#amy bitches about her mom

[allthesethingswillendsoon]

Long, long time

CHAPTER FOUR: Pride Parades and Christmas Dinners

SUMMARY: Paige and Azzi learn about gay people, in severely different situations. Gay marriage is legalized in Virginia, and the girls think about what that means to them. Teenage girls can be absolute bitches, especially the rich ones.

NOTE: This one was meant to have more scenes but as I was writing them I realised that it was going to be like way longer if I did that. So the stuff from that bit will be the next chapter, and then the chapter after that the other stuff I was going to do in this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this one, feel free to give me feedback as I'm the only one editing my stuff so I might be leaving plotholes and grammar mistakes in. Again, thanks so much for the support :)

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Warnings: Mentions of parent leaving, angst, homophobia, homophobic slurs 6.9k words (lol) Pairing: Paige Bueckers x Azzi Fudd

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10th of JUNE, 2007

EDINA, MINNESOTA

Paige Bueckers was five years old when she first learnt about gay people.

She had been driving somewhere unremarkable with her mom and dad. She sat in the backseat, watching the familiar Minnesota scenery speed by in a blur. The radio played softly, the sound muffled by the rush of air coming through the open windows. It was a rare thing, the summer heat. Paige had only experienced it for a few weeks a year for most of her life. She had decided she liked the way the sun felt as its’ rays blared down on her face, even if it left her skin pink and tender afterwards. 

Because of the sunshine, and the fact that it was so rare, nearly ninety-percent of the Minnesota population was outside, some hosting barbecues and pool days. Others were simply lying in the sun as they appreciated the rare chance to catch some vitamin D in temperatures above forty degrees fahrenheit. 

Finally, after what could have been hours or mere minutes in the car, the little family had reached their destination, The memory of where and when would be lost to Paige in the years to come. The day had been unbearably mundane, and up until leaving the car, it appeared that it was going to stay that way; that was until their family (in particular her mom) spotted a massive gathering of people.

Looking at the group was like looking at a rainbow. They had fun, upbeat music blasting all throughout the street. It was so loud that Paige’s little body had shook slightly at a particularly strong bass note.

“What’s that?” She had questioned good-naturedly, pointing at the large group

“It’s disgusting is what it is!” Amy hissed back, before she stormed off to the edge of the footpath beside them.

Bob had held Paige to his chest as they both watched Amy spill a slew of hateful comments at the joyful group of people.

“You’re all going to Hell! All you fags and dykes are!”

A young dark man turned towards her, his body shimmering, skin glittering gold under the sun. With his middle finger raised he yelled back, half-laughing,  “Well I guess we’ll see you there, you crazy bitch!”

Her mom went silent then, before she huffed indignantly and power-walked off in the direction of wherever it was they had been going.

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The moment lingered in the back of Paige’s mind as the day passed, the more she thought about it the more she wanted to throw up. 

Even as she laid in bed, waiting for her dad to come in and tuck her into bed, her mind was replaying the moment like a broken record player scratching its way through the same portion of a song, again and again.

She thought back to the words her mom had used. She had never heard words like those before.

“Fags.”

“Dykes.”

In the dark of her room she whispered the phrases. Simply feeling them leave her mouth was unpleasant, they were heavy, and they tasted sour. Despite the bitter taste that lingered in her mouth, seeping into her taste buds, she kept on going, repeating them over and over and over.

They left a weird feeling in her chest, and she could feel her face twisting and contorting at the tart sensation of saying the words out loud.

She thought of the way her mom had looked, on the side of the road. She had been red all over, a vein popping out of her neck with the force with which she’d said the words. 

It was disgusting. 

Paige, in her very few years of living, had never seen her mom like that. Not when she found out that Paige had made a sharpie masterpiece on the living room walls. Not when she had walked in on Paige cutting her long blonde hair off in choppy chunks with the kitchen scissors. Not when Paige had fed her uncle’s dog chocolate, because “He deserves to try some!”. Even in her worst moments she had never ever seen Amy Bueckers that angry. 

It didn’t make any sense to her, the whole scene had been so beautiful, the group of people glowing red and blue and yellow and every shade in between. Big pieces of fabric had been hoisted up into the sky. The sun had shined down on them like a spotlight, illuminating the beauty of the moment.

So why had her mom gotten so angry? Why had she used those words? What did they mean?

Amidst her pondering, her dad walked into her room. He stopped mid-step and stared at her. 

Paige hadn’t realised that as she lost herself in her thoughts, the words had kept flowing out of her, her mouth had gone numb to the venom that came with saying the names. He continued to stare at her for a minute, he watched as she noticed him and slipped out of her trance. Finally, the words stopped falling out of her mouth.

She turned to look at him and smiled, all milky little teeth and youthful innocence. Hearing those words come from someone so beautiful and young was vile. But hearing it from the mouth of his daughter made bile rise in his throat as his heart dropped to his stomach. It was wrong, all wrong.

Bob realised then that he had a choice to make. He had learnt over the years that he couldn’t control Amy’s questionable politics, something he had chosen to overlook for the sake of love. Yet, the thought had never occurred to him that one day Amy’s beliefs would impact Paige. 

He turned, ducking his head into the hall to check that Amy was still in her spot on the couch, watching whatever lifestyle garbage was playing on the TV. He closed the door softly and came to sit on the edge of Paige’s bed.

“Honey, I need you to know something.” He said it with soft seriousness, piquing Paige’s interest  immediately

“What?” She questioned, big blue eyes staring up at him intently.

“Those words you were saying before, do you know what they mean?”

“No, I just know them ‘cause that’s what mom was saying.”

Bob felt a stab of guilt. That’s exactly what every parent never wants to hear, that their five-year-old was repeating slurs in their bedroom because ‘that’s what mom was saying’.

“Well I need you to know that they are very bad, mean words. And I want you to promise me that you will never, ever use them, okay?” He was looking at her like what he was saying was important, and even though she didn’t really understand, she knew that it really mattered to him.

“Okay. But why dad?” Paige had always been one to question authority, a habit that Bob and Amy had worked tirelessly to decrease. But as she asked her voice was filled with nothing but genuine curiosity.

“Well… you know those people we saw today?” He said slowly, trying to figure out the right way to explain to someone so young.

“The ones mom yelled at? With the pretty rainbows?”

It killed him, it really did, it was the last kind of conversation that he wanted to have with her. He should’ve been tucking her into bed, reading her a bedtime story about magical adventures with swords and castles and happy endings. Not reminiscing on the pride parade that her mom had quite literally rained on.

“Yeah, those ones. They were celebrating this thing called ‘Pride month’, which is for gay people.” As Bob spoke Paige nodded along, taking in the information.

“It looked fun.” She smiled. 

“Yeah, it did.” He smiled back.

“So what are gay people?”

“Gay people are boys that like boys and girls that like girls.” Bob explained, trying to put it into the simplest terms he could muster up.

“Hmmm, okay” 

“And I need you to know that they’re just as important as anyone else. Whoever it is that you love doesn’t make you better, or worse than anyone else.” He said the words with conviction, and Paige hummed in understanding. She was the brightest and kindest little girl he had ever met, it was amazing -and slightly disheartening- that a five year old could understand that respecting other people for who they were was basic decency when her own mother couldn’t.

As Paige stared ahead, deep in thought, a moment of silence passed.

“Do you think I’m gay? All my friends are girls.” She asked, brows furrowed as she contemplated. He nearly chuckled at her question. It was so naive, but the good kind. The kind that came from a place of genuine curiosity and wonder, the kind that was endearing and left a warm glow in his chest.

“I can’t tell you if you’re gay or not.”

“Oh.” This seemed to puzzle her. Her dad could tell her what time to go to bed and what she was going to eat for dinner, but not if she was gay? It just didn’t make sense in her little brain.

“But what I can tell you, is that no matter what you are, gay or not, I love you.” His voice wobbled the tiniest bit as he leant down to hug her tight. “I love you to the moon and back, You’re my whole universe Paigey.”

“I love you too Dad” She squealed, squeezing him as close as she could.

“See you in the morning kiddo.” He said as he flicked off the overhead lights and shut the door.

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The best Bob could hope is that Paige forgets the whole day, letting the memories of her Mom’s outburst fall away with the unremarkable detritus that comes with childhood.

But if not, if somehow the memories did stick, and Paige were to look back on the moment in the years to come, he hoped that she would know better than her mom. That she would think back to the radiant group of people and see them with nothing but love. That she would know her mom was wrong in what she had said.

But above all, he hoped that she remembered that he loved her, and he hoped that that could be enough.

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24th of DECEMBER, 2007

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

Just like Paige, Azzi Fudd had also learnt about gay people when she was five years old.

It was Christmas Eve, and the Fudd’s were driving to their Aunt Karly’s house in Richmond. 

The house was beautiful, all red brick walls and white detailings, ivy growing up the sides. In every room there were intricate stained glass windows, and when the light shone through the walls turned a million different colours. There were rooms upon rooms, each with their own color scheme and furniture style. Azzi and her brothers would stay in the room next to her parents, with a triple bunk bed and flowery green wallpaper.

Azzi simply adored the house, but what she adored most was the gardens. 

The house was located on the very outskirts of Richmond, so there was much more land than what was normal for the area. Nearly every inch of the property was covered with grass so green it seemed nearly impossible that it could be real. Trees of every kind -orange, lemon, mango- littered the property. The best bit though, in Azzi’s opinion were the rose bushes, found nearly everywhere, under the windows, around the fence. But the best bit of all was outside the back of the house where the flower garden was. Not only were there roses but hydrangeas and lilies and lavender, all leading up to a little gazebo. 

It was simply magnificent. But it also required  a lot of upkeep, a job that aging Aunt Karly simply wasn’t able to do. So instead Karly had hired a local, recent college graduate to care for the grounds. She had been pleasantly surprised at the young girl’s gardening skills, and even more pleasantly surprised when her daughter, Ruby, had revealed that she was dating their gardener, Peyton.

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After an hour or two they had finally reached the stretch of road that led to the house. Azzi got that same giddy feeling she felt every time they visited, the house felt magical. When she was running around the garden everything was possible, she loved it.

Another moment passed, Azzi’s excitement bubbling in her chest, then, the house finally came into view. It was tall and wide and fenced off, though the gates were never closed, literally and metaphorically.

The house was perfect for hosting the massive, Christmas get-together that was held every year. Generosity was undoubtedly an innate trait of the Fudd family. Not one single member of the family, oldest to youngest, could recall a Christmas that they hadn’t opened their invite to at least five non-Fudds. They would always tell whoever they invited that it was a gift to have them there, that the best part of Christmas was spending time with family both old and new. Most often the people invited had lost their own families to disease, or were far away from home for whatever reason, and they would almost always return for years after that, some even bringing the families they’d built since.

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That year, in light of their new relationship and Peyton’s lack of supportive family, Ruby was bringing Peyton to christmas. Karly had reassured Ruby that Peyton was a lovely girl and everyone would love her, but still Ruby was worried that some of the guests' archaic views would make for an awkward gathering.

She knew she was spiraling, but she couldn’t help but worry that even little Azzi would judge them. 

A few nights before the get-together, on one of their weekly skypes, Ruby had tried to bridge the topic with Azzi.

“So Az, y’know how we invite lots of people to Christmas?” She asked, attempting to start the slightly dreaded conversation.

“Yeah! It’s my favourite bit.” She responded, voice high with excitement. Ruby went to continue before she was cut off by Azzi, “Wait, my favorite is potatoes actually. ”

That caused her to chuckle a little, her little cousin’s youthful sincerity easing her worries, if only for a minute.

“Well… I just wanted to tell you that I’m bringing our gardener, Peyton. She’s my…” As she neared the end of her sentence she lost confidence before trailing off quietly. She went silent for thirty seconds as she stared down at her hands. When she looked back up Azzi was staring at her, waiting patiently for a response. She realised then that she still needed to finish her sentence, “She’s my friend.”

“So she’s the one who makes the garden pretty?” Azzi asked inquisitively.

“Yeah, that’s her.” Ruby responded, her nerves only building from the fact she still hadn’t told Azzi about her.

“She’s really good, I’m so so so excited to meet her!” She grinned wide. Ruby knew how much she loved the gardens, and desperately hoped that Azzi would love Peyton just as much.

As her bedtime grew closer Azzi began to grow sleepy. Finally, after her third yawn she decided to admit defeat and called her dad to tuck her into bed, leaving Katie to talk to Ruby.

Katie and Tim both knew that Ruby was dating Peyton, and Katie could sense Ruby’s palpable anxiety about the whole situation. Jose and Jon weren’t yet old enough to fully understand what it meant to date, but Azzi had just reached the age where she could understand the concept of relationships, and she had become quite obsessed with the novelty of the whole idea.

“You know you can tell her honey, she won’t mind, she’ll probably just want to know when you guys are getting married!” Katie explained with a soft smile.

“I know I don’t have any reason to worry, but I am anyway.” Ruby explained. She had always been close to her aunt, who was just as tough as she was soft.

“It’ll be okay hon, I promise.” The red-haired woman soothed. 

Ruby was still very nervous, but she realised that there was no point worrying about something that hadn’t even happened yet. She also remembered that Azzi was the most loving kid she had ever met, and if anyone was going to be supporting her, it was Azzi.

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 After finally managing to wrangle their three young children out of the car, their family stood knocking at the front door step. They could hear footsteps coming towards them. Ruby opened the door and Azzi flung herself into her, she was tall for her age, but not tall enough to reach past her hips, so she settled for squeezing her legs.

“Nice to see you too Azzi!” Ruby chuckled as she shuffled them inside, Azzi seeming intent on not letting go.

The rest of her family had dispersed to go say hi to everyone else there. When Azzi finally let go she was met with the sight of an unfamiliar face.

“Hi Azzi! I’m Peyton, I’m Ruby’s girlfriend, and I work in the gardens.” Peyton smiled, kneeling to be face to face with the little girl. She was really pretty, she had short blonde hair and bluey-green eyes.

“Hi Peyton!” Azzi grinned back, her breath minty fresh from all the candy canes she’d eaten in the car. 

Before Peyton knew what was happening Azzi was throwing herself into her arms, “So you’re the one who makes the gardens so pretty?”

“Yeah that’s me!” Peyton chuckled.

Azzi pulled away from her before grabbing her hand and dragging her out to the garden.

Ruby had watched the whole scene with a smile, of course Azzi would love her. When Peyton turned around laughing Ruby mouthed an ‘I love you’ to her.

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After a long dinner of ham and mashed potatoes, all the guests had spread out around the house and the garden, some playing cards, others having wine.

Azzi had been playing with her brothers in the garden, well she was trying to. Jon was only a little bit younger than her, and could almost keep up with her. Jose on the other hand? It was safe to say the almost-toddler had a long way to go in terms of fine motor skills - and also just motor skills in general.

Ruby and Peyton were sitting in the gazebo chatting when Peyton decided she wanted more cranberry juice. The second she left Azzi came barrelling over to Ruby and hopped into her lap.

“So… Peyton’s your girlfriend?” The small girl questioned curiously.

“Yeah.” Ruby answered simply.

“That’s cool” Azzi responded, unusually quiet for some reason.

Ruby just hummed in response before Azzi continued with a smile, “You’re lucky, she’s really, really pretty.”

“I’m super lucky, she is the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.” Ruby really did feel like the luckiest person in the world. She had no idea how she had bagged someone as amazing as Peyton, it was something she was grateful for each and every day.

 Azzi sat in silence with her comment for a minute, then she added, “So are you guys going to get married soon?”

Ruby bit back a laugh, she did exactly what Katie said she was.

“Well… I think it’s a bit too soon for that. But even if we wanted to, we couldn't.” She responded cautiously. If she didn’t answer right Azzi would be off telling everyone that Ruby and Peyton were actually getting married.

The last bit confused Azzi, “What do you mean? Who’s gonna stop you?”

Ruby tried to explain it in a way that made sense to her cousin’s growing empathetic brain, “It’s a rule the government made. Only boys and girls can marry each other. Gay people can’t get married.”

She nodded along, taking in what she was saying, “So you’re both gay?”

“Uh-huh, we’re both lesbians.” 

“And … ‘lebseens’ can’t get married?” 

“Yup.” Azzi’s little eyebrows furrowed at this, why would anyone stop weddings? It was just silly.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Azzi huffed, crossing her arms in outrage.

“I know right!” It was bittersweet to watch someone so little learn of the cruel and hateful ways of the world.

“Don’t worry. I’m gonna make them change the rules. I promise.” She said it with such conviction Ruby imagined Azzi storming up to the White House for a split second.

“Thanks Az, you’re the best.” Ruby said, before pulling Azzi into a cuddle.

“Then, when ‘lebseens’ can get married, you can marry Peyton, and I can be a flower girl!” Azzi squealed, there was nothing she loved like a wedding.

“Sounds perfect! I can’t wait!”

They heard the soft click of the back door closing and turned to see Peyton walking towards them with two wine glasses filled with cranberry juice.

“Peyton! We’re talking about your wedding!” Azzi squealed, waving her arms wildly.

“Oh you are?” Peyton laughed, flashing Ruby a knowing smirk, before sitting down next to the two.

Ruby was too happy to feign offense when Azzi moved from her lap into Peyton’s.

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16th of OCTOBER, 2014

OAKRIDGE, VIRGINIA

Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd were twelve years old when gay marriage was legalized in the state of Virginia.

It had been a happy day. Oakridge was a predominantly blue town, sure there were a few flag-waving, Trump-loving republicans, but for the most part, it had been a happy day across town. Music played from speakers and chalk-rainbows littered the roads. The gas station gave out a free, small slushie with every transaction over thirty dollars. It was a happy day, but a business day nonetheless.

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Azzi often detailed her intricate wedding plans to Paige. It was one of her biggest dreams, to have a beautiful wedding, she was a firm believer that a beautiful wedding led to a beautiful life. 

She had it all figured out, down to the color of the tablecloths and the thank-you gifts. She knew she wanted the ceremony in her Aunt Karly’s garden gazebo, and the reception to be a healthy mix of indoors and outdoors. Her dad would walk her down the aisle to a live orchestral version of ‘Here comes the Bride’. She would wear a silky gown, off the shoulder, hopefully by then her hair would be grown out, her curls long and thick. 

The one thing she wasn’t clear on was if Paige would be her maid of honor. It was weird, there was no one in the world she loved like she loved Paige, she was her best friend, her world, but the thought of Paige being her maid of honor just didn’t sit right with her. That was the one thing she never mentioned when she spoke of her plans, Paige never pushed it, so she never really thought much of it - she decided that maybe it was better that way.

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The legalisation of gay marriage really did prove to her friends and family that Azzi was a ball of sunshine with a heart of gold.  When the news had come on the night before to announce the news she had sat on the couch and cried tears of joy. 

She cried for Peyton and Ruby, for the gay guys down the road, for everyone really.

She didn’t tell anyone, not even Paige, but she cried for herself too, cried because now she knew that no matter what she would be able to have a beautiful wedding, and a beautiful life. Azzi knew she wasn’t a lesbian, she had crushed on many boys in her grade, but she often felt that she could love a girl too, if the right one came along.

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Paige, on the other hand, expected herself to be rather unmoved on the topic. She had always maintained her position on marriage. She had never had the conversation with her dad, but when the topic came up at school she made her opinions known, she would never ever get married. 

The reason behind that massive, blanket statement was quite obvious to anyone who knew about Paige’s parents. Her mom had just packed up and left, ten years of marriage and a kindergartener just left in the dust. Paige had sworn to herself that she would never be in the position her mom put her dad and herself in.

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Even though she knew she would never get married she imagined the horrid situation often;

She’d be twenty-something and finding herself in some big city somewhere, maybe New York. Sat at a bar he’d sit down at the stool next to her and order two drinks, a whiskey and coke for himself and some flowery, syrupy drink for her. He would be tall, maybe six-foot-two, with broad shoulders, a mess of dark brown hair, and a mouth full of perfect white teeth. It wouldn’t matter whether or not they had hit it off, she’d be in his bed that night, letting herself be touched and touched and touched. It didn’t matter whether or not she liked him. That was how it had to be, she knew that.

In the morning she would wake up naked in a mess of white sheets and stumble into the kitchen wearing one of his oversized white button downs. She wouldn’t have had the chance the night before to take in where she was, the apartment would be massive, all glass window walls and marble countertops. And there he’d be, at the stove frying eggs and bacon, his face serious until he’d see her and the harsh lines of his face would give way to a big smile.

They would sit at the table and talk about whatever it was that you were supposed to talk about when you wake up naked in a half-stranger's apartment. It would be around eight-thirty when he would remember that he had a big, important meeting at his big, important job (that his big, important dad definitely didn’t get him). So he would leave her his credit card and a house key before running out the door as he did his tie. 

Then she’d call Azzi, who would be at some prestigious college, learning about something way too complicated for Paige. They would giggle as Paige regaled the night before and Azzi would tell her how lucky she is and that she should really, really pursue a relationship with him, and so she would. Even in this alternate universe where her dreams of building houses with her dad had and her personal integrity had seemingly vanished, she would still hang onto her best friend’s words like they were gospel.

The days would pass into weeks then months then years. She would end the lease on her crappy apartment and move into his. She would meet his family at a business dinner and laugh and charm them while wearing baby pink heels and a dress that Azzi picked out. A few weeks later, on an impromptu trip to Paris (because that was who she was now), he’d get down on one knee and present her with a massive diamond and ask a question she knew there was only one answer to.

They would get married in a beautiful ceremony, his broad shoulders hugged by an expensive Italian suit, and she’d wear a big, puffy white dress because that’s what he liked and she didn’t know what she liked anymore. When her dad walked her down the aisle Paige would cry and so would Bob, he’d give her hand a squeeze and let her go. Azzi would be her maid of honor, she’d wear a light purple dress, because, as she would have reminded her, purple was her favourite colour. 

At the reception Azzi would give a beautiful speech and both her and Paige would cry and cry and cry. When the festivities had come to a close, the best friend’s would hug and Paige would hold on for a second too long and Azzi would let her. She would know it didn’t mean anything though, because when they pulled apart Azzi would join hands with her husband’s best friend and they’d giggle their way down to their room. 

Then, a few months later, it would be Azzi’s turn to get married. Even in that nightmare world, Azzi planned her wedding exactly as it would have been in any universe. She would wear a silky white dress, off the shoulder, her curls grown out below her shoulders. Tim would walk her down the aisle to a live orchestral version of ‘Here comes the bride’ and Paige would choke back tears in a frilly pink dress as she watched. She’d wince as they kissed, try and fail to keep her composure through her maid of honor speech, then go back to her room and throw up.

She would be two handsome boys and a beautiful girl deep when she realised that she was trapped. She’d know that she had two options, either run away and leave them all behind, the house in the hamptons, the bake sales, the party-hosting, or stay and spend the rest of her life miserable, throwing herself into the lives of her kids and the upkeep of their homes. Of course, she’d pick the latter, no matter what. She would never dream of building a home only to leave it in ruins. But it would ruin her, it really would. Azzi would live next door with her husband and their lovely twin girls and their goldendoodle. They would be happy and they would fuck into their seventies and Paige would listen to a wine-drunk eighty-something Azzi ramble about how good their lives had been, how lucky they both were to have married the men of their dreams and live next to their best friend, then Paige would smile along before excusing herself to go scream into her pillow.

It would only be on her deathbed, surrounded by her loved ones, Azzi holding one hand, her husband holding the other, that she would realise the issue was her. Everyone else in the equation was happy, she was dragging herself down. There would be nothing left for her to want, she had it all, yet it just wasn’t enough for her. Just before her last breath she would squeeze her best friend’s hand and whisper a weak “I love you” into the sterile air and hope that Azzi knew it was for her, for her bestest friend - then again, by then it wouldn’t matter anymore.

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To put it simply, marriage was her worst nightmare. When she was stressed she would actually dream of situations similar to that, a whole, horrible life stretched out before her eyes. Usually she’d wake up screaming somewhere between her first kid and her third annual not-for-profit gala. 

She had always been dead-set on not marrying, but on that day, when girls could marry girls, Paige realised that maybe marriage wouldn’t be too bad.

But then she thought better, pushed that thought to the back of her mind, and doubled-down on her anti-marriage agenda.

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18th of DECEMBER, 2014

OAKRIDGE, VIRGINIA

Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd were thirteen years old when they attended the world's worst sleepover.

Shelley McCarthy had invited ten girls over to her house to celebrate her thirteenth birthday. 

She called it a ‘house’ but it was more a mansion than anything else. It was three stories tall, made of sandstone brick and marble, seven beds and baths, and had what was likely the biggest pool in all of America.

Even though winter was just around the corner and there was a bitter chill hanging in the air, Shelley had insisted on swimming and everyone was too scared to disagree with her.

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They were all in Shelley’s room getting changed - all except Azzi who had texted to say that she would be there in twenty minutes.

Paige was in the corner of the room, a comfortable distance away from everyone else. It was crazy to her that a room could be so large that ten girls could fit in together and she wasn’t within a five foot radius of any of them. 

Growing up for such a large part of her life with just her dad meant she often felt awkward when she was surrounded by girls doing girly things. Azzi was different, they could do anything in front of the other and it wouldn’t change a thing, they were best friends forever and always. But Azzi wasn’t there yet, so she was staring at the ground as she shuffled awkwardly into her swimsuit.

When she turned around she stood face to face with Shelley. Paige smiled at her, unsure of what to say. She had no idea why Shelley had invited her, they only spoke because of Azzi, so she had guessed that she was just being nice and making sure she didn’t feel left out.

Shelley did not smile back at her, instead she looked at Paige like she had killed her puppy and shat in her obnoxiously sized pool.

“Like what you see?” Maya sneered from her spot by the window.

Paige didn’t understand what was happening, what was she talking about? “W-what?”

Shelley smirked before taking a step forward, so close Paige could smell her peanut-buttery breath, “She asked, do you like what you see?”

Everything had become weird so fast, as she glanced around the room she noticed all the girls laughing at her.

“Don’t stand so close to her! She’ll probably try to kiss you!” Tiera snickered from somewhere behind them.

“I-I-I don’t want to kiss her!” Paige half-yelled, desperately trying to think of a way to defend herself.

Before anyone could respond the door opened and Azzi came through smiling. Azzi was like sunshine personified, the tension in the room suddenly dispersed. Everyone returned to normal, except for Paige who was stuck in her spot, staring down at the floor trying to make sense of what was happening. 

Azzi had been at the door the whole time, listening in to the girls torture Paige. It made her sick, it really did. She had always thought that Paige might be gay, but she would never ever in a million years push the topic with her. It was possible she was completely off base with her assumption, and it was also very possible that Paige hadn’t even thought of it herself. Most of all though, Azzi knew that if she was, Paige would tell her when she was ready. 

Azzi begrudgingly pulled Shelley into a hug and gave an obligatory ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ squeal before walking to stand in front of Paige. Her eyes were trained on the ground, arms crossed across her chest protectively. 

Azzi brought her hand up and rubbed soft lines on Paige’s arm, “Everything alright?”

Paige smiled back weakly, “Yeah, glad you’re here now.”

“Me too P. Me too.” Azzi gave her arm a quick squeeze before shimmying her clothes off and declaring herself ready to swim.

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

Paige made a point of not saying a single word to anyone in the pool - except for Azzi of course. It was easy enough to do considering the fact that every other girl there was ignoring her. To make the situation even worse Paige absolutely hated swimming, and it showed she was a horrid swimmer. Azzi said she had a gift for making treading water look like the hardest thing in the world.

She was glad no one was talking to her, partially because it meant she could fully focus on keeping herself afloat beside Azzi but mostly because she was pretty sure no one had anything nice to say to her anyways.

Luckily they made it all the way through the cake -three layers of vanilla with buttercream and strawberry jam between- and pizza without any incident. Paige was hoping that Azzi being there would be enough to deter any nasty comments, but she had a feeling her presence wouldn’t be enough.

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

It turned out Paige was right.

They were sitting in a circle on the massive fluffy rug on Shelley’s floor when someone decided that truth or dare would be a fun idea.

A few rounds had passed before Maya made Paige her target. The second she called out her name the room filled with tension, all but Azzi watching in amusement, seemingly in on some inside joke the other two weren’t.

“Truth or Dare?” The question was charged. It was either pick dare and be forced to kiss someone who’d act like she tried to hook up with them, or she would pick truth and be asked some embarrassing, mean question. 

She went for the lesser of the two evils. “Truth I guess…” 

Everyone was wide-eyed in anticipation. Paige’s breath had suddenly grown shallow and fast, she felt like the room was closing in on her. She turned to look at Azzi hoping for some reassurance, but her best friend looked just as concerned as her. 

“Hmmm, have you ever kissed anyone?” 

It sounded like an innocent question, unlike what Paige had been waiting for so she decided to answer honestly.

“No I haven’t.” That answer would’ve been good enough, the game probably would’ve continued and she would’ve had more time to prepare before she was asked again. But instead of leaving it at that she decided to continue, “I don’t really like any of the boys at our school.”

Laughter broke out amongst the girls at that. Neither Paige nor Azzi had ever heard laughs of that sort. They were high pitched like hyenas and seemed to echo off the tall, stark white walls of the room. Azzi shuffled closer, their arms touching, and for a moment Paige felt like it would all be okay.

Finally once they calmed down, Tiera chimed in, “So you don’t like the boys. What about the girls?”

Now that was the type of question she had been expecting. “I don’t like girls, I’m not a lesbian.” She tried her hardest to sound sure of herself, to get them to back off, but her words came out wobbly and unsure. She could feel Azzi’s eyes on her, watching her as she spoke.

“Sure you’re not…” Shelley said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

“I’m not!” She hissed back, this only made the girls laugh harder. A massive lump had formed in her throat, why did this have to happen to her?

“Shut up, you guys aren’t funny.” Azzi had come to her rescue. Of course she had. No one had her back like her best friend. She was so strong, so willing to defend Paige. 

“God chill out Azzi, what are you her girlfriend?” Maya joked.

“Ha! Paige totally likes Azzi, don’t you Paige?” Paige wasn’t even sure who was talking to her anymore. She felt like the room was closing in on her, like she was being squeezed to death, with the way things were going she thought death by wall strangulation might be the best way to go..

“What? No I don’t!” Paige had turned bright red, her face burning hot. She didn’t cry much anymore, but if she did she would be in absolute hysterics at that moment. All she heard when she spoke was another round of raucous giggles and “Yes you do!”s.

“C’mon Paige, I’ll call my dad, he can pick us up” Azzi had risen to her feet and was grabbing onto Paige’s arm trying to pull her up as well. When she finally stood up they both turned to their bags and shoved their stuff inside as quickly as they could.

The whole time a chorus of insults are being thrown at them. Although ‘them’ was really just Paige.

“Yeah, well good fuckin’ riddance anyway!”

“No one even wanted you here in the first place Paige!”

“You only got invited cause my mom feels bad for you!”

“We’re better off anyway without you trying to kiss us!”

Maybe in a normal situation she would have time to think about what they were saying, to let the hurt sink in. But her situation was anything but normal, and she was too busy being upset about all the other stuff to care about what they had to say about her.

The two girls shuffled out of the bedroom down the glossy marble hallways, past the kitchen where Azzi called out with a cordial “Thank you for having us!” before they leant against the massive mailbox at the front of the McCarthy house.

They waited in silence. Azzi thought of consoling Paige but then she thought better. The blonde was radiating something unreadable. Still, Azzi could tell that whatever thoughts were swirling around in Paige’s mind, were not ones she was interested in sharing.

Tim pulled up after five minutes of waiting, Azzi’s text hadn’t told him why they needed to be picked up, just that it was really urgent. He was going to ask them what had happened, but when he saw Paige and Azzi’s look of concern he decided to wait till the morning.

It was only a short, ten minute drive home, but as the three all sat dead silent in the car it felt more like fifty. The whole time Paige had been severely engrossed in her thoughts. When Azzi turned to look at her she thought that the older girl was staring intensely out the window, but in reality she was staring intensely at herself. When they pulled into the Fudd’s driveway Paige did something that surprised both Azzi and Tim, she mumbled a goodbye and a ‘Thank you’ before walking off down the street.

Azzi knew for sure that Paige was really troubled by whatever thoughts she was having, and she had an inkling that it had a lot to do with the things Shelley and her friends had said.

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

NOTE: I hope you guys enjoyed this one, the next two might come a little quicker than normal cause I've already got the plot and stuff for them fully mapped out. Like I said before feel free to leave feedback and stuff in my inbox or in my messages.

Thanks again for reading :)

[missmielyhoran]

Denial

face calim- Lily James

Masterlist // Series Masterlist

[Warning- Angst, Cheating, smut but not written, crying, alcohol consumption, more crying, suicidal thoughts, people not knowing meaning of privacy, Hayden being a bitch]

Liked by Harryfan2, Y/Nfan3, Harryfan1 and 663,989 others

Y/Nupdates Y/N out with kids in London today getting ice cream.

View all comments.

Harryfan1 Milf fr

Harryfan2 Where are the kids?

Y/Nfan1 They're cropped out. Harry and Y/N didn't want their faces to be public yet.

Y/Nfan3 Is it just me, or have you guys also noticed that Harry has not seen with kids for a long time

Harryfan3 Maybe he's busy with new album and stuff

Y/Nfan1 No me too

Y/Nfan2 @/Harryfan3 he was seen with his friends at pub few days ago

Harryfan5 Aww she bought flowers for Harry

*****

They say that when someone dies, their whole life flashes before their eyes. The good, the bad, all moments move in front of their eyes like a movie, that's how you felt when you opened the door of your bedroom.

A movie of your marriage dying.

You were going through your day like normal. Your shooting had ended early, so you decided to pick up the kids from school and take them out for ice cream. They were now standing in the kitchen. You could hear their muffled giggles while you stood upstairs in front of your room like a mannequin watching your husband scramble and quickly put on clothes.

"Fuck- Baby I can explain-" Harry tried to approach you, but you couldn't look at him or react to his words. Your eyes remained trained on the woman lying on the bed, on your bed. Sheets up to her chest, her head perched up on her arm while she looked straight in your eyes without any shame or remorse. Oh no, she had a smirk on her lips.

"Kids are downstairs," You motioned with your thumb downstairs, "I- I'm going to drop them off, and then we will..." You couldn't complete the sentence. You felt like your body was on autopilot as you went downstairs and ushered the kids back to the car, your and Harry's four years old daughter asking why she couldn't see her dad and what could you say?

"He has some important work to do. Why don't you guys have a sleepover at Elliott's tonight?" You asked them, putting all your acting skills out there to hide the waver in your voice. Elliot was your ex-boyfriend and father of your eldest son Emiel.

"Yayyy" Amie clapped her hands, excited to hang out with her best friend. Meanwhile, Emiel stayed silent and looked at his mom from the passenger seat. You knew he knew something was wrong, considering he was older and much more aware of his surroundings than your little girl.

You just sighed and kept driving to Elliott's house. Soon enough, they arrived at the familiar small cottage-esc house. You got out of the car and then unstrapped Amie from the seat belt. As soon as you put her down, Amie ran towards the door and knocked on it, being too short to reach the doorbell. Emiel laughed and picked her up so she could ring the bell.

Soon enough, Elliot was opening the door with the biggest smile on his face. "If it isn't my two favorite people," He exclaimed and pulled both of them in hugs. Behind him, his Fiancé laughed at his antics, and she smiled a bit, too.

"Mom said we're having a sleepover!" Amie screamed near Em's ear, making him groan. It's then Elliot looked up, his blue eyes met her tired ones, and he knew something was wrong considering they were friends for a long time.

"Em, why don't you take her inside with Bran?" He smiled at his son, and Bran took them inside, talking about something.

"Are you okay?" Elliot immediately asked, and you shook your head. Your brain was still too jummbled to speak or to cry or to be angry or even comprehend what had happened.

"Why don't you come inside for a second and drink some water? I fear you might pass out from the way you're looking so pale." He looked at you concerned, and before you could protest, Elliott pulled you inside.

You sat on the dinner table and looked out to the garden, finding Em holding Amie in his arms, her head on his shoulder. The tiredness of school and excitement finally caughting up to her and knocked her out.

You took your phone out and clicked a picture, them being the only hope she could grasp on at the moment.

Elliot didn't ask any questions. He understood that if you wanted to talk, you would. He just stood there as emotional support staring at their kids as you drank the water.

"I might need them to be here for a few days before I sort things out. I hope you don't mind." You asked Elliott, looking up at him sadly. "You hurt me, sucre. Of course I don't mind." He shook his head and pulled you in a hug.

*****

Liked by Y/Nfan1, Annetwist, Harryfan4 and 1,987,456 others

Yourinstagram Mon chéri

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User1 Omg babiess

User2 That's Emiel? He has gotten so big

User3 I mean he's 13 now

User2 the small Gucci bag🥺she's soo like harry

annetwist Oh my sweet babies...miss you so much

Yourinstagram miss you too mom🥺

User4 still can't get over that she calls Anne mom���

User4 Harry didn't comment?

*****

When you arrived at you-Harry's house, the sun was setting. You was dreading the conversation that was bound to happen. Six years went down the drain in a few hours.

Your whole life felt like a lie.

Harry was sitting on the couch when you walked inside. A major part of you hoped he had some explanation, that it wasn't what it looked like or that it was just a mistake. But when you walked more inside and saw her there still after everything, your heart cracked a bit more.

"Y/N," Harry breathed out, his voice coming out in heaves as if he's out of breath, but you knew him. You knew he was just nervous.

He looked so young when he was sad, his eyes droopy yet shining, the mess of curls and clenched jaw reminded you of the early Harry who stole your heart.

Now, he reminded you of the one that broke it.

"Why is she still here?" was asked first thing first you asked. Harry looked behind him, and Hayden just shrugged and plopped down on the kitchen bar stool eating chips while scrolling through her phone.

"Emotional support for him after you leave" She said with a wink pointed at Harry.

"I just thought it would be better to talk with all of us here," he said, fiddling with his fingers, as if searching for a ring on his ring finger, but there wasn't one. Now that you think of it, you hadn't seen him wear it in so long.

You should have seen the signs.

All you could do was nod. You sat down far away from him on the loveseat, which was ironic cause there was no love in the atmosphere.

"I-" Harry started but couldn't. He closed his mouth again and opened it again, gaping like a goldfish. He looked at you, and you looked at him. Your husband, the person you loved the most after your kids, your first love, your everything.

"How long?" You asked, looking at Harry with dead eyes. It had nothing in them, no spark, nothing just lifeless saphire stones to see.

"Five months," Harry said, looking down at the rug, unable to look into your eyes.

Five months...

They were at your parents' house for Thanksgiving six months ago. The first time, he met Hayden after being with you for almost seven years. He never met your sister, and there was a reason for that.

"Thanksgiving," you mumbled out to herself more than to anyone. He fell out of love with you for so long, and you didn't even know.

"Why, Harry?" You finally asked. You still couldn't cry. No, you still had no expression on your face. You felt like a ghost, pale, feelingless, breathing ghost.

"I don't know," He said, his own lips wobbling.

"I'm going upstairs, babe. Come when you sort this out." Hayden said, walking towards the stairs like she owned the house, "See ya, sis!" She yelled from the top of stairs.

Awkward silence sat between them. The lovers who were laughing, kissing, and playing with their kids just this morning are now sitting in a souless house with a dead relationship.

How can things change so fast?

"Y/N" Harry called you softly. You looked up hopefully, thinking he would say it now, say anything to save whatever was left. You could make a home out of ashes, but for that you did need the ashes.

"I think it's better if you stay here. The kids will not be able to adjust somewhere els-" Harry spoke but stopped when he heard a sniffle.

For the first time since you walked in on them, tears flooded down your face. In just a moment, your eyes were blood red, glistening with tears.

"Where will you live?" You asked with your wobbling voice. A frown took over Harry's face watching you cry, but he was to blame for that.

"I didn't mean for it to happen this way Y/N" he said guiltily.

"Then which way did you want Harry?" You shouted at him, "Having one of our kids walk in on you two, or were you thinking of running away with her? or just wake up one day and throw divorce papers on my face?" You asked, your crying increased, making you choke on it and go into coughing fit.

Harry on instinct went to help you, but you raised your hand, stopping him. "Don't." You shook your head and stood up, calming down your coughing fit.

"I just thought I would talk to you," Harry mummbled his head down, looking at floor.

"You thought you would talk to me. Was this thought came before you stick your dick into my sister or after that?" You asked him clearly angry. You were still crying, your knees felt weak, and your head felt dizzy.

"Harry, we still have time. I- we can still be together just throw her out of house and never see her again. I will not go to my parents' house but please." You fell down to your knees sobbing. You wanted to save the only real thing you ever had, the only person you ever loved, who had been through her thick and thin. You needed him. You needed him for the kids.

Harry was looking down at you sympathetically, his own tears falling down. He felt too much shame to look in your eyes when you looked up at up for answers.

"I don't-" He choked a bit, "I love her Y/N" He whispered.

The final nail was in, the corpse was six feet under, there was no ashes to make home from.

You stilled on the ground, then a loud sob broke from you. You cried with your legs tucked to her chest in a fetal position on the floor. Harry came beside you and brought you to his chest. This time, you didn't move away or push him. You clutched onto his shirt, fully sobbing into it.

You digged your nose into his neck, and the shirt smelled like you. Even after everything, he still smelled like you, but it didn't matter now, did it?

The two lovers cried, holding each other, knowing that once they broke away. Everything else would also be broken.

You didn't know how long it had been. You just knew Harry's shirt was fully wet with your tears, and all you could hear was his heartbeat.

You pulled away from him and looked up in his glistening green eyes and after everything for some reason your eyes held hope.

Maybe it was denial after all they do say it's thr first stage of grief.

But you still knew you had to get out of this house. So, you got up and fixed your clothes to best of your knowledge, tears still falling from your eyes.

You didn't say anything just made your way towards the door concerning Harry. "Y/N were are you going?" He asked following behind you.

"Kids are wt Elliot's" Was all you said as you got into the car and drove off. You didn't know where you were going but you just wanted to go far away from all this.

You weren't a mother who knew her daughter didn't go to sleep until she told her a bedtime story or a wife who just got cheated on by her husband. No, you were just a broken soul who got betrayed by a person who vowed never to hurt her.

You drove in autopilot like you have been for the whole day, how you were alive you didn't know. How many cars and trucks you have doged you didn't know, you didn't even know where you were.

It was a bridge of some kind, you would thinking living in this place for so long would grant you the knowledge of where you are but you didn't know shit. Parking on the side of the road you turned off the car and pulled your windows down. The night cold air filled up the car, making your nose and ears red immediately.

You looked around the place, the small city lights twinkling in the diatance, people returning to their homes. Many who will return to a empty space many to someone waiting for them but you? You lost your home.

Having so much money and fame couldn't give you back your home.

You cried, you cried until you couldn't. You cried until all the tears were drained and all there wad left was a ragining headache and heartache.

You got out of the car and stood near the bridge. Your hair blew in the cold air and somehow you knew you have caught cold. You hugged your coat closer to you searching for any type of warmth.

Putting your hands on the metal bridge you leaned into it more. The rings you were wearing clinked against the metal making you look down to your hands and there it was the pretty diamond he especially got made for you, the one that once held a promise, a promise of faithfulness, love and family and some how in just couple hours you lost all of that or maybe you lost it six months ago just didn't realize it.

You took it off. It didn't held any meaning now did it?

You started crying again. It felt like once the dam broke, it didn't want to stop, but maybe that was for the best. You had kids to be strong for.

Oh god the kids...

What were you going to tell them? Maybe Harry would come back for the kids? He didn't love you but kids? He would come for them, right?

You were soo consumed in you misery you didn't realize your phone was constantly ringing in car or the texts or that from cross the bridge couple of girls were taking your pics.

*****

Harry was getting scared.

When you left the house, he thought you would go to Elliot's house, but you weren't there, and now both of them were constantly blowing up your phone to get a hold of you.

You were in no shape of driving. He should have stopped you, but like most of his decisions, he had nothing to do but regret on them.

He walked back to the couch and plopped down. Hayden was still in the bedroom upstairs. The bedroom that was once yours and his. It felt wrong cause it was wrong, wasn't it? But he loved Hayden, so it has to be right? right?

He looked up from his lap, and his eyes went straight to the flowers sitting on the coffee table. It was a habit of yours to bring something home whenever you come back home early. Mostly, it was flowers or the sushi from the sushi place you both love and went to on your first date.

His heart grew heavy as he picked up the flowers, which might be the last one he ever receives from you. Before he could examine them more or cry over them, a pair of hands were taking them out of his hold.

"C'mon baby, let go to bed. I'm tired" Hayden pouted just like you used to, her same yet different eyes as yours looking back at him, and he couldn't resist. He gave her a somber nod and stood up, making his way upstairs. Once he was out of eyeshot, Hayden threw away the flowers in dustbin and happily made her way to the bedroom.

*****

Liked by Y/Nfan2, Y/Nfan4, Harryfan5 and 482,786 others

Y/Nnews Y/N spotted by some fans near the bridge.

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User1 Why she looks so sad?

User2 I met her..it was my friends who took the picture. I tried to tell them not to but they didn't listen.

User3 What happened?

User2 She looked sad and tired. I mean it's hard being mom but she her usual aura was down like she's usually so chirpy and happy but she looked like she didn't want to be disturbed so we didn'task for a picture.

User3 Yet you invaded her privacy and took her pictures

User4 Is it just me or did anyone else seeing that she's not wearing her wedding ring?

User3 Omg yes I didn't realize

*****

You didn't know when you got here. All you know is Elliot somehow found you and brought you back to his house. He left you in the guest room and asked you to call him if you needed something.

You tossed and turned for hours in bed, or maybe it had been a few minutes, time didn't exist for you anymore. You got up to go to the kitchen and get some water when you saw the wine bottle. The temptation was bad, your fingers were itching, and your mouth went dry.

If there was any time to get wasted, it was this. The evil little voice in your head said and you gave in.

You took the bottle out of the cellar and sat down on the floor with your back against the kitchen counter. You brought the bottle to your lips, your hands shaking so badly that you almost dropped it.

The first drop felt like heaven. Like an old friend, you meet after a long time who you cut off cause you knew they were toxic, but the feeling of sweet reconnection and nostalgia still felt like bliss.

You were so in your head thinking about wine that you didn't see Bran coming to the kitchen or watching you from the doorway. He wanted to stop you but knew it wasn't his place, so he went back to his bedroom where his soon to be husband was sleeping.

"Babe," He shook him lightly, "Babe, wake up" He said a bit loudly, making him whine and grumble. He felt bad for a bit cause Bran knew that things have been hard, the school wasn't doing so well so he had to work extra but right now you needed him and Bran knew Elliot will blame himself if something happened to you.

"What happened?" Elliot asked, "I think you should talk to Y/N. She's is in the kitchen.." Bran paused, "Drinking".

That woke Elliot up, "But she hadn't drunk ever since she got cl-" "I know that's why I said go talk to her before things get worse"

You were halfway done with the bottle when Elliot came back to the kitchen. You were hitting the back of your head against the counter, filling the silent kitchen with a thumping noise.

"Y/N" He called out softly and for a second he wished he didn't. You looked like a mess your already ruined makeup was now in shambles, your eyes blood red and your lips were adoring a drunk smile.

"Put the bottle down Y/N you're hurting yourself" Elliot said, sitting next to you. You rolled your eyes and took a big gulp of the wine again.

"My life is already ruined. What's the worst can happen now?" You said laughing, but there was no humor in it. It was hollow like you felt. A hollow shell.

"You want to tell me what happened?" He asked quietly, trying to take the bottle from you by distracting you.

You burst into tears hearing his question. You wanted to tell him, tell him everything that happened, but your brain was not letting you talk. Like keeping it to yourself will make it go away. It was still in denial that it really happened.

"I don't know how to," you said in between sobs. Elliot pulled you to his side, his hand rubbing up and down your back, trying to soothe your crying.

"Harry-" you said and sobbed harder. "You want me to call him?" He asked, but you just shook your head.

"C'mon sucre tell me what's going on." He urged you to tell him. As time went by, Eilliot became more and more concerned. It wasn't like you to cry so much over a fight. You were the one who mostly solved them. So, it had to be something big for you to be here and crying rather than with Harry.

You stared at him for a few seconds, contemplating if you should tell him, but who else would you tell? He was the only friend you had except your little brother who was miles away in Sydney.

So you told him. You told him how your shooting wrapped up early, how you picked up kids, and went home to surpirse your husband only to get your heart broken in the worst way possible. How your husband of five years and almost seven years of love was now in love with someone else and that someone else was none other than your sister.

"I'm going to break his face!" Elliot seethed and scrambled to get up from beside you, but you took his arm and pulled him down back beside you, having no doubt he actually would.

"It will do nothing but harm to you and to him." You sighed, wiping your tears. You started to hate the feeling of being sober after crying, so you took swing of your wine again.

"I just don't understand how and what went wrong." You said staring at the cupboard's golden handle, "We were so happy this morning. I went to shooting, and he dropped kids to school I-" You choked on the lump in your throat.

"Do you think maybe he's doing this to get back at me for leaving him to go to Venice last minute?" You asked Elliot, "Do you think it's just a elaborate prank, I mean you know how Hayden is, she's bitch I won't be surprised if she came up with the idea of this prank."

Elliot looked at you with sad eyes, his hands rubbing your arms affectionately. "If it's a prank then it's one fucked up prank sucre so no I don't think it's a prank" Elliot said sadly looking at your sleepy eyes.

"It has to be. I mean, we were talking about having another baby after my shooting ended. Why would he want to have another baby if he didn't love me?" You asked him, hoping to get any just any answer to soothe the ache in your heart.

"I think you should ask that to him once you get a bit better. For now lets get you to bed" He said, taking the bottle out of your hand amd you let him. The physical and mental exhaustion of day caught up to you, and pairing that with wine had you sleepy.

Elliot carefully placed you on the bed and then put a glass of water and painkillers on the bedside table, knowing you would have a bad hangover since you drank after a very long time.

Sleep engulfed you soon enough, and you dreamt of the time your life wasn't in distress.

*****

Harry woke up in the morning and smiled when he felt soft hands around his torso. It was the part of the relationship he didn't experience with Hayden, but now he could do it as much as he wanted.

He turned around and pulled her in a lazy kiss, which soon turned heated and led to his boxers flying off from bed and his hands trailing around naked her body earing soft sounds from her.

Both of them fell asleep again. Harry woke up around 10 am to a hungry stomach. For a second, he was about to yell for you cause you always brought him breakfast in bed on weekends. Only to realize his mistake, but before he could feel bad, his eyes fell on similar blonde hair, fanning your his pillow, and he forgot everything.

He took a quick shower and got ready to get some coffee and breakfast. He decided to wake up Hayden to ask what she wanted. "Babe, wake up. I'm going to get breakfast. Do you want anything? " He asked her, getting a grumble in reply.

But then Hayden woke up fully alert. "I want to go with you!" She said excitedly, "I can finally have all for me please" She said pleading and how could he resist her?

She went to ready while Harry sat on couch downstairs going through his phone, but when Hayden took too long, he went to look for her.

He heard hushed voices behind the closed door, "Babe, are you ready?" He called her and opened the door. She stood there with a bright smile, her hair side parted with a white t-shirt and blue jeans much like his outfit.

"C'mon, let's go!" She said and took his hand in hers. Harry smiled and went with her. They sat in the car, and Harry brought her hands to his lips and drove off.

They arrived the hidden cafe they went most of the time cause it was in small area where most people didn't recognize him and there were no chances of him getting caught.

He ordered his usual, and so did Hayden, but as soon as they got out of the cafe with their food, the flash of the camera went off and then another. Harry went into full panic mode cause not only this will go back to you but to the whole world and quickly took Hayden's hand running to his car, dodging questions, and camera flash both.

Liked by Harryfan2, Y/Nfan2, Harryfan4 and 1,002,789 others

StylesNews Harry Styles seen out with mystery woman at secret cafe.

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Y/Nfan2 That's Y/N's sister wtf

Harryfan1 I didn't know she had a sister

Y/Nfan2 they're not that close, Y/N told in an interview.

Harryfan3 He's hanging out with her family aww

Harryfan4 they look a lot closer for my taste🤨

Y/Nfan1 IKR like that hand holding is suspicious

Harryfan4 I hope it's not what I'm thinking it is after seeing Y/N's pictures from yesterday

*****

Meanwhile, you woke up with the worst headache of your life. Thankfully, there were medicines and water beside your bed cause your throat felt dry as a dessert.

You walked out of your room groaning at the amount of light filtering through. "Good morning, sleepyhead." You heard your son say laughing.

"Good morning, mum. We made pancakes!" Your daughter squealed and held up pancakes with both of her hands above her head. You laughed and kissed her cheek.

"It looks delicious, baby and good morning to everyone," you said with a smile, forgetting about your pain for quite some time until your daughter asked you when they would be going home.

"What you got bored of me so fast?!" Bran fake hurt while you stood their staring at her thinking when were you going and where were you going cause you could go anywhere you wanted other than your home.

You were in literal, psychological, and in every sense homeless.

"Let mum have her coffee Amie, you know how she's without it." Elliot joked, and Bran picked Amie up, taking her to the living room to keep her busy, and Em followed them.

You took a mug out of the cupboard to make coffee while Elliot sat there looking at you with pity.

"How did you find me yesterday?" You asked, wanting to change the look in his eyes.

"Oh some girl posted you on twitter" He said biting into his pancake while you made your coffee.

"Someone posted me?" You asked and groaned when he nodded, "My manager is going to kill me"

Great now, top of a cheating husband. You also had to deal with getting your crying pics off the internet and deal with an amgry manager.

You took out your phone out of your jeans, which were getting uncomfortable as time passed.

But nothing matched the uncomfortable and shattering hurt you felt when you saw the trending topic of twitter.

They were already parading out? It had hardly been a day, and he was already over you? Did he not think what will happen when tabloids will find it? which they already had found out making their own stories.

Did he not think what kids will think when they will see it? Em was 14 he knew everything and had a phone of his own. What were you supposed to tell him if he asked you? you didn't even know yourself what was going on.

Your head started pounding more than before, and you could feel the migrain coming in . Even though you knew you had to talk to him, you couldn't today in any shape or form.

Your sadness was slowly subsiding now, and as your headache grew, so did your anger, and you knew it was going to be shit show happening in front of everyone.

*****

Same day in evening-

Liked by Harryfan2, Harryfan5, Y/Nfan2 and 998,765 others

Duexmoi This fan favorite couple, an A list actress, and popstar are getting divorced according to an insider. Who do you think they are?

View all comments.

Harryfan1 Harry and Y/N?

Y/Nfan2 Rumor has it one of them cheated

Y/Nfan4 Defo Harry remember the pictures

Harryfan2 Omg with her sister? that's fucked

Harryfan3 don't jump to any conclusion guys maybe it's someone else or maybe it's fake you know how these are.

Y/Nfan1 Fuck Harry and fuck Hayden

*****

Welll...tell me if you guys liked it pleaseeee i need to know!! here♡

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[unknownmind98]

a love song over time

Recently single Chloe struggles to balance mother and social life. One weekend with an old friend changes everything. Bechloe. Romance.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60645565 Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14412726/1/a-love-song-over-time

A Love Song Over Time

Trees bristle and early morning birds whistle their way into Chloe’s slumber. With a faint smile on her lips as she dreams about her days as a Barden Bella.

Aubrey’s wide grin as they’re announced the winners of their acapella competition. Fat Amy’s boisterous jump of victory. Jessica and Ashley’s tear-filled eyes. Stacie’s squeal of excitement. Lily’s silent cheers. Cynthia Rose’s “hell yeah bitches!”.  

And then there was Beca.

Chloe sighs in content thinking of her long-time best friend. How she was the reason they won. She’ll forever cherish that moment. When they locked eyes and simply smiled. Eyes wide and full of hope for what the future meant.

She snuggles in closer to her bed sheets, pulling them up to her chin and feeling the warmth surround her. It almost feels like a hug from her Bellas.

From Beca.

“Momma…”

Gentle prodding at her cheeks slowly awakens her from her dream.

“Momma, wake up,” She feels a light weight drop on top of her, giggling.

“Come onnnn,” Small hands tug the sheets down from Chloe’s chin.

Chloe’s eyes blearily adjust to the light cascading through the window onto her 4-year-old daughter.

“Hiya bug.” She sleepily greets. The young girl sports a toothy grin in return.

“Morning,” She adjusts herself to lay beside her mom. “I’m hungry.”

“Yeah?” Chloe asks, her voice quietly amused. “What do you want?”

Debating for a moment, her daughter quips up. “Pancakes.”

“Good choice.” Chloe runs a hand through the young girl’s hair, the same shade of red as hers. “Pancakes sound good.”

|-|-|

“Bella,” Chloe points towards the plate, “Eat your breakfast.”

She’s scrolling through her emails as her and Bella sit at the counter in the kitchen. She sighs as she see’s the latest one about the bills being due. And leans her head on her hand, gently biting her lip as she contemplates.

A small piece of pancake shakes her from her thoughts as it’s placed in front of her. “You have to eat too,” Bella says before going back to her own.

A small grin shapes Chloe’s face as she takes the offered piece. “Thank you bug.” Staring at her daughter for a few seconds with affection, she pulls her into a side hug. “I love you.”

Bella hiccups slightly but smiles “Love you too Momma.” She tries to wiggle her way free, but Chloe just tickles her sending her into a fit of giggling squeals. Letting her go, she watches as she skips her way across the kitchen into the living room.

Lifting her mug, Chloe sips at her coffee, watching her daughter play. Her attention moves to her phone shortly as it buzzes.

Tom You free for a call? (8.32am)

She stares at the message momentarily before dialling his number. Her fingers anxiously dance along the countertop as she waits. After a few rings, his voice chimes through.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” She replies, “What’s up?”

“Just checking in,” He says, “How’s Bella?”

“She’s good,” Chloe says eyes flickering towards said girl, “She’s had breakfast. It was pancakes today.”

“Good-“

“Is that daddy?” Bella asks from the living room floor, holding her Barbie, a gift from Aubrey on her fourth birthday.  

Nodding, Chloe holds out the phone, “Yeah come say hi to daddy.”

Bella scuffles to her feet, dropping the Barbie before skipping her way across and grabs the phone. “Hi daddy!” She speaks.

“Hi sweetheart,” He replies, “How are you! I miss you.”

“I miss you too daddy,” She says, “I had pancakes.”

“Yeah? Were they tasty?” He asks, before adding, “Bet they weren’t as good as mine.”

“Nooooo,” Bella laughs, “Momma’s is better. They were really tasty.”

“They are pretty good,” He agrees with a small chuckle, “Hey bug put Momma back on the phone for me would you.” He asks, ending with a “I love you!”

“Love you too daddy,” she says before handing the phone back to Chloe.

Placing the phone back to her ear, Chloe shifts back round to her laptop. “So, what’s up?” She repeats.

Hearing silence on the other end, she tries again, “Tom?”

“Yeah, no I just...” He starts. “The company need me for a bit longer.”

“How long?” She asks bluntly. This isn’t new for her. Tom has been busy this last year with work. And its only seemed to be getting worse lately. He’s away sometimes months at a time.

“Another month, maybe two.”

“Tom it’s Christmas in three weeks,” She sighs, her fingers rubbing at her temple, “Can you not ask to work on it after then?”

“I can’t Chlo,” He exhales, “We’re so close to getting this deal done and I don’t want to screw it up-”

“I know, I know,” she interrupts. “But what am I gonna tell Bella? She’s been excited to see you again.” Shaking her head, she continues in a hushed tone. “You know she made you a welcome home sign Tom.”

She’s frustrated, she can’t help it. Ever since they parted ways, she feels like she’s been raising their daughter alone.

“I’m sorry Chloe.” He apologises. “Look, I gotta go… I’ll talk to you later.”

He hangs up before she can say another word.

She sets the phone down and feels the tears begin to form in her eyes.

She’s exhausted.

Taking a steady breath, she tries to compose herself.

Blinking away the tears, she wipes harshly at her eyes before checking the time.

“Fuck…” Closing the laptop screen, she hurries off the counter chair. “School time Bella!”

|-|-|

“Okay have a good day bug,” Chloe hugs Bella tightly, kissing her cheek before watching her run to meet her friends outside her classroom. Bella waves goodbye at her before heading into the room.

As Chloe strolls back to her car, she feels her phone buzz. Fishing it out of her pocket, she checks the notification. A small grin forming on her face.

Beca Check this shit out (9.17am) (picture attachment)

It’s a selfie of Beca in the studio with a very high end, very expensive looking mixing control panel. Her eyes wide and excited. Chloe looks fondly at it. Beca’s aged slightly. They both have, they’ve come far from their college days. But there’s something sweet about how the faint smile lines have formed on Beca’s face, she thinks. Early 30’s looks good on her.

Beca (9.18am) Feel like this is too bougie for me to be around

Chloe shakes her head slightly, a small chuckle coming from her before typing a response.

Chloe (9.19am) It looks so cool! You look good beside it x

Beca (9.19am) Why thank you. I needed this confident boost

Chloe (9. 20am)Of course you did lol

Beca (9. 21am) I feel like you’re making fun of me :(

Chloe (9. 22am) Neverrrr

Beca (9. 22am) Hmm.. I don’t buy it but I’ll let it slide for now

Beca (9. 23am) how are u?

Chloe (9. 25am) Im fine

Beca (9. 26am) That all you’re gonna give me Beale?

Chloe (9. 26am) sorry just a bit stressed

Beca (9. 26am) You okay?

Chloe (9. 27am) Yeah it’s just life stuff lol

Beca (9. 27am) uh huh. You still on for this weekend or do you need some me time?

Chloe (9. 27am) Of course we are! as long as youre okay with Bella being with us

Beca (9. 28am) Hell yeah, I love that kid

Beca (9. 29am) Oh shit the artist is here now, so I gotta run. I’ll call you later?

Chloe (9. 30am) Sounds good. Take care Becs x

Beca (9. 30am) Love you! x

|-|-|

“Where are we going?” Bella quizzes from the back seat of Chloe’s car.

Pulling up to a red light, Chloe glances at Bella from the rearview mirror, “Airport bug.”

“Airport?”

“Yeah,” Chloe grins cheekily, “We’re picking up Auntie Beca.”

“Really?” Bella asks, her eyes lighting up.

Chloe nods before taking a right. “Yep! She’s staying with us for the weekend.”

Bella claps her hands excitedly, “The whole weekend?”

Chloe giggles at her daughter’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, the whoooollee weekend.”

Seeing the airport come into view, she can’t help but let out a huge smile. It’s been too long since she’s seen any of her friends. Aubrey does her best to stay in contact with her, but with running the retreat, her time varies. Yet Chloe is still grateful for the video calls they have, even if it’s only once a week.

Pulling into the visitor parking space, Chloe whips out her phone to check the time and see where Beca’s flights at. They have about 25 minutes to spare before it lands so she glances back to Bella,

“Wanna go in and grab an ice cream before we see Auntie Beca?”

|-|-|

Chloe watches Bella in amusement as she tries to stop the ice cream from melting down the cone. “Need help?” She asks, taking a spoonful of her own. She opted for a small tub instead.

Huffing Bella licks at the ice cream, “No I got this.” The vanilla sweetness has dripped onto her hand and Chloe grimaces slightly at the mess. She grabs a napkin and just as she’s about to clean Bella’s hand, the young girl is bouncing out of her seat.

“Bella come back!” Chloe panics, reaching for her but she’s cut off by her squeals of excitement.

“AUNTIE BECA!”

The older woman whips her head around to see Bella run towards one Beca Mitchell.

Producer Beca Mitchell, as she goes by these days.

But to Chloe it’s just her Beca.

The producer all but sets her bag on to the floor before small arms wrap around her waist. “Hey bug!” She greets the younger girl, hugging her tightly. “I missed you so much.” She rocks them back and forth, Bella giggling as she does.

“I missed you too!” Bella says, her face pressed against her waist. Pulling back, Beca shuffles her hair, laughing as the girl protests. The younger girl impatiently waits for Beca to lift her bag before grabbing her hand and tugging her towards her mom.

“Momma, Beca’s here!” Bella happily claims, not caring about the bystanders looking at them.

Chloe smiles as she watches on, standing to meet them. “Hey.” She greets once Beca is in front of her. She grimaces as she sees the vanilla ice cream from Bellas’s hand on her shirt. “I’m sorry about that,” she gestures to her clothes, noting the outfit the woman has on, a leather jacket over a navy and green flannel. Classic Beca.

“Hi,” Beca smirks, “Don’t worry about it,” she says dropping her bag once again. Chloe invades her personal space and wraps her arms around her. “I’ve missed you,” she whispers, her head leaning into the curve of the brunette’s neck.

She feels home. It’s been so long since she saw Beca. Been so long she had one of her hugs. She missed this physically touch. Back in Barden, Beca had been iffy on it at first, but overtime grew to initiate it herself. Chloe even has a sneaky suspicion that she loves it just as much as she does.

“I missed you too.” Beca lets out a breath, her grip tightening around the redhead. Pulling back slightly, she locks eyes with her best friend, “Let’s get out of here Beale,” She chuckles. “You know I hate airports.”

|-|-|

Later that evening, the three of them are sitting around Chloe’s small circular dining table. She had insisted on making dinner, but Beca shushed her and said she could tell she was tired and instructed her to sit down.

So instead, Chloe got to watch as Beca and Bella worked their way around the kitchen in an attempt to make spaghetti bolognese. Chloe had to confess it was nice getting to relax for the first time in what felt like forever.

But she also had to admit.

That their attempt at cooking was pitiful.

Beca was never the culinary genius, unless it was instant noodles, but she didn’t realize it had gotten this bad. So, Chloe couldn’t help the laugh that fell from her mouth, as she watched Beca struggle to strain the spaghetti.

“Beale I can hear you laughing!”

“I’m sorry. Are you sure you don’t want help?”

“No, you sit your ass down ma’am.”

“Okay, okay!”

“Bella tell your mom we have this under control.”

In the end, Beca and Bella admitted defeat as the spaghetti was overcooked and became mushy. So, they opted to order pizza instead.

Taking a slice, Beca shrugs, “I think we made a fair attempt.” She says glancing towards Bella who was sitting to her right.

Bella nods, munching away. Chloe’s eyes flicker between them, an amused smirk in place.

“I think you did great.” She giggles, dipping a fry into ketchup. Beca gives her a pointed stare. “Umm excuse you.” Her façade breaking quickly as she breaks into a smirk. She reaches over and steals some of Chloe’s fries before she can stop her. “Hey!” The redhead protests.

“You snooze you lose, Beale.” She cheekily grins, popping the fries into her mouth proudly.

|-|-|

Soon after dinner, Bella was feeling sleepy, so Chloe tucked her into bed.

“Auntie Beca is fun,” Bella says tiredly as Chloe pulls the sheets over her. Nodding, Chloe leans down to give her a kiss on the forehead. “Yeah, she is.”

“I wish Dad was here,” Bella tells Chloe just as she pulls away.

“I know bug,” she says, running a hand through her hair. “Hopefully he’ll see you soon, okay?”

Watching as Bella nods, she switches on the small nightlight that sits on top of the desk beside the bed before making her way towards the hallway, “Sweet dreams.”

Quietly closing the door behind her, Chloe leans her head against the door and sighs. God damn Tom.

Shaking her head she makes her way back towards the kitchen where she finds Beca cleaning up the dining table.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that Bec,” she says coming over beside her, reaching out to take the pizza boxes from her hands.

“I want to.” Beca explains, quietly adding, “You do enough Chlo.”

“Do I?” The words fall from Chloe’s mouth before she can stop them. She quickly turns to shove the boxes into the trash can.

“Chloe,” She feels a soft touch, “Are you okay?” Beca asks concerned, her hand running soothingly along her lower back.

Chloe hums, with an unconvincing nod. “Yeah of course.” She turns to face Beca, but her eyes betray her, as they begin to well up.

Beca’s hands move to Chloe’s arms. “Hey, tell me what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” Chloe shakes her head, “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Beca asks.

“I didn’t mean to ruin the mood.” Chloe breaks eye contact.

“You haven’t ruined anything.” Beca explains delicately. “I’m here for you Chlo.” She says before gently easing her into a warm hug. “Whatever it is, I’m here for you.”

Chloe melts into her. She grips onto Beca, and lets the tears fall from her eyes. “I’m just so tired, Bec.” She says, it’s muffled slightly by Beca’s shoulder, but she hears it.

Beca stands there with her for what feels like an eternity but doesn’t pull away. She knows this is what Chloe needs. This reassurance. A reminder she’s not alone.

It’s when Chloe shuffles back when she looks at her.

“Thank you,” The redhead says, gratefully.

“Anytime Beale.” Beca replies, with a gentle wink. A small smile teases its way onto Chloe’s face. She steps back and lets out a breath, “I’m gonna go get some air.”

Beca nods, leaning against the table. “Okay.”

“Join me?” Chloe asks softly.

“I’ll meet you out there,” Beca assures.

|-|-|

Chloe slots onto the rocking chair that sits on her front porch. There’s a crisp coldness in the air that has her wrapping herself closer into her jacket. She fishes out a packet of cigarettes from her pocket, a bad habit she knows, but she’s working on it.

She lights up one and takes a long puff. She holds the exhale as she closes her eyes and takes in the sounds surrounding her. The trees whistling, the faint cars in the distant and the nearby river.

She’s so caught up in her own world that she doesn’t hear the door creak open as Beca arrives.

She jumps as something solid is tapped against her.

“Oh!” Chloe embarrassingly looks at her. Beca is holding out a beer towards her. Taking it, she chuckles, “Thank you.”

Shrugging Beca slips in beside her, making the chair to rock slightly. Reaching over for the cigarette. “You seem like you need it.” She says taking a sip.

“I haven’t had a drink in ages,” Chloe replies handing her the cigarette. “Haven’t had the time.”

Taking a puff, Beca smirks, “Well, we’ll make time,” she says swaying into her, bumping their shoulders.

“Honestly, I’m surprised Bella has gone to bed so early.” Chloe states, taking a sip, “She’s usually up all night.”

“Maybe I’m a good omen,” Beca laughs, flicking the cigarette butt away.

Chloe raises an eyebrow and looks at her, “Don’t be so full of yourself Mitchell,” she giggles. “It was just the long day we had.”

Beca holds a hand to her heart dramatically, “No need for the spiciness lady,” she says, “and just when I was comforting you too.” She chuckles taking a drink.

The pair fall into a comfortable silence, sipping on their beers. Beca slowly rocks the chair back and forth, as she looks out into the nighttime in front of them.

“Thank you for that,” Chloe breaks the silence.

“You don’t need to thank me, Chlo.” Beca says.

“I know, but I want to.” She says, fiddling with the label on the beer.

Smiling Beca leans into her, “Well then you’re welcome.” Taking another drink, she asks more seriously. “Do you wanna talk about what’s going on?”

Chloe shifts in her seat. Running a hand through her hair she stares at the trees, “It’s Tom.” She speaks. “We’ve been arguing a lot this past while,” she begins. “I know we’re not together anymore, but I thought we’d at least still be civil. But I don’t know…” She pauses. “It started off as small disagreements, but it’s grown into bigger things and now it feels like we barely have a normal conversation anymore. It’s just always arguments. Which I hate because he’s the father of our child,” She rubs her nose, sniffing. “He told me recently he won’t be back home for Christmas.” Shaking her head she continues, “I know that work is tough, but it feels like he isn’t even trying you know?”

Beca nods, listening.

“It feels like he prioritizes his work life more than his daughter. Bella made him a welcome home sign for Christmas,” She huffs out a laugh, “She misses him so much Bec. She’s always asking when Daddy will be home, and I don’t know what to tell her.” Her head falls into her hands. “It feels like he only visits maybe once or twice a year now.” She sighs, lifting her head, her eyes welling up, “It’s really hard raising a child on your own.”

Chloe looks to Beca defeated. “Sometimes I feel like I’m not enough. I love Bella with all my heart, and I know she loves me too. But I know she needs her dad.” She explains. “And Tom, he’s a great dad. When he’s here. But… But I’ve been doing everything on my own and it’s exhausting.”  Her lips tremble as she rambles, and Beca’s heart goes out for her, so she pulls her into her side.

“You should have told me sooner Chlo,” She mutters into her hair, planting a kiss there.

“That wouldn’t be fair on you,” Chloe sniffles, “You’re busy with work and being a producer and I wouldn’t want to worry you.” She explains before sitting up.

Beca shakes her head, “You’re worth worrying about Chloe.” She says sincerely.

And Chloe can’t help the emotions that develop. Can’t help the tear that falls from her eyes. Beca on impulse reaches up to brush it away. Her hand lingering on the redhead’s cheek, “I mean it.”   

Chloe leans into her touch, closing her eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”

Closing the distance between them, Beca leans in to rest her forehead against Chloe’s.

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome,” She teases, trying to shift the mood. It works as she feels Chloe shake with quiet laughter.

“You’re a weirdo Mitchell.” She says, shifting to lay a soft peck on Beca’s cheek, lingering slightly. “But I love you.”

Chloe declares they need more beers, so she makes her way indoors leaving Beca on the rocking chair alone.

The brunette reaches up to feel the spot the redhead had kissed. Her cheek feeling warm and tingly as her fingers trace it.

She’s broken from her trance as her phone buzzes with an email notification. It’s a message from her boss asking if she can make it to the studio on Monday to meet with an upcoming artist. She holds off on replying for now.

The door creaks open as Chloe makes her way out with a few more beers and a blanket. She sees Beca’s furrowed brows and slips down beside her.

“Everything okay?”

Pocketing her phone, Beca turns to her taking the newest beer, “Yeah, just work stuff.” She eyes the blanket, reaching out for it. “You goddess, you brought warmth. I’m freezing my tits off out here.” She exclaims, wrapping it around her and sighing in content.

“Hey!” Chloe bursts. “Scootch your cute butt Mitchell.” She wriggles her way under the blanket leaving her shoulder to shoulder with Beca. Making sure it’s wrapped around them both, Chloe snuggles in closer, using Beca’s body heat to provide more warmth before taking a sip of her beer. “I’ve missed this.”

“What… freezing outside?” Beca retorts, yelping when Chloe pinches her side.

“No,” The redhead tuts. “This,” She gestures between them. “You. Us.”

“Us?” Beca raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Chloe bobs her head, “I miss us.” She repeats, leaning her head on Beca’s shoulder.

And Beca nods because she understands. She’s missed this too. New York is fun, but she always feels like something is missing. As if she had ninety-nine percent of the puzzle complete but couldn’t grasp that final piece.  

Leaning into her, she lets her head rest atop of Chloe’s, her silent way of agreeing.  

|-|-|

After a while, they decided to call it a night as it was getting late. And made their way inside.

“Sorry for not having a guest room,” Chloe says, shuffling out of her jacket. Tossing it over the back of the couch as she slips her shoes off.

“Beale, you know I don’t mind,” Beca says.

“I know, I just feel bad for making you take the couch,” She explains. Her eyes then light up, “Wait, you can share the bed with me! Tom’s not here anymore so it doesn’t matter,” She rambles, adorably Beca thinks.

“How cliché,” the brunette deadpans, rolling her eyes fondly. She smiles though because besides the emotional conversation earlier, it’s one of the times she’s seen the real Chloe. “But if you insist.” She jokingly teases.

“Mitchell, incase you forgot,” She holds out a threatening finger at her, “we shared a bed for 3 years.” Chloe reminds, reminiscing on their New York days with Amy.  

“Oh, how could I forget? The lack of personal space is hard to shake off.” Beca retorts, enjoying the banter.

Slightly tipsy and giddy from the beer, Chloe rounds up on Beca, “How dare you.” She states. “You loved it.”

Hands in the air, Beca smirks, “I’m neither agreeing nor disagreeing.”

Chloe laughs, yanking her hands back down to her sides, “Whatever you say.”  And she turns to walk away, but yelps when Beca pinches her sides. She glares at the girl, but only finds her chuckling.

“You’re tipsy Miss Mitchell.”

“So are you, Miss Beale.”

“I guess this is old age, huh.” Beca states, “And we’re only in our 30’s. Don’t tell me it gets worse from this point.”

“Oh, it so definitely does.” As she wanders towards the bedroom, she misses the fond gaze from Beca as she watches.  

|-|-|

Trees bristle and early morning birds whistle their way into Chloe’s slumber. She has a faint smile on her lips as she once again dreams about her days as a Barden Bella.

This time, it’s when they won the Worlds.

When they beat DSM to prove their worthiness. She remembers Fat Amy picking Beca up and spinning them around on stage once it was announced. Remembers glancing over to Aubrey standing alongside the legacy of Barden Bellas, looking proud as ever. She sighs contently into her pillow, shuffling back into the warmth enveloping her.

It’s only when the warmth moves that she realizes it isn’t from the sheets but rather from Beca.

There’s a hand draped lightly across her waist and a leg hooked over hers.

Chloe allows herself to melt into the moment. And runs her hand along Beca’s, intertwining their fingers and in doing so makes the brunette pull her closer.

Judging by the girls breathing pattern, Chloe knows she’s awake. “Morning,” she whispers.

“G’morning,” Beca mumbles, nuzzling closer into the back of Chloe’s neck.

“Comfy there?” Chloe asks, grinning.

“Yeah,” Beca replies, “Let’s just stay like this.”

And Chloe doesn’t argue. It’s reminiscent of their days in New York. And she smiles thinking about how things haven’t changed. They would routinely wake up like this each morning. Chloe would say they’d need to get ready for work, but Beca would only grumble and snuggle in closer, making the redhead laugh.

“We should probably get up soon,” Chloe says, glancing at the alarm clock on her desk. “Bella is due to invade any moment now,” She giggles.

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes,” Beca replies.

“So, I was thinking,” Chloe shifts around after a few moments, so she’s facing Beca.

The brunette sleepily nods, her eyes shut as she dozes off “Yeah?”

“There’s a county fair happening today that I was hoping to bring Bella too, if you’d like to join.”

Beca drowsily runs her hand along Chloe’s back, smiling, “Yeah I’d love that.”

The redhead sheepishly grins and reaches up to brush the hair out of Beca’s face, the woman’s eyes fluttering open at the touch. And for a moment, time halts as they gaze at one another. Chloe’s hand framing Beca’s face, and Beca’s hand perching on her waist.

Chloe’s breath hitches as she hadn’t grasped the closeness of their proximity until this moment.

Foreheads barely touching. Their noses inches apart. Their lips so close, they could feel each other’s breath.

Without warning Chloe’s eyes unconsciously drift down towards Beca’s.

And she thinks she catches Beca doing the same.

Her tongue slips out to wet her bottom lip before she finds herself leaning in. She feels Beca’s slightly hover against hers and Chloe’s heart pounds as she slips her eyes shut.

“Beca,” She whispers.

“It’s okay,” Replies the brunette just before they close the gap.

Chloe feels butterflies erupt in her stomach. It’s simply a peck, a light kiss... but it feels so much more than that. Part of her wants to pull away, to climb out of this, but the other part says to push closer, to let herself fall.  

She finds herself listening to the latter as her hand warms its way into Beca’s hair, pulling her in. Her lips linger against Beca’s before she leans back in for another. This kiss stronger, more desperate, as she clings to the brunette.   

Beca’s hand comes up to frame Chloe’s face as she deepens the kiss. Her tongue teasing Chloe’s lips waiting for access. A muffled moan comes from the redhead as she lets Beca in. And Beca sighs in content as she realizes… This was the final piece of the puzzle.

When they part, both their hearts are pounding and Beca’s face is slightly flushed. Chloe breathless, lightens the grip on the girl, “I’m sorry.”

Beca shakes her head, amused, “Why are you apologizing.”

“I don’t know, I just feel like we shouldn’t have done-” Chloe’s ramble is cut short by Beca’s finger on her lips, shushing her.

“Don’t overthink Beale.”

Chloe is about to reply, but before she can, the door opens and in comes Bella, all full of energy as she pounces on the bed between them, completely oblivious to the moment they just shared.

|-|-|

A/N: Pheeewww that’s the first part of this done for now. I have the rest mapped out, so if you enjoyed this, please let me know! And I’ll begin working on part 2 asap. Take care!

[all-together-now]

Honey, I’m going to test your mental resilience. Just try to NOT answer the following question:

Who’s Joe?

Honey’s eye twitched. Her mouth tried to erratically form into a smile.

“Joe?” Trip questioned, “Do you know someone named Joe?”

Honey bit her upper lip and began sweating.

“I am unaware of this ‘Joe’ acquaintance of yours, my dear,” Blaze said leaning over the cat, “Do you wish to tell us more?”

Honey’s claws burst out of her gloves and dug deep into the couch cushions.

“What kind of a boring ass name is ‘Joe’ anyway?” Surge sniffed, leaning on Honey’s head, “Whatever mom decided to name her kid that is a cruel bitch.”

Honey started turning red and was beginning to look like she was gonna explode. That was until she took a deep breath, and sighed.

“Dunno, Surge,” she shrugged, “Never met anyone named ‘Joe’.”

Surge just nodded, and the three girls walked away. Amy sat down next to Honey and gave her a warm smile.

“That really too THAT much restraint?” she snickered.

“It’s the perfect kinda thing they’d fall for!” Honey huffed, then frowned, “But…given those three’s situations with their moms…or two of theirs lack of…I didn’t want to do it to them.”

Amy smiled even wider, and hugged Honey.

“Thank for being considerate of them, babe. And you can pull a joke like that on me anytime.”

“Thanks Amy,” Honey hugged back, “I was seriously about to come down with hangonda there.”

“Hangonda?” Amy asked, pulling away.

>:3

[happykinzz]

random marble hornets headcanons i need to share

Amy worked at a beauty boutique and specialized specifically in hair and makeup

She was also one of those super nice girls that would always compliment her clients and boost their confidence, :))

I know it's canon that Tim worked construction, but I do think at one point (either pre or post mh), he worked at a Home Depot or Ace Hardware for a long time.

Speaking of canon Tim facts , since he liked photography I think he specifically liked to take photos of sunsets, monuments, and those weird copper statues of children playing that you find on the street.

Brian played baseball in High School and was pretty good at it

He was so good at it he could've gone pro, but didn't cause his heart wasn't really in it (his parents made him do it in the first place)

Since Brian was a psychology major, I think if he ever graduated he would've become a child psychologist or an EMT

I know you need a lot more than a psychology degree to become an EMT but I just think that job just suits him

Brian also hikes a lot, and takes many photos of the plants and critters he finds along the way

He had a blog that documented all his findings, and always mentioned facts he found about the plants and animals he discovered

Whenever Brian and Tim hang out they like to either watch shitty horror flicks or shitty reality TV ( TLC, Maury, Dr Phil, Real Housewives, etc )

They both like to annoy Alex with their shows cause they know Alex thinks they're all stupid and are "mindless programming"

Alex's mom and Amy got along really well

Speaking of Moms

After Tim's mom abandoned him, she went on to become one of those "Lolcows" that constantly go on Instagram Live and argue with the "trolls" that are being mean to her

She's one of those people that believe that essential oils can cure every terminal illness ever and scams a lot of people with Go-Fund Me's and MLM scams she tries to sell

When people find out she basically left her kid to rot in a mental institution for the rest of his life it becomes a big thing and everyone on the internet is talking about her (karmas a bitch)

Nobody is actually able to get in contact with the actual kid though (Tim wants nothing to do with the situation, leave my man ALONE)

Brian had a lot of younger siblings that he always got a bunch of gifts for whenever he came home for holidays

[randomthefox]

I agree about people blowing Amy's Battle portrayal out of proportion. Certainly, I think it's kinda Yikes in parts, but based on the way people talk about it, you'd think one bad apple spoiled the entire bushel. Which is a shame, because everyone else was handled pretty well.

Also, I never hear people talk about that moment of mood whiplash when Amy threatens to curbstomp a Phi robot, only to remember to be "ladylike" in the next breath because Emerl is watching. "Ahem! Please run along, and tell the Doctor we do not wish to play with his little robots." Excuse you, that was funny 🤣

Amy can't just be a character og her own with flaws and foibles, she had to carry the weight of being good representation on her shoulders. Both Amy and Shadow are so Extra(tm) in Battle, yet only Amy gets flack for it because she needs to be a good role model for girls, whereas Shadow is granted the space to be a bit of a messy bitch.

Sonic """"fans""""" holding up one or two moments of a character behaving not at their best for a single scene and then acting like that entire character has been ruined forever?

Perish the thought.

It's extra funny because Amy just scolded Emerl for talking like a delinquent. Only to turn around and shout something even more aggressive and thuggish. Big Chi-Chi energy.

Sonic Battle is the same as Sonic Rivals, and the cutscenes before the boss fights on Sonic Heroes: the entire game is oriented around the characters fighting each other. So the narrative has the characters interact in such a way to facilitate the fights breaking out. Shadow acts like an obstinate douchebag to Sonic because the game needs Sonic and Shadow to fight. Amy acts like a delusional obsessive because the game needs Amy and Rouge to fight. Ect. They made the sequences of gameplay first and then wrote the story inbetween to string together those fights together.

People don't want to meet the game halfway and take it on its own terms. The tone of the game scenes with Amy acting out and being all wild and crazy are supposed to be COMEDIC. We're supposed to be laughing AT Amy and her antics. It's supposed to be funny. The comedy can be not to your personal taste, you can subjectively not find it funny, but that doesn't mean that the writing is bad or that it failed in its intentions.

That scene with Phi is the perfect example. The JOKE of that scene is that Amy has decided she is Emerl's mom, because in her lovestruck delusion she thinks Sonic has adopted Emerl to be their practice baby so they can be good parents for when they get married. Which is already pretty funny in and of itself. But now Amy has embraced that role of being Emerl's mom and is behaving in the way she thinks a good mother is supposed to act, enforcing strict manners onto her child. (The game was also written in the mid 2000s in Japan, so her smacking Emerl for his ill mannered speaking is just an example of cultural shifts.) So she's sternly trying to impart proper standards of behavior onto her son, upholding polite formal speech patterns. But then Phi pisses her off, and she violently attacks the robot sending him flying off frame and starts calling him all manner of vulgar insults and telling him to shut the hell up. Only to catch herself and realize she's acted as a bad example, and overcompensates by laying it on thick the way she's "supposed" to act instead.

That's FUNNY. That's set up and punch line. Amy's whole shtick for this game is embracing the role of being Emerl's mom and all the comedy that comes from that is incredibly inventive and appropriately absurd. Whether it's her acting out on her own, or the other characters reacting to it, all the scenes with Amy in Battle are practically improv comedy skits.

She's the butt of the joke, but they're funny jokes. And it's not like she's being treated disrespectfully. She's still a proper character with dimensions and agency. She's a PLAYABLE character with an entire story chapter devoted to her, which is more than you can say about her in Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic Unleashed.

I don't see what the big fucking problem is. Amy in Sonic Battle is great. People just hate fun I guess.

[aaaaaa19cc]

My experience based on my birth chart placements

*Nobody asked, but I saw someone doing this and I found it interesting. (English it’s my second language if there is any mistake). There are a lot of positive placements in my chart, but it’s important to analyze the negative ones.

Saturn in 1st house: I never had self-esteem. I was like the weirdest kid ever in terms of appearance, and even after some years, when things got better, I couldn’t just trust I was worthy. I love myself today, cause I can see my qualities (as a venus dominant), and I developed I lot of things. But, after all, I still have Venus square Saturn in the chart ruining my confidence. This aspect also makes people compliment my smile a lot. In terms of appearance I have a good bone structure with bony shoulders. I already had tooth caries twice, so I’m not lucky with that.

Psychologically, I have a feeling that people thinks I’m too serious or boring sometimes. My life was always hard and I have barely been happy. It really feels like there is something heavy in my back and I have to carry this without having any joy. I can’t even understand other's people happiness. This is not a rule for everyone with this placement. I believe this is karmic, cause my dad is a Capricorn sun and I have lots of Aquarius placements. This is also the most serious placement of the whole chart.

Pluto in 7th: I don’t know shit about it, but my 7th house is also Scorpio, and I’m worried. I don’t know if there is something to do with 7th house, but people doesn’t like me. Anywhere I go people bully me or treat me mean with no reason. I have no friends. My last relationship was intense and almost destructive. The only friends I had were extremely disrespectful to me, they were always bullying me and I had to heal for the horrible things they said to me and about me.

Mars in 11th: I think this it’s the another reason for my loneliness. This is a good placement, but the friends I had were always trying to fight me. It’s hard to develop a good friendship with that.

Moon in 12th: My Taurus moon here makes me wanna stay in my house for several weeks. I love being alone, in home, doing whatever I want without having to deal with anyone. These are the moments I’m the happiest. My battle here begins with my intrusive thoughts. As an Aquarius mercury I think too much. These thoughts made me develop severe anxiety. The anxiety and the extreme loneliness combo makes my life too hard to handle. I relate to much with Megan Thee Stalion (a beloved and admired Aquarius woman) when she sings about her anxiety and depressive thoughts.

Another thing about this placement: my mom have always been my (hidden) enemy. She was always talking shit about me behind my back and trying to shame me in public and in family meetings. And I absolutely hate her 😄. Also, moon square Uranus in my chart it’s another indicator of this lack of affection.

And the worst thing about it it’s that woman are also my hidden enemies. And this is so scary, because I don’t know what these bitches are talking behind my back but I guess it would be something terrible. I’m always bullied and disrespected almost everywhere I go and now that I discovered that the moon means ‘other woman’ I’m shocked. It feels like I only have enemies.

Lilith in 10th house: Honestly, I don’t understand why does this damn asteroid exists in astrology, because it only means bad things to people’s life (woman specially, as our life wasn’t difficult enough). This placement made people (disgusting men ALL the time) sexualize me for almost whole life. I don’t get the point os this. I read recently in a post that this placement makes the public hate you, and it’s absolutely true. Being a woman it’s the worst thing ever most of the times. Also, Amy Winehouse had this placement.

Sun in 0° Pisces: I was born at 19/02 and spent my whole life as an Aquarius sun. The day I first made my birth chart and discovered I would be a Pisces, I almost freaked out.

I relate a LOT with Aquarius. I’m a future person, open minded and cold hearted, but not too rebellious because of the Venus and Saturn dominance in the chart. I could never be a Pisces, cause never in my life I suffered for another person. Almost everybody is insignificant to me, actually. The main focus have always been and will always be me and my desires. I’m empathetic, but not the type of person who cancel their plans to help somebody.

Being born on a cusp is very confusing because we DONT KNOW who we actually are, as it’s really difficult to analyze our own personality. So, I use other people as a mirror to see who I really am.

So, I’m not compatible with water and earth signs. For real. I love air signs, specially Libra and hate fire signs a little bit, except for Aries. I get along a lot with libra and Scorpio, this last one probably because of the Taurus rising. And all of this relationships patters tells me I’m more like an air sign than a water sign.

When people ask me about my sun sign I always say Aquarius. And I only see the Aquarius memes. 😆

[lonesome-witching]

Who Are You?

This prompter wanted to see Nancy's first day back t school after Barb died and well, I live to serve. So, this is a short story about Nancy's first day back with as always some ronance.

Do you have any prompts yourself? Or do you want to dive into what I wrote before? You can read my previous prompts or send me some new ones.

The last place Nancy wanted to be right now was school. She wanted to crawl into her bed and never get out anymore. She might have been able to convince her mom to keep her home. But she also really didn’t want to be alone.

So, here she was. Walking the halls of Hawkins High with no one by her side. She missed having Barb with her. She was glad Steve hadn’t approached. She felt slightly conflicted about Jonathan. Maybe she wouldn’t push him away.

She turned the corner, seeing Jonathan standing at his locker. She turned around, walking back. Maybe she didn’t want him around anyway.

Somehow, she felt even more lonely than she did at 3 AM in her bedroom. That was the last thing she had expected. She should have stayed home. Maybe she would have been able to fall asleep by the light of the day, because at night she surely couldn’t. She kept seeing… well, all of it, whenever she closed her eyes. 

She hadn’t been watching out, that was for sure. That was the reason she bumped into another girl, full force, books tumbling over the ground.

“Fuck, sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going. If I had been I clearly wouldn’t have run into you. I’m really sorry,” the girl rambled on, falling to her knees to pick up Nancy’s notebook.

“It’s fine. I wasn’t really watching out either.”

She wasn’t in the mood to talk. She wasn’t in the mood for much of anything. She just wanted to get her stuff back and get out of here. She’d skip the rest of the day.

“Maybe not, but you’re— You’re Nancy Wheeler?” The girl was looking up at her now, with wide eyes and a tiny smile.

Nancy nodded. “Perceptive.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to sound bad or something. I just— Are you okay?”

“Who are you?” Nancy asked with a stern voice as the girl stood up, holding her books. She knew she had seen the girl before, knew she should know her name, but she didn’t. And right now, she really didn’t care.

“Robin. Robin Buckley. I’m in your chemistry class.”

Nancy hummed, pulling her books out of Robin’s hands.

“It’s just that— Look, I know about Barb—”

“What the hell do you know about Barb?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean— I just meant that I used to know her, we used to be friends. Back in elementary school. You were friends with Amy and Becky back then, before they became bitches. Shit, that’s not very nice of me to say. I just meant, I know she’s… missing and I know you guys were super close and I— I guess I just wanted to see if you were alright.”

“I’m fine. It really isn’t—” She wasn’t sure what she was going to say. That it wasn’t Robin’s business. That she didn’t want to talk about it. She was already lying by saying she was fine.

“No, I get it. It’s not of my business. I just know it can’t be easy. And I don’t mean any offense by this, but I don’t think Steve Harrington is the best listener.”

Nancy chuckled. “No, not particularly.” She barely realized what she was doing. That there was the shadow of a laugh on her lips. She hadn’t laughed since Barb. Since that night, really. She shouldn’t be laughing now.

“So, what I’m saying is that, if you ever need anyone to listen or to talk to…” Robin pointed at herself.

“Got it,” Nancy said, with a soft smile on her face.

“Good.” Robin nodded her head. “Well, then I’ll go.” She pointed with her thumb behind herself.

“Wait, Robin?”

“Yeah?”

“I— I could kind of use someone right now?”

“Alright, yeah, sure.” Robin looked at her expectantly.

Nancy grabbed her hand and led her outside.

[what-gs-watching]

“Speaking of not being able to move. I too have had trouble moving. Lately. Past the poverty line.”

Maybe I’m predictable but I’m still settling into this new job and it’s hard to focus on other new things when everything during my day is new so the other night I decided to restart Superstore. 

Which is another one of my ‘this show deserves more love’ shows. Maybe one of the last sitcoms I picked up from NBC before I went full on feral for streaming services. It’s charming and stupid and I’m weirdly a sucker for the guy who plays Jonah.

Wherein, we follow the lives of associates of Cloud 9, a big box store, while they deal with working in retail and all of the absolute ridiculousness that goes along with that (COVID, included). 

Amy (America Ferrara, who is perfectly utilized here honestly) is a 30-something shift manager at the store with a daughter she had at 19 and a lazy husband. She’s obviously disillusioned with her monotonous life until Jonah (Ben Feldman, who I JUST realized I recognized from ‘Drop Dead Diva’ like whoooa) shows up, a dude who washed out of business school and is annoyingly pretentious but also adorably fun. Hijinks ensue. 

I really do love the entire supporting cast of this show. Dina is the psychotic assistant manager who owns a ton of birds, is brutally honest and kind of a bully but ends up being a really good friend. Cheyenne starts out as a ditzy pregnant teen mom but her storyline with her ridiculous wanna-be gangster boyfriend turned husband with a mustache is hilarious and weirdly endearing. And her friendship with Mateo (who is fussy, snarky, undocumented, and has a terrible romance with district manager, Jeff) is life goals. 

Y’all know I’m all about the relationships in shows, and I do enjoy the Amy/Jonah slowburn because, like, obvi any slowburn is always gonna get me, but the friendships are really just chef’s kiss. Garrett, the chill dude who does the in-store announcements, loves videos games and doesn’t generally give a fuck, ends up as Jonah’s reluctant best friend. Dina ends up finding the perfect frenemy in Sandra, who is everyone’s punching bag but also creepily FIERCE at times. I also love Cheyenne and Garrett - there’s an episode where the store has amnesty to admit roles they’ve broken and neither one of them have so they dig into the employee handbook to find one, but end up focusing on ‘no hats’ even though Garrett insists “we’re not hatting this!”

The dynamics are perfect. 

Basically, I feel this show deeply in my heart. I worked retail for years, it was my first job in high school and I worked at a Burlington Coat Factory entirely through college. The appeal of the show is that they’re a bunch of random ass people that bond over the fact that the store is terrible and minimum wage jobs are demeaning but they make it fun and I’ve totally lived that.

I had two work moms. And I met one of my absolute best friends there. We had adventures following shoplifters,  dancing at the registers singing made up songs, throwing parties for holidays, waking up too fucking early to work black friday shifts or doing inventory.  We bitched about unfair corporate policies and I saw a few of my friends have babies and have to scramble on how to support themselves. I saw all of the hidden talents my coworkers had and the dreams they wanted to achieve. We suffered through customers treating us like shit, and we lifted each other up. 

Working retail is a brutal undertaking but it can also be an oddly beautiful tapestry and that’s what I love about Superstore. 

I also appreciate that they talk about the real shit. There’s a walkout/strike after Glenn, the high-pitched, god-fearing, somewhat buffoon of a store manager gets fired for sneakily trying to give Cheyenne paid leave after she gives birth in the store. The associates band together eventually to try and unionize. There’s a bit about Amy asking for a raise, which results in the whole store sitting through a lecture on proper “budgeting” which includes a section about how “Uncle Sam has your food, now go get it!” At one point, there’s an ICE sweep in retaliation to unionization whispers. They follow Amy’s struggles in trying to climb the ladder and make something of herself. It’s real but also exaggerated, and sad and funny. 

It’s absolutely a snapshot in time and it lets me romanticize a period of my life that I spent desperately trying to escape. You know that dream people have about sitting for an exam in a class they didn’t know they were taking? I never have that dream. I have a dream where I show up to Burlington as I am now, a thirty-something with a ‘career’, and I know I haven’t worked there in years, but I’m panicked because I can’t figure out what my schedule is and everyone is annoyed I haven’t been coming in for my shifts. 

Working a job like that shapes you and stays with you. I managed to escape, I’m the asshole who just spent nine months on the couch pouting about my cushy job being taken away and doing nothing other than trying to force myself into another one, but maybe that’s okay because I lived that retail struggle for a good bit. I understand it, and I am never one of those asshole customers. 

All that to say, Superstore depicts that struggle flawlessly. And it makes me miss that unique camaraderie that you’ll never truly get working a tech job. It honestly cannot be duplicated. And if you’ve never experienced it for yourself, at least you can through the absolute ridiculousness that is the gang at Cloud 9.

[ereardon]

A Place Like This [Ch. 8][Rhett Abbott x OC]

Overview: Rhett Abbott has never met a girl like you. You’re a corporate city girl in Wabang on borrowed company time — he thinks there’s no way you would waste it on him. So when you fall for the local bull rider, you’re both a little surprised. What will it take to get Rhett to realize he can give you everything you’re looking for? And will Rhett be able to reconcile the fact that your job is literally to dismantle Wabang and break apart the only place his family has ever known?

Pairing: Rhett Abbott x OC [Julia Han]

WC: 1.6K

Chapter summary: Rhett and Julia plot how to save Wabang from being bought up; Rhett has a confession

Warning: Cursing, angst, smut

Series masterlist here

The first time you landed a deal — the acquisition of a dairy business in Wisconsin by a billion-dollar conglomerate — you went home and cried. 

Even the five figure bonus check sitting on your dining room table wouldn’t help to dull the tears that pricked behind your eyes. You had spent three weeks outside of Madison, Wisconsin, running through document after document before making your assessment. 

And then, on the last day, as you sat surrounded by financial statements and endless cups of cold coffee, the conference room door opened. You frowned. There was no one there. 

But then a small voice rang out in your ear and you looked down to see a small child standing next to the table. “Are you going to take my mommy’s company?” 

The CEO of the business rushed in, cheeks pink and flushed. “I’m so sorry,” she said, scooping up the little girl by her armpits. “She slipped away when I was making copies.” 

You smiled. “It’s OK.” 

But it wasn’t. That little girl was right. You were taking her mom’s company. One year later, that same woman was cut out from the newly acquired mega-business and you cried again reading it in the local paper. 

You felt like a monster. But you had worked too hard and too long to admit failure. Because the truth was, you weren’t a failure. That’s why you felt the way you did. You were successful. Too successful. And that success almost always came at someone else’s demise. 

***

“Where were you?” Perry had his arms crossed over his chest as Rhett tried to sneak through the door in the morning. 

“Out.” He was rumpled and smelled like sex and Perry had seen his brother after a one night stand enough times to know the look. But there was something else about Rhett this time. An air of determination. 

Perry squinted. “You were with her, weren’t you?” He paused. Then, “That bitch.” 

Rhett was in Perry’s face in a second. “Don’t you fucking say shit about her,” he hissed. 

“She’s a bitch and you know it, Rhett,” Perry said and Rhett slapped the wall behind Perry’s head angrily. 

“Shut up!” he roared. “You don’t know anything, you fucking idiot!” 

“Daddy?” Amy appeared at the top of the stairs. Both men turned and Rhett lowered his arm. 

“Go to your room,” Perry said. “Now.” 

“Don’t yell at her,” Rhett countered. 

“She’s my daughter,” Perry said, eyes darkening. 

“Uncle Rhett?” Amy’s voice trembled. Rhett and Perry never got along, but this was different. Rhett knew he was on a timeline. And his brother was standing in his way. 

“It’s OK, honey,” Rhett said, his voice softening. “I promise.”

Amy’s eyes latched onto his and he nodded. His heart clenched in his chest. He was OK leaving Perry and his parents. Hell, he was happy to leave Wabang in the dust. But God if he didn’t wish he could take Amy with him. For so long, she had been the one thing he could truly say brought him joy.

Until he met you. 

Amy disappeared up the stairs and around the corner. The sound of her door shutting softly flipped a switch in Rhett’s mind and he turned back to Perry. 

“Don’t you say shit about Julia,” he whispered angrily. “She’s going to fucking save our asses.” 

“Save us? She’s the reason we’re in this mess to start.” 

“You don’t know what she’s giving up to help us, Perry,” Rhett spat. “So do what you do best. Do nothing. Stay out of it and let me fix things.” 

Perry shook his head. “You’ve never fixed a damn thing in your life, Rhett. Why would I trust you now?” 

He looked at his brother with hard eyes. “Because you don’t have a choice. Trust me and Julia, or watch everything you’ve ever known disappear in front of your eyes. Let Amy watch her family’s history disintegrate. Don’t be a dick, Perry. I’m trying to save the ranch.” 

***

“Excuse me,” you said, setting your coffee cup down. “Can you show me the local section?” 

The librarian let her eyes roam over you. A month in Wabang and you still hadn’t bothered to try and change your clothing to match the town. She eyed your Theory dress, Manolo Blahnik heels, YSL bag. “Over there.” She pointed one knobby finger toward the back wall. 

You picked up your cup and flashed her a bright smile. “Thanks!” 

She grunted, hunching over once again, eyes now directed at the yellowing pages in front of her. 

Against the far wall were rows and rows of waist-high bookshelves. You set your items down on a nearby table before bending over, fingers running over the spines of dusty binders before finding what you were looking for. 

Local laws and ordinances. You sighed, pulling out as many binders as you could hold, before dumping them all on the wooden table. The librarian looked up with a frown and you shot her an apologetic smile. 

Your phone buzzed. 

Perry’s on board. 

You sat down, crossing one leg over another. Finding precedent now, you typed back. Going to be a long night. 

Don’t be too late, Rhett wrote back. I’ve got dinner planned for us. 

Oh yeah? Dessert, too?

Baby, he typed. You’re dessert. 

You crossed your legs tighter, squeezing your core, shaking your head and diving back into the legal books in front of you. There had to be a way to do the impossible: save Wabang. 

***

“I see why you like it here,” you whispered softly. 

You and Rhett were lying in the back of his pickup truck, staring up at the stars that filled the crisp evening sky. “Not sure if like it is the word,” Rhett replied, voice thick and gruff and even after weeks of hearing it you couldn’t get over how sexy he sounded when he wasn’t even trying. “It’s all I’ve ever known.” 

“I’ve been everywhere,” you replied. “But this is completely different. So I get why it’s important to you.” 

“You’re important to me.” It came out of nowhere. Your eyes widened and you turned your head. Rhett pushed himself up onto one elbow, fingertips reaching out and brushing the hair from your face. “This place, it doesn’t mean anything if I can’t share it with you.” 

“Rhett,” you whispered. “It’s been five weeks.” 

“It’s crazy,” he said. “Trust me, I know that. But I need you to know that no matter what happens, I’m going with you. I don’t want you to think I’m going because it’s my only option.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Julia,” he said and the way his grainy voice slid over your skin made you shiver. No one had ever made you feel that way before. Not a first date at a Michellin starred restaurant in New York or a hedge fund manager on a trip to Bali or that one fling in Venice. No one compared to Rhett Abbott. “I’ve never been sure about anything before. Except you.” 

He leaned down, sealing his lips over yours, your hands finding his hair, tangling in the curled edges. 

You moaned into the open air as Rhett’s lips danced down along your throat toward your collarbone, thick fingers deftly sliding up your sweater, grabbing your breast as you gasped beneath him. 

“Rhett,” you whimpered, feeling the heat of his wet kisses trailing along your chest. 

“Come here, darlin’,” he whispered gruffly, sliding off of you until his feet landed on the ground. You looked up in shock as Rhett tugged your bare legs, sliding you to the edge of the open truck bed. He pushed your skirt up against your hips, grunting when he realized you weren’t wearing any panties. “Fuck,” he muttered, almost to himself, bending down and placing his mouth against your cunt. 

“Fuck!” you cried out as Rhett’s tongue circled your clit, one rough finger entering you, pumping inside of your already wet pussy. 

Rhett groaned against your core, free hand pressed against your lower abdomen, pulling at your belly so he could press his face deeper against your folds, adding a second finger to stretch you open as you writhed against his face. 

“Oh, fuck, yes, just like that!” You convulsed as you came against Rhett’s broad tongue, legs wrapped around his neck. 

Finally, he pulled away gently, hands still holding your hips, fingers brushing against your skin softly, reassuringly. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered. 

You leaned forward onto your forearms. “You’re just trying to get in my pants.”

He grinned. “I wouldn’t lie to you, darlin’.” 

You tugged him in closer. “Rhett?” 

“Yeah, baby?” 

“What if I can’t do it,” you asked. “What if I can’t save the town?” 

“Then it ain’t your fault,” he whispered, tucking your hair behind your ear. “A place like this? It was never going to last forever. Something big was going to roll in and change everything. And if we fight like hell to save it and we still lose, then at least I can leave knowing I tried. If we do our best, that's the best we can do.” 

“You won’t hate me?” you asked quietly. 

“Darlin’,” Rhett said, his voice blanketing you despite its roughness. Above his head, the stars twinkled. “Julia, look at me.” 

Your eyes met his blue ones. If you squinted, Rhett was part of the sky. He was all you could see, for miles and miles. 

“I’m in love with you, honey,” he said and your heart squeezed in your chest. Rhett’s fingertips were pressed hard against the delicate skin of your neck and you could feel him trembling, ever so slightly. “I love you, Julia. Nothing is going to change that.”

Tag list: @double-j @momc95 @sadpetalsstuff @seresinhangmanjake @shanimallina87 @starrynightskyz @writercole @endofdays56 @coffeeandcuriosities @xoxabs88xox @iangiemae @showmethewayhomehoney @djs8891 @rosiahills22

@localhockeygirl @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby @blue-aconite @fudge13 @avengers-fixation @valkyrja-siren-blog @callsign-joyride @wkndwlff @xomrsalliej4787xo @beyondthesefourwalls @mandylove1000 @wkndwlff @entertainmentgal8 @bradshawseresinbabe @onethirstyunicorn @bobfloydsbabe

[blueookashi]

SHAKING U GENTLY HIII HELLO HII - Your ocs (protags and maybe some side ocs) in a nerfgun war, who is winning and also who is out first given the laws of the game? - Does Max have bio parents that are present in the story?? if you're allowed to talk about that bc i've always been curious and i'm not sure if i've asked before - Blackberry random fact go!! what is her deal she seems hella interesting if you're allowed to say - i'm guessing Bullet is a shoe hater but also i need confirmation. does he ever step on those evil little burrs out in the grass. 2nd to this i dont think i've ever seen him in something that isnt shorts is he one of those guys thats like yeah shorts and crocs combo in the middle of winter - This isn't a question i just need to say that Amy is rlly pretty, girl has fantastic eyeliner - i need to know Grey's taste in music/fav songs if they exist,,, plea,,,, - Can Blue bap things with her ears and also how strong r her ears like is it similar to when dogs smack u with their tails on accident and ur like wofgh wtf this could break my bones or is she just rlly fluffy pspsps

HIII!!! :D!!!

1- HMMMM, that is tricky, cause like Blue would either win or be first out depending on her energy and if she wants to do it KJD;SGJKA otherwise, I think Grey and Bullet may be first out- Grey is a bit too nice and Bullet is clumsy DAKJG then it would prob be Max and the rest of the Boys, Max is too cocky, Logan is also a bit clumsy and a lil too safe, and Tyler, Tyler is just participating he'll be dramatic as hell once he's shot LKAJS;FGAJ who would probably win in that case has to be Amy, she's the most chaotic and energetic one here (she would 100% climb trees or hide on/behind rocks and ambush people) but thats only if Blue doesn't have the energy, if she does, everyones doomed DASJG

2- Max does indeed have bio parents! As of right now, I currently have no plans for them to show up? That could change however, but he was abandoned by them and thats why he lived on the streets for a bit. Thats also why Max steals a lot and stashes things in random places cause thats what he had to do live. Sometimes tho, being a child, he would steal stuff that caught his eye too; got him caught eventually. But yeayea, his parents abandoned him! So idk if they'd come back, I'd have to ponder on that

3- I'll give you two facts! Her and Lavender are step-sisters! Lavender's dad and Blackberry's mom got together, Blackberry wasn't too fond of Lavender at first? Cause she didn't want a new dad, meanwhile on Lavender's side everything was awkward cause I have it planned rn that Lavender's mom died during childbirth, so Lavender never really knew her mom or had a mom, so having one then was just super awkward! But yeayea Plum is their half-sister! :D Another lil fact more about her deal, is that, she's one of the ones that would tell the Bitch things about Blue, she didn't know what that Bitch was doing so it wasn't entirely intentional? But it still was harmful and not from a great place, so she made Blue's situation worse regardless

4- Oh he's definitely stepped on a couple of burrs before KASDGJ he does the biggest YOWCH and jumps up from them for sure ASDGKJL I think the most Bullet would ever wear is sandals, but he wouldn't wear SHOE shoes for sure, he's used to being barefoot, he might actually wear crocs tho those definitely got his vibes LKAJSDG; but yea he does not like burrs OH YEA YEA the longest pair of pants he has doesn't even reach his ankles I don't think he likes wearing long pants, he'll have to do it in winter though cause he doesn't handle the cold that well, so he'll tolerate it then but the moment, the MOMENT, it gets warmer it is back to shorts LKAJSDG

5- She says thank you <3

I don't think she gets complimented often, at least not from people she likes LKAJS;DGLK

6- OHHH THAT IS DIFFICULT, I don't even know what genre of music I like ADKJG;SJ HMMMMM I mean! In The Fallen, you gotta have that phonograph to listen to music, and those are pricy, its either that or going to places like inns or people at festivals, you get the picture so hmmm Grey DID grow up with the piano, and the kind of music she'd hear would be stuff like this

and sorry to put a WHOLE ost video here but its the only one where I can find these specific tracks but from 3:41:50 to 4:05:30 is more examples

YES ITS AMNESIA OK?? KILL ME. /j LKJ;DGA but this is the kind of stuff Grey heard all the time growing up, just that melancholy piano, so I think Grey would be genuinely comforted if she heard it again, so I guess this kind of stuff!! and I'm pretty sure with that first vid people can guess who's playing this kind of stuff around/to Grey KJA;DGS but sorry I cannot talk about mom As for like modern au? hmmm god I'm not good at knowing genres tbh this is really hard DLKAJSG, definitely not something super loud like metal or hard rock, not pop either, not country.... Folklore??? Would it be Folklore??? I'd imagine she'd listen to First Aid Kit and maybe Monsters and Men?? Ooh this is hard LKJ;DASGLK but I think thats her vibe LKJDASGLK I think she'd like Dirty Paws! or Meet me in the Woods!

7- I think they are very soft and fluffy! However, with enough velocity I'd imagine they might hurt but not BONE breaking hurt just an owie that lasts for like 5 seconds KJSDLAGJ;K but I imagine her ears being more soft rather than being weapons KDLJAG

[nepja]

yessssss they finally got it in.

"That was all the guys." hee~

did he mention before that he has two brothers? I feel like that's new info to me.

IS THAT GOLDFINGER

the wet fur looks good!

HE SAID THE LIIIIIIINE well slightly modified BUT HE SAID IT

"Actually, I would like to fight." his grunt as Sonic shoves him away is so cute omg

I was 100% expecting a reference to SA2's opening where they fly past each other. sad.

CHAO CHAO CHAO CHAO CHAO HCAO CHAOC HCAOCHASODSJKHAS CHAO

his babies!

who tf

who??

NO. IT'S GOTTA BE HIM. BUT WHY

dude why are you trusting Sonic with the nukes

biTCH THEY DIDN'T DO SHIT TO THE GUY actually that's kinda why he's like that now wait

lol chao masks

GIANT ENEMY(?) CRAB

telenovelas? fun choice.

WHY don't throw it away it's so much food wasted ):

Stone was 100000000% made for shipping with him

Friendship montage has me smiling the whole time :) :) :)

annnnd the mood whiplash. I shed a tear as he touches the glass.

poor Stone ):

Shadow being a horror movie villain here is actually pretty damn funny ngl

Green screening them together is... not too bad, actually. noticeable if you're looking for it.

ECLIPSE CANNON LET'S GOOOOO

that's not how teeth work babygirl

I feel bad for his little gay assistant

AJSKFLSDHA SANTA WASN'T JUST FOR A PROMO

STONE ):

piano version of the music ahhhhh

THE DONUT SWEATER

nono, I agree with Maddie's plan.

revenge might make it taste better, tbh.

aaayyyyyy, his in-laws!

nonononono, there'd be cameras everywhere!

ooh, that's cute! i kinda want one.

"She is not a prize to be won." THAT'S MY BOY.

would not be surprised if he's contractually required to do one per movie.

WHY DID YOU REMOVE IT

oh. no, actually that kind of attitude makes sense for him. it was a different time and whatnot.

inchworm eggboi

how did that work on her.

uh oh TOM NO

YOU DID NOT

yeah you better feel bad. jerkhog.

love the suit!

CANNON CANNON CANNON

okay well he's gonna be fine

he's right, sweetie.

(maybe we'll see Perfect Chaos someday?)

Why him.

time to piss on the moon?

ah. ok. they don't directly do it here.

thermonuclear gerbil.

not the favorite grandchild.

huh. he can use it to see how close and whether or not he's dyed his hair? neat.

BEATDOWN TIME.

can I get one of those jetpacks? asking for my mom.

that could apply to you too, edgehog.

I. well. I mean they are aliens so like. it's still kinda silly.

sappy moment.

FUCK YES

spankies!

WHO WROTE THIS SCENE

is it just me or do those kinda look like Omega...

THE POSE!!!

"k. bye." lmao

giant bug zapper.

CHAOS SPEARRRR

PISSING ON THE MOOOOON

gay gay gay they are so gay

that's... a lot of debris.

aahhhhh i know how that feels. ouchies.

SONIC. HEROOESSS.

I LOVE THESE CREDITS.

THE POOOOOSE!!!!!

post-credits scene hell yeah.

HIM.

IT HIM.

I WAS JOKING ABOUT THE HEROES BIT.

her?!

HER!!!!!!

HAVE NO FEAR—

oh lawd she adorable.

IF THE NEXT MOVIE ENDS WITH FIGHTING METAL MADNESS AND/OR OVERLORD I'M GONNA SCREAM

and i know that would hurt a lot whether i've had surgery by then or not.

I'll probably be making happy sounds anyway because these have all been such fun movies so far!

i kinda wanna see a short Team Chaotix series, similar to Knuckles, but y'know. actually focusing on the funny aliens.

Iiiii really hope Amy is more chill on the romance thing.

[southerntigress]

Glitter

"I swear to God if you don't tell me where we are going and who we are meeting I'm gonna throat punch you" I said annoyed while sitting in the passenger side of my best friend's car going to a "surprise location" to do a special shoot with a unnamed (to me at the moment) photographer. I hated surprises cause it could mean 1 of 4 things. 1. I love it 2. Hate it 3. Give me anxiety

"Calm ya tits fido you will see very soon and believe me you will love it and thank me" Joanna said

I just rolled my eyes huffed and closed my eyes to try and get a little nap in before getting there, it's 7am and we have about 1 and half hour drive.

Joanna and I have been besties ever since we were little girls she moved away to California when she was a teen and we keep in touch over the years. When I turned 18 I moved there after my parents passed away for a new scenery and she had been begging me for years to come up there. I got into modeling and decided California would be the best place to get my foot in the door. I've been pretty successful made a decent living but I quit a couple years ago I was growing stale and needed a change. So I took some of my savings and opened up a clothing line with Joanna which brings me here today and why we are driving at a ungodly hour almost 2 hours away to do a photoshoot with this yet to be named cause it's a surprise photographer. I hate mornings and I hate surprises.

"Amy wake up we are here" Joanna says while shaking me

"Five more minutes mom" I mumble

Joanna giggles "no get your ass up and out of this car or I will drag you out"

I open my eyes and raise my eyebrows at her "don't threaten me with a good time"

She just shakes herhead and laughs "come on"

We get out of the car and head inside the building I look around and roll my eyes " oh look a studio some surprise this is" I say sarcastically

"Stop being a brat and bitching this is just the icing on the cake " she says

I once again roll my eyes and say " oh boy can't wait to see the cake" I say sassy like as we approach a lady behind a desk

"Good morning I'm Tiffany you must be Joanna and Amy" she says as she reaches out to shake our hands

"That we are" Joanna says with smile

I just nod did I mention I'm not a morning person? I haven't had my coffee and I'm hungry.

Tiffany looks at me and raises her eyebrows then laughs "oh Nikki is going to have his hands full with you I see"

" right? Give him a run for his money" Joanna giggles

"Um, hello I'm right here bitches don't talk about me like I'm not here. And stop with this talking in code shit I'm not in the mood." I say with way more attitude then I attended I was getting irritated with them not telling what is going on

" now that we got that out of the way-" Tiffany starts bit I cut her off

"We ain't got nothing out of the way. I still don't know who this Nikki guy is nor do I have coffee and I'm starving so if we could cut the chit chat and tell me what the hell is going on so I can get coffee and food that would be lovely" I roll my eyes

Joanna sighed " fine but after I tell you will you promise to be nicer"

"Depends on if I get coffee and food afterwards" I said as Joanna walked off in search of coffee

"The guy we are talking about is Nikki Sixx and he's gonna be the photographer today" Tiffany said with a smile

"Hold on pump the brakes" I said taking a deep breath in to calm myself I could not have heard right.

"As in Nikki walking sex on legs motley crue icon Sixx" I rambled on

Tiffany chuckled " yes ma'am"

Holy hell I done died and in heaven this can't  be real

I was breathing heavily when Joanna came back and handed me my coffee " I see you told her huh" she laughed looking at Tiffany who only nodded with a smile then answered the phone. While Joanna and I sat down drinking our coffee.

"Speak of the devil, that was Nikki he said he will be a little late his meeting is running later that planned" Tiffany informed us

"Ok we will just go eat and come back later or you can call us when he's on his way back and we will come back" I said

"Ok sounds good see ya in a bit" Tiffany said

We sat at a local diner talking and eating we decided to go shop around it had been almost 2 hours and we still haven't heard back from Tiffany so we decided to just go back home and call Tiffany to reschedule seeing as he was too busy to even care to call and let us know anything. At this point I was pissed and tired and just wanted to sleep.

We pulled up to my house Joanna looks over at me " I'm sorry Amy today was a waste of time I got your hopes up for nothing he didn't even show or have the balls to have his assistant to call or anything"

I look at her "it is what it is, it's not your fault he's an asshole for doing that. Good night love I'll call you tomorrow" I get out of the car and she drives off.

I go in my house toss my keys on my table go upstairs to get a shower after my shower I throw on a thong and a tshirt and lay down since it's late and I'm just trying to relax before I go to sleep

I was about to start a movie when I hear a knock on the door I get up not bothering to put pants on or robe thinking it's Joanna that maybe she changed her mind and wanted to sleep over tonight. I opened the door and my breath hitches in my throat Nikki Sixx is standing there glaring at me

"What are you doing here and how do you know where I live" I said glaring back I'm still pissed at the stunt he pulled today and if he was looking for a fight he picked the right bitch tonight

He didn't say anything he just walked right passed me in my home liked he lived here

"Oh pleae do come in it is your house after all" I say sarcastically with a eyeroll and shut the door

He turns to face me "it is my home so I can come and go as I please"

Who does this bitch think he is?

I scoff "really? Wanna tell that to my bank account?  Cause if memory serves me correctly I'm the one that bought and paid for this house and my name is on the deeds not yours"

"Yeah? Thanks for making my pockets fatter" he smirks

I just glare at him and he chuckles " this used to be my house before you bought it"

"That explains the hideous interior when I got it" I smirk at him

He raises his eyebrows at me and continues to glare "you got a smartmouth for someone that left me high and dry"

" excuse me but you are the one who left me high and dry I was there on time you were the one that never showed and didn't have the balls to call and let me know " I said

" you could've waited" he said

I scoffed " who do you think you are? I waited around for 2 hours and was ghosted so I came back home. I'm not gonna waste my time for someone who stands me up and then you wanna come to my house and act like you're the shit and the world revolves around you. Newsflash Nikki it doesn't and I'm not gonna sit around and wait for nobody" I snapped

" you're a bitch I don't know why I even bothered coming over here" he said

"Why did you come to my house this late after what you did? And then walk in here acting like you own this place and run shit u don't run shit and you damn sure don't own or run me" I said titling my head and squinting my eyes

Nikki swifty ran up to me grabbed my shoulders  and pinned me against the wall glaring at me " you're a fucking bitch watch your fucking mouth and how you speak to me " he raised his voice

I smirked at him " you don't fucking scare me I've dealt with bigger and badder dicks than you. I'll watch how I speak to you when you watch how you speak to me"

"I swear to God if you don't shut your fucking mouth right now I'm-"

"You're gonna what Nikki?" I said interrupting him

He glared at me and I could feel the heat radiating off of him and I ain't even gonna lie I was quite turn on. I know I'm crazy but seeing Nikki all fired up and having his body pinned against mine is hot as hell. Then suddenly he yelled a frustrated "fuuuuckk" and then crashed his lips onto mine I instantly kissed him back and within minutes things escalated and the next thing I know we are in heated make out section hands roaming and tongues exploring.

I suddenly came to my senses and pushed him off of me "no you don't get to come in to my home talk to me the way you did and expect me to give in to you and have sex with you especially after we just met and how you so rudely stood me up with the photoshoot and then have the balls to blame me. Take responsibility for your actions man up and actually use your other head to talk with for once in your life. Just cause you're a rock star doesn't mean I'm gonna drop my pants for you" I snapped at him

He looked me up and down "you don't have to drop your pants for me seeing you answered your door in a thong" he smirked

"Get out! Get out right now!" I yelled and pushed him towards the door

He opened the door and stopped looking back at me " to be continued" he said

I slammed the door shut behind him.

[mandy4ever69420]

inchrested actually to compare shameless characters thru the lens of who happens 2 really like kids... fiona kind of doesn't. in general. despite taking disproportionately good care of kids As a kid. but like so she doesn't want bad things to happen but i think it's very involuntary when she's charmed by babies & she really wishes they'd be able to handle their own shit. + the fact she grows later to resent being needed despite how badly she emotionally needs to be needed. vs lip and ian and debbie being the way they are.

maybe misogyny means people don't notice debbie liking kids as much as a character trait bc it's assumed default for a girl but from the get go she has this intense seriousness with the baby doll in s1 ("ginger kept me up all night with diarrheaaaaa" was funny as fuck for being so Unnecessary but also so telling) that follows through.. that is Not matched in other female characters so it's obviously a debbie thing not a misogyny in writing thing.

also like generally i agree that debbie becoming a teen mom on purpose wasn't a great idea but it is so fascinating for being Her choice on Purpose. she's a very impatient person too. Also you can't tell people Not to have kids that's fucked up.

really enjoy v's weird thing about wanting her own children being like. not such a direct instinct but she wants that life with kevin and she Can love her kids but it's not natural and easy. it's a lil tough to watch her Not get it bc i also worry about babies but i think a smart choice. also to contrast to kevin who's such a "i can't wait to teach them to throw a football" type dude

^also this with the gender on Guys Who Want Kids... i genuinely think it's super sweet i'm very charmed by guys who are hyped to be dads (& i kind of think kids can tell when a parent really really wanted them vs just being ok with it) but there's also ways that that's informed by misogyny & something women don't get credit for because it's Expected. i get that tami was a late seasons addition and v was busy but i wonder if she'd feel better if she knew she wasn't the first person we knew who'd been through this.

& the sense that svetlana Gets it easily when it comes to caring abt kids but i don't think has a really innate urge to Be A Parent. would've liked to hear if she'd been interested in having kids before she was introduced but i think the ambiguity also does something for her. bc she's really not the linger in the past type like well this wasn't planned but it's the Case now. & the way she's really not emotionally moved abt her surrogacy the way carol was. like her love for yevgeny being immediate in that way when he obviously wasn't planned but being able to disconnect from that other kid. & the way she's worried about amy and gemma not really seeming Emotional About Kids motivated but "dude they're just kids" motivated. fun that svetlanas capacity both for kindness and for underhandedness come from pragmatism

ummm i think carls interesting for his disinterest in babies while also being a very protective Person. so it's directed towards like liam but also to like anyone he thinks like. sort of needs it or didnt do anything wrong esp. anyone who is kind towards him. so. trans kid i forget if was named (also: carl says he didnt mean to defend a trans person or didnt know it didnt mean transfer to school but follows that up defending a trans woman later, meaning that was a lie and he did know? to protect himself or his image from like the idea that someone thinks he cares about trans people?🤔🤔🤔) & ester. something something, carl having a stronger apparent fondness for old people and debbie liking both babies and old people which i think is more common

anywayyyyy. kind of cool how mandy has no understanding of kids but seems to reject the idea of Not caring or wanting your own so outright when it comes to her resentment of karen (also could be Bitch eating crackers syndrome) & her weird like. attitude abt mickey getting shotgun married to annoyance at his disconnect from attending svetlana in the hospital even though she knows by then he's gay & maybe inferred that the circumstances were Shit. & she relates well to younger characters but in a way that maybe she's treating debbie Too much like a peer bc she can't separate "there's a young girl" from "this person is like me" <- maybe also ties into her dislike of karen. sort of a "why are you not acting the way i think i would ideally in that situation" bc she doesn't understand that karen is different from her. hm. i don't think she'd want kids at all but i think her ego can't allow her to see that she would be anything other than hypothetically great with kids even with no evidence just bc she thinks that's how she's supposed to be. -> the fact that she thinks mickey should care more about yevgeny but also she doesn't give a fuuuuuck about yevgeny contrasted to how ian is about having a niece or nephew. Cool

also. fun how mickey is fond of kids. it gets overshadowed by ian being mr baby fever & mickey being so stressed with the idea of his Own current or hypothetical future child(ren) but he likes them. always slightly offended when people imply that he's so fond of franny because she's a redhead like ian or some shit when like... debbie is his friend. he likes kids. he's entertained by people being rambunctious and loud and franny is a Very rambunctious child. it's not like ian invented red hair or anything 😭 debbie and franny are very much their own people

[trashcanband4]

Torn Ch. 9

Masterlist

Pairing:  DarylxOc. Eventual DarylxOcxRick. Setting: The Green Farm. Warnings: Mentions of substance abuse. A/N: Sorry for any typos or mistakes.

Cassie woke to the sound of birds chirping outside the tent and the feel of Daryl pulling her hips back into his before he brushed her hair off of her neck. A soft smile graced her lips when he started pressing soft, sleepy kisses over her shoulder and up to her ear. "Mornin'." She greeted keeping her eyes closed, unwilling to torture them with the morning light just yet.

"Mornin'." He whispered back in her ear, sending chills over her skin. Wanting to be chest to chest she turned to face him. Seeing that her eyes were still closed he brushed her nose with his, giving her an idea of their proximity to one another. She smiled at the gesture before she caught his bottom lip between hers and pressed her hand to his chest as his cupped her cheek.

The kiss deepened for a moment before it slowed then broke and she pulled back, opening her eyes to look into his. "How'd you sleep?" She asked with a look down at the bandage on his side.

"Alright I guess." He answered before things fell comfortably quiet for a few minutes. Lost in thought she slipped her finger over one of the raised scars on his chest. “You ever gonna ask ‘bout ‘em?” Daryl asked, his voice deep and gravelly.

“I figured you’d tell me when you wanted me to know.” she answered, not looking up at him. “Besides, I’m afraid you'll tell me it was Merle that did this to you."

“What would you say if I told you it was Merle?” he asked.

“I’d say I’m glad that he got left on that rooftop.” she answered then looked up at him. “And I’d hate to mean that because, while I never cared for him, I know you loved him.”

Daryl just looked into her eyes for a second before he slipped his hand over her cheek and pressed a kiss to her lips. “It wasn’t him.” she raised her brows in a silent question. “It was my old man,” he admitted. “He was a mean some bitch, especially when he was drunk’.” Not knowing what to say, Cassie just wrapped her arm around him, hugging him, wishing she were better with words. “Aren’t you gonna say you're sorry? ’s what most people would say.”

“It sucks that you had to go through that, but I’m not going to say I’m sorry. Saying sorry implies that I pity you, which I don't.” she dropped her eyes to his chest. “No one likes to be pitied. It’s like a freaking boot to the back of the head when you’re already laying face first in the mud.”

He got the feeling she was speaking from experience. “Back at the quarry, when Andrea wouldn’t leave Amy’s side, you said, 'if you've never watched the life drain out of a loved one’s eyes then you don't know what she's going through'.” he pointed out. She’d forgotten she’d even mentioned it. “Who were you talking about?”

“My mom.” she answered as she sat up and moved around to face him, her eyes on her hands that fiddled with the hem of her shorts.

“How’d she die?” he asked.

“Cancer…when I was twelve.” she answered. “It started out as breast cancer then spread to her sternum, clavicle, spine, lungs. Nothing slowed it down or stopped it, eventually her body just…shut down and she slipped away.” She zoned out as her mind went back to when she was just a child, sitting by her mothers hospital bed, watching as the life left her mothers eyes. Even though the heart monitor didn't flatline, in that moment she knew deep down her mother was gone. Then the nurse explained that her mother was, in fact, gone and the only reason her heart continued to beat was because of the pacemaker. Not wanting to accept it Cassie cried and argued, insisting that her mother was still alive. “But hey, at least she’s not suffering anymore.” she said as she blinked out of the daze and shook her head.

Daryl watched her grab a brush out of her bag and start brushing her hair. “Guess we all have scars, some people’s are just easier to see than others.”

She stopped brushing her hair and just looked at him to see him give her a shrug while chewing on the inside of his lip. In a flash she put down the brush, leaned forward, braced herself with her hands on each side of his head and caught his lips in a kiss. He instantly cupped the back of her head and lifted his, deepening the kiss before it eventually slowed and broke. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on his. At that moment she found herself wanting to say those three little words. You know, the ones that when said at the wrong time could topple the delicate tower of a new relationship and send it crashing to the ground, shattering it beyond repair. Instead she opened her eyes and gave him a smile as she nuzzled his nose with hers, getting a quiet chuckle out of him before she sat back up and returned to detangling her wavy locks. “How’s the side?”

“Hurts like a some bitch.” he answered with a look down at the bandage.

“Aren't there painkillers in Merle's stash?” she asked with a jerk of her head at his motorcycle outside.

“Yeah, but I don’t mess with 'em.” he answered so she left it at that and tucked her brush back into her bag, deciding to leave her hair down today since it was nice outside and she knew Daryl liked it. She laid down beside him on her stomach, propped up by her forearms. Daryl cupped her cheek in his hand, running his thumb over her lips. “These are all I need to dull the pain.” A touched smile pulled at her lips before she pecked a kiss to the pad of his thumb. "Come ‘ere, Angel Eyes.”

She couldn’t help but giggle as she scooted up and caught his lips in a slow, tender kiss. Daryl threaded his fingers into her loose waves, sending tingles through her when his nails lightly scratched her scalp.

“Hey, Cass, up and at ‘em.” Shane’s voice sounded out from outside the tent. “We got a lot to do today.”

Cassie sighed and pulled back, looking at Daryl’s disappointed face. “As much as I would love to stay and be your painkiller, I can't. We're having gun training then going searchin'.”

“Fine.” He pecked her one more time then dropped his head back to rest on a pillow. “Go.”

“Want me to bring you some breakfast?” she asked before she stood up.

“Na, I’m good for now.” he answered.

"Kay." She answered. He watched her double check that she had her knife. "Get some rest." She told him with a mock serious look and a point of her finger.

"Yes ma'am." He grumbled, and gave her a salute making her softly laugh as she ducked out of the tent.

TWDTWDTWD

Cassie, Rick, Jimmy and Shane stood around Carol's SUV talking about gun training and whether or not they should check a nearby housing addition for Sophia when Glenn came over with a bushel basket of beef jerky and peaches. They all took a peach and thought Glenn was going to hand out fruit to the rest of the camp, but he stopped. He looked at Rick like he wanted to say something, but remained silent as he looked at Lori then back to Rick. "My binoculars." Shane reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, yeah." Glenn awkwardly put down the basket then handed Shane the binoculars that had been hanging over his shoulder. "Okay. Bye." He picked the basket up and made a hasty getaway.

Rick, Shane and Cassie exchanged looks. "Okay then." Cassie drawled as they all got back to task.

TWDTWDTWD

Rick, Lori, Shane, Dale and Cassie stood around the camp. Shane had caught Carl with a gun in his possession. Lori looked up from the gun in her hand to Cassie. "How the hell did this happen?"

"How should I know?" Cassie asked with a frown at Lori.

"You're supposed to be helping me keep an eye on him." She answered.

Cassie opened her mouth to tell her off, but she noticed Carl sitting nearby. So instead she took in a calming deep breath and dropped her eyes to the ground, restraining herself.

"It was my fault." Dale spoke up. "I let him into the r.v. He said he wanted a walkie. Did you send him for one?" He asked Rick.

"So on top of everything else, he lied?" Lori asked. "What is he thinking?" Rick who just shrugged.

"He wants to learn how to shoot. He asked me to teach him." Shane spoke up. "Now, it's none of my business, but I'm happy to teach him. It's your call."

"Well, I'm not comfortable with it." Lori laughed with a shake of her head.

Cassie bit her lips closed in an attempt to keep her opinions to herself, Shane sighed and Rick placed his hands on his hips, giving Lori a tilted head look.

"Oh, don't make me out to be the unreasonable one here." Lori said, noticing the looks Cassie and Shane were giving her. "Rick?" She asked with a look at him.

"I have my concerns too, but-" Rick tried to answer.

"There's no but. He was just shot." Lori interrupted him, raising her voice. Cassie's nostrils flared as she took in a deep breath but she managed to keep her mouth shut. "He's just back on his feet and he wants a gun?"

"Better than him being afraid of them." Rick reasoned. "There are guns in camp for a reason he should learn to handle them safely."

"I don't want my kid walking around with a gun." Lori argued.

"But how can you defend that?" Rick asked. "You can't let him go around without protection."

"He's as safe as he'll ever be right here." Lori said with a look around camp.

"Yet he managed to steal a gun right here, under your nose." Cassie said, a comment accidentally slipping. Lori rolled her eyes as she looked at Cassie. Cassie bit her lips closed and gave her a look that said she wasn't sorry.

Lori just shook her head as she looked back at Rick. "Look, everything you're saying makes perfect sense. It feels wrong. I mean I didn't feel good about him following you out into the woods. And I wish I'd said something. I should have gone with my gut."

"He's growing up, thank God."  Rick pointed out. "We've got to start treating him more like an adult."

"Then he needs to act like one." Lori snapped. "He's not mature enough to handle a gun."

"I'm not gonna play with it mom." Carl spoke up as he walked over to stand beside Cassie. "It's not a toy. I'm sorry I disappointed you, but I want to look for Sophia and I want to defend our camp. I can't do that without a gun." Cassie placed her hand on Carl’s back out of instinct.

Rick turned to Lori. "Shane is a good instructor. I've seen him teach kids younger than Carl." He told her then looked at Shane.

Cassie noticed Rick's eyes slip to her and give her a look that asked her to back him up. "He really is, surprisingly.” Cassie spoke up. “He gave me a refresher course so I could get certified in this state."

Rick gave Cassie a super discreet nod of thanks before he and Lori stared each other down.

After a few seconds Lori walked over to Carl and grabbed his chin in her hand, looking him pointedly in the eyes. "You will take this seriously and you will behave responsibly. And if I hear from anyone in this camp that you are not living up to our expectations-"

"He won't let you down." Rick interrupted her.

Carl looked at Rick then back to his mom. "yeah." Lori just looked from Rick to Carl and gave the boy a nod before she walked away.

TWDTWDTWD

After the main lesson on how guns work, where the safety's at, etc. the instructors, i.e. Rick, Shane, Cassie and T-Dog observed the students from behind. "Thank you, for earlier." Rick said, from where he stood beside Cassie, his hands on his hips.

"No problem." Cassie replied. "You know I'll always have your back."

Rick gave her a smile. "Yeah I know, but that's not what I'm thanking you for." His words made her give him a curious frown across her shoulder. "You wanted to blow up on Lori, call her out on her crap. I know the only reason you didn't is because you didn't want Carl to hear it." Cassie just gave him a soft smile, not knowing what to say. “I don't know why Lori tried to blame you for Carl stealing that gun, but she was wrong. You’re not our nanny anymore.”

As she turned her eyes back to the students she noticed Shane paying special attention to Andrea. "Could he be any more disgusting?" She thought out loud.

"You know Shane…" Rick sighed.

"At least this one's not married." She commented without thinking, then realized what she'd said. "Hey, Beth-" she spoke up, getting the young girl's attention as she started over to help her with aiming. In all reality Beth was doing an okay job. Cassie just needed an excuse to get away from Rick before he could ask what she was talking about.

TWDTWDTWD

Later that evening after getting in from searching for Sophia, Cassie sat on the floor of the tent. Her guitar in her lap as she played a lazy tune. “Sing for me?” Daryl asked, his voice low and gravely. She just dropped her gaze to the floor of the tent. “Hey,” she looked at him, “I’ve already heard ya sing. Ain’t like you can curse me twice.”

She took in a deep breath and blew it out through her nose. “Anything in particular you wanna hear?” she asked, giving in. He just shook his head no. So she started strumming a tune on the guitar. “White lips, pale face, breathing in the snowflakes, burnt lungs, sour taste.” Daryl watched the way her fingers strummed the guitar, the way her loose waves fell around her shoulder and how her brow creased when she hit certain notes. “The worst things in life come free to us 'cause we're just under the upper hand. And go mad for a couple grams. She don't wanna go outside tonight. And in a pipe she flies to the motherland or sells love to another man. It's too cold outside for Angels to fly. For an-”

“Cassie.” Rick’s voice outside the tent cut her off. So she set the guitar aside and moved onto her hands and knees, sticking her head outside the door flap. “A word, please.” She could tell by his hands on his hips and the deep crease in his brow that something was seriously wrong.

“Of course.” she replied as she stood up and turned to Daryl. “Hold that note?” she asked, hating that Rick was interrupting, but understanding that he obviously needed to talk. Daryl gave her a nod so she left the tent. “What’s up?” she asked with a frown at his stiffened stature.

Rick just looked around at all the tents, and the people sitting around the campfire. “Take a walk with me?” he asked so she gave him a nod. They walked in silence until they came to a pond out in the middle of a field, she noticed several bushes of Cherokee roses growing nearby. It was only when they stopped, standing on the pier, that he asked, “Did you know?”

Cassie just squinted at him in the setting sun with a shake of her head. “Know what?”

“About Lori and Shane?” he could tell by the way her face fell that she did. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, clearly pissed.

“I wanted to.” she answered, feeling ashamed of herself. “But how was I supposed to tell you?” she asked, her eyes watering. “You love her, in spite of all the horrible things I’ve heard her yell at you. I couldn’t make myself destroy that.”

Rick walked over to a stone bench that sat next to the peer and sat down, placing his head in his hands with his elbows on his knees. Cassie walked over and sat down beside him. “She’s pregnant.”

Cassie just stared at the back of his hands that cupped his face for a minute. “What?” the question came out as a whisper.

“I found Plan B boxes in our tent when I got back to camp today.” he told her as he sat up and looked at her across his shoulder. “She took ‘em, but changed her mind and threw ‘em up.”

Cassie felt like her brain was short circuiting. There was so much she wanted to say and ask, but none of it was helpful or appropriate. "I…I don't know what to say…" she admitted with a shake of her head. "I wish I could say I'm surprised,"

"But you're not." He finished for her, turning his eyes to the ground.

"Not really, no." She answered. "Circumstances being what they are, I kinda doubt either of you used protection when you were with her." She pointed out, earning a look from Rick. "What? You hear and see things you wish you didn't when you live in such close proximity to people."

Rick just sighed and rested his head in his hands again. "What am I gonna do?"

Cassie thought about it, trying her best to find the right words to ease his worry. "Does…does Lori know who the father is? Like…how long has she known she's pregnant?" She asked in an attempt to gather enough information to make suggestions.

"I don't know, she didn't say." He answered without picking up his head. "But even if it's his…it ain't his."

Cassie just frowned at him, torn between understanding and being pissed that Shane might be robbed of the chance to care for his child…again. "He's gonna think it's his when he finds out. He's cocky like that. And I've seen the way he still looks at her…like a man obsessed."

"I know…I've seen it too." He admitted as he sat up and turned to face her on the bench. "I just couldn't let myself believe it."

“Who all knows…about Lori’s…condition?” she asked, awkwardly.

“Just me, you and Glenn.” he answered.

“So Shane doesn’t know?” she asked with a frown.

“No and we’d like to keep it that way.” Rick answered. “Glenn only knows because he got her the pills.”

“I can’t believe she would take those pills without talking to someone first.” Cassie scoffed. “Not that they would have done anything even if she didn’t throw them up. That’s not how Plan B works.” Things fell quiet for a moment, both of them lost in thought. "At least we're somewhere safe and we have Hershel to deliver the baby when the time comes." She was trying to be hopeful for his sake. But his face fell at her words. "What?"

"Now that Carl's better, Hershel wants us to leave." Rick told her, reluctantly.

"Does he not understand what he'll be sending us out into?" She asked herself more than him.

"I really don't think he does…" Rick answered, seeing fear in her eyes at the thought of being back out on the road. "Hey," he cupped her cheek in his hand, making her look into his sky blue eyes, "you don't have to worry. I'll keep you safe. I won't let him kick us off this farm. I'll talk to him, tell him Lori's pregnant, maybe it will convince him to let us stay."

Cassie's eyes softened as she slipped her hand over his then took it off her cheek to hold it in both of hers. "There you go again…" she said with a tilt of her head.

"There I go again…what?" He asked with a confused shake of his head.

"You put the weight of the world on your shoulders." She said with a furrow or her brow as she gave his hand a squeeze. "You don't have to." He let out a shaky breath as he dropped his eyes to his hand in hers. "And you don't have to shoulder it alone. Let me come with you to talk to Hershel."

"I appreciate the offer, but I don't think that would go over well." He said with a small smirk as he looked up at her. "You haven't exactly made the best first impression."

"So I'll watch my mouth and keep a level head." He countered and he deadpanned. "Then bring Lori with you to talk to him. She’s gotta be terrified of the idea of having a baby on the road. Maybe, if he sees that, he’ll think twice about making us leave." He just narrowed his eyes in thought before dropping them back down to his hand that she still held in hers. “Whatever you need, however I can help…just tell me.”

“Okay.” he said with a nod. Almost absentmindedly, he placed his hand over hers, slipping his thumb over the back of one of them, sending sparks through the skin. Things fell quiet again as they sat there like that, watching the sun setting over the tree line. “Wait, how do you know how plan B works?” Rick asked, curiously.

“My mother was sixteen when she got pregnant.” she pointed out. “There’s a reason I know exactly how to put a condom on a guy, how to get birth control and how to get my hands on Plan B if the occasion ever called for it.” she explained. “Not that I ever did, or have, needed any of that.”

“Wait, so you’re still…” Rick started to ask, but couldn’t make himself say the word.

“A virgin?” she asked with raised brows and he nodded. “Yeah. Why do you look so surprised?

“You hear and see things you wish you didn't when you live in such close proximity to people.” Rick said using her words from before.

“Oh.” she said with a blush as she dropped her eyes. “We’re just fooling around…taking it slow for now.”

“I don’t need to know.” Rick replied with a shake of his head that told her he was uncomfortable. “It’s bad enough I know you asked Glenn to get you condoms.”

“Wha-How do you know that? I specifically asked Glenn to keep it to himself.” she asked loudly.

“Yeah, I know, I overheard you tell him that the last thing you needed was for me or Shane to find out.” he answered and she gave him a glare. “He was headed to a pharmacy. Given your history, that only Shane and I know about…I was concerned.” she just stared at him. “I know it was an invasion of privacy, but-.”

“It’s fine.” she interrupted him.

“You’re angry.” he assumed.

“I’m not angry.” she argued. “And as always I thank you for looking out for me, but I do my best to forget about that particularly horrendous part of my past.”

“And I just dredged it up,” he said with an understanding nod. “I’m sorry. Come here.” He motioned her toward him so she scooted over and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her forehead on the side of his shoulder. He hugged her back, tucking his face into her neck while one hand rested on her lower back and the other embedded itself into her soft waves. His fingertips massaging her scalp, ever so slightly, sent more sparks throughout her, but she forced herself to ignore it. The hug lasted a full minute at least before he pulled back, keeping his hands on her waist as he looked into her deep depths, the setting sun making them appear more orange than brown.

For the first time she could see how scared Rick was. He was scared of losing Lori, of how Shane would react, what this would do to the group and what would happen if he couldn't convince Hershel to let them stay. "It will be okay. We'll figure something out."

Hearing those words from her, words of reassurance, which was something he hardly got from Lori, was like a breath of fresh air. And in that moment he wanted nothing more than to kiss her. But, as his eyes slipped down to her lips he was reminded that not only was he married, but Cassie had Daryl. The man who’d swooped in in his absence and taken charge of Cassie’s well being. Not that she couldn’t take care of herself. Over the past few weeks he’d learned just how capable she was, all on her own. She didn’t need anyone, but she’d chosen Daryl and he was waiting for her back at camp.

Cassie was all too aware of him staring at her lips. He stared long enough to make her realize exactly what he was thinking about. And a part of her wanted him too. So many times she’d thought about what his lips would feel like on hers. How it would feel for his hands to caress her skin. But now? Now it would be even more wrong than it would have been before…back when she would play out the classic husband sleeping with the babysitter porn scenario in her head at night. Because now she had Daryl and the thought of hurting him, of cheating on him, made her sick to her stomach and brought tears to her eyes. She blinked them back while Rick continued to stare at her lips. When they were gone, she spoke. “Rick?”

He dropped his eyes to the overgrown grass and cleared his throat. “You should get back to camp.” he told her with a jerk of his chin in the right direction. “Before Daryl comes looking for you.”

She stood up and took a few steps before she stopped and turned back to him. “You should come too. It’s getting late.”

“Na, I’ll be right behind you. I just…I need a few minutes.” he told her, not even glancing up.

TWDTWDTWD

"What was that about?" Daryl asked as he watched Cassie sit back down on the floor of their tent. 

“He just needed to vent.” she answered as she picked up the guitar.

“I’n’t that what his wife is for?” he asked, jealousy clear in his tone. “Or his best friend?”

“Usually, but it’s kind of hard to vent to those people when they’re the ones he needs to vent about.” she answered as she started absentmindedly strumming a tune. “He found out about Shane and Lori.”

“Oh.” he said, realizing now he had no reason to be jealous.

“Yeah.” she sighed. “But at least now I don’t have to deal with the guilt of keeping that secret from him.” Seeing that the sun had almost completely sunk behind the tree tops, Cassie set the guitar aside, reached into the bag behind her and pulled out a shirt, only to realize it wasn’t her bag, but Daryl’s. She held a worn, brown plaid, button up shirt with the sleeves cut off in her hand. Getting an idea she stood up on her knees and zipped up the windows of the tent.

He could make out her silhouette and a few details in the dim lighting as he watched her strip out of her tank top and jean shorts, replacing them with his shirt that she buttoned the middle 3 buttons on. He admired her body as she sat down and leaned to the side, striking a match that she used to light the oil lamp that sat on the small stool in the corner of the tent. As the tent brightened she turned to look at him. “Fuck if that ain’t the hottest shit I’ve ever seen.” she just dropped her eyes with a blush and brushed her loose waves behind her ear. “Come ‘ere, Angel Eyes.” he told her with a jerk of his head.

His fingers threaded into her hair at her temple as she leaned down and caught his lips in a lingering kiss, humming when he lifted his head and deepened it. As they kissed she straddled his hips, being careful not to hurt his side. Daryl's hands grabbed her hips, rocking her into him. A sigh left his lips as she kissed down his jawline to his ear  “God I want you.” She whispered.

"I want you too, bot like this." He whispered as she kissed his neck. She pulled back, looking into his eyes with disappointment in hers. "I ain't gonna have your first time be shit because I'm too crippled to do it right." her face turned pouty. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it worth the wait.”

“You better.” she told him with a playful glare that made him smile before he caught her lips with his.

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[randomthefox]

The question is, how do I write to Amy? For her to be so cute yet so annoying?

Spose it depends, and at the end of the day it's very subjective. I think the balance is just right in Sonic Battle for example, but a lot of people think that that's a "bad" game for Amy. Even though she is objectively perfect in it. But the fact that you have to write the character as annoying on purpose is inherently going to mean that to some people she'll be TOO annoying and that'll spoil the whole dessert for them. Amy needs to be a perfect blend of sweet and tart, but some people are diabetic lol.

The other characters reactions towards Amy are key, in my opinion. Particularly Sonic, but the other characters are important too. I feel like this is the perfect encapsulation of the ideal reaction that they should be having towards Amy.

A literal translation is "well, it can't be helped" or something along those lines. Windii translated it into the second picture.

Either way I think that perfectly represents the ideal reaction to Amy's antics from the other characters. Nothing we can do about it, no choice but to either go along with it or get out of the way. In her own way she's a force of nature, carried away on her own flights of fancy and devoting herself to a lofty little ambition of her own invention. And she reacts very violently to anybody who challenges her whimsical fantasies.

I think the secret to getting the balance right is to remember that Amy is supposed to be a comedic character. Comedy is also subjective, so that too is going to land badly for some people. But for like 90% of the stories Amy is a part of, she's supposed to be really funny. But then at the end she can get serious. She's like an inside out joke. A regular joke is mostly a serious set up, so that the subversive punchline hits you with the comedy. But for Amy most of the set up is funny, but then she pulls out the emotionally impactful serious moment.

Like in Sonic Adventure 2, the entire joke of her involvement in the story is the boys keep running off and leaving her behind much to her chagrin. And to some people, they don't find that joke funny (even though it is objectively hilarious). But the whole thing works because then we get to the Last Story where Amy has been left behind again, but in being left behind she comes upon Shadow who isn't participating and that gives her the opportunity to emotionally connect with him and remind him of Maria's true final wish which convinces him to change his tune and help out.

She's a funny bitch, practically the butt of the joke, right up until she hammers you in the gut with the emotional highpoint of the entire story.

The best solution would be to make her cute AND annoying AT THE SAME TIME. This is why Sonic Battle is such a good Amy game. Her whole story in that game is she thinks Emerl is like her and Sonic's practice baby. So she goes ALL IN on being Emerl's mother, trying to take care of him but also impart proper social values and moral lessons onto him. Only this is an idea that she's completely invented out of nothing, and everyone else realizes that and none of them want to participate in it with her. Also Amy constantly fails to live up to her own ideals of motherhood.

THAT is peak Amy Rose right there. Absolutely perfect. She's being an annoying dumbass, but she's also ADORABLE. Trying to be Emerl's mom and smack proper manners (and formal Japanese speech etiquette) into him, only to immediately descend into vulgarity and violence when Phi interrupts her is HILARIOUS. Cute as a button, this stupid pink bitch. I just wanna pinch her little cheeks while she pouts and pulls out her hammer to bash my skull in.

Or you could just say fuck all of that and turn her into Sally Acorn I guess. Because that's "fixing" her.

Whatever works for you.