledarkness, @broco8

#Bucky angst #bucky fanfic #bucky fic #bucky x reader #bucky x natasha #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #modern bucky barnes

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outerbankslut · 4 years ago

Text

Childhood Friends... Pope Heyward

Summary • You have been in love with Pope Heyward since you first met him when you were younger. But there’s one or two problems. Or so you think. He doesn’t like you. Does he?

Warnings • Swearing. Underage drinking.

Word Count • 3.3k (Imagine)

Masterlist

(GIF isn’t mine, let me know if it’s yours)

AT EIGHT YEARS old you first met Pope Heyward. The concept of Outer Banks at such a young age seemed like a dream for you. Never ending beaches. Hot weather practically all the time. Surfing and swimming at your beck and call. It was a stark change from living in Minnesota.

The house you moved into was a small two story house next to one almost identical. And the day you had moved in a boy came knocking at the door. He seemed around your age and held a pie dish in his hands seemingly quite nervous. Your parents were upstairs unpacking so you opened the door hoping maybe you could make a friend.

"My mum made me bring this pie for you since we’re neighbours, here you go." He kept his eyes trained on the ground then handing you the pie and scurrying back home before you could even take a breath. Your face dropped as he ran off but you felt determined to make him a friend, after all you were neighbours so how hard could it be since you'd see him almost all the time.

A few days later your mum wanted to buy some groceries rather than living off of takeaway food for any longer and opted for going to Heywards shop. Which ended up being your neighbours store.

You wandered through the store while your mum chatted with Heyward and eventually stumbled upon the boy who ran away sitting on the floor and reading a comic.

"Spider-Man's really cool." You had said sitting down next to him as his head snapping to the side suddenly looking from his marvel comic to you. It was a surprise he didn't get whiplash.

"Really? I think so too." The boy gushed about the hero while you sat listening. Then your mum called you from the front of the store and you pouted, sad you could hang out with your new friend any longer.

Then the next thing you knew the eight year old boy was dragging you both to your feet and taking you to the candy area. He handed you a chocolate bar with a cheeky grin. "Don't tell my dad."

You nodded and giggled before rushing off to your mum and looking back at your new friend happily. Your parents invited the Heywards around for weekly dinners and alternated between houses becoming good family friends which only strengthened you and Popes friendship.

After that began it was an almost daily thing for you to hang out. You and Pope were attached by the hip. You went on your bikes together. Even took kids surfing lessons together. Though Pope practically already knew how to surf since he was raised on the water.

As you grew older you would do your homework together with the Heyward boy often helping you with the subjects you struggled in while you helped him with the things he struggled with.

Eventually you offered to help with the shop to pass time and hang out with your friend and at this point the Heywards were like family to you.

When you were both ten years old Pope had the idea to make a tree house. And though not the best considering it ended up just a rickety platform balancing on branches with ladders either side of it, it still worked. The tree overhung both houses back gardens with its trunk positioned just on the edge of your garden.

You met two more goofs that year. JJ and John B. The two Js was what you called them at first. You became fast friends with their long hanging bond similar to yours with pope. You fit like a lock and a key together. However you never showed the Pogues the treehouse, it was just you and Popes little space.

You spent a lot of time up there just staring up at the stars of reading. Pope liked to talk about all his hopes and dreams while you were there and you listened.

"Y/N, do you think I’ll be able to get into a good college. Like for forensic pathology." He asked as you laid on the 'treehouse' could you even call it that.

"Pope you are the smartest person I know. So it's unlikely that you won't get into anywhere you want."

"I know it's just—I don't think my dad can afford it so I'll need to get a scholarship. There'll be be hundreds of people competing for it. I'm just a drop in the ocean to them." He ranted and you could hear the stress in his voice. This wasn't something someone as smart and determined as Pope should have to stress about was all you thought. He deserved so much while people who deserved so much less got fed with a silver spoon up in figure eight.

"They'd be dumb not to let you in. I don’t see how you wouldn’t. I have faith in you but I will also do whatever it takes to get you in. I'll pay for your tuition myself if I have to. Or I'll find some dirt on the dean and—"

"I'd rather not have my acceptance be a product of your blackmailing ways Y/N but thankyou and I'm not letting you pay for my tuition." He laughed. It was the melodic sound that rung in your ears that made you smile and turn your head away from the stars and towards him. The small lights you had hanging from the tree branches were bouncing off of his beautiful chestnut skin. His eyes were a shade of dark honey brown that simmered in the light. He was amazing in every single way.

Your fourteen year old self was starting to realise what you had been oblivious to the whole time. You would do anything for Pope. He was your ride or die. And you hoped you were his.

However when Kiara came in was when things went weird between you and Pope. She waltzed in in all her kook glory looking like a goddess. So of course you couldn't blame the boys when suddenly all their attention was on her and her beautiful brown wavy hair or golden cocoa skin that glimmered in the sunlight. You couldn't figure out whether she was just born lucky with amazing genetics or whether she was a vampire like from Twilight. Either way, Pope Heyward fell and he fell hard that year. At work he always spoke about her and it was slowly killing you inside. Every time he mentioned it you swore you heard your heart break and crack into more pieces.

You wished you could tell him. But you would be putting your friendship on the line. It would be selfish to tell him when he clearly wasn’t interested.

Instead of moping over an unattainable crush you attempted to move on. And to everyone’s surprise started flirting back with JJ. He was always shooting his shot like he did with Kie and tourons at keggers but normally you never flirted back. You thought somehow within your skewed logic it would work and you would be over Pope. Like the saying fake it till you make it. But it just bought your thoughts back to how it wasn’t Pope.

The Heyward boy started to pay more attention to it. He got a weird feeling in his stomach everytime he saw you laughing at JJs jokes and not his or just talking to each other. He stared every time you flipped your long glossy hair over your shoulder and looked flawless or would saunter off back into the chateau for a drink.

His interest turned from anyone to you within a second of a word coming from you pink lips. But you had convinced yourself he wasn't interested and you were oblivious to his newfound feelings. And so he stayed blind as he had been before to yours.

"HEY WHAT’RE YOU doing over here, lil red." JJs nickname had originated from the fact that red was your favourite colour. You had even dressed up as little red riding hood one year for Halloween which sparked the full nickname. It was sweet but in no way anything more than a friendly nickname. Although Pope begged to differ. You sat leaning against the wooden poll on the wooden floor of the dock. Your arms wrapped around your legs pulling them close to your chest giving you a sense of comfort as you stared at the sunset across the marsh.

You turned to the blond sending him a small smile before turning back to the sinking blends of fluorescent pink and oranges blurring into one beautiful mess in the sky. "Watching the sunset."

"Mind if I watch too?" He asked settling down beside you and resting his arms on his knees. You nodded. It turned away from the sky.

You heard the laugh of Pope from behind you and turned this time you turned away to look seeing Pope laughing with Kie that just sparked jealousy in your stomach. He looked so happy with her.

"So what's the deal with that?" JJ asked from beside you and you turned to him confusion splattering on your features which were orange from the light hitting of the setting sun.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the long glances, more like stares really and when you tell a joke you always look to Pope first. You look at him like he's the best thing in the world. Not to mention you randomly starting to flirt with me. I'm a professional ladies man. I notice these things. You’re not interested in me, it’s Pope." He blurted out and you sat rubbing a hand over your face with a sigh.

"I don’t do any of that." JJ have you a look which you shrugged at. “Look I—I did, but I don’t anymore.”

“You sure about that?” JJ kept his stare on you as you shuffled uncomfortably before sighing.

“I just wish he could just like me back, but he never will he’ll always like Kie and I don’t wanna be jealous of them cause then I’ll be a terrible friend but... I can’t help it.”

“Lil red, I know you might not believe me but I think Pope does like you. A lot. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. It’s not just some friendly look.” He places his hand on your shoulder rubbing it softly and you send him a tight lipped smile.

“Maybe he does, I doubt it though. And people say girls are complicated. You boys are just as complicated.” You teased bumping his shoulder as he let go of yours. “But anyway we’re forgetting about the most important rule ever. No pogue on pogue macking.”

JJ snorted shaking his head. “Don’t bring up that bullshit rule. I know that if anyone of you showed interest in me it would be out of the window.”

“I’m not particularly a rule breaker unlike you.”

“Rules are made to broken but you’re just boring Lil Red.” You gasped and turned to your friend.

“No I am not. Take it back.” You glared at him jokingly.

“What’re you gonna do?”

You raised your eyebrows and then pushed the boy off the dock thinking you’d suceeded for a slip second until he grabbed your shoulders and pulled you in too.

Pope watched the two of you laughing and talking for a while without you realising and then he saw you both fall in the water together laughing and looking like you belonged together. He shook his head slightly as he looked back to Kie who stared with worried eyes.

“You okay Pope?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine just thinking.” Kie nodded going back to talking to John B until a shout erupts and they both turned to see JJ and you in the water. Pope was already looking.

“Lil red what the fuck?” He laughed shaking off his hair while you rung your own out still looking amazing to Pope.

“You said I was boring.” You shrugged chuckling and then screeching as you were pushed back under the water.

“I’m honestly surprised they’re not together yet.” Kie laughed looking at the two other boys beside her.

“You think they like each other?” Pope asked worry pinched in his eyebrows. It was one thing for him to think it but for Kie to confirm his thoughts made his stomach churn.

“Well yeah, I mean look at them.”

Pope was looking at them. And he saw it clear as day. You and him were never going to happen.

You breathed heavily as you and JJ walked up the steps to the docks. “Hey I know what we can do to help get your mind off of Pope for a night.”

“What?”

“A kegger.”

THE PARTY HAD started two hours ago and was roaring with teens, kooks and Pogues alike hung together for one night filled with truce, beer and weed.

He had left you a few minutes before to pursue a girl of course while you sat around a bonfire staring at the embers that floated into the midnight sky. But you were still thinking about him. He was stuck in your thoughts like superglue. You'd hoped that maybe alcohol would help loosen you up and get you out of your head but being alone and drunk made it worse.

Pope stood by Kie as you sat at the fire by yourself. Now was his chance to tell you and maybe you would like him back but if you didn't then maybe it would be less embarrassing since you were drunk. However he was not drunk since he abstained from the beer despite the multitudes of parties they had. He was the designated driver type.

"I'm gonna go over to Y/N." Kiara nodded before she continued talking to a random boy that sat next to her.

He walked across the sand catching your attention as you snapped your head up to see him heading your way.

"Hey Pope."

You were surprised he left Kie.

"You looked a little lonely so I'm giving you company."

"Oh Thankyou. My saviour." You said jokingly. Taking a swig of beer you examined the boys face. It twitched with nerves as he sat next to you and fiddled with his fingers.

He looked up at you with a small smile. “Y/N, I—”

“God, girls around here really have a good left hook.” JJ groaned holding his face sitting down next to you on the log interrupting Pope who he hadn’t noticed.

Then JJ looked up to see Pope sitting there awkwardly and you almost laughing at the fact that he got punched by a girl which never happened before. “Oh shit sorry I didn’t realise...”

“Realise what?” You asked shaking your head cluelessly before you dragged yourself up. “I need another drink.”

JJ tried to stop you but before he knew it you were at the keg with him following after.

“Uh, Lil red, I think Pope might’ve been about to tell you he liked you.”

“Wait, what? Really?” You almost dropped your beer as your hands went slack in shock but you quickly gripped it tight swallowing some. Pope stared into as you had walked away from him with JJ following. Of course he was going after you because like Kie said, they liked each other. He wanted to see if he could forget, so he did something he would probably regret.

“I’m pretty sure I mean he looked like he was going to. I really need to talk to him...” The blond trailed off as he stared at something behind him.

“What is it?” You were about to turn around until JJ held your shoulders in place until your shoved them off and saw what you never wanted to see.

Pope was kissing a girl. Not Kie though. It was just a random girl who he was kissing. Your eyes burned with tears as you turned to JJ scoffing.

“Yeah he definitely likes me doesn’t he.” You choked back a sob shoving the beer into JJs hand and running off into the trees.

Pope has pulled away just in time to see it and instant regret filled his stomach.

“Pope, buddy, what did you do?” JJ asked softly as Pope looked at his walking away from the random girl who looked taken aback.

“I’m so sorry.” He apologised and she rolled her eyes walking off. “I don’t know what was going through my head, one second I was at the fire the next I was kissing a random girl.”

“Look, bro, just go find her and explain everything.”

“Yeah, I’ll—I’ll do that.”

You had walked the farthest you could from the party, still bare foot since your shoes were in the van and John B had the keys. You were leaning against a tree trunk when you decided to go to the one place that would comfort you most despite reminding you of him.

You went straight home taking 20 minutes to walk down the cold desolate roads that were dark by this time. The first thing you did was get ice cream from the freezer before making your way to the tree house and wrapping yourself in the blankets befor leaning against one of the many pillows stored there. You listened to the gentle breeze above rustling the leaves of the blooming trees and the crickets in the distance and felt the gentle swaying of the platform beneath you.

This was your comfort place. It was the only place you felt like this since it was where you created all your favourite memories with Pope Heyward. The unattainable boy who had always been by your side.

By the time Pope made it home it was completely dark but he knew exactly where you would be. He made his way to his backyard and saw your small figure and made his way up. You sat up quickly and almost burst into more tears after seeing him.

"Y/N..."

"Pope what are you doing here?" You asked as he climbed up the ladder.

"I came to check up on you..." He sighs and sits down next to you. "And I came to say that that kiss was a big mistake."

"Why—what?" You looked at the boy in confusion.

"I like you. I know we've been best friends forever and I hope this doesn't make it weird but that's the truth. I kissed the girl to see if I could forget about you which in hindsight was really stupid. And you probably hate me."

You looked at him with glossy eyes and smiled.

"Yeah that was stupid if you thought you could get over me.” You laughed which died down when you turned to him looking more serious. “But I don’t hate you. It’s not like we were dating.”

“I was thinking...we could change that.” Pope tells you and you raise your eyebrows, a growing smile on your face.

“Hmm okay. Date. This friday. On the beach. You and me?" You asked and his eyes lit up feeling slightly surprised at the forwardness.

"Isn't it supposed to be me asking you out?" He asked teasingly.

"It's the twenty first century pope get with it."

"Of course. And I would love to go on a date with you.”

“Good.” He then jumped on top of you in all your blankets and you let out a shriek. “Oh my god, Pope are you trying to simultaneously give me a heart attack and break this thing?”

“Not really, but if it happens then oh well.” He feigned nonchalance for a second breaking into a grin as you slapped his arm.

“Watch it mister. Or I’ll reconsider that date.”

“Okay, I’m sorry Y/N.”

You sighed contently as he wrapped you up in his arms, both of you under the blankets and the stars. You could definitely get used to this.

Note • In honor of simping for Pope and jd day, year, decade and century i’ve written this cause he’s a cutie and I love him. This was kinda anticlimatic but 🤷‍♀️

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hortensemitchell · 3 years ago

Text

Love Science: Chapter 5

Logan believed that he could solve anything through the power of science, even something as complicated as love. James is set on teaching him that love can’t be summed up in experiments and charts.

The two of them might just learn that there is more to love than they realize.

Rating: T

Pairing: Logan Mitchell/James Diamond

Word Count: 2305

“It’s really not that bad Carlos.” Kendall said, leaning against the bathroom stalls. “No one will even notice.” He paused for a moment, looking him over again. “Probably.”

Logan kept his head down as he ran some paper towels under the cool water, attempting some medical aid with the limited supplies in the school bathroom. Under the bright fluorescent lights he was finally able to get a good look at Carlos’ face, and well, Kendall wasn’t being entirely truthful.

His eye was swollen shut, a dark bruise already starting to set in. And his lip seemed to be split open across the top. Carlos would wince in pain every time he spoke, but that hardly stopped the smaller boy.

He isn’t even sure what had happened in the time he had separated from the two. He couldn’t always be with the other boys because of the advanced classes he took. That didn’t keep him from being roped into their shenanigans though.

One minute he was listening intently to his teacher's lecture on the symbolism in ‘Animal Farm’ and the next Kendall was at the door claiming Logan was needed in the principal's office. He knew Kendall though, and wasn’t all that surprised when he grabbed him by the wrist, dragging him the opposite direction of the office.

Carlos was sitting on the counter of the bathroom, hand held over his eye and Logan had instantly gotten to work. It was second nature to him, fixing their injuries. He didn’t even bother asking how they happened anymore before coming to their aid.

“Give it to me straight Doc, am I gonna live?”

Logan rolled his eyes at the other boy’s melodramatics, though he couldn’t fight the smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. “You’ll live at least, but you’ll have a pretty nasty black eye for a couple days. How’d you get this anyways?”

Carlos sat up taller where he was perched on the edge of the counter, chest puffed out in pride. “Well you’ll be proud to know that I happened to get a date for the dance. James isn’t the only ladies man after all.”

Logan heard Kendall snort from over his shoulder, “Yeah and how many of James’ ‘ladies’ leave him with a black eye?”

“She was excited, you can’t blame her for that. Besides, you're just jealous that I have a totally awesome date and you don’t.” Carlos looked over at Kendall sticking his tongue out, and Logan shook his head. Sometimes it was hard to believe he was the same age as them.

Logan clasped his hand on Carlos’ shoulder and gave it a congratulatory squeeze momentarily distracting him from Kendall’s teasing. “Just try and wear your helmet around her okay? I can’t keep missing class to patch you up.”

He heard the bathroom door swing open, and all three of them looked over to see James rushing into the room. “I got your text, sorry it took me so long, Mrs.Bigler was not in a friendly mood today. Can you believe that she told me that- Wait. Dude, what happened to your eye?”

“Kendall! You told me that no one would notice!”

Kendall raised his hands in mock surrender, “ I did say probably.”

James came closer to the pair at the sink, examining the damage. “How can anyone not notice, can you even see?” Logan elbowed James in the ribs sharply to get him to stop talking.

“It’s not that bad,” Logan gave James a pointed glare, “And it should at least fade a little in time for the dance.”

The mention of the dance seemed to have Carlos perk up again, springing himself off the counter, injury completely forgotten. “Speaking of the dance, Jenny said yes to going with me. So you wanna help me get some clothes for the dance after school? And probably one of those flower things that girls like?”

Logan felt James tense up beside him. James was supposed to be helping Logan after school, and he felt himself deflate a little. Tutoring him would be a chore, and he doubted James would pass up the opportunity to go to the mall for him. He tried to shake off the feeling though, it’s not like he wanted to go to the stupid dance anyways.

“How about tomorrow night? I have to go to Logan’s to work on algebra homework.”

Kendall raised an eyebrow, examining the taller boy. “Since when do you pass up the opportunity to go shopping for tutoring of all things?”

When Logan glanced over he swore he could see James cheeks flushed with embarrassment, but as quick as the expression crossed his face, it left. It was kind of scary how quickly James could put on a show, and it got Logan wondering if he ever did that around him too.

James shifted the weight of his backpack on his shoulder, eyes meeting Kendall’s analyzing look. “You know my mother, if I don’t pass my test with at least a C, there’s no way she’ll let me go to the dance.”

The answer seemed to please Kendall for a moment, as he nodded. Logan felt momentarily grateful for James’ quick thinking because it would be mortifying for the other two to know what they were really doing.

They wouldn’t really care, he knew that much. Minus some teasing, he doubts the other two would think much about it. But still, his lessons in love were something he would like to keep to just the two of them.

The shrill bell pierced the air reminding the group of boys that they still had half a day’s worth of classes to get through. Carlos and Kendall shuffled out of the door quickly, realizing they had left their bags in their last period, and Logan moved to follow behind them. He only made it a couple of steps before he felt a harsh tug on his bag almost pulling him off balance.

He stumbled backwards a couple steps before coming in contact with something solid. He turned around in place to find himself inches away from James. The other boy had a huge grin plastered across his face, and Logan could see an almost evil glint in his eye. It was the same look he would see on Kendall’s face as he concocted yet another scheme, and Logan instantly felt dread build in the pit of his stomach.

There was no use fighting it though, he’d learned from years of being their friend. He sighed in resignation, “Alright, what’s the plan?”

“I’m glad you asked, I figured now was the perfect time to start step one of your training.” James set his bag on the counter beside him and began ruffling through it. When he pulled a tube of hair gel and his lucky comb from the bag, Logan finally understood what step one was. He made a move to exit the bathroom, but was stopped by James hand gripping his bag strap, holding him in place.

“What do you think is the first step to getting someone’s attention?” James looked at him expectantly and Logan racked his brain for an answer.

That question had brought him back to the very same struggles he had yesterday at Kendall’s house. Whatever it is that James did to make the girls fall at his feet, he just didn’t know. At least with Kendall, he could say that girls liked his easy going, down to Earth charm. And any girl that met Carlos, knew they’d be in for a crazy time. There just wasn’t a good answer for James though, and Logan hated not having an answer.

James had stepped out of Logan’s space, and watched him as he thought over his answer. Under his watchful eye, Logan began to feel uncomfortable and turned to the bathroom mirror to avoid his gaze. “I don’t know James, a good opener?”

He could see in the reflection James shake his head slightly, “Step one is getting them to look at you. Why do you think I spend so much time fixing my hair and deciding what to wear everyday? It takes effort to look this good, but it’s well worth it.” He stepped behind Logan, meeting his eyes in the mirror. “And today I’m gonna use that effort on you.”

Logan couldn’t help the snort that escaped him at James’ words. All the Cuda Man Spray and hair gel in the world couldn’t make up for the fact that he was a nerd. And when he stood next to James? Well it was almost unfair.

James was breathtaking, Logan wasn’t afraid to admit what was true. He had a natural glow about him, and he managed a healthy tan all year round despite the cold Minnesota winters. And when he smiled, his whole face lit up in a way the genius couldn’t really describe. When he stared at them, side by side, it wasn’t hard to compare himself to everything he was not.

“Let’s face it James, no one's gonna look at me when you’re in the room.”

James' face fell, and an unreadable expression crossed his features. His voice was barely above a whisper now, and Logan had to strain to hear it over the sounds of people walking to class in the hallways. He’d almost completely forgotten the school bell had rang.

“You don’t have to be me for someone to like you Logan.”

“Yeah, sure I don’t. That’s why there's a mile long line of girls just hoping I’ll give them the time of day. I’m a scrawny, pale, nerd who can barely string together a sentence in front of a pretty girl.” He shifted his head to the side, no longer interested in looking at his reflection. “ I appreciate that you want to help, but-”

He felt James’ hands on his shoulders, gently turning him around. Again he was only inches away from the other boy, a fact that made him nervous.Though James wasn’t making eye contact with him which made the situation a little more bearable as he stayed still under James grip, waiting for him to break the silence.

When he finally met Logan’s eyes though, there was a deep sadness in them that had him wanting to backtrack on all of the things he had said. He could play dress up for James, pretend that all his effort wasn’t in vain. Anything to keep him from looking at Logan the way he was now.

“Do you-” He took a quick breath in an attempt to steady his shaking voice. “Do you really think that low of yourself Logan?”

Now would be the time to pull back, pretend that it wasn’t a big deal to him. He didn’t really trust his words right now, afraid he’d keep spilling his guts if he opened his mouth. Instead he gave a small nod, hoping that the other boy would drop the conversation right there.

He wasn’t expecting the harsh tug pulling him tightly into the other boys’ arms. James had crouched down slightly, burying his face in Logan’s neck, his body tense like he would sprint away at a moment's notice.

Logan knew exactly how he felt, overwhelmed with the close contact. Still he didn’t try to break free from the hold, instead tangling his fingers in the fabric of James t-shirt, holding him close. He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, seconds, minutes, maybe an hour before James finally spoke again.

“I know it might not mean much coming from me. But I promise you I’m not just saying this as your best friend. You aren’t some pathetic nerd Logan. I wasn’t kidding about all the things I said yesterday, you are more than you give yourself credit for. And if some girls don’t realize it, that’s their loss.”

Logan felt grateful that James still had his face buried in his neck. That meant he couldn’t see the flush across his cheeks and how teary eyed he had gotten from the kind words. He couldn’t really find the words to speak and instead wrapped his arms around James hugging him tightly.

Behind him, Logan heard the bathroom door slam open and wasn’t surprised when he felt James launch back from their embrace. The student didn’t even look twice at the pair before turning on his heel and heading back out. The heavy mood in the room though had left with him, and Logan didn’t really know what to do now.

James preoccupied himself with gathering the hair supplies that had been long forgotten on the counter before zipping up his bag and turning his attention back on Logan. “So, I’ll be over at four?”

He was giving Logan an out, if he didn’t want to do this anymore all he had to say was no. But Logan found himself nodding. Even if he felt the plan was pointless, it obviously meant something to James and he never wanted to see that look of sadness on his face again.

James smiled at his agreement, knocking him on the shoulder as he made his exit from the bathroom and just like that Logan was alone.

Being left with his thoughts seemed to be a very bad idea, as he could clearly still remember the feel of James’ arms wrapped tightly around him. They were all affectionate with each other, sure, but something felt different about that hug, and he didn’t want to think about it.

Instead he rushed out of the bathroom, heading off to make it to the very tail end of his third period class. Hoping a little calculus would distract him from thinking about what happened in the bathroom and the tutoring session later.

Across the school, James headed to his chemistry class, hoping for the same exact thing.

#my writing #Big Time Rush #James Diamond #Logan Mitchell #Carlos Garcia #Kendall Knight #Jogan

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puckngrind · 4 years ago

Text

What’s In A Name: 4 - J. Toews

Chapter 4

Where we left off: Bekah joined the Lady Jackets with Brynn in Chicago and didn’t tell Jon but he found out. After the game, he wrapped his arm around her at the arena to head back home making Bekah question things.

Warnings: smut, language

Word Count: 3,468

Series Masterlist ) Puck ‘n Grind’s masterlist

Questions.

Brynn had nothing but questions from the time Bekah returned to the hotel the next morning until the two hit her couch the following weekend after Chicago. Why didn’t Bekah tell her? Why would she not call them dating? How often does he text? Is he good in bed? Most of the questions were met with an I don’t know or I’m not telling you. Bekah was a slightly open book with her best friend but telling her how Jon makes her melt into a puddle wasn’t something she wanted to devolve.

April hit and Jon’s texts became less frequent. The Blackhawks made the playoffs and Bekah found herself most evenings in her apartment watching the game. Wondering if this was the round they would get knocked out. She would text Brynn asking for clarification on a hockey related thing. A day after beating the Ducks in 7 games Bekah looks down to see Jon’s name flashing on her phone.

“Hey Beks.” She can tell he’s laying down and there is a strain in his voice.

“Hey Tae?” Bekah’s questioning reply was noticed. “Congrats on making the cup finals again!”

“Thanks. I was thinking...”. He paused and cleared his throat. “Could you come? I don’t know, maybe starting the June 13th? We will be either be playing game 6 or we will be out. If it goes to 7 games you have the choice of coming to Tampa with me or hanging out at my place?” There was a silence on the line. Jon waited. “Beks?”

“Uh, I was just thinking. Sorry. Yeah, that should be fine. It’s a little short notice for work but I’ll see what I can do.” Bekah started pacing her apartment.

“Awesome. I know I could have just texted you but I wanted to hear your voice it’s been sooo long.” Jon’s voice staggers.

“Oh? I’ve heard your voice a few times during interviews.” This makes Jon laugh.

“I’ll set up your flight and everything as soon as you tell me if you can get me off...I mean get off work...fuck...me. I’m just gonna stop talking.” He cusses to himself.

“The whole no sex during playoffs really messing with you huh?” Bekah bites her knuckle to hold back the laughter.

“Well it’s been a little longer than playoffs so yeah...you could say it’s messing with me a bit. I just keep thinking of you. Speaking of, if it goes to game 6 and 7 you will be staying in a guest room. Sleeping next to you would probably make me explode.” The admission made Bekah’s entire body jolt. They quickly said their goodbyes and she typed out an email requesting off for the week.

Bekah flew in the morning of the 12th. Jon explained that they would be passing ships essentially but wanted to make sure she was set up before he left for the game in Tampa. Jon told her a driver would be picking her up and when she saw Beks scribbled on a piece of paper and Jon’s face emerging from under the Cubs hat she jumped and picked up the pace to him stopping just short of running into his arms. “Can I touch you or no?” She jokes.

“C’mere.” Jon pulls Bekah in and kisses her. Her hand immediately grabs at his beard.

“What barn are you raising tonight, Tae?” Jon chuckles as the two walk to grab Bekah’s bags. “Seriously, I thought it was just the bad rink lighting from my television.”

“My genetics hates the no shave protocols what can I say.” Jon kisses her on the top of her hair. “I’ve missed you, Beks.” He breathes in.

“Same, now let’s get me back to your place so you can kick some Tampa ass.”

Jon left a ridiculously detailed note about how to operate everything in his home. The number for the team manager if he didn’t answer and his house cleaning service just in case. Bekah roamed the halls of the giant townhouse. Taking in the things she didn’t notice before or he added and she didn’t know. She felt tiny in his massive kitchen but realized it was perfect for him in the many conversations about cooking they had. She finally wandered into the room he mapped out as the guest room she would use. Laying on the bed she sees a box. Jon’s scribble on a card laying on top.

You don’t have to wear this but it will look better than the last sweater I saw on you. Always, Tae

Bekah pries open the box to reveal a Blackhawks home jersey. Pulling it out of the box she notices the C on the chest. Flipping it around, Bekah fingers graze over the letters in Toews embroidered across the top. Of course he got her his jersey and not just a blank one. She slipped it on over her tshirt and snapped a pic in the mirror. Typing out a how does this look message she tossed her phone on the bed not expecting the quick response.

Jon: holy fuck Beks. I’ve never seen anyone look so hot with my name on their back.

Bekah: I’m sure 🙄

Jon: I’m adjusting myself right now because that’s how turned on I am. I’ll send proof

Bekah: I believe you. Good luck tomorrow. I’m gonna snoop through all your stuff and then head to bed.

Jon: Knock yourself out! Nothing to hide. I’m gonna take a very very cold shower.

The next night Bekah curled up on the sofa to watch game 5. Win they would come back only needing one more game to win...lose they would hope to go into game 7. Bekah kept falling asleep but the phone call in period 3 woke her.

“Derek thinks you are gonna see them take the cup at home.” Brynn’s voice vibrates in Bekah’s ear.

“Oh?” Bekah rubs her eyes and realizes the Blackhawks just scored with a few minutes left.

“He’s very jealous. Actually stewing about it if I were to go that far.” Brynn giggles.

“I guess I should wear this jersey then?” Bekah yanks on the Blackhawks emblem.

“He got you a jersey? Please tell me it’s his!”

“Yes Rin, it’s his. Not his his because I’m sure that would be swimming on me his sweatshirts do and pads don’t go under them.”

“Friend, I don’t know what you two call whatever this is but men who are just using women for sex aren’t letting them stay in their mansions without them, borrow their sweatshirts, and wrapping their chiseled arms around someone in public they consider their fuck buddy.” Brynn huffed out. Bekah could feel that she’d been keeping that in for awhile. She heard a beep and pulled the phone to see.

“Oh, shit he’s calling.”

“And they definitely don’t call them as soon as they get off the damn ice. Love ya!” With that Brynn hangs up and Bekah answers Jon’s call.

“You won Tae!” She breathe out not realizing she was holding it taking in all what Brynn was saying.

“We did! And we were suppose to fly back tomorrow morning but something got messed up with the hotel and we are heading to the plane. I just didn’t want to freak you out when I came in super late.”

“Oh, cool. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll see you for breakfast then.”

“Bye Beks.” She hung up and headed upstairs.

The slight kiss on her forehead the next morning was the next thing she remembered. “Sleep well?” Jon was dressed in his team issued sweats.

“Good morning!” Bekah answers quietly. “Your guest bed is pretty comfy I might not move.”

“I made breakfast and then I gotta get to the rink.” Jon’s voice sounded deeper to Bekah.

“Oh! Oh!” She rubs her eyes taking in the playoff beard. “Sorry. I forgot about the beard. When does that come off?” She ran her finger down the hard line between his soft cheek and coarse beard.

“When we win it all...or lose but I’m hoping we can win the cup here for once. For the fans.” Jon stands up.

The two make their way up to the rooftop where Jon has bacon, toast, fruit, some drink concoction that is clearly meant for him and coffee for Bekah.

“You don’t eat bread.” She pulls the mug to her lips then sips.

“I don’t but you do. So I made sure to have some for this week.”

“Thanks.” The two fall into easy conversation before he leaves for practice.

Bekah wandered her way down to campus while he was gone and took in the changes in the years since she graduated. She saw Blackhawks gear everywhere. She wondered if she just never noticed or because they were playing for the cup the next day was the reason for the abundance of sightings. She realizes how many times she could have seen Jon play before she graduated. Her best friend, only college friend, was an avid hockey fan from Minnesota. She would try to convince Bekah to go with her all the time. Chances of them meeting back then we’re slim and Bekah was sure as she walked back into his home that there was no way he would have ever noticed her if they had.

Dinner that evening was on the rooftop too. The views were amazing especially at night.

“You okay?” Bekah took in Jon’s demeanor and if that didn’t give away that something was bothering him the clicking of his foot on his chair was hard to ignore.

“Maybe a little nervous about tomorrow. Maybe a little horny. Maybe...I don’t know.”

“Maybe what Jon?” Bekah pulls her knees up into her chest while she waits Jon out.

“You are sitting in the family section.” Bekah gulps but nods. “It was the only seats I could get.”

“Ok...wait seats?” Bekah raises her voice accidentally.

“Yeah,” Jon nervously rubs his neck. “My parents are here and you are sitting behind them.”

“Oh...oh...OH!”

“Please say something else.” Jon squints.

“Fuck. Um. Yeah. That’s...fine. Have you told them about me? I mean why would you...but...fuck. Me in your jersey will look fantastic. Maybe I shouldn’t wear it. Hi, I’m Rebekah Pierce. I’ll be the one releasing your son of all his built up tension tonight if they win...nice to meet you.”

Jon start choking on the bite he just placed in his mouth and keeps coughing. “Shit! Babe!” Bekah rounds the table and pats him hard on the back. He finally stops and turns to pull her into his lap. “You cannot die tonight I would like to see you win this cup thing!” Jon smiles and kisses Bekah. “Oh Captain. That’s against the rules.” Bekah eyes down to where she can feel Jon hard as a rock.

“I’m fine. I’ll just take another ice bath. I’ve come accustom to them lately.” This makes Bekah giggle. “And my parents know I have someone here which is why they are not. They don’t know what we are because let’s be real...we don’t know. And please don’t talk about releasing anything to them. Fuck. I would like to pretend that my mother still thinks at 26 I’m saving myself.”

“Say what?” Bekah bats her eyes processing.

“They will be polite and I’m sure won’t ask too many questions.” Jon kisses her and she feels him jolt below her.

“I’m gonna get up now. I will not be to blame for a loss of anything.” Bekah kisses his forehead and starts to clear the table.

She felt her palms dripping with more and more sweat with each person being escorted to her section. Finally a Toews jersey on a lady that could easily be his mother comes into Bekah’s view followed by several others. Before Bekah can say anything the woman leading the group smiles at her. “You must be Beks.” Her arms come up to hug Bekah.

“Rebekah. Pierce. Yes. Nice to meet you Mrs. Toews.”

“Well...bonus points for the pronunciation.” Jon’s brother, David, laughs out. They made their introductions and sat down for warm ups. Jon skated a few time past them. Andrée turned around talking to Bekah more than paying attention to the ice. Bekah wondered if games ever got old for her. How many games has she gone to in his lifetime?

“I know a little about you. Just not super into hockey. You work in marketing in Columbus. Oh, and you keep my son on his toes. Which is what he needs.” She pats Bekah’s knee as she feels the heat in her face. Jon telling his mom about her added another layer to this whole thing. Thankfully the game started and the attention was drawn away from her and onto him. Bekah was on the edge of her seat. When the horn sounded and the Blackhawks won the stadium exploded. Without even realizing it Andrée had Bekah’s hand dragging her with the rest of the families to the ice.

Bekah leans into Andrée who is beaming since they left their seats. “I don’t belong here.” Bekah admits looking at the families waiting for the team.

“He said you would say that which is why I was told to drag you to the ice with me. He clearly knows you well.” She winked and then there he was. A hot smelly mess with a look on his face that made Bekah forget that she felt out of place. Andrée embraced her son pulling on the beard telling him it looked better every year. The rest of the family gave their hugs of congratulations and the Jon turns to Bekah.

His eyes soften as he pulled her in for a hug. Bekah feels his sweaty lips at her hairline and she laid her head on his chest. “I’m glad you didn’t fight my mom about this.” Bekah looks up and wraps her arms around his neck and he picks her up. “A little more celebrating here then home m’kay?” Jon kisses her temple then skates off to finish the victory celebration and interviews.

Jon busted through his Lincoln Park door with Bekah wrapped around his waist. The high from the Stanley Cup win adding to the need for each other. “Do you wanna head up?” Bekah tried to catch her breath as Jon unlatched her bra from under the jersey.

“Maybe later.” Jon eyes the couch and places Bekah down slowly. She goes take off the jersey and he stops her. “Keep that on. I’ve been dreaming about you in that for days.” Jon licks his lips and sucks his breath in hard.

“Oh. Okay Captain.” Bekah pulls her lip in between her teeth while she pulls off her pants and panties. Jon quickly removes his suit. “If ya want to bend me over the couch I’m already ridiculously wet.” Bekah stands on her tiptoes and presses her lips into Jon’s. The slew of French and English curse words mixed with grunts sent an unknown energy radiating through her body. Jon didn’t answer but spun Bekah around and she bent over the back of the couch. He tapped her inner thigh then moves the tail of her jersey up her back. Bekah looked up at Jon just as he slammed into her rocking both their bodies and the couch forward.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

“I’m not.” Bekah barked out feeling the familiar stretch of Jon’s length against her walls.

“I’m not gonna last long but I’ll make up for it.” Jon states before leaning over and hooking his finger onto Bekah’s clit.

“Jon. Fuck.” Bekah cried out feeling her orgasm flood her body and then his pulsating deep inside her. His tired body pulls hers up to his chest.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Bekah turns around and leans against the couch.

“For the quickie. Not exactly my style. But damnit if you aren’t hot as hell in that sweater.” Jon traces her lips with his finger.

“Well, we have all week, right? I wasn’t expecting a marathon anyway plus watching you holding that cup up in the air was orgasm worthy.”

“Damnit Beks. You do things to me.” He dips down to kiss her lips.

“Now about this beard? Can we?” Bekah uses her fingers to illustrate cutting it off.

“Yes, let’s head upstairs.” Before she can move Jon hoists her over his shoulder and heads to his master bath. He places her gently on the sink’s countertop.

“I have legs damnit and I’m not a trophy.” Jon laughs and kisses her. “Plus how do you still have all that strength?”

“Adrenaline Beks. And you are better than any trophy.” Jon got the razor set, bowl of warm water, and towels out. He reaches for the razor and Bekah’s hand stops him.

“Do you trust me?” She pulls the razor from between his fingers and places it down. He just nods then stands between her legs. Bekah begins with the badger hair brush and cream. Lathering up his already damp beard. Jon’s eyes flash from her to the reflection in the mirror back to her. Using her thumbs she rubs down the bottom of his jawline causing a grunt to rumble deep in his chest. Finally grabbing the razor she whispers...”you trust me right?”

“Yes Beks. With everything.” His admission brought down the first stroke from the razor. She worked methodically down his face and then focused on his jawline making sure not to cut him. Jon groaned with every swipe of her thumb as she checks her work. Finally Bekah reaches for the warm, wet towel and gently wipes off the remaining cream and hair. Jon’s fresh clean face exposed. Bekah leans over to pull the moisturizing cream out from the tub but Jon catches her face and pulls her into his lips.

“That was so fucking sexy.” Jon whispers into her lips.

“Can I finish?” Bekah pulls away and runs the moisturizer down Jon’s face and neck and finally his shoulders. She feels him shutter under her grip. “Now I’m done.” She looked over her work then Jon captures her lips in his again. “I just realized you should be out partying with your teammates.” Bekah pulls away and places her hand on his chest to keep them apart. Jon shrugs. “You should go! The entire city is excited...I’m sure you won’t pay for a single drink Tae.” Jon’s strength over powers her and has Bekah’s body presssd tightly to his chest.

“Nah. I like this celebration better. The partying is more for the young guys and the ones who haven’t won it yet.” Jon’s muscles tighten around Bekah.

“Jon.” She squeaks out his name in protest.

“Beks, I have three cups now, two gold medals, and a world championship. I have partied plenty in my day with the winnings of each of them and I’m only 27. I just want to crawl into bed. Properly give you an orgasm and then do it again in the morning.”

“Damn.” Bekah whispers more for herself in realization that Jon wasn’t just a pro hockey player but would one day be in the hall of fame. Her face caught on fire when she realized that after winning the cup all he wanted to do is celebrate with her.

“You gotta talk to me Bekah.” Jon’s voice finally broke through her thought process. “Babe!” He swipes gently at the strands of hair that have fallen to her face. “Beks, talk to me.” Panic dripping from his voice.

“You called me Bekah.” She finally blurted out.

“And, it IS your name?”

“Yeah but you only ever call me Beks. Even your mother called me it which is conversation in itself later...but I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call me Bekah before.” This makes Jon smile.

“I just gave you the expansive run down of my hockey winnings that had earned me a spot in the Triple Gold Club...and you focus on the nickname I use!” Jon laughs hard and stares deep into Bekah’s eyes.

“Triple Gold Club, what the...what is that?”

“Youngest member too but that’s not what we are talking about.” Jon runs his thumb tightly along Bekah’s jaw line then over her lips she pulls it in and sucks hard. “Fuck Beks... I’m already hard.” She looks down between their bodies to see for herself.

“I just don’t want to be the reason you are not celebrating with your team and fans Tae.” She slides her finger from his collarbone bone down his abs.

“There is exit interviews and a giant ass parade. Plus I prefer my day with the cup over most of the public celebrations.” Bekah hummed taking in this information. “Can we take this to the bed now?” With that Bekah nodded and Jon carried her to his bed.

#What's in a name fic #WIAN #Jonathan Toews fic #tazer me 19 #Jonathan Toews #love a damn blackhawk 🤦🏻‍♀️

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fangmaw · 3 years ago

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misc vampire bf scene #2

"That's it. We're going to the farm."

Hex lifted his head from the arm of the couch to frown at Caleb, currently standing two feet in front of him, arms crossed.

"You heard me. Get your vampire ass off the couch and grab your coat." He jangled his keys and watched Hex bury his face in a throw pillow with a groan.

"Don't wanna."

Caleb softened, but stood his ground. "You've barely moved the past three days. Last time you fed off me, I practically had to drag you away."

Hex tilted his head enough to make eye contact and regarded him for several seconds before he spoke. "I'm sorry, Caleb. I didn't mean to hurt you." His voice wavered slightly as he turned away again.

"No, I didn't mean-" Caleb fumbled as he stepped up to the couch and knelt alongside his boyfriend. He slid an arm over his chest and pressed his own torso to the man's back, enveloping him. "I'm fine. I know you'd never hurt me." He felt Hex murmur in agreement. "I brought it up because it illustrates my point— you're getting hungrier."

Hex sighed and held Caleb's outstretched arm to his chest before leaning down to place a kiss on the back of his hand. "Still don't wanna."

"Well, I can't bring a sheep into the apartment without someone noticing, so it looks like we have a dilemma." At that, Hex made an effort to roll over, and Caleb quickly hopped back to his feet.

"How do you know your aunt won't care?"

Satisfied that he'd won, at least for now, Caleb turned to hunt down a warmer jacket as he replied, "It's a massive farm. Ranch? Not important. What matters is that I know where it is, I have keys to most of the gates and outbuildings, and there's enough livestock that a couple heads can be chalked up to animal attacks without ruining anyone's livelihood."

He disappeared into the bedroom and soon returned, bearing his own fleece-lined windbreaker and a sweater for Hex. As he shrugged into the teal behemoth, he watched Hex rise and stretch his back. His face looked drawn, and the skin above his collar more taut. Before Caleb had a chance to pity him, the ghoul saw that he had returned and grinned, exposing dual rows of jagged teeth. Hex thanked him and tugged the garment on over his head.

The turtleneck hid his collar from view; unfortunate, but Caleb still had the satisfaction of knowing it was there. Since Hex didn't leave the house much, Caleb had chosen something a bit more obvious than he would have otherwise - a lovely strip of black leather, fashioned into a choker as clasped with a petite silver lock. Hex was delighted to receive it —though not surprised, as after Caleb mentioned the idea, he had to measure Hex's neck to get it fitted, and at that point the gig was well and truly up. He wore it with pride nearly every day, and frequently Caleb caught him admiring how it looked in the mirror, or absently reaching up to touch it.

Looking at the collar always stirred that needless protective instinct in his head. Hex was more than capable of destroying any possible bodily threat that came his or Caleb's way, but seeing the clear mark around his neck, bold and unabashed, he felt that responsibility anew. He wanted to care for what was his.

Idly, he wondered if Hex felt something of the same for him. They'd never explicitly talked about it before, but Hex was always so tender with him after a bite, even just a nibble. Caleb was hesitant to broach the subject. He knew Hex struggled with reconciling biological necessity with kink, but it probably wouldn't hurt to ask. Eventually. Right now, they had other priorities, and they'd all be happier and more relaxed if Hex was fed properly first.

Hex was still a bit tense in the car. The Minnesota back roads were treacherous this time of year, and it was pitch dark beyond the headlights, so Caleb was focused mostly on the asphalt ahead of them. Even so, the restlessness of his passenger was hard to miss.

Out of the corner of his eye, Caleb caught him chewing at one of his claws and swatted in roughly the right direction.

"Quit that."

"You're not my mom," mumbled Hex. He did stop gnawing at the nail, though.

"No, I'm your chauffeur."

"Should've found a different driver. I always forget how small your car is." Though he couldn't see Hex's expression, Caleb could hear the smile on his voice.

Caleb chuckled a bit, and the pair fell into a silence. Caleb took it upon himself to slay the elephant in the room.

"Are you nervous because it's live animals?"

Hex didn't reply for a moment, so Caleb chanced a glance at his face. He was looking down at his hands, toying with a loose stitch at the hem of his sweater.

"I guess."

Caleb kept watching the road. They were less than twenty minutes out at this point, plus some time to find a good parking spot. He heard Hex sigh.

"It's been a really long time since I was feeding off animals regularly. I'm not sure- what if- it was different before. I was different." Hex breathed heavily. "Does that make any sense?"

With a nod, Caleb replied, "I think so. What if you think of it this way: you're always on my ass about eating something and drinking plenty of water after you have a treat; this can just be me getting payback. You don't even have a choice. I want you strong and healthy, so you'd better do as I say, or else." With a smirk, he flicked his eyes back to his partner, who was considerably more relaxed and currently mid-eyeroll.

"I hate how much that works on me."

"My psychic powers are unparalleled. And we're getting close. You had better start planning out your menu."

Turns out, cows have a lot of blood. Like, well over a gallon. Not that Hex seemed to mind.

The ghoul had whined about the cold the entire time they spent sneaking around the pasture, but now he was on his knees in the muddy snow, hunched over a limp heifer that quit kicking a good five minutes ago.

Caleb was nervously checking his phone, both for time and in case he got some last minute text from his aunt that she was coming back tonight. They were beyond the reach of the sparse lightposts framing the pasture, so even if there was someone nearby, they were as good as invisible. By the light of his phone's lock screen, Caleb could get a better view of Hex.

It was fascinating to watch. His face was magnetically pressed to the soft skin under the animal's jaw, while his hands roamed aimlessly about the body. Occasionally he would take a deep pull, struggling against the dying heart, and dig his claws into the nearby flesh, reflexively. Caleb bent lower, close enough he could see Hex's jaw work as he adjusted his grip, nosing along the stretch of muscle and making a fresh wound.

Though Caleb was tempted to place a hand on his back, he thought better of it and maintained his distance. He knew enough about animal behavior not to disrupt a predator while it was feeding. Even domestic dogs bite when they're approached incorrectly.

Caleb settled for taking a squat on the opposite side of the cow, a good few feet away, but close enough that his pathetic light permitted him vision. For a handful of further minutes, the only sounds were muffled breaths against wet fur and the crunch of Caleb's boots as he shifted his weight.

It took him a second to realize Hex had gone still.

"Hey." He would never use the word "feral" to describe Hex to his face. It was good that he was able to relax so much, especially with Caleb around, but it was always wise to test the waters after something intense like this.

"Mmph." Hex's face still hung limp off his shoulders, pressed to the animal's neck.

Caleb smirked. "You good?" Dork.

"Mm. Good cow."

With a short laugh Caleb got up. "I'm coming over, okay?" He could just discern the outline of Hex nodding against his expired dinner. Caleb surprised himself by throwing caution to the wind and kneeling in the slush. He lit up his screen and balanced the device on the massive shoulder to his left. The greenish glow let him locate Hex's hand and cover it with his mittened own. "Well, I'm glad you liked it. I'm impressed by your capacity."

Hex finally sat up, just enough to brace his forearms on the beast's back and allow Caleb a full view of the gorey mess. The animal's neck looked as though it had been run through with a garden rake, the flesh thoroughly tilled by Hex's greedy mouth. The ghoul in question tugged his hand out from under Caleb's to swipe his fingers across the dark blood cooling on his face. He laved his tongue over the digits before he looked to Caleb, grinning.

"I live to please." His suave demeanor buckled when his gut audibly complained about the rapid influx of fluid it was dealing with.

"I suppose I've never seen you really pack it away before." Caleb’s eyes widened as he watched Hex delicately push himself the rest of the way up off the animal and sit—or rather, try. The waistband of his jeans was giving him some trouble. Caleb watched him swiftly unbutton and unzip the garment with his slobbery fingers and bite back a sigh.

"Holy shit," Caleb gawked.

Hex narrowed his eyes, but he looked far too satisfied to actually emote irritation. "I'd like to see you drink a fucking cow and not bloat up a little bit." He tugged self-consciously at his sweater, now clinging tight to his midsection. He muffled a hic behind his sleeve. "Ugh."

"Swallow some air?"

"I will bite you."

"You can't possibly still be hungry."

As though it had gained sentience, Hex's stomach growled angrily.

"No way."

Hex stuck out his bloody tongue. He was always far more playful after he fed, even if he had glutted himself beyond all human decency.

"It's a freak biology thing. Eating makes me hungry. It's like snakes and stuff." Hex leaned back on his hands, far too proud of himself.

Caleb frowned slightly as he thought. "Do we need to get you another cow? Because I'm not sure I can swing that, and definitely not again next week."

"It wouldn't be much of an animal attack if they just found this lady dead and bloodless.” Hex gave the cow’s head an affectionate pat. “A good carnivore would take advantage of all that precious organ meat before abandoning its catch."

"I'd argue I caught this one," Caleb huffed.

"We can both take credit. You can barely see out here." Hex fell out of the banter to eye the soon-to-be carcass.

"You're drooling, dumbass."

"Sorry," Hex mumbled.

"Don't be. I'm happy for you. But, uh, I'm not sure I want to watch, if that's okay." Hex tried to hide his dejected expression under a guise of wiping saliva and cow off his face. Caleb's heart sank. "If I go now, I can have the car all warmed up by the time you're finished, so it'll be nice and cozy when you immediately fall asleep."

This seemed to reassure Hex, as the dopey grin was back. He stifled another soft burp. "Uh, will you be okay to get back by yourself?"

Caleb picked up his phone from its bovine perch and waggled it. "Flashlight." Hex nodded, but looked dubious. "I'll be fine. Promise." Caleb got up and did his best to brush the unmelted snow off his now slush-soaked pants.

Hex nodded and waited until Caleb was within the range of the lamps before tearing open the heifer's belly and burying his head in its chest cavity.

#original fiction #fangmaw's vampire tag

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tricktster · 5 years ago

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Honestly, I cannot say enough about my german study abroad program, in no small part because the people i met through it were the wildest bunch i have ever met. We had:

Me, a cursed American stumbling through increasingly unlikely and unfortunate situations, including:

getting arrested and hauled off in a cop car for the serious crime of not transcribing the five digit number printed on the back of my bus ticket onto the front of my bus ticket

slipping on dog poop on a crowded street while running late for class (leading a number of tourists to run over and photograph me in my undignified heap on the cobblestones) only to suffer one final indignity when i had to leave my poop shoe out in the hall outside the classroom, and subsequently discovered after class that it had been (correctly) identified as garbage by the custodian, and had been disposed of

spending the entire month of November with essentially no money after a bank error caused me to be cut off from my US checking account, thereby forcing me to figure out how to survive by my wits alone in a series of schemes, cons, and 1€ sausages

burning my thumb so badly on an oven in an attempt to make the world’s worst stuffing for the world’s saddest expat thanksgiving that my friends all had an intervention where they gave me a single black glove to wear because it was grossing them all out.

Enough about me. There were also my closest friends:

L , a horrendously wealthy New Englander who would drop lines in her stories like “so we were all smoking opium in my parents library,” and, “so every time my room gets too dirty, i just move to the next one down until the whole wing is filthy.” In spite of everything I’ve just said, she was also a genuinely good and incredibly fearless person who would throw fists without hesitation if she thought anyone was insulting her friends. She had a weird sexual relationship with her obscenely wealthy family friend in Frankfurt, which the rest of us suspected maybe been part of a business deal that their parents arranged at birth. It was better than Game of Thrones, honestly.

Y, a four foot tall Puerto Rican that I met when we were both walking down the street kind of near each other and some wild impulse called me to say to her, without so much as an introduction, “Yeah, you walk pretty cool, but if you wanna walk REAL cool, you gotta do it like thissssss,” while kinda lunging around. Just as inexplicably, she chose to continue talking to me, and several months later the two of us ended up making a harrowing 2:00 am escape from the private bar of a frat house that we had suddenly noticed had an awful lot of Nazi memorabilia on the walls for a frat located in a country that had criminalized the display of Nazi symbols. “Why are you leaving?” The frat-nazis complained as we bolted. “You will come back tomorrow afternoon for the barbecue, ja?” “Ahahhahaha nein fucking way, motherfucker,” Y muttered under her breath as we smiled and nodded politely all the way out the private garden, through the enormous iron gates, and out into the night. Once we were in the clear, we stared at each other, shaken, until Y broke the silence. “Welp. Those guys were Nazis. That actually just happened. I can’t.... man, I dunno, i’m still processing, let’s just go get some fucking falafel.”

We did.

S, the Australian, who one time invited me over to her apartment, opened the fridge, grabbed a plate of cheese, shoved it under my nose while going “HERE SMELL THIS!” and while i lurched away, gagging, cheerfully added “IT’S REALLY FOUL, RIGHT? ONE OF THE WOST THINGS I’VE EVER SMELLED!!” She was also absolutely obsessed with High School Musical, and was very disappointed every time the Americans shattered one of her illusions about the US public school system.

K, the girl from New Zealand, who had broken up with her serious boyfriend shortly before leaving for Germany, causing her to mourn his loss every time she got drunk by describing his penis with increasingly strange metaphors, such as “like a big wax candle but part of it’s gone,” and “like one leg off a spider.”

So, i had a pretty solid crew of five big weirdos. But there were, naturally, more people than the five of us in our program. For example:

R, from Minnesota, who dressed like she was about 72 and glared at anyone who was laughing too loudly near her because “i just don’t think jokes are funny.” More importantly, she would post facebook videos of herself reciting, entirely sincerely and in a steady monotone, the worst fucking poems that I have ever heard. She posted them under a pen name that was along the same lines as “the lyrical falcon.” She was in a feud with not one but two poetry clubs at her christian college, and while she never admitted this, all evidence suggested that it was because they both kicked her out. She was the Tommy Wisseau of poems. They were so bad they looped back around to good. Also, one time on the train she told me that she liked to think that she was a very good kisser because she played the french horn so she had strong mouth muscles. when i finally recovered from the mortal blow that she just delivered my soul, I asked her if she blew into people when she kissed them, and she got so insulted that she blocked me from her facebook poetry page. let me back in, R. please, if you’re reading this, let me back in.

They’re good poems, R.

Zoolander, from Pennsylvania, who was so, so handsome, but so, so, so dumb. One time he told me about this dream he had, and it was just an entire episode of Dexter’s lab. No changes or anything, he just... dreamed that he was watching that episode, and then the whole thing played in his head until it was done. He said it was the best dream he’d ever had. I once watched him pick up the same coin off the street four times because he couldn’t figure out that his pocket had a hole in it. When he noticed me, he said excitedly “Somebody left money everywhere!”

Juan, who constantly confused all the kids from Spain who went up to talk to him in their native tongue, only to discover that he was a very sarcastic man from Liverpool who didn’t speak a word of Spanish and was sick of everyone trying to bond with him. He only liked the Americans, because that’s where the tv show Family Guy was from, and only the Americans liked him, because we tend to like surly british assholes for basically no reason. At the end of the program while we were all saying our goodbyes, he came up to me, looking really upset. “I can’t believe it,” He said, uncharacteristically serious. “I can’t believe it’s all over and i’ll never...” He looked like he was about to cry.

“Oh, dude, we can keep in touch on facebook or something?” I fumbled. He blinked.

“What? No, no, ugh, it’s just the last day of the program and I’ve LOST MY FOOKIN SCARF!” he roared.

God, I know this is weird, but I still really miss that guy.

The Croatian: There was a dude from Croatia in my apartment building who outright refused to tell me his name, because, “It’s an embarrassing word in English. You’d laugh.” I badgered him for five months, until finally, his defenses down, after many earnest promises that no matter what his name was, I would not laugh, he relented.

“My name is Tin.” He said sheepishly.

His name was fucking Tin.

Beardy, Beardo, Redbeard, and Weirdbeard: four drastically different young men from all across our beautiful planet who had one thing in common: thinking that they’d try out a beard while they were abroad. We always admired them from a distance, and compared their beards’ various unique and bad properties, until one day Beardy (who was australian and had developed a sort of flesh colored goatee) walked up to S, his countryman, in a club. “DO YOU WANT TO DANCE?” he yelled, trying to get her attention, but she was in a dance-off with K, and didn’t notice, so he tapped her shoulder. She whirled around, startled, and upon recognizing him, said without thinking, “OH, HI BEARDY!”

The song faded out.

Beardy stared at S.

“...Did you just call me ‘Beardy?’” he asked quietly. S looked like a deer in the headlights. She glanced towards me, hoping for an out, but I, dear reader, was laughing too hard to be of any use.

“You did,” he went on, “you called me ‘Beardy!’ Why!?”

“Cuz of your beard, probably. That’s a better name for you than Josh.” Zoolander interjected from out of nowhere, strolling out of the club, a beautiful woman on each arm.

“My name isn’t Josh...” Beardy tried to call after him.

“Who’s name isn’t Josh? Oh! Beardy!” A drunk K could be heard deducing from the back of the room.

He shaved it a week later, but the damage was done. He was Beardy for the rest of the semester.

When I look back on that period of my life now, I can’t help but reflect - with the clarity one only gets from experience - that my time in Germany was not as weird as I thought it was at the time. I lacked the perspective to see that it was all, actually, absolutely bonkers batshit nuts. It was some sitcom shit.

All in all, I highly recommend it.

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saharamae21 · 4 years ago

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All of My Wrongs - Chapter Two

Pairing: Topper x OC and Rafe x OC

Summary: As Rory adjust to her new home, she spends her time trying to reinvent herself. She tries to fit herself into a certain image, just like she’s done in every other place she’s ever been. After accidently offending Topper, she wonders if she will ever truly get along with the others around her, but it actually ends up bringing them closer.

Thanks @anonymous0writer for helping me plan and hyping me up! Love you Mags

Word Count: 2.4K

A/N: Sorry if these first chapters come off as boring. Its going to be a slow moving fic in order for me to really build connections with the characters. I really like it though and I hope you do too… Let me know what you think! I really want some feedback on this…

Also I’m only 6 followers away from 300..... Ahhhhh

Get Added to this Series Tag List

____________________________________________

I walked through the house and tried to get used to all of the marble. It was everywhere. I tried not to wrinkle my nose at the decorations, but I was used to wood and low ceilings. This house was nothing like any place we’ve ever had before. It looked as if we told Skip that he got to pick the next house we lived in. I ascended up the curved staircase and ran my fingers across the white walls. This wasn’t who we were.

I opened the door to my room and was greeted by a queen sized bed. A vanity set stood in the corner and the closet was bigger than some of the rooms I had previously occupied. The room was painted this nice off white and my stuff sat sadly in two boxes. There was no way that I had enough stuff to fill this room. I opened the top box and pulled out some picture frames. They were mostly of my family with a few others mixed in, but I had never really had many friends. After the first few moves I stopped trying to make them, so I wouldn’t miss them when I left. I placed them on the vanity before looking at myself in the mirror.

Staring back at me was a girl who looked scared. It was a reflection of the inner me. On the outside, I was this carefree and fun loving girl who just wanted to have a good time, but when I looked at myself in the mirror, I couldn’t understand how everyone saw that. The girl in front of me was terrified. She shook when people stared at her. She was constantly haunted by a ghost from my past. The ghost stood behind me, looming over my shoulder. I closed my eyes and when I looked back up, they were gone. I just wished that the sad girl staring back at me was gone as well.

“What do you think?” I heard my mom ask. I turned to see her at the threshold. I told her the house was gorgeous. “But does it feel like home?”

“Yeah,” I said, lying to her. I didn’t want to make her feel bad and more importantly, I wanted to stay here. I didn’t want to move again. She smiled at me and asked about my friends. She asked where I stayed last night. “Oh, I met the neighbor boy and his girlfriend. I stayed at her house since Skip locked me out.”

I loved my mom. She was always so bright, like a ray of sunshine. The only weakness she had was her emotions. She had very little control on them and it got even worse after Skip was born. We all got through it though. I sat on my bed and looked at her as she continued to make small talk. I felt bad that I wasn’t as close to her as I used to be. I heard the kitchen timer go off and she told me that she was making cookies for the neighbors. I chuckled thinking about how we always did this. I wondered if Topper’s family would even eat the cookies. She ran downstairs to pull them out of the oven. I laid back in my bed and started up at the ceiling. I wondered how mad my parents would be if I painted it. I promised myself that when we moved into a house for good I would paint the ceiling like the night sky. I always wanted to fall asleep under the stars every night.

“Rory, can you run these to the neighbors while they’re still warm?” I heard my mom shout from downstairs. I sighed and got up, making my way down the steps. I grabbed the plate of cookies and walked out the front door. As soon as I was out, I could hear yells echoing through the air. They were coming from the backyard of Topper’s house. I could hear his mom shouting at him and he was yelling back. I walked into my own backyard and his mom stopped yelling when she saw me.

“Hi,” I said, smiling at her. Somehow, she looked even more uptight than her son. “I’m Aurora Lansing. My family just moved in. My mom asked me to give you these.” I held the plate out for her and she smiled. She took them from me and told me to send gratitude to my mother. Everyone here was way too formal. I glanced over Topper who looked distressed. His mom apologized for the noise and excused herself to bring the cookies into the house.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly. His face was tense, but his eyes were emotionless. I couldn’t tell if he heard me or not, so I took a few steps forward and placed my hand on his arm. He flung my arm off angrily and I stumbled back, missing my footing and falling onto my butt. His eyes expression softened immediately.

“Shit…” he mumbled. “I’m sorry Aurora.”

He helped me up and I brushed myself off. At this point, I really didn’t want to talk to him anymore, but the look in his eyes said he needed something. I asked once again if he was okay. He shook his head. I already knew that though. His emotions read on his face like a book. I hoped that he knew how much trouble that could get him in.

“Wanna get out of here?” I asked. For the first time today, he smiled, even if it was only a little one. He walked to the front of the house with me following a few steps behind. He opened up the door to his huge jeep and I crawled in. He closed it behind me and got behind the wheel. “So are you gonna tell me what’s bothering you?”

“No matter what I do, it's not enough in my mom’s eyes,” he said. I stared at his side profile and he truly looked defeated. I listened to him explain that someone sank their boat and his mom won’t listen to him. He knew that it wasn’t his fault. I sighed as I got a better read on him. He had to live to a certain standard that he might never accomplish. His parents expected nothing less than perfection from him.

“I see why you’re so uptight all the time, Bottom,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. He was less than thrilled.

“Is everything a joke to you?” he asked. I felt my chest tighten. “God, why am I even telling you this?”

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “You know that you don’t have to be perfect though right? Who cares if you don’t fit their standards. I don’t really know you-”

“You’re right. You don’t know me. You don’t get it because you’ve never had to be anything, but your annoying, carefree self,” he muttered angrily at me.

I closed my mouth, not continuing my sentence. However, the thought wouldn’t leave my head. I don’t really know you, but you can’t keep taking pieces of yourself off and reassembling them into something else. You’re going to lose sight of yourself and then what are you left with when you have no pieces left to shape? It’s exhausting and you shouldn’t do that to yourself.

I sat in silence as we turned around to go home. I wanted to keep talking to him, but I clearly wasn’t helping. I stared out the window and stared at the ocean. I felt him look over at me, but I didn’t avert my gaze. We pulled into his driveway and I got out quickly. I began walking back to my house, saying goodbye in the process.

“Aurora-” he said my name and I turned to look at him. I could tell apologizing wasn’t something he did often. He opened his mouth to say it, but nothing came out.

“It’s fine,” I said, before turning around and walking back up to my house.

I walked back up to my room and laid down on my bed. I stared up at the ceiling and thought about if I would truly like it here. I shut my eyes and imagined all the Aurora’s before this one. I remembered when we lived in Washington. That Aurora was cool and couldn’t be bothered. She was the stoic, moody, wallflower type. Then there was Minnesota Aurora. She was adventurous and rebellious. I wondered who Outer Banks Aurora would be. Maybe she could be preppy and snarky like Rafe would probably enjoy. Maybe she could be quite and reserved like Topper would probably enjoy. She could be anything I wanted, except for who I actually was. The real me was annoying and hard to tolerate. She was emotional and sensitive. She was vulnerable.

When I opened my eyes back up, the sun was setting. I sat up and placed a smile upon my face. I looked so natural for how forced it was. I pushed myself up from the bed and opened my bedroom door. The house looked even more ridiculous now that the midday light was gone. The fancy chandelier twinkled brighter than the stars and the stainless steel appliances were shinier than anything I have ever owned in my life. I walked into the kitchen and saw my dad working on some paperwork.

“Hey,” I said, opening the fridge in order to grab myself something to drink. He asked me why I had locked myself up in my room all day. I shrugged in response. This wasn’t unusual behavior for me so he didn’t worry too much. He called it my post-move blues. For him, this was an adjustment period and he didn’t ask too many questions. If only he knew that this was a rebranding period. Everything that I was going to tell Topper not to do, I did every few months. I was such a hypocrite.

My head shot towards the door as a knock echoed through our nearly empty house. My dad and I exchanged a weird look and I told him I would get it. When I opened up the door, Topper stood there awkwardly. He was rubbing his neck with one hand and holding our plate in the other. I felt my shoulders sink a bit when I saw him.

“Hey, I brought your plate back,” he said. “The cookies were really good.”

I took the plate from him and told him that I was glad they enjoyed them. I could tell that he still felt bad about earlier and I wondered if he had even volunteered to bring the dish back. I gave a small smile and thanked him for bringing it back. I grabbed the door handle, not expecting the conversation to continue.

“Wait!” he said, placing a hand on the door. “Can we talk?”

I opened my mouth, but couldn’t find the right words. I nodded and told him to wait there. I ran the plate to the sink and told my dad I would be out for a little bit. I told him not to lock the doors and walked back to the front.

We walked in silence from my front door to his dock. I sat down on the wood panels and dipped my feet in the water. The golden light shined down across the water, but even that beauty wasn’t enough to eliminate the awkward tension that filled the space between us. I pursed my lips together and wondered if he would ever start talking.

“I’m sorry,” he said. I turned my head to look at him and smiled. I told him that it was fine. He wasn’t buying it though. I wondered if every little thing was this big of a deal to him? Did he dwell on every conversation for hours? “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. You were just trying to help.” “It’s fine,” I said with a small laugh to let him know that I meant it. I told him that he worried too much and that I wasn’t upset. “You shouldn’t do that to yourself though.”

“Do what?” he asked. His eyes stared at me, clearly engaged in the conversation.

“Expect perfection,” I said with a sigh. “It can be really draining. You’ll run yourself ragged if you continue to shape yourself into a certain image.”

He stared at me as I tried to shake the sad expression from my face. A faint smile painted itself across my face almost in a sarcastic manner. It looked fake unlike any other one he had seen on me. He just nodded and stared back out over the water. He stared at how the water rippled ever so slightly and we sat there, just enjoying another person’s company.

“Hey Aurora?” he asked. I turned to look at him as he spoke. “What do you want to do after this? After high school?”

The truth was far from what I told him. The truth was that I wanted to go to college and make a home for myself. I wanted friends and a family. Most importantly, I wanted to stay in one spot. Surely I would travel, but at the end of the day, I would go back to my home with my family and be happy. I would forget about saving the world and everyone else. I would work on saving me.

“I’ll probably go to college and major in Environmental Sustainability or Journalism. Then, join the peace coup like my parents,” I said. “You know, save the world and stuff. How about you?”

“I’ll go to college in Chapel Hill, just like my mom,” he muttered. “I’ll get a solid job and move back to the Figure Eight.”

“I thought we were talking about dreams, not reality,” I said with a cheeky smile. He smiled back at me before he said something that blew my mind.

“Yeah, but it’s a two way street, Rory,” he said. His smile turned into a smirk as he called me by a nickname for the first time ever. “You don’t get to know mine, if I don’t get to know yours.”

He stood up, holding out his hand to help me up as well. I took it and he gently yanked me to my feet. My smile was uncontrollable and real for the first time in years as I stared at the first person to ever see though my mask. He paid attention in the same way I did. Maybe that’s why he over analyzes everything. The sun was almost completely set at this point. I remember that I had early morning plans with Rafe tomorrow and decided that it was late enough.

“I should head in. Don’t want to get locked out again,” I said with a chuckle, forcing myself to leave despite how intrigued I was. “Night Bottom.”

“Night Rory.”

___________________________________________

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gayenerd · 4 years ago

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This is another article I found during the internet k-hole I went into while looking for information about Adrienne’s ex-fiance, saved in a document, and now can’t find online anymore. I think it was originally featured in the Mankato Free Press, but the author apparently had a blog detailing her 2009 efforts to get in contact with Adrienne and campaign for Green Day to play in Mankato again. There’s some more interesting tidbits about the Mankato punk scene and an interview with Adrienne there.

Campaign Green Day: Reflection

By Amanda Dyslin

Free Press Features Editor

June 10, 2009 11:29 pm

— It was dark in the middle of the southern Minnesota countryside, somewhere by St. Peter in the summer of 1992.

On a farm with a barn and not much else, there was one light pole casting a shallow glow on three guys standing atop 6-foot wide, 5-foot tall wire spools — a makeshift stage to gain high ground over 200 or so people watching. Next to them was a big, old, beat-up beast of a car pulled up by the owner so 15 or so people could stand on top and gain a better view. One of them had a video camera.

Ben Gruber, then a sophomore at Loyola High School, was there. In fact, he and a buddy had helped haul equipment for the band, and even gave the drummer, Tre Cool, a ride before the show in Mankato. The music was good, he said. A lot more polished than other punk bands he’d seen in Mankato.

He was aware of the five-year-old band, born in Berkeley, Calif., he said. They’d put out a couple of smaller recordings, including their full-length debut “39/Smooth” on Lookout! Records. But they were two years from their breakthrough record, “Dookie,” which would have pretty much everyone at the show that night in awe of what they had experienced — maybe one of the last stripped down, small-scale punk shows Green Day would ever perform.

Mankato punk

The Libido Boyz are often considered the anchor of the Mankato punk scene in the late 1980s/early 1990s. It was a time when the city was rich with garage and basement punk bands, drummer Chad Sabin said before a reunion show in 2007. PSD and Plain Truth were a couple of other bands that got a lot of attention at the time.

Marti’s All Ages Music, located where the Vietnamese restaurant Tonn is now on Front Street, was an open building with a bathroom and a couple of booths where kids could put on shows. A couple of bands went on to the big time after playing there. The Offspring was one of them.

Many claimed having heard of friends who had seen Green Day play at Marti’s. According to a former talent booker, the closest Green Day ever came to playing the venue was when frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and his girlfriend, Adrienne Nesser, walked in and left right after The Offspring’s set in 1994. Marti’s tried to get Green Day to play the venue numerous times, but it was way too small for even the moderate level of fame they’d already gained pre-“Dookie.” Marti’s had the same trouble with the punk band Fugazi.

“It was pretty much no frills,” Gruber said. “There wasn’t much to do there.”

The bulk of the punk scene was made up of high school and college-age punk-rockers who would play anywhere, Sabin said. Like a lot of kids at the time, the Libido Boyz just wanted to play loud, chaotic music, which also is what people seemed to want to hear. Kids would cram into basements for concerts or listen outside garages.

“On any given week or weekend, there would be a show with anywhere from two to 10 bands playing,” Gruber said. “There was a really good crop of musician-age kids who were into (punk) for a while (before) grunge became very popular.”

During the next few years, the Libido Boyz got big. They played in the Cities and toured the state and eventually started playing shows across the country, including New York and San Francisco. Out West is where they met Green Day, who would become the biggest punk band to come through Mankato.

“They were just dirty punks like us,” Sabin said.

Former Libido Boyz bassist Dave Begalka said they played punk shows with Green Day from time to time while on tour. Mike Dirnt, Green Day bassist, actually did Begalka a big favor once when they played a show in Cleveland together.

Some of Begalka’s bass gear went missing, and a couple of months later he saw Dirnt when they both were playing shows in the California Bay Area. Turns out, the bass gear was mixed up with Dirnt’s equipment that night, and he’d been keeping it safe for him the whole time.

“I thought that was just downright a swell thing to do,” Begalka said. “As I recall, I think we couch surfed at Billy Joe’s that night. ... By the way, I still use the lost guitar strap that went around the U.S. with Green Day.”

The Libido Boyz and Green Day crossed paths in another way as well, through Adrienne, who was a student at Minnesota State University and living in Mankato.

The first lady

Adrienne (Nesser) Armstrong, now 39, was born in Minneapolis and started at MSU in the late 1980s, graduating with the class of 1994 with a degree in sociology.

She met Billie Joe on Green Day’s first tour in 1990. Some report it was a show at First Ave in Minneapolis, and she is quoted at greenday.net as saying only about 10 people were there. She asked Billie Joe where she could get a copy of the band’s CD, and the two hit it off.

While on tour, Billie Joe kept in contact with Adrienne by phone. Their first kiss inspired an early Green Day song, “2,000 Light Years Away.” Their relationship caused Billie Joe to arrange two tours around Minnesota so they could see each other, a relationship which lasted about a year and a half.

Although it’s unclear, witnesses who saw Billie Joe and Adrienne around Mankato during that time say the reason Green Day played shows in the area at all was simply because she was here. The shows weren’t a part of any tour, but rather impromptu ways to pass to the time.

The relationship fizzled after they decided the distance was too much of a strain. Adrienne got engaged to Billy Bisson, the frontman of Libido Boyz, the following year. Reports differ from either side, with some saying the relationship dissolved on its own. Bisson has been quoted as saying Billie Joe stole her away.

While in Mankato, Adrienne worked at various places, including the Piercing Pagoda in the River Hills Mall and Pagliai’s Pizza, and is described by those who knew her as a beautiful punk rock girl who everybody had a crush on.

Cheryl Rueda, manager of Pagliai’s, worked with Adrienne and three of the Libido Boyz at the restaurant when Adrienne was dating Bisson. Adrienne also babysat for Cheryl’s kids.

“She was a beautiful girl,” Rueda said. “I think the world of her. She was just a regular person.”

Thursday nights Adrienne babysat for Cheryl’s two kids, Andre and Marisa, who were about 3 and 6 at the time. She would often have a craft project or activity to do to keep them entertained. She even took them out trick-or-treating during a blizzard one year.

“She was their favorite babysitter,” she said.

Carrie Zempel Heise worked with her at a bar called The Jungle, now Dutler’s Bowl.

“I ran into her after the bar had closed down (she was working at Pier 1 Imports), and she told me she was moving out West soon,” Zempel said. “Months later, word got back that she had married Billie Joe, and then the next thing I saw was an interview with him in Rolling Stone magazine talking about his pregnant wife!”

When Adrienne finished school, Billie Joe convinced her to move to California and marry him. Rueda said it happened so fast it seemed she was gone over night. Before she left, she and friends had a big garage sale, said Amy Lennartson of Eagle Lake. She and Lennartson originally had plans to move to San Francisco together and open a business.

“She headed West that May, and I stayed over the summer to finish up my time at MSU,” Lennartson said. “Then, in true rock star fashion, I returned home from a Fourth of July vacation to a wedding invitation from Adrienne — to a wedding that had already happened.”

The wedding took two weeks to plan and happened in five minutes July 2, 1994, in Billie Joe’s backyard, according to the VH1 “Behind the Music” documentary. “We didn’t think about it, we just did it,” Adrienne said.

Protestant, Catholic and Jewish vows were exchanged because neither had a religion. The honeymoon took place 10 minutes from Billie Joe’s house at the Claremont Hotel. The day after the wedding, Adrienne found out she was pregnant.

The couple has two sons, Joseph Marciano, 14, and Jakob Danger, 10.

Adrienne now co-owns Adeline Records in Oakland, Calif., and Adeline Street clothing line. She works with the Natural Resources Defense Council, and co-owns Atomic Garden, an eco-friendly clothing and home goods store.

There is at least one friend in Mankato Adrienne is reported to keep in contact with. But said friend — whose basement Green Day was reported to have played in and who reportedly visited the Armstrongs in California — wasn’t eager to talk about it.

Rueda kept in contact with Adrienne for a while. Adrienne would send the Rueda kids Green Day T-shirts and things. She also sent a family photo to the Ruedas years ago. When Adrienne’s first son was 1 1/2, she came back to Mankato to visit and Rueda saw them. She was the same person she had always been, Rueda said.

A few years ago, Adrienne asked a friend in Mankato to go to the Ruedas’ house and videotape the kids so she could see how much they had grown up. Otherwise, the Ruedas haven’t heard from her since.

Big time

The night Green Day played St. Peter, the original plan was for them to play at someone’s house behind where Casey’s is now on Lee Boulevard in North Mankato.

Two local bands went on first. But the cops came and broke it up because of the noise. Gruber and his buddy offered to drive equipment and Tre Cool to a house on Fifth Street in Mankato, where somebody had offered up their basement. But the band took one look and said it was way too small.

That’s when a girl whose family lived off Hwy. 99 near St. Peter offered her place.

“This whole caravan of cars ended up driving out to her place,” Gruber said.

It was too hot to play in the barn. Gruber suggested the guys make a mini stage out of the wire spools, which they thought was pretty punk rock, even commenting on that stage and show later on a bootleg recording, he said.

Gruber said he later recognized songs such as “Welcome to Paradise” off of “Dookie” that they played that night — the night most people look to as the epitome of nostalgia when it comes to Green Day’s presence in Mankato. People still go to YouTube to check out the nine or so minutes of footage from that concert, despite being out of focus, jittery and too dark to see much.

“Took me back,” Gruber said of watching the footage. “That guy filming, he was probably standing right next to me and my friends.”

A couple of hundred people have similar memories from that night, having accidentally stumbled upon a concert that would become local legend. None of them could possibly have imagined what Green Day would become.

“Dookie,” released in 1994 — which followed 1992’s “Kerplunk,” having sold 50,000 copies — sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. That album, along with those of The Offspring and Rancid, is credited for reviving mainstream interest in punk music, and it won Best Alternative Album at the Grammy Awards.

Future albums, “Insomniac” and “Nimrod,” went double platinum, and “Warning” went gold. None of them reached the level of success of “Dookie.”

But 2004’s punk rock opera “American Idiot” changed everything. Debuting at No. 1 and selling five million copies, critics absolutely drooled over it. “American Idiot” won Best Rock Album at the 2005 Grammys and swept the MTV Video Music Awards.

“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” spent 16 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and won the Grammy for Record of the Year. During the band’s 150-date tour in support of the album, they drew crowds of 130,000 people over two days in the United Kingdom.

The band’s new album, “21st Century Breakdown,” was released worldwide May 15 and received rave reviews. Last week the band played “The Tonight Show” with Conan O’Brien.

Their world tour kicks off in July, with the Minneapolis show at the Target Center July 11.

#daslfhasdlfkha imagine staying on the couch of a guy who wrote a sappy love song about your gf/fiancee #articles #Green Day #article #interview #babe-drienne #billie joe armstrong

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parvuls · 5 years ago

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19/54 :)

19 - summer camp / 54 - secret relationship

now. the first thing that came to mind is camp sweetgum. so i’m gonna leave this here in case it strikes your fancy and also because it’s great.

but i’m a sucker for extensive worldbuilding, so let’s settle in for the long haul, kay? this is 1.7k of plot outlining. you can see why it takes me four months to write fics.

eric bittle. age 15. moved to madison for high school, quit figure skating, joined a no contact hockey team. coach is happier but not happy, so he suggests an idea: hockey summer camp. yes contact. it’s in minnesota (coach’s not thrilled about the yankees, but there are no hockey camps anywhere south; he checked), and it’ll give junior an opportunity to meet some kids with similar interests. athletic interests, that is. and there’s still a lake and extracurricular activities, “so it’s just like the camp up by lake oconee, y’know? where the kids braid friendship bracelets and whatnot. except with sports.”

eric is... less enthused. but it’s not actually a suggestion so much as a decision and coach just moved across the state for him because he managed to get himself stuck in a closet overnight (eric’s mindset, at this age, is perhaps not the most healthy), so he says yes.

jack zimmermann. age 20. assistant coached a peewee team for the year and is not ready to spend a third summer in his parents’ house in montréal when all his former teammates from the q are returning home during off-season. his boss tells him about this summer camp in minnesota that’s looking for experienced counselors -- “it’s not a prospect camp, mostly for fun, so the boys there aren’t headed for the league. you should go. talk to some kids above the age of ten.”

jack’s pretty okay with never talking to anyone over ten again, but he’s got no other options and bob starts mentioning going to bonding fishing trips just the two of them, so he send an application.

um. he’s jack zimmermann. he was supposed to go first in the draft. the guy in charge of hiring for the summer probably rubbed his eyes in shock when he saw the email and headed straight to bed because he thought he was delusional from lack of sleep. jack gets the job.

so, like. listen. samwell men’s hockey team? they’re not your usual hockey playing dude bros. eric gets to camp that july and he’s still all long dancer’s muscles from regionals and even lighter weight from usual because he was on a strict diet and he’s got a southern accent and narrow shoulders and he doesn’t like when you slap him on the back. he’s not a hit with the local boys. but you know who does like him immediately? adam birkholtz, who’s off the ushl for the summer and wanted to play some fun hockey and get paid doing it. is it legal? who fucking cares, man.

does eric like adam? uhh. adam is 6′4 and touchy feely and eric’s got undiagnosed ptsd, so. no. but it works out after a while, because adam is relentless and also cannot stand most of the other counselors, and this tiny kid is great.

you can see how it goes: jack does not. get. bittle. it should be mentioned that jack also does not get adam, and adam does not especially like jack, so they stay out of each other’s way, but bittle is in jack’s morning slot. he skates like he was born doing it but every time one of the other players so much as looks in his direction he freezes like a deer. now, this isn’t the ncaa, jack’s got nothing to lose if this kid sucks in hockey, but he also doesn’t make friends and he’s got nothing to do with his day except read (he reads. a lot). and he likes challenges. so he starts paying attention.

the first time he asks eric to stay after morning slot’s over, eric looks so terrified jack’s usual awkward conversation skills reduce him to single-word grunting. but he gets the point across: they’re gonna practice yes-contact. for reasons. eric’s all like, “oh -- oh, no, it’s okay! i’m in a no contact co-ed team, it’s fine, this is a summer thing, really, sir, no need --” and jack’s like, did this kid just call me sir, i am twenty, but is also too awkward to take it back. he’s invested now. they’re gonna practice.

and practice they do. it goes badly before it even remotely starts getting better. eric looks like he’s gonna start crying every time and jack does. not. get him (!!!) but eventually adam finds out and talks to eric about it and encourages him (very, very gently, god, this kid is the shit but he’s definitely got some issues 19-years-old-adam is not equipped to handle) to give it a shot.

and then it does get better. jack likes having a purpose, guiding someone through an improvement process (jack’s therapist, wisely, does not tell him that this is the best thing he could’ve done for himself, because jack is... not there yet). eric (very, very slowly, god, he also should start seeing a therapist) stops fearing every jock who gets near him with the combined effort of adam’s incessant friendly advances and jack’s daily practices, and can even take some checks. gentle ones. but it’s something.

and then summer’s over. eric and adam trade numbers. eric and jack… do not, but jack probably says something like, “eat more protein, bittle,” and eric’s not even that offended, so it’s fine.

guess what? he goes back the next summer. coach is over the moon (he expresses this in a twist of the mustache and a firm shoulder clap). adam is also back, talks a lot about quitting the ushl after his next season and maybe going to college somewhere. jack is back because… uh, well, no one’s really sure why jack is back. he’s going to samwell in early august, right after camp ends. jack tells himself he’s easing himself back into hockey in a low-pressure environment and totally isn’t looking forward to seeing what a year has done to eric bittle.

which is, physically speaking, not a lot, honestly. eric’s firmer now, a lot more thigh and bicep muscles, but still narrow. it’s not collegiate hockey, it’s a high school team, alright? gosh. but he’s less jumpy and smiles at jack when their eyes meet and he’s babbling with adam a lot more than he did last year (they texted all year long, and it was nice having a friend, even if it was long distance), so it’s cool. jack makes him do morning practices again and he flinches less and less. they’re like. friends. maybe. jack hasn’t had any friends in three years and the last one was parse, so he’s a little rusty. it’s not a very traditional friendship.

they part ways again in august, and eric wishes jack good luck in school. jack sticks his hands in his pockets to avoid fiddling with his hat and has no idea how one says goodbye, and like, he’s not gonna keep in touch with this sixteen year old kid in his freshman year of college, okay? so. so. but he’s gonna like -- uh -- miss him. maybe. sorta. don’t tell anyone.

eric hugs him goodbye. jack doesn’t even take both hands out of his pockets to hug back, he’s so shocked.

the year after that, none of them come back. jack’s in college, he just got the c. adam’s getting ready for his freshman year. eric’s over the age limit for camp. it just doesn’t happen.

but the year after that, he gets a hockey scholarship for samwell. and it’s yes contact. and he hasn’t been checked in two years, and last time it was in a controlled environment near a minnesota lake, and he’s scared. and the guy from camp (the one who woke up that morning two years before and realized jack zimmermann indeed wanted to work at their camp) offers him a summer job, counseling skating lessons. and he says yes. for money, and to be ready for a season of real hockey.

also that year, jack’s had a bad season. parse won the cup, and smh didn’t even make it to the frozen four, and he feels shitty about everything. and coaching always made him feel better. so he goes back to camp, for one summer.

let’s set the scene: eric. age 18. taller, stronger, determined. in need of a haircut, but in possession of very short shorts. is headed to a liberal school and finally knows he’s gay and refuses to care about what the other boys think (camp has done wonders for his early mindset development; canon bitty, probably, was not as confident at this point). he’s a counselor now, fellas!

jack. age 23. not taller, yes stronger, has been friends with shitty knight for a year and knows a little more about human interaction (truly a little, but still). is looking to relax for the summer before kicking ass next season (and attracting scouts and joining the nhl and winning three cups before 30 and proving everyone wrong, but. first, relaxing and playing some hockey. jack zimmermann’s version of relaxing is different than other people’s).

they’re sharing a cabin in the counselors area. there are two beds, obviously, this is not that trope, and it’s not even bunk beds, but: they were cabinmates. oh my god, they were cabinmates.

the plot, obviously, follows as one would expect. eric is definitely not a kid anymore, is all tanned skin and strong calves and short shorts, and jack is only human. jack is all firm chest and pale eyes and hideous yellow shoes, and eric is disgusted, but is also only human. and jack is on summer break, and eric is not out yet, and so when they drink some beers one night and make bad attempts at actually braiding some friendship bracelets and jack’s tongue pokes out in concentration and eric bursts out laughing, jack has to kiss him. right? right. It’s not like eric would tell anyone. see closeted reasoning above.

what’s the catch? oh, no, they don’t get caught. they share a cabin! everything’s going swell. it’s just -- jack came there to avoid thinking about his bad season. eric came there to avoid thinking about his upcoming year of collegiate hockey. so… neither of them mentions… captaining the samwell hockey team. or. heading for the samwell hockey team. they talk about literally everything else (country music; undeveloped political opinions; daddy issues; the tv show arthur; american vs. canadian thanksgiving; one very late night conversation about homophobia in pro sports), but not about college. so neither of them knows.

oops?

#omgcp #zimbits #zimbits fic #omg check please #i like. legit don't know how to tag things apparently #NEVER LET ME WRITE FIC HEADCANONS i get wayyyy too invested #jack x bitty #check please!#pavfics

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mrsalwayswrite · 4 years ago

Text

Touch My Hands and Heal Me (BuckyxOFC & StevexOFC)

So just a fun one shot to help me get over some writer’s block. I’ve had this idea in mind for awhile so I’m excited to finally get it out.

Warnings: Some swearing, violence.

Words: 6k

Touch My Hands and Heal Me

This was the last place Steve wanted to be on a Thursday night. Nothing against the bar itself but it had been a hellish week and all he wanted to do was relax in his suite in the Tower and pretend for 5 minutes that he was an average guy.

Which is probably why Sam dragged his ass to this bar.

And of course, Bucky tagged along even though he was just as exhausted. Either from a self-induced guilt trip or his belief in Steve's inability to stay out of trouble, Bucky grumbled but tucked his head down and followed silently. Jerk.

Sam led them down the streets of NYC to a little hole in the wall sports bar an air force friend recommended.

It always amazed Steve how easily people failed to notice him without the suit and shield. Walking down the sidewalk with a vintage Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap on and a brown leather jacket over jeans, no one looked at him twice. Or Bucky in a black hoodie. Or Sam in a gray Nike long sleeve and ball cap. It was nice that there was somewhat a sense of esoteric, that only on the rare occasion was he swarmed now, or perhaps people were used to him. What it truly made him realize was that most people only really saw and cared about Captain America and not Steve Rogers. No one cared about the little guy from Brooklyn anymore. All they wanted was the glorified icon of patriotism.

He pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, willing the tension in his head and muscles to leave. Tony and him had a long meeting with Senator Thaddeus Ross today and when it finally concluded, he fled to the gym to make use of the weight bags. He probably would be receiving a bill from Tony because of all the busted bags he left behind. The man was a genius, you would think he would have reinforced them long ago.

Apparently he needed a drink- according to Sam.

He was pleasantly surprised when he walked through the door of the bar -The Old Guys Tavern- and found it calm. It was a smaller establishment, nestled between a BBQ restaurant and a sporting goods store on a back road. It was a sports bar with several TVs showing different games playing, framed pictures all over the walls of different famous athletes, a few framed mirrors, a jukebox in the back corner near 2 pool tables. A long bar took up half of one wall, across from it several booths and a few scattered tables near the pool tables. It was simple and felt reminiscent of how bars used to be. The lights were dim but instead of feeling like a club -no matter what Natasha said he was NOT doing that again- it gave an illusion of privacy.

He quickly noticed that among the 23 people already there, most were male and either middle aged or elderly, with the leaning towards those with gray hair.

"I thought you two would feel at home here amongst your age group." Sam quipped, scanning the bar with a smile on his face.

"Does that mean we need to find a kindergarten for you?" Bucky retorted.

Steve just shook his head as Sam laughed.

They settled into an open leather booth, a Minnesota Vikings versus Green Bay Packers football game played on the TV across from them.

"You dragged our asses out here, you got first round."

Sam narrowed his eyes at Bucky. "A'ight man, I see how it is. I try to help you have a social life and this is the thanks I get. See if I bring you out again, cyborg."

Steve watched Sam walk up to the bar before turning to his oldest friend, seated across from him. The dark rings under his eyes only confirming how the week had affected him too.

"I'm fine, Steve."

"Your face says otherwise."

The corners of Bucky's lips turned up for a moment. "I'll be fine. It's just…" He sighed heavily, running a hand through his long, dark hair.

"A reminder that we're in the wrong century?"

"Yeah...we shouldn't be here."

"I know, Buck. I know."

3 days ago they had attended Dum-Dum Dugan's funeral and it hit them both hard. He had been the last Howling Commando alive besides Steve and Bucky and it felt like a knife in the heart. They did not just lose a friend. It felt like the closing of a book. Another reminder of something they used to be a part of, something that they knew, was gone. Yet here they were, drowning in the murky waters of the 21st Century.

"Alright boys, here it is." Sam slid a glass bottle of Heineken to both of them while slipping next to Steve in the booth with his own. "You guys made plans for next week yet?"

"Clint said we could visit the farm. Natasha and Wanda will go, I'm certain." Steve said, idly rubbing the label as the condensation dampened his finger.

"Vision will go if Wanda goes." Bucky snorted, taking a sip of his beer.

"You sure it's alright if I leave? I can tell my family that something has come up. Can't promise they won't show up at the Tower with enough food to feed an army though." Sam smirked.

"No, you deserve to go see your family." Steve said, hoping to hide the pain in his voice. "Buck and I will figure out something." He hoped.

Next week was Thanksgiving, the first one Steve and Bucky would be together for since 1944. The one last year, Bucky had been in Wakanda, still working to get the trigger words out of his head. Thankfully Princess Shuri figured it out. Which reminded Steve to contact T'Challa soon to get an update -from his viewpoint- of the revisions of the Accords. Steve did not trust Senator Ross' update from earlier. That man had an agenda and clearly resented the need to keep the Avengers updated.

"I'll make sure to bring some of my mom's pumpkin pies back for you guys. Soon as I tell her the great Captain America ate the whole one last year, she will lose her mind."

Steve blushed and rubbed the back of his neck at the reminder. "I didn't realize it was to share. I thought Pepper bought it for the kitchen."

"Hey! Don't compare my momma's home-made, award-winning pumpkin pie to some cheap-ass, store-bought kind! I should kick your ass for that insult."

"Oh, I want to see that." Bucky deadpanned, keeping his eyes on the TV across from them.

Steve changed the subject before the bickering started. He knew it was mostly in good humor but sometimes it grated on his nerves. "Parker stopped by this morning to try out the new suit Tony made him."

"You still seriously considering using him on the field? He's a kid." Sam questioned.

"He took out both you and Buck at the airport."

"Alright, touché, but still. A damn kid."

"I told Tony if he keeps his grades up and practices hard with us, I won't fight it." Steve smirked. "But if he gets hurt, Tony has to deal with Aunt May."

That made them all chuckle. Once when Peter practiced with them, he had landed wrong and twisted his ankle. From what they heard, you would have thought Peter had lost a limb with how Aunt May berated Tony and fussed over her nephew. It had become a running joke amongst the team.

An hour passed, Steve and Bucky both having to take their turn buying the beers, as they chatted or just watched the games on the TVs. Everything had been going so well, which should have been a flashing beacon that something was going to happen. If this week had been any indication.

One of the guys who had been playing pool with a few others started their way. He was in his forties, slightly overweight, in business attire, looking like he got off work at an office and came out to grab a beer with friends. Steve had noticed him several times over the past hour glancing their way but paid no mind. No one else had approached them or even acknowledged them. Most likely someone trying to figure out how he recognized their faces.

He approached the table and stared at each of them before a toothy, crooked grin appeared. Looking back over his shoulder, he called over to his friends. "It is those goddamn Avenger shits. I knew it. Coming in here like they own the place."

"Hey, back off, man." Sam tried to keep his cool but Steve could see that the guy had gotten under his skin. "We are just here for a beer, minding our own business."

"You know, I bet all those stunts you pull, the "world-saving" and shit, it's all fake. You pretend, keep the masses happy and feeling protected while you just live like kings off government money. Yeah…I know the truth."

Before any of them could respond to the guy, about how very wrong he was, a new voice from the bar spoke up.

"Chuck, quit trying to start a fight. They could kick your ass without breaking a sweat."

The guy -apparently Chuck- glared over his shoulder at the speaker. "Shut up. No one asked you to get involved."

A woman probably mid twenties slid down off the bar stool she was sitting on and stalked their way. Steve can't help but watch her, feeling as if a hurricane was approaching. Her honey blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her hazel eyes stared defiantly at Chuck. She wore a loose white t-shirt with some kind of symbol on the front and black leggings that highlighted all her curves and showed off her long legs. Combat boots and a dark leather jacket completed the look.

"Just cause you're still pissed doesn't mean you gotta start shit. Now, leave them alone, you're bothering them."

"We will leave. We didn't come here to start trouble." Steve injected, glancing between the man and woman standing at the end of the table.

She turned slightly to pin him with a pointed look that had him regretting his words and shutting his mouth. She turned back to the guy -Chuck- and they glared at each other for several long, awkward, tense moments before he huffed and took a step back.

"Bitch," he muttered but glared at her still, "probably going to let them all fuck you like the whore you are."

As soon as the last word spewed out of his mouth, she hit him with a right hook that left him half sprawled on the table beside them.

"Dee, no fighting. God, girl, get out of here!" The bartender called over, clearly exasperated as he ran his hand through his white hair.

"Sorry, Ray." She shrugged unapologetically. Flexing the fingers on her right hand, she turned back to Steve, Bucky and Sam. "Have a good night, boys."

Steve watched her walk out of the bar. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Chuck get up, spitting blood on the floor, with the help of one of his friends. He looked like he wanted to say something but his friend quickly dragged him back to the pool tables.

Perfect. Steve was not in the mood for a fight.

"Think she's ok?" Bucky was staring at her retreating form also, even when she disappeared from view. He turned back slowly to meet their confused looks. "That hit...might have broken something."

They sat in silence for a second before sliding out of the booth and heading out.

The air had a winter's bite to it but not yet unbearable. Although it took a lot for Steve to feel really cold now. Those rare moments always brought up painful memories of icy waters and darkness. Something he prefered not to think about.

They managed to glimpse her before she turned down another street. Simultaneously they started to jog to catch up. Thankfully not too many people on the sidewalk stopped to stare at three huge guys casually jogging at 10pm at night in jeans.

"Hey yo! Dee!" Sam called out as they turned down the street.

She stopped, slowly turning around to watch them approach with a single eyebrow raised. "You boys lost?"

"Naw, we wanted to see if you're alright. That was quite a punch."

Thank God for Sam's ability to always talk. Steve never thought he would be glad for that one day but right now he was. Staring at her, he felt tongue-tied.

She smiled, holding her hand up and wiggling her fingers. "I'm fine. Not a big deal."

Steve could not help but notice her nails were painted a shimmery dark blue.

"Why did you do it?" They all looked at Bucky with his hands in his pockets as he spoke. "I mean, you didn't have to stand up for us. Hell, he has to weigh twice what you do. So...how come you got involved?"

"I don't like bullies."

"Ah shit, she's the female version of you, Steve." Bucky bemoaned, dragging a hand down his face.

She giggled, the sound rich and feminine, and Steve could not help but smile in response.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Sergeant Barnes."

"Call me Bucky, please."

"Ok, Bucky."

"I guess you already know Steve and I." Sam said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Your name Dee?"

She seemed to hesitate for a second, looking back over her shoulder. "Lydia."

"Nice to meet you, Lydia. Thanks for helping out back there."

"Oh believe me, it was my pleasure. I've been wanting to hit him for a while. I doubt Ray will let me back though."

"Cause you hit a rude customer? I'd think you're doing him a favor." Sam snorted.

"Ah no, I may have hit Chuck's cousin last week...broke his nose."

The three stared at her in varying degrees of amusement and shock.

"What? He was bad mouthing the New England Patriots. Tom Brady is my boy."

"Shit, doll, you're something else." Bucky laughed.

"Thank you. Now it's lovely to meet you all but I need to go. Tootles."

"Wait!" Steve was not sure why he stopped her except that some part of him was not ready to lose her yet. He took a step closer. "Where are you headed?"

She raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering what he was getting at. "Home."

"Let us walk you. It's the least we can do."

"It's not that far, I promise. I'm sure you superheroes have better things to do. I'll be fine."

"Come on, Lydia, we got you kicked out. Let us make sure you get home safe, yeah?" Sam joined the petition.

She chewed her bottom lip, eyes scanning between the three of them before letting out a sigh. "If it makes you feel better."

----------

When Bucky went to the bar with Steve and Sam, his expectations were to keep an eye on Steve, taunt Sam and just pretend that he had actually slept the past five days instead of pacing or staring at a wall all night.

Watching a beautiful dame punch a guy to defend them… this night got a whole lot more interesting.

The four of them walked down the sidewalk together, Steve and Bucky behind Sam and her...Lydia.

"So, you know who we are and what we do," Sam said casually, "tell us about you."

"Well I get into fights at bars and I watch football. I'm not that interesting."

Bucky could not help but snort. A shared glance with Steve confirmed his own amusement.

"Alright. Who taught you to fight? You got a mean swing that clearly shows some training." Sam continued.

"My brother." She shrugged. "What were you guys doing out? I would think you'd have booze at the Tower or be more likely to go to a high-class, expensive bar instead of Ray's little place."

"Naw, we just wanted somewhere quiet and out of the way. Besides, if we break out any booze, Tony always somehow senses it and magically appears."

She laughed, and Bucky felt his heart lighten at the sound.

"Maybe we were hoping to meet someone as beautiful as you, doll." Bucky was not sure where the words came from, but for a moment he felt like the Bucky from the 40s who knew how to charm and flirt. A forgotten piece of him buried beneath the decades of trauma endured under HYDRA'S thumb.

She spun around to look at him, still walking backwards with a smirk and teasing glint in her eyes. "I'm far from beautiful but I'm more than happy to pretend for you."

He chuckled, he could feel Steve's curious eyes on him but he paid no mind. It felt good to remember this piece of him, to remind himself he was more than a damaged person, even for only a minute. "Dollface, you just gave the best right hook I've ever seen a dame throw. I'm certain that is the sexiest thing I've seen in a long time."

Laughing, she paused momentarily to slide to his side and kiss his cheek. Her arm slipped through his and they continued walking like nothing had happened.

Except something had happened.

With her touch, it felt like all his senses tripled in intensity. Her kiss...such an innocent kiss yet it set his blood on fire and brought out a warmth in his bones that even HYDRA could not freeze out.

"You go around kissing strangers often?"

She winked at Steve. "Only the cute ones."

"She called you cute, man!" Sam laughed.

Bucky pretended to scoff. "Cute...I'm not cute. Take that back." He nudged her with his elbow, thankful she was on his right side.

"Would you prefer devilishly handsome?"

"Hey, if the shoe fits…" Bucky shrugged, trying to keep a straight face. Steve's chuckling almost broke it. His blue eyes met her hazel and he realized he was glad they had met. She was beautiful in a girl-next-door kind of way- Cupid's bow lips, button nose, soft features. She was tall for most women, about 5' 10" even in just combat boots. Yet it was the energy around and within her that made her stand out. She felt like joy...she radiated life...there was a sparkle in her eyes that had not been tainted by the evils of this world yet.

"Pain in the ass also fits." Steve muttered, walking on Lydia's other side.

"Punk."

"Jerk."

She slipped her other arm through Steve's. "I'm pretty sure 'trouble' is the best description."

"Now that I can attest to." Sam said, leading the group.

They walked another block in the same formation. Lydia between Steve and himself, her arms looped through theirs. They chatted, flirted and teased easily, like they had known each other their whole lives. It was odd but Bucky was not complaining. It felt good. He found himself hoping this was not the last time they would see her. The warmth infusing itself into him from her touch was addictive. Her laughter and smiles made the darkness in his mind slowly fade. If the shared looks between him and Steve just over her head meant anything, he knew Steve felt the same way.

"My apartment is just down the street. You don't have to walk me to the door."

"Trying to get rid of us?" Steve asked.

She just laughed and shook her head. "When did I become so lucky to have three such handsome gentlemen to escort me home?"

"When you slugged a guy to defend us." Bucky caught her eye and winked. "You're stuck with us now."

"I'm not complaining."

One moment they all are laughing and talking like the best of friends. In the next moment, everything changed.

A shot rang out.

Bucky could feel the bullet whizz between his and Lydia's head.

Shit.

In a split second all three guys went into defense mode. Steve grabbed Lydia, shielding her with his body as he pushed her against a brick wall in a side alley. Immediately, Bucky and Sam flanked him on either side. Without a word, Bucky pulled out a pistol for both Steve and Sam, handing them over, then retrieved one for himself. He knew after this, Steve would criticize the amount of weapons on him for just a run to the bar. Bucky did not plan on sharing about the amount of knives on him additionally. He did not want to worry Steve that much. The less he knew in this case, the better.

His eyes scanned the nearby rooftops. The trajectory of the bullet showed the shooter was somewhere above them. At least that narrowed his search. Somewhat. On the other hand, he doubted they acted alone. Why give away their position? Did the shooter just have terrible aim? Were their others? Why the hell did this have to happen now?

His breathing slowed, senses on high alert, eyes trained for any movement. He waited, listening intently for any sign of back-up. Quickly peeking around the corner, he noticed the side road they were on was deserted. It consisted of several closed stores on the side they had been walking on and across the street was apartment complexes. Logically there should have been someone walking around at this time. It was NYC, there was always someone awake. His eagle-eyes scanned around them, searching desperately for wherever that bullet originated from. Or for the others bound to be laying in wait somewhere around here.

He hated being shot at.

"Sniper, my ten o'clock. Apartment building, top floor, third window in." He reported, glancing behind him at the others after another peek around the side.

Sam faced the opposite way, keeping an eye on the other side of the alley, but nodded at Bucky's report.

Steve hovered over Lydia, who was crouched on the dirty ground. His eyes swept over the area and the switch from casual Steve Rogers to righteous Captain America was evident. Most likely wishing he had his shield.

"HYDRA?"

"Not sure." Bucky replied, grip tightening on his pistol. Of course when they were having a great time, those bastards would show up. Damn it. "You alright, doll?"

"Yea...yeah." She stuttered out, still crouched underneath Steve. Her eyes were wide but clear, breathing fast but manageable. His opinion of her increased. Although she seemed frightened, she was not panicking. A reaction most common in civilians being shot at for the first time.

Steve spoke to Bucky. "Think you can get him?"

"Not here."

"Go. We got your back."

Before he moved, a hand gripped his hoodie, surprising him. Following the hand that was holding him in place, he met her eyes.

"Be safe." She murmured, hazel eyes meeting his stormy blue in earnest.

"Just for you." With a wink, he slipped out the alley, keeping to the shadows and moved silently as a ghost.

It did not take long for him to get into position. He only wished he had his sniper rifle. Climbing some rickety, metal stairs attached to the back of a store, he swiftly placed himself across from the sniper on a rooftop. If he had more time, he would have preferred to go into the apartment and silently kill the sniper, but for some odd reason he felt like he was working against the clock.

Breath in.

Breath out.

Breath in.

Breath out.

Breathe in.

Bang.

Holding the smoking pistol in the direction of the apartment, he waited. There did not seem to be any further movement. He wondered if he should go investigate, just to confirm. God, if this was HYDRA, he did not want to leave any civilians without protection. With the gunshots fired, he figured someone would have called the cops by now. Hopefully they would be useful with the civilians.

Racing back across the rooftop, he flew down the stairs ready to confirm the sniper's death. It was then a new sound drifted to him…and he bolted towards it. Heart racing within his chest.

Please no. He begged silently.

He turned the corner to see where the fight really was. The sniper had only been a diversion. Something to force them into the intended alley.

They had played right into the enemy's hand.

Twelve guys in all black, faces covered, made the crowded alley even smaller. One was on the ground lying still, a pool of blood growing beneath his chest. Three were cornering Sam, taking turns attacking him with batons. Six were actively fighting Steve, trying to take him down using tasers, yet they were never able to subdue him fully. Two had Lydia between them, both gripping one of her arms each as she struggled and thrashed to escape looking like a wildcat.

Please no.

Bucky threw himself into the fight, fear and rage pouring into his blood to fuel him. He tackled one of the men cornering Sam, a knife slipping in between the man's helmet and Kevlar, blood spurting from his neck. Bucky rolled off him, and in two strides jabbed a knife into the back of the knees of one of Steve's attackers. The man dropped, howling and unable to stand. Another swipe and kick brought another man under his knife, blood oozing where a kidney was.

"Lydia!" Steve cried, throwing one of his attackers against the brick wall behind him.

The two men were trying to manhandle her into a doorway but her twisting, kicking and flailing made it difficult.

Bucky threw his bloodied knife into the thigh of one of them. The man stumbled, almost dropping Lydia, who cried out at the harsh treatment. Before the other man could raise his own pistol, Bucky grabbed it with his metal hand and crushed the end. Pure rage filled him at the thought of them trying to take her. He punched the man, now holding the useless gun, in the side of the head with his metal arm. The man dropped like a rock. The pistol bounced on the ground when it fell from his hand.

In a fluid motion, Bucky yanked the knife out of the other man's thigh and kicked him in the head. The man's head rocked back further than humanly possible with a cracking sound.

Silence hung over the alley after Steve and Sam knocked out or killed their attackers. Bucky stood there for a long moment, surveying the carnage around him, and trying to steady his breathing. His hands shook slightly. Blood was splattered on his black hoodie and jeans. It had been so easy -too easy- to take the lives of those men. Even though he did it to protect Steve, Sam and Lydia...his hands never felt clean. Would he ever be clean? Would he always be a monster?

"Bucky?"

His rage evaporated at the soft whimper of his name.

"It's ok, doll. I got you." He pulled her into his arms, away from the bodies of the men who tried to take her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her face buried in his chest while his own arms held her close. She trembled but if it was from fear or fading adrenaline, he was unsure. Murmuring soothing words to her, he ran a hand up and down her back in comfort.

Why did this have to happen tonight?

He glanced back over to see the spread of bodies on the ground, all wearing black clothing that looked vaguely military. Nothing like what HYDRA usually wore. Sam was on the phone, probably calling the fellow Avengers for clean up and to scout the area. Steve was stepping over the downed men, coming to his side.

"Are you hurt?"

Bucky shook his head, his eyes scanning over his best friend. "You good?"

"Yeah, she ok?"

Lydia turned her head, reaching an hand out to place on his forearm. "I'm fine...thank you."

Steve patted her hand on his arm but did not remove it. He glanced around once more before meeting Bucky's eyes. "This doesn't...these men don't seem like HYDRA."

"I noticed. Wrong weapons and fighting tactics. More like mercenaries."

"Mmmm." He rubbed the back of his neck before looking at Lydia, still in Bucky's arms. "They seemed pretty intent on taking you. Any reason why?"

That question had itched at Bucky too. HYDRA would be more interested in taking himself and Steve. She had been the focus of this attack. He shuddered to think what would have happened if they let her walk home alone.

"No...no...I don't recognize them."

"It was a long shot. Well I think you should stay with…" suddenly Steve's eyes widened and he recoiled. A second later, blood soaked his white t-shirt in the middle of his chest.

Then the sound of a muffled shot rang out in the alley.

Bucky glanced over to see one of the downed men Steve had been fighting, on his knees, pistol extended. He staggered to his feet and took off back on the side road.

"Sam!" Bucky cried, pointing to the escaping man.

The Falcon did not hesitate. He raced after the man, a snarl on his face, eyes determined.

Turning back to his best friend, disbelief clouded his mind as he saw all the blood soaking Steve's shirt.

No.

NO!

Steve placed a hand on his chest, a dazed look on his face as he pulled it back and watched the blood drip off his skin. Ever so slowly, he dropped to his knees, still staring at his hand.

"No, no, no! Damn it, Steve! NO!" Bucky moved to his side, practically ripping the leather jacket off Steve's shoulders and tearing the t-shirt in two to see how extensive the injury was. The bullet had entered Steve's upper back, almost hitting his spine and exited the middle of his chest, leaving a gaping hole. Blood poured out, leaving trails of red on Steve’s torso.

"Sorry, Buck."

"No, no. Don't you start that shit. You'll be fine. Damn super soldier shit is good for something." He tried to staunch the blood flow with Steve's ripped shirt but the training in the back of his mind told him it was useless. His lungs would be filling with blood now. It would take a miracle to save him. Yet Bucky did not stop his first aid. He refused to let his best friend die. He couldn't...he could not live without Steve. They had only just found each other again. He couldn't...God, please no, not Steve...he had to live. Bucky was not ready to be alone again.

Lydia slipped to Steve's other side. Gently she took his bloody hand and clasped it between her own. Tears coated her cheeks as she watched.

"Buck…"

"No, stop talking. Everyone is on their way. Sam called them. It'll be fine."

"I need you to…"

"Nope, don't even start trying that speech."

Steve rolled his eyes, blood beginning to taint his lips. "Jerk."

"Punk."

"Steve, look at me." Lydia stated. Both soldiers watched her, her commanding tone unable to ignore. "You're going to be alright but you'll still need to rest for a while, ok?" She glanced over at Bucky, a fire burning in her eyes. "Hold him steady."

What?

He did not have time to question her before the strangest thing happened.

Lydia leaned forward and pressed her lips to Steve's bloodied ones. One of her hands cradled the back of his head, as her kiss deepened. Even on the brink of death, Steve had no problem reciprocating. His bloodied hand cupped her cheek, leaving behind a stain on her skin. Their lips moved as if they had done this before...no hesitation...no awkward fumbling… What started off as a soft caress was turning into something more heated.

Bucky momentarily felt like a voyeur and was beyond confused. Steve should be saving his breath, not exerting himself. Damn that looked like a great kiss though.

The kiss lasted only five seconds and when they separated, both were breathing heavy like it had been far longer. Her lips were tainted red now, but her eyes shone brighter like starlight caught in her irises.

She looked at Bucky, tears streaming down her cheeks unashamedly. "Take care of him." Quickly she leaned over Steve, grabbing a handful of Bucky’s hoodie, and gave him a hard kiss on the lips before standing up and dashing away.

"What….LYDIA!" Bucky yelled after her, watching her run down the alley and turn onto another street. Part of him wanted to chase after her and demand answers but a cough from Steve diverted his attention.

"Hey, it's ok. They will…."

"Look." Steve interrupted, motioning at Bucky's hand.

He glanced down to see scraped knuckles, probably from when he tackled one of the men. Not a big deal. The serum would heal them within a day. Yet they were healing...immediately...right before his eyes. Within seconds, they looked completely normal, only Steve's blood marred them.

What?

Immediately, Bucky pulled the torn shirt from Steve's chest, gaze locked onto the exit wound that would surely kill his best friend. A gush of blood should have resulted from the compact being removed from the wound, blood allowed to flow freely once again. Yet nothing happened. Dried blood caked his chest turning a dark red but there was nothing bright red...nothing fresh.

"Holy shit."

In the next moment, Bucky felt as if the world tilted off its axis.

The wound slowly began to heal. Muscle and skin grew and reattached. The once graying complexion that Steve wore was returning to a healthy pink. His breathing deepened, not short, rapid breaths of dying lungs. Steve's blue eyes stared at Bucky, mouth gaping open. Curious and a bit frantic, Bucky peeled the shirt off Steve's back to see the entry wound. Both holes, once profusely bleeding and killing his best friend now looked like they were weeks healed. Some redness around the sites and fresh skin sealing the holes but still tender.

WHAT?!?!

"Steve…." He did not know what else to say. His oldest friend, his best friend, his brother...he was dying...and Bucky could not save him. It was his worst nightmare come to pass. The very thing he dreaded most. Now though…

Steve stared back at him wide-eyed before turning his head to look down the alley where Lydia fled. "She healed me….she saved…" He looked back at Bucky. "Who is she?"

"I'm not sure…"

"We need to find her."

Steve started to get up but Bucky pushed him back down. "You were just shot, punk. She said to rest."

"We can't let her get away! What if more of these mercenaries find her?!"

"We'll look for her. Wait till the others get here. I'll go with Sam." Bucky held Steve's gaze until he relented, slumping back onto the unforgiving, concrete ground.

The sounds of the city enveloped the quiet of the alley- car horns, sirens blaring, someone singing loudly the next street over. The two sat there, waiting and thinking. Both of their minds struggling to fully comprehend what just happened but desperate to chase after her.

"You just want another kiss, huh?"

Steve chuckled, rubbing a hand over his chest and wincing. "That was some kiss. It felt like electricity going through my veins."

Bucky thought of his own quick peck and how it felt like a shock hitting him. "Yeah. That's some dame."

"Find her, Buck. I don't…" He sighed.. "It felt...no, she felt right."

All Bucky could do was nod. He prayed she stayed safe until they could find her. Something in his gut told him they needed her. He looked down the alley once more, wondering where she went and who she really was.

#marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel fanfic #Bucky Barnes #bucky/ofc #steve rogers #steve/ofc #Sam Wilson #one shot #probably #mzwrites

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lanaisnotwool · 4 years ago

Video

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404 From Teacher to Investor - Interview with Todd Dexheimer

http://moneyripples.com/2020/06/22/404-from-teacher-to-investor-interview-with-todd-dexheimer/

Chris Miles, the "Cash Flow Expert and Anti-Financial Advisor," is a leading authority on how to quickly free up and create cash flow for thousands of his clients, entrepreneurs, and others internationally! He’s an author, speaker, and radio host that has been featured in US News, CNN Money, Bankrate, Entrepreneur on Fire, and spoken to thousands getting them fast financial results.

Listen to our Podcast here:

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/moneyripples/2020/05/31/404--going-from-teacher-to-investor-with-todd-dexheimer

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Chris Miles (00:00): Hello, my fellow Ripplers. This is Chris Miles. Your Cash Flow Expert and Anti-Financial Advisor. Welcome you out for a wonderful show. Show that's for you and about you. Those of you work so hard for money and you're ready for your money. Start working harder for you. Now! You want that freedom. That cash flow. That prosperity. Today! Not 30, 40 bazillion years from now, but right now, so you can live that life that you love doing what you love being with those that you love, but it's so much more than you guys. Than just having a lot of money and being comfortable and, you know, driving flashy cars and that kind of thing. Because if you're following us, we're not those kind of people. We're real people. We're sincere. We're authentic. And the truth is that you're a Rippler. That you, yes, you can create lots and lots of money create the life of your dreams, but your life is much more than that. You want to create a ripple effect through the lives of those, around you, whether it be your family, whether it be your community, the country, or across the world. And that's ultimately what this ripple effect's about. And I appreciate you guys allowing me to create a ripple effect through you because without that, we couldn't do it. And you guys have been bingeing on these shows. You've been spreading the word you've been sharing it. And I love seeing these numbers grow every single day. So thank you for being a part of this.

Chris Miles (01:20): Hey, as a quick reminder, check out our website MoneyRipples.com. You've got the great ebook on there called Beyond Rice & Beans. Seven Secrets. Free up cash today, and you can check out other information on there as well. So check it out.

Chris Miles (01:29): Alright! Today, guys, I'm bringing on another great, great investor on our show here. This is actually a guy by the name of Todd Dexheimer here. Now, Todd, like Todd's been doing real estate. He got in right during the last recession. Like he was born out of the fire, right? He was born out of those flames when everybody says real estate stinks. And that's exactly when Todd said, alright, let's do this. He actually started as a high school industrial tech teacher. Then went to real estate in 2008. Now, interesting thing about him is that he's the CEO of venture properties, LLC. Yeah. He's also been, has purchased and renovated over 800 units guys. Has focuses on syndicating value, add multifamily and emerging markets, as well as coaching other inspiring investors. He's the host of the Pillar of Wealth Creation Podcasts that actually I've been on as well. He's also been doing contributing things like Bigger Pockets. And he's been on various shows, whether it's like, you know, big real estate investing advice ever, or the Michael Blank show and many, many more. And so he lives in Minnesota, his wife, and two kids love skiing, hunting, camping, hockey running. Of course he's in Minnesota. He's got to love hockey. Right? So anyways, Todd, welcome to our show.

Todd Dexheimer (02:41): Yeah. Appreciate you having me on, I appreciate the introduction, man. I'm like, I'm pumped up. I, that intro was awesome! I'm pumped up to hopefully add some value to the show and yeah. This is, this is an exciting community. It sounds like we got here. So...

Chris Miles (02:58): Absolutely. No, these are good people. These are the best ones you'll ever, ever witness. I'll tell you that. So, you know, tell us like, how did you even go from, you know, high school teacher to real estate? Like what even sparked that because everybody's freaking out in 2008 and you're like, Hey, why not? Right.

Todd Dexheimer (03:14): Yeah. I've been, what was I going to lose, man?

Chris Miles (03:16): That's right!

Todd Dexheimer (03:18): I was making you know, not very much as a high school teacher. And I think there was, I don't, I don't know exactly what sparked it like it was, I don't know if it was just a spark, but I've always, I think had this entrepreneurial spirit with me. I actually built shipping crates for my dad's company that he worked at. He was a manufacturing engineer and they're making these vises and I built shipping crates for these vises. So I had my own decks, custom crates business that my brother and dad kind of formed and along with me, and then I took over and did that. So that was fun. And that was when I was in high school, I had the lawn mowing business, you know, but then I decided to be a teacher and just, just quite frankly, it just didn't click. Like I thought it was going to be great. And there was parts of it. That was, was great, but it just didn't click. And it wasn't for me. And I bet within like a month or two, I was telling my wife, I gotta figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up because this aint it. And so...

Chris Miles (04:26): It, wasn't a scary moment for her to say, wait, all of this to now say you want to get out. Right?

Todd Dexheimer (04:31): Well, we just started our life together, you know, as like all this. So it was kind of crazy, but at the same time I knew it wasn't for me. So it was just exploratory and just trying to figure out and real estate made a ton of sense. And like you said, it was right during that like firestorm, right. Everything was crashing. Everybody was running in the opposite direction. And I got in a little bit about, you know, I was naive. I didn't really understand a hundred percent what happened cause I wasn't involved. Like I didn't lose anything. Right? So it was a little bit of maybe me being naive, but also seeing the opportunity. Understanding like that real estate will go back up in value, even though some people sat and I heard this a lot of times real estate will never go back up to where it used to be. Never. And that's very shortsighted. And I knew that it was like, yeah, see, but these are people that got, just got burned. Right? And so it just made so much financial sense and I understood the industry being an industrial tech teacher and you know, doing construction through the summers too, work my way through high school and college. It just made sense.

Chris Miles (05:44): Yeah. So what was your first deal? Like what'd you start out doing?

Todd Dexheimer (05:48): You know what, I did three deals pretty much at one time, which is, which is crazy. And I didn't have any money, by the way. My wife and I had probably like $30,000 saved up, maybe $25,000 saved up. And so we bought a single family that we ended up living in, but it was a foreclosure. We did this 203K loan. So you can get in for very little money. And then we did the renovation ourselves, big renovation. I mean, when we moved in, there was no plumbing, water wasn't working. So like the first, like, I shouldn't say when we moved in, like probably the day we moved in, I just got it going. I can still remember working on some, we didn't have heat, which is fine. Cause we moved in in August, but we had to get heat because at Minnesota, by end of September, you need heat. So I, they like get around is we're on a time deadline. Yeah. But so that, that was one of them. The other one was a flip that I partnered with a guy that had money and we did the fix and flip. And then the other one was a single family rental house. I bought that out of foreclosure. For like 60,000, somewhere around there stuck another 10, 15,000 into it. Did all the work myself with my wife and a couple of friends came and helped me in, but that was it. And then was able to then refinance that house actually in that snowball, from there. Fix and flip, actually ended up being a flop. I bet I made a thousand dollars on it. I did all the work

Chris Miles (07:27): You got to learn pretty quickly. Like it's probably better that happened because in some people's case where they hit really big on that first flip, they think that's the way it's always going to be. Right?

Todd Dexheimer (07:35): Oh, this is easy!

Chris Miles (07:37): Yeah, exactly. And you're like, okay, that wasn't as cool as I thought that was, that was like a dollar an hour. Gosh.

Todd Dexheimer (07:43): But it probably wasn't even that much.

Chris Miles (07:47): Well, that's great. And you've done. I mean, you've done flips, you've even done mobile home, parks and you did a ski resort, is that right?

Todd Dexheimer (07:53): Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Miles (07:55): Tell us about that.

Todd Dexheimer (07:55): Well, I bought a defunct ski resort, so it was just a ski resort that, you know, we had some really bad winters in the early, the late 90's to early 2000's where there just wasn't a lot of snow. And so when that happens, these little skiers are just can't handle it. And so they ended up shutting it down. Somebody got hurt really bad too. And so there was a big lawsuit. And so it was just shut down. The guy that owned it originally passed away, handed down to his kid and grown adult, but yeah, just didn't want to do it anymore. So they ended up shutting it down and we stumbled upon it. Actually the business partner at the time was actually hunting nearby and he was seeing all these deer trails. And they all led into this property.

Todd Dexheimer (08:48): So we went and talked to the owner and then was like, Hey, what's going on here? And we ended up striking a deal. Then we ended up getting the property and we got it for such a cheap price that we had a bank that financed it a hundred percent.

Chris Miles (09:01): Wow!

Todd Dexheimer (09:02): It appraised for a million dollars and we were buying it for $450,000 and they fund us to a hundred percent of the deal.

Chris Miles (09:10): That's incredible.

Todd Dexheimer (09:12): Yeah. It was incredible. And that was 2000, maybe 13 or 14. So things, I mean still were a little iffy, you know, probably 13. Yeah. We're still a little iffy. There is banks. Weren't being super friendly. Yeah. Not like that, but...

Chris Miles (09:29): But the numbers made sense. It said, all right. Go for it.

Todd Dexheimer (09:32): Yup. Yup. So we ended up just taking that. We did some work to it. We were thinking about doing something with it, but it ended up just being more of a distraction to try to get it up and running. So we ended up selling it. So I basically flipped the ski resort. You know, I tried to convince my wife to move down there. She said, no.

Chris Miles (09:50): I'm saying it as a skier. You were probably really tempted weren't you?

Todd Dexheimer (09:53): Yeah, it was great. It was. And it's amazingly beautiful piece of property and it's just amazing.

Chris Miles (09:59): That's great. What kind of deals are you doing now? Like what kind of multifamily stuff are you doing? Cause I know with different people I've had on the show, some were kinda like, you know what, I'm getting so strict with my underwriting. Like I am almost refused things left and right, right?

Todd Dexheimer (10:13): Yup. Yup. And kind of the same actually. Things were heating up quite a bit, obviously that was pre-COVID. Things were heating up quite a bit and it was really tough to find a deal that made sense. Now people were just buying these properties for crazy amounts and we weren't willing to. So I'm buying, you know, value add, B class multifamily, typically a hundred plus units. So we can have some scale. We can have the onsite staff and, and we're buying those in a few markets cross country that are kind of emerging or markets that have some, the, all the right fundamentals that we're really looking for and we're doing the syndication. So we're raising the funds for down payment, all that kind of stuff. So that's, that's kind of our bread and butter. And I anticipate that to still be our bread and butter as we kind of emerge through this whole COVID deals will probably come out of this. You know, we don't know exactly the future yet, but I think there'll be some opportunity down the road.

Chris Miles (11:24): Yeah. I mean, not that I, I glory in people's pain right? Or do something bad, but I definitely foresee that there's a lot of deal operators that really weren't operators. They were just greedy people wanting to get in on the, on the ride. Right. And buy these properties even probably have investor's money out there. And, but they've never done a deal before and they don't know how to operate something. And I imagine that's where there could be some good opportunities coming up.

Todd Dexheimer (11:47): I think so. I think so. And like you said, we don't like for me, it's you, when you look at it and go, Oh, I really, so some people are excited. They're like, Oh, it's great. I can't wait for people to start losing their properties. It's like, well you do you understand like that, that actually only hurts you as well. Like I've got properties. So if the guys around me guys and gals around me lose their properties, those value, my property pretty value is going to go down. Right. And so it's, it's it's yeah. Well, do I wish ill will upon anybody? No. But the matter of the fact is exactly what you said, likely there's going to be people that are gonna end up maybe not losing the property, but be told to sell. Lenders have low incompetence and you are going to be told to sell if you're not hitting your numbers. And so you're going to be forced, basically forced to sell and yeah, you're right. A lot of those people had no clue what they're doing or even if they did have a clue what they're doing, they were just going about it the wrong way, or they're going after these properties for fees. I think that's a lot of things. A lot of what was happening is people are going, wow, I can do this deal. I can syndicate it and I can make $300,000 right up front on this deal. That's a great payday Al's I need to do is one to two of those each year. And I'm doing really well. And some people are doing two, maybe three deals a year, they're making 600 to a million dollars, man. They didn't care how good the deal was. That's, Unfortunately I think what was happening.

Chris Miles (13:21): Yeah. No, there's, there's definitely, I've seen that. I have definitely seen that out there and you're right. Like we don't want people to have to sell off, like in a sense of just being, you know, selling off for dirt cheap or anything like that, you know, I would more see like where's the opportunity of increasing profits and it's something that's already there. Right. It's like, you know, where they just didn't operate it well, and yeah. In your opinion, like right now, I mean, what are you seeing? Are you seeing like good deals or you see in most everything's just junk currently?

Todd Dexheimer (13:50): Yeah. So currently I would say we haven't seen much adjustment. The sellers aren't quite ready to take a discount and yeah, I don't need the salaries to take a bath. Like I don't need, in order for me to feel comfortable with the buy. It's not like I need the sellers to sell for 40% discount or something like that now would that be great? Sure. You know, I need the sellers to come off of their, their price by let's call it 10%, maybe 15% and then, okay, I'm ready to, I'm ready to start buying. For me, my company. We don't need to buy Properties, dirt cheap. Now will we? If that happens. Absolutely. But all right. It's still about the fundamentals of the piece of real estate and how the numbers work and can we get our business plan to be able to take any, can we execute it? And so that's what really important part. So...

Chris Miles (14:43): Yeah. What kind of cash flow or NOI can you get from it? Right?

Todd Dexheimer (14:46): Yup. So I've been talking to a lot of brokers that deal in my space and they're kind of the same, most sellers are looking for right now between a 10% and a 20% discount or sorry, most buyers are looking for a 10% to 20% discount. Most sellers are well expecting to sell either at the previous high or within at least 10%. So they, I have heard from brokers, but a lot of sellers are understanding. They've got to come down 5% to 10% and but most buyers are actually even more than that. So we've got a gap there eventually that'll close.

Chris Miles (15:22): Yeah. It's got to take some time before they start adjusting and believing the numbers and say, okay.

Todd Dexheimer (15:27): Real estate. It's not the stock market. I mean, you're right, Chris. I mean the stock market goes like this and actually overreacts quickly. Where real estate actually Under reacts and takes a while for those, those drops to happen.

Chris Miles (15:41): Isn't that the beautiful thing about real estate? Is that it doesn't happen overnight. Right. Where people are used to, if they'd been watching the stock market, it's, it's painful to watch. You can't watch it, you know, without freaking out, you know. Where at least the real estate there's slow adjustments typically. I mean, whether the price go down or up, usually there's there's time involved.

Todd Dexheimer (16:00): Yup. Yeah. I mean, right now I've got a property on the market and I have priced at about the 15% below where I would have expected to sell it just a few months ago and I'm kicking myself because I should have sold it in January, but I didn't know this was happening for some reason.

Chris Miles (16:16): Of course.

Todd Dexheimer (16:17): But I still want to sell the property and I'm happy to take a 15% discount because quite frankly, it's still gonna, I'm still gonna do really well on it. And I see there's opportunity potentially coming. So I'd rather take that capital, be able to have it, be able to do it. Okay. Put it out there when better deals do come. So right now, if you're wanting to be a seller, it's Still sell because real estate slowly, as you said, it's going to take awhile.

Chris Miles (16:43): That's a good point, too. Like you said, you don't always have to find bad deals. It could be someone just like you, who already bought a great deal. It's appreciated, you know, you've add value to it. And of course now price is great. Even if you have to take a discount, you're still gonna make good, good money on it. So there's plenty of those deals too.

Todd Dexheimer (16:59): Yup.

Chris Miles (16:59): Well, great. Well how like, like tell us more about your show, the Pillars of Wealth Creation Show. Tell us about that.

Todd Dexheimer (17:05): Yeah. So Pillars of Wealth Creations, mainly a real estate show, but we're, we also talk to a lot of people that not aren't necessarily real estate investors first and foremost. So we're, the show is kind of more catered towards the business side of the real estate. Like not necessarily talking the nuts and bolts of real estate. I can learn that in a book for the most part. And there's a lot of other podcasts that talk about nuts and bolts. But one of the big things that we like to focus on is how do you really build a business the right way? So how do we take cause so many real estate investors are transactional, right? They think they think about real estate as just buying a piece of property and that's it. And then we're going to, we're going to be passive, right? We're going to buy this piece of property. We're gonna buy this a hundred unit apartment. And then we're going to be able to sit back on the beach and relax. Cause now we got all this cash flow. Well, that's not how it works. If you want to do that, then you need to passively truly passively invest in real estate.

Chris Miles (18:05): That's right.

Todd Dexheimer (18:07): But, if you're going to buy the piece of property and that you're going to be a part of that deal, you've got to be an active business owner. You've got to learn how to make a business plan. You've got to learn, you know, how to set up systems and processes. And you've got to learn how to build teams. You've got to do all the things that a regular business owner does. And so many real estate investors have no clue that that's even part of what they should be learning.

Chris Miles (18:28): It's so true. Like I'm in a kind of a high level mastermind group where you usually have to have at least a hundred doors to be in that group. And it's so common even with those guys, those guys who legitimately do have a business, right. Even for them to say, Oh, like I am getting up at 4:00AM, 5:00 AM to basically get to work and just hammer this out. And I'm trying to manage everybody. And I don't know if I should have a CEO or not, or a COO or, you know, they're like going nuts. They went from just trying to make money on a few flips and deals like that. And now they're like, man, like just to make these millions of dollars, I have no life like no real passive income. And, and that's a big difference. There's a big difference in lifestyle between that active investor, right? The person that is a business owner versus those that are just passively investing in. Like some sort of what you offer.

Todd Dexheimer (19:14): Yup. Yup. Absolutely.

Chris Miles (19:17): Yeah. Well, great. So obviously like if people follow your show, you, when you talk about syndications, you're probably talking about your syndications and deals you're doing right then too. Right. If you're, if people are looking for passive investments, you've got to, you've got your own funds as well, right?

Todd Dexheimer (19:30): Yeah. You know, on the show, I try not to, I don't probably talk too much about the deals as are going, but if we, when we close on a deal, I usually will give kind of a, Hey, here's what we did. Here are the lessons we learned along the way, you know, here's maybe some things we, you know, found in due diligence and why we made adjustments. And so we'll talk about, yeah, there's a lot of mistakes and lessons learned even along active deals, I've been doing this for a while, but I still make mistakes. I still learn a lot of things on every single deal that I feel like it can bring to my audience and allow them to hopefully learn as well. From what I've learned from my mistakes. So...

Chris Miles (20:13): Well, the thing I love is what you do is you're not the kind of guy to say, Hey, this deal looks awesome. Like you're not just, you know, running around like a monkey with a machine gun. Right. You're actually like, Hey, this deal doesn't fit my parameters, next. Okay. Like takes me 30 seconds. See this, this one's a no, like you just keep passing and passing. And those are like the best investors in my mind are the ones that say no to almost everything just like Warren Buffett did. He would always say, I say no to almost everything. And yes, the very, very few things, you know, and then you have to, you have to right. Like, there's, you can't be successful if you're just chasing after every little deal, you're going to have big, you're gonna have losses and maybe some gains, but you're gonna have a lot of losses. You won't be in business very long.

Todd Dexheimer (20:52): Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, Warren Buffett's obviously a pretty smart man. And you know, there, he says that for a reason, there's so many deals out there and those are deals for everybody else. Not for me.

Chris Miles (21:06): Yeah. I actually remember him. He said a quote. And he said that to one of my friends in an interview, he said the difference between the successful and the ultra successful is that the ultra successful say no, almost every time.

Todd Dexheimer (21:16): Yeah.

Chris Miles (21:17): You know, I know it's true. And I know you're that kind of guy too. So same way as you know, listeners, you guys, those who are following this, like check out his website, for sure. What's, do you have a website that people could follow?

Todd Dexheimer (21:30): Yeah. A couple of websites, Pillars of Wealth Creation. They can get to my podcast and then just my general website, which should, they can actually still get to my podcasts or that is at VentureDProperties.com. So it's venture and then D as in dog or Dexheimer properties.com.

Chris Miles (21:49): Awesome. Yeah. I'll definitely make sure we get to get those links in the show notes. So if you can follow you, follow your show or even check out your site and get to know you more, obviously, especially if people are looking for investing in opportunities and things of that nature, because obviously you're looking right now, you're actively looking for the right deals. Not just any deal.

Todd Dexheimer (22:06): Yeah. Looking for the right deals and there's opportunities that are going to come down the pipeline. And I think the important part for people that right now to be just thinking about is, what are the paradigms that are going to be shifting through this whole event, right? People's paradigm shift. Consumers, thoughts are going to shift, workers habits are going to shift. So there's going to be different things that are going to come out of this. And how can we make sure we're positioning ourselves to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of us. And it's not necessarily take advantage of other people. It's take advantage of the people's wants and needs that, you know, the consumers wants and needs out there. If you can best serve them. I think you're going to have a lot of success. And that's what I'm working with. Multifamily with real estate in general, I consider myself a value add real estate investor multifamily. I love a lot, but I also look at other asset classes. So we look at, you know, what are the strengths and weaknesses? What are the trends? Where do we, I think that things are going to be going, and we're trying to make the best decisions obviously for ourselves and our investors on that.

Chris Miles (23:06): Yeah. Working to improve upon something and make it better, you know, for everybody. Right. And that's...

Todd Dexheimer (23:10): Absolutely!

Chris Miles (23:12): What cooler way to make money than actually bettering people's lives and making money from that? I mean, that's the way life and that's where the world should be in my opinion. Yeah. Well, great. Hey, I appreciate your time so much Todd. Like this is awesome. Again, everybody check out the links in the show notes, you know, follow his podcast or check out his site. So everybody, you remember, it's all about patience. It's all about looking for the right thing. Not just anything but the very right thing. So follow Todd and everybody, I hope you make it a wonderful and prosperous week. We'll see you later!

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