#and his dad driving like 'everybody CALM DOWN'

[ahsokaismyqueen]

The Evolution of Friendship Pairing - Steve Harrington x HendersonSister!Reader Summary - After Steve is attacked by Billy Hargrove, you're shocked to find the guy still attempting to protect you as you two go into the hub to try and buy Eleven some more time. It makes you wonder. Are you and Steve Harrington actually . . . friends? Word Count - 3.3k Warnings - Language and canon typical violence Steve Harrington x HendersonSister!Reader Masterlist

Things started to come back to you slowly. Like the fact that the kids were arguing, the world seemed to be moving underneath you, you were leaning against something solid, and your head hurt like hell. 

Then the memories hit. Billy showing up at Will’s. Steve defending you and the kids, and then Steve getting the shit beat out of him. You remembered thinking Billy was going to kill him if he kept going. You remembered thinking that couldn’t happen. You remembered doing a lot of not thinking as you jumped on Billy’s back and tried to strangle him to get him off Steve. 

You couldn’t remember much after that, but you were distracted from your thoughts by a voice that was very near to your ear, groaning, “Nancy?” 

Your eyes opened, and everything was a bit of a blur for a moment. It wasn't until you felt a body shifting underneath you that you realized the something you had been leaning against had been a person. When you forced yourself up, you realized that person you had been leaning against was Steve Harrington. 

Or at least you were 95% sure it was Steve Harrington. 

God he looked terrible. His face was swollen in several different places, blood still stained his skin, and he looked out of it. You watched as he reached up to touch a part of his face, and your brother, who was now also coming into focus, said “no, don’t touch it,” and tugged his hand away. 

You took that moment to look around you, and suddenly realized why it felt like the world was moving underneath you. It’s because it was. “Dustin, what the fuck?” You said, an edge of panic creeping into your voice. 

“You’re going to keep straight for half a mile, then make a left on Mount Sinai.” Lucas told Max from the passenger seat. 

From the passenger seat because Max was driving. 

“What’s going on?” You heard Steve’s groggy voice say. 

Max looked back at you, and that’s when he seemed to realize what was going on. “Woah, oh my God!” 

“Just relax,” Dustin tried to speak in a calming voice, but it freaked you out more. “She’s driven before.” 

“Yeah, in a parking lot.” Mike spoke up. 

Your heart started pounding in your chest as you flew down the road. Flashbacks flew by in your mind of another dark road, the screeching of tires, the crash of metal ripping . . . 

“They were going to leave the two of you behind, but I promised you’d be cool.” It was Dustin’s voice, but it sounded far, far away. All you could hear echoing in your mind were the ghosts of your screams for your dad and for help. 

“Stop the car! Slow down!” Steve said as Max pressed down on the gas. 

You couldn’t breathe. Your hand slid up and down your chest, rubbing the skin and trying to somehow get some air in your lungs. The car was going too fast. It was too dark. Max was going to get you all killed. “S-Stop the car.” You managed to gasp out. 

“I told you they were going to freak out.” Mike told Dustin. 

“Everybody shut up! I’m trying to focus!” Max yelled. 

A hand gripped your wrist, and you snapped your gaze over to the man sitting beside you. Steve caught one look at your face and started yelling. “Stop the damn car!” 

Faintly you could hear them yelling at Max to make a turn, but your gaze was flickering from the road back to Steve. You couldn’t tell if you were yelling or everyone else was. You couldn’t even tell what was real anymore. Your vision was flashing in and out. One second it would be Max driving the car, next it would be your dad, smiling back at you as headlights flared in the front windshield. Your heart was pounding so hard in your chest you felt like at any moment it would explode and kill you too. 

Then the car turned to the left, the tires screeched, and you couldn’t take it. You squeezed your eyes shut tight and clawed at your chest. 

“It looks great sweetheart.” 

“Dadddddd . . .” You whined. “You didn’t even look.” 

“That’s because I know without looking it’s going to be amazing.” 

You smiled, but then it turned back into a pout. “But I’ve gotta know if it’ll match Dustin’s nursery or not.” 

Your dad sighed, and took his eyes off the road glancing back at the picture you were holding up. When he saw what it was, he started to smile. “It looks as amazing as I pictured it.” 

But something else had caught your attention. A truck, heading straight for you guys which normally wouldn’t have been a concern, but . . . It was on the wrong side of the road. “Dad!” You screamed. 

But it was too late. The sound of glass shattering, tires screeching and metal crunching filled your ears. Your dad was groaning, then he was screaming. He was screaming your name, and you were pressed against something hard - 

Except that wasn’t your dad’s voice, and the something hard you were pressed against wasn’t the car. It was moving, rising and falling, and a hand held your head against it. As your senses started to flood back into your body, you realized there was another hand pressed against your back. You let out a gasp of air as the hand stroked down your back. “Jesus Christ, Dustin! Your dad died in a car crash with your sister, and you thought it’d be a good idea to drag her into a car unconscious with a kid driving?!” 

You weren’t in the car with you Dad. You were with the kids and Steve. You took another gasping breath and inhaled a woodsy and metallic scent. Steve’s cologne and blood. You were pressed against Steve’s chest and any other time you would have been embarrassed, but you were still too panicked to be thinking clearly. Your fingers curled into fists at his chest, gripping his shirt, and you grounded yourself to him. It was the present, you were not in that car anymore. You repeated the words in your mind as Dustin and Steve kept arguing. 

“I didn’t - I didn’t know that would happen. When she drives at night she’s fine.” Dustin sounded upset, and you felt a flash of guilt for how long you had kept this bottled up. 

You remembered the first time it had happened, and how it had flipped Eddie, who was already a terrible driver, out. He had pulled over and had to spend fifteen minutes calming you down. Driving wasn’t the problem. If you were driving, you were in control. You were the one who could keep everyone safe, but when someone else was driving, if they got distracted, it could mean another death. “It-it’s okay,” you gasped out, and you knew you should pull yourself away from Steve, but you didn’t want to. He was your anchor, and you were scared if you pushed yourself away you’d be thrown right back in that memory. You realized how pathetic you must look though, and loosened your grip on his shirt. “I-I I’m sorry.” You whispered.

Steve’s hand grabbed one of yours. It was swollen and bloody, but you didn’t care. It was something else to keep you in this moment. “It’s okay, stay here until we stop all right? Then we can murder these shitheads together.” 

You let out a shaky laugh, and let yourself rest back against his chest. Keeping your eyes closed, you tried to make yourself concentrate on lining your breaths up with Steve’s and not how fast the car was going. When it screeched to a halt, you let out another gasp and Steve squeezed your hand. You heard the kids moving out of the car, and then you allowed yourself to look up at Steve, who hadn’t moved. “I’m sorry I freaked out.” You told him, embarrassment heating up your cheeks. 

He was shaking his head before you could even finish. “You don’t have to apologize for that. It’s those assholes who should be apologizing.” 

A weak smile formed on your face. “I know you didn’t get to meet her, but El is pretty awesome. They want to help her.” 

“So what you’re saying is, they’re not gonna give up.” Steve said, watching them out the open door as they all ran around to gather supplies. 

You shook your head. 

Steve groaned. “Shit, shit, shit.” You watched as he climbed, well stumbled is probably a better word, out of the car.

You were still shaking, but nowhere near as bad as earlier. The car had stopped, and you were back on solid ground. You knew if you and Steve were going to keep these kids from killing themselves, you were going to have to get it together. So you took what felt like your first deep breath in years, and climbed out after him, grabbing a hold of the door when you had a momentary dizzy spell. 

“Get me my shit Henderson.” Steve said to your brother as he made his way to the back of the trunk. “I’m not going to have all of you die on my conscience.” 

Moments later Dustin was handing Steve a backpack and his bat, and handing you a flashlight and a bag of who knows what. You followed the kids to a hole that Mike and Lucas had already jumped in. Steve stumbled down before you, and once again, you found yourself worried about his injuries, and if he could even handle this. You didn’t say anything though, just let out a sigh and jumped down. 

You hadn’t even noticed Steve was waiting there to catch you, and heat rushed to your face as he put you on the ground, your faces inches apart. “Uh- thanks.” You said, your voice still a little breathless, but this time you didn’t think it was because of the panic attack. 

Steve nodded, and you took a step back, turning your attention to the tunnel around you. 

You’d never seen anything like it. It was covered in black vines with white particles floating in the air that you were sure weren’t supposed to be inhaled. There was something so . . . Uneasy about it. You couldn’t ever recall feeling so unsettled. 

“Holy shit.” You heard Steve murmur behind you. 

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s this way!” Mike yelled, pulling you out of your thoughts. 

“You’re pretty sure, or you’re certain?” Dustin called from behind you. 

“I’m 100% sure! Just follow me and you’ll know!” Mike called back frustrated. 

“Woah, woah, woah, hey!” Steve rushed forward, and you grabbed his arm to help steady him when he stumbled. “I don’t think so. Any of you little shits die down here, we’re getting the blame.” He gestured towards the two of you. “Got it dipshit?” Steve told Mike, snatching the map from him. 

As you looked forward a little bit of panic made you bite your lip. You really weren’t sure if Steve was physically capable of this right now. “Steve . . . Maybe you should let me take the lead on this.” You said, giving his arm a squeeze. 

Steve turned to you, but you couldn’t read his expression with how covered up his face was. “If I’m not letting them lead, what the hell makes you think I’d let you?” 

Irritation, and you were surprised it took you this long to feel it, flooded your body, and every bit of worry about his state left your body. Did he not think you were capable of handling this? Much less that he could control you if you decided to? “Let me?” You said, the tone in your voice telling him to reconsider his words. 

He held his hands up defensively in front of him. “Yes, yes, I know you’re a badass, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and protect you.” Steve said, and started walking forward and gesturing to the kids to follow him as if his words hadn’t stopped you in your tracks. 

Steve Harrington, the most popular boy at Hawkins High, wanted to protect the nerdy school slut. If you had told yourself this a year ago, you would’ve thought you were out of your mind. He meant it though, you could sense how genuine he was with his words. A warm feeling settled in your chest to replace the irritation, and you were too stunned to even argue anymore. 

“Are you sure the two of you aren’t dating?” A muffled voice said, and you turned around to see Max, and below her googles you could see a raised eyebrow. 

Her words startled you so much you stumbled back from the force of them. “W-What?” 

She shrugged. “He seems to care about you a lot. Just an observation.” She said, before following after the others as if she hadn’t rocked your world either. 

When Dustin stopped in front of you, you were already rubbing your forehead, nervous about what other thing was going to be revealed to you. “What?” You groaned. 

“I’m sorry- About the car.” He continued when you looked confused. “I didn’t - I didn’t think about Dad. I just didn’t want to leave you there in case Billy woke up-”

You felt bad, reaching out to wrap an arm around your little brother’s shoulders. “It’s okay, Dustin. You didn’t know.” You started to lead him towards the others. “We can talk about it after we save Will and Eleven, okay?” 

Dustin nodded, but still looked upset. 

After what seemed like miles, and a slight scare when Dustin inhaled some of the dust things that were flying around, all of you entered a chamber. A chamber where multiple tunnels seemed to meet. “All right Wheeler,” Steve said, taking a look around. “I think we found your hub.” 

“Drench it.” Mike said. 

You all ended up covering as much as you could of the place in gasoline, and then all gathered back in the way you came, Steve in front with the lighter, and you right behind him with the rest of the kids all gathered around you. “You guys ready?” Steve asked. 

After everyone affirmed, Steve looked at you. 

You nodded. 

It didn’t take long for everything to catch fire, and your hand reached for Steve’s jacket, almost absentmindedly clutching the fabric in your fists as the tunnels seemed to come alive. The vines flew up into the air, tangling around each other. It was almost as if they were . . . Screaming. 

“Let’s go!” Steve yelled, and took off at a run back through the tunnels. 

As you had before, you took up the rear, letting all the kids ahead of you and making sure no one was left behind. In fact, you kept such a close eye on them, you didn’t see the vine until it was too late. 

Once you hit the ground, you watched in horror as it wrapped around your leg, crawling up your body and pinning you to the ground. You let out a scream, attempting to kick it off of you, but it was no use. It had you in too tight of a grip, and terror filled your body as you felt one of them wrap around your neck. You heard Dustin scream your name, and everybody started running back, Mike and Dustin grabbing a hold of one arm each and trying to tug you out of the vines’ grip. 

“Back up!” You watched with wide eyes as Steve ran towards you, and swung his bat down on top of the vines, making them almost screech and let you go. You let out a gasp of relief, and Dustin and Mike let go of your arms as Steve held one out to you. 

You took it without hesitation, and let him help pull you up. When you were standing, he didn’t let go of your hand, giving it a squeeze.

“You okay?” He asked, and the concern in his eyes was clear. 

Your heart was still pumping fast, but you weren’t so sure it was the vines anymore. Afraid to speak, you nodded, giving his hand a returning squeeze. 

That’s when you guys heard the growl. 

Steve’s reaction was immediate. He used his grip on your hand to tug you behind him, and the rest of the kids hurried behind the two of you, except for Dustin who was staring at the demodog. “Dustin! Get away from that!” You hissed. 

Dustin held up a hand to all of you. “Trust me. Please.” 

“I absolutely do not trust you right now. What the fuck-” You tried to go to him, but Steve kept you behind him, his eyes locked on Dustin and the demodog who you now realized was Dart. “Is this shit working?” You whispered to Steve as Dustin began to get some candy out of his backpack. 

“Looks like it.” Steve said, sounding as confused as you felt, but nevertheless, when Dustin gestured for you all to run past Dart, you did. It wasn’t until you heard the growling again, this time way more than just Dart’s, that you started running again. You helped Steve get the kids back up the rope, Dustin making it through when shadows started appearing on the wall. “Come on! I’ll hoist you up!” Steve yelled at you. 

You looked up at the hole where the kids were screaming at the two of you to hurry, but you knew it was too late. You’d never both get up in time, and the thought of leaving Steve down here wasn’t an option. Especially not after what he’d done for you in the car. “I’m not going without you Harrington.” You told him. 

The only part of him you could see was his eyes, darkening slightly as they looked at you. He didn’t have the chance to say anything as the first creatures appeared around the corner. You let out a noise of surprise as your back was pressed against Steve’s chest with his arm around you in an iron grip, his bat at the ready in the other. 

But they ran right past you. 

You heard Mike say Eleven’s name, and realized that she must be closing the gate. You looked up at Steve, who still had you pressed against him even though the dogs were long gone. He seemed to be in another world, staring at the spot the dogs had disappeared to. You knew you should say something, but you couldn’t help but take a second and absorb how it felt to be held so tightly. Somehow Steve felt . . . safe. It was like nothing could touch you because you knew he was going to protect you. Not to mention how it almost seemed like you just . . . fit against him so well. 

Oh god you could not be having those kinds of thoughts about Steve Harrington. That wouldn’t turn out well for anyone. 

Your hand reached up, grabbing his arm that was still around you and giving it a squeeze. “Hey. You okay?” 

The words seemed to shake him out of his thoughts, and he looked down at you, his voice a little breathless when he responded. “Yeah, you?” 

You shrugged. “I guess I’ve been worse.” You admitted. “Now, can you help me get out of here?” You asked, nodding towards the hole. 

“Next time would you just listen to me and go when I tell you?” Steve asked, letting go of you. 

He didn’t take a step back though, and you didn’t either. Instead you turned your body to face him, shaking your head. “Sorry, I won't abandon my friends to their certain death. You’re going to have to get used to it.” You said with a shrug.

You couldn’t see his face still because of the handkerchief, but there was a note of amusement in his tone when he replied. “We friends now, Henderson?” 

A smile formed on your face as you looked at him. You hadn’t even had a second thought about the words before they left your lips, and you were startled to realize that they were true. “Yeah, Harrington, I think we are.” The two of you were friends. You could share more with him than most now. 

So why did the word friend still feel weird on your lips?

[inkspiredwriting]

Welcome to the Chaos, Maddie Hargreeves

Five Hargreeves x reader

A/N: I know there are a lot of people who don't see Five as a dad, but the idea of ​​seeing Five as a father, I don't know, I just think it's sweet. Please tell me if you like it, because I have written many little stories with Five's and Y/n's daughter. But if most of you don't like it, I wouldn't post it.

Warnings: None

It was a surprisingly calm afternoon at the Umbrella Academy mansion. Five Hargreeves was in the library, immersed in a thick book about quantum mechanics, while his very pregnant wife, Y/N, lounged on the couch nearby, flipping through a magazine.

Suddenly, Y/N gasped and clutched her belly. "Five!"

Five looked up, immediately alert. "What is it? Are you okay?"

Y/N's eyes were wide with a mixture of shock and excitement. "My water just broke!"

For a moment, Five just stared at her, his brain struggling to process the information. Then, all hell broke loose.

"Okay, okay, we need to get to the hospital," he stammered, jumping to his feet and nearly knocking over a lamp in the process. "Where's the hospital bag? Do we have the car keys? Do we even have gas in the car?"

Y/N couldn't help but laugh, despite the situation. "Five, calm down! The bag is by the door, the keys are on the hook, and yes, we have gas."

Five rushed around the room, grabbing things at random. "Right, right. Bag, keys, gas... Okay, let's go!"

As they made their way to the front door, they were intercepted by Klaus, who was munching on a bowl of cereal. "Hey, where's the fire?"

"Y/N's water broke!" Five shouted, looking more frazzled by the second.

Klaus's eyes widened in delight. "Oh my god, it's baby time! Everybody, get over here!"

Within minutes, the entire Hargreeves clan had gathered, each sibling contributing their own brand of chaos.

Luther tried to help by carrying Y/N to the car, but ended up banging her head on the doorframe. "Sorry! Sorry!"

Diego insisted on driving, despite his notoriously terrible driving skills. "I've got this! Just get in the car!"

Allison was trying to keep everyone calm, using her power to influence the situation. "I heard a rumor that everyone stayed calm and collected."

Viktor was frantically searching for his camera to document the moment. "This is going to be amazing for the baby book!"

Ben, who was only visible to Klaus, was laughing at the whole spectacle. "This is priceless."

Amidst the pandemonium, Five finally managed to get Y/N into the car. He jumped into the driver's seat, pushing Diego out of the way. "No way you're driving, Diego. I'll do it."

The drive to the hospital was a blur of frantic instructions, deep breathing, and Klaus offering unsolicited advice from the backseat.

"Just think happy thoughts, Y/N! Rainbows and puppies and—"

"Shut up, Klaus!" Five and Y/N shouted in unison.

When they finally arrived at the hospital, the staff took over, guiding Y/N to a room and leaving Five to pace nervously in the waiting area. His siblings were trying their best to be supportive, but their presence only added to his anxiety.

"Do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?" Allison asked, trying to make conversation.

Five ran his hands through his hair. "I don't care, as long as they're healthy."

A few hours later, a nurse came out with a big smile. "Mr. Hargreeves? Your wife is asking for you."

Five bolted to the delivery room, his heart pounding. When he walked in, he saw Y/N holding a tiny, wriggling bundle wrapped in a pink blanket. Her face was flushed, but she was beaming.

"Meet our daughter, Maddie," Y/N said, her voice full of love.

Five approached cautiously, as if in a dream. He looked down at the tiny face peeking out of the blanket and felt his heart swell with an overwhelming mixture of pride and love. "She's perfect," he whispered, tears gathering in his eyes.

Y/N laughed softly. "We did it, Five."

He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "You did it, Y/N. You're amazing."

Just then, the door burst open and the rest of the Hargreeves family piled in, eager to meet the newest member of the family. There was a chorus of "awws" and "she's so cute!"

Klaus, of course, had the last word. "Well, Maddie, welcome to the madhouse. You're going to fit right in."

Despite the chaos, Five and Y/N couldn't have been happier. They had survived the wildest ride of their lives and come out the other side as a family. And as they looked down at their beautiful baby girl

, they knew that whatever the future held, they would face it together.

Five looked around at his siblings, who had formed a noisy, excited circle around little Maddie. Despite their quirks and the constant chaos, he couldn't have imagined a better support system for his daughter.

Y/N, holding Maddie close, turned to Five with a warm smile. "You know, I think Maddie's going to be just fine with all these aunts and uncles watching over her."

Five grinned, finally feeling a sense of calm wash over him. "Yeah, she's going to be one tough kid."

Diego, trying to look serious but failing miserably, pointed at Maddie. "She better be ready to learn some knife-throwing skills."

Allison rolled her eyes. "Diego, she's a baby. Maybe start with something less... hazardous?"

Klaus leaned in close to Maddie, his usual mischief twinkling in his eyes. "Don't listen to them, Maddie. Uncle Klaus is going to teach you all the fun stuff."

Five shook his head, chuckling. "Just remember, if she picks up any bad habits, I'm holding you all responsible."

Viktor, gently patting Maddie's tiny hand, smiled. "She's already got the best parents. The rest of us are just here to spoil her."

As the Hargreeves siblings continued to banter and coo over Maddie, Five took a moment to reflect. Life had thrown so many unexpected challenges their way, but standing here with his family, holding his newborn daughter, he realized just how much they had all grown.

Y/N looked up at him, her eyes filled with love and gratitude. "We've come a long way, haven't we?"

Five nodded, squeezing her hand. "We have. And it's only going to get better from here."

With that, he wrapped his arm around Y/N, pulling her and Maddie close. In that chaotic hospital room, surrounded by his eccentric family, Five Hargreeves felt a profound sense of peace and contentment. They were a far cry from ordinary, but they were his family. And now, with little Maddie Hargreeves in their lives, the adventure was just beginning.

As they left the hospital, heading home as a new family, Five couldn't help but smile. Despite the madness, despite the challenges, they had made it. And as he looked at his daughter, he knew that together, they could face anything.

"Welcome to the family, Maddie," Five whispered, kissing her forehead. "You're going to love it here."

[pygmi-cygni]

Oscar characters as parents

....I dunno guys.

Anselm - I honestly don't think he'd be a very good parent. He's not really the kind of father figure a child needs. He'd be a kickass grandpa though. Not really sure how that works but he definitely has cool uncle/grandpa/godfather vibes. Something about direct parenthood is just not it though.

Blue - don't fwm about this guy, he is not a dad. for your safety do not get pregnant. please.

Cecil - deadbeat but sweet. no money, no idea how to take care of a kid, but very sweet and gentle and kind. Also gives off cool uncle vibes. Likes picking baby clothes.

Marc - best dad ever, hands down. Girl dad for sure. Has all the things planned out: education, bank account, healthcare, all the Big Important Things. Loves cuddle time, will wake up an hour early so he can hold little one for a while in the morning. Puts a big emphasis on outside time, like walks and going to the park. Cries for hours if baby says his name first.*

Steven - reads hella bedtime stories. very nervous about everything else but when he learns that reading is enriching, man is on it. Any kind of story, encyclopedias or just fairytales. Will do all the funny voices and impressions. Bedtime is Steven's 'thing'

Jake - refuses to drive with baby in the car. Does not even unlock the door. He will have a panic attack about it if you even bring it up. Sits in the back and has a death grip on the carrier while you drive or you take an Uber. Has the best baby voice, also. Sings baby to sleep during naptime (it would be bedtime but Steven called dibs) and also loves cuddles.

*side note - marc is dad, steven is dada, jake is papa. don't wanna hear a fuckin word about it.

Nathan - ehhhh. Boy dad. sorry but like c'mon. I have a hard time envisioning him with a child but maybe. Hard to say. I do think he'd walk around his lab wearing a bjorn and mumbling about whatever he was working on. Likes to watch you with the baby, it calms him down. Gets cuteness aggression and doesn't know how to handle it.

Santiago - Girl dad. Pretty similar to Marc but loves taking the baby everywhere. Talks about her to everybody. A thousand pictures in his wallet. Brought her to boys night once and was so excited until you flipped out because Fish got drunk so that never happened again. Cries on her first day of school.

John - no. like be for real with me right now.

Poe - also for some reason I have a hard time picturing him with children. Maybe not as a dad, but as like a teacher. I think he'd be a really good teacher, especially for 5-8 year olds. Definitely built a kid-sized plywood x-wing for kids in the neighborhood to play on. Takes halloween very seriously and buys a fuckton of candy, dresses up, does the house, the whole nine yards.

tags:

@krakenkitty @ominoose @bulletgoth @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @justsomeonecalledemma

@iolaussharpe-24 @rosegnome @twwcs @heeheehoohoofictimr @steven-grants-world

@ael-xander @to-be-a-sunshine @weasleyswizarding-wheezes @silvernight-m @lonelyisamyw-0love @unear7hly

[loveandmurders]

The Sun of Ambrose III (Lost Sinclair!Daughter AU)

Hi everybody, this is the third part of a new Sinclair!daughter AU in which the reader is Bo's daughter and she has been taken away and adopted by a new family. You can find part I here and part II here.

Hope you'll enjoy! <3

Warnings: no proof reading, mentions of suicide and death, mentions of potential abuses, murderous!reader

You found where you thought Ambrose was on a map and you showed it to your dad. You told him about the House of Wax advertisements on the roads too. 

And he left, while you spent time with your mother. 

You couldn’t focus on what she was telling you because you were giddy, like when you were a small child. Giddy, like when you were waiting for your father to come back home so you could greet him by jumping into his embrace. For the first time in years, you were hopeful, you were almost happy. Everything was going to be alright very soon.

After an hour or so, your adoptive father phoned your mother. He said he found Ambrose and found your biological father. He said Bo Sinclair seemed to be quite a decent man, even if the town was quite strange. And more importantly, Bo Sinclair was more than eager to meet his daughter. ASAP. Your mother convinced your father to come back to the hotel so they could have a little chat. Your father agreed and left Ambrose without troubles. He had no idea he was the first man, estranged to the Sinclairs, who had ever been able to leave Ambrose alive since Ambrose became a dangerous ghost town. 

Your adoptive dad was a little bit scared his daughter would pick another father over him, but at the same time he hoped you would know who was loving you the most and the best. He was certain that Bo, even if he was being polite for the moment, probably did something terrible for your biological mother to kill herself like she did. He thought you might remember the abuses you went through and you would understand you needed to cut the Sinclairs from your life… forever.

On the other hand, Bo was losing it with hope and relief. His baby girl was alive. His baby girl was on her way back home. Everything was finally going to be alright again. He wasn’t too sure how he was going to explain to you about the murders and the truth behind the House of Wax, but he was certain you would understand. You weren’t going to be afraid of him, because to you he wasn’t a monster, he was your father. And he loved you more than everything, even more than his dead mother who never loved him back.

Bo had given to your adoptive father a phone number so your parents could call him whenever you all would be ready to come to Ambrose. Bo had invited your parents and yourself for a little family dinner with both your uncles as well. Bo was ready to do absolutely anything to get you back. He had begged both the Devil and God so much for this day to finally come, for his daughter to finally be back home, where she belonged. 

Even if you were a little bit disappointed, you agreed you would enjoy your holiday and on the last day, you would greet the Sinclairs for dinner at Ambrose. You spent some good time with your adoptive parents. Deep down, you knew it would be the last time you would be with them like that. You might not remember Bo very well, you knew he wasn’t going to let you go that easily once he would see you again. You didn’t mind, even if you were concerned about what goodbyes with your adoptive parents were going to look like. 

You thought the end of the week would never come and you realised your excitement even made you forget about your usual need to kill to stay calm and quiet.

After a few days, it was time to go to Ambrose. Your mother was so on edge that she needed to be the one driving, so she could focus on something and calm down. You watched the roads, trying to remember them by heart as your mother drove to your hometown, following your father’s directions. She parked in front of the house, at the end of the town. 

You recognised everything. You recognised how empty the place was, despite the wax statues. You recognised the smell of danger lingering around, you recognised your home. You calmed down for the first time in years. You closed your eyes and leaned into your seat. You were back. Everything was going to be alright again. It had to be. 

Or you would kill everyone, and yourself.

Your parents turned toward you.

“Are you sure it is what you want? We can still leave.” you father said but you shook your head

“I want to be here” you replied

“If you feel like you don’t want to do any of this anymore, you just have to show us the door, okay? And we’ll leave. The most important thing is that you feel safe, okay? We won’t let anything happen to you.” your mother promised and you smiled

“It’s going to be alright, I’m sure of it” you said

“I just want you to keep in mind that your father is probably someone dangerous. It’s both a greeting… and probably a goodbye” she added and her husband nodded

“It’s important to know where you come from, but it’s also important to let go of the past, especially when it is a toxic past” he said and you found yourself nodding. 

You would have agreed to anything as long as it meant going back into your house.

Bo opened the front door to greet the three of you. He tried to play it cool but he was impatient, too impatient to even wait for you to knock at the door. 

He shook hands with your parents before his attention went on you. He looked you up and down and did his best to stay calm. Deep down, he wanted to cry and scream for not having seen his daughter growing up. He was desperate to see how the light in your eyes seemed to have died down. He hated he hadn’t been able to protect you and to find you after your mother left with just a message on the kitchen table saying “Happy Birthday, Bo. This is the day you lost everything”.

Most importantly, he was very excited to see you again. You were so beautiful, so perfect. He was certain you were the smartest as he saw you quickly looking around and taking everything in your surroundings. Vincent could gesture like that too. He tried not to think you were looking like an angel of death, a killer. His baby darling couldn’t be a killer, not yet, not when she had grown up so far away from the corruption of Ambrose.

He came closer to hug you but your parents blocked him. 

“We would be grateful if you wouldn’t touch her… We don’t know what are your intentions toward her” Your mother said and you recognised the pure anger moving through his eyes before disappearing. He gave her his most charming smile and nodded.

The Sinclairs agreed they wouldn’t kill your parents right away. They needed you to say out you were a Sinclair, one of them before that. They needed you to choose them, and they would do anything for that. Even if it meant taking the risk of having your parents around Ambrose several times.

Bo instantly noticed how silent you were and it concerned him.

Your parents and yourself greeted Lester and Vincent as you arrived into the kitchen. Your parents exchanged a look as they noticed Vincent’s mask.

“My brother’s got some scars he’d rather hide behind a mask, don’t worry ‘bout it” Bo explained, trying to not sound too annoyed. 

He was the only one who could judge his brother. He couldn’t stand anyone else looking at his twin as if he was part of a freak show. Your parents apologised and you all settled down.

The silence was deafening, as you looked around the house, taking into everything once again.

Nothing had changed, unlike you. 

Bo and your uncles looked older than when you were a child too, of course. But they didn’t really change. You recognised Lester’s soft light and warmth. He smiled at you with pure kindness. But you could see past it, you could tell that despite the love he still had for you, there was some hidden darkness. An even more dangerous one for Vincent. You recognised his presence right away, you recognised how his silence seemed to be the same one before a storm. He was quietly analysing everything and everyone but you felt at ease, unlike your parents. More importantly, you felt your father’s love for you. You recognised the way he looked at you as if you meant the world to him. You recognised his anger, hidden away inside his heart, like yours. You recognised him in yourself and yourself in him. You were home.

The Sinclairs noticed your necklace.

“Still got that jewel, hmm?” Lester said, trying to chat with you like he used to. You looked up at him as your hand reached for the comforting feeling of the necklace under your fingers. You smiled and nodded before signing:

“Never removed it”

The brothers kept a straight face but panic grew inside of them. Why were you using ASL? Why couldn’t they hear your voice? 

“She said…” your mother started but Bo cut her off:

“We all know ASL here; Vincent is mute. But ya’re not, ain’t ya?” he asked you

“Of course she is, when social care found her, she wasn’t talking” Your mother said as you shrugged

“Did your mother do anythin’ to ya?” Bo asked as he leaned toward you. He had no idea what truly happened, apart from the fact that you got taken away from him “Do ya know where she is now?”

“She took me away, saying she had a gift for you. When we arrived at the social care centre, she killed herself” you replied “I don’t remember much. But I didn’t forget this house” you smiled as you gestured around. You wanted to change the subject, you didn’t want to talk about your mother.

But Bo was too upset about the news. He thought she might have killed herself since the police never came into Ambrose and since he never saw her again. Plus, it was the only option for her to keep you away from him: otherwise he would have had a lead to find you and she didn’t want that. She wanted to punish Bo for the man he was, for the monster everyone could see in him and in his brothers.

“I’m sorry we have not been able to protect ya from her… She was sick, but I never thought she’d take ya away from me, us.” Bo told you “We should’ve done better for ya” he continued, regret lacing his voice.

“We heard you actually were the abusive one and her mother saved her from this place” your mother said. She wasn’t afraid to speak up but she thought that maybe she should have talked about the police or someone before coming here.

“Obviously, we don’t know everything that happened here. Y/N really wanted to come here, but it doesn’t mean we trust any of you with her” your adoptive father continued. It angered the Sinclairs a lot more than they showed it. Bo and Lester hummed and smiled. They didn’t want your legal guardians to be afraid of them, especially when they didn’t know who was aware of your presence in Ambrose.

“I believe my daughter can tell I’ve never hurt her in any way” Bo replied “Y/N had always been very important to me, to us three. I hope ya never forgot this, love” he smiled at you and you smiled back

“I thought you didn’t look for me. I heard a lot of bad things too, because of what mother did and said.”

“I swear we all look for ya, but ya were out of reach and gosh I prayed so much for ya to find your way back home. And ya finally did.” Bo whispered, you could hear the emotions swirling inside his voice. You were still wanted, you were still loved by your father.

“Y/N might have found her way back here… It doesn’t mean she’ll let go of her actual life. She is soon going to go to college after all, in only one year.” your mother said and she was quite proud of you.

“That’s great!” Lester exclaimed, even if Bo wasn’t too glad about this news. Your education was important but it was getting in the way of his plans to get you back.

“What subject are you interested in?” Vincent signed to you

“Medecine” you signed “but I’m also very good in my art classes. So if I fail medical school, I can still be an artist” you said

“But we all know you will be a great doctor, hon” your mother cooed

“Like your grandfather and grandmother then” Bo hummed in approval as well “I knew you’d inherited of the best of everything in the family” he added and you smiled even more “Ya’re the heir of the Sinclair, so I guess that’s normal”

“Y/N isn’t your heir anymore. Do you realise that child care and the State didn’t even know about her before her mother brought her to them? She didn’t exist and thanks to the situation, the administration had been able to fix the issues quite quickly. As a matter of fact, you never recognised her as your daughter, so she can’t be your heir or a Sinclair.” your mother said

“Look, ma’am I’m doin’ my best here for all of us to have a nice dinner, so maybe ya could be nicer as well” Bo said with a look of danger in the eyes

“It’s okay, mom is always protective of me” you signed to calm Bo down. He disliked the fact you recognised her as your mother, because it meant you recognised the other man as your father. He couldn’t stand the idea alone, so the proof you were accepting your adoptive family as your family was unbearable.

“Of course I'm protective of you�� especially when we see how dangerous the world can be.”

“Always told that to my daughter” Bo agreed for the first time with your mother

You all stayed silent for a little moment.

“Ambrose sounds very… quiet. At least, it feels like a safe enough place. You see, there is some sort of serial killer murdering people in the city we live in, and around it as well” your adpotive father said, trying to find a new subject of conversation

“We live in a mad world” your mother whined

“A serial killer? And ya didn’t move out? Not even for Y/N's safety?!” Bo asked, he couldn’t help but be worried about your safety. He knew how dangerous people could be indeed. Gosh, he couldn’t wait for you to move back to Ambrose so he would be able to keep an eye on you.

“I’m no prey” you shook your head wich was very thought provoking for the Sinclairs

“What kind of art do you enjoy making?” Vincent asked to change the subject

“Sculpture” you instantly replied and without any hesitation “Speaking of, how is the House of Wax doing?” you asked back

“Oh, you remember it. :) It’s going well.” you could feel Vincent was excited in the way he signed back to you

“I’d like to visit it again. You must have done so many new sculptures since I left.” you replied

“I’m not sure we’ll have time for that, hon” your mother intervened. 

The twins hoped they would soon be able to turn your adoptive parents into wax statues and hide them away in one of the abandoned houses.

You simply nodded in agreement, which annoyed the Sinclairs. As a child, you never agreed with anyone who didn’t want to let you do what you wanted. You were strong minded, you were determined and you were smart. They hated to see you so docile.

Soon enough the dinner was over and the Sinclairs couldn’t force the three of you to stay any longer. You got up with your adoptive parents, as they were getting ready to go. You quickly walked to Bo and hugged him, before anyone could stop you. He hugged you back, as tightly as he could without hurting you, and kissed the top of your head.

“Missed ya” he whispered “So much”

“I’ll be back soon” you signed to him, your back to your parents so they couldn’t read your hands “I promise.”

And with this promise, the Sinclairs let you all go, unharmed, hoping you would keep your words.

They needed their heir.

And more importantly, they needed their sun back.

--

PART IV

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Taglist: @murder-hobo - @lacychick ; @magical-sass ; @limehaspassed ; @loveinglymessedup ; @bloodmoon-bites ; @iwantsleepplz ; @kawaistrawberry21 ; @12gaugefalls ; @kriston1210

[bellarkeselection]

It’s About Time

Request from Wattpad mackleann Kayce or Lee ( you pick ) where the reader is a family friend who comes to help with the cattle branding. The pair confese their feelings and get teased by the bunkhouse gang

Driving my truck underneath the Yellowstone Dutton ranch sign I pulled the vehicle to a stop just beside the main house porch. I opened the door seeing that the area of the ranch was already set up for the branding the next morning. Getting out of the truck I shut the door seeing somebody riding up in the distance. “Well I didn’t expect to see you here this weekend.”

Whipping my head around a huge grin masked my face seeing Kayce coming up to me on his horse. “I don’t know why you’re so surprised.”

“Maybe because I thought you’d be busy. But I am awfully excited to see you.” He began dismounting his black horse comic over to me with wide open arms.

Rushing towards him I laughed, throwing my arms and legs around his waist. “You better be excited to see me, Dutton.”

“Hey I said that I was you crazy rascal.” He chuckled at me while I was hanging off his arms. Kayce was struggling to keep me from falling on the ground.

I had been a close friend of the family for years. I had been there for the family when Evelyn died and when Kayce had gone off to serve the Navy. I had somewhat of a relationship with each of the Dutton members, but Kayce and I were closer. He finally sits me down on my feet getting my boots dirty. “You better be nice to me. You know I can kick your ass.”

“Oh yeah. Which one of us has training?” He teased me, tipping his hat slightly to me.

Putting my hands on my hips. “It doesn't matter. I know how to throw a punch pretty good.”

Kayce stared down at me since he was slightly taller than me. Honestly most people would say we were always attached to the other hip. And it wasn’t a lie. I’d basically lived my entire life on this ranch.

Kayce went over to his horse leading him to the barn by the reins. “Does my dad know you’re coming here this weekend to help with the branding?”

“I’d expect so. Why did you have plans to skip?” I asked him to follow him to the barn.

He shook his head. “Nah. But your company will sure make it better.”

Together we left the barn and went straight for the main house. He held open the door for me, hanging his black hat on the wall while doing so. Walking through the living room there was a fire going and I could see someone sitting on the couch. “What made you stay out late? Daddy told Gater to wait.”

“Well it wasn’t because he wasn’t hungry. He just had someone keeping him occupied.” Leaning over the back of the couch hair in my face I whispered in his sister’s ear.

She sat her glass down, turning around to me. “Did you finally take her out there in the barn?”

“Beth!” I scolded her, feeling my face beginning to turn red.

Her younger brother cleared his throat. “We aren’t dating and you know that.”

“Rip and I may have beat around the bush when we were kids. But he knows he’s mine. Everybody on this ranch knows who is with who. You two ain’t any different.” She crossed her arms on the back of the couch.

Tapping my foot on the wooden floor I tried to remain calm about this. I didn’t need it to be painfully obvious that I had feelings for him. I didn’t want to ruin the relationship we have if he doesn’t feel the same way. But Beth had a different mind than everyone else. She knew what words could sink someone into the ground. “I’ll think you’re wrong. Now did you say Gator had dinner?”

“Walking away just means we will have this conversation later, Y/n.” She called as I walked into the dining room.

Pausing in my tracks I holler back to her. “No it doesn’t, Bethany!”

Kayce eyed his sister but had nothing to say to her. He dropped his hands down at his sides. The young Dutton knew he felt something for the girl who walked around his family home like she was always meant to be there. Maybe because he’d seen her around his whole life. She had always been a Dutton in his eyes.

“Kayce, I’m going to have dinner in the bunkhouse. See if I can beat those boys at poker if you want to come with me.” I called from the kitchen, grabbing my jacket and a to-go bag of food that Gator made for me.

He turned his head in my direction. “Yeah sure I’ll come.”

“Don’t have too much fun you two.” Beth chuckled at the two of us watching us leave going to the bunkhouse.

By the time we had got to the bunkhouse we could hear them yelling and half the alcohol was almost gone from the fridge. Sliding in on the empty seat next to Ryan he smiled in my direction throwing his desk of card’s down. “Look who decided to join the party. The future mr and Mrs. Kayce Dutton.”

“Oh not you guys too.” I rolled my eyes not expecting them to be on it with Beth.

Colby fixes the deck, dealing me and Kayce each a hand to play in their new game. “We can’t help it if you make it so obvious.”

“What’s obvious?” Jimmy asked from his bunk.

Teeter, who was fixing herself some dinner from Gator spoke up, removing the spoon from inside her mouth. “They clearly want each other just like I know my baby wants me.”

“I am not your baby.” Colby replied to her.

She smiled, turning back to her food. “Stop lying to yourself baby.”

“I didn’t think you had a thing for her, Kayce. I just thought you two were really close friends.” Jimmy entered the conversation.

I moved my gaze to the center of the wooden table not saying a word. Shifting the deck of cards in my hands I really wanted them to stop with the teasing. But Jimmy clearly couldn’t read the room correctly, bless his heart. “We are really close and that’s all.”

“But they are burning to be more.” Ryan made a kissing sound into my ear.

Kayce hit his fist on the table. “Will you stop talking about that!”

“Ohh he’s getting all embarrassed.” Jake, another ranch hand, joined in pointing his index finger at him.

Kayce hit the table again. “I swear the next person who teases us will see me fly over this table.”

Jake, Colby and Ryan about lost their shit at that statement all cheering like he had just admitted he had feelings for me when he really hadn’t. Raising my hands up I sighed finally saying something. “Can we just get back to the game?”

“She’s still avoiding the moment.” Jimmy spoke up.

Kayce raised himself up to his feet stomping over to Jimmy. He grabs him by his shirt getting in his face angrily. “That does it! What did I say a few seconds ago, Jimmy.”

“Woah, when did poker become violent?” Lloyd came out of the bathroom shortly after Walker did. Both confused at what was going on here.

Forcing myself up from my chair I stomped over to the fridge throwing it open. “Cause I apparently can’t get a beer around here with all these gossiping girls dressed as cowboys.” I mocked them for drinking almost half the bottle of beer I had taken from their stash.

“Well then let’s start this card game.” Walker sat down in my chair and thankfully there was no more conversation like that when Kayce let go of Jimmy. He left the bunkhouse leaving me with the boys and Teeter for the rest of the night which made me think maybe they had gotten underneath his skin over something.

The next morning was crazy for everyone even though we had everything set up. Coming out of one of the tents we had set up I halted in my tracks seeing the blonde that had hit a rock after an animal protest talking with him. Summer I remember her name to be. “I don’t think this place is right for you.”

“Oh don’t worry. Once I get out of here I will leave. Besides I can sense somebody doesn’t care much for me being in your company.” She turned her head slightly seeing that I was glaring at the pair.

Kayce turned his attention to her, quickly walking away from her side. “See you around, Summer…what’s got you so angry?”

“I’m not angry over anything.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

He tilted his head. “Really cause you won’t make eye contact when you’re angry. You also hug your arms to your chest when you’re angry. So what made you upset?”

“I think I should be asking you that more than you asking me after what happened last night. You bailed on me Kayce, why?” I questioned the young rancher trying to figure out why all day but nothing came to mind.

He blinked a few times with silent passing between us. “I didn’t like what they were saying about us.”

“It was just teasing right or do you have feelings for me?” I blurted it out letting my curiosity get the better of me when it came to what he thought.

Kayce stepped closer to me reaching up with his hands to cradle my face. “I didn’t like the teasing because I wanted to be the one to tell you myself. But now I say fuck it.”

“Kayce-“ He cut me off short, pressing his lips down onto mine and after that point everything suddenly stopped. Throwing my arms around his neck I brought him closer, deepening the kiss.

He moved one hand into my hair tugging on it a few times. I moaned into the kiss, finding this is better than I could have imagined. Like we were always supposed to be like this together. “I told you, boys.”

“Wait a second.” I broke the kiss recognizing Beth’s voice.

Kayce kept one hand on my wrist when I remained close to his chest seeing that Ryan and Colby were standing off to the side with her. “What the hell did you have them do?”

“We bet her ten bucks that the teasing last night wouldn’t work.” Ryan reached inside his jacket handing her some money.

She took it from his hand proudly walking past us to go find Rip. “They lost obviously. It’s about time you two finally saddled your horses together.” Kayce and I shared the same shocked look but shortly laughed with huge smiles on our faces at the well thought out plan she had achieved.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[silvervioletvalentine]

❣️Only love could hurt like this❣️

Pairing: max verstappenXCherrie. Word count:14k

Warnings:angst.cherries fathers death.serious miscommunication. But happy ending:))

Cherrie tried to walk away from the meeting room as fast as she possibly could without making it obvious that she was trying to run away from him, although she was sure that the unpleasant look on her face and the way that she had completely blanked him the whole time during the meeting, might have possibly gave herself away.

Hearing her assistant and close friend, Amy, whisper underneath her breath 'keep calm. Don't react please.' To her almost pleadingly as she got stopped by one of the team members before she could chase after her and make sure that Cherrie didn't cause a fight literally minutes after signing her contract.

Unfortunately for Amy, it meant that she was unable to stop Max from barging out of the room with a look of thunder on his face, quickly pacing after Cherrie , clearly ready to pick an argument with the bane of his existence.

He had spent the majority of the meeting glaring at her like he wanted to jump across the table and throttle her for even being there .

All the time she had just avoided his eyes and mainly kept quiet , humming along and nodding whenever someone spoke to her. Refusing to even look at max, even when he had stared her down the whole time with a scowl on his face.

She knew better than to fight him in front of her new team principal and team. She wasn't that stupid.

No. Instead she waited until they were far enough from everybody else, alone in a random corridor bedore abruptly stopping in her stride and spinning around on her heel to face him with a equally as pissed off glare .

"You should take a fucking picture max! Am I that irresistible that you just can't look away from me?!" She snapped at him sarcastically, crossing her arms across her chest confrontationally .

Broadening her shoulders and straightening her back as much as she could to look more intimidating, but by the twitching of his lips as he eyed her defensive posture, she could tell it didn't do much in the way of scaring him off.

It didn't help that she literally had to look up at him, max glaring down his nose at her judgmentally while she tried to remind herself to take some deep calming breaths.

That she could not attack him. That was wrong... really wrong but..

Max scoffed at her hatefully "you're such a fucking hypocrite! What happened to your unfading loyalty to ferrari? Or should we add liar along to your list of traits now too?" He spat at her, utterly furious by the way his life had just been completely turned upside down so quickly .

He had known that there had been rumours of Cherrie transferring to A different time seeing as her contract with Ferrari was up, but with the way that she had spent years driving for her fathers team, determine to win with the reds just like her dad did, max had genuinely been convinced that she would have taken the extended contract that Ferrari had practically begged her to sign.

She had been their number one driver after all and they couldn't really afford to lose her. Even with their shitty failure and terrible strategies, she had been bringing points to them.

Usually when she refused to listen to her team radio and instead did whatever she felt was right on the track instead . That was how she usually won, by ignoring them and doing her own strategy instead . Just like her legendary father had too.

Cherrie felt anger rush through her like hot lava, glaring back at him hatefully .

"Things change Max! This wasn't a decision that I just took over night. I'm just doing what's best for myself. You should understand that!" She threw back at him . Abruptly turning back around to continue getting as far away from him as possible .

Fighting back a loud groan of misery when she heard his hurried steps to catch up with her, his shoulder brushing hers as he scowled down at her , not finished with their argument yet.

Cherrie was convinced that no matter what she did or what she said, max would never leave her alone. He always had an opinion on what she did, always had to tell her it too. As though it was just impossible for him to just leave her the fuck alone instead .

She had expected this reaction from him of course, she wasn't naive. She knew that he wasn't going to be happy when he found out that she had signed a contract to become redbull's new driver. It was mostly likely a living nightmare for him.

Because it was no secret to anybody that the two of them didn't get along in the slightest. It had started from a very earlier age during karting, it had been a nasty rivalry in the making for the both of them.

It had started simply because Cherrie was dominating him in every race , with her fathers knowledge and winning practically in her blood, she was destined to become a racing champion.

She wouldn't stop until she did. It was expected of her , she had the whole legacy of her father waiting for her and there was no way in hell that she was going to step aside for anybody , definitely not max.

The two of them had spent years fighting for the title, going up in ranks and nearly matching points the whole time . Until Cherrie had finally did it, she won f2 and immediately she was signed onto Ferrari as a rookie when she was eighteen , becoming the first ever rookie to win world championship with them too.

She had been on top of the world and max didn't like it, the pressure from his father to be the best and become the champion falling heavy on his shoulders with each race that she won and had over him.

Then he had finally started to get close to beating her when redbull had given him a better car.

He was faster , he was determined and he wasn't going to let Cherrie beat him again. He just couldn’t.

Unfortunately while he was so determined to win, so locked in his own head that it was almost like he wasn't racing against any other drivers , he didn't care about them, he just wanted to beat Cherrie .

Which had led to him making some unforgivable mistakes and errors of judgment on his part, ones that he would never admit out loud that he regretted.

So lost in his own cloud of winning, so stubborn and determine not to let Cherrie beat him again, so sick of seeing the look of disgust and disappointment on his fathers face when she passed him over the finish line again and again, even with her shitty car.

Knowing that he had the power behind him to win , he had a better engine and a better team. Yet for some reason , Cherrie just seemed to pass him Each time like it was as easy as breathing to.

He had gotten frustrated and angry, more so at himself and the pressure that was being put on him to become the greatest. To beat her. That he had let the anger and resentment cloud his judgment and his morals.

The day that max had sent her spinning off the track , refusing to let her pass him on a sharp corner of the Spanish Grand Prix , had done nothing but make their animosity and hatred of each other get worse .

The look on her face when she finally pulled herself out of her car at the same time he did, the two of them glaring at each other with nothing but hatred in their eyes. Was the day that any hopes of the two ever being friendly went to absolute shit.

The battle had then become between the two of them instead .

They went wheel to wheel , both of them refusing to let the other one pass them which resulted in them crashing more than a couple of times. Because max would rather that they both lose than let her win him again.

So sick of hearing the ridicule and disbelief that was aimed at him when she stood first on the podium with a proud smirk on her face , a sea of red below her chanting her second name proudly .

The two had clashed so badly that their team had taken to making sure that the both of them were separated from each other as much as possible, only it was a pretty difficult thing to achieve when they both had to go to the cooling room together and then they both got podium .

That was also the first time that the world got to witness the bitterness between the two of them and how bad it really was.

It was also the first time that Cherrie had punched him on live tv. And It was also the first time that they got to hear max call her a conceited , narasstic , evil bitch to her face too.

Safe to say that they had both been given a hefty fine and forced to take anger mamnegmnt classes with a therapist for a couple of weeks.

It hadn't done much for their fury towards each other. Cause the a couple of weeks after that alteration , they had been caught screaming at each-other in the paddock again. Both of them refusing to admit which one was wrong after colliding again on the tracks.

It had gotten to the point where seeing the two top drivers verbally assaulting each other was just another day for everyone around them. Their teams having given up on trying to keep them separated and telling them to behave.

Instead they just sighed and muttered at them not to take it to a blood bath instead.

So yes. The two were not friends .

So the news of her being his new teammate , the same woman that did nothing but get underneath his skin and make him so fucking angry that he couldn't think straight, was now the woman that he was going to race side by side with, in the same fuckimg car, as a team?!

Yes, he was a little pissed.

He couldn't believe his luck at all. She had spent years beating him but the one thing that max always held onto to make himself feel better was the fact that he had the better car. Had the better team around him now.

And now she had to take that from him too?

"You have spent years trash talking redbull and now you're joining us?! Why not Mercedes?! I know they wanted you too!" It was true. In fact, every team wanted her, she was one of the best. Besides him of course.

So why did she have to chose redbull? Was she trying to ruin his life even more than she already did?!

Cherrie rolled her eyes, pulling a destained face at him. "No. I spent years trash talking you. Not your car! And I don't have to explain myself to you. I did what I had to do. End of!" She snapped at him before shoving past him, making sure she pettily bashed her shoulder against his arm roughly as she did so.

Max wasn't having it.

Scoffing loudly as he paced beside her , easily catching up as she stomped over to the nearest exit door possible.

"This is unbelievable." He stated more to himself disbelievingly . Wondering if he was really that evil in his past life to deserve this.

She lived rent free in his fucking mind when she was on a completely different team. How the hell was he supposed to cope as her teammate?

Feeling both anger and uneasiness fill his chest, knowing that only one of them would come out on top. They both couldn't be redbull's number one .

And statistically it was shown that out of the two of them, Cherrie was the winning one between them.

He blamed the fact that her father was literally a legend in formula one.

The man has been a sixth time world champion , dominating the sport like it was as easy as breathing to him. And the only reason why he still wasn't champion of the world was because life had cruelly took him away during a accident on the track .

But before he had died he had spent years teaching his little daughter , his only child, every single thing he knew making sure that she would grow up and continue to proudly bare his legacy and make their name stay legendary.

Her future had been destined . She had known what she was going to be since the moment she could walk and talk and be out into that kart .

And what did max have? A father that never believed in him. A father that had never told him that he could be world champion. One that only ever wanted anything to do with him when he was winning.

If he didn't bring home a tital or a win, then in his fathers eyes, he didn't deserve to even speak to him, he was a disappointment.

It only furthered to fuel his misguided anger towards Cherrie.

She had everything. She always had. She always came first and had everything that he ever wanted.

It wasn't fair.

Then he thought of her last teammate who was no doubt utterly heartbroken at her move and scoffed even louder.

Scrunching up his face bitterly "and I bet your human backpack is crying his heart out somewhere over the news. I doubt he's taking this well." Max sniped , taking a jab at their constant closeness to one another.

Another thing that he just couldn't stand. While max had to do this alone, barely making any friends and without anyone by his side to celebrate his wins.

Cherrie had everyone on her side. Because everybody loved her. She was the daughter of a racing legend , she was adored by all.

Every driver loved her. Max couldn't go a day without hearing someone gush about her and he had unfollowed her teammate on all socials the minute he started posting pictures of the two of them doing everything together . Holidays . Cooking videos. Cute little selfies in a hot tub together .

He decided then that he hated him too. It just wasn't fair at all.

How could he have been stuck with the shortest straw like this?

Cherrie looked over at him blankly , confusion taking away the need to kill him for a moment as she blurted out a "huh?" Wondering what the hell he was talking about.

Human backpack? What the fuck?

Max just smirked at her coldly , shaking his head as though he thought she was playing stupid.

There was no way that she didn't know who he was referring too. In fact, max was surprised that he wasn't right there beside her glued to her side while they argued too.

"I'm just saying . Charles can't be very happy with you leaving him on his own. Who is he going to cling to now?" He muttered bitterly , looking away from her striking eyes for a moment when her glare became too much for him to hold his gaze with.

Cherrie immediately shoved at his shoulder at his insult towards Charles , face darkening .

"Don't fucking talk about him like that. He has nothing to do with this." She spat at him.

Protective of the Ferrari driver that she had been lucky enough to grow close to over the years. They had become best friends and Cherrie had become incredibly protective over him.

And honestly one of the only reasons to why she had stayed clinging onto ferrari for so long was because she didn't want to leave him on his own to deal with all the shit that came along with their team.

He wasn't as mentally strong as she was. He was a people pleaser and didn't like to upset people, which meant he often let people upset him instead , not saying a word about his own feelings , not wanting to cause a scene.

That was where Cherrie had come in and where the two of them had become a good team. Because Cherrie wasn't afraid of opening her mouth and putting people in their rightful place . She didn't care who she had to upset .

If someone fucked her over then she made sure that her wrath was known. And over the years she had made sure that the team knew that if they fucked over Charles too, she would have their heads on a fucking flag pole, waving it at any other asshole who dared to piss her off again.

So yes, she was worried about Charles being on his own to defend himself now.

And she felt guilty about her sudden move to the 'dark side' but she had to be selfish for once . She wasn't going to keep winning if she stayed with Ferrari and she wasn't going to let her father down.

If he was looking down at her , she wanted to make him proud. And she knew that he would want her to do the right thing and Cherrie knew that this was it.

Ferrari had left her no other choice but to leave.

"And anyways, he's been very supportive . Because he's a good guy who wants whats best for me." She added on defensively . Not liking the way max was looking at her at her like she was a liar.

He couldn't have rolled his eyes any harder if he tried . Shaking his head in disbelief "yeah fucking right. Who's going to have your little boyfriends back now? I'm fact, I'm surprised that he's not begging for a contract with redbull too. Seeing as he never fucking leaves your side!" He exclaimed looking over at her judgmentally .

Because he was certain that the two of them were not 'just friends'. They were too close and too familiar with each other.

Max had seen the way that Charles lit up just at the sight of her . Hell, they even spent Christmas with his family! He had seen the cozy pictures of the two of them in matching pjs in front of a Christmas tree, hugging each other's side with matching smiles on their faces.

It was ridiculous. And every time that max saw the two of them giggling together, seemingly in their own little bubble where no one else existed, he wanted to be sick.

Because once again. It wasn't fair at all!

Cherrie wanted to strangle him.

Taking in a deep breath to calm the urge to go absolutely mental at him.

Instead she strided out into the parking lot and tried not to imagine hitting him with her car.

"He's not my boyfriend." Was all she muttered , absolutely done with his shit as she dug her car keys out of her pocket . Looking around the spaces as she tried to remember where she had parked her car.

Max got his own out of his pocket two, not even thinking about it as he gave her a little shove on her back to get her to walk in the direction of where her Ferrari was parked. Right next to his.

"You'd think you'd have better memory dipshit. And there is one thing that you and your boyfriend have in common ... you can't park for shit!" He insulted her, glancing pointedly at her car that was parked sideways over the white line, taking up two spots instead of one.

Cherrie looked at her parking and tongued her cheek , unable to disagree with him. Despite how much she wanted too.

He was right . Parking was not her strong suit, which was ironic considering her job.

Instead she just muttered a moody "shut up." And got into her car.

There was a long moment where they both just looked at eachother as she turned on her engine , bedore she slid some sunglasses over her eyes and looked away.

Max cleared his throat bedore forcing his eyes away from her, feeling uncomfortable as he opened the door to his car quickly and quickly got in.

Rolling Down his window so she could hear him , pushing away the strange feeling they came over him, instead he took on a bored tone .

And told her "don't forget the conference on Friday. We're not Ferrari. So don't show up late otherwise you'll make us all look bad." He condescendingly snided. Referring to her inability to arrive on time to any meeting ever.

Immediately all her distain for him came rushing back as she scoffed angrily at him.

Reviving her engine loudly "I will not be late asshole!" Was all she spat before quickly reversing out of her spot carelessly , almost crashing into a trash can bedore she sped out of there , her wheels screeching .

Leaving max to shake his head with a small chuckle to himself as he carefully put out his car , reversing perfectly .

"Can’t park and can't reverse either. Surprised she can actually drive a car." He muttered to himself in amusement bedore driving away.

Hoping that his new teammate and himself didn't kill eachother before the season ended.

Cherrie showed up late to the press conference. Because of course she did.

She sheepishly walked into the room, the cameras clicking as she avoided Max's smug expression , not looking at any of them as she slid carefully into her seat beside him.

Nodding at the press reluctantly , putting her bottle of water on the table. Smiling a little to herself as she glanced down at the vinyl picture of her and Charles on it that a fan had given her .

Had she brought it with her to spite max a little after his comments about Charles and her being too close?

Maybe.

Did she care? No.

Had she been warned not to provoke or start any shit up with max for her own entertainment? Also Yes.

Was she going to listen?

Absolutely not.

"Sorry I'm late . I didn't want to come." She spoke into the small microphone stand in front of her, grinning at them to let them know that she was just joking.

A little bit.

Her media manager, in charge of making sure she didn't do or saying anything wrong to the press that could get her into trouble , face palmed . Already knowing that Cherrie was not about to do as she was told at all.

Max eyed her water bottle with a grimace , crossing his arms over his chest and silently shaking his head to himself . Deciding to be the better behaved one out of the two.

To prove they he was the more mature one out of them, he smiled over at her deliberately knowing that it would piss her off.

"Nice to see you finally arrive. You look good in blue." He slyly said as he eyed her blue redbull shirt that she was wearing . Before looking at her head and realising that she was missing something.

He picked up his own hat that had number 1 written across it. From him winning world champion last year . Only by a single point between the two of them, something that max liked to smugly remind her of.

He reached over and placed his redbull champions cap ontop of her head, winding her up.

"Can't forget the hat. We'll have to get a runners up one for you." He smirked . Ignoring his own team sharing exasperated looks between each other .

"Not even a minute in and they're already starting." Amy sighed to Max's assistant, not surprised at all.

Cherrie picked the hat off her head and threw it at him , hard. Watching it bounce off his head and onto the floor with a little satisfaction.

But not enough.

Max only laughed and picked his hat back up, placing it back on his head smugly .

"Fuck off you twat!" She snapped at him before she could stop herself. Using the new swear word that lando had taught her over the summer .

She liked it. She thought that it was a name that she could call max regularly now.

Then she heard the clicking of cameras and both amused and shocked muttering of the press in front of them, swiftly reminding her of where she was.

Slowly turning her head to look at them. Clearing her throat a little guiltily , she leaned back into her chair and smiled as innocently as possible.

"Sorry. What were you saying?" She directed her question over to the man with the microphone who had been trying to ask her a question before max distracted her.

The man looked between the two of them warily. Everyone seeing the way that max was smirking over at her , clearly amused with how easy it was to wind her up. While Cherrie was trying to ignore him all together.

If I don't look at him, then he isn't there. Cherrie told herself over and over again.

"I was saying... that it has come as a big surprise to everyone when redbull announced you as their new driver . With people expecting you to extend your contract with Ferrari. It's said that they even offered you twice as much for you to stay on with them and that you turned it down. Is that true?" He asked her , camera's filming her steadily .

Cherrie fiddled with her water bottle , slowly nodding her head yes.

She knew that she was going to be getting a lot of backlash for her sudden move from the team that her father had won his last championship with. She knew that people expected her to stay with them out of loyalty and legacy.

But she just couldn't do it anymore. So people would just have to get used to it.

She didn't care what anyone thought of her move , she was doing what was right for her in the long run.

You had to be selfish If you wanted to win. Loyalty to a team that was rapidly falling apart wouldn't get her the championship.

"They did. And I said no. No amount of money could make me want to continue to drive a car that is no longer suited to me ." She confirmed to them simply , glancing over at her press officer to see her nodding her head at her , telling her that she had said the right thing.

The man looked surprised "your father spent ten years with Ferrari. And won all of his world championships with them too. Do you not want to follow in his footsteps? Some would say that Ferrari was literally in your blood. Your destiny-"

Cherrie cut him off before he could say anything more about her father and her destiny in the same sentence.

"My destiny is to win." She corrected him shortly , lacing her fingers together and reminding herself to be calm. "And I can't win in a car that isn't fast enough and isn't powerful enough for me to pass the finish line with. The Ferrari just wasn't what I needed anymore." She told them honestly, not feeling a need to lie.

It was a secret to no one that she hadn't been very happy with her car for a long time. She had told her team so and told the press too on multiple occasions that it wasn't up to her standard anymore .

It had literally been falling apart on the track and Cherrie simply couldn't take it anymore.

Because while her father had won in a Ferrari , they seemed to forget that he also died in one too.

She didn't want to repeat history that way. And when she had to drag herself out of her car when her engine had caught fire last year without warning, she had made her decision there and then.

She wanted to be like her dad, but she didn't want to go out like him either.

Max was silently nodding along to what she was saying , understanding where she was coming from.

He hated to admit it but she was right.

The reporter was frowning "the team principal did say that they were working on improving the Ferrari and making sure that there wasn't a repeat of last years failures . Was that not enough reassurance to convince you to stay?" He followed up with , everyone silent as they waited for her answer.

Cherrie just looked at him blankly , shaking her head.

"No it wasn't. I told them before last year that they either got their shit together and fixed the car and gave me something good to drive ... or i wasn't driving it at all. I gave them the data, I gave them my advice and my options. I told them what to do and they couldn't do it." She bluntly answered, done sugarcoating how much shit she had to deal with while driving for the red team.

She wasn't going to beat around the bush anymore , Ferrari had done this to themselves. She was done.

She took a sip of her water and swallowed before continuing . "- and ya know, it doesn't matter how good of a driver you are. If you've been given a shit

Box that it literally falling apart and you have a team that are giving you soft tires instead of hard and giving you strategy's that make no sense.." she sighed in annoyance "well, you can't win at all."

Max smiled a little , looking over at her in slight amusement .

"So you tried to blackmail them into giving you a better car?" He mused .

Cherrie just nodded her head , barely glancing at him.

"Yeah. And it didn't work so.." she just shrugged , nothing more to say.

The reporter nodded and moved on, looking over to max instead .

"And how about you max? How are you feeling about having Cherrie as your new teammate this year? It's no secret that there's a bit of rocky history between you two..." he voiced the obvious .

Looking between the two of them curiously , wondering how a partnership between the two rivals could possibly work.

Max took a moment to think about his answer , knowing that telling him that 'this was the worse thing to ever happen to him' wouldn't help the tension at all.

He decided to be strategic about his reply , clearing his throat and sitting straighter in his seat again, keeping a calm facade .

"There is. We have always fought against each other on the track ..." he agreed bedore adding "but she is also a good driver and a former champion.." he couldn't help the little dig at his dethroning of her title .

Cherrie subtly rolling her eyes at him.

"But maybe we will be able to work together to keep others away. And bringing another win home to redbull. We are rivals second but a team first now. And I'm sure that we can remain professional and do what's best for the team." He simply answered. Doubting his own words even as he said them.

Cherrie nodded along in agreement .

"Yeah.. it's not me that you have to worry about."

She couldn't help but mutter, side eyeing him.

Max frowned at her "I'm not the problem either. Who-"

The man quickly butted in before they could start bickering about who the one with the issues was.

"And do you think that you two can put your differences aside and become reliable teammates? Do you trust max to have your back Cherrie?"

She just pursed her lips and picked up her water bottle with her and Charles on it, then she casually reached her arm out and knocked his redbull water bottle off the table.

Placing hers in its place instead.

All the while smiling innocently "if he looks out for me then I will do the same. If he doesn't give me the support then he will not receive it from me either." She told them simply, looking over at max pointedly , meaning it too.

She didn't want to have a teammate that was an enemy. But she wasn't going to trust him without any evidence of him wanting the same thing.

"Time will just have to tell I suppose.." was all she ended with when max didn't say anything else in return.

Merely clenching his jaw and glaring down at the picture of her and Charles on her bottle in front of him.

Reaching down to pick up his own bottle that only had his name written across it. Nothing personal at all.

It wasn't fair. Was all he could keep thinking.

Looking away from the picture of the the former teammates and best friends , swallowing the sudden ball he felt rising in his throat.

When was he going to get someone to support him like that?

Why couldn't he have what she had? What more did he have to do to prove himself?

The next two months we're spent with nothing but tension and avoidance . The two teammates not eager to get along as their history threatened to tear them apart before they even began.

Cherrie struggled to let max pass her when he was clearly able to push more than she was, and max just couldn't let her pass him without a fight either.

Both of the drivers ignoring their team radios instructions to let the other through, instead taking it upon themselves to see which one of them would pass the waving flag first.

Wheel to wheel and risking all their hard work for Petty rivalry , bickering between each other on the podium and refusing to give in and start again.

Things were tense and max was struggling to contain his overwhelming emotions as he crossed the line, pursing his lips beneath his helmet as he swallowed thickly .

She had won. Again.

Easily overtaking him on the last lap, he had fought and fought to take back his place and was unable to do so no matter how much he tried.

Pulling up in front of the p2 sign, he switched off his engine and just sat there for a moment. Silently watching as Cherrie pulled herself up out of the car and jumped into the arms of their celebrating team, all of them so happy and proud of her as she brought them more points again.

She had won every single race so far. Max always just half a second behind her. Just like when they were kids.

He wanted to scream.

Instead he blinked back the tears in his eyes , already knowing that his dad would have left the moment that Cherrie overtook him and it became clear who was going to win, again.

He was on his own.

He took in a deep breath and lifted the wheel, pulling himself out of the car and onto the ground.

Being immediately patted on the back by their team, he merely nodded his head absentmindedly , still watching Cherrie as she jumped up and down in excitement , laughing happily at yet another win.

He felt some of his anger fade as he watched her look around the crowd, clearly overwhelmed with the way the fans were all screaming her name. Even the Ferrari fans were clapping, proud of her.

He pulled off his gloves and looked away, ready to walk off to the go to the cooling room alone.

Only for his eyes to widened in shock as she looked over to him, waving her hand for her him to wait up as she jogged over to him while pulling off her helmet , max doing the same cautiously.

Wondering if they were about to have another argument about the way they had fought it out on the track yet again.

Only to be surprised and frozen in shock as he watched her lips tilt up and smile at him happily.

"That was a good race! That overtake you did on Hamilton was just -" she made a chefs kiss with her fingers . Too filled with adrenaline to see how he shocked he was at her suddenly talking to him.

Usually she just ignored him and ran over to Charles to celebrate. But not this time.

Max felt pressure in his chest, clearly his throat and looking away from her for a moment.

Flushing a little at the amazed look on her face as she rambled on about his manoeuvre , his shock only growing when she casually walked alongside him to the cooling room.

"Er thank you." He muttered not knowing what else to say to her sudden compliment. Wondering if he was dreaming.

He wiped his face down with a towel and took a sip of his drink, looking at the screens that replayed the moments between them in the track.

Watching a replay of the way she had gone wide at the corner and smoothly passed him without even coming close to him, he sighed and had to give it to her.

"You raced good.that was a smart move that you did out there. I didn't even notice you behind me , I just blinked and you passed me." He mumbled a little quietly . Not used to talking to her like this.

He was so used to them arguing and insulting eachother that he wasn't sure how to be normal around her.

It made him feel uneasy and he felt his stomach flip as she looked over at him with another easy smile, patting him on the back happily as she reached over him to grab the first place cap from the table and putting it on top of her sweaty head proudly.

"I know right?" She laughed a little, still out of breath as she tried to calm down.

Seeing their team motion for them to get to the podium , shaking hands with Lewis on the way who came third place behind max.

Max just nodded at him respectfully , jogging over to catch up with Cherrie so that they were side by side , he looked down at her quietly. Still not knowing how to take her sudden niceness towards him.

His words were hesitant as he muttered "are you- are you going to the party after this? We got 2 for 2 so I'm sure it'll be quite a big one ." He wasn't even sure why he was mentioning it to her.

He was reminded quickly of why he didn't usually even bother asking her if she was coming along as she shook her head with a smile, her eyes no longer looking at him , instead she was searching the crowd below them for someone else.

Max watched her whole face light up as she spotted Charles waving up at her with a proud smile on his face despite not getting podium himself, feeling his mood crash down again.

"I always celebrate with Charles . We're gonna get some dinner and then hang out with the rest of our friends at the hotel . Do you-" she was about to turn back to him and ask him if he wanted to come along but she was cut off before she could even try.

Max scoffed and moved away from her quickly , not looking at her as he shook his head .

"Typical. Putting your little boyfriend over your team. You're still Ferrari." He snapped at her bitterly , his anger overtaking him before he could even notice the way she had been about to invite him along with a hopeful smile.

Her face dropped, any niceness Quickly dissipating as she glared at him , shoving away the sting she felt at his reaction. Suddenly glad that she hadn't gotten the chance to invite him along If this was his reaction .

"Forget it max. I was just trying to be nice." She mutteeed , looking away from him with a upset frown.

Max felt the pressure in his chest almost crush him, unable to look at her anymore. Convinced that he would never get his chance.

"Well don't be. I don't need you to pretend to be nice to me. I'm not your friend. So fuck off." He snapped at her, walking away bedore he could see the hurt that crossed her face and the way she pursed her lips to stop them from trembling.

Fine. She thought to herself meeting Charles concerned eyes and plastering a fake smile onto her face. Giving him a thumbs up to assure him that she was okay.

Fuck him. She thought angrily . He didn't deserve her kindness anyways .

Unable to believe that for a moment she had actually wanted to be his friend .

When the Monaco race rolled around, there was a somber yet determined mood taking over Cherrie as she solemnly walked the track that had taken her fathers life so many years ago.

Everyone else knew to leave her alone to her silent grief, everybody but Charles who knew just what she was feeling as they both slowly came to a stop at the sharp corner , both glancing over to the gate that had fresh flowers tied to it. It was covered in them and covered in sweet messages that the fans had left too.

She sighed softly , leaning her head against Charles arm as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

Both of them quiet as he rested his head against the sides of hers , reflecting. His hand rubbing soothing circles over her back , waiting for her to speak patiently . Knowing that she would when she was ready.

Finally she spoke up, voice hardly above a whisper , familiar pain filling her voice .

"I miss him." She simply admitted , kneeling down to the gate and picking up one of the pictures that had been left beside some flowers.

Feeling herself choke up as she stared tearfully down at the picture of her father and herself at only eight years old, him holding her on his shoulders on the podium with the biggest of smiles on their faces.

The last race that he ever won.

She remembered the day she lost him like it was yesterday . Remembered the way her father had confidently told her that he was going to win their home race without any problems , taking her over to his car and letting her sit inside of it as he knelt down beside her proudly.

She had been eight years old and the light of her fathers life . His future .

He had gently stroked her hair away from her eyes and told her proudly .

"You're going to win this race too someday. In fact, you're going to win them all. Just like me." He had said it so matter of factly.

Believing in her so strongly that even being so young then, she believed his words too.

"I'm gonna be like you daddy. Do you think that we can win together? Then we can both be on the podium!" She had exclaimed excitedly , beaming up at him. Thrilled at the mere thought of being able to race alongside her own father someday.

He had always told her that he wouldn't retire until he was forced too. He was still in the prime of his life with no future of stopping.

Her dad had smiled fondly at her, lifting her out of the car and holding her in his arms.

He had kissed her still chubby cheeks and promised her.

"I'm going to be right there beside you. Every step of the way. Cause I love you . No matter what you do and what you achieve. You're always going to be my star okay?" He had said it with so much love and conviction , smiling down at her with care.

Cherrie had been passed over to his assistant as the crew surrounded him, watching him with wide eyes so full of amazement and awe as he pulled on his helmet and pulled himself inside the Ferrari .

He had gave her a thumbs up , clutching the wheel in his steady hands. Taking a deep breath and looking at her one last time .

"I love you daddy! You're going to win!" She had giggled at him unknowingly , waving her hands excitedly as she watched the car be pushed out the garage and over to the line.

Then she had been lead back with the crew and been seated on a chair in front of all the screens that showed the race happening, headphones put over her ears so she could hear everything. So fascinated by everything that surrounded her.

Then she had watched , at just eight years old as her fathers teammate tried to overtake him at the sharp corner where it was only big enough for one car to come through.

Their wheels had made contact and she had watched with tears in her eyes as her fathers car flew into the air , spinning and spinning bedore crashing into the barrier , immediately crushed into pieces as everything fell ontop of the remains of the Ferrari.

There had been shocked and horrified silence as she had listened to her fathers engineer repeatedly asked him if he was okay over the radio. Everyone watching with tears in there eyes as the minutes passed by and he didn't get out .

Her father didn't answer the radio , there was nothing but static silence as she had started to cry hysterically as she watched the medics pull out her fathers unmoving body, shaking their heads sorrowfully as they placed him on a stretcher and covered him with a sheet.

She never saw her father again.

He didn't win the race.

He didn't make it out of Monaco Alive.

He was gone. Just like that.

For years she has lived with his words of belief in her head, encouraging her to make him proud. To carry on her fathers legacy.

"I'm going to win this race. I'm going to win for him just like he told me I could." She breathed out to Charles determinedly . This meaning so much to her .

She had to win. For him.

Charles smiled at her softly , squeezing her close as he gently kissed the side of her head proudly .

"And you will. You can do anything you want to do Cherrie. I believe in you." He told her with a heartfelt smile, meaning every word.

Both of them unaware of the cameras filming them and her teammate watching them on the large screen with his chest tightening as he watched Cherrie wrapped her arms around cherries and kiss his cheeks, smiling up at him with softness written across her face as they whispered to each other .

To him it looked like a lovers embrace . Like two people that were so in love that they couldn't help but show the world .

He felt sick. He felt angry. He felt so frustrated that he turned away from the screen with a scowl, fingers tightening into fists as he stormed away to get ready for the race .

All sense of rationality leaving him as he saw red. All he could picture in his mind was Cherrie and Charles embracing each other , smiling at each other like they were each other's whole world.

He felt bitter determination fill him, anger fuelling his steps. He was going to win this race and prove her wrong.

He didn't care. He didn't need her as his teammate. He could win all on his own.

Her winning steak was over.

Cherrie could feel her heart racing as she flew down the straight , sparks flying from her wheels as the laps seemed to pass her by. Minutes feeling like mere seconds as she clutched onto her wheel tightly, blocking out every single distraction possible as she focused on keeping her place.

She was neck to with max, Lewis and charles not too far behind her as they all fought to pass each other, Cherrie managing to keep her corners tight as she clung to the back of her teammate in front of her.

Hearing her team come over her radio as the laps narrowed down quickly , only a few more left to go.

She felt adrenaline fill her as she heard their strategist speak, a certain pride filling his voice , everyone knowing that this was her moment to win.

This was her home race. This was the moment that she could make her father proud.

Everybody was holding their breaths and praying as they watched her close the gap between herself and max quickly , easily gaining on him.

"We've told max to let you past . He can defend and keep the Mercedes from your back. You can push- just two more laps-" he told her bedore pausing .

Cherrie heard multiple voices of her team, sounding confused and angry as they muttered between themselves . Sounding unhappy .

"What's going on? I can push! I am faster! I can do it!" She breathed out bedore inhaling sharply and only managing to avoid a Collasion between herself and max as he suddenly went wide, blocking her from getting through.

She felt anger light her up, panic also filling her too as her front wheel grew closer and closer to his.

"What is he doing?! I can win! I need to -" she gasped , heart pounding in her chest as she rapidly flickered her eyes between Max's car and the sharp corner that was quickly approaching them at the end of the track.

The same corner where her father had lost his life.

She felt her heart sink to her stomach as her engineer came over the radio, sounding both angry and upset as he informed her of what was happening.

"He's refusing to let you past Cherrie . He's ignoring team orders. I'm so sorry but you need to pull back to avoid-" he apologetic voice only enraged her further.

"No!no! No!" She shouted upset . Shaking her head and ignoring him telling her to pull back

"This is -" she choked in her words , both panic and rage filling her.

"I have to win this! My dad-" she couldn't even finish her pleading . Too upset to think straight .

She needed to win this race. She was so close - she just had to get passed max. She could do this without him.

If he wasn't going to let her past then she would make him.

She couldn't lose this race. She couldn't-

So with nothing but anger and grief filling her , she Ignored her frantic team over her radio and pressed full throttle as they came around the corner .

"Please max!" She shouted over the radio knowing that he couldn’t hear her. Expecting him to pull aside and let her pass.

He knew how much this meant to her. He knew what had happened here in monaco. He knew!

She could only watch in what felt like slow motion as max jolted his steering wheel . But instead of pulling away from her, he took the inside of the corner , giving her no time to pull away as their front wheels collided , sparks flying in the air.

Then she was flying.

Her car spinning off the track and turning around and around , clutching her fists to her chest as she gasped and cried out , her body rattling around from the sheer force as her car crashed into the exact gate that her father had crashed into all those years ago.

She saw the flower of memorials raining down onto of her car , petals falling all around her as the car finally came to a horrifying stop.

Then there was stillness .

She felt absolutely nothing but numbness as she glanced down at the picture that she had taped beside her wheel . The same picture that had been left with the flowers of her and her father , the last photo she had of them together on the podium.

She had taped it there for good luck.

As she looked at her fathers smiling face looking back at her, she swallowed.

Hearing the frantic calls of her team over the radio begging her to be okay.

The race hosts gasping in disbelief as they bellowed

"This is unbelievable! Serious de ja vu as Cherrie has been forced off the track by her own teammate! Crashing into the corner in the exact same spot where her fathers tragic accident took place! This hurts to watch- I hope she's okay!"

She inhaled deeply as she cut off her engine. Blankly looking at the photo of her dad one last time before looking away.

Exhaling shakily as she finally responded to their desperate calls.

"Are you okay Cherrie?! Please tell us that you're okay! Medics are on the way!"

She glanced over to the other crashed redbull that had spun off to the opposite side of the track, watching as max pulled himself out quickly.

His helmet covered head quickly turning in her direction , she swallowed , tears clouding her vision.

"I lost." Was all she could breath out in misery as the realisation that she was out of the one race that she needed to win.

She couldn't make her father proud.

She had lost.

Because of max.

There was a loud sigh of relief "that doesn't matter right now Cherrie. We are so happy that you're okay! Can you get out of the car?" He rushed out worriedly, everybody getting horrific flashbacks to her father dying in that very same spot.

Cherrie didn't answer.

Instead she just exhaled shakily, not even looking up as a shadow came over her.

Max heavy breathing heard as he knelt beside her car hurriedly , desperation filling his voice as he felt panic take over him.

"Are you okay?!" He rushed out in panic . Overcome with guilt as it finally crashed down on him what he had just done .

Swallowing down the lump in his throat as he looked at all the broken up flowers that surrounded her, before his eyes settled on the picture of her and her father taped beside her wheel.

Remorse making him feel sick to his stomach as he reached out his hands for her to grab so that he could pull her out.

"Cherrie please-"

She slapped his hands away violently and pulled herself out without his help. Unable to even look at him as anger finally took its rightful place.

"Don't fucking touch me." She spat at him.

Shoving at his shoulders roughly sending him a few steps back as he quickly lifted up his visor so he could see her, his own eyes pooling with tears as he saw the heartbreak in her eyes as she looked over to her crashed car.

"I'm so sorry. I am so fucking sorry! I wasn't thinking and I just - I-" he stammered to explain his stupid actions.

Not knowing how to admit that he had been so fucking upset and angry at never coming first. At never having anyone by his side.

That jealously had overcome him as soon as he saw her and Charles cosied up to each other on the track together when he had been just about to head out to find her and make sure that she was okay.

Wanting to be the one to comfort her. Wanting to be there for her . Wanting to apologise for the way he had been behaving because he was bitter and jealous and she had everything he wanted including herself .

But his anger had gotten the best of him and he was forced to face the consequences of his careless actions again.

Only this time it was worse, he didn't think that she would forgive him for this.

He didn't think that he could forgive himself either.

"I just wanted to make him proud." Was all she muttered , chewing on the inside of her cheek as she wrapped her arms around herself . Feeling like she was heading into a state of shock.

Max exhaled shakily , taking another step towards her and feeling his own heart crack as she took another away from him. Still not looking at him.

"You have - this isn't your fault. I shouldn't have - I didn't mean to! God Cherrie! I am so fucking sorry! You have to believe me-!" He was babbling away barely making any sense as he started to cry, the guilt nearly killing him.

Cherrie just shook her head and finally glanced his way, and the way she looked at him made him freeze in his spot as medics rushed over to them.

There was nothing but hatred in her eyes as she told him calmly , voice void of any emotion.

"I hate you." Before she was pulled away by the medics .

Leaving him to stand there with his heart at his feet, sobbing into his helmet as it all came crashing down around him.

She meant it. He felt it.

And he loved her.

Yet he had let his own insecurities and anger ruin it again.

She hated him.

But he hated himself more then.

Cherrie didn't look at him for a month straight .

She Didn't speak to him unless it was absolutely necessary.

Max had tried almost everyday to apologise to her , to speak to her to try and fix everything. The guilt making him unable to sleep at night, flashes of their crash replaying in his mind.

Everybody hated him for it. He knew they did.

He had almost killed her. He had crashed into her the same way her father had lost his life by his own teammate so long ago.

He couldn't forgive himself. He didn't want to.

He just wanted her to look at him again. Even if it was just to shout at him, to scream at him- to hit him and hurt him.

To do anything . As long as she looked at him again he didn't care what she did to him.

He finally got his chance to speak to her on his own birthday .

He was spending it alone, declining the persistent texts from his friends and from the team to go out and have some fun with them.

He told them that he had a headache . That he wasn't in the mood but to have a drink on him.

Then he shut off his phone and curled up in his bed , blankly staring up at the ceiling of the hotel room as he felt the numbness sink deep in his chest.

He was alone and it was all his fault .

Then as the sky's darkened and he finally managed to pull himself up in the bed , he heard rapid knocking at his door. It didn't stop even when he shouted at them to go away.

Then he froze as he heard her annoyed voice echo loudly through the door.

"Open the fucking door max before I kick it down!" She threatened him impatiently , balancing two bags between her arms with a huff.

Max hurried over to the door and quickly swung it open, looking down at her with wide eyes, shocked at the sight of her .

"Cherrie?" He gasped . Looking at her in amazement , wondering if he was dreaming .

She just rolled her eyes at him and pushed past him into the room. Huffing at him unhappily.

"What are you doing?" She demanded to know as she glanced around at his pity party. Seeing multiple empty plates and empty cans of red bull stacked up on the bedside tables.

His room was a mess. She took a glance back at his tried eyes and down turned lips . Dark circles underneath his upset eyes as he kept his gaze down to his sock clad feet as though he was too scared to even look at her.

She felt her own heart sink.

She had a lot of time to think about what had happened and what had been happening between them for a long time now.

Having sat down and talked to Charles about how she and max have always been pitted against each other their whole careers , the rivalry having been practically spoon fed to them the minute they arrived on track.

She had seen the way that max would silently walk away whenever she won a race, while she would have a team of people and friends gathering her in their arms to celebrate her win.

Max went home alone.

It was as though unless he won, his own father didn't want anything to do with him. And Cherrie had noticed the way that max tried so hard to prove his worth to him, the way he looked up to him and only wanted to make him proud.

Just like she did with her own father. Only her dad had believed in her and had been supportive , had been kind and gentle with his encouragement.

He had told her that if she wanted to be champion of the world , then she would be. As simple as that.

Max's dad had never told him such a thing and she only realised now with a sour taste in her mouth that perhaps his anger towards her over these years , was more so anger towards himself for not achieving what he thought he should . And anger at his dad for never being there unless he won.

She felt guilty as she thought back to all those times over the years when she had seen max looking over at her celebrating . The way he seemed to watch every thing she did with wonder , clearly wanting to do the same as she did.

Because despite his 'hatred' of her, she had seen the way that he had looked at her with pride when she won her first ever championship , with tears in her eyes as she pointed her finger to the sky, she had caught Max's eyes in the crowd below her and he had  smiled.

She wished that she would have spoken to him then. Wished that she wouldn't have let her own pettiness and stubbornness stop them from being friends.

He was hurting. She could see that now.

Perhaps it was never just as simple as on track rivalry.

Because if max truly hated her and wanted her gone, then why did he look so heartbroken? Why did he look so desperate and afraid when he had rushed over to her crashed car after spinning her off the track?

Max fiddled with his fingers nervously , slowly walking over to his bed and taking a seat at the end of the mattress.

"What do you mean?" He murmured. Still shocked that she was there, in his room, willingly speaking to him.

Glancing up to see her stood in front of him with a frown, worry written across her face as she carefully placed the bags in her hands down onto the floor instead .

"It's your birthday." She stated the obvious "why aren't you celebrating?"

Max looked at her like she was insane , scoffing. "I'm not really in the mood to have fun Cherrie. I almost killed you a few weeks ago. Or have you forgotten?" He snapped at her without meaning to, so overcome with guilt and anger at himself that he could barely think straight .

Cherrie didn't react other than a small raising of her brow , making him look away from her when she just continued to look at him , unimpressed with him snapping at her.

"I haven't forgotten." She finally said after a long, tense silence . Before letting out a long sigh and kneeling down in front of him on the soft carpet .

Max looked at her with wide eyes "what are you doing?!" He exclaimed.

Warily eyeing her kneeling between his legs and wondering if he had accidentally taken some drug instead of his vitamins before she arrived.

She just rolled her eyes at him and pulled one of the bags over to her.

"It's your birthday." She repeated casually "and I got you a present." She then proceeded to pull out a familiar helmet for him to see.

Max frowned, looking between the colourful helmet that she had worn when she had crashed. When he had made her crash and almost killed her, and back down to her in disbelief .

His stomach dropping in unease "is this a joke? Cause it's not funny Cherrie. I know that I fucked up, I don't need a painful reminder of how much-"

Cherrie didn't let him finish his upset rant. Instead she just placed the helmet in his lap and nodded down to it calmly .

"Look inside it." She simply instructed him, watching his face carefully .

He gave her one last look before carefully holding her helmet , his fingers tracing over the pretty design that hardly had a dent despite the awful impact it had taken.

Then he turned the helmet over and lifted the visor, his fingers freezing as he read the words that were written messily inside of it. Swallowing audibly as he read the small words of her handwriting over and over again.

Believe in yourself like I believe in you. It read.

He exhaled shakily and glanced up at her unsurely , his lips parting yet not knowing what to say.

Cherrie just smiled a little and told him "it's what my dad always told me when I was younger . To believe in myself like he believed in me. How can you reach for the stars if there's no one to help you there? Success is nothing but a empty room if there's no one there to share it with." Her voice was quiet and reflective.

Having spent the last few weeks really thinking about how wrong she had been. How differently she wished that she had acted .

Max just looked at her silently , his heart racing in his chest as he watched her face soften towards him.

She had never looked at him like that before. No matter how many times he had wished for her to, he had only ever seen her smile at Charles like that.

He cleared his throat "why- why are you giving me this? What-" what does it mean? Went unsaid.

Luckily Cherrie understood and simply shrugged her shoulders , sighing .

"Well that helmet saved my life . And those words did too. I thought that it's only right for you to have it. And maybe - maybe it can help you to? I don't know - it's stupid-" it was her time to be unsure as she nervously glanced away from him.

Not knowing how to say that she was sorry. For everything .

Simply saying it didn't seem like enough .

Max quickly shook his head "no! No! It's not stupid- it's really - it's really thoughtful actually . I-" he inhaled shakily , clutching onto the helmet tightly with trembling fingers .

"I wish that I had words like that to carry around with me. Maybe I would have been less of an asshole." He muttered still angry with himself for all that he had done.

Cherrie reached up and grabbed one of his hands in her own making him glance back down at her in shock, his eyes widening as she gently squeezed the palm of his hand .

Smiling up at him sheepishly "well, I know it's not- it probably doesn't mean anything coming from me but-" she laughed a little nervously "maybe they can be your words too?"

Max felt like he couldn't breath. His eyes locked down to her hand in his with building hope.

"What do you mean? I almost killed you cherrie! I was so stupid and-"

She shook her head at him gently "I forgive you max. I know that it wasn't on purpose and I know that you regret it. I should have let you apologise because honestly-" she inhaled deeply , gathering her own courage.

"I'm sorry too." She told him honestly .

He frowned at her, confused . "What? What are you sorry for? You have every right to hate me after everything I've done!" His voice rose incredulously, his flickering between her own desperately, heart pounding in his chest.

Cherrie just squeezed his hand again, swallowing thickly as she saw the guilt and self hatred written across his face .

"No. I don't hate you max." She told him firmly needing him to know how she really felt.

"And I'm sorry for never giving you a chance. You- I think I may have taken things wrongly. Ya know like that time when we were sixteen and you came over to me and said 'you take the corners like a devil'" she recalled that particular memory with a wince.

Max also grimacing as he remembered how he had gathered all of his courage just to go over to her after another race between them, having wanted to be her friend.

Only it had all gone to absolute shit when he blurted out that she was a devil instead.

"I meant that as a compliment. That you were really fast and fearless on the corners.." he mumbled , embarrassed by how he just couldn't hold his tongue around her.

He had been accidentally insulting her since day one , when really all he wanted to do was tell her how amazing he thought she was.

How much he wanted to be like her , learn from her...

Instead he had become her enemy Instead. Talk about putting his foot in his mouth...

Cherrie groaned in misery , letting go of his hand so that she could cover her face in embarrassment at how hot headed she had always been.

This was her fault too. If she had just given him a chance ...

"God! I just thought you were saying that I drove dangerously or something! I'm sorry! I just- we were also put against each other and everyone always expected us to be rivals and.. it's always between just us.." she trailed off , feeling terrible for what could have been.

So influenced by others and the need for success that she had forgotten to listen to herself and what she knew best.

Max laughed a little , carefully setting aside the helmet on the bed. He planned to put it in his front room with the other two helmets he had of hers.

He told her so with a small , sheepish grin. "You know that I still have two of your helmets. I'm gonna put this one right in the middle of them."

Cherrie paused , eyeing him in confusion . "Two of them?" She couldn't remember ever giving him two.

Max nodded his head, chuckling as he scratched the side of his neck nervously.

"Yeah. The first one was when we swapped helmets when we were eighteen... well, we were forced to. You practically threw it at me." He reminded her in amusement . It was a pink helmet with flowers all over it and her name written across it in big letters.

Cherrie went pink like the helmet was. Grimacing guilty as the memory came back to her.

It was a rare race where he had beaten her and she hadn't been very happy at all. He had handed her his helmet with a smile, telling her congratulations and that it was a good race.

Cherrie had thought he was mocking her.

So she had told him to fuck off and then proceeded to practically throw her helmet at him before childishly stomping off to sulk.

She groaned again "oh god. Max I'm so sorry-"

He just waved off her guilt with a laugh, the pressure slowly lifting from his chest piece by piece as he looked down at her.

Feeling his heart lighten at the guilty little smile on her pretty face , her eyes pleading for him to forgive her for being such a hot headed woman. Unable to believe that perhaps everything had just been a series of misunderstandings between them all along .

"No, no. It's okay." He laughed "honestly maybe I should be saying sorry to you because I also.." he hesitated to admit it, his cheeks flushing red .

Cherrie eyed him warily "oh god what did you do?" The amused tone of her voice made him admit it.

"I stole your helmet in silverstone. I saw Charles give you his and we had both been on the podium together and I wanted to be the one to swap helmets with you but-" he rushed out covering his bright red face with his hands. Muffling his words.

Cherrie gasped out a laugh. Leaning forward on her knees and placed her hands on his thighs as she pushed herself up, slapping at his arm in amusement .

"Max! I can't believe it was you! I was so confused when I turned around and my helmet was gone! Oh my god!" She couldn't stop giggling at him.

Max slowly uncovered his face and gazed down at her pretty smile , her eyes crinkled at the corners as she laughed at him. Feeling his heart flutter at the way he had done that, he had made her laugh. Nobody else. Him.

He chuckled "you're not mad?" His breathed out in relief . Still Scanning her still smiling face in awe.

She was so beautiful that he found it hard to breathe. He always had done. She made him do and say stupid things. It was ridiculous the way he couldn't just behave normally around her . To nervous to think straight . She made him into a giant mess. Cherrie just shook her head at him, sighing loudly as she looked down at his flustered face softly.

"No max I'm not mad. I just wish you would have talked to me . All this time I've wasted being angry at you and -" she struggled to even explain what she was feeling . Upset with herself for always thinking the worse of him.

He gently took ahold of her arms and made her look at him again, smiling softly at her.

"There was times I deserved it though. I did deliberately wind you up and push you to snap back at me ." He admitted quietly , gently stroking the soft skin of her arms .

She frowned "why though? Why pick at me like that when you know how easy I snap back?" She asked him curiously .

Max pursed his lips , avoiding her eyes for a moment as his shoulders sagged in defeat. He couldn't keep lying to himself or to Cherrie any longer.

If he had been honest right from the start then maybe none of this drama would have ever taken place . Maybe things would have been easier. Maybe he wouldn't have had to do this alone.

"Because that was the only way I could get your attention. It's was stupid and childish. I just wanted you to see me because-" he looked at her , ashamed.

"Because I've always seen you. I have- you've always been somebody that I've looked up to and wanted to be like. You've always achieved everything first , always beat me and I was jealous." He admitted to her quietly .

"I wanted to be your friend when we were kids . But I could never say the right thing. I didn't know how to get you to like me." He muttered, his hands sliding down her arms to grab at her hands instead , fiddling with her fingers anxiously.

Cherrie just interlaced their fingers and listened to him quietly . Her face open and soft .

He inhaled deeply and continued on while he still had the courage to look her in her eyes and tell her the truth.

"And then we grew older and I still wanted to be you but I wanted to be with you even more so. But then you became so close with Charles and I got even more jealous because that was all I wanted. I don't even know how .. or when it happened." He sighed quietly . His eyes filling with tears again.

He shook his head at himself , sniffling. "I just - one day I looked at you and all I saw was who I wanted to be. And I saw you smile at Charles and i just wanted you to look at me like that- I wanted you to see me-" his voice broke before he could even finish.

Cherrie leaned forward and took him in her arms, cradling his head into her neck as she tangled her hand into his hair, her other hand stroking circles into his back as he started to cry. Clutching onto her tightly , she felt her eyes own pool with tears as he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight, like he was afraid to let go in case she ran away.

"Shhh max. It's okay. It's okay- I did see you . I have always seen you!" She rushed to tell him , pulling back enough so that she could take ahold of his cheeks on her hands, caressing his face gently.

His eyes searching her desperately, clutching onto her waist with his hands .

"I have always thought of you max. You drove me crazy! And every time I walked into a room the first person I looked for has always been you. Even when we were fighting- even when we were at each other's throat- I always looked for you-"

He cried in relief , heart feeling like it was trying to beat right out of his chest. Overwhelmed with his feelings that he had tried for so long to push away.

"Oh my god. You feel it too?" He breathed out in disbelief .

Letting out a breathless laugh, letting go of her waist and clutching at her beautiful face instead , his thumbs quickly wiping away the tears that pooled between her lashes .

Both of them smiling in disbelief , in relief and joy.

She let out a shocked laugh "I do! I just- I thought you hated me and -"

Max's eyes were wild , shaking his head rapidly in denial.

"No. No! Never hated you! Never!" He pushed her hair behind her ears , grinning at her in awe.

Then he breathed out and whispered "I love you. I'm in love with you. I love you so fucking much-"

Cherrie couldn't believe it. Laughing breathlessly, she just shook her head in disbelief at how stupid the both of them had been.

All this time ...Then she surged forward and kissed him like she should have been kissing him all this time.

No more wasting time. She promised herself silently as she felt him moan against her mouth in relief , his hands clutching at her like he was afraid to let go.

The kiss was messy and frantic . Teeth clashing and tongues exploring each other's mouths as she pushed him onto his back on the bed, her helmet right beside them proudly .

“I love you max. Fuck.." she breathed out giggling as she pulled away enough to kiss all over his face, beaming down at him in disbelief .

Similar emotions written across his face as he gaped up at her , heart pounding in his chest. She looked at the words written on the helmet and smiled , shaking her head.

"And I'm so proud of you. Every win- I'm gonna be there. Because I love you and I believe in you. Because we're- we're teammates now remember? We have each other's back. I'm never gonna not be there for you again okay?" She promised him seriously , kissing him again.

Max choked on a cry, laughing and crying at the same time as he clutched her body to him . Looking up at her like she was his god.

That was all he had ever wanted to hear . It was all he had ever dreamed of.

She loved him. And she was proud of him. Finally , somebody was proud of him.

Max's smile took over his whole face , their teeth knocking together as they both giggled into the kiss . Happiness filling their hearts, their heads and their lungs as they both gasped for breath.

"And I'm gonna be there for you too Cherrie. Because I love you and I'm gonna continue loving you for as long as you let me. You're my girl." He told her , overcome with love.

Cherrie just smiled and kissed him again.

"you're gonna be loving me a long time then. Because I want you forever." She whispered against his lips.

Max just sighed contently, pulling away to gaze into her eyes and seeing his future there.

"I'm gonna love you in every life. I'm gonna be your best friend and your lover too ." He promised her.

He was going to make sure that they never made the same mistakes again. All those years arguing. All the miscommunication and jealously ... he was going to spend the rest of his life making it up to her.

She was going to win the race but he was going to win her trust , and her heart.

'Believe in yourself like I believe in you'

Her father always had been right .

He was never going to doubt himself again. He had her love and that was more than enough for him.

[koffeesfancy]

14. "did you stick to the plan?" | Ari Lennox x Reader

Summary: When your friend asked for a favor, you said yes without a second thought. Of course you would. You’d do anything for her.

Rating: PG

Genre: Romance, fluff, angst

Word Count: 652

A/N: No thoughts. Just enjoying my day off work, catching up with some writing and other hobbies <3

Thanksgiving with Ari’s family wasn’t what you had planned. You were supposed to spend the day at home, curled up with takeout. But then she called with her usual corniness, fumbling over her words, asking you to pretend to be her girlfriend for the day. To get her mom off her back, she’d said, laughing like it was no big deal. But it was a big deal. To you, anyway.

You’d liked Ari for years. She was your best friend, sure, but that didn’t stop your heart from racing every time she smiled or said something cheesy. So, when she asked for this favor, you said yes without a second thought. Of course you would. You’d do anything for her.

Now, you were here, squeezed into her family's cozy DC row house. You felt the weight of the lie tugging at your conscience as Ari’s mom gushed about how cute the two of you were together. The warmth of the family, the laughter, the smells of turkey and candied yams filled the air. Everyone seemed so…happy. You felt a little guilty.

“Now you ain’t no stranger around her,” Ari’s mom said as she wiped her hands on a dish towel, her face glowing with excitement. “You know we always go down to Virginia to pick out a tree. I don’t think you been with us before, but with everybody all together it’s perfect.”

Soon enough, you were outside in the crisp November air, climbing into Ari’s dad’s car. Ari and her mom were packed into the van with her siblings and nieces, but her dad had insisted on driving you separately. You settled into the passenger seat, the tension swirling in your stomach.

As soon as you pulled away from the curb, Ari’s dad glanced over at you, his voice calm and knowing. “So, she put you up to it, huh?”

You froze, gripping the seatbelt a little tighter. “Sir?”

He chuckled softly, his eyes still on the road. “Ari ain’t never been good at this kind of stuff. I love her, but…well, you know how she is. And I know my daughter.” His gaze flicked to you briefly, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. “But I also know you. I’ve known for a long time that you’ve got feelings for her.”

Your stomach dropped. You opened your mouth to protest, but he just raised a hand, gently cutting you off.

“It’s not a bad thing,” he said. “I just think…maybe it’s time you’re honest with her. She might be a little slow to catch on, but she ain’t completely clueless. And this pretending, this lie—it won’t do either of you any good in the long run.”

You didn’t know what to say. The car was quiet, save for the hum of the engine and the soft holiday music playing through the speakers. His words hung in the air, leaving you to think.

By the time you reached the Christmas tree farm, your mind was spinning. You were still processing the conversation when Ari’s dad gave the whole family a knowing look and waved them ahead. “You two catch up,” he said, giving you a small wink.

Ari’s gloved hand brushed yours as she walked beside you, her breath visible in the cold air. She glanced at you, her cheeks red from the chill or maybe from something else. “So, did you stick to the plan?”

You hesitated, your heart pounding louder than your footsteps crunching on the gravel. You could hear her dad’s voice in your head, urging you to be honest. This was your moment, the one you’d avoided for so long.

“Well, actually, Ari…” You took a deep breath, looking at her with one final cautionary glance, “I think there’s something I need to speak with you about.”

Her wide eyes met yours, and the world around you seemed to still, just for a moment.

[astoldbychae]

OC Questions

Question generator here.

Mom's side

Loving (Georgia; Mom) // Guardian Angel (Elias; Older Brother) // Pain-In-The-Ass (Tremaine; Younger Brother)

Dad's Side

Reliable (Avery; Dad) // Generous (Celeste; Stepmom) // Trustworthy (Anthony; Younger Brother) // Overprotective (Bree; Younger Sister)

Not family by blood but blood couldn't make them any closer

Loyal (Dino)

Just fine! Lol. He sorta-kinda prefers them, mainly because of his line of work. He's no angel! So he knows exactly how karma works. He takes his precautions because He doesn't want anyone that he TRULY cares about to be caught up in his shit.

Yup! He was out here juggling several women while with Simone (She's a Stripper at Onyx DSV now but she used to help him move his drugs before he went to Prison)...She was out here hunchin on [Redacted] from Newcrest Thugs (His rival gang). Shit was/is MESSYYYYYY! He ended up messing with Simone's cousin just to get back at her (even though he was out here on bullshit during their relationship). 🙃

Left handed. I mean, he's decent with his other hand. Surprisingly, he's most comfortable driving with his Right hand. Everything else is done with his Left.

It's his favorite pastime, honestly. You know how some people feel naps cure everything *cough, cough...Melo...cough, cough*...Well, this one feels that sex cures everything. He needs it whether he's in a relationship or not. Especially since going so long without it while he was locked up. He has his select few partners that he can call when he needs to and He practices it safely, so I'll give him that!

Yes...a few...*covers face*. The first time was an act of self defense (well protecting his brother) and that one weighs on him, heavily. The others after that, he really isn't phased by. In his mind it's the whole "casualties of war" mindset. It's either them or him mindset, ya know? and...yes, he will 🙃... I mean, He does have the Public Enemy aspiration.

Absolutely! But he's very selective with who he puts his lips on. He's not out here just slobbing down any and everybody. He likes neck and mouth kisses (tongue kisses are reserved for his girl). Kissing him on his neck drives him crazy (and if you suck/nibble on that lil part where the neck slopes down to the shoulder...WATCH OUT! You've been warned!)

He's learned from some mistakes but unfortunately not all. He most definitely repeats them...Let him tell it bad habits are hard to break...or whatever 🙄

Yes, he knows his parents. He was raised by his dad and stepmom, so he has a pretty close relationship with his dad. He's gotten closer with his mom as he aged. Their relationship is a lot better than it used to be, both parties are committed to strengthening the bond.

Yes. He was shot twice (once as a teen and another time as a young adult). He wasn't stabbed necessarily but that's how he got the scar on his face, while in Prison (surprisingly for helping protect Dino in there on some gang shit).

He will definitely remove the problem or threat (without having to think twice about it. Hell, it'll be removed before you can even blink knowing his ass.)

Boxers or Naked. Preferably the latter, He hates feeling restricted...and likes the ease of access to slip into something wet and warm at a moments notice😏

Ooh, chile! He's a work in progress but he's gotten a bit better. He smokes (cigarettes, cigars, and weed) or drinks to calm his nerves/clear his mind but he's definitely easy to anger. How he reacts depends on what the situation is or WHO riled him up. If it's Marguerite, he's definitely going to smoke (or drink) and then "fuck his feelings away," her crazy/kinky ass loves when he's rough (she purposely pisses him off just so they can "make up") 😒 Now, If it's a more serious situation, he's most likely liable to remove the problem or threat...NO FURTHER COMMENT. 🤐

He primarily sleeps on his back but if he is in bed with his girl (or a lil boo thang) he will move to his side cause he likes to cuddle & feel something.

Winter. If he could hibernate, he would...but he'll take being inside, inside something wet & warm any day.

[charlie-lynchs]

Eye-Witness

POV: the daughter of Kate Beckett and Richard Castle witness a murder and gets hurt because of it.

Name: Charlotte "Charlie" Johanna Beckett

Age: 17

Warnings⚠️: death, blood, weapons

Charlie was awoken by the knock on her door like every school morning.

"Charlie come on time for school." Her mother Kate yelled and opend the door. "Seriously you're still sleeping we have to leave in 10 min." Kate said while pulling the blanket off Charlie. "Moooom, let me sleep." Charlie groaned while pressing her face in her pillow. Charlie was the strong and confident like her mom but also pretty stubborn and waking up was not her favourite thing. "No, you're going to be downstairs in 5 min or I will drag your butt myself and we both know you don't want that to happen." Kate said giving Charlie the look. "Fine" Charlie said annoyed.

5 min later Charlie walks downstairs.

"Ah, the dead has been raised" Rick said in the good mood he always is in. Charlie sits down and start eating eating. "Morning Dad" she sat still half asleep. Rick gives her a kiss on the head and sits down in front of her. "Good Morning everybody." Kate says walking in the kitchen, kissing Charlie on the head. "Morning Yeah, good no" Charlie said not looking up from her plate. Kate's phone starts ringing. "Beckett" she answers it. "Oh and Dad I was not dead but the Person they're calling about is really dead." Charlie said looking up. "Haha good one kiddo" Rick and Charlie Highfive. "Well there is a homocide so I have to go." Kate said. "But what about Charlie? I can't drive her." Rick said.

"Guys calm down, I will just walk there and back. I'm not 6 anymore." Charlie said to stop the talk. "You sure?" Kate asked looking at her. "Yes Mom. Go and serve justice to the victim." Kate smile at that comment. "Will do. Bye love you baby" Kate said while giving Charlie a big kiss on the cheek. "Bye babe" Rick and Kate kiss and she walks out.

The way to school is boring and always the same. Charlie takes, like every other student who live in her area the shortcut through an alley. It can get really creepy in the dark but Charlie wouldn't admit that she is scared.

Two streets after the alley Sara catches up with her. "Yo Charlie, what's up?" Sara says in a good mood. "Not much. I have absolutely no interest and motivation for school." Charlie says while laughing.

In the 12th precinct:

"Good job solving the murder, guys" Kate said walking up to Javier and Kevin. "Thanks Cap, wasn't to hard after all." Kevin said. "OK I have a meeting at one pp. I can't answer calls, so text me when there is another murder." Kate said. "Will do." Javier and Kevin said at the same time.

Charlie had to walk home alone because Sara was picked up by here parents. She walks the same way as usual and greets the homeless guy sitting at the corner. She walks in the alley but comes to an stop when she sees an man in his mid 50s pointing a gun at another man kneeling infront of him. Charlie gets out her phone and starts recording.

"Please Sir, I have kids and a wife." the man on the knees says. "You should have thought of that before you betrayed me." He says and shots the man in the chest. He shots him another time in the head and looks up. Charlie and the man have direct. eyecontact. Charlie starts running out of the alley. She hears another gun shot. She reaches for her phone and calls her mom but keeps running.

Kate has her phone on silent while being in a meeting. "This is Kates Phone, you know what to do." "Fuck!, Mom it's me. I think I saw something I shouldn't have seen. I'm running right now, but I don-" Charlie gets interrupted by being thrown into a white van. "Naughty little girl, you were not supposed to see that, but now we have to get rid of you to." The man said.

"I wouldn't do that. I recorded everything and sent it to a hidden laptop of mine. No one but me knows where it is." Charlie said knowing they can't kill, but torture her.

At the same time Kate gets out of the meeting. She was just about to look at her messages but gets a call from the precinct before. There's been another murder.

"Hi Cap." Javier said when Kate arrived at the seen. "Hi, so what do we got?"

"43 Year old Man. Was shot 3 times. One time in the head and two times in the chest."

"And that daylight. Brave. Any witnesses?"

"Yes a homeless guy. Sat around the corner heard a the gunshots. And it gets better." Javier said.

"He saw the murderer?"

"No but he saw someone who did. After the second shot a teenage girl ran out of the alley. She saw him." Javier said.

"Perfect, let him describe so we can find her." Kate said walking away, forgetting to check her phone...

Charlie woke up in an dark what she guessed basement.

"See who is awake, ready to talk?" The man says. Charlie is tied to a chair and answers:"Over my dead body".

"Oh you will wish that you didn't just said that." He walks to her and starts cutting her with a knife along arm.

At the precinct:

Kevin and Javier walk into the captains office. Kate smile at them, but seeing there faces she starts to frown. "What happend?" She asked wanting to know what's going on. "Kate the sketch of the girl came in." Javier said. "Good and what?" Kate asked confused. "You should have a look at her." Kevin says and lays the sketch on her desk. She looks at it and her face turns completely blank. "No, No. Charlie? She was supposed to be at school." Kate says fighting tears. "Her last period didn't happen, we checked with the school. Kate there is more." Kevin said calmly.

"There is tape of her running and calling someone and..." Kevin is not sure how to say it. "Say it Ryan come on." Kate said getting angry. "She was ripped into an white van, propaly from the killer." Kate can't hold it in anymore and starts crying. She pulls out her phone and sees the massage from Charlie. "I know who she called." She starts playing the messages and feels immediately guilty for not picking up the phone. "Ok. Ryan find that Van. Espacito call Castle and tell him everything. And hurry she doesn't have long she knows to much." Kate says picking up the phone.

In the meantime, Charlie sits beaten up in the chair and breathing heavily. She has cuts and bruises everywhere. "I have to say you are tougher then most grown ups I have here. But now our little game has to end." He points a gun at Charlie. "I don't care about the tape anymore I will just vanish to another country." He shots her in the stomach. As soon as he starts going. The door burst open and Kevin and Javier run in. "NYPD. HANDS IN THE AIR." they yell. Both of them throw themselves on the man. Charlie barley make out what happend. But suddenly to known figures make their way to her. "Oh God. Charlie baby. We need medical assistance now!" Kate says.

Charlie feel someone run their hand over hair and Kate holds her hand while the paramedic take care of her. Kate picks her on bridal style up and carries her out and lays her on the strechter. "Everything is going to be ok baby. Mom and Dad are here." After that she doesn't remember anything.

Two Days Later:

Charlie lays in an hospital bed both if her parents next to her. Kate didn't leave her side since she was there. "Kate you need to go home take a shower and eat something real. I will watch her." Rick says while rubbin her back. "No Castle. I need to be here. I need to be here when she wakes up." Kate said not taking her eyes if Charlie.

Light. That is the first thing Charlie sees when she opens her eyes. Soon the light becomes less and she can make out the hospital room. Her uncles Kevin and Javier a sitting in the chair in front of her and reading the newspaper. Next to them are her Grandma and sister. On her right side her dad texting something on his phone. She feels someone holding her hand. She turns her head to the left and sees her mom holding her hand while sleeping. Charlie presses her hand soft and Kate jolts up looking at Charlie. "Charlie, Baby you're awake. How do you feel?" Kate asked while softly stroking her finger over her cheek. Now everyone look to the bed and smiles. "Like I was shot." she says with a smile. "That isn't funny. You scared the hell out of us." Kate says. "You did it Kiddo. I'm so proud." He says with a smile. "How long was I out." Charlie asked. "Two Days. That man did a lot to you." Kevin says now standing next to the bed. "And you're going to stay for while. You will need a lot of physical therapy." Javier takes over. Charlie suddenly sits up trying to stand up. "No I have to go and get my laptop.". Kate holds her back with her arms and lays her back down with the voice of her doctor in mind that Charlie shouldn't move to much and quickly. "Baby hey everything is ok he is captured and you're save." Kate says laying down with her. "No you don't understand. The only reason that I'm alive and they didn't kill me in that Van was because I have a tape. I filmed him and his man cannot find that laptop." Charlie explained. "Charlie, God you're so clever. Look I will sent Uncle Kevin and Uncle Javier to get it then nothing happens to it. OK?" Kate asked. Charlie just nodded and gave them the location.

The night was really hard for Charlie but as always she tried to hide it. But the pain and the nightmares were to much. And she suddenly starts to cry. Kate who sits next to her notice that. "Hey what's going on?" She asked sitting on the sight if the bed. "I don't know why. I'm sorry" Kate lays down next to her and move Charlies head carefully on her chest. "There is nothing to apologise for. Let it out baby. I'm right here." Kate says calm and quiet. Charlie cried for a little bit longer but eventually fell asleep in her mothers embrace.

The next weeks were hard. Charlie had to do a lot of physical therapy and went to therapy on demand of her parents. They were there for her on every step of the way.

And then the day finally came. Charlie is allowed to go home. She was so happy that she couldn't sleep the whole night. The next morning they all walked out of her room. Rick had all the bags. Charlie still has to take everything calm and slow much to her dislike. "Ok, I only have to fill out the discharge papers and we're good to go." Kate said walking to the front desk, Rick behind her. When they walked out Charlie would have sprinted to the car if her personal police captain wouldn't tell her to slow down. "Charlie I mean it. If you start running again, I will pick up and carry you like when you were a baby." she would warn her and give the look. Charlie would just answer with "Ay Ay Captain".

When des Beckett-Castle Family walks in the appartement, Charlie was hit with a "SUPRISE" from her family. They celebrated and Charlie went to her room to sleep when she got a notification on her phone.

Murder Trail over. Patrick Swat gets the Life Sentence

with a smirk she turned her phone off and laid down. But she couldn't sleep so she sneaks into her parents bedroom and lays between them. Both Rick and Kate laid one arm around her. "I love guys." Charlie says quietly. "We love you too. We're so happy you're back."

And the family happily falls asleep.

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

Yeah that's it. I hope you liked it and forgive me for any mistakes. English is not my first language

[warrior-of-waistbands]

Rey is the first in the group to get their driving permit, and they're excited about it! So the entire gang piles into Rey's dad's car to cheer them on as they take their first proper drive around the neighborhood, and it all goes well until Rey gets cocky on the parallel park and accidentally clips the back of the car against a street lamp

Rey, who's supposed to be the "responsible" one, panics immediately, freaking out because it's their dad's car and he trusted them with it for the weekend while he's away on business, and it's in the middle of beating themself up that Marco manages to calm them down and sit with them on the curb

Marco's dad works in car repair, and he reassures Rey that his dad'll have the car good as new and back to normal before Monday, like nothing ever happened. He'll even give Rey the friends and family discount! Rey, reluctant, agrees.

Next morning, Rey drives the car to the shop; Marco's already there, and he and his dad greet Rey and Marco's dad, once he takes a look at the damage, reassures Rey that it's nothing he can't fix in a couple of hours, won't even leave a mark, he'll even give Rey the friends and family discount! Rey didn't think Marco was being serious about that.

"Just take this bill to the manager's office and she'll get all the financials sorted for you." So Rey goes. The manager's name tag identifies her as Josephine and she's all friendly as she greets Rey, takes their paperwork. "Friends and family, huh? You know Ernesto?"

They make small talk. Rey and Marco's family go way back. At some point Josephine apologizes for the delay in getting everything sorted, things have been so busy at the shop lately she's backed up on everybody's business. "Lots of monster attacks. People get their cars banged up. Want them done as soon as possible. We're all going a little stir crazy in here."

Rey works at the Piquasaurus. They get it. Their dad works in real estate. He's been having similar problems. "Weird time to be a business owner in Piqua." Josephine chuckles. "I've been in this business for twenty years. Nothing fazes me anymore."

She hands Rey their receipt. "Real nice meeting you, Mx. Gurira."

"You too, Miss.... uh—"

"Oh, just Josie's fine." She shakes their hand. "But if you wanna get formal, the name's Krupp."

The car is spotless. Rey tells their dad what happened anyway. They pride themself on being the responsible one. Rey's dad laughs it off lightheartedly, squeezes Rey into a hug. "Ernesto gave you the friends and family discount, didn't he?"

"Well—yeah."

"Good on him!"

[simplynotcapable]

so if Visenya, Baelon, Monty, and Brigit (bringing their chihuahuas/yorkies/whatever Vyper and Winter are if you want, Vyper reads major chihuahua or pomeranian energy to me) all went on one of those multi-day road trips from LA to NYC (or wherever, you pick), how would it go? Who hogs the aux cord? Who gets snack crumbs everywhere? Who is anal about being the one to drive, who tries to avoid driving whenever possible? Anyone get carsick?

this is so funny to think about you have no idea. i've been wheezing for thirty minutes

I'm of the opinion that fics where the dragons are cars are superior to the ones where they're pets, so the road trip is actually happening IN either Vyper/Wynter.

Monty is like an old lady driver because he's terrified of getting into an accident. Exactly at the speed limit or under it at all times, never forgets to use his blinkers, both hands on the wheel, adjusts the mirrors every time he gets in the car.

Brigit? Okay driver. Nothing major. Speeds a little sometimes.

Baelon and Visenya? MENACES.

Baelon's a really good driver, but he also takes turns SO FAST and has such deep animosity towards everyone else on the road that it stresses everybody out. Just "and then this worthless motherfucker, what do they even think they're doing, bitch I WILL HIT YOU WITH THE CAR" and then Brigit's like "bro that is a 76 year old man stopped at a stop sign CALM DOWN"

Visenya's just. Bad. She's terrible. She speeds and she takes curves like a madwoman and she gets distracted playing with the radio and talking, she does not use her blinker and forgets to check her blindspot like 98% of the time. Two fingers on the wheel. Has driven with her knees before while trying to fix her eyeliner. The fact that she has never been in a car crash is entirely because sometimes Baelon just grabs the wheel.

("Fucking--brake lights, slow down!"

"I saw it, Monty, I saw it! God, I passed my test before you, you know, you don't have to act like--"

"Your dad paid the instructor!"

"That was unrelated!")

Brigit has to stop to pee like. So often. Baelon is so aggravated every single time. Usually they stop at like a gas station for her to use the bathroom, and she buys a slushie while she's there which just makes her need to pee again, and it's a vicious, terrible cycle.

Whoever is in shotgun (they take that in shifts) has control of the music, but everyone else is constantly complaining about it.

Monty listens to the weirdest mix of Taylor Swift, jazz, and heavy metal, and no one knows what the fuck they're supposed to do with that.

Visenya plays stupid things because she's annoying, like Yo Gabba Gabba soundtrack type shit, and then will randomly hit them with a weird ass indie band no one has ever heard of but is??? So good???

Baelon likes Nickelback, and he'll just randomly have Disney soundtrack songs on his playlists with no explanation.

Brigit listens to German pop music. She does not speak German. She refuses to elaborate.

They survive solely on junk food and random gas station fruit until they reach their destination, but they're all pretty good about not making too much of a mess. No one gets carsick except Monty--and that's just because he keeps trying to read in the car, he's fine once he gives up. Visenya keeps stealing Baelon's sunglasses. At one point, Brigit forgets her wallet on the gas station counter and they have to double back an hour to pick it up. Monty buys a spray bottle and uses it whenever it's Visenya and Baelon's turn to sit in the backseat because if they start making out it's going to get awkward. Visenya and Monty are always cold but Brigit and Baelon are always hot, so the AC is a knockdown dragout fight. Monty falls asleep and Baelon draws dicks on his arm.

[purplesurveys]

1610

Habits

Do you tend to speed when you drive? Never. The pandemic and it forcing me to stop driving for a while apparently took the aggression out of my driving habits and I rarely overtake or go anywhere above 40-50 now.

Do you smoke cigarettes? Theoretically I could still accept a stick or two socially, but I just never smoke now. I don’t see the point or enjoyment in doing so and just entirely prefer vaping.

Does your temper flare a lot? It only kind of does at work situations, like when I’m under a million deadlines or if the people around me aren’t doing as well or as fast as I’d want them to.

Do you get emotional easily? I find that I’m as emotional as a rock these days. But occasionally I’ll still get my bouts.

Do you get obnoxious when you’re drunk? Back in college this was the case, but not anymore. I’m more of Drunk Fun Aunt Robyn these days, just regularly making sure everyone is still having fun and included in the conversations lol.

Which shoe goes on first? Whichever’s closer to me.

Are you lazy? Sometimes.

Name one thing you do that people always tell you about. That I am a raging workaholic.

Are you superstitious? Not at all, which I find so incompatible with Filipino culture lol.

Do you get bored with relationships quickly? Well with the last one I didn’t. I’m not sure what I’d be like in any theoretical future relationship I’d get myself into 

Can you sleep without blankets covering you? Yes, especially in the hotter months.

What position do you sleep in? Side.

What do you do when you’re angry? I rarely feel anger these days tbh, but when I do, I am pretty non-confrontational. I just rant to whoever, like my sister or Angela.

What do you do when you’re sad? Most of the time I just stop what I’m doing, look out the window and process my emotions while tuning everybody out for a few minutes. I used to listen to RM’s mono to calm down, but since Indigo came out I’ve been turning to that instead.

Who do you call when you have a bad day? Nobody; I just deal with it in my own way until it passes.

Your ABCs

A - is for the last person that made you ANGRY. I honestly can’t remember. I’m very hard to piss off these days.

B - is for BEER you prefer. Not a fan of beer. I don’t even have a preference because they all taste the same to me.

C - is for do you have a CAT? I do not.

D - is for can you DANCE? Nope.

E - is for do you have your EARS pierced? I do and impressively enough they haven’t closed despite the fact that I haven’t put on a pair of earrings since I was 10. I still put on accessories on my ears from time to time but they’re clip-on now; I accidentally ripped my left earlobe piercing open years ago so wearing a pair of earrings is impossible now.

F - is for your best FRIEND. Angela, Reena, and Andi.

G - is for did you ever watch GUTS on Nickelodeon? It doesn’t ring a bell, so probably not.

H - is for the last person who HUGGED you? My mom. I - is for close your eyes.. what IMAGE do you see? I can ‘see’ the brightness of my laptop screen but otherwise it’s just dark.

J - is for have you ever been to JAIL? No. I’ve visited police stations before but I haven’t had to spend time in jail.

K - is for when is the last time you flew a KITE? Grade 5. 2009. We made kites for science class.

L - is for the LOVE of your life. First thing I thought of was Kimi.

M - is for the last piece of MAIL you got. Not mail, but packages - last items I received were the Christmas presents I got for my cousin and his fiancée (a film camera) and my dad (a Fitbit watch).

N - is for do you remember NERF guns? Yeah. We never had our own as toy guns weren’t our thing, but we had cousins who had them when they were younger and we played Nerf guns with them too.

O - is for do you OWN a car? It’s technically not mine (my parents bought it) but it’s designated for me. Case in point, if my mom and I ever have to use that car on the same day I’m usually given priority for it.

P - is for your favorite PASTTIME. Going to museums or doing anything BTS-related.

Q - is for do you like peace & QUIET? It can definitely be calming when I need it, but generally I prefer some hustle and bustle in the background.

R - is for do you like the color RED? Sure! I prefer darker shades of it though.

S - is for how many hours of SLEEP you need to function? 6-7 if I have to work the next day. Anything fewer than that and I’d feel like shit.

T - is for what TIME is it? 6:46 PM.

U - is for what is UNDER your bed? I’ve got a loft bed now, so technically what’s ‘under’ my bed is my workspace and my reception area for when I have friends over.

V - is for what you did last VALENTINE’S day. Ooh, I can’t remember. It was a weekday if I’m not mistaken? so I just reported to work that day and didn’t do anything special.

W - is for do you drink a lot of WATER? I barely get to eat and drink throughout the day, but I do catch up come dinner. I drink so much water throughout the evening lol.

X - is for have you ever had an X-RAY? Yes.

Y - is for the last person you YELLED at. I was telling Dev to get her shit together because I was assigned to drive her home, but having had one too many drinks she was being too rowdy and clumsy and I didn’t want that kind of behavior in my car, much less in the shotgun seat.

Z - is for have you ever watched ZORRO? Nope.

Random

Who do you wish you could hang out with right now? Eh, nobody. I was with my family the entire weekend and also spent most of today in a car, so I want to spend the rest of the evening on my own. I even gave my family a heads-up that I no longer plan on leaving my room once we get home and to please not disturb me lol.

Name one thing you absolutely can not stand. Clients with unrealistic or extreme requests.

Where do you spend most of your time? If not at home, you can typically find me at a Starbucks.

If you could fly, where would you go first? I’d go to Seoul.

What was the best vacation you’ve ever been on? My East Asian cruise was awesome and I want to do it again just so that I get to go back now that I have a deeper appreciation for both Japan and Korea.

Have you ever hit a squirrel when you were driving? Well we don’t have squirrels here, but I’ve also never run over an animal.

Did your car ever break down? Not break down, but it did run of battery one morning while on the way to work. I was very fortunate to have been at a gas station when it happened because then I had people to help me out and let me know the next things I had to do.

What’s your favorite thing to do on the weekend? Rest and catch up on content to watch. Occasionally I’d head out on my own to go somewhere random.

What radio station do you listen to most often? I usually go for either 93.1 or 99.5, but I haven’t listened to the radio in a while as I connect my phone’s Bluetooth to the car stereo instead.

Pick one: Papa John’s, Dominoes, or Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut. I had one very salty experience with Papa John’s and haven’t felt like trying it again; and Domino’s doesn’t really scream anything special to me so I haven’t felt the need to try it out.

What is the longest amount of time you’ve been awake? A little over 24 hours. What would you do if you found out the world was ending in one week? Spend the remaining time with family.

Do scary movies make you paranoid when you watch them alone? It depends on the plot. Like I’d get paranoid if horror movies would make the littlest of things a plot point, if that makes sense? Right after I watched The Ring (as in, credits just started to roll), the phone rang and it damn near sent me into a frenzy lmao - this sort of thing is what I mean. But stuff like The Shining, Midsommar, The Exorcist, etc I’m fine with.

Name one thing you’ve lied about recently. Saying I’ll check out this Disney+ recommendation given to me by a relative when I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to fit it into my schedule. What is the worst movie you’ve ever seen? I’d say The Notebook was pretty cringey from the get go.

Who was the first person to ever give you flowers? I had a ‘7 Roses’ segment on my 7th birthday party (similar to 18 Roses) where my male relatives and family friends handed me flower plushies...so them, I guess.

[umbrellascreation]

1.) he will cry. Any minor inconvenience will do that.

2.) tea. His comfort drink is lavender tea 😌

3.) his room, dark and full of soft things and warm colors.

4.) homophobia or transphobia, none of it is ok. He was put through it a lot by his family and pretty much all throughout school.

5.) Jax, only people who are close enough to him can call him that.

6.) fluff books, he usually reads horror books though. His favorite book is welcome to the dark house. He and Garth have the same trauma ;-;

7.) comes off as shy but he’s like a closed off and kinda rude to most people. Once you get to know him though he’s incredibly sensitive and vulnerable emotionally.

8.) very friendly if you know him…if not good luck.

9.) deadnaming and misgendering do all of those in that order. Depending on who you are, he can have a short fuse. In all bigotry pisses him off.

10.) dick jokes. Laughs at the word balls every time 😅🤣 (me too)

11.) likely falls for them but hates them.

12.) depends, ofc basic hygiene, eats well, but let me tell you he hurts himself on accident all the time.

13.) big hoodie and shorts at home, ripped and grungy clothes otherwise.

14.) both 💀 he can be very complex and deep, prolly make you have some form of crisis. But most of the time he’s a simple little man.

15.) eyes, their pretty and green, also always have deep purple bags under them (go to sleep my boy damn)

16.) a love interest, no judgment whatsoever, he does a lot of dumb shit and he would appreciate if somebody thought it was cute. In a friend, same thing, but willing to do the dumb shit with him :D

17.) he’s really soft for his partner (working on making them) his dad, and his best friends. And yes, poor bby has a hard time making friends.

18.) either "A Place Where Everybody Knows Your Name Is Hell. You’re Describing Hell. or "I've Only Had Arlo For A Day And A Half, But If Anything Happened To Him, I Would Kill Everyone In This Room And Then Myself." for his partner.

19.) when he was fourteen, he was in a bad relationship not only with the person he was with all the time but pretty much everyone, and his parents pretty much convinced him he was useless…

20.) a blue squishmallow named Leon, a Chris redfield figurine, and a brown teddy bear.

21.) cigarettes… by that happen too often 💀

22.) goes between eating a LOT to just about nothing all day.

23.) either cherry cheesecake or spaghetti :)

24.) he’s a very talented musician, playing guitar, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and flute (mamas so proud 🥹)

25.) he’s had a lot of issues starting up relationships and saying he’s wrong. It takes him a while to own up to it if he isn’t called out for it. If he is, he’ll cry.

26.) two cats: mooshy and maid, a ferret: majora, and a bunny: gear

27.) both, when their young sweet and innocent, has ten ‘adopted’ kids, when the pay hid ten, their evil.

28.) he’s on Pinterest and discord a lot, he avoids twitter and Tim too as much as he can.

29.) very un organized but he is clean.

30.) does not do well with bad chaos, all for good chaos though, the kinda friend who will wear a traffic cone on his head at two am with you >:D

31.) bunny mask 😌 they hees favorite. If not a phantom of the opera mask, he’s obsessed with that movie.

32.) a dress with a tux coat, he be lookin good fr fr.

33.) again comes off as shy but is cold if you try to approach him but is really soft if you’re close to him.

34.) he drives, he’s surprisingly calm but is blasting music 24/7.

35.) again someone who can understand him and preferably someone tender.

36.) loves the villain type, also attracted to slashers. He adores Tiffany and Dbd ghosty.

37.) don’t know who would kidnap him but he’s very resourceful and clever, he’ll be outta there In no time.

38.) video games or reading, though one calms him down and the other pisses him off royally.

39.) he used to like Undertale and still do. He just a papyrus kinnie tho.

40.) he deck them. Ain’t nobody mugging his friends >:(

41.) seriously offended but will gladly do it back.

42.) no, doesn’t think it’s any different from any other day.

43.) chaotic neutral, Hes chaotic but he’s a good boy, but also not too good.

44.) slitherclaw, can’t figure out which one.

45.) Virgo.

46.) he has religious trauma and no religion. Ne doesn’t like to think about it. Also has trauma linked to superstition so definitely not.

47.) confused and weary, if it’s someone he trusts he’ll accept it immediately.

48.) yes so easily for all three. He sensitive leave he alone

49.) biggest is neither loosing those close to him or physical pain. Most irrational is other people.

50.) he’s either a night owl or sleeps all the time. In between light and heavy sleeper, and just doesn’t have dreams.

😮‍💨 that was a lot lol sorry if it’s too much but @gh0stedcupid I’d love to know about your ocs!

Oc Asks Game

So I decided to make this because I want to get to know my OCs better and all of yours as well. Here is a short collection of asks but here is the rule: Reblog from somebody and you have to send them an ask, its only polite after all.

What is your character's reaction to a minor inconvenience? Such as getting their jumper caught on a door handle?

Tea, coffee, hot chocolate or other?

What does their safe space look like?

What do they consider to be an unforgivable action? Why?

Do they have any nicknames or pet names or other aliases?

What kind of books comfort them? What books help them heal after a hard day?

Are they a naturally assertive person or are they painfully shy?

Do they consider themselves a friendly person or aloof?

What is your character's trigger point? What makes them angry, sad or makes them go off?

What kind of jokes make them laugh?

Do they enjoy pranks or do they hate them? Are they likely to fall for a prank?

Are they an overall healthy person? Do they make for a good patient or a terror?

Describe your character's typical wardrobe for the regular day.

Are they a simple person to please or difficult?

What is the first thing people notice about them?

What do they look for in a friend? A love interest?

Who are they soft for? Do they find being soft easy or difficult?

Describe your character through a Brooklyn 99 gif or line.

What does your character consider to be their lowest point?

Does your character have a comfort item?

What would be one item that they would hate to lose most?

What are their eating habits like? Do they snack throughout the day? Or do they eat sparsely?

What is your character's favourite food and who cooks it best?

What are your character's special skills?

What are somethings they find difficult to do? Or say?

Are they an animal person? Do they have pets?

What are their opinions on children? Do they view children as sweet angels or evil crotch goblins?

If your character was in today's world, what social media platforms would they avoid? Or be prominent on?

Are they an organised person? Or more laissez-faire?

Do they dwell better in chaotic situations or more linear situations?

Your character has been invited to a masquerade ball. What mask do they wear?

Your character is having a prom night/debs. What kind of outfit do they wear?

How do they act around people they don't know? Are they shy around strangers or dismissive of them?

Can your character drive? If so, what kind of driver are they? If not what's their preferred manner of transport?

What attracts your character to another person? What kind of person do they do for?

Tell us something about your OC that doesn't make it onto the page?

Your character has been kidnapped. Who has kidnapped them and how do they escape?

How does your character unwind after a long day?

What's your character's guilty pleasure?

Your character's friend has just been mugged. What's their reaction?

Your character has been punched into the face. What's their reaction?

Does your character celebrate their birthday? If not, why?

What is the DND alignment?

Hogwarts House?

Star Sign?

Does your character believe in anything? Religion? Superstition?

What is your character's reaction when someone does something nice for them?

Is your character easy to make cry? Or angry? Or annoyed?

What is your character's biggest fear? Most irrational?

How does your sleep at night? Are they a heavy or light sleeper? Do they dream or have nightmares? Do they find it easy to sleep or are they more a night owl?

[the-firebird69]

Cruise America 25 foot RV full walkthrough and review for first timers

There's a few things that was said he said to Garth I'm getting old and it's because they're just going there no they've been there but he said this about the wall and they said we knew about it and he said I don't think so and he said you're right this is ridiculous. Looking at it and people are testing it and finance true. It's hard to figure out yes it's not that easy but they are testing things and they know what they're doing. Everybody is horrifying. Renting these and they're going out there well at least you guys are buying them and Garth is renting one. And he's got out there and he hooked it up and he wanted you all to know it full hookup sir and it's good for you and what he did here is good for you it doesn't sound like a black guy 'cause he's not fully black and he's telling you how to turn things on and check things it's easier to listen to than some other people but each has their own style and people calm down and they figure out if they don't know how these people there to ask but it clears up a lot of questions up front even if you're rusty or haven't done it you know. they're all going up there to look at things and and it's interesting there's a lot of things that you want to know about the place before you go there you want to make sure you're going to a spot that is monitored by your people and when it doesn't have bugs or hostile accidents. But this is a great idea is to rent one and to see if it would be good for you.

Hera Zues

and had a fun time and it was good. we used fuel a lot. It was a lot more gas than I thought but they get about 17 on the highway and if you do a smooth acceleration and deceleration and keep it a straight line and you don't zoom back and forth and when you're going real slow just go slow. It was a lot of fun though we got there and we did some work and we checked things out it's a nice place to hang out in even at the house a regular house you know it takes work you gotta get to your desk 'cause it's somewhere else with this you just plop down your right there. A lot of stuff done work working on these questions. On this. And we know about some of it now and he's right it might be an old plan it might be Max and wearing a lot of trouble what he's had of heaps of threats from them about things that are so gross that you don't want to know about like people in case didn't clay and cooked while they're still alive people just don't wanna know that that was happening what it was and the kind of telling him and he's kinda telling us is a little strange but he learned army stuff from his dad and I know what it is. His dad might be helping from beyond the grave too. In classrooms in a movie and we made a pay for it. This is awful stuff but we did have a good time I know how to run things like that and I told people and my nephew and niece in law said it was a great job and they were listening and said boy this makes it easy and the hookups go in and you hook it up as good and it works every time too. We wanna have full hookups we're gonna sit there emptying your septic and you're going to have to empty it all the time 'cause the shower runs and fills it right up and we have to eat a lot of food to get any to work and he does too so you're gonna sit there for awhile eating food we had a good time today no it was rough you had a tough time so we are settling in but I do appreciate the comments.

grath

we usethese too and are nice. We recommend that you go through them to see if everything is there sometimes something's missing in your out the middle of nowhere and it sucks all the valves for instance and then everything works and the guy come out and show you everything works and it'll fix stuff that doesn't and sometimes I don't have time for the checklist there's a lot of stuff. And that's the kindtrump

it is a nen to five job But OK says I gotta drive for cash that's all but how do you do the insurance and that's what we suck at can't have you do it because the insurance is different dropping off a new one to someone's house though. And a lot of women want to see him do that and then I kidnap him men want to kidnap him. I got a few calls it might work a few times

mac dddy and to sell my campers to mine

We noticed this ours are timid about it and we did these and people are doing it and now he's posting in a lot are. Places that they can go they work it out they call and they test and they check and it works pretty soon he's gonna be stuck here with the pseudo empire and then they're gonna have to move and all hell's gonna break loose and then try and get him money. And he's gonna have to move.

trump

mb and i think jc mary did but only for a week or two.  and back.  and it is due to forg coming here and part of the plan of yoiurs no.  so we see it.  

Zues Hera

Olympus

[aspenmissing]

𝙲𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚊𝚗 (𝙿𝚝 𝟸)

Dean and Y/N are driving back into town; Mark steps into their path brandishing a rifle, and Dean stops the car.

"Hands where I can see 'em!"

"Son of a-"

"Get out of the car! Out of the car!" Dean and Y/N open their doors and get out slowly.

"All right, easy there, big guy" Y/N says. As they stand, the two pull out handguns and point them at Mark.

"All right, put it down!"

"Lower it now!"

"Put it down!" Y/N shouts.

"Are you two one of 'em?" Mark asks.

"No! Are you?" Dean asks.

"No!"

"You could be lying!"

"So could you!"

"All right! All right. We could do this all day, all right? Let's just uh, let's take it easy before we kill each other" Y/N says as she brings her gun down.

"What's going on with everybody?"

"We don't know"

"My neighbor...Mr. Rogers, he-"

"You've got a neighbor named Mr. Rogers?" Dean asks.

"Not anymore" Dean shakes his head "He came at me with a hatchet. I put him down. He's not the only one, I mean, it's happening to everyone"

"We're heading over to the Doc's place, there's still some people left" Y/N says.

"No, no way. I'm getting the hell out"

"There's no way out, they got the bridge covered, now come on"

"I don't believe you"

"Fine, stay here, be our guest" Mark hesitates, then changes his mind. He pulls out a handgun and keeps it pointed towards Dean and Y/N as he gets into the back; Dean still has his gun up as well and he looks to Y/N.

"Well, this ought to be a relaxing drive"

==

Dr. Lee is again looking through the microscope; Pam huddles against the far wall.

"What if we all have it? What if we all go crazy?"

"You've got to stay calm. All we can do is wait. The Marshal's bringing help"

"I can't, I... I’ve got to go"

"Pam!"

"No, you don't understand. My boyfriend's out there, I gotta make sure he's okay" She hurries out of the lab, and Sam follows her all the way to the lobby.

"All right, wait, wait. Please. Look, I know you're upset, all right? But it's safer if you stay here for now. Help is coming" The Impala is heard pulling up outside "There they are"

"Sammy? Open up!" Sam opens the door to let in Dean, Y/N, and Mark; the males still armed.

"Did you guys, uh, get to a phone?"

"Roadblock" Y/N turns to Mark "I'm gonna have a word. Doc's inside"

"What's going on out there, guys?"

"Man, I don't know, I feel like Chuck Heston in the Omega Man, I swear, Sarge is the only sane person we could find. What are we dealing with, do you know?" Dean asks.

"Yeah. Doc thinks it's a virus"

"Okay, great. What do you think?" Y/N asks.

"I think she's right"

"Really?"

"Yeah. And I think the infected are trying to infect others with blood-to-blood contact. Oh, but it gets better. The uh, the virus? Leaves traces of Sulphur in the blood"

"A demonic virus?"

"Yeah, more like demonic germ warfare. At least it explains why I've been having visions"

"It's like a Biblical plague” Y/N says.

"Yeah. You don't know how right you are, Y/N. I've been poring through Dad's journal, found something about the Roanoke colony"

"And?" Dean asks.

"Dad always had a theory about Croatoan. He thought it was a demon's name. Sometimes known as Deva or sometimes Resheph. A demon of plague and pestilence"

"Well, that, that's terrific. Why here, why now?"

"I have no idea. But Guys, who knows how far this thing can spread? We gotta get out of here, we gotta warn people"

"They've got one! In here!" Mark shouts. Dean and Y/N enter the next room.

"What do you mean?"

"The wife. She's infected"

"We've gotta take care of this. We can't just leave her in there. My neighbors, they were strong. The longer we wait, the stronger she'll get" Dean barely hesitates before pulling out his gun and stalking into the lab, followed by Y/N.

"You're gonna kill Beverly Tanner?"

"Doctor, could there be any treatment? Some kind of cure for this?" Sam asks.

"Can you cure it?"

"For God's sake, I don't even know what 'it' is?"

"I told you, it's just a matter of time before she breaks through"

"Just leave her in there, you can't shoot her like an animal!" Pam says.

"Sam" They go to the door of the utility room, where Beverly is being held. Y/N, Dean, and Mark hold their guns ready; Sam carefully opens the door, and Dean, Y/N, and Mark take up offensive positions. Inside, Beverly is huddled on the floor, knees drawn up. She jumps as they approach.

"Mark, what are you doing? Mark, it's, it's them! They locked me in here, they, they tried to kill me! They're infected, not me! Please, Mark! You've known me all your life! Please!" Y/N looks down then to Sam.

"You sure she's one of 'em?" She asks. Sam nods, his face twisted in distress. As Mark pulls back, near tears. Y/N steps forward and fires twice.

==

The shades are drawn, and Mark peers through them cautiously. A few people are gathered outside. Behind him, Sam pulls out a hunting knife and checks the blade as Dean and Y/N load guns. In the lab, Pam had just dropped a vial of blood; she screams.

"Oh god! Is there anyone me? Am I okay?"

"You're clean, you're okay"

"Why are we staying here? Please, let's just go!"

"No, we can't, because those things are everywhere," Dean says. Pam sinks down.

"Oh god..."

"Hey, shh, shh"

"She's right about one thing. We can't stay here. We've gotta get out of here, get to the Roadhouse? Somewhere. Let people know what's coming," Sam says quietly.

"Yeah, good point. Night of the Living Dead didn't exactly end pretty," Theo says.

"Well, I'm not sure we've got a choice. Lots of folks up here are good with rifles- even with all your hardware we're, we're easy targets. So, unless you've got some explosives," Sam glances up at a shelf of medical supplies and gets an idea.

"We could make some." He goes to the shelf and takes down a bottle of Potassium Chloride; just then, someone starts pounding frantically on the front door. The four run out.

"Hey! Let me in, let me in! Please!"

"It's Duane Tanner!" Mark opens the door and lets Duane in. He had a backpack and is limping.

"Thank god"

"Duane, you, okay?"

"That's the guy that I, uh," She asks Sam quietly as she clicks her tongue.

"Yeah"

"Who else is in here?" Duane asks.

"Never mind who I am. Doc"

"Yeah, okay"

"Duane. Where you been?" Mark asks.

"On a fishing trip up by Roslyn. I came back this afternoon. I . . . I saw Roger McGill being dragged out of his house by people we know! They started cutting him with knives! I ran, I've been hiding in the woods ever since. Has anybody seen my mom and dad?"

"Awkward," Y/N says, turning to Sam and Dean, attempting a joking tone. Duane is sitting on a stool; his left leg has a deep gash in it.

"You're bleeding"

"Where'd you get that?" Dean asks.

"I was running, I must have tripped"

"Tie him up, there's rope in there," Y/N says. Dean and Sam look at her surprised.

"Wait..." She pulls her gun on Duane.

"Sit down!"

"I'm sorry, Duane, she's right. We've gotta be careful"

"Careful? About what?"

"Did they bleed on you?" Dean asks.

"No, what the hell? No!"

"Doc? Any way to know for sure, any test?" Sam asks.

"I've studied Beverly's bloodwork backwards and forwards"

"My mom!"

"It took three hours for the virus to incubate. The Sulphur didn't appear in the blood until then, so...no, there'd be no way of knowing. Not until after Duane turns.

"Y/N, Dean, I gotta talk to you. Now," Y/N glances at Mark, who nods. The three leave the lab.

"Sit in that chair," Mark says to Duane.

"This is my vision, guys. It's happening"

"Yeah, I figured," Dean says.

"You can't kill him, all right? Not yet. We don't know if he's infected or not"

"Well, U think we're pretty damn sure. Guy shows up out of nowhere, he's got a cut on his leg, his whole family's infected?"

"All right, then we should keep him tied up, and we should wait and see"

"For what? For him to Hulk out and infect somebody else? No thanks, can't take that chance. I'm agreeing with Y/N on this one." Y/N starts to push past Sam, who stops her with a hand on her chest.

"Hey look, Man, I'm not happy about this, okay? But it's a tough job and you know that"

"It's supposed to be tough, Y/N. We're supposed to struggle with this, that's the whole point"

"What does that buy us?" Dean asks.

"A clear conscience, for one!"

"Well, it's too late for that." Y/N goes to walk past him but is stopped again.

"What the hell's happened to you?"

"What?" Y/N asks. Dean freezes.

"You might kill an innocent man, and you don't even care! You don't act like yourself anymore, Y/N. Hell, you know what? You're acting like one of those things out there"

"Mm-hmm," she says. Y/N pushes past Sam a third time; Sam tries to stop her again but Dean hurls him against the far wall. Y/N and Dean go back into the hall and lock the door behind them.

"Hey!" Sam rattles the lock "Open the damn door, Y/N! Dean! Don't do it, Guys! Don't!" Y/N and Dean are not in the hallway. She drops the clip out of the gun and taps it against the put, then replaces it. They open the door to the lab and shut it behind them; Duane is tied to the chair and Mark, Pam, and Dr. Lee stand nearby.

"No, you're not gonna...No, no, I swear it's not in me!"

"Oh God. We're all gonna die"

"Maybe he's telling the truth"

"No, he's not him, not anymore," Dean says.

"Stop it! Ask her, ask the doctor! It's not in me!"

"I... I can't tell," Duane is sobbing.

"Please, don't. Don't, please. I swear, it's not in me, it's not in me, I swear, I, I swear it's not in me. No, don't"

"I got no choice." She turns to Dean "Please...don't look at me differently." Dean nods. The moment stretches on: Y/N pointing the gun at Duane with her finger hovering over the trigger, Duane sobbing, the others watching in tense silence. Y/N trembles, hesitates, and finally lowers the gun with a grimace "Damn it!" Duane pants in relief as Y/N leaves the room. She unlocks the room with Sam in and she walks in. Sam looks to her with sad eyes.

"I... I couldn't do it. He's a kid, Sammy. He's a damn kid," she says, her voice slightly breaking. Sam hugs her, his chin on her head.

"That's good, Y/N. That means you have a conscience. And you're better than those outside," he says. Dean watches from the door, smiling. He clears his throat and the two pull away and look at him.

"Sorry to ruin your little sibling moment, but...we have bombs to make and people to save."

==

Sam, Dean, and Y/N are preparing explosives with rags and glass bottles. Dr. Lee enters, hands in her pockets.

"It's been over four hours. Duane's blood is still clean. I don't think he's infected. I'd like to untie him, if that's all right." Dean, Sam, and Y/N share a look; Sam nods, Y/N lowers her head.

"Sure. Yeah." Dr. Lee leaves. Sam looks to Y/N. "You know I'm gonna ask you why."

"Yeah, I know."

"So why? I mean, I understand he's a kid, but what made you do it in the first place?" Y/N and Dean share a quick look. He sees that she's hesitant.

"We need more alcohol," Dean says. Sam gets up and goes into the dispensary and finds Sam already there. Y/N gives Dean a thankful look.

"How you holding up, Pam?" Sam asks.

"Good. It'll all be over soon." She shuts the door and locks it; Sam, his back turned, doesn't notice. "In fact, I've been waiting for this the whole time."

"For what?"

"To get you alone." She lashes out and knocks him to the ground. She straddles his chest and hits him, hard, across the face. Outside the room, Dean, Mark, and Y/N hear the commotion and arm themselves. Pam has a scalpel in one hand, which she slices across Sam's chest and then across her own palm, placing her wound over his. Y/N kicks the door open and shoots her three times in the back. Pam convulses and falls to the floor. Sam reaches out a hand to Y/N, who starts to lean over to take it; Mark pulls her back.

"She bled on him. He's got the virus." Sam pulls his hand back, realizing it's true. Dean's face is stunned, looking from Sam to Pam.

"Does it look like I care? He's my brother," Y/N says and shoves past Mark to Sam. She helps him onto the stool and presses a bandage to his chest, which he soon takes over. His eyes are down, and he looks near tears. The others surround him, Dean pacing angrily, Y/N next to Sam.

"Doc, check his wound again, would you?" There is a small pause. "Doctor!"

"What's she need to examine him for? You saw what happened."

"Did her blood actually enter your wound?" Dr. Lee asks.

"Come on, of course it did!"

"We don't know that for sure," Y/N says.

"We can't take a chance," Duane says.

"You know what we have to do."

"Nobody is shooting our brother," Dean says.

"He isn't gonna be your brother much longer. You said it yourself."

"Nobody is shooting anyone!" Y/N shouts, standing up.

"You were gonna shoot me!"

"You don't shut your pie-hole, I still might!"

"Dean, Y/N, they're right. I'm infected, just give me the gun and I'll do it myself."

"Forget it," Dean says.

"Dean, I'm not gonna become one of those things."

"Sam, we've still got some time," Y/N says.

"Time for what? Look, I understand he's your brother, and I'm sorry, I am. But we gotta take care of this," Mark pulls out his handgun. Y/N stands in front of Sam with an angered look.

"I'm gonna say this one time- you make a move on him; you'll be dead before you hit the ground. You understand me? I mean, do I make myself clear?!" She shouts.

"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Y/N tosses Mark her keys.

"Get the hell out of here, that's what. Take my car. You've got the explosives, there's an arsenal in there. You two go with him. You've got enough firepower to handle anything now," Y/N says, nodding.

"What about you two?"

"Dean, Y/N, no. No. Go with them. This is your only chance!"

"You're not gonna get rid of us that easy," Y/N says.

"No, he's right. Come with us," Mark sees that the two won't budge. "Okay, it's your funeral." Mark leads Duane and Dr. Lee out of the door.

"I'm sorry. Thanks for everything," Dr. Lee says.

"Oh, actually we're not really Marshals," Dean says.

"Um. Oh," She leaves, and Dean shuts the door behind her. He turns slowly to face Sam, who starts to cry.

"Wish we had a deck of cards or a foosball table or something," Dean jokes.

"What I would do for a beer right now," Y/N says.

"Guys, don't do this. Just get the hell out of here."

"No way."

"Give me your gun, and leave."

"For the last time, Sam. No," Y/N says. Sam slams the table.

"This is the dumbest thing you two have ever done."

"Oh, I don't know about that. Remember that waitress in Tampa?" Dean shudders.

"Or that time in Nebraska," Y/N also shivers.

"Guys, I'm sick. It's over for me. It doesn't have to be for you two."

"No?" The twins say in unison.

"No, you can keep going."

"Who says we want to?"

"What?" Y/N crosses to the other wall and pulls a handgun out of her waistband before sitting on the file cabinet.

"We're tired, Sam. We're tired of this job, this life... this weight on my shoulders, man. I'm tired of it.

"So, what, so you two are just going to give up? You're just gonna lay down and die? Look, Guys, I know this stuff with Dad has-"

"You're wrong. It's not about Dad. I mean, part of it is, sure, but..."

"What is it about?" Dean and Y/N share a look. They then hear a noise outside; a moment later there's a knocking on the door. Dean picks up both handguns and crosses to it; Dr. Lee is there. He opens the door.

"You'd better come see this." All six survivors are standing outside the clinic; everything else in sight in deathly silent. "There's no one. Not anywhere. They've all just...vanished."

==

Dr. Lee is looking through the microscope; Sam is seated on the exam table.

"Well, it's been five hours and your blood's still clean. I don't understand it, but I think you dodged a bullet."

"But I was exposed. How could I not be infected?"

"I don't know. But you're just not. I mean, you compare it with the Tanner samples..." She looks through another microscope. "What the hell?"

"What?" Sam asks.

"Their blood. There's no trace of the virus. No sulfur, nothing."

Mark and Duane are loading up a truck; Dr. Lee stands in the doorway of the clinic.

"Hey, the Sarge and I are getting the hell out of here, heading south. You should come," Duane says.

"I'd better get over to Sidewinder, get the authorities up here. If they'll believe me. Take care." Mark waves at her and to Dean, Sam, and Y/N, who are leaning against the Impala.

"What about him?" Dean says, gesturing to Sam.

"He's going to be fine. No signs of infection." Dr. Lee goes back inside as Mark and Duane pull away in the truck. Dean and Y/N turn to Sam.

"Hey guys, don't look at me. I got no clue."

"I swear, I'm gonna lose sleep over this one. I mean, why here, why now? And where the hell did everybody go? It's like they just friggin' melted."

"Why was I immune?"

"Yeah. You know what? That's a good question. You know, I'm already starting to feel like this is the one that got away," Y/N says. They get in the car and pull away from town.

The Impala is parked by the side of the road, overlooking a river. Dean, Sam, and Y/N lean against a fence, drinking beer.

"Wishes do come true," Y/N says, gesturing to her beer.

"So, Last night. You wanted to tell me what the hell you two were talking about?"

"What do you mean?" Dean asks.

"What do I mean? I mean you said you two were tired of the job. And that it wasn't just because of Dad."

"Forget it."

"No, I can't, No way."

"Come on man, I thought we were going to die, you can't hold that over us."

"No, no, no, no. You can't pull that crap with me, man. You're talking."

"And what if we don't," Y/N says.

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep asking until you do."

"I don't know, man. I just think maybe we ought to...go to the Grand Canyon."

"What?"

"Yeah, she's right, you know, all this driving back and forth across the country, you know we've never been to the Grand Canyon? Or we could go to T.J. Or Hollywood, see if we can bang Lindsey Lohan maybe Y/N can bang Robert Pattinson."

"You're not making any sense."

"We just think we should take a break from all this. Why do we gotta get stuck with all the responsibility, you know? Why can't we live life a little bit?" Y/N says.

"Why are you saying all this?" Dean and Y/N shake their heads, turning away.

"No, no, no, no, Guys. You're my siblings, all right? So whatever weight you're carrying, let me help a little bit."

"We can't. We promised."

"Who?"

"Dad," Y/N answers.

"What are you talking about?" Dean looks to Y/N, who sighs and nods her head.

"Right before Dad died, he told me something," he takes a breath, then looks at Sam. "He told me something about you. Then I told Y/N."

"What? Dean, Y/N, what did he tell you?"

[josiebelladonna]

him: “she has a sense of entitlement, she’s lazy, and she’s a ghost to my family too i have coworkers closer to me in relationship than her” (literally his exact words)

me: “okay.

i’m going to tell everyone how much of an abusive asshole you are. i’m going to tell everyone how uncharitable and narcissistic you are. i’m going to tell everybody that you became a rich millennial, one of those trust fund dickheads our age who still think that we can get anything we want if we just work hard and you look down your nose at someone like me, because to you, art is just a hobby.

i’m going to tell everybody that you are a MAJOR loose cannon and you have an undiagnosed mental disorder that has gotten progressively worse with time, and to make matters worse, you’re in denial, you’ll never admit it.

i’m going to tell everyone that you project your anger onto me and i became sort of a two-sentence joke in your world.

i’m going to tell everyone that my parents are terrified of you and if you ever get into a screaming match with me, i’m just gonna stand there calmly and let you get so enraged until your heart gives out… although i’m not sure that would work because you have no heart. i’m going to tell everybody that you resent my parents—and they’re my parents, too, seeing as you apparently have your own now 🥱—even though they kept their skeletons in the closet in the closet when we were growing up and they literally did everything they could for us: you understand that untreated rage and resentment is deadly, right? no? well. i was at your wedding but you got another thing coming if you think i’ll be at your wake.

i’ll tell everyone that it was apparently too much to ask to get my mom a card when she was hospitalized—i couldn’t because the car was stuck at the hospital and i had never been in a situation where the only other person i live with was incapacitated. i was in shock. you, on the other hand? you sent her a text saying “let me know if you need anything” (loooooord, i wish i could show him her walker, her cannula, and her oxygen tanks). i’m going to tell everyone that you give her no birthday or christmas presents, or mother’s day wishes. i’m going to tell everybody that you give me no birthday or christmas presents outside of a pathetic text message. i’m going to tell everyone that we had to learn about your kids, your marriage, the death of your first wife, anything, either through facebook or someone else.

i’m going to tell everybody that after my parents split, you screamed at my mom over the phone and your then-wife was in the background saying, “jeff, calm down, she’s your mother.”

i’m going to tell everyone that you expect us to be closer to you when it’s not like we can visit you and you full well know this, too, because that’s not an easy drive from here.

i’m going to tell everybody that you yelled at my dad after your trip to tel aviv because your precious mansion wasn’t very clean, and then! and then! and then, you used the flight as an excuse as to why you got angry with him! i’m going to tell everybody how controlling you are. and tel aviv deserves better than you. every place you go deserves better. i should be in tel aviv. in canada. in new york. in new england—hell, in england. in glacier national park. in yellowstone. at four corners. at the grand canyon. at zion national park.

LMAO, you have coworkers closer to you in relationship to you? you bitch! you are an amateur! i’ve had adopted siblings since i was 10 years old! 10… that was the year we moved away from carson city and you were en route to college, and you vowed to stay in touch with us, so i’m going to tell everyone that, had you kept that promise, my teen years probably wouldn’t have been so tormented because that move fucked me up. i’m going to tell everyone that because of you, i went through a phase where i was literally having to explain myself in droves back in 2015 (and i can tell you still dissect my words when the only time i write something with ambiguity is through poetry or literature, and your misunderstanding me is on you).

i’m going to tell everybody that you fucking suck as a musician. whoop de freaking do, you land local gigs and have an e.p. out. your lyrics are mediocre at best, you’re a terrible singer who sounds like shit, and you have no “blues” as alex would say. no honesty. no soul. it’s all brimming hatred towards your roots and anyone who dares to disagree with you, the delicate genius. my art has the stamps of approval from so many entities, including p.b.s., and after crunching some numbers, i figure that my soundgarden cartoons when put together as a collection are worth more than your car. but you don’t see me waving it around like you do, now do you?

i’m also going to tell everyone that i caught you yelling at your youngest because “he wasn’t behaving” during the reception at your second wedding when he’s autistic and he was probably overstimulated (i seriously worry about his kids, especially the youngest two, because that boy, my nephew, is autistic, and my niece has down syndrome). i’m going to tell everyone that that feels like foreshadowing of sorts because your oldest is 12 and dear oh dear, karma is about to be a bigger bitch to you than i am.

i’m going to tell everyone that i had a full itinerary of food planned out for when we do visit, and after the other night, i’m going to save it for my dad and his wife, you know, people who appreciate my company and don’t resent the fact i’m there. yeah, i’m going to tell everybody that, during that summer after my parents split and i was en route to college, and i visited you and your wife at the time for a month, you resented the fact i was there and you treated me horribly until the final week, completely oblivious to the fact that i was reeling from my parents breaking up, hastily moving out of my house, and graduating high school. you don’t have an iota of empathy in your body.

i’m going to tell everyone.

and you will never find me.

heh, i could be in reno right now for all you know.”

yeah. s.o.b. almost had me institutionalized.

i literally don’t remember the context but he read something i wrote on fb and called me that night in a panic and told me to call some hotline (it wasn’t the suicide hotline, though). he asked me if I was going to cut myself or something like that. he threatened to put me into rigorous therapy and that “we’ll help you with this and finding people you like” (to this day, i still ask, “we?”)

this was 2019, too. i hadn’t had thoughts like that in almost 7 years at that point.

he talked my ear off for about ten minutes, too. he’d talk about being ~a lonely soul~ and disconnected from the world and what have you: i couldn’t relate to it at all because i wasn’t a moody-ass teenager in a trailer park. and the point of reaching out to someone who needs help is you give them space, not blabber on about yourself and your fucking family for minutes at a time. he never did. i got probably six words in.

i remember he did this with me every night for a week after that and it was kind of funny because every time he did it, i would always be doing something while on the phone so i wouldn’t be properly paying attention. but after seven nights of it, i finally said, “alright, jeff. i can’t take this.” and that was it.

he doesn’t seem to understand me, and i don’t think he ever did, either.

and then he’s left scratching his head as to why i distanced myself from him and did it again last night. absolutely psychotic.