#and all this After my parents basically said she’d go nowhere from dropping out of college

[s-ccaam-era-crepe]

im so happy for my sibling

[punkscowardschampions]

Mali & Jali

Ali: Hey, Moses

Ali: What’s all this about Edie moving in with you?

Moses: She wants to and I’ve said she can when I’m back

Ali: Oh, are you sure?

Ali: We could do half and half, if you’d rather

Moses: It’s settled

Ali: What did she say to you? She hadn’t mentioned anything to me before now

Moses: She wouldn’t, she can talk to me better than she can yous

Ali: I’m glad you two talk but she can talk to me too

Ali: it hasn’t been an easy time for her recently, I thought she’d be asking to move into the flat too, if anything

Moses: You’ve made it no easier letting my cousin talk to her

Ali: I had no right to deny the gift on her behalf, they are her family too

Ali: She didn’t have to, I just passed the message on

Moses: He had no right

Ali: I’m not getting involved, you can talk to him yourself

Ali: he obviously thought it was the right thing to do

Moses: You’re involved, that’s why he thought to do it

Ali: Nah, he didn’t even tell me what he did when he gave it to Django

Ali: because I wasn’t happy about it, actually

Moses: Didn’t have to, you still found out

Ali: Did he say something to upset Edie?

Moses: Yeah

Ali: Right, okay

Ali: tell me what happened

Moses: What’s happened is he reckons on using my daughter to get at me

Ali: Go on

Moses: Inviting her round there to play happy families while I’m away busy

Ali: He invited her ‘round

Moses: As if she needs telling what a proper daddy is and I’m not

Ali: Is that how it were meant or just how it felt? Surely he didn’t say that

Moses: Blatant disrespect’s only meant one way, he’s letting it be known to her I don’t provide for her proper by offering to

Ali: Do you want me to talk to him?

Moses: He wants yous to and you want it yourself

Moses: I don’t care about neither of you, like

Ali: Come on, I admit, I didn’t think about it from your position, only hers

Moses: She’s mine and I look after her, he’s only troubling himself with you

Ali: No he’s not, but it’s fine, she doesn’t need the money and it was a bad idea of his

Moses: Hush money for Django not to show up at his door is no business of hers

Ali: Well, I don’t know what to tell you, it wasn’t for my benefit, I wasn’t impressed

Ali: it’s not my business to understand his logic anymore

Moses: For your attention, but he’s got mine instead

Ali: None of this has to do with Edie moving in with you

Ali: you’ll make sure she’s in school, that she’s keeping up with her homework?

Moses: She’s had enough of school, I hear

Ali: She feels like that now, other times she likes it, there’s reason to persevere 

Moses: I’m not forcing her, she’s her own mind

Ali: She has to go, there’s laws

Moses: We’ve ours, you know that

Ali: She’s not been raised like that, she’s not going to end up there, she needs to keep up her schooling

Moses: She needs some fun, Christ

Ali: No one is saying she can’t have both

Moses: She can have what she wants, it ain’t up to you to say

Ali: We’re her parents, we have to keep her on a good track, that is up to us

Moses: Johnno’s been back a minute and you’re parroting him

Ali: What do you mean? No one can claim that, it’s too basic

Moses: What I mean is, you two are an embarrassment to still be carrying on this way

Ali: Oh my God, can you drop it

Ali: I’m trying to have an actual conversation with you

Moses: Even she can see it and she’s a kid

Ali: What can she see?

Moses: ‘Course she’s begging me to take her before you put yourself in the middle of his family and wreck it

Ali: Jesus

Ali: If I could wreck his family, would I not have years ago, we all know the only one with any power is you men

Moses: All she knows is the state of you

Ali: Right, I’m actually going to talk to our daughter because this is getting us nowhere

Moses: We’ve nowhere to be, I’ll be coming for her as arranged with her

Ali: She’ll not be going anywhere until I understand what this is about, from her mouth and not yours

Ali: but I will keep you updated

Moses: From her mouth this is what she wants

Ali: I have no doubt that she does, I’m not saying you shouldn’t spend more time together

Ali: but if she wants to go for any reason beyond that then it’s my business to understand and fix whatever may need fixing

Moses: She just misses me

Ali: Now that’s all it is

Moses: Yeah, you can throw yourself at who you like

Ali: You can’t just get your own way by saying whatever and seeing what sticks

Moses: She’ll get her own way, she’s who matters

Ali: She matters, which is why we need to make sure we’re doing the right thing by her

Moses: I am, we talked for ages about what’s best

Ali: It’s a team effort

Moses: It wasn’t when you were blinded by his flashing euro signs

Ali: Wow, yeah, that’s all I care about

Moses: It’s all he’s offering her

Moses: but sure, you care about yourself and what he might you

Ali: I’m sorry at how much this has offended you

Moses: No you’re not

Ali: I wouldn’t have said it otherwise

Moses: Anything to distract from his feet under your table

Ali: You just want to have a go

Moses: Where’s your self respect?

Ali: When did I ever have any, right

Moses: What did she die for if you’re to crawl back under him like she never?

Ali: She didn’t die for anything, she’s not a life lesson, she’s a person that died

Ali: and my friend, I don’t know what she meant to you

Moses: You’ve learnt none and that boy who you’re after calling your son means nothing to you when you’re behaving like this

Ali: No one gets to lecture me on him, not you, nobody

Moses: You don’t want to hear it knowing I’ve a point with how he treated the both of yous

Ali: Moses, I’m aware, I don’t need you to point it out

Moses: She needs you to set a decent example and you don’t

Ali: But you do

Moses: Is this where you’re to tell me how I don’t?

Ali: I’ve no interest in doing that

Moses: I’m not having lads behave like that with her on account of you

Ali: She’s not me, she makes her own choices, as you pointed out

Moses: You’ve given us none but to step in

Ali: Step in or step up

Ali: You’re accusing me of something you only think is true, not something that is

Moses: She was crying to me, what else am I gonna do?

Ali: You’re meant to talk to me, how can I do anything if I’m kept in the dark

Moses: You started that, you don’t tell me anything

Ali: Yes I do

Moses: You should’ve said she needed me this much

Ali: You know she misses you when you’re away, with Una, it’s just been a tough time, of course she’s upset

Moses: I’d have been away less

Ali: You’ve got a job, no one begrudges you that

Ali: How long do you plan to be back this way?

Moses: As long as I can

Ali: Okay, there, you’ll have all that time to catch up

Moses: Then there’s been talk of us going together to [wherever he’s next going and told her she could come]

Ali: Not the entire time but like a holiday, that could be good for her

Moses: She’s reached an age where she’s after the knowing of my life

Ali: Of course, she cares about you

Moses: She was of the mind to find me a wife before I told her no

Ali: She wants everyone to be happy

Moses: I’ll be happy to have her with us

Ali: I know she’ll be happy to hear that

Moses: Yeah, she’s packed herself up

Ali: I do need to talk to her, about the other things you brought up

Ali: but aside from that

Moses: It’s him who wound us up, you’re just who’s here

Ali: Maybe talking to him is the worst thing I could’ve suggested, I don’t know

Ali: but I accept your valid point about it, okay

Moses: I don’t want you to let him to use you again after he’s shown everyone what he thinks of you

Ali: You don’t need to worry about me, I can take care of myself

Moses: But I do, and my sister

Ali: Your sister is your sister, of course you care about her

Moses: I care about you too, use it does

Ali: Nothing has happened, is happening, like you said, it was guilt money

Ali: You’re good to focus on Edie

Moses: She needs me to, but you know where I am

Ali: We’ll be bound to see more of each other now, so yeah, I remember

Moses: Be sure to remember to leave John alone

Ali: I’ve left him alone for the past [x years]

Moses: Yeah right

Ali: I bloody well have

Moses: To his kids whose birthdays match those of yours near exact and his daughter who’s named for you

Ali: Doesn’t mean anything has happened, he’s married, you know he takes it seriously

Moses: What more of a joke could he make of his wife than all that?

Ali: It’s not fair but I only get told it’s not my business if I comment on it

Moses: So do I if I try and handle it

Ali: Is it not up to your elders to handle it if he crosses whatever line they draw it at?

Ali: That’s how I understood it

Moses: Well he ain’t crossed theirs, has he

Ali: I just mean, well, you’re as powerless to do anything, you’ll have the same rights when you do get hitched, fair or not

Moses: I don’t need telling what my rights are, with my own wife or other peoples

Ali: I know, you don’t follow the rules

Moses: I follow mine, you’re no different 

Ali: Edie’d not be here otherwise, like

Moses: She’s the best thing I’ve done

Ali: Yeah, we did good

Moses: I mean to do better by her

Ali: Just try to be there for her, in person or on the other end of a phone, that’s all she really needs

Moses: I don’t want to get it wrong

Ali: I know you don’t, you aren’t a bad dad, Moses

Moses: We made her too smart

Ali: No kidding, it’s terrifying

Moses: And she’s writing a song, I’m no nearer ready for that neither

Ali: Ah, well there’s no preparing you there

Ali: try not to be too embarrassing in how proud you are

Moses: I never, leave that one to you, sweetheart

Ali: Charming

Moses: You’ve never reckoned I’m a prince how she does

Ali: I’m not a kid, never mind yours, be a little weird if I did

Moses: Only to you because you don’t love me

Moses: my daddy’s a king to many a woman

Ali: So he says

Moses: So he is

Ali: Then you can follow his example, can’t you

Moses: Wasn’t I good to you?

Ali: You were but we’re not those people now, we’re not what each other needs

Moses: I’ll give you what you need still

Ali: Come on, you’ve spent half this conversation insulting us

Ali: it’d be a terrible idea, you’d be miserable

Moses: That’s half the fun

Moses: but you know I can be nice too

Ali: You’ve played nice, sure

Moses: Yeah, I play a bit and then I give you what you need

Ali: You’re a dope, boy

Moses: You are if you don’t miss me

Ali: I’m too busy to miss you

Moses: 3 more babies’ll keep yous busy

Ali: Didn’t you ever want to do it all again?

Moses: You left us, how could I

Ali: Ah now, you could have done it with anyone, within reason

Moses: They’ve already babies I’m an escape from, them and their husbands

Ali: But you’re happy?

Moses: Keeps life interesting

Ali: I bet

Ali: you keep her sheltered from all that carry on though

Moses: I’ll put a stop to it when I have her

Ali: It’s your life, I’d be the last person to tell you how to live it

Ali: I’ll trust you to be sensible about it though

Moses: She’s trusting me, I’m gonna show her she can

Ali: Good

Ali: Is there anything you’re needing, I can bring more than she’s bringing on her back, like?

Moses: We’ll be grand

Ali: Okay then

Ali: Still no need to see each other but unfortunately for you, enough reason to talk

Ali: I’ll make it quick

Ali: The money you set aside for Edie, put it back in for your kids

Johnny: What are you talking about?

Ali: She’ll not be taking it, she’s decided

Ali: And for the record, in case he makes it known, she told Moses and he wasn’t thrilled about the offer, which I can’t blame him for, in hindsight

Johnny: Who’s hindsight, his?

Ali: You upset her, apparently

Ali: and yeah, he said you’re saying he can’t provide which is almost exactly how you put it to me so, I can’t fault the logic

Ali: I shouldn’t put myself in the middle

Johnny: I upset her by not being her daddy, but I’ll not put myself in the middle by telling you

Ali: Well one of you needs to start talking, what’s going on, why is my daughter confiding in you two but not me suddenly?

Johnny: It was talking of you, of me and you

Ali: Ah

Ali: She does have a habit of doing that, well, I didn’t think she did anymore but it’s not the first time

Johnny: She wanted me to take his place, look after her but only with us all as a family

Ali: Fucking hell, that’ll be how she’s got her da’ back now then

Ali: I’m sorry, she said that, her mortification will have to count as payment

Johnny: I’d said I’d be around for her, just herself, and she threw it back at us, there’s the upset

Ali: I don’t know why she does it, you can think I’m a crap mum but seriously, it’s not like I share dating woes with the girl, she just gets these ideas in her head and

Ali: Are you moved back to [the OG site] now?

Johnny: I’ve daughters I understand what their heads are full of

Johnny: We are, more or less and thereabouts, like

Ali: An even split, haven’t you?

Ali: Well, she’s made hers up to move in with him, so, if you see either of them about

Johnny: Yeah, for my sins

Johnny: I’ll keep an eye sure enough

Ali: I wasn’t asking you to, shouldn’t be

Ali: I know you’ve enough on yourself

Johnny: I’d do more without your asking, you know 

Ali: It’s appreciated

Ali: and you telling me, if it couldn’t be used as an insult I was getting nothing from Moses

Johnny: I’ve been worrying myself if I should, the things she said

Johnny: but I don’t have the proper knowing of her to work out how serious it was and the girl were, so

Ali: I wish I knew myself, sometimes she seems deadly serious and the next she’s laughing in your face

Ali: What was worrying about it though, beyond her trying to force every man I’ve ever been with back into my life, like

Johnny: She had a desperation in her, not the begging other kids put their mind to

Ali: I think I know what you’re talking about

Ali: I’m scared for her

Johnny: She said she needed someone, not she needed me, she’d talked of her daddy and Ronan both before, like she’d settle for any of us

Ali: But what does she need from yous

Ali: She’s got male role models in the family, she has me and the other kids in the home, I don’t know if she knows what she’s asking for

Johnny: When I told her she’s safe, she told us no she weren’t

Ali: Oh God

Ali: what if something awful has happened to her, the worst things, how could it, when

Johnny: You’d know, someone would, you said it, she’s plenty of people seeing to her, watching over

Ali: I don’t know what to do, I’ve tried talking to her about it, of course she doesn’t want to though, and I don’t want to humiliate her

Johnny: Maybe you’ll have to talk to Moses, every time he’s away she convincing herself it’s the last time and that’s her daddy, ‘course there’s a hole

Ali: They’re as bad as each other, at least she’s age as a decent excuse

Johnny: Put your foot down that he’s to stay gone then

Ali: I can’t let her go stay with him right now, not until this is more sorted

Ali: which will make me the bad guy as I’d just okay’d it

Johnny: No popularity contest, you’re her mammy not her big sister or mate

Ali: That’s all well and good but if he’s in an equal mood, that pits them against me on the same side, like

Ali: it’s not easy, co-parenting

Johnny: With Moses, what is?

Johnny: but you’ve me on your side and I’ll keep him from her myself if it comes down to it

Ali: God, I sound hysterical

Ali: I will talk to him, stop bothering you

Ali: I just needed to hear it without the bias, I knew you’d tell me the truth

Johnny: You’re no bother, neither’s she

Ali: How is your mammy?

Ali: and I’m not just asking to look polite, I actually care

Johnny: She’s had some herself days, but it’s on them I just find myself waiting for her to feel bad again

Ali: It’s hard, to appreciate the good whilst wondering how long you’ll have it

Ali: still, I’m glad to hear you’ve had some

Johnny: My kids don’t want to spend all their time with her and I’m not as ready to tell the truth there on how it might be running out

Ali: They’ll have noticed, kids are more perceptive than you ever give credit for

Johnny: Can’t get nothing past mine

Ali: Like you then

Johnny: Credit where it’s due

Ali: Figured that a compliment you might accept, yeah

Johnny: Ah, the sense in making it backhanded then

Ali: Last thing you need is me being too nice to you, all things considered

Johnny: Why’s that?

Ali: You might think I’ve completely lost the plot and put my daughter up to all that nonsense

Johnny: If you was after talking to me, your daughter wouldn’t need to be your in

Ali: That’s something

Johnny: We’d have enough to talk about ourselves

Ali: Don’t think we’d know where to start

Johnny: I’ll think on it for when the day comes

Ali: Me too

Ali: I don’t know how that can be preferable to the rest of the shit in my head but it really is right now

Johnny: Mine too, be funny were there humour to find

Ali: Hope I go back to your least favourite thing to think about soon

Johnny: Well, I’ll not dash ‘em by saying you haven’t been that for a long while, be cruel to now

Ali: My heart

Johnny: I can’t help but sometimes still like to think of you

Ali: It might be mutual

Johnny: Oh might it?

Ali: I can’t confirm or deny though, lest I lose all my self-respect

Johnny: To a girl who’s my least favourite I’d have said, what self respect’s that, but as I’ve confirmed you aren’t her

Ali: Comforting to know Moses was trying to tell me a thanks but no thanks to whatever Edie said to him though

Ali: even if the idea of where I fall in your ranking list is less than 

Johnny: We all of us remember what his rankings were like

Ali: Yeah

Ali: not saying you’re that brutal about it

Johnny: By god, who else is

Ali: Actually, you might not, do you know if his ‘van has two bedrooms?

Ali: Guarantee he’s not paid 0 mind to that, I’ll add it to my list

Johnny: [tell her about it in your nerd way of what kind it is and all those deets which is letting her know that it absolutely does not]

Ali: Sleeping on the sofa at the weekend is one thing but if she’s to live there, obviously not

Ali: At least that’s an easy in, he can’t fault me there, thanks

Johnny: Right, I’ll leave you to break that news, will I?

Ali: Wish me luck, won’t you?

Johnny: Yeah, good luck

Ali: I am sorry again, that you were dragged into this

Ali: but I’m selfishly glad of it now

Johnny: They’re both of them family, I was bound to

Ali: I suppose that’s true

Ali: um, d’you know if [this job that Moses has next, wherever] is the sort where people bring their families or if it’s just the blokes?

Johnny: [this place]’s no place for a little girl

Ali: I try to give him benefit of the doubt but

Ali: I can’t, I should trust my instincts over him, every time

Johnny: What’s he telling her she can go there for?

Ali: Happiness now, disappointment when he’s not around to see it?

Johnny: Sure, he’ll never change

Ali: Or he supposed I’d be fine with it, which is more damning for me

Johnny: It’s of him, he don’t consider you, you had her and you see to her when he’s not bothering himself up, that’s the beginning and end of the use he’s got for you

Ali: That won’t be how it’s working, unfortunately for him

Johnny: Only how his world works not the one the rest of us live in, like

Ali: I’ll stop complaining, I know I am

Ali: the bed is made, I’ve to handle him

Ali: see you around, when I’ve inevitably got to help his lordship buy a new ‘van

Johnny: You’ve reason enough, made bed or no

Johnny: [and tell her some info about where she could buy a new caravan from/ones you know of etc, because you are still that bitch]

Ali: You’re too bloody helpful for someone I’m not allowed to owe

Johnny: I’ll be keeping the money for her, maybe when she’s grown herself up some she’ll have the sense to ask us for it again

Ali: For the time being, it’s your money

Ali: so I shan’t say any more about it

Johnny: She’d only buy a ‘van for her daddy the now, best you don’t

Ali: And he’d let her

Ali: I’m willing to help for her being there, rather know it was decent than fuss over the cash but, Christ

Johnny: That he would

Ali: At least you’ve no need to ask what I ever saw in him, we’ve covered that one

Johnny: Nor he in you

Ali: Embarrassing behaviour, pair of us

Johnny: Least you’ve learnt from yours

Ali: Glad you think so, splits the consensus 50/50 

Johnny: I’ve the knowing you did, or she’d be away with him how he’s after

Ali: I’m not the kid who wants it anymore

Johnny: He’d say you’re welcome, I don’t doubt

Ali: I wasn’t innocent, what we did to each other doesn’t need to come into how we look after her

Johnny: He’d have to not be the same lad he was, with that bad craic, to think different

Ali: Me talking about him won’t change him none, time to talk to him

Ali: you’ll let me know, if anything happens on site when I’m not around to witness it myself?

Johnny: You’ve my word

Ali: Okay

Johnny: Later, Ali

Ali: I just had a thought, are you still in a 1-bed?

Ali: It’d be nice to sort out a new room for her with you, don’t you think

Ali: I’d be happy to help you with it

Moses: There’s room enough, tiny thing she is

Moses: but she can have a room of her own if she likes

Ali: You’d think but you can’t just stack kids away in a cupboard, no matter how small they are

Ali: of course she would, we can surprise her with it

Moses: Wes all slept in a ‘van smaller than mine when we were, but as I said, if she wants

Ali: Yeah but you got your own ‘van when you were like her age, did you not? 

Ali: You need your space once you get older

Ali: I found some if you wanna scope them out? You know better than me but they look pretty good

Moses: Grand idea, I’ll get her a ‘van herself, be room for all her music and whatever else

Ali: Really? I don’t want you to think I was suggesting you had to get her a whole ‘van to herself, like

Moses: It’s a better surprise

Ali: I mean, obviously, yeah

Ali: There’s space, by you, I don’t want her out on her own anywhere

Moses: She won’t be out my sight

Ali: Great

Ali: I’ve got to ask you something too, a bit less fun but it’s important

Moses: What?

Ali: When you’ve been talking to Edie recently, does she seem alright to you?

Ali: I’m a bit worried, maybe it’s just the grief overwhelming her but I don’t know, what do you think?

Moses: ‘Course she does

Moses: she’s clingy but when she’s not been to me

Ali: I know but it’s like she’s trying to go back, to being that kid

Ali: it can happen, but I wanted to make sure you knew so you could keep your eye out for her too, try to encourage her to be a bit more independent 

Moses: Her own ‘van’ll sort that, don’t worry yourself

Ali: It’s a great idea, she has the music loft here too, it’s good to have your own places

Ali: What sort of clingy has she been?

Moses: How many are there? Clingy’s clingy, you know

Ali: I don’t know how to get her to cool it, you know

Ali: it’d feel really harsh to tell her but I can’t think how we’re meant to handle it

Moses: Might be she’s running ‘round with lads instead of after me, if she’s of a mind to stay as my baby that’s fine with us

Ali: And I love how affectionate she is, I don’t want to change her

Ali: but you know where that naivety could lead her with lads when she’s a mind, we’ve got to talk to her about it, awkward as it is

Moses: We have, she’s no interest in acting up like that

Ali: She might not see it like acting up, Liam and her have been friends for a long time, it’s not like she has to be running around town for something to happen she’s not ready to deal with

Moses: And friends is all they are, ain’t it

Ali: I think it might be becoming more, there’s a lot there to bond them now

Moses: Nah, she’d have told me

Ali: I don’t know, it’s not the sort of thing a girl rushes to tell her daddy

Ali: you’re a lad, it was a proud moment for yous, like

Moses: She don’t keep secrets and she don’t lie, she’s said she’s not after attention of that kind, if he is, he’ll need to go after it somewhere else

Ali: She said that?

Ali: Well, maybe I’m wrong, it’s still best we get ahead of it though

Moses: Sure, by breaking his legs for him

Ali: Liam’s a good kid, if she’s not interested, it’s not happening

Moses: Why would I trust you, you’ve got her wrong

Ali: How have I got her wrong?

Moses: You’re here calling her a attention seeking whore to me, are you not?

Ali: No, I’m not, Moses, by God

Ali: I’m saying it’s our job to make sure she makes good choices, whenever she does

Ali: because she’s a sweet girl and I’m not having her get hurt

Moses: She’s under my protection, no one’ll hurt her

Ali: It’s better we both teach her, neither of us can be there every second

Moses: There it is, the dig at us for how much I’m away

Ali: It’s not a dig, it’s life

Moses: Yeah, I’ve got to work and provide for her

Ali: I know, because it wasn’t a dig

Moses: She’s my sweet girl and she’ll want for nothing

Ali: She’s ours, we both work hard to give her everything she needs

Moses: If it were a dig I’d be having one back about the work you do

Ali: You’re free to

Ali: but I own two businesses and I rent property so I don’t know what you’re going to say that’ll hit me where it hurts

Moses: Long as she’s not hurt by how busy yous are

Ali: I’ve always got time for her, I can assure you

Moses: Go on then, assure me

Ali: I just did, what do you want, my schedule?

Ali: you should know I don’t have one

Moses: It’s you worrying for her

Ali: Am I wrong for that? That’s what parents do, isn’t it

Moses: I’ll be back a day early to buy the ‘van, don’t say nothing to her

Ali: Can I come?

Moses: I don’t need you under my feet

Ali: Well, when you’ve bought it then, to bring her things

Moses: I can take her things when I come for her

Ali: Why do you not want me involved?

Moses: What’s it to do with you?

Ali: I need to see where she’s living, do you think I’m not going to be coming to see her all the time

Moses: You’ll see when you visit her then

Ali: I don’t want you wasting your money if it’s not suitable

Moses: Jesus, I know my way ‘round a ‘van, who do you think you’re talking to?

Ali: I’m only looking out for her, it’s not an attack on your ego, come on

Moses: And you’re not the only one

Ali: Good, we’ve to be a team over her no matter what 

Moses: Either you trust me or you don’t

Ali: I don’t make big decisions without letting you know, it’s the same thing

Moses: Fuck’s sake, come 

Ali: I won’t wait for a nicer invite, alright

Ali: Where am I meeting you?

Moses: I’ll pick you up from yours to go at [a time]

Ali: Okay, thank you

Moses: [tell her the day again even though she knows because it’s only a day earlier and she’s not an idiot]

Ali: Yep, I’ll be ready

Ali: I can decorate, or make a start at least

Moses: Let her, she’ll have fun doing it

Ali: You’re right, I’ll take her shopping for what she needs

Moses: [a ridiculous amount of money frankly for what she might need that of course he’s going to give her because gypsy]’ll cover it, yeah?

Ali: You could half that, easily

Ali: and I’ve got it, you’re good

Moses: You’re good, I’ve got it

Ali: Okay, you can give it if you want to

Moses: I can’t wait for her face

Ali: Me either

Moses: Don’t know how I’ll keep from saying something if she messages before I’m back

Ali: 🤐

Ali: You have to keep the look on her face in your head, it’ll be worth it

Moses: That’s true

Ali: Stay strong

Moses: 💪

Ali: [Skipping to when you’re meant to be here, are late]

Ali: Are you on your way? 

Moses: No, I can’t get to you now

Ali: Are you staying on there or just can’t make today?

Moses: They want us ‘til [later than he was meant to be back, giving idk like a week]

Ali: Alright, tell Edie won’t you

Moses: I’m busy

Ali: Meaning you want me to 

Moses: Why can’t you, you know how she’ll be

Ali: If they want you to stay on, they do, it’s not your fault but you can talk to her

Moses: I’ve no time, Ali

Ali: You managed to tell me, it’s the same message

Moses: Come on, she won’t stop at the one

Ali: Fine, I’ll pass on your message

Moses: A team you said, I’ve plenty else to do

Ali: Off you go then

Moses: [do rudely go because you would, soz Edie]

[marauderundercover]

This Side of Normal Ch. 10

AO3

Prev

Marinette glances around the silent table, willing Jason to say something. Or do something. Or even Dick. She needed one of them to start a conversation, because Adrien hated awkward silences. And if this silence went on much longer, he was definitely going to say something and then she would regret it. Horribly. 

“These rolls are purr-fect.” Adrien says, out of nowhere. Marinette lets out a groan, of course he’d skip straight ahead to the cat puns. Of course that’s where his freaking mind was tonight. 

“Aren’t they? I’d say Alfred’s cooking is pretty claw-some, myself.” Dick speaks up, grinning at Adrien. Marinette looks at him, wide eyed. 

“That’s it. I’ll find a new trapeze partner and a new best friend. Both of you are out of my life.” She deadpans, ignoring Adrien’s offended gasp. 

“But Bugaboo, who else would give you a hand with your crazy schemes?” Adrien asks, and Marinette turns to him, narrowing her eyes. 

“I swear to god if you take your arm off right now you will never find it again.” She threatens, pointing her fork at him from across the table. 

“But Mari, that joke needs the arm. It doesn’t work without it.” He pouts, she rolls her eyes and turns to Damian. 

“I apologize for him. He thinks he’s funny.” She says, turning her glance back at Adrien. “He’s wrong.” 

“Tt. I’m unbothered by his sense of humor. I have lived with Grayson for eight years. His humor is nothing compared to those horrors.” Damian quips, and Marinette swears his lips almost quirk into a smile. She snorts. 

“Guess I made the right choice in throwing Dick to the curb, huh?” She teases, ignoring Dick’s gasp and Adrien’s reassurance to the man. Honestly, who was the adult here? 

“It was for the best, Dupain-Cheng.” Damian says and Marinette winces slightly. The only person who called her by her last name (in regular conversation, anyway) was Chloe. And while the girl had long since given up full on bullying her, she still wasn’t Marinette’s best friend in the world. 

“You can call me Marinette, my last name is kind of a mouthful.” She says, trying to be nonchalant about it. She’d heard him refer to everyone else as their last name the entire evening. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable, but him calling her Dupain-Cheng was going to make her uncomfortable in the long run. 

“Very well.” He says, and though he doesn’t say her name, she still counts it as a win. A throat clearing catches her attention and she glances at Jason who was glaring at Damian. 

“What’s up, Jay?” She asks, quirking an eyebrow. 

“Nothing Pixie Pop. Just thinking about the time you kicked the ass of that would be mugger.” He says, and Marinette frowns. Mugger? “You know, the one that was obsessed with you?” He clarifies, and she understands. Copycat had been reakumatized during Jason’s stay in Paris. And he had wanted nothing more than a date with Ladybug. Though, she couldn’t understand why he was bringing it up now. 

“I am so lost.” She admits, shaking her head at her pseudo-brother. He grins. 

“That’s fine, just sharing that you can kick ass with the table. In case someone wants to try something.” He says pointedly. Oh. He definitely caught the heart eyes she sent Damian back in the gym. Can he blame her, though? Her weakness was green eyes. And Damian’s were the greenest. 

“I did walk in on you hogtied, Todd. I assumed she was a reputable fighter after that.” Damian says, and Marinette blushes furiously. 

“I’m sorry, what happened?” Mr. Wayne asks, his vapid (and fake) smile replaced with a faux look of bewilderment. She briefly wondered if it was exhausting, putting on a constant act, until she remembered how tired she was throughout collège, before she started lycée and decided she didn’t really care. Yeah, acting constantly was tiring. But why did he do it? Jason nudges her lightly and she blinks, focusing back on the conversation. 

“Oh, Jason and I sparred. He apparently had forgotten that I use my surroundings to my advantage and that Adrien is always on my side.” She explains, shooting Jason a smug smile. Jason huffs. 

“Not always.” He says, and Marinette raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms and giving him a challenging look. 

“Oh really? Name one time that Adrien took your side instead of mine.” She challenges. She grins as Jason starts to think, obviously wracking his brain. 

“Earlier today!” Adrien pipes up, and she immediately turns to him, glaring. 

“What?” She asks, confused. What had- oh. Of fucking course. “That doesn’t count!” She protests, narrowing her eyes. 

“Why not?” Adrien asks, raising an eyebrow in a challenge. She scoffs. 

“Because it wasn’t a fight or argument or anything. It was a joke.” She says. 

“Are you talking about the adoption shit, cause that was definitely not a joke. All the kids B adopts definitely have trauma and certain features.” Jason cuts in, and Marinette sighs. Of course he would clue in. 

“But- no. No. That was a fluke. A glitch in the matrix, obviously. You literally cannot name a singular other time. And technically, ya big jerk, you didn’t even name this time. Adrien did.” Marinette points out, glaring at Jason. 

“I’m sorry, how long have you three known each other?” Mr. Wayne cuts in again, and this time- this time- she sees that some of the confusion on his face is real. But it looks odd, like he wasn’t used to expressing a real emotion. She really needed to remind herself to talk to Jason about this later. She didn’t necessarily want to make it a habit to stick billionaire fathers with asshole tendencies in jail, but she would. She’d do it for her boys. Any day of the week. She hums in thought, adding up the time. The anniversary of Gabriel’s defeat had been a few weeks ago, which meant-

“We’ve known Jason for just over a year.” She says, before glancing at Adrien and grinning. “But I’ve been stuck with this goof for four years.”

“You know you love me.” Adrien says with a wide grin. She rolls her eyes. 

“How exactly did you meet Jason?” Mr. Wayne asks, and she kind of wants to throw her fork at him. What was it, interrogate the random kids at dinner night? Though, to be fair, they were random kids in his house. But she refused to like the man until she’d talked to Jason about the potential assholeish tendencies. 

“He helped me learn some self defence after I got caught up in an akuma attack.” Marinette lies smoothly. Well, it was technically a half truth. But the Waynes didn’t need to know that she was always caught up in akuma attacks. 

“Akuma?” Mr. Wayne asks, and Marinette glances at Jason with a frown. Had he not told his father about anything? Not even the basics? 

“Wait, is that what the thing that flooded Paris is called?” Dick asks suddenly and Marinette nearly flinches from the memory. That was one of the akumas that still gave her nightmares. One of the ones that was burned in the back of her eyelids when all she wanted was to sleep. And not think about bloated corpses and dead classmates for one goddamn minute. She lets out a steadying breath, glancing at Jason whose face had changed from annoyance to concern. She resists the urge to roll her eyes. She could talk about akumas. It was the past. Sure, she had refused all of the therapy options her parents gave her and Adrien, but she didn’t need it. She was fine. 

“Yeah. Technically, her akumatized name was Siren. But, the general term for those attacks was ‘akuma’.” She says, gripping her fork a little tighter than necessary, grounding herself with Tikki’s reassuring nudges from inside her purse. 

“There were more?” Dick asks, his eyes wide. Marinette glances at Jason and raises an eyebrow. Why had he not said anything? He’d been there for an entire month of Hawkmoth’s reign. He’d seen dozens of akuma attacks. Jason shrugs. Thank Jay. Super helpful. 

“When you get down to it, there were probably hundreds if not thousands more. Some people, like Siren, were turned into the same akuma several times. Some people became a different akuma when they were akumatized again. I think it just depended on the person or their issue.” Marinette explains, hating how dry her mouth felt all of a sudden. She could talk about this. She could. So why was everything a little too bright? Why was the sound of forks against plates a little too loud? 

“Did the Justice League stop it?” Damian asks, though by his tone, he seems to already know the answer. Odd. 

“No, the local heroes did. Ladybug and Chat Noir.” Marinette says, ignoring the constricting feeling in her chest. 

“Why-” Mr. Wayne starts, but Jason clears his throat. Everyone glances at him, and Marinette is unsurprised to see the flicker of anger in his eyes. Especially after she glances at Adrien and sees how pale he’s gotten. She kicks him lightly under the table to get his attention, frowning at him in a silent question. He nods, slightly. She purses her lips, not believing for a second that he was actually okay. But they could talk later. Away from eager ears. 

“I’m sure you remember what Dick said about my phone call from when I first arrived in Paris. Marinette and Adrien dealt with attacks like that interrupting their day to day lives from thirteen to sixteen. I get that you’re not the best at knowing when to drop the damn topic, but I really think you should drop the damn topic.” Jason says, and though he’s smiling, Marinette can see the danger behind it. The warning. ‘Drop it, or I’ll make you’. 

“My apologies, it was just so interesting.” Mr. Wayne says and this time Marinette winces at the falseness in his voice. And the smile on his face. God, this man could not have lasted a day in Hawkmoth’s Paris. 

---

Finally, finally, dinner was over. After the akuma talk ceased, it was extremely awkward. Mr. Wayne looked like he would rather be anywhere else. And Marinette couldn’t blame him, wanting nothing more than to get back to her hotel room and away from the constant lack of real emotion on the eldest Wayne’s face. It was tiresome, just watching him. 

“Thanks again, for having us.” Marinette says, mostly directing her comment to Dick and Alfred. Alfred just nods. 

“Of course! Come back any time. Really soon, actually, so we can work more on the trapeze. I can’t lose my new trapeze buddy.” Dick says with a wide smile. Marinette holds back a sigh, nodding instead. She liked Dick, she did. But she’d definitely have to make sure that Mr. Wayne wouldn’t be around. She still wasn’t sure what to think of him. 

“You should also spar with me, some time.” Damian speaks up and Marinette blinks in surprise. 

“Spar. With...you?” She says, tilting her head in confusion. That came out of nowhere. 

“Yes. You took down Todd easily, and I am far superior. You would actually have a challenge if we sparred.” He says. She smirks, and suddenly, with a burst of confidence she didn’t know she had, says:

“Sure thing, Pretty boy.” Before turning and walking straight out the door. The second she’s outside, she drops her head into her hands. “I can’t believe I just said that.” She mumbles under her breath. 

“Pretty boy?” Adrien says with a smirk, she glares at him and moves down the front steps. 

“Fuck you.” She says, no real venom in her voice. The boy knew how she got around crushes. He’d seen it firsthand. With him. With Luka. With Kagami. With the girl with bright green eyes who worked at the coffee shop across the street from the bakery. She was an absolute disaster. He was worse, but still. He wasn’t the one with the quickly developing crush on the youngest Wayne. 

“Pretty boy?” Jason asks, a scowl on his face as he catches up to the two. 

“Not another word, Jason.” She scowls at him, crossing her arms defiantly. He holds his hands up in surrender. 

“Sure.” He says. Her mind rushes suddenly to her previous thought. Youngest Wayne. Damian Wayne. Hadn’t Lila- she snorts, before erupting into uncontrollable laughter, ignoring the worried looks from Adrien. 

“I- oh my god, Jay.” She manages to say, straightening up and following Jason to the car he was borrowing to drive them back to the hotel.

“I’m completely lost.” He says.

“Join the club.” Adrien adds, and Marinette just laughs again. 

“Your little brother is Damian Wayne.” She says, as if it should be obvious. Jason doesn’t get it, and neither does Adrien. But after a moment-

“Oh my god, that’s hilarious!” Adrien cries, letting out a chuckle. Jason huffs as the trio get into the car. 

“Care to share with the class?” He asks, and Marinette snorts. 

“Absolutely not, I dislike the majority of those people.” She says, referring to the group who was hopefully already in their rooms and not in the lobby of the hotel. “Now it’s funny that your brother is Damian Wayne because Lila made us come to Gotham instead of New York and London, because she’s dating him.” She explains and Jason scoffs. 

“Yeah right.” 

“Obviously she’s not actually dating him, Jay. But it’s freaking hilarious that she thinks she’s gonna get away with it. He definitely goes to Gotham Academy, and people are definitely going to call her out.” She says, not even trying to hide the absolute glee she’s feeling. If there was ever a time for all of Lila’s lies to come crashing down around her, now would be good. When she can’t just run away and claim Marinette set it up. If people Marinette didn’t even know called Lila out, well, that would be irrefutable evidence, right? 

“Her regime is gonna topple and I’m gonna take you guys out for ice cream to celebrate.” Jason declares and Marinette laughs again. She was so against the idea of Gotham originally, but now, with Jason at their sides again, she’d decided that it wasn’t so bad. Suddenly remembering what had been on her mind most of the night, she turns to Jason. 

“Jay, I have a serious question. And I know it’s a little hard to talk about but just know that we’re here for you to support you, and that we’ll figure out a way to make sure you and your brothers are safe and-” 

“Whoa, Pix, calm down kiddo. You’re rambling again.” He says gently, furrowing his eyebrows. He pulls the car over to the side of the road and turns to put his full attention on the two. “What’s bothering you?” He asks. 

“Is Mr. Wayne abusive?” She asks and Jason blinks. “I saw how hesitant you were to call him your father, and you were tense around him a lot of the night. And I don’t think the man had one legitimate expression all night. He was acting the whole time.” Marinette says, looking at him worriedly. “Look, Jay, I don’t necessarily want to make a habit of putting billionaires in jail, but I’d do it for you.” 

“Is he- you would-” Jason stops and lets out a breath, obviously trying to compose himself. “No, kiddo, he’s not.” He finally says. Marinette frowns. 

“Really?” She asks, and he sighs. 

“Yeah, look. Our relationship has been...rough, for a couple years. We had a sort of falling out when I was a teenager and I stopped talking to him for several years. We reconnected a while ago, but it’s still rocky at times. I don’t usually call him dad or father or anything. He’s just Bruce, or B, to me.” Jason explains and Marinette nods, letting out a small sigh of relief. 

“I was worried, Jay.” She admits, and Jason grins at her before pulling away from the curb again. 

“I didn’t even catch on.” Adrien says with a frown. Marinette rolls her eyes, smiling at him with fondness. 

“Course you didn’t Kitty. Reading people isn’t really your strong suit.” She says with a small smile. He huffs, but nods in agreement. 

“True.” He says and Marinette laughs. She could officially take Bruce Wayne off her ‘threat to be dealt with immediately’ list and move him to ‘possible future annoyance’ list. A big improvement for the man, and it would mean she wouldn’t be as tense around him the next time she saw him.

Next

Tag list: @toodaloo-kangaroo @laurcad123 @kittenmywaythrulife @lost-in-the-world-of-maribat @queenz-z @daminette-56

[it-was-all-a-beautiful-dream]

Opposites Attract (Paul Lahote x Reader) Chapter 3

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Warnings: Swearing

Word Count” 2.1k

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-Your POV-

They were running at a speed that seemed impossible, their size alone, impossible. The shear beauty of the animal, breath taking. This wasn’t the first time you’d dreamt of giant wolves. They visited your dreams frequently, leaving you with all sorts of un answered questions, leaving you the next day, searching “What does seeing giant wolves in your dreams mean?” Yup, you were that kinda girl. You thought there was an answer for everything, and there probably was, but you weren’t going to find the answer on google search. 

You don’t know how long you’d been in the car for. All you knew was you were in pain, then it seemed to ease and a sense of comfort washed over you. Your head felt as if it were floating, snuggled into something warm and soft. A pillow perhaps? You didn’t open your eyes to check, the pain in your abdomen and now across your whole body blinding, you’d woken a few times with a jolt, and then you passed out again. 

The next time you woke up you weren’t moving at all, which you were grateful for, the pain mixed with the motion of a moving vehicle didn’t do anything for your stomach, travel sickness was the bane of your life. Instead you found yourself in a room, the blinds drawn closed, the door shut, your body, in different clothes. A mens t-shirt? When did you get changed? Where were you? You looked around in a daze, sitting up slightly from the comfort of the pale yellow duvet set. Wooden log walls, photo frames scattered on every surface, subtle lighting and a wall lined with books, the smell of home cooking wafting through from the kitchen. You were in Emily and Sam’s guest room, how did you know this? Well for one all of the frames had pictures of the happy couple in, two, you’d stayed over once before, back when you’d been caught in a freak storm with Leah while on the beach. You vaguely remembered the place. You didn’t come over often, what with Leah and Sams history, that and as much as you liked Paul, sometimes you’d be nervous to bump into him. Paul! Speaking of Paul, you groaned and flopped back into the fluffy bed sheets. Paul was at the hotel when the pain started… where was he now? Did he drive with you back home? 

You were about to get up when Leah came bounding through the door. “Oh good I thought I could hear you awake in here.” She grinned at you. “You look like you’re feeling much better!” You pat the space beside you and Leah climbed in snuggling up to your side. 

“So, on a scale of one to ten how bad was it.” The big ‘It’ being how bad was the show in front of your long term crush. Leah shrugged as she looked at you. 

“Nothing was baddd… everyone was just worried about you, you seemed to be in some serious pain, hence why we thought it best to cut the trip short, it’s probably better that were home, it was early hours when we got here so Sam said we could just crash at his.” You raised your eye at you best friend. She was being awfully calm about the whole situation. She said Sams name in a sentence and didn’t get herself worked up. You looked down at yourself. 

“And the clothes? Or lack there of….” That’s when Leah grinned. You didn’t like the way she was looking at you. You inhaled the scent that was on the shirt. Sandel wood and aftershave, a hint of sea salt probably from the misty air outside. 

“That’s Pauls t-shirt Y/N” Your eyes went wide and you knew you were blushing.. did that mean he had undressed you. Leah noticed the panic in your eyes.

“Before you get worked up he just leant the t-shirt knowing you’d be uncomfortable in your dress, I changed you.” You audibly gave a sigh of relief, not knowing how you’d react if the guy you’d been in love with since second grade had finally seen you in your underwear. “He stayed in here with you last night you know, to make sure you were okay. He wouldn’t leave.” Leah was now proper up on one arm looking at you. You didn’t know what to make of it. You didn’t think Paul had even known you existed… You were taken from your train of thought when something started dinging. The mobile on the bedside table started beeping as texts came through one by one. Oh god, you hoped Leah hadn’t told your parents about your episode at the hotel, the last thing you needed was for them to worry. However, you realised when you picked it up, it wasn’t your phone. 

The screensaver was a picture of the guys from the res, all goofing around, it looked like it had actually been taken in Emilys kitchen. It had to be one of the guys. You realised it was Paul’s after remembering what Leah had said about him staying for some of the night. He must have forgotten it when he left. You didn’t mean to see the message but it automatically came up on screen when you tilted the Iphone in your hand.

“Such a shame we had to cancel our date last night handsome, still on for tonight?” There were a bunch of emojis next to the text, the purple devil, aubergine, water droplets. You didn’t have to be a genius to figure out whoever this girl was motives were. At first you were embarrassed, to the point where your mouth was kinda slack and Leah was asking you what was wrong. Then you were pissed. 

“He’s such a dick, honestly. I don’t know why this makes him a dick, i’m just so mad. I know I’m not the prettiest, or the funniest, or most talented or anything but jesus christ I wish he would just notice me for once instead of these girls who will put out at the drop of a freakin hat!” Leah had taken the phone from you to see what you were talking about. She groaned and then noticed your whole body was shaking, in a flash she was at the door calling for Sam and the others. All you could see was red. Your vision totally blank, the covers under your hands balled up in your fists tight, your body shaking, heating up. Somewhere in the background you could hear someone shouting at you to calm down, but this time you couldn’t. You heard the sound of ripping and then all of a sudden the world around you changed. For one, everything in the room seemed to get smaller, or maybe you got bigger? You were still angry and started lashing out, only to be tackled by something from the side, leading you to smash through the wall of the wooden house. You still didn’t understand what was happening, until you heard them in your head. 

“Y/N CALM DOWN! We know this is scary but you need to calm down.” It was Sams voice. In your head. Or maybe, the voice was coming from the 8ft black wolf hovering over you. You didn’t scream, you didn’t even seem scared, and it’s because you realised, you were a wolf too. 

-Paul’s POV-

Y/N was safe, sleeping soundly in the room next door, or so Paul thought. It wasn’t until he heard the shouting that he knew something was wrong. Leah called for help and before he knew what had happened there was a bang and Sam was tackling a wolf on the ground outside the house. 

A white wolf. Small, slim, bright, with a single grey patch of fur around an eye. Paul shifted instantly, realising the unknown wolf in front of him was in fact his imprint. He let out a low growl to Sam, even though he was the Alpha, Paul didn’t like the fact he’d just tackled his girl. He looked her over, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth almost comically, all the while Y/N stood staring and the grey wolf now in front of her, he could hear through the bond that she’d just imprinted, feel it too. Now she knew. 

-Your POV-

“Hold the fuck up.” You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. Part of you couldn’t tell if you were in a dream or had just gone plain crazy. The other part of you knew that everything was real but you just couldn’t process the information quick enough. “So you’re telling me, that our ancestors were these shapeshifters and the gene was passed down to us to allow us to shift into giant wolves and hunt down vampires. You know, Vampires, ‘I want to suck you blood’, creepy pale strong immortal beings with no soul? And werewolves, I mean, Shifters..” It was insane. 

“Anddd to top it off, the man i’ve had a crush on since 2nd grade is my imprint, the person I’m supposed to be with for the rest of my life?” You glared at Paul who had the audacity to wink in your direction. Looking around you noticed the other faces, all amused at your outburst. Okay, so this wasn’t a joke, it was some sick reality you were now a part of. You hadn’t looked in Leah’s direction yet, pissed that your best friend had kept such a massive secret from you. Obviously you knew it wasn’t her fault, she wasn’t aloud to tell you the tribes secret, they didn’t know that you would be another female shifter, apparently your kind were rare. It still stung a little. 

“What really sucks thought Y/N, is that you’re gonna have to cut you beautiful hair short, our human hair mimics the length of our wolf hair, hence why each of us one by one cut it all off.” Quil sat back and shrugged and Paul growled lowly, not lowly enough for heightened hearing. 

“Why now. Why. I-I have school and I have things I want to do with my life.. I can’t be a shifter..” Reality had started to sink in and you found it difficult to breath. It felt like everyone in the room was staring at you and it didn’t help that you could also hear what everyone was basically saying. Your chair was pushed back with a screech, falling over and hitting the wooden floor. 

“I-I need to get out of here, I need a minute..” You were out the door in a flash, Leah and the boys running after you. Somewhere in the distance you could make out Sam telling Paul to calm down and then heard what sounded like wolves shifting but you’d already made it to the tree line, being able to run faster than you’d imagined still in your human form. 

The air was colder the higher up you got. You didn’t know how long you’d been running for but it had been a couple of hours before you finally stopped. In the middle of nowhere, high up in the mountains you let out a scream, one that sent flocks of birds fleeing from trees, the notes of your anguish scattering in the breeze. Everything would be changing now, life as you once knew it was gone. Part of yourself would never be yours again, having to follow a pack system. Another part of you was giddy at the thought that the man you’d been in love with your whole life turned out to be the one destined for you all along, it only took shifting into a wolf for you both to realise just how compatible you were.

You’d been alone with your thoughts long enough when you heard a twig snap in the distance. The hairs on your arms stood up and your heart started beating rapidly, turning, you calmed when you noticed a familiar figure walk out into the open. 

“Paul.” You could feel the bond running through your veins, seeing him helped you breath better and the physical need and urge to be in his arms was too strong. Like he sensed it too, he was over to you in a flash, taking you in his arms, your body pressed against his, his nose buried in your hair breathing in your scent, like he was saving it to memory. 

“Y/N, it’s all going to be okay, I promise, nothing bad will ever happen to you while i’m around, I know it seems scary now, but it won’t be like this forever. You’re already so strong, and I’m lucky that fate paired me with you.”

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Yoooo. I hope you liked this chapter, I’ve had some writers block recently, just trying to keep going. I’m still not sure what direction I’m taking this fic, I do know however that this is set at the beginning of eclipse! So watch out for some vampire action!

TagList:

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@rosella26

@punkfrogz

@jjpogueprincess

If you want to be added to this tag list please let me know, sorry if I missed anyone off! <3 Please re-blog/like/follow <3

[honeysidesarchived]

WHERE THERE IS NO TEMPTATION, THERE IS NO GLORY.

⊱ a santino d'antonio / oc short-fic

euphemia volpe has never wanted for very much; a safe place to sleep, a soft place to land. to love someone, and be loved back. she has all of those things now, but it's most unfortunate for her that she has fallen in love with a man who will never be satisfied with what he's got.

pt. i: contact is crisis

words: 3.3k

warnings: language, some depictions of a relationship that is not entirely healthy, extensive use of my very basic knowledge of italian (padded with google translate, thank you google!), and an unfortunate amount of endearments and pet names. this does not deviate from john wick chapter 2's canon ending, so please bear in mind this will contain major character death.

rating: m for mature language ??? probably closer to t, but will change later on.

notes: as some of you may know, this has been (unfortunately) sitting on my drive since i first watched john wick chapter two almost a year ago--maybe over a year! i can't remember. all i remember was seeing santino and going "SOMEONE has got to kiss that man". so you know, here i am. this short-fic (only a few, short parts) will take place over the span of the events of john wick chapter 2. yes i built some tiny amount of lore for the camorra. yes i had the opportunity to write a fix-it fic and did not. no i am not taking criticism at this time !

special uber big thank you to my beta and my wifey @starcrier who read this a year ago and when i casually said, "hey, so what if i posted this" told me to do it. also @faithchel, who through the occasional sly prompt slid in from ask games (i see you) has been a true angel while i sort through this, and equally as encouraging!

and of course thank you to you all, who read this. i know this is not the usual content you followed me for but i appreciate you all the same. <3

“I cannot believe that I will marry a man so stupid.”

Euphemia is practically frothing at the mouth, she’s so mad; she storms into the chic New York loft, tossing her purse onto the nearby counter, her heels clipping against the polished floor decisively. It’s late; the silk slip of a dress draped across her body brushes the floor in a sweeping train, and she balances herself on the counter with one hand while she steps out of the stilettos with the assistance of the other.

“Euphie, luce della mia vita,” Santino says, striding in after her and completely at ease. He is, infuriatingly, as he always is; perfectly composed, his dark curls in place and his suit immaculate. Euphemia eyes him through the mirror of her vanity as he sidles up behind her. “We’re not married yet, princesa, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“Luce della mia vita,” Euphemia drawls mockingly. She drips the words in honey on the way out of her mouth, sliding a dainty, glittering bracelet from her wrist and dropping it on the counter. “You sound like a fucking idiot, Santi.”

His gaze darkens, but his voice is still silky when he says, “Watch your tone, cara mia.”

“What for?” Euphemia thinks she wouldn’t be able to watch her tone even if she wanted to; not anymore, not with this hanging over her head. She turns to stare at her fiancé, pressing her index finger to his chest. “You’re going to get killed by Baba Yaga anyway. No point in behaving myself, is there? Idiota.”

“Euphemia.”

“You leave John Wick alone, Santino,” she bites out. “You don’t ask for a thing from him. Of him. About him. I don’t want John Wick near my life.”

Santino grabs her wrist, the hand with the engagement ring sitting on it—snatches it out of the air like a cobra striking, grips it with hands that usually are much kinder.

“Everything that you have now is a gift from me,” he warns her, voice pitched low. “You like your nice engagement ring? Your nice dresses? This nice loft we live in?”

His fingers grip, nearly bruising; these are the only times that he doesn’t handle her with care, that his elegant fingers don’t splay against her skin reverently—when she’s pissed him off.

“I’ve given it all to you, all of these things, this life that you like having and don’t want John Wick near, so I would suggest watching your tone for that.”

There is a brief moment where Euphemia thinks she might finally, right now, resort to the violence of slapping Santino in the face. The threat is not lost on her; it’s Santino’s favorite thing to do when he’s angry. And for her to commit an act of violence against her fiancé would be unthinkable almost every other time, in any other situation. Euphie would not have considered it in the least, but there are times—on occasion—where she thinks for a second that she doesn’t recognize him; that he’s become some amalgam of all of the men who have grabbed her too hard or told her she owes them. Men who have used her meanly.

And Santino has divulged his plan to push John Wick for a favor.

So, yes: she thinks she might, but then her hand is moving of her own volition, sliding the engagement ring off of her finger and stuffing it into his jacket pocket, the more pacifist choice than what her mind is screaming for her to do.

“You have never had nothing, Santi,” she says, biting out the words, “so allow me to enlighten you; I have had nothing before you, and I will be just fine having nothing again.”

His eyes narrow, gemlike slits that sit heavy on her. She yanks her wrist of his grip and says, “And it is a good thing we are not married, si? A divorce would have been so messy.”

“Euphie,” Santino says in a sigh that lacks venom, as though he weren’t just threatening to take everything from her, as though she were the hysterical one, “don’t fuss.”

Don’t fuss, he says, because Santino has only ever had women before that bend themselves over backwards until they break for him; don’t fuss, he says, because he likes and maybe loves her, she thinks, but he doesn’t like or love when she talks back. Santino has always had someone to wait on him, to serve him, and Euphemia has never seen his parents together but she would that his only vision of marriage is that of a subservient, dutiful, loving wife.

“Oh, but my darling,” she coos, very undutiful and decidedly not subservient, “I wouldn’t want you to have to worry about all of the nice things you give me. You can enjoy them all yourself, for the brief time before Baba Yaga kills you for asking him to do a job he does not want to do, when he has announced his retirement.”

It’s a terrible way to feed the monster inside of her. That monster is a pusher, a puller, the kind that picked and chipped away at Santino until he lost that shred of his manicured control and gave her something, anything she could work with. It was impossible to love a man who was so buttoned up there was nowhere for her to put her love.

His expression tightens in the way that she recognizes as his controlled fury; bottling it, merchandising it, saving it for later. Santino is not incapable of killing his sister himself, but for some reason—a reason that Euphemia is sure is only known to him—he won’t. Some stupid shit about blood and family, probably.

“Take the ring back.” Santino’s voice is smooth, belying the danger lurking just beneath. He fishes the engagement ring out of the pocket of his suit jacket, where she’d dropped it, and picks up her hand again; this time, his fingers don’t grip with bruising force, but cradle. Euphemia thinks she might have pushed him, then, right to the line, because his eerie calm is unsettling as his fingers meticulously slide the engagement ring back into place.

He says, “There, you see? This is where your engagement ring belongs and will stay. Here, on your hand. Just like this is where you belong and will stay—here, with me.” His hand comes up to her face; she turns away, and he catches her chin and forces her to look back at him.

“You know I will get you anything you want,” Santino murmurs, “but you have to ask.”

Nicely, is the implied word. A good fiancé, a good wife, wouldn’t storm out of the car after he mentions John Wick in passing, ripping through the loft, calling him names. She knows all of this and she thinks, then maybe I’m not a good anything.

But she can tell when she’s pushed Santino’s buttons just enough—enough to make a point, and not enough to incur his wrath. Not entirely.

“Please, Santi,” she says, her voice still hard but softer than it was before, and already Santi is shaking his head so she plunges on recklessly, “do not cash in John Wick’s debt to you. Ascoltami, I know you—I know you will do something to put yourself and John Wick on opposite sides of the playing field.”

Santino’s gaze is sharp and clear. He drops his hand from her face, shrugging, and says, “So what? I will be playing chess, and John Wick will be playing checkers. You worry too much, Euphie.”

“What you mean to say is that I think before I act.”

He shrugs, and threads his fingers through her hair, reaching up with the other to brush loose strands of it from her eyes. He rumbles pleasantly, “Don’t you trust me?”

Euphemia grits her teeth. Her hands come up to grip his wrists, watching him with a prickle of dread in her chest. “Don’t you trust me, Santi?”

Santi’s gaze darkens. Like that, he drops his hands from her, tucking them into the pockets of his slacks as he turns and wanders further into the bedroom, taking all of his warmth with him and leaving Euphie to marinate in the cold glow of the vanity’s lights.

“You can say no,” she says after him, frustrated. “You don’t have to keep an air of mystery about it.”

“What do I do then, tesora?” Santino demands, turning to look at her from the foot of the bed where stands. “Kill her myself? You know I can’t. You know that you cannot ask me to do that.” A pause, and then, with an added air of entitlement: “And Wick owes me.”

There are complicated feelings wrapped up in the whole of it, she knows; Santino, who wants what his sister was given, but cannot bring himself to end her. Euphemia, who only wants Santino, who doesn’t care if he has a seat at the High Table or if he’s a sister-killer or not, who only wants him to look at her longingly like he did when they first met, just for forever instead of a brief moment in time.

And both of them, intrinsically linked, because Santino isn’t wrong when he says that he’s given her everything she has now and Euphemia isn’t wrong when she says she would be okay with nothing again.

She doesn’t ask it of him; he is right, that she can’t, that she wouldn’t. Gianna has only ever been kind to her, at least face to face, and if Santi’s sister had any reservations about Euphemia, then Euphie would find herself in a completely different situation. Not engaged to the only other heir to the D’Antonio empire, that was for certain.

Instead, then, she says, “I cannot ask you to do it, you’re right. I cannot ask you to do it, and I cannot keep you, and I cannot throw you away, Santino. I was less tired when I had nothing.”

She turns away and walks herself into the bathroom, fingers trembling as she undoes the delicate zipper of the gold dress, letting it pool at the floor in a whisper of fabric. The engagement ring sits heavy on her hand. It’s beautiful—and just what she wants, and also the thing that she fears the most, because she doesn’t know what it means to Santino and only what it means to her.

“Euphie.”

His voice comes from the doorway of the bathroom. She turns on the hot water in the tub, a beautiful porcelain clawfoot that she picked herself. It was one of the first things that Santino gifted to her, the first essence of her in the loft that is now almost entirely half-and-half the two of their tastes.

Euphemia doesn’t say anything, because she doesn’t know what to say, so she ties up her hair and shimmies out of the last of her clothes. She can feel his eyes on her, waiting for her to flower into submission and turn around and beg, oh, please Santino, forgive me, but he should know better because she has never and will never do that for him.

“Cara mia.”

“Do not.” Euphemia’s voice wobbles. She slides into the bathtub before it’s full, the water stinging her skin where it touches. “I can’t stand to hear your voice saying sweet things to me when you are willingly walking yourself into your grave.”

“You are being a little dramatic.” He makes his way over to her, kneeling down beside the porcelain tub, ghosting his fingers over her forehead and then the bridge of her nose, fluttering in a way that treasures her and causes her grief all at once. “Just one job, Euphie. That’s all I’m going to ask of him. And then it’s done, and you won’t have to be worried about the Boogeyman.” The pads of his fingers dip into the hot water and then skim along the slope of her collarbone, raising goosebumps on her skin. “And John Wick, whose lifelong peace you are very concerned about, can go back to his dog and his car.”

Euphemia thinks, it’s never just that, with you, because she knows Santino—she knows he’s hungry, has always been hungry, a boy magicked into a man’s skin all hurt and needing and starved, unable to inhibit himself properly. No self-preservation telling him when to stop, never telling him when enough is enough. Not really.

I see you, though, she thought, her gaze flickering over Santino’s face to trace the handsome lines of his expression. She would have never agreed to marry a man before she saw him without his face off; without knowing the monster underneath.

But while she knows this, and she sees Santino D’Antonio for what he really is, she is an idiot and a fool and loves a man sick with the magic of his own perceived destiny, a destiny he believes he is owed, so she says softly, “Promise me, Santi.”

“On my life,” Santino replies with that boyish charm she knows so well. He speaks as though he is not going to leave her in the morning to visit Baba Yaga, as though she doesn’t fear he won’t ever come back. “Now give me a kiss, princesa.”

“I mean it, Santino—”

“I do, too.” He cocks his head to the side. “I won’t ask twice.”

Euphemia acquiesces; not because she fears what he’ll do if he does feel he has to ask twice—because he does hate that—but because as much as she says she would be happy to have nothing again, she is content to bask in the something that she has now, while she has it.

She kisses the corner of his mouth. He slides his damp fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck and says, “Do you love me?”

“Of course.” Her voice feels rough with an emotion she doesn’t want any of. “Of course, Santi, that’s why I—”

“All I need is a yes or no, my little fox, not an essay.”

Her eyes narrow. She turns her face from him; he shifts his position at the end she’s leaned against, dragging his hands along her shoulders to ease the tension in her muscles. Her body reacts instinctively to him. She is a long cry from the girl scamming rich men out of their wallets and time, but there are some things she is still weak to; touch, the acknowledgment that she has a body, that she is real, to be reassured that she is alive.

Santino is so very good at that. He leans over the end of the tub and kisses her cheek, fingers working into the knots of her shoulders.

I am so afraid, she thinks, her eyelashes fluttering shut. I am so afraid that I will never see old age on you.

“Tesora.” His voice is a lull. Pulling her back in, pushing her back under, reminding her that to relinquish herself to someone is a luxury she does not want to go without anymore. To let someone else take control, to not have to worry about making decisions all the time; this is something that she always wants.

“Yes,” Euphie says, “of course I love you, Santi.”

She can feel his smile against her cheek.

“Good girl.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Tell me your favorite words.”

It’s both early and late; the clock’s cool blue numbers are keeping her awake; Santi’s hand slides along the curve of her hip admiringly above the silk of her nightdress, and his nose brushes the bump at the base of her neck. Euphemia shifts. When she does, the edge of her engagement ring catches on the silky pillowcase, but she doesn’t care—it will always do that, because Santi won’t pick another and Euphie won’t ask him to.

Goosebumps prickle along her skin with the air conditioning, cranked as high as she likes, whispers across it when her shoulder slides out from underneath the comforter. She rolls over to look at him. It’s unsurprising that he’s still awake, and he doesn’t look surprised to see she’s awake, either.

“My favorite words?” she prompts. Santino brings his hand to her face, his thumb dragging absently along her lower lip.

“Si,” he replies. “You are always reading. You can speak a few languages. You must have favorite words, no?”

His request does bring a smile to her face, tired as it is. They may have spent the rest of their waking evening wandering around each other like wounded dogs, wary and licking their wounds, but they are here now, together, in their bed.

Euphie says, “It is late, Santi.”

“And I cannot sleep.” He brushes his nose along her jawline. “But perhaps the soothing voice of my one greatest love will lull me.”

She laughs. Her hand finds his, their fingers interlacing, woven together. He pulls back from her and kisses the engagement ring, but he is waiting. He means it.

“Tendresse,” Euphemia says, the word rolling soft out of her mouth from misuse. Santino quirks a brow expectantly and kisses the pulse point of her wrist. “Tenderness.”

He nods sagely. Against the soft skin of the inside of her wrist, he murmurs, “You are a most tender creature, Euphemia D’Antonio.”

Her fingers slide out of his, running along the slope of his cheekbones and then the bridge of his nose. “That is Euphemia Volpe. If you’ll recall, we’re yet to be married.”

Santino leans in, captures her fingertips playfully with his teeth, and then kisses her palm with a warm, rich chuckle that sends pleasant heat spiraling down her spine. “You will never forget that I was fool enough to say that to you, will you?” he asks. “Tell me another.”

His eyes are just as warm as his voice, and twice as earnest. In these moments, Santino is the most charming; boyish and quick-witted, unburdened by the elements of the world, by his own desires. He thinks of nothing except them. Euphemia feels like she’s in her own little world with him, in their bedroom at three in the morning, while the air conditioner whirrs and ticks and he asks her something so unimportant, like what her favorite words are.

And then, Santino leans in and kisses her cheek, the corner of her mouth, and the underside of her jaw to prompt her.

“Amore,” she murmurs, feeling like the breath has been sucked out of her lungs by his longing. His tenderness.

“Oh,” Santino says, against her temple, “I know that one.”

When his stubble tickles her neck, she squirms, shifting away from him so hat she can take a breath; but he chases her, leans in and captures her in his arms so that he can nose the hair by her ear and kiss there.

“Euphie, my gorgeous girl,” he says in the way that wrenches her heart; drenched and drowned in adoration. “Perfetto e tutto mio.”

Santino wraps his arms around her and pulls her to his chest, his fingers tracing constellations on her back where the night dress slips away from her shoulder blades. Sweet Santi, covetous Santi; she is his greatest art piece, his favorite collector’s item, and in these moments she has never felt more treasured. There is something equal parts safe and selfish in wanting someone to treasure you.

“Say it for me, Euphie. You know I love when you do.”

She buries her face into his neck. Her eyes burn. He will go to Baba Yaga tomorrow, and she will have to pretend not to know, or it will wreck her. Euphie considers ways to keep him in bed in the morning; delay him, make him forget about John Wick and this glory that he is chasing forever.

“Sono tuo,” she murmurs. Tears sting at the corners of her eyes If he feels them against his skin, Santino makes no indication than to card his fingers through her hair. “Always, Santi.”

Always, always, always yours.

[animezing-fandoms]

Willow

Masterlist

Relationships: Nalu

Warnings: Blood, injury, stabbing (basically there’s a fight and injuries are sustained but it’s not graphic detail) Implied/referenced lemon. Abusive parents (Jude’s a real bad parent in this AU) 

Summary: During a job with team Natsu, Lucy gets hit in the head and wakes up in a dream where she's a princess who runs away from home to be with her lover, the half-dragon half-human Count Natsu Dragneel.

A/N: So I had this wild dream one night about nalu and decided to write it as a fic. I hope it isn’t too crazy! And yes I also incorporated some lyrics from Taylor Swift’s Willow. Enjoy! 

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

“I am seriously starting to regret taking this job with you guys!” Lucy wails.

She was currently on a job with Team Natsu. The job seemed simple enough on paper. They just needed to find a rare crystal in a forest. Sounds easy right? Well, the client forgot to mention that this forest has weird clearings that need to be crossed in order to get to the crystal, and giant killer eagles that attack you when you’re in the clearings! 

That’s why Lucy was currently running for her life, heading for the tree-line. She dares to look over her shoulder and instantly regrets it when she sees one of those eagles swooping down towards her. 

Before it can grab her, Natsu kicks it with his fire dragon’s claw and then scoops Lucy up in his arms bridal style and they leap into the tree-line as another eagle swoops by, just missing them. 

Natsu looks down and sees Lucy breathing heavily with her face buried in his scarf. 

“Lucy are you okay?” He asks her softly. 

At the sound of his voice Lucy turns to look at his face and blushes. 

“Y-yeah I’m fine.” She replies softly. 

As her fear began to fade a new feeling was arising. Well it wasn’t entirely new. She’d felt this before. A warm feeling in her chest and butterflies in her stomach. She felt like this whenever she was close to Natsu. And she knew what it meant, she had felt it before whenever a cute guy got close to her. But Natsu wasn’t a potential boyfriend? That ship had sailed after she got all dressed up to meet him in the park to dig for holes instead of a date.

He clearly doesn’t think about her in that way. And even if he did, she never would have known from the look on his face. 

So she shouldn’t think of him that way either. He could be really annoying sometimes. Breaking into her apartment, wrecking her plans. And yet, sometimes at night with her head on the pillow she could feel him sneaking in. 

He was like some mythical thing. And not because he was created as a demon, was taught dragon slayer magic and time traveled 400 years to be with her now. To be with her now...

As she looks at him she wishes she could know what he’s thinking. 

There’s one prize I’d cheat to win. 

“Oooo Lucy’s blushing!” Happy teases pulling Lucy from her thoughts. “I think she’s in lo-“ 

“Shut it cat!” Lucy retorts before Happy can finish. 

“I agree with Lucy. Now is not the time for jokes.” Erza says seriously as Natsu sets Lucy down. “We have one more clearing to cross before we can reach the willow tree that holds the crystal.” 

“Another one!?” Lucy exclaims. “We can’t find some other way around?” 

“Unfortunately we can’t.” Erza says. “Our only option is to run for it and fight too if need be.” 

Lucy looks past the tree-line to see the large willow tree on the other side. It would be a long, dangerous sprint. She takes in a shaky breath then exhales when she feels a warm hand slide into hers. 

She turns to see Natsu smiling at her. But not with that goofy grin he usually wore. This time, he was smiling at her softly with an endearing look on his face, as if he was looking at something precious. Her heart was pounding and she could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks.

“Don’t worry Lucy. I won’t let any of those birds hurt you.” He promises.

Lucy smiles back at him. 

“Thanks Natsu.” Lucy says. 

“Alright now let’s go fry up some chicken!” Natsu shouts and runs into the clearing.

“Natsu wait!” Wendy shouts after him.

“That idiot! We were supposed to come up with a plan together first!” Gray exclaims.

“Well it’s too late for that now!” Erza says with a frustrated sigh before drawing her sword and following him.

Lucy figures that Natsu’s plan was to draw all of the attention to himself, so that the rest of them could sneak past. And that would have been a good plan if they weren’t in an open clearing. There was nowhere to hide and now they were all spread out. And there were more birds this time too! 

What’s worse is that these birds were quicker. Lucy knows that if she slows down to summon a spirit, she’d surely get picked up and carried away! And she was definitely having a few close calls right now.

I thought Natsu said he would protect me? She thinks to herself as another bird swoops low.

Lucy was almost at the willow though. Just right through those branches and then she’d be safe! 

But she was so focused on getting there that she didn’t see the branch hanging down from one of the other trees in her path! And as soon as she made it there, she smacked her head on the branch and everything went black.

—————————

When Lucy awoke, she was laying under the willow tree all alone, her companions nowhere to be found. 

As she rose to sit up she found that her head was in no pain from getting hit, like she had never hit it in the first place. And the killer birds were nowhere to be found either.

She gently brushes the leaves off of the long purple skirts of her corseted dress as she tries to remember what she was doing out here in the woods. 

“Did you rest well Princess?” A familiar voice asks and Lucy smiles.

“Virgo!” She exclaims, happy to see her face. 

Suddenly her memories of how she wound up in this situation came flooding back to her. She, Princess Lucy Heartfilia of the kingdom of Fiore was betrothed to a man she did not love by her father who cared little for her happiness. So she ran away with the help of her most trusted maid Virgo, to a place where she knew she would be safe. The territory that was home to the man she truly loved. Thinking of him made her chest feel warm, yet she could not picture his face at the moment. Nor his name. 

“Wait for the signal and I’ll meet you after dark.” 

Those were the instructions he gave Virgo. She waited for the signal. A dragon flew over the castle, casting a dark shadow over it to give she and Virgo cover as they escaped. 

And now it was dark. She was in the place. But her man was nowhere to be found. 

“Have we made across the border to the Dragon’s Forest yet Virgo?” Lucy asks eagerly. 

“We should have, if that is the Dragon’s Roar River.” Virgo says, pointing at the rushing white-water river that was behind them. 

Lucy couldn’t begin to think of how they managed to cross it. But she wasn’t as interested in figuring that out as she was about another matter. 

“If we’re really in the forest then he should have known I’m here and come by now. Unless I was napping for a shorter time than I thought...” Lucy says.

“Hmm...well it could be the second river further up ahead?” Virgo says and looks ahead. “Perhaps we should continue to move inward onto his territory, just to be sure we’re in the right place.”

“I agree.” Lucy says and brings herself to stand, brushing the dirt off of her skirts.

Then fear grips her heart as she hears horses whinnying nearby, followed by men’s voices shouting. 

“No...” She mutters as she turns to see a carriage followed by a group of soldiers crossing a bridge over the river.

A few of the soldiers ahead of the carriage began to approach with their spears drawn. 

“There’s the princess! King Jude, we found her and the traitorous maid!” The soldiers shout as Lucy and Virgo turn to run away. 

As Lucy desperately hiked up her skirts to run away, she regrets not changing into a different outfit. These large skirts definitely weren’t made for running away from danger in the woods. But once she and Virgo had discovered what her father’s plans for her were, there was no time to change. They had to leave immediately to get to the one person Lucy knew could protect her. And as the soldiers surround her and Virgo, and her father approaches them, Lucy hopes that he’ll come soon.

“Daughter, have you gone mad!” Lucy’s father, King Jude exclaims. 

“I could ask you the same thing!” Lucy bravely retorts. 

She may be surrounded by soldiers and facing the man who had been controlling her life since she was a child. But if he was going to lock her away in the castle and force her to marry a man she didn’t love, then she won’t succumb to that fate without a fight. 

“You’re saying I’m the one at fault!” Jude exclaims. “You snuck out of the castle on the night of the ball being held to announce your engagement because you trust in the counsel of some lunatic maid over that of your own father! And now I find you here with that maid trespassing on dragon’s territory! And you think I’m the one who’s mad!” 

The anger behind his words made tears sting at the corners of Lucy’s eyes, but she wouldn’t back down from this fight. She couldn’t. There was too much at stake. 

“What kind of father would ignore the happiness of his own daughter and make such a huge decision for her without even asking her what she thinks!” Lucy exclaims. 

“Because a father knows what’s good for his daughter!” Jude replies. “And a good daughter would obey her father and do what’s best for her kingdom!”

“It’s not what’s best for the kingdom! It’s what’s best for you!” Lucy retorts. “The royal families you wish to make alliances with only care about their own wealth! They don’t care about the citizens of their own kingdoms much less ours! I could never marry someone like that!” Lucy shouts. 

“What the hell are you all doing in my forest!” A voice shouts from somewhere in the trees. 

Gasps of fear erupted amongst the soldiers while Jude’s face pales. Virgo cracks a small smile and a look of relief washes over Lucy’s features as the figure of a man drops down from the trees. 

This was no ordinary man though. Even though he wore the typical noble attire for a human man, he also had large maroon dragon wings sprouting from his back, and two matching horns pointing up from the spiky pink hair on his head. He even had matching maroon scales on the sides of his face and trailing down his neck. Most people were terrified when they looked into his bright reptilian green eyes. But Lucy felt something very different. She felt warmth, and love. 

“Natsu...” she sighs in joy and relief.

“Lucy.” Natsu replies with the same warmth in his voice.

The warmth in his voice makes warmth flood through her chest. No matter what world they were in, Natsu would always be her knight in shining armor. 

He holds out his arms for her and she moves to go to him but her father grabs her arm and yanks her back.

“Hey! Let me go!” Lucy protests and tries to yank her arm back but her father only pulls harder “Ouch!” She yelps.

Upon seeing his damsel in distress Natsu’s  soft demeanor immediately changes into something more reminiscent of the beast he resembles. 

“Get off of her!” Natsu roars.

He charges forward at an inhuman speed, right past the guards and yanks Jude’s hand off of Lucy’s arm, not caring to be gentle with him at all, causing him some pain as he takes Lucy into his arms and hugs her.

“Are you alright?” Natsu asks her softly. “Did he hurt your arm?” 

“Just a bit when he grabbed it. But I’ll be alright now that you’re here.” Lucy replies and rests her head under his chin, taking comfort in the warmth his body provided. 

Natsu holds her in his arms and gives her a light squeeze as he rests his cheek on top of her head. 

“You’re safe with me. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I promise.” Natsu swears and presses a light kiss to her forehead.

“And yet you dare hurt me, her father?” Jude asks Natsu angrily, making him frown. “The King that your father is loyal to!”

“The Dragon King Igneel doesn’t swear loyalty to humans. He’s only loyal to his friends, and mine. And you’re no friend of his.” Natsu growls back. 

“But I made a deal with him! I let the dragons live in this forest in peace without any humans trespassing on your land and give you the noble title of Count to represent the dragons in our kingdom and in return the dragons protect us from invaders. We have an agreement, your father is loyal to me, and therefore as his son you should show me some respect!” Jude declares.

Natsu can’t help but smirk and laugh. 

“What’s so funny?” Jude asks. 

“You clearly misunderstood the purpose of the deal.” Natsu says. “The only reason my father protects your kingdom instead of burning it to the ground is because your daughter lives in it.”

Lucy smiles as Natsu gently nuzzles his face against her head before continuing.

“I’m half-dragon half-human. Igneel fell in love with a human woman and through some source of magic they found he was able to have a child with her but she died giving birth to me. So I stayed with my father’s people, the dragons. They were the only ones that accepted me. The humans all thought of me as a monster and when I was a kid they would chase me away when I would go into their towns looking for desserts and other treats I could smell from the outskirts of town. And because of the death of my mother my father is very protective of me so he’d burn down any village that treated me poorly. Then one day we came to Fiore and it was the same story as the other kingdoms. I got chased out of the markets and somehow wound up in the palace gardens to hide. Then that’s when I met Lucy. The first human I’d ever met who wasn’t afraid of me. And to this day, the only human who’s treated me with kindness. That’s why Igneel agreed to protect Fiore. Because it’s where my new best friend Lucy lived.”

“So the only reason Fiore isn’t ashes right now is because King Igneel wanted you to be able to have play dates with my daughter?” Jude asks.

“Yep.” Natsu replies. “If we burned the place down then my Princess would cry. And I can’t have that.” Natsu says.

“Your princess?” Jude asks. “You think she belongs to you?”

“She doesn’t belong to anybody she’s a person not an object!” Natsu retorts. 

“That’s where you’re wrong! I’m her father so she belongs to me!” Jude replies. 

“Not anymore!” Lucy shouts back, finding her courage now that she was with Natsu. “Count Natsu Dragneel and I are in love and he won’t let you take me away from him to marry me off to someone else!” 

“He was going to do what?!” Natsu exclaims and growls at Jude.

“He was going to sell me off like a brood mare to some horrible prince so I came here to run away with you so we can be together!” Lucy explains.

“I’ll never let my daughter marry a monster!” Jude yells. 

“Natsu’s not a monster! But you are!” Lucy retorts. 

Jude smirks and nods his head. 

Then a loud smacking noise comes from behind them and Lucy and Natsu turn around to see that one of the guards slapped Virgo in the face. 

“Virgo! No!” Lucy exclaims and turns back to her father. “Why would you hurt her?”

“Because I can’t hurt you at the moment. So your dear little treasonous maid will bear the punishment for your disobedience instead.” Jude explains. 

“You’re disgusting!” Lucy replies reflexively but then regrets it when Virgo gets hit again. 

Natsu frowns as he notices Lucy starting to cry so he turns to the soldiers with a frown.

“Virgo duck!” Natsu shouts before breathing fire at the soldiers. 

They scream as the flames hit them and Virgo gets free of them. Lucy runs over to hug her. 

“Virgo I’m so sorry!” Lucy apologizes. 

“It’s alright princess! It wasn’t your fault!”Virgo says. 

Natsu smiles as Lucy embraces her friend. Happy that she wasn’t crying anymore. Then he grimaces as he feels a shooting pain in his side. 

He turns and sees Jude holding the sword that just stabbed him. 

Virgo gasps when she opens her eyes and sees what happens. Then Lucy turns and her heart shatters. 

“Natsu! No!” She wails. 

“Don’t worry Lucy I’m fine.” Natsu says and grabs the sword in his hand and pulls it out of the wound with no pain whatsoever. 

The look on Jude’s face was priceless. 

“I’m half-dragon. You should’ve aimed for my head if you wanted me dead you moron.” Natsu says. 

Lucy giggles at the fact that Natsu called her father a moron.

Jude brings the sword up to swing at his head and Natsu just plucks it from his hands and throws it away, hitting some poor soldier in the helmet and knocking them out. 

Virgo and Lucy get grabbed by soldiers again so Natsu breathes fire to get them free. But while he’s doing that a few more soldiers stab him in his back and stomach. 

“Shit will you guys just quit that it feels weird!” Natsu exclaims and fired up his fist to take them down and that’s when one soldier gets a lucky stab in Natsu’s chest too. 

“Princess you and Natsu need to get out of here!” Virgo urges. “He’s strong but he’s also outnumbered!” 

“I know but what about you?” Lucy asks. “My father will kill you for helping me, I can’t just leave you here!” 

“Don’t worry! I’ll be fine.” Virgo says as she picks up a sword and grins.

Lucy smiles, feeling reassured that Virgo would be able to handle herself and she runs over to Natsu. 

“Natsu!” Lucy says as she runs towards him and he takes her into his arms. “Let’s get out of here!” 

“I was thinking the same thing.” Natsu says. 

And the next thing Lucy knows she’s being lifted into the air with Natsu. 

————————

As they fly over the trees, away from the willow tree and deeper into dragon territory Natsu notices that Lucy is surprisingly unafraid.

 “I thought you were scared of heights?” Natsu asks. 

“I can’t see how high up I am if I’m only looking at you.” Lucy replies.

Natsu can’t help but kiss her. 

————————

When they finally land at the Dragon King’s den, Igneel is there to greet them. 

“Greetings great dragon.” Lucy says and curtseys for him. 

“Lucy! How lovely it is to see you again!” Igneel greets. “I had a hunch that you were the reason Natsu was out today but I had no idea he would be bringing you to our den.”

“Natsu why have you brought her he-Natsu?” Igneel asks. 

Lucy turns around and gasps. She hadn’t noticed before because it was dark but now that they were under the light of the moon…there were red stains on his clothing and he looked paler than usual. 

“Natsu your wounds! I thought you said they weren’t serious?” Lucy exclaims as she runs over to him to inspect his injuries closer.

“I lied so you wouldn’t worry over me until we were safe. If I had said something sooner then you would have panicked and it would’ve slowed us down and then we would’ve never gotten out of there.” Natsu admits and Lucy cups his cheek and Natsu leans into her touch. 

“Who did this to my son?” Igneel growls. 

“My father and his goons.” Lucy answers with gritted teeth, her rising anger matching that of the great fire dragon behind her. 

“And why would they dare do such a horrific thing to betray me?” Igneel demands. 

“Because I was protecting Lucy.” Natsu says hoarsely and groans as Lucy sets him down into a more comfortable position on the ground. “King Jude was being cruel to her, he was going to try to take her away from me and give her away to someone else so he could expand his fortune. So Lucy fled here to find me so we could be together, but the King and his soldiers caught up to us and we had to fight our way out.” 

Igneel watches with concern as Lucy tears off strips of her dress fabric to soak up the blood on Natsu’s wounds. But there were multiple wounds, and she only had two hands. 

“Then they will pay for this!” Igneel declares. “I’ll burn them all!” 

“No! Please spare Fiore!” Lucy urges. “The citizens have done nothing wrong. Please don’t let them suffer just because of their King’s wrongdoings!” Lucy begs. 

“I understand.” Igneel says. “And I agree with you. I apologize for being quick to jump to violence but after losing Natsu’s mother, all I’ve ever wanted is for my son to be safe. And when you have powers like mine that allow you to burn away anything that troubles you well, it’s easy for that to become the default response. But after Natsu met you I realized that there are other humans like his mother that don’t see dragons as monsters that need to be slain.” 

“I’ve never seen your son as a monster. I met him after my mother died from illness and he brought such joy into my life by being my friend. And now he’s grown into the man I love. When I’m with him, I know I’m home. Anywhere else is hollow. And so with your permission I’d like to take his hand, wreck my father’s plans, and make Natsu my man.” Lucy says and smiles at him and Natsu smiles back. 

A look of pure joy spread over the dragon’s features and he looks at the lovers before him. 

“Oh Lucy I know how much my son cares for you. He’s already told me of his intentions to make you his mate so yes of course I approve!” Igneel says. “But first we should really treat Natsu’s wounds.” 

Lucy gasps. She was so caught up in the euphoria of being able to marry the man of her dreams that she completely forgot he was bleeding internally. 

“Oh my goodness! I completely forgot! Natsu I’m so sorry you must be in so much pain right now!” Lucy rambles and Natsu can’t help but smile at how cute she looks when she was worried over him. 

“It’s not that bad actually. I’ve had worse.” Natsu says with a shrug. 

“In this tower over here is where Natsu lives.” Igneel says and gestures his head towards an old stone tower on the edge of the clearing. “You’ll find some medicine in there that the dragon Grandeeney made to heal any wounds that a dragon or half-dragon might sustain.”

“Thank you. I’ll take care of him right away.” Lucy says and puts his arm around her shoulder and leads him inside. 

————————— 

As Lucy and Natsu sat on his bed together, Lucy takes note of how amazing this healing dragon’s powers must be. This medicine was a miracle. His wounds had stopped bleeding the instant she put the bandage with the magic salve over them. 

But other thoughts were crossing her mind. As she dresses his wounds in the dark room lit only by candle light, Lucy can’t help but feel a bit aroused. He was shirtless and her hands were all over his muscular torso, and she couldn’t help but take note of the strength those muscles conveyed. She wonders if he feels anything either. 

The silence starts to feel deafening so Lucy decided to ask a question that’s been on her mind for awhile.

“Natsu, now that we’re betrothed I think I should ask you, how do dragons get married?” Lucy asks. 

“They don’t.” Natsu says simply. 

“Oh...” Lucy asks unsure of how to respond. “But I thought you told me once that dragons mate for life.” 

“They do. Just not in the way humans do. Dragons don’t really have an official ceremony or anything like humans do.” Natsu explains. “When two of them decide they want to become a couple they just…mate.” 

“I see.” Lucy says as she dresses the gash on his left pectoral. 

The tension that was already starting to build between them had now fully crept it’s way into Lucy’s mind as Natsu mentioned mating. She had been thinking about doing this with Natsu for a long time. She does want to marry him after all, so she already found him attractive. But now, she had run away from her home, and the rules that came with it. She and Natsu had already promised themselves to each other with words, why not follow through with actions as well? 

“Well, weddings take a long time to plan.” Lucy begins to explain as she gently lets her fingers trail down his torso after setting the dressing. “And even if we were to have a wedding, it would probably be just your father’s clan anyway, since my father would sooner plot your murder than hand me over to you as a bride. He may even be plotting something to steal me away from you sooner rather than later. So instead of waiting for a wedding…” Lucy says, moving her gaze up to look into his eyes. “I think that we should just get married now. The dragon way.”

Natsu takes in a deep breath when he realizes what she’s asking. What she’s offering him. And Lucy could tell by the tent forming in his pants and his breaths becoming heavier that his primal instincts were starting to awaken. But Natsu kept himself in check. Sure he’s had these thoughts about Lucy before but only when he was alone, leaving him to deal with those urges on his own. But now she was right here and moving closer to him, with dilated pupils and his brain was screaming at him to just tear off her dress and claim her now. But he holds back. Because this wasn’t just some fantasy, this was real. This was Lucy, the love of his life and before he accepts her offer he has to be sure it’s what she wants. 

“Lucy are you sure that’s what you want?” He asks.

“Yes I’m sure.” Lucy says “We are in dragon’s land after all. And I’ll be living with your father and his clan. So I want to do things their way.” 

Natsu’s arousal builds even more as she takes his hand and places it at the top of the corset that was keeping her ample chest confined while her other hand slowly trails down his abdomen. 

“I love you Natsu. And I want you to claim me, if you want me too.” Lucy says. 

Natsu searches her face for any sign of unease or reluctance, but he only finds the same emotions he was feeling for her. Lust and love. And as she places her hand over the bulge in his pants, all doubt leaves his mind and he lets his primal urges take over as he cups her cheek to speak to her.

“Lucy my love you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. Of course I want to claim you as my mate.” Natsu declares before tugging at the bow on her corset.

Lucy gasps as she feels the garment loosen before Natsu seals his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss as she unbuckles his belt and they proceed to undress each other, and make love not long after.

——————————

That morning when Lucy woke up she was still naked in bed. She follows the sunlight streaming in from the balcony, and sees her clothes scattered on the floor. 

Lucy felt goosebumps form on her skin as she remembered the warmth of Natsu’s touch from the night before. His hands hands were strong and felt rough against her soft skin, just like the parts of his body that had scales, and the contrast felt divine. He caressed every part of her body with his hands, and then re-traced his path with his mouth which had only aroused her more and encouraged her to explore his body as well, wanting to know him as intimately as he knew her as they consummated their love and became one. 

Her father couldn’t marry her off to anyone now. Natsu had claimed her for himself last night, and she loved every minute of it. She was his, and he was hers. Mates. And Count and Countess to the human kingdom, and prince and princess among the dragons. 

And right now her Prince was standing on the balcony, still naked as well. They were deep in the woods after all, it’s not like any passers by would see them. But then he turns around when he hears her stirring in bed. 

“Good morning my princess.” Natsu says and smiles. 

“Good morning my prince.” Lucy says and smiles warmly back at him. 

He comes over to her and leans down to place a gentle kiss to her lips. 

“Did you sleep well?” Natsu asks. 

“Yeah. I slept great.” Lucy says. “The bed was so warm with you in it.” 

“Well duh, fire dragon.” Natsu reminds her and Lucy giggles and kisses him again. 

Then Natsu’s expression turns serious. 

“Before you woke up, my father talked with me. He still wants revenge for what your father attempted to do to me, and what he attempted to do to you too.” Natsu says. 

“Oh…” Lucy says. 

She looks down at the blanket in-between them as she tries to think. On one hand she certainly agreed that something needed to be done about her father. But on the other hand, he was her father. 

“What does he want to do?” Lucy asks. 

“He wants to remove your dad from power.” Natsu starts. “And let you take his place.” 

Lucy perks up and looks at Natsu who was smiling with pride. 

“So I’d be Queen of Fiore?” Lucy asks. 

“Yep. And we don’t have to kill your dad. We can just lock him up in the dungeon or something.” Natsu explains. 

“Then you’d be my King?” Lucy asks. 

“King Consort, since you’re the one with the power but yeah.” Natsu says with a shrug. 

“That sounds great.” Lucy says. “Except…You and your father like to travel sometimes, go to other lands to train together…If I’m Queen then I won’t be able to come with you.” 

Lucy looks away sadly but then Natsu cups her chin in his fingers and tilts her head towards him. 

“You’ll never be alone again.” Natsu says and gently cups her cheek. “You’re the love of my life, and I promise we’ll always be together Lucy.” 

He leans forward and kisses her.

Lucy closes her eyes and melts into the kiss. 

——————————

When her eyes flutter open she sees Natsu’s face and smiles warmly. 

“Oh Natsu…” she sighs dreamily. 

Natsu frowns at her. 

“Uh, Luce you’re looking at me funny. Are you okay?” He asks her with a frown. 

“Hmm…” Lucy hums in confusion. “Of course I am! I’m with you my…” She explains until she notices his horns are missing, and that there are no scales on his body either. 

She reaches forward and feels the blankets and realizes she’s no longer naked in the expensive large bed she was in before, but wearing her pajamas while in a bed at the infirmary in Magnolia! 

“My…what?” Natsu asks, wanting her to finish her sentence. 

“My…idiot!” Lucy shouts and kicks him in the stomach with her foot. 

“Ouch!” Natsu yelps and doubles over in pain. 

“Yep! She’s fine!” Happy says cheerfully from the other side of Lucy’s bed. “You really had us going there for a second Lucy, I was worried that that bump on your head might have made you go crazy!” 

Lucy reaches up and feels that there are bandages wrapped around her forehead. And she winces slightly in pain as she touches the injured spot and remembers reality. She must have hit her head pretty hard in order to have envisioned Natsu as some sort of romantic Prince. 

“Honestly, I’m not too sure I’m entirely sane.” Lucy says. 

“That would explain why you kicked me.” Natsu grumbles. 

“Want me to do it again?” Lucy growls and Natsu yelps in fear. 

“Nope! I learned my lesson, please don’t hurt me again!” Natsu pleads. 

“Maybe I should still go get Porlyusica?” Happy suggests. “I mean, she’s mad at you now, but when she woke up she was looking at you like she was in love.” Happy teases. 

Lucy frowns at Happy but at the same time can’t help but blush as she remembers how she felt about the Natsu she met in her dream. I mean there were obviously some differences between the two of them. But now that she thought about it...there were a lot of similarities too. The Natsu from her dream may have been more obviously romantic but most of what he was saying to her and the way he was looking at her...the real Natsu did all of that too. And she loved him for it. 

And then it hit her...did she love Natsu?

“I’m sorry Lucy.” Natsu says softly and looks into his lap. “I said I’d protect you and you got hurt.”

“Well, you said you wouldn’t let the birds hurt me. And I got hit by a willow branch. So you didn’t break your promise. You’ve never broken any promise to me.” Lucy assures him.

Ever since they met in Hargeon, he had been the major catalyst for the events in her life. Both good and bad. And this job was no different.

Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind. 

“I know but still, you got hurt because I was so busy keeping those birds away from you that I didn’t notice that damn branch.” Natsu pouts. 

“It’s not your fault. I should have been watching where I was going.” Lucy says.

“If I was with you you wouldn’t have had to worry about that. I shouldn’t have left you alone. I know that ever since Tartaros you get upset when I do that.” Natsu says and Lucy’s heart skips a beat.

So he really did notice how his year long absence had affected her...Who would have known? Certainly not Lucy. He really paid attention to her feelings like that? 

“And I don’t like it when you’re sad. It makes me feel weird, like I want to fix it and make you happy again as soon as I can. It’s easy when I can just punch whatever’s bothering you until it goes away. But it’s different when I’m the one that hurt you. It makes me feel worse because I never want to be the cause of your pain. I want to be the one that takes it away, or even better prevents you from getting hurt in the first place. All I want is to keep you safe and make you happy. But I failed...” 

The more that you say, the less I know. 

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Only the lovers in the books she reads say things like this. Maybe he wasn’t as dense as she thought? Did he know what love was? Did he love her?

“Instead of fighting for you I should have just been with you. I made a mistake and you got hurt. But I won’t make it again. I’ll be more mindful of you the next time we’re on a job.” Natsu says. “I swear I‘ll protect you next time.” 

“Natsu...we’ve been doing jobs together for years. Nothing ever goes the way it’s supposed to.” Lucy says and holds out her hand for Natsu. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

Wherever you stray, I follow.

Natsu smiles and it warms Lucy’s heart as he takes her hand. 

“Promise that tomorrow you’ll wreck my plans again by taking me on some wild adventure?” Lucy asks.

“You bet!” Natsu says and flashes her his signature goofy grin.

That’s my man.

[annab-nana]

One Love, Two Mouths - Sarah Cameron

Now that your close friends and family know, you had to keep up the lie that it was Scarlet you were after when really it was her best friend your eyes were on and being at a New Year’s Eve party with her there proved to be harder than you had anticipated.

A/N: This is the second part to Sweater Weather so make sure you have read that already if you haven’t :)

Warnings: some curse words; mentions of alcohol and drinking 

Word Count: 3.5k+

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

<- Part 1

It would not be you and Rafe if you both hadn’t woken up in the middle of the afternoon after staying up way too late watching movies and joking around. When you felt something blowing in your face, you opened your eyes to see how seriously close Rafe’s face was to your own.

“Rafe,” you mumbled, shaking his body lightly with your hand on his shoulder. “Scoot the fuck back.” You would have moved him yourself, but he was much larger and if you pushed against him, you were sure you would end up pushing yourself off the bed considering how little room he had provided you.

“Whaaa?” he dragged out as he barely moved and kept his eyes closed. You went against your better judgment and tried to push him yourself, but you should’ve listened to yourself. He did not move an inch, but you overestimated the amount of space you had on your side of the bed and felt the mattress slip from beneath you. Your arms reached out to grab onto something, anything, but they caught nothing, and you landed on the ground with a thud.

“Ow,” you muttered before Rafe’s head shot up from the pillow he was just drooling on.

“Why are you on the floor?” he inquired as your eyes rolled at the boy.

“Because you are a bed hog and when you didn’t move when I asked, I tried to move you myself which got me here,” you told him while you two stared at each other for a moment before bursting into a fit of giggles together.

“Are-are-are you okay?” he breathed through his laughs while he lent you a hand to help you out. You took his hand in yours and let him lift you up before you sat down on the side of the bed you just woke up from.

“Yes, just don’t sleep all crazy and we’ll be good,” you said as your laughter died down. When you looked over at him, you still noticed the saliva slipping down his face.

“You need to do something about that,” you told him, pointing towards the drool. His hand came up to his face, effectively wiping it away before he attempted to wipe it off on you. Your movements were quicker than his and you managed to grab his wrist before it met your skin.

“I don’t think so,” you warned while your other hand reached to grab a tissue from his bedside table and cleaned the slobber off with it. Rafe chuckled at you when he leaned back on the pillows while you tossed the tissue in the trash can.

“Are you getting ready here or at your place?” the Cameron boy questioned before he reached over to grab his phone and check the time, his practically bulging out of their sockets at the sight of it being nearly three in the afternoon. You laughed at his expression as you picked up your own cellular device.

“Probably my place. What about you and the other two dorks?” His face showed mock hurt, causing your giggles to increase.

“I don’t about Topper and Kelce, but I’ll probably get ready here because I have to help Sarah prepare for the party. You gonna get some chips, right?” the blond told you while he rubbed at his eyes a little and sat up again. Tonight was the New Year’s Eve party that Scarlet normally threw, but since her parents decided not to go on their annual ski trip and Ward and Rose were on a work trip, Sarah suggested they have it here. All it took was a little convincing to get Wheezie to spend the night with a friend and the house was free.

“Yep, I should probably get going anyway. I gotta shower and do other things as well,” you informed the boy as you rose from your spot next to him and slipped on your shoes. You saw yourself in the reflection of his mirror, wearing some pajama shorts, an oversized shirt that you had stolen from Kelce a few months ago, and your old beat-up converse. Your hair was a knotted mess from the particularly good sleep you had gotten, but at the moment you didn’t care. In your opinion, it completed the hot mess look you appeared to be going for.

“Okay well, be here at like nine to help me clean up and shit. Sarah is gonna be on my ass and I can’t handle her like you do. You have this like magic touch when it comes to her.” He did not know it, but his words caused your cheeks to heat up. You took pride in being able to read and understand his sister very well. Of course, it was because you basically studied the girl, you were in love with her.

“Hey, also Scarlet is coming tonight so we might can get you in with her,” Rafe shot you a wink after speaking. You rolled your eyes at him, knowing all three of them were going to be pushing you towards the girl. Scarlet was nice and all, but she was not Sarah.

“I don’t want to start the new year like that. I want to start like I do every year, with my boys, okay?” Rafe nodded with a grin that told you he heard you but would not be listening at all. “Rafe, I’m serious,” you warned in a low tone while stepping back towards the door.

“Me too, y/n. You need to get out there!” he shouted as you slammed the door shut behind you before leaning against it, a small chuckle falling past your lips.

“Get out there? Y/n, are you finally dumping those bozos and finding a real man?” the voice that made your knees weak and your heart stop asked from beside you. You gasped, the girl’s presence scaring you a bit.

“Jesus, Sarah,” you muttered when your hand flew to your chest. She giggled at you, the melodious sound flowing through your ears like angelic music. Everything about her, especially that cute smile of hers, had you so captivated by her. You needed to leave soon before you made a damn fool of yourself or worse, Rafe came out and found out that you were crushing on his sibling.

“Sorry, y/n,” she laughed, her hand clasping on your shoulder, “but seriously, are you getting out there tonight? Scarlet and I made sure to invite some pretty hot guys to the party.” You haven’t told her about your sexuality yet. The only people who knew were Rafe, Topper, Kelce, and your family. You were planning on telling her, but you didn’t know when.

“Um, that’s nice Sarah, but I kinda wanna lay low tonight and just drink with the guys,” you told her honestly as you had just told her older brother. You didn’t plan on having the two eldest Camerons pushing you to take a shot at someone tonight.

“Oh, come on y/n. Live a little,” she whined before shooting you a wink and backing away towards her room.

“I might,” you called out as she retreated past the doorway. Once she was gone, you let out a sigh and skipped down the steps to go out to your car.

…

It did not feel like hours had passed since you were last at Tannyhill, but it had been. You had gone home, showered, got ready for the party, stopped at the store to get those chips Rafe asked you to pick up along with some other things that you knew he probably forgot to get that Sarah wanted him to get, and made it back to the Cameron estate in a rather good time frame. It was 8:30, thirty minutes before Rafe had asked you to be there and when he saw you walk in, his face flooded with relief.

“Y/n!” he shouted before rushing to you to help with the bags you were holding. His eyes dropped from yours for a moment to look you over, a smirk growing on his face. “You look good. Is this for Scarlet?” He couldn’t help but tease you.

“No this is for me, asshole,” you huffed while shoving his shoulder with your now free arm. He wasn’t lying though. You did look good. Your makeup and hair looked flawless. You wore your ripped jeans and a nice flowy tank, the colors complimenting your skin wonderfully. You looked amazing and there was no denying it. It wasn’t for Scarlet though. It was mainly for you and a little bit for Sarah, even though you were sure she wouldn’t spare you a glance.

“Y/n! You look beautiful!” Okay, maybe she’d glance at you, but it wasn’t the way you wanted her to look at you. The compliment coming from her made your heart soar to the sky and flutter like a butterfly. Your cheeks burned at her words as you nodded at her.

“Thank you, Sarah! You don’t look too bad yourself.” She only had her hair and makeup done, still wearing her t-shirt and shorts you saw her in earlier, but to you, she looked ethereal. She was an angel, a goddess, a princess in your eyes. Sarah blushed at your words before looking down at her feet.

“Thank you, y/n! You are way too nice to be friends with him,” she commented, earning a ‘hey!’ from Rafe as you two giggled at it.

“Let’s go take this to the kitchen,” Rafe reminded you and you nodded at him before waving at Sarah and following him to the counter where all the food and drinks sat.

“So, I got the chips you asked for and some more different kinds, then I got some drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and the stuff to make some dip and punch,” you informed him while unloading the bags.

“Jesus, y/n. I only asked for chips,” he chuckled while scratching at the back of his head.

“Yeah, I know, but Sarah asked you to get the drinks and I can see you didn’t,” you told him while you looked around for them, but they were nowhere in sight.

“I was gonna get Topper to get them before he came but now, I don’t have to,” he laughed at your preparedness.

“Then I know you three like that beefy cheese dip thing that I make, and I know Sarah likes punch, so I decided to get stuff to make them both.”

“Okay, do you need help with anything?” Rafe asked, feeling a little bad that you had to do his job.

“Not right now. Go ask Sarah if she needs help with anything because I’m sure she’s probably lost her mind planning this thing,” you offered. He nodded before leaving you in the kitchen to get to making stuff. Having basically grown up there, you knew where everything was, so you got to work on it all.

Around two hours later, people started arriving and the party commenced. Kelce hung out in the kitchen with you, and by hung out, he sat on the counter next to you and went to town on the dip that sat between you both. You were about to hop off to get yourself a refill, but you saw Topper and Rafe walk in and asked Topper to get you some more, which he gladly did.

“Thanks, Top,” you smiled at the boy when he handed you your beverage back. He gave you a nod before standing next to you as Rafe did the same next to Kelce.

“Pass me some chips, bro,” Topper asked Kelce while both Rafe and Kelce had a hand in the bag already.

“I got more over there,” you reminded the boys who left Kelce’s bag alone and went to get their own. Your eyes fell back on the girl you had been staring at all night. The way her brown eyes shined and her lips curved up into that gorgeous grin made you fall harder for her. You watched her throw her head back in laughter, you dying to be the one to make her laugh like that, but for now, you settled on just watching it from afar.

“You are staring at Scarlet,” Rafe teased you while dipping his chip into the bowl beside you. You rolled your eyes at him before Kelce spoke up.

“She’s been looking over there all night.” You looked back over to Sarah and Scarlet was in fact next to her. You had not noticed, your eyes obviously trained on someone else, but staring at Scarlet was a better cover story anyway.

“N-no,” you stuttered, a tell-tale sign that you were caught. The trio chorused in laughter, all knowing that you were lying. “Fine, I was looking over there a little.”

“More like a lot, y/n/n,” Topper grinned while looking over to the girl they thought your eyes were glued to.

“I told you, y/n. Just make a move tonight. Get your first girl. Do you know how exciting that will be?” Does he know how exciting it will be if you get the girl of your dreams? Not her best friend that they thought you were infatuated with.

“Rafe, I told you I want to spend New Year’s Eve with you guys, not pining over a girl who will probably never feel the same. No one else even knows I’m into girls besides you three and my family. That’s it and I don’t want to tell anyone else for now.” Your eyes found the girl again, but now she wasn’t with Scarlet at all. She was with some guy, probably one of the hot guys she mentioned inviting earlier, and he had his hand on her arm slowly sliding it down until he found her waist.

It shouldn’t have bothered you. You weren’t together. You weren’t even talking. To Sarah, you two weren’t even a possibility, but it hurt a little. It stung to see her with someone else. You felt your eyes begin to water but you blinked any tears that dared to show themselves away.

“Uh, I’m gonna go outside and get some fresh air,” you mumbled to the three that sat around you before hopping off the countertop and slipping through people until you found the back door and walked out of it. The three boys looked at each other in confusion, all of them clearly sensing that you were upset about something.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have teased her about the Scarlet thing?” Rafe spoke, now feeling incredibly guilty. You and him teased each other all the time, so he saw no harm in it, but now he felt like he had crossed a line with you.

“Or maybe Scarlet wasn’t the problem at all,” Kelce wondered out loud, the puzzle pieces fitting together perfectly in his head. Rafe and Topper unfortunately were not picking up what he was putting down, so the boy rolled his eyes before explaining. “She was looking at Sarah and Scarlet, right? Well, when Scarlet was gone and Sarah was over there alone with a guy, y/n got upset so…”

“She likes Sarah,” Topper finished Kelce’s sentence. “She probably didn’t want to tell you because that’s your sister.”

“And your ex,” Rafe reminded him. Rafe did not care if you liked Sarah. He only cared that you were happy and if that meant you were with his sister, then that was fine. You were basically family already so might as well actually become it.

“Rafe, that was forever ago, and I don’t care if she likes Sarah,” Topper told him.

“I don’t either,” Rafe stated.

“Well, we should tell her it’s okay if she likes Sarah,” Topper suggested while Rafe nodded at him, them both setting their chip bags down and about to leave before Kelce stopped them.

“I think she’s beating you to it,” he said while nodding towards the blonde girl who walked out the door. “Let’s give them a moment.”

Sarah saw you walk out and having grown up around you and you being the only other girl she could really trust, she knew something was wrong with you. She assumed it was something the guys had said as a joke, but she knew you and she knew that you would shoot them right back with some sarcasm or a witty comeback when they did something like that. She knew that something had to really be bothering you for you to excuse yourself and it worried her.

Sarah saw you standing out by the water. You had taken your sandals off and held them in your hand as you stared out at the moon’s reflection on the water’s surface. The wind blew your hair to the side softly and the moonlight shone on your face perfectly. You glowed, looking as beautiful as ever and the sight caused a feeling in Sarah that she had never felt about you before and she liked it.

“Y/n?” she called out when she had gotten closer to you. You almost did not notice her. You originally thought the footsteps you heard were Rafe’s, but they were actually Sarah’s. You smiled at her when another gust of wind came your way, causing you to shiver. You mentally cursed yourself for wearing what you had chosen as it did not help you in the cold at all.

“Come here,” Sarah mumbled when she stood behind you. She wore a large cardigan, one you were quite envious of at the moment before grabbing your wrists when you turned to her. Your eyebrows drew together when she linked your hands together behind her back underneath the sweater material, but you already felt much warmer. She took the sides of the cardigan in her hands and brought them together at the small of your back so that you both were now wrapped up in the warmth of the cardigan and each other.

“Thanks, Sarah,” you sighed in relief while your head rested on her shoulder as did hers on yours.

“So, what’s got you so upset?”

“How did you know I was upset?” you questioned her before she laughed.

“Y/n, I know you. I could tell and you always come to look at the water when something’s bothering you so what is it?” she inquired when she pulled away to look at you. Now was the best time to tell her about it so you did.

“I’m bi,” you told her confidently. You felt wonderful telling her, but also a bit of nervousness came with the confession since she was the first female friend that you had told. All that nervousness disappeared in an instant though when you caught sight of that beautiful smile of hers.

“I’m glad you finally realized,” she chuckled a bit while your eyes widened. “What? You think I didn’t know. I used to see how you looked at Kie a few years ago.”

“I don’t like Kiara anymore,” you mumbled, “and I don’t like Scarlet either despite what the guys think so if you hear that, it’s false.”

“Well, who do you like?” You wanted to scream from the rooftops that it was her that you liked but you could not do that, could you? Her big brown eyes sparkled at you as she awaited your response. Tell her something, anything at this point.

“I- uh,” you stumbled with your words a bit as you heard the people inside begin counting down from ten. “It’s um, you. Damn it, it’s you that I like,” you started as you stepped back from her and her embrace, back into the unrelenting cold while the chanting of numbers rung from the house. “I’m sorry if this makes you feel weird or something,” five, “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” four,” I still want to be your friend,” three, “and hopefully you want to be mine,“ two, “I’ve messed everything up, haven’t I?” one.

“Shut up,” Sarah whispered before her hands cupped your face and pulled you closer to hers. The moment you had been dreaming of for quite some time now was happening. Your dream was coming true as you felt her lips connect with hers. Your eyes widened and you took in a sharp breath before you melted into her, your arms wrapping around her neck while hers fell to your waist. You heard the shouts coming from inside her home as everyone celebrated the new year, but in your mind, you were screaming in excitement about how you were starting your new year.

After some time, you both had to pull away for some air. Your eyes darted between her own before they glanced down at her swollen reddened lips and then came back up to her eyes.

“Sarah,” you sighed. It did not feel real. It felt real, but at the same time, it didn’t. Something was up. This couldn’t be true. The universe didn’t work like that. It normally gave you the shit end of the stick and now your dream was coming true.

“Y/n, I like you. I didn’t realize until just a few moments ago, but now I know, and I want to be with you,” she confessed to you. Your lips tugged upwards in a wide grin as you soaked in the moment.

“Really?” you asked, your mind still telling you this was all fake and would end soon. Sarah bit her bottom lip before nodding her head at you. “Then let’s be together.”

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

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[yetanotheremptypage]

Hello there. Love your fics. I would love to read an modern au in which kate, anthony and curious little edmund run into an ex (preferably anthony's). Thank you xx

What? ANOTHER installment in the "hard choices" verse? Yup. This one is set a few years after "baby i just don't trust myself with you."

no escaping your love #61: you've come a long way (a modern au)

(Read 1-60 here.)

#12. “Take my jacket, it’s cold outside.”

“Edmund, come back!” Anthony shouted, rushing after their son. Kate snorted into her hand, watching as he tried to wrangle their handful of a son back into his stroller.

Her father had always said that Kate went from crawling to running, and Edmund was much the same. At fifteen months old, he’d been good on his feet for the past month or so and appeared to have decided that he simply needed to get everywhere quickly. She didn’t mind; it meant he’d exhausted himself by nap time and he slept basically through the night. And now that she was visibly pregnant again and finding her balance suffering for it, Anthony had taken over the literal child wrangling.

Baby kicked as if they knew she was thinking about them, and she smiled down at her bump, rubbing at the spot. They were getting stronger; maybe Anthony and Edmund would be able to feel it now. Simon had told her, back when she was pregnant with Edmund, that things hadn’t felt truly real for him until Amelia kicked for the first time, and how they’d gotten each child prepared for their younger sibling with the same trick. Though Edmund already baby babbled to her bump on a near daily basis, so they might be good on that front.

Anthony snatched Edmund up and blew a raspberry on his stomach, making the little boy laugh. He carted him back over to Kate, dropping him onto his feet in front of her.

“You alright?” Anthony asked, nodding to where her hand rested on her stomach. She nodded just as the breeze picked up, making her shiver. Her sweater was not quite thick enough for the crisp March weather and Anthony immediately began to shrug off his jacket. “Take my jacket, it’s cold outside.”

“Anthony, I’m fine—” she tried to stress, even as she let him help her into his quilted jacket and she inhaled the cologne lingering on the collar. It really was much warmer.

“Newton!” Edmund shouted out of nowhere, suddenly taking off before either parent could move. She and Anthony shared a bewildered glance, as Newton was sitting right in front of the stroller, the lead still in Kate’s hand.

They turned in the direction Edmund had gone to find him maybe three feet away in front of a Great Pyrenees, burying himself against the dog. Kate, closer to the action, passed Newton’s lead over to Anthony before she strode forward to pick Edmund up and apologize to the woman attached to the big white dog.

“This is Belle,” Kate heard her say, and she froze just behind Edmund. She knew that voice.

The woman lifted her head and Siena Rosso stared back at her.

Kate hadn’t seen her in years. Since the engagement party, actually. Hadn’t thought about her in almost as long. And now here she was, in the park, with her dog (she’d never struck Kate as a dog person), which Kate’s son was currently hugging.

She blinked, like the image would fade away and she’d wake up in bed before rolling over to tell Anthony about her strange dream. Nothing changed. This was real.

“Kate Sharma, I thought that was you,” Siena said, straightening up and giving her a once over. “Or Bridgerton now, I suppose.”

“Newton,” Edmund repeated, buried in the dog’s (Belle’s?) fur. That snapped Kate out of her stupor and she leaned down to scoop Edmund into her arms, arranging him as best she could around her burgeoning bump.

“I’m so sorry, about him.”

“It’s quite alright.” She paused, as if unsure if she should keep talking, but then she said, “He looks just like him, doesn’t he?”

It was true: except for his tanned skin, Edmund was practically a photocopy of Anthony, from the shape of his face to the shade of his eyes.

“I’m hoping the next one looks something like me,” Kate replied before she could even process it. Siena laughed, one that sounded true and genuine.

“When are you due?”

“July.”

“Congratulations in advance.” She nodded over Kate’s shoulder and she turned to follow Siena’s gaze to Anthony, who hadn’t moved, clutching the stroller’s handle tightly in one hand and Newton’s lead equally tightly in the other. “I should let you get back to your family day. But, if you don’t mind me saying… I noticed you a few minutes ago, him chasing your son, giving you his jacket. And I tried to remember ever seeing him so happy, and I couldn’t.” She shrugged, like this was no big deal, and ended with, “I’m glad you found your way to each other.”

And with one final smile, she was gone.

Stunned and a little confused, Kate walked back to Anthony, who immediately took Edmund from her, watching her with a furrowed brow and his lip between his teeth. But this time he didn’t risk anything and immediately strapped Edmund back in, giving her a moment to think, wrapping Anthony’s jacket tighter around herself.

In the weeks after her trip to India, as Anthony slowly talked his way back into her life, she imagined what it would be like to see Siena Rosso again. She’d expected to feel jealousy engulf her, a quiet, seething rage that this woman had gotten Anthony when Kate hadn’t.

But she’d never expected that she wouldn’t feel much of anything. Not even relief. It wasn’t a competition, of course, but Kate did get him, in the end. His damage and his baggage and every jagged piece of him, sliding in like puzzle pieces to all the equally jagged pieces that made up her.

“What did she say?” he finally asked.

“Congratulations. And that she’s never seen you so happy.”

That seemed to stun him as much as it’d stunned her. She leaned up to kiss him, cupping his face in hers, feeling his stubble brush her cheek and his heart beat against hers.

“Let’s go home,” she whispered.

Their little family of five did just that, Anthony’s hand tight in hers, and she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

[canary-prince]

The Surgeon: Borderlands Fic Snippet

This was an idea I’ve had off and on for months and this is all I’ve been able to do. IDK if its going anywhere but I like it. 

Basically, after leaving Nekrotefeyo, the Twins hunt down a black market surgeon to deal with some of Troy’s issues. Upon examining Troy, Dr. Poppy finds that things are more bizarre and dire than their parents ever let on. 

Click under the cut for me projecting my medical trauma onto Troy Calypso the twins being snuggly while visiting a sci-fi mad doctor 

Warnings for a lot of medical talk and use of the word cripple. 

The surgeon continued looking passively at the scans of Troy’s back, occasionally letting out a ‘hmm’ or ‘oh, interesting’. Troy was putting on a brave face, but Tyreen could sense he was nervous. Normally, if he was anxious, he could just hold her hand. But currently, his hand was on the other side of the exam table, out of reach. So instead, Tyreen reached out and lightly petted his hair. Troy let out a long sigh, and relaxed as her nails gently brushed his scalp. Smiling, he leaned into her touch, and warmth flared in her chest.  

“Okay,” the surgeon, Dr. Poppy, said finally, and kicked away from their counter. The surgeon’s wheelchair slid across the room, coming to a halt by the exam table. Harsh exam lights bounced off of the metal plate covering part of their skull, throwing back small coronas of light. “So. The hardware in your back, that keeps your spine straight and your rib cage from getting displaced? It’s taking up a LOT of room.” Tyreen’s heart dropped as Poppy gestured to the other scans and print-outs on the counter behind them.  “Everything else you were concerned about? I can do most of it, no problem. Not the lung capacity issue; that’s not improving, I’m sorry. But, the eyes, the kidneys, the chronic ulcers, I can take care of all of that. A few years ago, I made some breakthroughs with stem cell grafting techniques. So, that should repair some of the nerve damage in your limbs. I can pull the teeth, repair the torn rotator cuff on the other shoulder. But the new arm…” They trailed off.  

Up this close, Tyreen could see the yellow-brown of Poppy’s eyes more clearly, as well as the waxiness of their skin. Not really surprising, given that they likely hadn’t seen the sun in over a decade.  

“You can’t do it?” Troy asked, voice cracking as he spoke. Tyreen grabbed his right shoulder and squeezed. 

“Uh. So. I didn’t say that,” Dr. Poppy clarified, and rubbed the stump of their right leg. They adjusted themselves in their wheelchair and continued. “I said the hardware is taking up a lot of room, and right now, there’s nowhere I can even put the equipment for a cybernetic arm. Uh. So. What I’d have to do is--” Poppy paused, as if considering. “Okay. So--” 

“If you say ‘So’ one more time--” Tyreen started, anger flaring in her gut. 

“Ty,” Troy cut in. “Let them talk.” He looked at Poppy and forced a smile. “If you can’t do the cybernetics, can you at least do something about the pain?” There was still hope in his voice, and Tyreen swallowed her annoyance. They’d been warned about Poppy’s ticks, both personality and speech-wise. And yeah, the doc had brain damage. She should probably be more patient. 

“Oh, oh yeah! That’s what I was trying to--SO.” They squinted at Troy. “The pain we can resolve, no problem. We just have to replace all the hardware in your back.” Poppy twisted in their wheelchair and groped for the scans, finally pulling them off the counter and holding one up for Troy and Tyreen to see. “As you know, you had severe scoliosis and a drifting ribcage-- highly usual, by the way--but this metal that was implanted in you? We--we being ‘doctors good at our jobs’--do NOT use this tech anymore.” 

Tyreen had had to leave the room when Poppy first showed them the scans. She’d run to the bathroom, fighting the urge to both vomit and cry. It didn’t take a medical degree to see that the metal contraptions inside Troy were crushing his vertebrae. The bands were also squeezing his ribs, too small and tight around his adult sized bones. She’d known he was in pain; she didn’t realize he was in agony. 

“Why not?” Troy asked. “I mean, what is it?” He reached across his own lap and gestured for Tyreen to grab his hand, which she did. Gratefully. 

“It wasn’t explained to you?” Poppy asked, in a tone that said ‘I know it wasn’t explained to you’. “Interesting choice, keeping you in the dark about your own treatment.” On the scan, Poppy traced a finger over the metal that forced Troy’s spine straight. “So. This metal is actually about 30% self replicating nanotech. The idea was that we could use it in children and adolescents, and it would grow with them. Problem is--” 

“It didn’t,” the twins said together. 

“Yep! These nanobots, it turns out, start breaking down and cease proper functioning after about 3 and half years.” Poppy looked at Troy. “That timeline sound right? In terms of your pain levels?” 

“That’s when they would have stopped growing with my bones?” 

“And started crushing them instead, yes.” 

“...Yeah, doc, that sounds exactly right.” Troy’s voice was quiet, and Tyreen rubbed her thumb across his palm. 

Poppy ‘hmm’ed under their breath again. “The good news is, I can solve that.” Poppy set the scan in their lap and wheeled their chair away from the exam table, before performing a complicated looking turn to face another counter. Discarding the scan for now, they retrieved a stack of papers and then returned to the exam table. “We have better nanotech hardware now, shit that actually works for decades and decades. But you? You don’t even need it. All grown up. So, I’m thinking we replace the entire system with what we call Flex Metal. It’ll hold your ribcage in place, keep your spine straight, but you’ll retain full range of movement.”

“But that’ll still take up too much room for him to get a cybernetic?” Tyreen asked, staring at the scans in the vain hope that she could decipher them.  

“Um. So, I have ONE OTHER idea…” Poppy started flipping through the charts on their lap. “I have a guy. He’s been working on a kind of...two in one system? I guess? So. Uh. There’s a possibility I can install a series of things that are both keeping your skeleton together AND function as the hardware for a cybernetic limb.” 

Poppy let them process for a few minutes. “Do it,” they chorused, and Poppy looked annoyed. 

“There are risks! Any time you make a machine do two jobs, you run the risk of it doing both poorly. And, again, ideally, to improve your quality of life, I am adamant on using Flex Metal. Which is not cleared for this! AT ALL.” The Twins didn’t budge, and instead continued staring at Poppy, gazes resolute. Poppy sighed, and then asked, “Troy. Why is the new arm so important? I’m not trying to be dismissive, and I will listen to what you want. But why is having another arm worth all this crap?” 

“Because I want it,” Troy said stubbornly. “Because I like to build. And make. And fix. And edit. And play video games and fold laundry and cook and hug my fucking sister and all of that is fuck of a lot easier with two arms!” His voice was starting to rise, taking on an edge of hysteria, and on pure instinct, Tyreen pulled herself closer. She settled against his right side and Troy instantly relaxed. 

“Easier,” Poppy echoed. “But you can still do those things with one arm.” 

“I’m tired of being a cripple.” He said quietly, and Tyreen briefly pressed her face into his shoulder.

Poppy rubbed one hand over the arm of their wheelchair. “Are you tired of being one or are you tired of the world constantly reminding you that you’re one?” They asked calmly. Troy said nothing, just sat slumped and defeated on the exam table. Poppy sighed. “We can keep going over the risks. But I get it. And I’ll do it.” Troy perked up instantly and Tyreen almost sagged with relief. “But we’re doing that LAST,” Poppy said firmly. “First things first. I’m treating the chronic ulcers in your intestinal tract, and I’m fixing the issues with your kidneys.” 

“What’s wrong with his kidneys?” Tyreen asked. As she spoke, she let her fingertips meet Troy’s, keeping the touches feather light.  

Anger flashed briefly in Poppy’s eyes, and then they said, “Ah. So that was a secret too. Your brother has Floating Kidneys. Every time he stands up, both of his kidneys drop into his pelvis. Additionally, the valves that separate his ureters from his kidneys and bladder are malformed. So. They don’t close right, and that means the bacteria is just running wild. So, he keeps getting kidney infections, and his immune system is shit because of it.”

“...My kidneys move?” Troy asked, confused. “Aren’t they...attached to shit?” 

Poppy’s head snapped back to Troy, and they smiled humorlessly. “They’re supposed to be! And your wisdom teeth that ‘never came in’? I’ll be yanking those. Because you have them, they’re just impacted. So they’re turning your jaw to powder.” Tyreen winced. That explained the aches Troy had been getting in his jaw. In recent weeks, she’d woken up twice to the sound of him whimpering in his sleep. 

“You said you could fix my eyes too?” Troy said hopefully.  

“Oh, yeah, I can do laser surgery in my sleep.” The bravado didn’t creep into Poppy’s voice so much as it announced itself by banging on the door. Honestly, it set Tyreen at ease faster than anything else. They’d come here looking for a person who was half-myth, and in her experiences, myths weren’t humble. “And if these procedures go well, we can remove the old hardware and install the new shit instead,” Poppy finished. “So, sound good?” 

“Sounds awesome, doc,” Troy said, giving Poppy a weak smile. 

“Yeah. Thanks,” Tyreen said, laying her head on Troy’s shoulder. Poppy didn’t advertise, except by word of mouth, and by rumors passed between travellers and vagrants. Best surgeon in the galaxy. They whispered. A genius. One of a kind. A goddamn hero. Troy had been skeptical. Thought Poppy either didn’t exist or wasn’t as good as people said. Tyreen had almost agreed. 

Then they met a man with two eyes, who used to only have one. They bought him half a dozen drinks in exchange for the story. “Poppy grew me a new one, and attached the optic nerve,” the man said, tapping his skull beside the eye in question. Troy said that was impossible. “Not for Poppy, it's not,” the man replied, and showed them the perfectly round scar behind his eye socket. “Cut right here and drilled a hole in the skull. Wove the old and new nerves together. Called it ‘microsurgery’.” He swigged his drink, oblivious to the Twins’ stares. “Did it for free,” he said finally.

“Free?” Troy had repeated, incredulous. “Why the fuck did they do that?” 

The man grinned. “Because they’d never done it before. I was their damn test case.” He finished his last drink in two long swallows. “But that’s Poppy. Doin’ the impossible on the first try.”   

In the present, Poppy was scribbling a bunch of stuff on a piece of paper and saying, “Are you guys literate?” 

“Yes,” said Tyreen, as she watched Poppy’s fingers. They were long, too long for the surgeon’s small, square hands. Even though Tyreen was sure she was imagining it, they seemed to have extra joints. 

“Like, mostly, yeah,” Troy said, before turning his head slightly to kiss Tyreen’s forehead. It was unexpected, but welcomed, and she nuzzled his cheek in response. 

“Good! So, here’s when you should come back.” Poppy shoved the note at Troy. “There’s also directions on how you should prep. So, like, don’t eat for twelve hours before surgery, and all that stuff.” 

Troy let go of Tyreen’s hand to take the paper. “Hey, doc?” 

“Yeah?” Poppy was wheeling across the room to a heavily locked and alarmed medicine cabinet. Presumably to see if they had any painkillers Troy wasn’t deathly allergic too. They pressed one odd, clever hand to the door of the cabinet and the lights on it turned green. 

“Welcome back Dr. Poppy,” said a cold voice from the box. 

“How did you lose your legs?” 

Tyreen stiffened. She and Troy offended people a lot. They had no idea what was and wasn’t polite out here. But Poppy didn’t seem angry. Instead, they continued rummaging through the cabinet, trying to locate the correct medication. “A Lagacoyote ate them,” Poppy said over their shoulder. Troy looked at Tyreen, who shrugged. She had no idea what a lagacoyote was either. 

Emboldened by her brother, Tyreen asked a question of her own. “...And the skull plate?” The plate started at the center seam of Poppy’s skull and extended right, curving down over the top of one ear and wrapping around the back of their skull. Poppy’s right eyebrow was also missing, and that half of their forehead was replaced by featureless metal. Poppy’s rust red hair was long, with sloppy-looking layers, and they had been able sweep some of it over the plate. 

“I was shot in the head.” Poppy dropped several bottles into their lap and returned to the exam table. “It’s not that important anymore.” They handed Troy the bottles, along with prescription dosages and directions. “Come back in three days, when the big blue clock in Revolution Plaza says it's 14:00 hours, and I’ll deal with the ulcers.”

Dr. Poppy lived underground, literally and figuratively. Their “office” was located on ‘Subterranean Level 9’ of New Voronezh, on Czartech. The formerly Vladoff-controlled planet was barely habitable. All human life was corralled to New Voronezh: a sprawling metropolis that had been forced to build up and down, rather than out. The few people who knew Poppy said that they rarely left their apartment/lab/exam room, and never left the subterranean levels at all. Poppy had no echoNet presence, was not a legal citizen of any planet, and traded only in unofficial, untraceable currencies. The man who’d had his eye replaced had been a bit of deus ex for the twins; without him to give directions, they’d have never found the surgeon. 

Tyreen had no idea how time worked here, but it was probably either very early or very late, because the pathways were largely empty. She and Troy walked silently through the grim, dingy tunnels of the city’s lower levels, now hand in hand again. Neither of them spoke until they were on one of the lifts to move between levels. Their rented room was eight levels up, much closer to the surface. Tyreen had no idea if that made it fancier or shittier, or if “New-V”, as the locals called it, was simply too poor to have class distinctions. 

As the lift doors closed, Tyreen finally found something to say. “Okay, what the fuck did they do and who did they do it to?” 

Troy looked at her and laughed. The sound was both startled and relieved, and Troy was still chuckling as he said, “I know, right? Like, doc, who the hell did you kill to have to hide way the fuck out here?” Troy gestured at the ancient elevator around them, as well as the frozen planet beyond it. 

“Who did they kill? Or...What do they KNOW?” Tyreen countered. “Eh? Right? Like, maybe dude overheard some shit they weren’t supposed to. Had to disappear or be chased by corporate hitmen forever!” 

“And what is a Lagacoyote? That sounds awful.”   

[duhragonball]

Hellsing Liveblog Ch. 51-56

This is the “Seras Coming of Age” part of Hellsing, but the chapters are all one-off titles: “Last Mission”, “Get Away”, “Yaksa”, “The Man I Love”, “Ogre Battle”, and “Angelous,”

Last time, Zorin Blitz’s company invaded the Hellsing HQ, and Seras managed to kill them all except for Zorin herself, and then she used her psychic whammy, forcing Seras to relive some traumatic moment.   We saw one of the Wild Geese get this same treatment, and he briefly saw his dead daughter before Zorin killed him.  As for Seras, she relives the deaths of her parents.   Years ago, two guys barged into their home and shot them.   The circumstances aren’t entirely clear, but they must have had some forewarning, since Seras’ mom hid her in a closet and told her not to come out no matter what.   But when she saw what they did to them, Seras became so enraged that she attackedthe men and stabbed one in the eye with a fork.  

The other guy shot Seras, and while she must have survived, she remembers laying on the floor as the guy she stabbed decides to rape her mother.   I’m not even sure “rape” is the right word, since she was already dead, but the guy doesn’t care because the body is “still warm.”   You’d think he’d be too upset about losing an eye, but maybe he’s high on cocaine or something.

I don’t think you need me to tell you this, gentle reader, but hol-ee shit this dark.   We knew Seras’ parents died when she was young, and it wouldn’t be hard to speculate that they died in some violent crime, but Seras watched it happen, and she stabbed a dude in the face, only to get shot herself, and she watched her mother’s body getting molested before she passed out.  

And this gives us some insight into what Alucard saw in her that night in Cheddar.  There, Seras was surrounded by ghouls, many of them her comrades in the police department, and a vampire who promised to rape her before drinking her blood.   Alucard found it remarkable how she persevered in this horror, but now we see that may not even be the worst thing that ever happened to her.  It’s not even the first time she got shot!  

And from the earlier flashback we saw, Seras was hellbound to become a police officer like her father.  After a trauma like this, it’s amazing that she’d want anything to do with the police, since those men killed her father for digging “too deep” into whatever they were involved in.  But Seras quietly, defiantly chose to follow in her father’s footsteps, only to suffer a similar fate. 

Because, let’s not forget, Seras is dead.   She died in Cheddar, because Alucard had to shoot through her to kill the vampire who had taken her hostage.   Then she agreed to become a vampire like him, and join the Hellsing Organization.   Once more, she has quietly, defiantly, chosen to carry on in this life of public service.  

But none of that matters to Zorin Blitz.   She just wanted to dredge up all this trauma to keep Seras preoccupied long enough for Zorin to do this...

Oh, also she lopped off Seras’ left arm, but I liked this impalement panel better. 

On top of that, Zorin slashes Seras’ eyes, which was pretty gruesome and shocking.   When I started watching the Hellsing Ultimate OVA, I couldn’t wait to see what happened next, so I trawled YouTube for clips of Seras, so I had a pretty good idea where the character was headed, and noticed that late-story Seras was missing a left arm.   So Zorin cutting it off didn’t surprise me much, but everything else she did to her was a surprise.

Then, just as Zorin seems to be ready to finish Seras off, Pip Bernadotte gets the drop on her and whacks her with the butt of his rifle.    Machine gun?   Semiautomatic?   I don’t know from guns.    He hits her with it, is my point.   Then he shoots her with a different gun to put the exclamation point on it.

There’s two other guys left in the Wild Geese, and they toss smoke grenades to cover Pip as he tries to carry Seras to safety, but he’s wounded, and then a Millennium soldier wakes up and shoots him in the thighs.   Was that guy playing possum?  The Geese take him out, and Pip even makes it back to them, but I’m not sure what good that does anybody.   Then Zorin gets back up and cuts him down with her scythe.    I don’t think she chops him in half or anything, but he’s not getting back up again, that’s for sure. 

Seras calls out to him, and he steals another kiss.   I guess he forgot about the last time, because he acts like he “finally” managed to do this.   Then he asks Seras to drink his blood, which will allow her to win.   I guess someone must have explained enough vampire lore to Pip for him to have figured this out.    Maybe Seras herself told him how it worked, which makes it doubly-meaningful for him to say this to her now.  

And Seras starts wailing with grief, before Zorin finally mocks her for it, calling Pip an insect.   I’ve seen a few people poke fun at this scene, because it’s kind of weird for Zorin to just stand by while Pip and Seras have this final moment together, but Zorin’s a sadist.   Much of what she’s done in these past several chapters has been about reveling in her enemies’ suffering.    She took her sweet time with Seras earlier, which was the only reason Pip managed to help her, and now she’s taking her sweet time again, like she’s enjoying this drama. 

So Zorin uses her psychic whammy again, but this time it doesn’t work on Seras.   Maybe because Seras is already in the middle of a terrible trauma in the here and now.   She couldn’t do anything to avenge her parents back then, and she was powerless against the Cheddar Priest, but this time?   This time she knows exactly what to do.

VENIT AEVUS ILLE, O MESSIAH, O MESSIAH

YUDULIYA-VELE YUDULIYA-VELE

EN ESE MOMENTO ZORIN BLITZ SINTIO EL VERDADERO TERROR.

So yeah, this rocks.    The anime version does this cool thing where all the blood soaks up into her clothes and stains them red.   Maybe the manga was going for the same thing, but it’s harder to tell in black and white.   I find it kind of strange how Seras’ eyes grow back, but her left arm does not.    I’m pretty sure she could reform her arm, but chooses not to.   Instead, she’s got this black ectoplasm-y thing, like the same black stuff that Alucard uses when he’s not holding back as much.

Then Seras starts slaughtering Zorin’s men.   Didn’t she already kill them all?  Yeah, but there’s more.   The anime tries to cover for this by having Zorin explain that some “late arrivals” showed up.  Well, they did have to enter the building single file to get past the mines, so it makes sense that Zorin would keep some in reserve in case there were more traps inside. 

Seras is my favorite character in this whole thing, and since these pages of her kickin’ ass speak for themselves, I guess I’ll talk about why I like her so much.    I’m pretty sure I saw a cosplay photo of her on tumblr, and I found the design intriguing.   She’s a vampire, but dressed in something like a military uniform, kind of like the “Bridge Bunnies” in Macross. I looked up Seras to find out what she was from, and I was like “Oh, Hellsing was the show Team Four Star has been abridging, I guess I need to watch that anyway so I can watch the Abridged version and get the jokes.”

Mostly, I just like the idea of a vampire with a very professional mentality, as opposed to the whole Lost Boys/What We Do in the Shadows/Buffy kind of aesthetic.    Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we see that sort of thing all the time.   I’ve also seen a lot of “reluctant” vampires in my time.    Vampires who try to avoid doing any vampire stuff, or going about their business like the vampirism is just this inconvenient obstacle.   Hellsing presents this other option, where vampires like Alucard are used for the purpose of anti-vampire countermeasures.   He’s been turned into a weapon, but he’s basically just Dracula with a fresh coat of paint.   Seras is more firmly rooted in the concept.  Alucard was a vampire who became a sort of cop, and Seras is a cop who became a vampire. 

And while I liked the idea of Seras being like “Oh, well I didn’t want to be a vampire but I’ll try to make the best of it”, I quickly found out that she wasn’t just a cop with pointy teeth.   There’s moments where she can be scary and creepy too.   “Sir, yes sir, my Master.”  It sums her up very neatly.   This is a vampire who can be polite and respectful and professional, but she can also get very deep into the more horrific aspects of this thing.   She’s got layers.  Zorin Blitz tried to peel them back, and look how that’s working out for her.

Once the rank and file goons are dealt with, Seras goes after Blitz, and just wrecks her shit.   Blitz tries to punch Seras in the face and it does nothing.   Seras just bites all her fingers off and spits ‘em out.   Then she announces that she refuses to drink Zorin’s blood, not a single drop. This is important, because Seras was always reluctant to drink blood.  She said she feared that drinking blood would mean the end of something inside of her, but now she’s crossed that Rubicon.   One might suspect that she’d suddenly want to drink more blood, but no.  She drank Pip’s as a means to an end.   Zorin’s blood would serve no higher purpose, and I think there’s an implication that she doesn’t want to dishonor Pip’s sacrifice.  Desperate, Zorin tries to use her power on Seras a third time, and then this happens:

  Okay, so at first Zorin sees Seras’ memories, like before, but now there’s all this stuff from Pip’s memories, and then Warrant Officer Shrodinger, of all people, shows up.   Zorin is confused by this, but he explains that he’s “everywhere and nowhere,” which means he can appear in this psychic vision just as easily as he can teleport between Brazil and England.

Schrodinger is here to pass along a message from the Major.  See, Zorin disobeyed his orders, and he would normally punish her for this, but he and the Doctor are busy with a “most interesting toy”, so they’ll just leave it to Seras to take care of punishing Zorin.  

Yesterday, I think I figured out what Zorin’s disobedience was.    Before I was confused because she didn’t start attacking until Seras opened fire on her blimp, and that only happened because Seras was shooting at the rockets fired by the Major.   Everything that Zorin did afterwards could be considered a matter of self-defense, but therein lies the problem.    Namely, what was Zorin’s blimp doing in the line of fire to begin with?  

Because once Seras shot her down, everything Zorin did next was sort of her only option.   She pretty much had to attack the mansion, and brave its defenses, whatever those happened to be.   And the Major knew that this was a big unknown.   He warned Zorin about Seras Victoria and while he didn’t seem to know exactly what her abilities were, he regarded her as an “arch-enemy” on the same level as Alucard.  That’s why he wanted Zorin to hold off and wait for the rocket attack.   It was intended to probe the mansion’s defenses, and once it became clear that they had anti-aircraft guns, and that Seras was eagle-eyed enough to shoot down their rockets, then the Major could have ordered Zorin to find a different way.   

But instead she was too close and gave Seras a target, which precipitated everything else, up to and including this:

Yeah, Seras just drags Zorin across the walls until her whole head smears apart.   Cool!

With Zorin dead, Seras delcares her intention to take the fight to the enemy, and the last three Wild Geese salute her before she leaves.   One way or another, they realize that Pip has become a part of Seras now, and they pay their last respects to him through her. 

Then Seras flies toward London, using her left arm-thing to make cool bat wings.    And this is a good illustration of what Seras is all about.  Once, she might have been horrified at the thought of doing something like this, but now she sees it as a way to carry on with her duty.    This was what Alucard had been trying to get her to understand, but sometimes you just have to work these things out in your own way.   Seras is about utility, and now that she has a use for these vampiric powers, she’s finally prepared to embrace them as her own.

In London, Schrodinger reports back to the Major and informs him of Zorin Blitz’s death.  He’s not surprised, and even declares “our ruin has begun”.   Schrodinger points out that he’s leading everyone, friend and foe alike, into destruction, and the Major simply observes that this is war.   Millennium didn’t come to London to win, they came to London to fight.

Then the Ninth Crusade shows up.  Recall that, earlier, Enrico Maxwell organized a military response to deal with the Millennium invasion of London, but he hasn’t come here to save the civilian population.   Instead, he’s treating them as enemies, just like the Nazi vampires.    Somehow, there’s still living people in the city, and as dawn approaches, they see Maxwell’s helicopters putting off some sort of light show.  I don’t know what you call this, but the people on the ground think it’s angels, and then Maxwell orders his men to open fire.

I want to point out that the newly promoted Archbishop Maxwell is riding into this battle in a special truck with a glass box for him to sit in.   He’s surrounded by microphones so he can address his troops and the people below.   Also the truck is hanging from a helicopter.   It’s stupid and pointless and over-the-top, so naturally the Major is highly impressed with Maxwell’s style. 

[shannygoatgruff]

Only Fan(s) - A Thriller

Genre: Thriller

Pairing: Modern Ivar/OC

Warning: Language, sex, stalking, obsession, kidnapping, sexual assault

Rating: MA+18

Summary: Sometimes OnlyFans subscribers want a little more than internet pictures. Sometimes they want to be your ONLY fan…

Header by: @flowers-in-your-hayr

Thanks to @xbellaxcarolinax for being my beta.

Disclaimer: This story will deal with some topics that might be a little uncomfortable for some people. As always, I’ll try to tackle the hard stuff as tactfully as possible.

a/n: I wrote this months ago and let it sit on the shelf. I’m finally ready to dust it off and give it another go...so let’s see what it do...

Part iii - Trifecta

Torren Sykes hadn’t lived what anyone would consider an exciting life. In fact, in her twenty-three years, she had only just left her mom’s double-wide trailer in East Bumble Fuck less than a year ago. Not quite 365 days later, she still didn’t have a pot to piss in, nor a window to throw it out of.

Truthfully, she usually didn’t know where she would be getting her next meal - that sort of thing wasn’t really a big deal to her. She actually liked the mystery of it all. There was something undeniably sexy about not knowing what the day would bring - who she would run into, or have to take something off of to survive. If someone else had to get hurt so she could make it through another day, such was life. She’d won. Those other people just needed to be better at playing the fucking game, plain and simple. 

Besides, pulling a caper or two kept her on her toes. She learned how to pull off the best of them from her mother. It’s not like adulting was one of Leslie’s strong suits. 

If only her mother had been more like her Me-Maw, now that woman was a saint. For reasons that Torren never cared to ask, she lived with her Me-Maw until she was five years old.  Leslie would periodically visit her to drop off the obligatory present on Christmas or her birthday if that bitch remembered. Not that they were ever good presents – just some cheap ass, unwrapped items she happened to pick up at the dollar store. Torren couldn't remember a gift that she had received wasn't still in the plastic bag with the receipt in it.

Cheap, whore.

Just once she would have liked a real baby doll from Toys-R-Us, instead of those cheap, hard, plastic dolls that the hand molds weren't cut out evenly, and the jagged edges cut the shit out of her face when she tried to sleep with it. But, that was Leslie. Torren didn't choose her; Leslie sure as shit didn't choose her daughter.

It became painfully clear to Torren that her mother didn’t want anything to do with her after her Me-Maw died. Unfortunately, she found herself as her mother’s unwitting roommate at a very young age, forcing the girl to spend a lot of time alone. 

By the time she turned nine, Torren was convinced that her mother was a prostitute and she was a trick baby. It was the only explanation she could come up with seeing as how her mother never worked but always had enough money to pay the rent, keep the lights on, and have plenty of booze, chips, and hot dogs in the fridge. 

Not that Torren had many other life experiences with a working parent to compare her situation to, but it just seemed pretty fucking difficult to have a job if one were passed out drunk all the fucking time. Besides, who had time to work when during your waking hours you were spending them with one of your many, many boyfriends? 

Torren used to wonder if one of the multitudes of men that would traipse in and out of that trailer were her father - but the more she got to know what type of person Leslie was, the more she realized that whoever that guy was, had gotten the hell out of dodge. 

Lucky son-of-a-bitch. 

But for all of Leslie’s flaws, she did manage to impart her three philosophies of life onto her daughter - the three things that Torren still lived by to this day. It was the least she could do. God knows that whore sure as fuck didn’t do anything else for her.

Mama’s Life Lessons #1 - There is no such thing as too much black eyeliner

As trivial as it sounded, it proved to be a precious lesson. Shortly after she had moved into the trailer, Leslie had forced Torren to sit on the bed and watch as she got ready for another one of her "dates". She had told the little girl that beautiful eyes were the one good gene that ran in their family. “You got to learn how to work ‘em,” Leslie exhaled a long plume of smoke at her reflection in the vanity mirror, “You listenin'? This's important. This right here," she held up the black liner pencil, “is gonna be your best friend.”

Of course, Torren had no idea what she meant. How was a pencil going to her friend? She didn’t really care so much as what her mother was saying to her at the moment, it was more of the fact that she was actually talking to her that made Torren hang on to every word. 

That’s why she picked up the black liner pencil from her mother's cluttered vanity table and leaned over to look in the mirror. She tried tracing her bottom lid, the way her mother had done, but at six it was a little easier said than done. She had just learned how to color inside the lines with a fat crayon; mastering the art of applying liner would have to wait a few more years. 

Leslie, however, was not willing to wait that long, "What the hell's amatta wit'chu, Dumbass? You doin' it all wrong," she said snatching the pencil from the girl's hand. Grabbing Torren roughly by the chin she said, "Gotta teach you every goddamn thing. Hold still." She mumbled more curses and said something about her good-for-nothing mother not teaching her brat anything useful.

By the time she had finished cursing her name, Leslie roughly turned her daughter's head toward the mirror, "Yeah you got those eyes. Now, learn to use ‘em.” Leslie dropped the pencil onto the vanity before picking up her drink and shooing Torren away. 

That was the day that Drew Watkins bought her an ice cream. It had to be the eyeliner. It was a true fact, not just another one of her mother's drunken theories. Eyeliner and her eyes...she didn’t know how she used them, but they worked.

From that day on Torren opted to never step foot outside without heavy black liner again. 

Mama’s Life Lessons #2 - As long as there are men around that want to fuck you, you will never need to work

It wasn’t like she going to go out and get a real job. She wasn’t raised with much of a work ethic. She was too young to remember if her Me-Maw worked and what she gathered from her mother was that there would always be men around to take care of her. 

Leslie told her that she didn’t need to work because working a man was a full-time job. If she were doing that right, she wouldn’t have time for a fucking 9-5. It didn’t matter if he was in a relationship, gay, or the fucking Pope. As long as he a dick and she could bend over, and her eyes were done, her rent was as good as paid. 

If she wanted more than just the basic bills paid, she would have to rethink what all she was willing to do - but just make sure she didn’t do too much otherwise she couldn’t guarantee a steady paycheck every week.

This sage advice didn’t make much sense to 8-year-old Torren, but as the years progressed she started to work it into one of her life’s mottos. She would never want for anything. She could always rely on the kindness of strangers and when that got to be too boring, she could always take it, just to spice things up a bit.  

Mama’s Life Lessons #3 - If you want something do whatever it takes to make sure you get it

As a child that grew up with the television as a babysitter, Torren Sykes knew that she was destined to love Ivar “Lothbrok” Ragnarsson since she was a little girl. Ever since that day she turned on the TV and saw this adorable blue-eyed boy drawing Mickey Mouse ears saying, “I’m Ivar Lothbrok and you’re watching the Disney Channel,” she knew that he had to be hers. 

He was co-starring on a show called The Baker Boys, about three foster kids, who had come to live with a family that owned a bakery. Ivar’s character was named Simon Baker - a mischievous kid that lived with his grandmother until she died and never felt like he fit in with this cookie-cutter family. 

His life was just like hers - minus the cookie-cutter family that loved him and all. She was actually with more of an alcoholic whore that didn’t give a shit if she lived or died, and not pulling stunts in a bakery with flour and messing up orders like him, but she still saw them as kindred spirits. 

When the show got canceled she was devastated. How dare the world try to keep her from her man? Didn’t they understand this was love? Didn’t those people at Disneyland know that he was the only person in the world that understood her?

As if on queue, she happened to find the Season 2 DVD box-set at the library one afternoon. Her mother had kicked her out of the trailer because she had a date and couldn’t have the dumbass child around fucking things up for her. Torren had nothing else to do - at 11-years-old, she had no money, and nowhere to go. At least the library was air-conditioned. 

She wanted that box-set. Slipping it into her backpack unnoticed was the easy part. Trying to get it past the alarms would be harder. She watched for a while, paying particular attention to the way the check-out system worked. 

When the librarians changed shifts, she let a smile cross her lips as she picked a few random books from the shelves. 

Her beautiful eyes went as big as saucers when the alarm buzzed, and the young male librarian looked down at her, still clutching the large reference book to her check. Carefully she had stepped across to the other side of the alarm sensor waiting to collect the books she was checking out.

“I’m sorry, you can’t check out reference books,” the young man said, blinking his hazel eyes at Torren, the corner of his lip tugging into a smile.

She let a pout fall on her lips as she lowered her large eyes down to the book in her arms, “Oh...sorry.” She handed the book back, “I didn’t realize I still had it.” And like that, she walked out of the library with her prize.

She had stolen for Ivar...now if that wasn’t love what was?

The only thing that had threatened their love through the years is when Ivar got married. It damn near broke Torren’s heart. How could he be so cruel? She didn’t give a fuck that the marriage was short-lived. She even understood why he had to do it. He had gotten that bitch pregnant, and he didn’t have much choice. But, he cut her deep. 

Didn’t he know how much she loved him? Didn’t he know that she stuck by him when he had joined 6cess and had seen him in concert 3 times? She still had the autographed photo of the two of them from the signing at Spring Hills Mall - when she was wearing that blue midriff cardigan and ripped jeans and he had his arm around her. That shirt brought out the color in his eyes. She even wore Happy, which he said was his favorite perfume. She thought it smelled like Comet, but she stole a bottle of it from Macy’s right before the photo-op to smell good for him. 

And he went and pulled this shit?

Besides, Johnny Law said that she was still too young for him and that he could get arrested for being with her. She knew that he had to pretend to have a normal life so that no one would know about their love affair. She was just understanding like that. It gave her time to grow up a little more so that when they could he be together, the law wouldn't be standing in their way. She really didn't give a fuck, but she suspected he did. Why else hadn't he come for her?

Torren didn’t even like their music. She wasn’t a boyband kind of girl, but for him, she would make the exception. She was more of the gangsta rap or heavy metal type girl. But if Ivar was serenading her, she’d listen to sappy, wrist-slitting, emo, shit rock all fucking day long, because she loved him. 

She hated that he had gotten that whore pregnant, too. She understood that he had to pretend that they had a normal marriage. She knew that when he was fucking that bitch, he was really imagining it was her. The years apart had made him a master at hiding his true feelings for her. He couldn't give anyone cause for suspicion. If he let on the truth he could risk losing everything…his house, cars, job, and his kid. That whore was trying to keep them apart. But, she was just a small obstacle that posed no real threat to Torren.

She did not doubt that she would be his daughter's new mommy. The kid would probably be sad at first that she wouldn't be with that other woman like Torren had been when her grandmother died. But, the kid would get used to it. Torren was going to be a whole hell of a lot better at being a mom than her piece of shit mother was to her. That was for damn sure. She was going to teach her stepdaughter all about eyeliner, and how to dye her hair. 

She was going to teach her what party clothes every woman should have in her wardrobe and how to get a man to do whatever she wanted by just batting her eyes at him. She would even share her secrets on what pills to mix and what dosages to give for submission, making a man catatonic, and if she was really good, she'd teach what to put in a drink to kill someone. Hell, she even planned on giving the child her most discrete drug contacts. That would of course have to wait until she was older – at least 13. She was going to be such a good mommy. 

Ivar's daughter was going to love Torren as much as Torren loved him. They were going to be the perfect family.

Torren was as hopelessly devoted to Ivar as he was to her. He had waited for her to become legal. Just months before she was old enough to legally consent to sex, and get married without parental permission, his marriage started falling apart. She knew that Ivar was trying to make a clean break from his wife, and get his daughter used to the idea of them being apart before he could come home to her. 

Torren had been thoughtful and respectful enough to give him that space to make sure everything was right before she stepped into the role of the new Mrs. Lothbrok. He had to test the waters, make sure that she still wanted him as much as he wanted her. He had to get back into the swing of things…have sex constantly to make sure he could keep up with her. She knew that "the prude" wasn't doing it nearly as often as he needed to - why else would he have an Only Fans page?

Torren was the only one that could feed his appetite, and he hers.

Now, they were both finally ready. She was mature and developed. She knew what she needed, and it was him. He had his fun before her, but now he was auditioning again and getting everything back on track for them. He had a great relationship with his daughter and his dumb ass ex-wife finally understood that their relationship was a fling that went too far.

His face told her everything that her heart already knew. He loved her. 

Why else would be looking at her like that? She could feel herself blush when he smiled on Instagram like that into them. Then he gave her that smile. That was her smile; the one that he reserved for her during their private times. Yet, there he was doing it in front of an audience of millions, and he didn't care who saw it. He had to let her know that it was time for her to come home. It was like a sleeper cell being awakened.

She didn't have a choice. She did what any other woman in her position would do. She packed a bag, threw it in the car she stole a few days before and drove. Armed with her trifecta of knowledge and determination, she prepared to face the obstacles that were bound to get in her way. There was nothing that was going to stop her from getting her man.

Nothing.

Part ii || Part iv

Tags: @ideagarden-blog1​  @youbloodymadgenius​ @xbellaxcarolinax​ @a-mess-of-fandoms​ @didiintheblog​ @conaionaru​ @peachyboneless​ @flowers-in-your-hayr @heavenly1927​ @zuxiezendler @waiting4inspiration​ @saldelys @didiintheblog​  @revolution-starter​

[jaskiers-sweetkiss]

Sunset Swerve - Part 10

Pairing: Luke x OC

Word Count: 5.3K

Warnings: some swearing, i actually think that’s it for this part?

A/N: Okay here’s part 10, or as I’ve been calling it: Part 9 2: Electric Boogaloo. This is a very special edition of Sunset Swerve in which you get to read from Luke’s POV! This is covering the same time frame as part 9 but Luke’s pov provides some different scenes and new insight that’s kinda significant so I would really recommend not skipping it lol. I wanna shoutout @meangirlsx for being my sounding board and giving me loads of help on these two parts! As always, send me a message/drop a comment if you want to be tagged and let me know what you think!

Part 9  Masterlist

___

The week started off great for Luke. He was coming off the high from their performance at the open mic time and the relief that Julie didn’t have to quit the band. The latter fact also absolved him from his guilt of having suggested that Julie sneak out in the first place.

He found himself spending a lot of time with Jordan in the following days between talking about the book he’d started (she had been right, Annabeth was really cool though he maintained that she was stuck-up) and writing music. Their relationship had become much more civil following his birthday, though the fighting didn’t stop. Luke was starting to wonder if Jordan could survive without regularly making snarky or sarcastic comments. Still, the newfound closeness had been… nice. Luke wasn’t entirely sure how to categorize it, especially alongside the feelings he was certain he had for Julie.

As he sat across from Jordan, close enough that their knees were touching as they worked through some rhythms on a new song, Luke found that he wasn’t certain of anything. Jordan felt like a magnet- he realized belatedly that she always had- constantly pulling him closer and closer no matter how much either of them tried to pull away. He was starting to wonder if learning metaphors at book club was really a good thing.

“Hey Luke, can I ask you about something?” Julie pipped up from the entryway of the garage, pulling him away from his thoughts and Jordan.

“Sure, what’s up?” He asked, quirking an eyebrow quizzically.

“Oh, um, actually can we talk outside?” She asked and he furrowed his brow but nodded, setting down his guitar and jogging over to where she stood by the doors.

“This is gonna sound weird but can I ask why Jordan was with you at your house the other day?” Julie asked unsurely once they were outside and Luke froze, not expecting the question.

“How’d you…?” He trailed off, peering at the girl suspiciously. He hadn’t told anyone that he made frequent visits to his house, though he suspected the guys knew and Jordan had figured it out on his birthday.

“Alex and Reggie took me…” Julie said, tucking her hair behind her ear embarrassedly. “After I called you selfish and said you didn’t care about anyone but yourself…”

“That’s ironic coming from you, Miss Boundaries,” he scoffed irritatedly, brows furrowed in anger and Julie sighed.

“I’m really sorry Luke, it was wrong.”

“But now you wanna snoop even more,” he frowned, raising his brows as if to say ‘seriously?’

Julie opened her mouth to defend herself but Luke cut her off with a sigh before answering her question.

“If you must know, Jordan and I have spent every birthday together since we were five, I guess she figured I could use the comfort and familiarity.” He shrugged, trying to downplay how much the gesture had meant to him. It’s been really difficult, grieving his loss of his parents while they grieved him even twenty-five years later. At least when he was a runaway there was still always the possibility of reconciliation. Now there never would be.

“That’s really thoughtful,” Julie said, “But it doesn’t make sense. You guys hate each other, what happened?”

“Oh, we always have,” he smirked to himself, remembering that first day they met. He’d found a massive spider in the yard and thought it would be funny to put it in her hair, obviously, she hadn’t felt the same and the rest was history. “But our parents really wanted us to be friends so… birthday parties.”

“That explains a lot, actually,” Julie nodded thoughtfully and now it was Luke’s turn to be confused, tilting his head in a silent request for the girl to explain. “You guys have these moments where you like, exude this closeness that totally doesn’t fit the nature of your relationship. It makes sense now, knowing how long you’ve known each other.”

“I mean, there was a point where we were basically the closest thing to family each other had,” Luke shrugged, thinking about those last five months in the studio. “Guess we forgot about that when we died.”

They’d grow inexplicably close in those months that they’d lived together. It was an unspoken closeness, neither of them dared to acknowledge it but Luke saw it often in the little things. They’d stopped calling each other names when it was just them in the garage and sometimes when he was stuck on a new song he was writing she’d shout out suggestions from across the room. It was like they’d called an unconscious truce in their grief but when they came back as ghosts that all disappeared, the two immediately back at each others’ throats.

When Luke returned to the studio after his conversation with Julie it had sort of felt like the same thing had happened again. He’d thought he was finally making headway with Jordan, that they’d finally started back on the path to friendship after his birthday, or maybe even something more, and while things hadn’t totally changed, they felt different somehow.

She’d stopped hanging out with him in her free time. Instead, she spent the time holed up in the corners of the studio with her notebook or sitting behind the piano or her guitar, playing or strumming as she hummed softly. Luke wanted to help her out or tell her she sounded beautiful but he couldn’t help but notice how secretive she was being. They’d been working on songs together recently but this one she seemed determined to keep to herself.

When he entered the studio one afternoon to find her notebook on the couch, completely unguarded he couldn’t help himself. He blamed his overwhelming curiosity for why he picked it up despite knowing first-hand how sacred a song journal was.

When he found the partially written song at the back of the notebook he sucked in a breath, chest filling with hope at the lyrics on the page. It wasn’t much, only one verse and a chorus and what looked like half a pre-chorus but he couldn’t help but wonder if it was about him.

[Verse ?]

Bored of games why do you still play?

Back and forth, it’s always the same

You’re player one, I’m player two, who is she, player who?

Roll the dice and make your way

Pre-chorus

I know I’m hard but that’s part of it

You could leave but you are still here

and I’ve nowhere to go but ???

His mind whirled as he tried to work it out for himself. It screamed jealousy to him. She’d started writing after he’d had his conversation with Julie, so it wasn’t an unreasonable guess that he was “you” and Julie was “she.” She was jealous of him and Julie. But was it platonic? Was it more than that?

He was pretty sure he’d lost his damn mind in the hurricane of questions racing through his brain. It was the only explanation for the pure stupidity of what he did next.

“Moss, what’s this?” He asked when she found him with her notebook. Then he started to read off the chorus,

“I’m selfish, I’m selfish, I’m selfish

when it comes to you.

I can’t help it, can’t help it

crazy things that I do.”

“Give it back,” she snapped, cheeks flushing in what he later recognized as a mix of embarrassment and anger but at the time his brain ignored entirely, too caught up in an unthought-out attempt to confront her feelings.

“When I need you I come back to you.

I’m selfish, I’m selfish

when it comes to you.”

“I’m serious, Patterson. You don’t see me poking around in your notebook,” Jordan argued, grabbing hold of the notebook but not pulling it out of his hands.

“You don’t see me leaving my notebook lying around.” His body and his mouth were moving on autopilot but without a GPS as he responded cheekily, letting go of the notebook. Somewhere in the back of his mind, his rational brain was screaming at him to shut up but he just kept talking. “Who’s it about?”

“None of your business.”

Though his brain was on a self-destructive warpath, he couldn’t help but notice how adorable Jordan looked hugging the notebook to her chest protectively. Though, the adorableness factor was negated slightly by the death glare in her eyes.

“I think it’s about me,” he announced smugly, leaning back against the couch haughtily as if daring her to contradict him.

What the hell are you doing, man?

“I think you’re a dumbass,” she spat, and just like that she was gone, poofing away.

He leaned forward, putting his head in his hands with a groan as he realized what he did.

For the next day and a half, he could feel how the atmosphere between them had grown frigid. He’d tried to apologize a few times but every time he got close she would poof away, clearly not wanting to hear from him. What interactions they did have in those couple days were short and snide, laced with venom and insults. The behavior didn’t seem out of the ordinary to the rest of the group, but to Luke, it felt like he’d just stepped from the warm beach into ice-cold water and it was all his fault.

Luke was on the brink of losing his mind again when he went out on a limb that night. He, Alex, and Reggie were about to go out exploring like they did most nights after all the lifers went to sleep and he really wasn’t keen on leaving Jordan in the studio to stew in her anger.

“C’mon, Moss, we’re going exploring!” he called up to the loft. Deciding he’d given her enough space, it was time for ambush mode.

“And why would I want to go anywhere with you?” She called back venomously, not even deigning to come to the railing of the loft or poof down to speak to him face-to-face.

He sighed, clenching his eyes shut briefly before exhaling heavily and speaking.

“Look, I’m sorry, alright?” He called back, wishing he wasn’t doing this in front of Reggie and Alex. “I shouldn’t have gone through your notebook, it was a dick move.”

Luke was surprised at how quickly she forgave him, poofing down only moments after he apologized. He stared at her surprise, his body more relaxed now that she was spending time with them again. He hoped Alex and Reggie weren’t watching him, afraid they might somehow see the pure relief and adoration that he felt for her. Maybe he was being dramatic, but he swore he stopped breathing when she finally turned to look at her. He was totally screwed.

___

The next morning was quiet, though it felt like everything had gone back to normal. Jordan was sprawled across the couch which Luke had stopped trying to claim possession over, it was his couch but at this point, it might as well have been hers. Alex was sitting across from him making a friendship bracelet that he secretly hoped was for him but thought might’ve been for Willie, and Luke was reading his book. Things were really starting to pick up in the characters’ quest and he was apparently so invested that he barely recognized Reggie’s arrival until he heard the word “gig.”

Just like that he was on his feet along with Jordan and Alex, quest entirely forgotten as they all started blurting out questions.

“Where?”

“When?’

“How?”

Reggie excitedly explained how they were having a garage party at the house so that their band could perform and Ray and some of his colleagues would record them professionally for the band’s YouTube. Then Reggie patiently explained what a YouTube was and Luke briefly wondered when he’d learned more about modern technology than the rest of them. He supposed Julie did give him that iPod.

“We’re gonna record a music video? Like on MTV?” He exclaimed excitedly after Reggie had explained.

“Yes, dude! And Julie says if we get enough views we could go big!”

Luke gaped at his three bandmates, trying to come up with a vocalization for the thoughts flying through his head. All of a sudden there was a lot at stake for this event, the whole world would be able to see their performance. It had to be perfect. They needed to practice, hell they needed to pick a song.

He needed to talk to Julie.

When he reappeared in the school hallway he realized he probably should’ve told the group where he was going but it was too late now.

“What’re you doing here?” Julie asked him after getting over the initial shock of his sudden appearance.

“We need to talk about what song we’re gonna play tonight,” Luke said excitedly, grinning at the girl. “I was thinking Great?”

Julie held up a finger to signal she needed a moment before pulling out her phone.

“Wait seriously? You’re just gonna take a call while we’re talking? That’s so rude!”

Julie rolled her eyes at his dramatics before explaining, “Otherwise people might think I’m talking to myself.”

“Right, nice, okay,” Luke nodded, impressed by her quick thinking.

It was strange to be back in a high school hallway after so long, chatting with a cute girl by the lockers. The thought immediately brought the image of Jordan. Wow, he was really screwed.

“But yeah, I think Great is a… great choice,” Julie answered his question and he nodded, satisfied with the choice.

“Alright, sweet! Well, that was pretty much all I wanted to talk to you about so…”

“Oh! Okay,” Julie said, surprised.

“Actually wait- I wanted to talk to you about Jordan,” He started. He knew he and Julie had something between them but with these rising feelings about Jordan he’d been experiencing he didn’t want to lead her on. “Look, I, uh, I don’t really know how to say this but-“

“You have a crush on Jordan!” Julie gasped, effectively cutting him off.

His cheeks turned red and he scratched the back of his neck embarrassedly.

“Yeah- I mean, I don’t know but…”

“But you don’t want to hurt me,” Julie finished and Luke raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Wow, you are really perceptive Molina,” he said and she smiled.

“You don’t have to worry about me-“

“Sorry, my Patterson Idiocy Meter was going off,” Jordan explained as she suddenly appeared beside him, effectively putting an end to his conversation with Julie. “It lets me know when he’s doing something especially stupid.”

Luke rolled his eyes at the comment, sticking his tongue out petulantly at the girl and Julie gave him a knowing smile.

“Anyway,” Luke said dramatically, rerouting the conversation and turning back to Julie. “I was thinking, you should just ditch school today and come rehearse with us.”

He probably should’ve anticipated both girls’ protests but he still found himself trying to rationalize what he knew was a bad idea.

“Right, you were at school first, and now you’re leaving to go rehearse.”

“Stop trying to persuade her to do bad things!” Jordan chastised him, smacking his shoulder lightly.

“I really can’t. Plus I promised Nick I’d be his dance partner…” Julie explained, and Luke noticed Jordan wiggling her eyebrows at the mention of the name. He was clearly missing something.

“…and he’s heading this way,” Julie finished, pretending to hang up the phone in favor of talking to the blond-haired boy who just walked up.

“Well don’t you look sharp!” Julie’s reaction to his teasing told him all he needed to know about her feelings and the boy was not being sly about his at all. “Uh-oh, I think somebody’s got a crush on Julie!”

He couldn’t help it. It’s the designated role of all close friends to make fun of each other for their crushes. He knew by the way Julie had reacted when he’d told her about his (well, tried to tell her) that she was never going to let him hear the end of it. So, he dove right into it, mimicking Nick’s motions and facial expressions all with a playful glint in his eyes.

“Oh he is just too cute,” he teased when the blond lifer finally walked away.

“Boundaries,” Julie reminded him with a roll of her eyes. “I’ll see you after school.”

She began walking away towards her class but Luke wasn’t ready to end the conversation.

“Fine! I guess we’ll just have to carry you tonight, just like we always do!” He called down the hallway and he could see Julie shake her head slightly in exasperation. “I know you’re smiling, Molina!”

“Shut up, Luke,” Jordan rolled her eyes, smacking his chest lightly and he sent her a cheeky grin. “Good luck Julie! You’ll do great!” She called after the girl and Luke awed internally at the support.

“Yeah! Kill it on the dance floor!” He joined in, shuffling smoothly across the floor as he yelled.

“Dork,” he heard Jordan mutter and he snapped towards her, feigning upset despite how pleased he was at the attention he was getting.

“C’mon, we’ve gotta get rehearsing,” he spoke, brushing off the dramatics but she waved him off.

“I’ll be right there.”

He frowned, wanting her to come with him but he poofed away anyway, landing back in the garage between Reggie and Alex.

They immediately got to work, Luke walking them through Great. He felt bad doing it without Jordan since it was really her and Julie’s song more than anything, but he really wanted them to sound as best as they could. It was her song and they needed to do it justice.

They’d only just gotten through the basic structure and Jordan’s plans for the song, which she’d scribbled into the margins of his notebook pages while they worked on it together, when they were interrupted by a face in the window.

“Again? What’s all that about?” Reggie asked when Willie’s face disappeared from view, the boy clearly knowing he’d been caught.

Luke shrugged in response, just as lost as the rest but Alex stood, seemingly determined to get answers this time as he poofed out.

Despite their typical itch to snoop, the two boys gave Willie and Alex their privacy, instead moving over to their respective instruments to tune and warm up while they waited.

Luke could tell something was off when Alex returned but the blond-haired ghost had gone straight for his drumset, insisting that they start rehearsing. So, Luke didn’t push it, until about halfway through the song Alex got a little too into his drums, no longer playing along.

“Alex are you alright?” He asked sincerely once he’d stopped playing.

“Yeah... yeah, why?” Alex asked, trying to brush it off but Luke and Reggie had already connected the dots.

Alex only ever played like that when he was upset and since he was in a good mood before Willie showed up, it wasn’t difficult to figure out.

“I know it’s tough man. People say you never forget your first ghost.” Reggie spike sympathetically, “but... I’m sure there will be others.”

“Yeah, thanks Reg,” Alex nodded and Luke stepped forward, clutching his guitar strap as if to brace himself. He wasn’t very good at expressing things outside of music.

“Yeah, and Alex, you’re a great drummer and a great guy, okay?” He said, leaning onto the drumset slightly as he spoke. “I wouldn’t let all that stuff get in between you and what you love.”

Alex nodded and Luke finally noticed Jordan’s presence in the studio. He’d started to take steps in her direction to ask when she’d gotten there when Reggie spoke up again.

“I don’t know, sometimes a little fire onstage can make things better,” he said suggestively and Luke froze in the center of the band setup. “Like you and Julie.”

His head immediately snapped towards Jordan, trying to gauge her reaction to the statement. He was already certain she thought there was something between him and Julie, she’d written a whole song out of jealousy after all, but he needed her to know that wasn’t true.

“Uh, what... what is that supposed to mean?” Luke asked, trying to play innocent and hoping Reggie would get the hint and back off.

“C’mon, everyone can see the way you look at her when you sing,” Reggie chuckled, clearly not understanding. “You guys ooze chemistry.”

“Please never say ooze again,” Alex said to Reggie before turning to Luke, “But you have to agree he’s right.”

“No, no.” Luke denied vehemently, chancing another nervous glance at Jordan only to find she had become suddenly very interested in her shoes. “I have chemistry with everyone I sing with.”

It felt like a reasonable excuse to him, and it wasn’t exactly wrong. He did have chemistry when he sang with people, but it wasn’t because of the person, it was because of the music. Still, Reggie and Alex gave him looks of disbelief and he huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, watch,” he said, taking a determined step towards Jordan. Sure he was trying to prove a point to the guys, but maybe he could prove something else to himself and Jordan.

Still, before he could even take another step she stopped him.

“You’d better take that step back,” she demanded, not even looking up from the floor and his heart sank.  

He shook it off with a sigh, still determined to prove his point to the guys. So he turned on his heel, confidently stepping towards Reggie as he began to sing.

“I believe, I believe that we’re just one dream away from who we’re meant to be.” When he got close enough, he slipped his hand around the back of the bassist‘s neck, pulling their faces even closer together. “That we’re standing on the edge of… great.”

He winked at the boy when he finished and stepped back, watching with a smirk as Reggie gulped. Mission accomplished.

“Wow,” Alex remarked, “I see chemistry.”

“Yeah, that was pretty hot,” Reggie admitted, voice cracking as he spoke.

Riding on the high of his success, Luke took it one step further, kissing two of his fingers before placing them on Reggie’s lips. When he heard a giggle from behind him he whirled around to grin at Jordan, elated that he could turn her mood around. She rolled her eyes in response but he didn’t care. He was starting to think maybe they were a sign of endearment from her with how much she did it.  

“Girls, amiright?” Reggie croaked out and Luke chuckled.

“Yeah,” he agreed and Alex quickly chimed in.

“No,” the drummer said definitively with a light chuckle.

Jordan barked out a laugh at that, poofing over to the drummer to give him a high five before poofing back to the front of the band setup. Luke shook his head at that, ducking his head to hide his smile as he slipped his guitar strap back across his body.

Practice went smoothly after that, though Jordan and Reggie insisted on messing around until Julie got there. He felt kinda lonely with Jordan now hanging out on Reggie’s side of the setup but it was worth it to see her smile and hear her laughter. He didn’t even have the heart to tell them to take this practice seriously since they had a performance tonight. When the hell did he become so whipped for a girl he wasn’t even sure liked him back?

He couldn’t begrudge them their fun, even screwing around Jordan and Reggie were some of the best musicians he knew and it was obvious when Julie got there. They only had an hour of true, focused rehearsal with the whole group yet it sounded amazing. Still, Luke was nervous. If he’d had his way, they would’ve practice until it was perfect but he knew that wasn’t reasonable.

Luke was bummed when Jordan left to get ready in Julie’s room. He figured they needed their “girl time” or whatever but- though he’d never say it out loud- watching Jordan do her makeup had become part of his pre-performance routine and he was a bit fascinated by the whole ordeal. Instead, he spent the time leading up to their performance reading his book or talking with Alex and Reggie.

Luke’s nerves didn’t present themselves outwardly as much as Jordan’s did. It was something he’d noticed back when they’d both started performing. When Jordan got nervous she moved, flicking and shaking her hands, bouncing in place, anything to stop her standing still. Luke, on the other hand, internalized his nerves. He would become uncharacteristically quiet the closer he got. When he first started performing for crowds his hands would tremble, something he’d had to figure out how to counteract pretty quickly because it’s really hard to play the guitar with shaky hands.

Still, pre-performance nerves were when his insecurities popped up the most so when he looked up and saw Jordan, Alex, and Reggie all holding hands in the garage while Julie started the song, he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He probably looked like a kicked puppy but he felt like one. His bandmates had left him out of something.

As if reading his thoughts, Jordan reached her hand out to him in a silent invitation to join whatever pre-show ritual they’d started without his knowledge. As soon as he took her hand he understood why they did it: silent solidarity. A small but strong reminder that they were in this together. Then Jordan squeezed his hand lightly, giving him just enough time to squeeze back before they were poofing onstage, well, onto the driveway.

Julie and Jordan were electric in center stage and all five of them were sounding great (no pun intended). Everything was going perfectly until Luke nodded his head at Jordan, silently asking her to come share his mic but she pointedly ignored him. Luke furrowed his brow in confusion as she angled her body away from him as she picked up the next verse.

Maybe it was a mistake, he thought, trying it again as he and Julie joined her vocals.

“Sometimes we gotta lean, lean on someone else to get a little help until we find a way,” they sang together, and Luke frowned slightly. Those lines had always made him think of Jordan, especially after his birthday and it hurt extra that she was ignoring him.

He tried to ignore the stab of jealousy he felt when she moved to the other side of the setup to sing to Alex by focusing on the music and singing with Reggie but it didn’t fully work. He still wanted her attention and he wanted to know why he wasn’t getting it.

His wounded puppy eyes were fully intact when he stepped up beside where Julie crouched on the piano to play his guitar solo. She gave him a sympathetic smile before shrugging lightly, seemingly understanding why he was upset but also unaware as to why he was being shunned. It made him feel a bit better, at least he wasn’t the only one in the dark. As the section came to an end he noticed her eyes flicking out to the crowd and followed them, spotting a familiar blond. He sent her a teasing wink as he hit the last note and she stood fully on the piano in what was a truly epic moment. That girl was a performer through and through.

He slid back to his microphone behind the piano, still hurt but pushing it aside to finish out the performance. Now really wasn’t the time to get lost in speculation and self-pity.

He was surprised when he and the guys returned to invisibility only to see Jordan still out there, singing and playing along with Julie. It was clearly a beautiful and emotional moment for the two and he wondered when they’d planned it. Still, that wasn’t his first question when he finally got time to talk to the ghost girl.

“Hey, so, how come you were ignoring me out there?” He asked her after the lifers had evacuated the driveway.

Reggie and Alex were playing some basketball on the hoop hanging from the garage door while Jordan was perched on the ledge at the end of the driveway, scribbling into her notebook.

“What are you talking about?” She asked, looking up to stare at him in confusion.

“During the performance… I wanted you to come sing with me…” he spoke, leaving pauses in hopes that she’d catch on and put him out of his misery but she never did. “C’mon Moss, I did the head nod and everything!”

“Those were for me?” She exclaimed, looking at him like he’d lost his mind, “I thought you were trying to get Julie!”

He felt the relief wash over him with those words. So it was just a simple misunderstanding.

The relief was short-lived, however, as the four of them were suddenly struck through with another jolt, sending the three guys sprawling to the ground and Jordan doubling over.

“Jesus fuck,” he heard Jordan curse as she clutched her chest and he groaned in agreement, pushing himself off the cement.

“That wasn’t like the other ones,” he said, “It’s getting worse.”

“Why is this happening to us?” Reggie asked, still bent over as he recovered.

“It’s because you guys are in serious trouble,” Willie answered, nervously approaching the four ghosts. “We need to talk.”

They all nodded in agreement, silently moving together before Willie poofed them to Hollywood.

They followed him along the Walk of Fame as he explained all about how Caleb’s stamp was the reason the jolts kept happening. That he’d stamped them to force them to work for him because they were too powerful.

“So, if we don’t join his club, the weird power outage thing continues until there’s no power left at all?” Reggie asked, crossing his arms over his chest nervously.

“Yes,” Willie answered, not meeting any of their eyes.

“What exactly happens when the power goes out?”

“That’s… that’s it. You’re done.”

Luke heard Jordan suck in a breath beside him, freezing in her tracks and the rest of the group slowed to a halt.

“Yeah, what do you mean by ‘we’re done?’” Reggie asked the question none of them wanted to hear the answer to.

“You just… you don’t exist… anymore. Not anywhere.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jordan slap a hand over her mouth as if to cover up a sob. He knew she was thinking about her parents, how she’d never see them again because of this and his blood began to boil.

“So what, we have to give up everything and work for Caleb for eternity?” He spat angrily, “That’s some club you guys got going on.”

He took a step back, reaching down discretely to grab Jordan’s hand, hoping to provide her with any kind of comfort and support.

“But there is another way,” Willie explained, “That’s why I’m here.”

“Another option?” Alex asked skeptically.

“Just please, hear me out.” Willie pleaded, and Luke shared a look with the other guys. “Alright. If you guys could figure out what your unfinished business is, you do it in time, you could cross over and be free from all of this.”

“Okay, so what’s our unfinished business?” Luke asked, squeezing Jordan’s hand reassuringly. He’d figure it out just for her.

“I don’t know,” Willie said. “But since you all died at the same time it could be something you all have to do together.”

Luke’s mind began whirling, trying to figure out what it could be. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he barely registered Willie departing, or Alex and Reggie talking.

“We have to figure out our unfinished business,” he insisted, finally joining in on the conversation.

“Yeah, man, and how are we supposed to do that? Alright?” Alex asked frustratedly. “There was so much we wanted to do.”

The combination of Alex’s words and him noticing the sign in the background brought upon Luke’s epiphany.

“Yeah, but the night we died, there was only one thing we wanted to do together,” he explained, pointing towards the Orpheum sign with his free hand.

Part 11

___

JATP Taglist: @meangirlsx @morganayennefertyrell

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[chancelloramidala]

Staring at the Sun ➤ Evan Buckley

Chapter Two: All’s Fair in Love and Work

Masterlist

Marceline can’t help but keep a wall divide between herself and her feelings. She doesn’t like to talk about them, she doesn’t even like to acknowledge that she has them. She likes to pretend that the more she ignores her emotions that they’ll eventually go away like a cold.

But the thing is, emotions don’t work like that. Sometimes something’s gotta give. The heartbreak, anger, and sadness start to spill over on the lid she duct-taped shut a hundred times over.

So there she was, staring a hole into the back of Buck’s head while he talked to Bobby about Abby for the millionth time. 

“She’s great, Bobby… like, seriously. I don’t know how I’m so lucky to have her in my life.” Buck said with a bright big smile that made Marceline’s knees weak and her heart tremble. 

Bobby nodded, ever-so the father figure, and patted Buck’s shoulder from across the counter that divided them. “I’m glad to hear that, Buck. You deserve someone good like that.”

There was a loud metal screech that came from the chair Marceline suddenly jumped out of. Hen and Chimney shot her a worried glance from the end of the table they were sitting on while Bobby and Buck both raised a brow.

“You good there, Mars?” Chimney asked her as she dug her nails into her palms to keep her cool.

“I just have too much energy, that’s all.” Marceline smoothly lied before throwing the long single braid that hung over her chest to her back. “I’m going to do some workouts to try and relieve some of it.”

And before anyone could say anything to that, Marceline zoomed past and used the fire pole for a quick exit. 

The young woman grabbed a metal cylinder that was no bigger than her thumb but at least two times as thick from her locker before walking towards an empty space downstairs. She then aimed both ends of the cylinder away from her body as she placed her thumb on the metal ball and pressed down. At the other end, was a thin latch that she pulled and at the same time released her thumb from the metal ball, and whoosh the bo staff was released. Well, this is better than smoking.

The metal bo staff was six feet tall, so she required enough room to do some of her practice stances. It’s been a while since Marceline has used the bo staff because there was nowhere in her place with Nicolette to use it, and it gained some stares when she’d bring it to the local gym.

So she started off simple, the basic spins. Marceline stood with her feet apart, her left leg forward with the staff held in her left hand up off of the floor. She held the staff in the middle before taking in a deep breath. 

Let’s see if you’ve still got it, Pierce.

When she exhaled, she slowly turned the staff front and back leaning into her body and made sure that her thumb was leading the fluid motions similar to a figure eight. When she grew comfortable enough, instead of turning the staff from the front and back, she spun it as well, in reverse to the last spin.

She did this for another two minutes, allowing the familiar motions to take hold before switching the staff to her right hand almost instantly. 

After getting used to this, and feeling the muscle memories fall into perfect harmony within her. All that heartbreak, anger, and sadness dwindled away momentarily as Marceline swiftly fell into a familiar rhythm. She continued to mix up the various strikes, spins, and blocks into her routine as they popped up in her brain.

But just because Marceline was getting really into her workout, didn’t mean that she was oblivious to a certain paramedic descend down the stairs. The familiar presence of Hen filled the thick air surrounding the other woman with ease even if she didn’t stop her fluid movements.

“I got you some water,” Hen said, holding up a bottle of water. “Thought you might be thirsty from all of… that.” she gestured vaguely at the bo staff Marceline swung around in the air.

“Thanks, Hen,” Marceline replied before raising her staff above her head to effortlessly spin it against her palm.

Marceline has always been a hard person for Hen to read because of how unwilling she was to talk about herself or how she felt. It was essentially the equivalent of trying to cut open a rock with a plastic spoon in Hen’s opinion. It’s always a guessing game to figure out if Marceline was angry or sad or even happy. And although Marceline was an asset to this team, (which was more of a family, really) with her brute strength and quick thinking during intense calls, she was also intensely private about her personal life. She was a true mystery for anyone that met her and that frustrated the older woman.

But for once, Hen finally felt clued in on how Marceline was feeling. She has successfully connected the dots.

“So,” Hen started as she leaned against the hood of the ladder truck and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at Marceline. “What do you think about Buck and Abby?”

Marceline nearly dropped the bo staff onto her head when she was spinning it up above.

Hen tries to hide her very best amusement.

Marceline navigates the staff in front of her and plants one end to the concrete floor while the other is aimed at the ceiling. Then, she starts to close the staff, keeping one hand planted in the middle of it, steady and firm. Her other hand is at the top end, twisting it until the length of the staff shortens to the point where she’s on her knees and slipping the latch through.

After closing her staff, Marceline looks up to find that Hen is still waiting for an answer to her previous question. For a moment, she contemplates even answering but decides against it. “I don’t have an opinion on their relationship,” 

Hen snorts. “Bullcrap,”

Marceline visibly stifles at that and then heads to her locker to put away her staff, presuming that Hen would follow behind her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Well, I’m talking about how you clearly don’t like Abby.” Hen was now standing in the doorway, blocking her escape.

“I don’t have an opinion on Abby,” Lies, lies, lies.

Marceline felt Hen’s eyes pierce through her back.

“At your welcome back party, you were pissed that Buck brought a plus one.”

She ended up slamming the door to her locker shut with such force that it nearly made the other woman jump in surprise. “No, I was pissed that you guys even threw a party, to begin with.” Now Marceline was facing Hen, her lips curled into a scowl. “I don’t like the unnecessary attention, ya know.”

Hen sighed. She wanted to bite back with well I don’t really know anything about you but kept those thoughts to herself. “Fine, if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.” she mused before softening her stare at Marceline, knowing that she can’t force any information out of her (even though she’d like to). “But I’m here if you’d like to… ya know, talk.”

Marceline kept quiet, unsure of how to respond with such sincerity towards her. So Hen left her in the locker room, allowing her to collect her thoughts before the alarm rang out.

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“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

“Help, I think my two-year-old sister locked herself in my parent’s wardrobe!”

“Alright, ma’am. What’s your name and address?”

“Lillian McHugh at the Angelene Apartments in West Hollywood- uh, uh, second floor, room… April? April- oh my god please help she’s wailing!”

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“Alright guys, we got a two-year-old girl stuck in a wooden wardrobe. The older sister called it in,” Bobby said over the headset as they sped down the highway with Marceline honking the horn and flashing the siren fiercely.

“Why the hell wasn’t the older sister watching her sister? She’s a literal baby.” Buck asked before the ladder truck came to a sudden stop.

“Let’s go ask her, herself,” Marceline said as she parked the truck to the side of the road before getting out.

As everyone exited the truck, they gathered their things before heading into the apartment building. Once they made it to the right floor, they didn’t even have to knock on the door. In the hallway stood a teenage girl who looked no older than fourteen with a frantic expression on her face.

“Oh my god, finally!” the girl, Lillian sighed out in relief.

Bobby stepped forward and nodded at her. “We’re LAFD, you called 9-1-1 saying that your two-year-old sister locked herself in your parent’s wardrobe?”

Lillian winced as she nodded slowly and lead the firefighters into the apartment. “Yeah, uh… we were playing hide-and-seek and she takes the game super serious for a baby… god, I didn’t even think she knew how to climb up that high into the chest and when I finally found her-”

“Do you know how long she’s been in the wardrobe?” Hen asked, stepping beside the teenager as they followed her into the huge master bedroom.

“I don’t know… maybe like- twenty minutes… I’m sorry I just-” Lillian huffed angrily as she pulled at the ends of her hair, frustrated tears falling from her eyes. “It’s my fault, fuck-- my parents are going to kill me.”

Everyone then gathered around the oak wardrobe that looked straight out of the goddamn Narnia movies. Bobby started to instruct everyone to do something, Buck was told to use the saw, careful not to hit the baby, while Chimney, Hen, and Bobby coaxed the scared two-year-old as she wept. Then there was Marceline who hung back just in case something went haywire, keeping her arms crossed over her chest anxiously as she eyed the wardrobe.

“No, they won’t,” Marceline said softly, looking over at the teenage girl with a soft expression. “It was a mistake, they’ll understand that.” she then spared Bobby a look when he had Buck stop using the saw as the baby, April’s cries grew louder. The noise of the saw was probably scaring her more. “I think April could really use your help. She’s confused and in the dark, and I think she’d greatly appreciate hearing her big sister’s voice telling her that everything will be okay.”

Lillian slowly rubbed her eyes and turned to Marceline as she started to calm down. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Marceline nodded gently. “My older brother used to help calm me down a lot when I was little and it helped.” then she slowly guided Lillian towards the wardrobe with a small, encouraging smile.

“Hey, April? It’s me, Lilly,” she waited for a response as it went silent. She then gave the firefighters a nervous look before going on, “There are nice people here who want to help you get out, okay? All you gotta do is come near my voice and don’t move…” Lillian sighed and pressed her forehead against the wooden wall she was talking into. “I know, it’s scary right now, but we’ll get you out of here okay? I’ll give you all the cotton candy you can dream of when you get out, okay?”

A sniffle and a hiccup could be heard before a quiet, “Okay” was heard along with some shuffling coming from inside of the wardrobe.

Bobby gestured to the opposite side Lillian was at as he looked at Buck. “Right here, Buck,”

“Got it,” Buck nodded at his Captain and turned on the saw, beginning to cut into the wood.

And in no later than five minutes, Buck had successfully gotten April out and had the baby in his arms before handing her off to her sister. Lillian hugged April so tight and cried into her sister’s hair, kissing her all over. It was a sight for sore eyes and Marceline watched the entire thing with a small smile on her lips.

Before they left, Hen and Chimney looked April over to make sure that nothing bad happened to her inside the wardrobe. As Marceline was about to leave, small dark arms suddenly snaked around her torso. Her brown and green eyes widened, looking down at the source to find that Lillian was hugging her.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Marceline stood there, her arms awkwardly hovering in the air unsure of what to do. So she gave the girl a small pat on the back before clearing her throat. “I didn’t do much, you should be thanking Buck, he’s the one who got your sister out.”

“I already hugged him,” Lillian said in a matter-of-fact kind of tone that most teenagers used. “But you were the one to help guide me into helping my sister. You were like… like my big sister right then and there.”

Marceline was at a loss for words.

“I think your big brother would be proud of you.”

Again, Marceline was at a loss for words because what the fuck. When did pre-teens become so perceptive?

“Thanks,” she mustered out.

And now she was driving the ladder truck back to the station, her lips pressed into a thin line. Over the headset, Buck was asking everyone where he should take Abby on their next date. God, how Marceline wished she could just crash this truck right now so she wouldn’t have to hear how excited Buck was about his upcoming date. 

Fuck you, heart. She cursed herself. It just had to be Evan Buckley, didn’t it?

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One moment Marceline was making out with a very attractive blonde woman in the bathroom of a bar and the next she was running out of the bar entirely. She couldn’t keep grinding against the blonde woman and sucking on her neck without wishing this girl was someone else. Another blonde, but taller, muscular, with a peculiar birthmark on his left eye… and yeah, it was Buck she was imagining.

So she ran out, ripping herself away from the girl and leaving, paying her tab and just booking it down the street. If anyone else were to see her, they’d just see a woman going on a run at night after a forty-eight-hour shift for you know, exercise. But no, that was not what Marceline was doing. She was just running from her mind, her annoying intrusive thoughts about Buck and his lips and his eyes and his arms and his shoulder muscles and-- just everything about him.

She kept running until she made it to a familiar doorstep and rang the doorbell. Marceline leaned against the doorway, her chest heaving because holy shit she really just ran like three miles in skinny jeans. 

The door opened to reveal Hen, who was surprised to find Marceline at her doorstep and shot her a confused and equally concerned look. “Um, hello?”

“Uh,” Marceline started to finally catch up to the fact that she ran to Hen’s house. “Hi,”

Hen looked behind Marceline before staring at her up and down. “Did you run here?”

“Heh, yeah, uh, I did.” she clicked her tongue, suddenly craving some nicotine on her tongue. “Yeah, um, sorry about this. I just kind of… running and… yeah…”

“Would you like to come inside?”

“Uh,”

Marceline contemplated this for a moment, unsure if this was something she should really be doing but then again if she… what? Subconsciously ran to Hen’s house, then yeah, maybe she should go inside.

“Yeah, I’d actually like to… um… talk?” she alluded to the conversation they had in the locker room a day ago now.

Hen nodded before a small comforting smile appeared on her lips. “Of course, come in, make yourself comfortable.

@skyslowalking​ & @beelarson​ once again, this is 4 u <3

[dessarious]

The Angel of Death Pt14

Inspired by this Story Starter by @someone-ev

For the record, I absolutely don’t care that coed dorms aren’t a thing in boarding schools.

AO3   Prologue   Beginning   Previous   Next

The woman giving her a tour seemed knowledgeable and efficient, which she greatly appreciated. After seeing no sign of interest when she mentioned the academic and social clubs the woman simply handed her a list rather than going through them and when she said she’d prefer all the information in written form so she could go over it at her leisure she was given a stack of papers about two inches thick. It would give her something to look through since none of the classes she was enrolled in looked like they’d be a challenge.

“This is your dorm room. We offer coed housing and currently have you sharing common spaces with two girls and two boys. If that’s an issue please let me know so I can have you moved.” She could only frown at the woman in confusion.

“Everyone has their own bedroom, correct?” She just nodded. “Then why would there be a problem?”

“Some students or parents are uncomfortable with the idea of sharing living space with those of the opposite sex to whom they aren’t related.” That made absolutely no sense to her. Threat levels couldn’t be gauged on gender. Let her watch them fight, then she’d give you an accurate assessment. The woman took her silence as consent and led her into the room where there was a boy with dyed hair playing a guitar. “Oh good you’re here. Luka, I’d like to introduce you to your new suite mate, Tris Wang. Tris, this is Luka. You can think of him like a dorm mother. We always place an older student with a group of younger to help with any conflicts and to offer tips to help with school life. Specifically to prevent burnout.”

“Burnout? From what I can tell the curriculum is fairly basic, why would there be burnout?” Maybe it was all the extracurriculars that she had no interest in. The woman looked affronted but Luka seemed to be trying not to laugh.

“Our curriculum and staff are what make our graduates first pick at universities worldwide. I assure you it’s anything but basic.” Well if that was true she couldn’t even begin to imagine how mind numbingly boring regular schools would have been. At least it meant she’d have time for her actual work. “I will leave you in M. Couffaine’s capable hands.” As soon as she closed the door behind her Luka let out a chuckle.

“I’d advise against saying something like that to any of your instructors or you’ll find yourself swamped with homework. If you have any questions or concerns-”

“I won’t. Which room is mine?” He blinked at her abruptness and she made a mental note to at least let people finish talking before she answered.

“It’s that one.” He pointed at the door nearest the exit before eyeing her backpack and duffle bag. “I take it the rest of your things are being delivered?” She cocked her head at him, wondering if there was another supply list she hadn’t found.

“No. As far as I know I have everything I need.” Luka didn’t seem to know how to react at first but a smile slowly took over his expression.

“You and Kagami should get along famously.” She assumed that was one of her other roommates but before she could ask there was a commotion in the hallway and the door was thrown open. The first to walk in was a girl of obviously Asian descent and she felt comfortable assuming this was Kagami. The other two seemed to be fighting over who would enter first but when they finally made it through the door so she could see them properly she started up a string of internal curses that would have made League members blush.

Of course the two blondes that walked in would be the two former Miraculous holders. The boy she could care less about if she was being honest. She waited for Chloe to see her, hoping that the girl’s self involvement from when they were younger was still in enough use that she wouldn’t recognize her. It had been six years and they’d both changed so maybe she’d be safe.

“Guys, this is our new inmate Tris. Tris this is Kagami, Adrien, and Chloe.” Luka pointed as he named them, not that she needed it. Kagami offered a slight bow in greeting while Adrien gave a smile and a wave. Chloe was staring at her in confusion for a moment before Tris saw that spark of connection she’d been dreading. She was not prepared for this possibility and she had no clue how to handle it. A random encounter in public she could brush them off and be done with it. Living with someone was an entirely different story.

She was still trying to come up with a plan when Chloe shed her paralysis. Tris saw the beginnings of her birth name form on the other girl’s mouth and panicked. She moved before she thought and was fast enough that the others couldn’t react when she lunged at Chloe, covering her mouth and pulling her into the room Luka said was hers. She closed and locked the door behind them before turning to face a stunned Chloe.

“Everyone said you were dead.” The hushed whisper pulled her from her thoughts and she was surprised to see tears in Chloe’s eyes. Of all the people she’d expected to care about her disappearance she could confidently say Chloe’s name appeared nowhere on that list. What had happened to create such a change?

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng ceased to exist the night her parents died.” She could see the worry and confusion in the other girls face at the dead tone coming out of her mouth. She couldn’t explain things to her. Even knowing she was alive put Chloe in danger, but at the same time who would believe that she’d been kidnapped by an organization of assassins? It sounded completely absurd. “If you can’t refer to me as Tris I need to know so that I can drop out of this school.”

Chloe pulled her into a crushing hug and it took all her self control not to react to it like an attack. She was certain the last hug she got was the night her parents died and she’d honestly forgotten what it felt like.

AO3   Prologue   Beginning   Previous   Next

Ko-Fi

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[danceworshipper]

The Family Business AU: Part 1

Part 2

I'm finally getting around to writing something! This story is an AU where my main mcs, Gracie and Tessa Chiva, were raised in R their whole lives and are only just now, at the age of sixteen, starting to have doubts. I'm not sure how long the story will be, but I've been toying with the idea for a while now and I couldn't stop myself from writing it any longer. The basic background info is that the twins' maternal grandmother, Lorraine Black, founded R while her four children were still relatively young. In canon, her children weren't really on board, but in this AU all but one stayed with her. Clarissa, the twins' mother, never truly approved, but saw what happened to her brother and decided abandoning her family wasn't worth it. If you know my mcs, you'll know that while Gracie and Tessa are technically identical twins, Gracie has alternate coloring to her from a curse that happened in their first year (Tessa has dark brown hair and dull green eyes whilst Gracie has bright white hair and unnaturally bright green eyes, and is much paler). In this AU, that still occurred, however the curse was staged to give them a reason to go into the vaults as their brother never did, and she has no negative side effects from it. The 'Jacob' character has been renamed to Vance, just because I honestly don't like the name Jacob, Gracie and Merula are together, Tessa is single and newly the captain of the Slytherin quidditch team, Rowan is the prefect because she deserves it, and the two additional mcs in the story belong to @gcldensnitch and @weirdcursedvaultkid!

The Great Hall always felt so loud and bright on the first day of school. Even on the days the whole family was gathered together, their grandmother's dining hall was never as noisy as when the whole of Hogwarts was sitting eating dinner together. It made Gracie's head pound, and Tessa wasn't faring much better. If only their mother had listened to their pleas to drop out of school - but alas, Clarissa was firm in her belief that they needed to complete their education despite being next in line. It's what they deserved for asking the parent who had been a Ravenclaw during her own time at Hogwarts.

Of course, education aside, the twins really did need to stay in school. Them dropping out now would raise too many questions, especially with the two of them so invested in the Cursed Vaults. Besides, they would miss their friends. The friends that they'd been lying to since they met them. The friends that were now in terrible danger.

The twins had different thoughts about their lies. Tessa felt much more guilty about it, always having been the more empathetic twin. She especially felt guilty about lying to her best friend, Colette Belrose, whose older brother Jacob was someone Tessa saw rather frequently while Colette herself had no idea what he was up to. It reminded Tessa of how she had no idea where her own brother was, and if he was okay or not. He had run away from home directly after graduating and hadn't contacted his sisters at all. R had placed him high on the 'wanted' list. Seeing his name still there, not crossed out, was the only way Tessa and Gracie could have hope he was still alive.

Gracie was better able to justify her lies to herself. How could she continue to be trusted by her friends if they knew she was a member of the very group they were trying to take down? How would they react if they knew that she hadn't been cursed in her first year, but marked as the next leader? In order to protect the people Gracie cared about like Rowan and Merula, she needed them to trust her, and they never would if they found out about her lies now. It wasn't like she could tell them even if she wanted to; the secrecy oath she swore when she was eleven made that impossible. She suspected that was the only reason Vance hadn't told everyone before he ran away. You didn't break the oath by leaving. You broke the oath by dying.

This very oath, while necessary for R's security, was something that the twins were growing to despise. Lorraine, their grandmother, the founder and current leader of R, had laughed at them when they screamed and cried about Rakepick torturing Merula while the group was in the Portrait Vault the year before. Rakepick was just playing her part, Lorraine said. It didn't matter how close Gracie and Merula were, because in the end, Merula was an enemy to R and their mission, and would be treated as such. If Gracie wanted Merula safe from R's members, she'd have to convince Merula to become one.

This was the twins' goal this year. Between working on the final Cursed Vault (that the Hogwarts students knew of; the twins knew it was, in fact, the second-to-last), they were determined to convince their closest friends to join up with R for their own protection. How they would do that without being able to tell their friends about their family, they didn't know. But they had to try.

"Tessa!"

Tessa's head shot up as Colette sat down on the bench next to her and threw her arms around her. Colette had a smile on her face as she pulled back.

"Your hair is so long now!" Colette exclaimed. "I love it!"

Tessa smiled back weakly. "Thanks."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm just not used to the noise yet," Tessa responded truthfully. "It's not very loud back home."

Colette squeezed Tessa's shoulder in comfort. "You'll be used to it in no time."

Gracie watched the exchange and sighed. Rowan was a prefect, so she was off making sure the dorms were ready for the new students who would be coming in, and Merula was nowhere to be found. Merula had been off all summer. Having the Cruciatus curse cast on her had caused her to become even more determined than ever to prove herself as powerful, and it left their relationship wanting.

Gracie plugged her ears as the chatter around the hall grew even louder, feeling Tessa lean closer to her. The first years had just entered the Great Hall to be sorted. Hopefully Rowan would be here soon.

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

Dinner had been miserable, just as it always was during the first week or so. The twins never truly appreciated the quiet at home while they had it. Rowan had finally arrived just as the last first year was sorted, still catching her breath but beaming from a job well done.

"The Common Room is sparkling," she had told Gracie. "And I scented the candles with a faint hint of orange, just for you."

Rowan was so good. She cared about Gracie more than almost anyone else, and though she was nerdy, weird, and awkward, she was one of the most incredible people Gracie had ever met. Rowan was the one Gracie was most desperate to get on R's side. As much as she loved Merula, Rowan had been Gracie's friend from day one. Losing her would hurt the most, she was sure of it. Rowan had to be turned.

Tonight, though, Gracie had to find Merula, or else she'd likely stay out all night. Rowan said she had seen her out of the Training Grounds blasting the dummies to pieces, so that's where Gracie went after dinner was over.

The night sky was clear, and the air was nice and warm, a welcome change of scenery as Gracie let her stress wash away for just a moment. Staring at the stars always made Gracie feel less anxious. The stars didn't care what happened to her. She was nothing but a speck of dust in the universe, and nothing she ever did would matter. It was a comforting thought.

"Are you just going to stand there, Chiva?"

Merula was now standing next to her, looking at her with a cold expression.

"Hi," Gracie said softly. Every time she saw Merula she was caught off guard by how pretty she was, even when she was angry.

"What do you want?"

"You missed dinner."

"I wasn't hungry."

It was a bad lie. Gracie held out the plate of raspberry tart she had been able to sneak out, and Merula took it without a word.

"What were you doing?" Gracie asked.

"What do you think?" Merula jerked her head toward a group of dummies, two of which were still lying on the ground in pieces.

Gracie sighed and pushed her hair behind her ear. "This isn't healthy, love. I want to get back at Rakepick too, but you're running yourself ragged like this. We've barely spent time together recently."

At those words, Merula seemed to deflate just a little. She had another bite of tart before answering.

"I know."

They stood without talking while Merula finished her tart. She didn't say thank you, nor did Gracie expect her to. Merula just vanished the plate and crossed her arms.

An owl hooted in the distance. Gracie wondered if it was a school one or a wild one.

"Train with me," Merula said suddenly.

Gracie shook her head. "It's late. Come inside with me."

"Duel me once and we can go in."

"You're the Most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts," Gracie teased, enjoying the way Merula rolled her eyes even as they lit up. "You have nothing to prove to me."

"Just one?" Merula asked again.

And Gracie was never able to resist. "One."

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

"I've already been asked by three different people when I'm going to be holding tryouts," Tessa whined. "It's the first day back; can they not wait a single second?"

"Apparently not," Liz said, leaning back against her headrest. The two were sitting on the bed, catching up. Liz hadn't been able to visit for the second half of the summer as she had been on vacation in Canada, so they had a lot to talk about.

"I snuck out of the hall to visit everyone in the Reserve," Liz continued. "You need to come with me tomorrow so you can see how much bigger the thestrals are. Victoria says hi, I think. I still can't see her."

Tessa raised an eyebrow. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"I want to see how beautiful she is! You keep saying she's the prettiest thestral you've ever seen but I don't have a point of reference."

"Take my word for it, Liz, she's gorgeous."

Liz frowned. "I wish seeing the death of a pet counted. It's like even magic itself thinks creatures are less than humans."

"But if seeing the death of a pet counted, Thestrals would never be able to live in peace because then nearly everyone would be able to see them," Tessa reasoned.

"I cannot believe Hogwarts uses them as carriage horses. Thestrals as carriage horses! What disrespectful prick came up with that?!"

Tessa glanced around the dorm as Liz carried on with her rant. Gracie wasn't back with Merula yet. Colette was talking with Rowan and Alex Vega, happy as could be, completely unaware that twenty feet away from her Tessa was trying to figure out how to recruit her to the very wizard cult her brother had abandoned his family to work for. And what about Alex? Would Tessa and Gracie try and get Alex too? Alex was in danger; she had gotten involved with the Vaults a few years ago and now spent a lot of time with Ben, someone who, at the end of last year, made quite an enemy of himself in the Portrait Vault. If only he had stayed a spineless coward, he might have been safe. It might be the only circumstance Tessa was displeased with someone's personal growth.

Ismelda was sitting by herself, skimming through this year's History of Magic textbook. Ismelda was probably the safest one in the room, having never really helped the Vault hunt or done anything that would anger R. She mostly just kept to herself. Ironically, Ismelda was probably the most likely person to be willing to join R.

Liz snapped her fingers in Tessa's face, making her jump.

"You look scared," Liz stated, blunt as ever. "It's okay, you know. Dumbledore knows now that Rakepick is evil. She'll have a hard time finding us to try and hurt us."

She was kind of close, Tessa thought, but that wasn't quite it. It wasn't like Liz could know Rakepick would never, under threat of death, ever hurt even a single hair on Tessa's head other than under strict orders for cover.

"Yeah, I know. But it doesn't feel right."

Liz elbowed her in a way that was probably meant to be encouraging. "We're a team. No one is going to hurt you on my watch."

That only made Tessa feel worse. Liz would never say those things if she knew who Tessa really was. Salazar, how was Tessa ever supposed to convince Liz to join R? Rakepick was in R; no one at Hogwarts would ever consider being on her side. Besides maybe Ismelda.

The door finally opened to reveal Gracie and Merula. Tessa watched her sister accept Alex's hug, looking just fine. How did Gracie do it? Did she really believe she could change her friends' minds, or was she just better at hiding her emotions than Tessa?

You're too sensitive. Leaders have to be able to step back from their emotions and look at a situation rationally. If you can't do that, Tessa, you can never be a leader.

She didn't want to be a leader; Gracie could do that. Tessa just wanted to be good enough to be worthy of being the leader. She wanted to stop being second best. She didn't want to be Tessa, Gracie's twin sister anymore. She wanted to be Tessa, her own person. It wasn't like her Quidditch skills would matter in a couple of years when she had to work for R full time. Maybe she could talk to Diego tomorrow; she needed to get back into her dueling training.

Merula stomped off to talk to Ismelda after having been convinced to hug Alex as well. Gracie spoke with Rowan for a moment before they both came to join Tessa and Liz, leaving Colette and Alex fawning over Colette's cat together.

"I beat her," Gracie told Rowan, then turned to address the whole group. "Merula made me duel her again."

"Isn't she ever going to get tired of getting her ass kicked by you?" Rowan joked.

"She won't stop bothering you until you let her win, you know," Liz told Gracie.

"She'll know I let her win and then she'll be even more mad."

Gracie looked over at Tessa, who had drawn into herself. Tessa felt the Legilimency link they shared open up.

You okay? Gracie asked.

I'm scared.

I know.

Gracie paused to laugh at something Liz said. Tessa attempted a chuckle. She didn't know what Liz had said.

We can do this, and if we can't, we can protect them. No one is going to get hurt. I promise.

You can't guarantee that.

"I'm tired," Tessa announced, closing the link and standing up.

Gracie stood and pulled Tessa into a tight hug.

"I love you," Gracie said.

"I love you too."

Tessa, having already changed into her nightgown some time ago, climbed into her bed and shut the curtains, ignoring the concerned looks from her dormmates. She'd feel better tomorrow, she told herself. She was just tired and it was making her worse. That was all. It wasn't like she had to turn everyone by the weekend; the first proper "attack" Lorraine had planned was over a month away, and it was less of an attack than a "scare the kids" bit. They'd be fine. She had plenty of time.

"Did something happen at home?" Liz asked quietly.

What hadn't? It was a better question, but no one knew that.

"Our grandfather is sick," Gracie lied, hoping she'd remember to tell Tessa before someone said something tomorrow. "He'll probably be fine, but he's old, you know? He was still in pretty bad shape when we left."

Rowan made an odd face, but it was gone before Gracie could even process that it happened.

"I'm sure he'll be okay," she said.

"Yeah, he's made it through dragon pox, he can handle this," Liz nodded, yawning. "I might go to bed too."

"Yeah, it's late," Gracie agreed. "I still have to get changed though."

Rowan perked up. "You'll like what I did in the bathroom. Pretty tough bit of magic, but I think it was worth it."

"Really now?"

"Mhm. Here," Rowan said, holding out Gracie's toiletry bag before she could even open her trunk. "I got it out for you, and your nightgown is hanging above the heating stone so it'll be warm."

Gracie felt another surge of guilt wash through her. "You're the best."

Rowan grinned. "Come on, I want to see your reaction!"

What Rowan had done in the bathroom was charm the mirrors to look like the surface of a calm lake. When Gracie put her hand out to touch it, it rippled.

"This is so cool!" Gracie exclaimed, momentarily forgetting her troubles.

"I know! And when you want it to be solid so you can see perfectly, you just tap it with your wand and say sile, like so."

Rowan tapped her wand against the mirror to demonstrate. The water-like surface stilled and became clear as a regular mirror, as if it had never moved.

"Libera."

Another tap, and the mirror once more began to flow gently.

Gracie ruffled Rowan's hair, earning a smack to her wrist. "How long did that take you?"

"The first one took a good ten minutes," Rowan admitted, smoothing her hair back down. "After I got it it was easy to do the others."

"You did this in all the rooms?"

"Of course I did!"

"You really are incredible."

Rowan beamed. "Thanks, Gracie. You want me to wait up for you?"

Gracie shook her head. "It's okay, I have to wait for Merula anyway."

"Ooooh, you're gonna cuddle?" Rowan taunted.

"Oh, shut up!" Gracie laughed.

"You never cuddle with me."

"Did you want to cuddle?"

"Not really," Rowan conceded. "But maybe if you held my hand once in a while I'd feel better."

"Get out."

"Night!"

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

Both twins had a nightmare that night, a dream full of blood and tears that made them wake up with a scream.

[diazevan]

No. 12. I Think I've Broken Something "Broken Trust/Bones”

Morgan is secretly a vigilante, she is angry when Peter tells her parents, what she is getting up to, behind their backs.

AO3 Link

Morgan knew, from a young age, that she wanted to be a superhero.

Like her parents, her brother, and her uncle.

With her wit and puppy dog's eyes, she was able to convince Peter, to let her use his lab to build her own Iron Man suit, without informing her parents. He’d laid down multiple ground rules, that she had to agree with, but it didn’t stop her from ignoring a few.

Using the suit and going out to fight crime, was Peter’s strictest rule.

She was allowed to build a suit, ‘yes.’

Using it, however, was a strong ‘no.’

She couldn’t use it, in his mind, until she told her parents what they’d been doing, behind their backs.

The closer Morgan got to that day, the more scared she became.

Which was why she decided to go behind Peter’s back.

A double imposter, like her Aunt Nat, before her.

Morgan was clever, she could easily cover up her actions, by telling her family she was spending hours at the library, after school, when she was actually fighting crime.

She was only covering petty crime, and she never went out when Spider-Man was on active patrol.

She made sure she avoided populated areas or places covered with extensive security.

So far, a week in, she’d done well.

She was merely a mumble, on the streets, that went unnoticed.

There were new superheroes every other week, and her dad only concentrated on those who could potentially pose a threat, to others or themselves, like Peter, in the beginning.

Morgan had forgotten about injuries. She’d grown up, alongside Peter, who healed from superficial wounds, overnight, and she’d forgotten that she couldn’t do the same.

A black eye wasn’t too bad.

It was coverable and somewhat explainable.

She needed to rush past her parents, without creating a fuss.

Through the porch windows, she could see that her parents were in the kitchen.

She clicked open the front door, keeping her face turned to the walk opposite, “I’m home!"

Pepper sang, “Hey, honey.”

Tony chipped in, “If you haven’t got any homework, we could use some help with this lasagne.”

“Umm, I’m actually quite tired…” She placed her backpack onto the couch, “Can you save me some for later?”

Her mum spoke, “Sure.”

“Are you feeling all right, Morguna?” Her dad asked, worry present, in his voice, “Need some of your grandma’s famous soup?"

“No, no…” Morgan stammered, with a false laugh, “I’m good, just tired, you know?”

She sucked in a deep breath, when she turned the corner, to the stairs.

Peter was sitting, on the bottom step, his elbows rested on his raised knees, he shot her a stern look.

“What—"

He cleared his throat, “Tell them the truth.”

Morgan widened her eyes, sending out a silent plea: please don’t do this.

Her dad raised his voice, but kept calm, “Tell us what?”

Her mum stepped over, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Morgan walked forward, closer to the stairs, she glared down at him, “Move.”

Peter shook his head, unfazed, “No.”

“What are you doing here?” She barked, “It’s Tuesday.”

“MJ’s out with her friends, so I asked if I could bunk over tonight.” Peter straightened his back, “Where’ve you been?”

She answered, quick, “At school.”

Peter hung his head, “Looks like it.”

Morgan’s mum laid a hand on her back, “Honey, turn around.”

Morgan hesitated, taking a slow breath.

“Morgan,” Tony breathed, “Please take that hood off and turn around.”

Morgan reached up, pulled her hoodie down and spun, to meet her parents’ gaze, “What now?”

Her dad flinched, swaying back a couple of steps like his life flashed before his eyes.

Her mum moved, pressing a hand to Morgan's cheek, “What happened?”

Morgan moved away, “Nothing.”

Her dad’s eyes found Peter, “You know, don’t you?”

Peter nodded, “Yeah.”

Morgan, for as long as she could remember, kept secrets for Peter.

Some big and some small.

“Shut up!” She spat, throwing out an arm, “You promised you wouldn’t say anything!”

“I know, I did, but I can’t stick to it,” Peter remained calm, “Not if you’re getting hurt.”

Peter Parker, forever a hypocrite.

Morgan sneered, with a frown, “That’s fucking rich, coming from you.”

Her mum turned, her jaw dropped, “Morgan!”

Morgan ignored her, she kept her eyes locked onto Peter, “You only just got out of a coma!”

Peter’s face burned red, with anger, “I’d rather not see you, in the same situation!”

Morgan’s dad held up his hands, stepping in front of Morgan, “Okay, okay, what is going on here?”

“Morgan is building a suit, in my workshop,” Peter nervously rubbed his palms together, “She’s nowhere near the testing stage though.”

Her dad’s face drained, of all color, “An Iron Man suit?”

Peter lifted his shoulder in a half shrug, “Basically.”

Rage quickened in Morgan, as she mindlessly stepped back, “I hate you."

Her mum twisted to face her, “Morgan H—”

Morgan screamed, “I hate you so much!”

Peter swallowed, with his head lowered to his chest, “You can hate me all you like.”

Morgan shook her head, frantically, with tears in her eyes, “I’ll never forgive you.”

“I promised, not to say anything,” He looked at her, “But you promised never to use it, without telling them first.”

“You ruin everything,” Morgan’s lower lip trembled, as her sorrow and anger collided, “Why is it one thing for you, and then one thing for me?!”

Her dad spoke, with a softened tone, “Morgan—"

Morgan screamed out, without even thinking, “Life would be so much easier if you never came back!”

Tears welled in Peter’s eyes, he turned his face away, towards the wall.

Morgan drew in a long breath, realizing what she'd said.

Her mum rested her hands on her hips, “Morgan—"

“No!” Tony snapped, “No, that’s too far.” He pointed, down at Peter, “Apologise now.”

Morgan shuffled back, “No.”

Her dad’s eyebrows knitted together, “Don’t—"

“Peter was fourteen when he became Spider-Man,” Morgan pointed out, “This is no different!”

“Peter has powers, honey,” Pepper said softly, “And they allow him to heal.”

“Uhhh,” Morgan clenched her fists, “I knew you’d never let me do this!”

Her dad crossed his arms, “The fact you didn’t tell us, shows me that you’re not ready.”

Morgan darted her eyes around, not knowing what to do.

She swiftly spun on her heel and headed for the front door.

Pepper called after her, “Where are you going?”

Morgan pulled her hood up, “Anywhere, but here.”

She fumbled for the handle, pulling it open.

Tony yelled, “It’s raining!”

When Morgan was walking home it was raining, but it had turned torrential.

There was a rumble of thunder, in the distance, and the clouds had covered the afternoon sun.

Morgan leaned out, “I don’t care.”

She rushed onto the porch, down the steps.

“Morgan, Morgan—” Her mum ran out, “Come back inside and talk about this,” She leaned over the banister, “You can’t walk in this.”

“Yes, I can!” Morgan’s temper spiked, “You’re never gonna let me do this.”

“If we talk about it,” Her dad stepped close, “We can work something out.”

Morgan shouted, over the sound of the storm around her, “You’re just saying that!”

“No, sweetheart,” Pepper argued, “We knew you’d want to do something like this, but there’s a right way.”

Tony called over, “We have to take it slow.”

Morgan clenched her jaw, “Did you take it slow, Dad?”

He motioned back to himself, “I’m not a prime example, kiddo.”

Morgan dug her nails, into her palm, “What about Peter?”

Peter was hovering behind her parents, his eyes were on the sky.

Her dad motioned to him, “I had protocols in place, for your brother.”

Morgan stomped her foot, “Why do you have an answer for everything?!”

“Because I’m your dad.”

Peter stepped down, “Morgan...”

She moved back, “I don’t wanna talk to you.”

“No…” He sped down the remaining steps, “Morgan—"

She shouted, “Peter, go away—"

Peter’s eyes were glued to the clouds above, he sprinted over, with an arm held out.

Morgan frowned, “What—”

Peter wrapped an arm around her, momentarily lifting her up, and then pulling her down, to the ground, using himself as a crash mat.

Lightning flashed, striking the pine tree beside them.

Morgan’s eyes widened, “Holy shit—”

Peter brought up his hand, tangling it, in her hair, protecting her head as he scrambled back.

The top half of the tree collapsed, landing with a heavy thump.

Peter leaned his head into the dirt, “Jesus.”

Morgan darted her eyes over to the tree, “How—”

Without Peter, she would have been flattened by it.

She sunk into his hold, curling her head under his chin.

He combed a hand through her hair, “You okay?”

She breathed, “Yeah.”

“Morgan!” Pepper shrieked, “Peter!”

“Fucking hell,” Tony leaned beside them, “You both okay?”

Peter panted a laugh, “We can add lightening to things I can sense.”

Morgan sat up, brushing leaves off her hoodie.

The rains started to calm, and the thunder sounded distant.

Peter sat up, scrunching his eyes, as he flinched, “Ow.”

She turned, her voice small, “Are you okay?”

He held up his left arm, his wrist was swollen, “I think it’s broken.”

Her parents hissed, sympathetically.

Her dad rested a hand on Peter’s back.

Morgan’s stomach leapt into her throat, “It’s my fault.”

Peter shook his head, “No, it’s not.”

“But I was—” She stammered, “I was the one out here.”

Peter smiled, “I’ve had worse.”

Her dad raised his eyebrows, “Yeah, he has.”

It slowly dawned on Morgan, that the entire time she’d known Peter, all he’d ever done, was keep her safe, and that was exactly, what he was doing, when he told her parents, what she’d been getting up to behind their backs.

She pulled him into a hug, laying her head on his shoulder, “I’m sorry,” She whispered, “I didn’t mean it.”

“I know,” He kissed her forehead, “It’s okay, we all have days like this.”

“Peter’s involved a Ferry chopped in half,” Tony joked, “Ha.”

Peter rolled his eyes, “How funny.”

Morgan's dad squeezed their shoulders, he pointed to the sky, “Obviously your Uncle Thor doesn’t like seeing you two fight.”

Morgan’s parents helped the duo, to their feet.

“We better get you to the infirmary, kiddo,” Tony said, studying Peter’s broken wrist, “Another week, in a cast.”

Peter nodded, “I’ve had every color now.”

Morgan chipped in, “Maybe Cho can do a multi-colored one?”

“Oh…” Peter’s eyes sparkled, “Like one with the bi flag?”

Tony grinned, “That’d be cool.”

“Well, let’s get wrapped up and dried first,” Pepper mused, “A broken arm and a black eye, is enough, for today, we don’t need to add hypothermia to the list.”