#and the chipmunk ran out and my dog grabbed it before i could stop her

[gimmeyourlovepls]

Hiii idk if your requests are full or not, but if you're free can you write Miles Morales, where he was in love with the reader since they were kids, and now they're in their teens, but he doesn't know if she feels the same?

Doesn't matter which one, thanks! (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

Spider Senses

summary: miles wishes his spider senses showed him whether you liked him or not

a/n: i hope u like this :)) (p.s. my requests are very empty pls fill)

content warning: female reader, but it doesnt really affect the plot, hair described to smell like vanilla and cocoa butter, no texture described though, reader shown to wear makeup

a six year old was playing in the sandbox at a local playground, building a sandcastle. she giggled as she placed a small stick on the top of her sandcastle before some kids running as they played a game ran towards her. she managed to not get trampled by them, but her structure was ruin. tears started running down her cheeks.

"hey, are you ok?" a small child stood before her, his wide brown eyes staring down in concern. he had coily dark hair, and was holding a wrapped popsicle in his hand.

"my sandcastle..." she sputtered out, wiping her tears. it took her a while and she was disappointed that it was destroyed after all her hard work.

"don't cry! my mommy says that crying is bad, it gives you wrinkles," he spoke, looking around for a solution. "here! take my popsicle, and stop being sad, ok? you can't be all wrinkly!" handing her the package in her sandy little hands, her tears almost immediately stopped.

"yay! you're my friend now, come meet my mommy!" standing up on tiny legs, shaking so some sand falls off her already dirty dress, she took his hand and started walking to her mom, who was already staring at the scene with a smile, along with the boys mom, who was exchanging phone numbers with her for future playdates.

"mommy, this is my new friend!" letting go of his hand, she presented him to her mom, smiling brightly as the boy looked up at her with a nervous smile.

"aw, thats nice baby, do you know his name?" the mother asked, looking down at him with a kind smile.

the girl paused. did he ever tell her his name? "duh mommy, his name is..." she looked at the boy, whispering into his ear, "whats your name?" He whispered back to her, the two mothers laughing at the sight. "his name is miles, mommy! he gave me a popsicle!"

the mother glanced at miles. "well nice to meet you honey. i'm this little chipmunk's mom." she ticked the little girl gently as the child squirmed, giggling.

"mom, I'm not a chipmunk!" she pouted, looking up at the amused woman. "i'm a big girl now," she muttered, not wanting to be embarrassed in front of her new friend.

"i'm sorry honey, you're a big girl," her mom said, laughing softly. miles grabbed the girl's hand before pointing at the playground, where there was an empty pair of swings.

"look! the swings are free, lets go swing!" the duo ran through the woodchips towards the swings before they were taken, and luckily they made it before anyone else did.

as they started swinging, the girl opened the slightly melted popsicle, and gasped as she saw it was one of those double ones. with the most precision a six year old can muster, she split the popsicle and handed one side to him with a grin. "now we can share!"

the two mothers looked at the kids with a smile. they could tell this friendship was gonna be a good one.

---

flopping onto miles' bed, you take out your phone and show him a picture. "can we please go here miles? look how cute the food is!" on your phone screen, you were showing him picture after picture of a little cafe that opened not too far from his place.

"i dunno, the food looks cute for sure," he mutters, and you perk up. "but money..." you deflate immediately.

"c'mon, please? you know I get paid from ganke next week for helping him with homework, i'll pay you back!" staring at him with puppy dog eyes always broke down his (very small) defenses he held up against you. this little, ok well, not that little crush he held on you was making him basically silly puddy in your hands.

"you ain't gotta do that, i'll pay sunflower," he mumbles, sitting up. Seeing the smile that immediately lights up your face makes it worth the fact that those new markers and jordans he was saving up for would probably have to wait another month (or maybe two, since your birthday was coming up soon).

glancing at his floor as he looked for his shoes, he saw a drawing he had made of you about a week ago. he wasn't biased, but he thought it was one of his best works. you, surrounded in sunflowers and a smile shining from your face, he knew he was done for.

he was a broke boy in love.

---

you sat in front of miles, grabbing what looked like a torture device with a grin as you held his face still with one hand. "miles, hold still!"

"no, this is gonna kill me!"

you pouted, shifting closer to him. "its just my eyelash curler, now hold still!" you held it closer to his face as winced, trying to stay as still as possible. "there, almost done, last is the lips!"

as you scrambled to go get your lip gloss and lip liner, he wondered why he hadn't confessed yet. it was almost the 10 year anniversary of that playground meeting, and he swore he would tell you a year ago, but then again, he also said that the year before that one.

he looked down at the breakfast on his wrist, the black and red a perfect setting for the silver spider charm that sat perfectly in the middle. although you have (hopefully) not learned about secret alter ego, you said it fit his "vibe."

he just took your word for it with a nervous smile.

you came back with new supplies to decorate his face with, and as he saw the smile on your face, he swore he would tell you soon.

....maybe.

---

you hugged him tightly as you stood at the front door of his house, about to walk home. your hair smelled like vanilla and cocoa butter, and he wanted to bury his face into you (but in a non-creepy way, or course).

it was close to the last day of high school, and you and him were going separate ways, he wanted to go to one uni, and it wasn't the one for you. he was gonna miss your late night talks on the roof, splitting meat patties every friday, the way you dragged your fingers through his hair gently as you rambled about anything and everything.

he still hadn't told you he was spider-man, but now definitely wasn't the time. looking down at the well-worn bracelet on his wrist, he didn't know if he would even get around to it. maybe when he came to visit you?

kicking rocks on the sidewalk distracted him on his walk back home distracted him from his thoughts until-

bang!

he heard a clash of screams and destruction as he spun around to see a cloud of dust in the direction he just left from. whats going on?

thankful for the amount of alleyways in this side of town, he slipped off his normal clothes to reveal his suit and swung over buildings to assess before diving straight in, from his experience, not doing that normally led to a longer talk with the police.

ugh, some stupid new villain of the week. easy stuff. swing in, save citizens, then knock them out. as he webbed people out of the way, he spotted the one person he didn't want to be in the chaos.

"sunflower?" he gasped, and immediately as your face snapped to him, he knew he messed up. he'd play that off later, but for now, he had to act. quickly scooping you up in his arms, he dropped you on a roof of a building, quickly deepening his voice. "c-citizen, stay up here, ill... come back and get you, just-"

you grabbed his wrist with a stern look on your face. "you better not leave me up here, miles." he nodded quickly before running to go fight off the latest villain, who was apparently mad because the "love of her life" left her for university. 'join the club...' he thought before he dived down.

---

as he handed the lady to the police, he thought back to you on the roof, and your words.

'you better not leave me up here, miles.'

you had called him miles.... dammit, you knew. he groaned softly, before swinging back to the roof he left you on, seeing you play games on your phone. "took you long enough, bug-boy." you mumbled, slipping the device into your pocket.

"dont play me, sunflower. you know. you knew. how long?" he spoke, fiddling with his thumbs.

"um, lemme think... the day before i brought you that bracelet. i was waiting for you to tell me, but..." you look away from him with a small frown, biting the inside of your lip. he knew you only did that when u were thinking hard.

" 'm sorry, i was gonna but... i didn't."

"well... were you also gonna tell me that you like me?"

miles started choking on his spit, pulling up his mask to reveal his whole face. "w-what? y-you- what?"

"i saw the drawing on your floor. you made me look so... pretty." you stared at your shoes with that same smile as miles had captured in his drawing, suddenly finding your tangled laces interesting.

"you are pretty," he mumbled, staring at you, he could almost see the sunflowers blooming around you. "wish i said something before uni."

"yeah... but its not too late to do this, right?"

before he could ask what, your arms were wrapping around his shoulders as you met him in a sweet kiss, and damn it felt like everything he imagined and so much more.

"so... you like me?" miles looked at you with a boyish smile as you rolled your eyes.

"you're lucky i do," you said before you kissed him again, his arms finally moving to wrap around you. you were right though.

he was the luckiest boy he knew.

over 2 weeks on this i might jump 💀

[pies-writes-and-more]

Karasuno boys when you wander away

Characters: Tsukishima Kei, Dachi Sawamura, Asahi Azumane, & Kageyama Tobio, all with a Fem!Reader

Warnings: probably some swearing but nothing besides that :) 

A/N: So this is somewhat based on my IRL relationship haha. I’m very bad with just walking away or getting distracted by something and always worry my partner xD thought it would make for some cute headcanons! Let me know if you’d like more!

Haikyuu Masterlist

Tsukishima had only looked away for a moment. He walked towards a fresh fruit stand, glancing at the peaches and wondering if you wanted one to snack on on the way home. He glanced back and his lips parted to ask you, but you were no where to be seen.

His lips turned into a frown, trying not to give into that small moment of panic as his eyes scanned the outside market. You were no where to be found nearby. His heart pulsed harder against his chest as his mind reminded him of that news story of girls going missing in public places. Tsukishima pushed through people, giving half-assed apologies as he thought about you being dragged away and no one noticing. How had he not noticed? How would he find you? What should he do now?

His heart raced as he continued to look for you, giving out a small yelp when he felt someone grab his hand.

“Tsukki?” You were suddenly next to him, smiling innocently up at him. “Are you okay?”

The rush of relief that came with seeing you next to him was followed with frustration. “Idiot! Where did you wander off to?” He scolded, his hand tightening on yours.

“There was a puppy,” you admitted with slight embarrassment, smiling shyly. “I just gave him a couple of pats - he looked so lonely. Everyone was ignoring him,” you explained, nodding towards an older man who was dozing off on a bench. He had a leash in his hand and a large dog sat next to his feet, eagerly watching people was if begging for someone to pet him.

Tsukishima shook his head in disbelief, “You scared me for a dog? Moron,” he grumbled, pulling you further into the market. He didn’t want to be in such a big crowd right now.

You giggled, trying not to note the redness in his ears, “Aw I’m sorry Tsukki, I didn’t mean to scare you.” You tugged on his arm gently, trying to give him an apologetic smile but he kept looking away from you.

“Whatever, get yourself lost for all I care,” he pouted slightly and you tried your best not to laugh at how such a tall boy could act like a 4 year old.

“I’ll stay with you, promise. Won’t ever leave your side!” you insisted, clutching his arm and beaming up at him.

Tsukishima glanced at your smile, noticing it looked... almost playful? “What?” He raised an eyebrow, already knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“You care about me,” you teased, reaching up to poke his nose playfully. “You were worried about me because you careeee about me.” You had expected him to pull his arm away, stomp off until you apologized for making fun of him.

But instead he just rolled his eyes, flicking your forehead gently, “Maybe just a bit.”

That surprised you just a little, your heart skipping a beat or two in response, “I am sorry, Tsukki, I didn’t think I went off that far. It just got really crowded,” you told him sincerely, squeezing his hand gently. “But lucky for me! You’re so tall so it’s easy to find you!”

Tsukishima scoffed some more but blushed anyways, feeling now like he had overreacted, “Whatever. You’re buying me a snack to make it up to me, idiot.”

“Mmkay!” You beamed, the two of you roaming the market together. Tsukishima pretended like he had completely forgotten the whole thing, but you noticed that he never let go of your hand that easily after that. And he always kept you close in crowded areas.

So yeah, maybe Tsukishima Kei really did care for you.

Daichi is a calm cool collected dude. Calm. Cool. Collected. It was as if he was chanting these words in his brain, eyes frantically trying to find you. CALM COOL COLLECTED, he desperately tried to remind himself. Everything is FINE.

But that still didn’t answer the question: where the hell could you have gone off to?

It was one of the first big matches that Daichi ever invited you too and the crowds were 10x bigger than anything you’ve been to. Daichi’s whole body trembled with the idea that you were completely lost and waiting for him to find you.

“I’m sure she’s alright, Daichi! Y/N’s probably just exploring,” Asahi clapped a hand onto his friend’s shoulder, though Daichi could tell he was nervous too.

“Stop being such worry-bums,” Suga insisted, smacking both of their arms. “Y/N can be as scary as the rest of us! No one would pick on her!”

You were fully capable of dealing with things yourself, Daichi knew this. But he felt a surge of protective energy anytime he felt you needed him. “I’ll be right back,” he mumbled to his friends, his feet quickly running around the gyms to try and catch a glimpse of you.

“Daichi!” Your voice made his eyes widen, darting around to try to find you. Suddenly, he was attacked with a full on jump hug, staggering backwards to keep them upright.

“Y-Y/N! Where’ve you been?” Daichi asked with a laugh, holding you tightly and trying to avoid showing you how nervous he was.

“Coach Ukai told me Hinata left his shoes in the bus so I went to grab it before the game! Shimizu-san and Yachi were both busy so I wanted to help!” You explained, smiling up at him while holding the little bag up for him to see. Your eyes flickered over Daichi’s for a moment, noting the slight blush on his cheeks and the way he couldn’t fully meet your gaze. You couldn’t help but let out a giggle, your lips turning into a little smirk, “Were you worried about me, Daichi?” You teased and laughed as his face turned even more red.

“Well I can’t win without my lucky charm on the stands,” he chuckled, ruffling your hair.

“Oh and I just thought you liked me,” Y/N shot back with a laugh. “Didn’t know it was just cause of your game.”

You turned on your heel, starting to walk back to the gym, Daichi following while stammering out a, “I-I do liked you!” He tried to laugh off his nerves, rubbing the back of his neck as he gave you a smile, “Don’t make me all nervous before a game, love!”

You two shared some more laughs as everyone warmed up, and just before you headed to the stands, you pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. Daichi tried to play it off cool but he was wobbly the whole walk towards the team and the group of boys just laughed, all slapping his back in pride. 

Unlike the Cap’n, Asahi is not calm, cool, or collected. I mean I think he’s cool but not in this sense LOL.

Asahi and you decided to have a picnic for lunch in a nearby park. But while he was setting up, you magically disappeared and Asahi felt all of his panic just intensify.

Did you? Leave him? To be on his own? Was this your way of breaking up with him?

No, Asahi tried to convince himself, you loved him. You guys had been together for almost a year now, that’s not how you’d end thins... is it?

Maybe you got lost? Did Asahi walk a little too fast to this spot? He knew sometimes you had a hard time keeping up with his long legs but he thought you had been holding his hand this whole time.

His eyes scanned the somewhat busy park. He couldn’t find you anywhere. His heart was starting to beat way too fast and his fingers were shaking while he tried to text the other third years to ask what the hell he should do.

Suga: LOL knowing Y/N she probably saw some cute chipmunk or something and stopped to take a photo of it

Daichi: don’t worry, Asahi, she’ll probably find you soon - you’re this gigantic dude in a park. I doubt she’d lose you

That didn’t help. Now Asahi was noticing how parents and kids were specifically avoiding him. His bottom lip pouted as he wondered just what he could do to seem less intimidating. Should he sit down? No, what if you were trying to see him? Sitting would only make it harder!

Just as he was considering climbing up the nearby tree to see the park from a higher distance, you popped out from some nearby bushes, holding a few wildflowers.

“Asahi?” You blinked in surprise, finding him trying to find a foothold on the tree. “Are we... eating in the tree?”

“Y/N!” The poor boy almost knocked his head on the tree when he turned around to see you, eyes widening. He immediately ran over to you and twirled you around in a hug, “God, you scared me!” 

You quickly apologized profusely seeing how nervous he was, “I’m sorry, Asahi! I saw some pretty flowers over there and thought maybe it would be nice to decorate our tablecloth with!” You kiss his nose and cheeks over and over again trying to get him to calm down (but really that’s just making him more flustered).

The two of you share a gorgeous meal together, and you spend the rest of the day with his head in your lap and you braiding his hair, intertwining some of the flowers you found. The two of you talked about everything and anything and Asahi made sure from that day forward, he could always spot you. Any time you guys weren’t holding hands or standing next to each other, everyone noticed that Asahi’s eyes would dart over to you every now and then, whether consciously or unconsciously. 

When he got home that night, he pressed the flowers you put in his hair in a book and kept them as a keepsake. And then gave them to you in a gift for your anniversary later.

Kageyama would start feeling panic and wouldn’t even know why. The game was starting soon and something just didn’t feel right. His muscles? No… he felt in tiptop shape. He stretched a little extra today too to make sure he wasn’t feeling stiff. His stomach? No, he made sure to have some food and milk a little earlier. And he wasn’t feeling nauseous so it couldn’t be that. His hands? No, they felt perfect in fact. He was so excited for this game earlier, he had felt the anticipation running to his fingers to just set the perfect ball. So why was he feeling so uncomfortable?

His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think about what was making him feel different. His eyes scanned the crowd unconsciously before realizing what it was.

You weren’t standing up there with the rest of the Karasuno fans.

Where the hell were you?

His feet moved towards the gym doors before Ukai yelled at him, “Where the hell do you think you’re going, Kageyama? The game is staring soon!”

Kageyama’s eyes widened, noting the whole team watching him curiously. Why did Kageyama seem so nervous? He never seemed nervous.

“Don’t worry, Kageyama, with my spikes better than ever, we’re definitely going to win!” Hinata grinned, trying to lighten the tense air in the team.

“I’m not worried, just don’t be stupid on the court,” Kageyama replied, shrugging it off. But his eyes still scanned the stands. Where were you? You had said hello to the whole and wished Kageyama luck just a few minutes ago? So how come you weren’t standing up there with Coach’s friends and Yachi?

The whistle blew to indicate the game starting and Kageyama felt his stomach turn. Why was he feeling like this? You were probably fine so what did it matter?

You had been buying some milk from the nearby vending machines to make sure that Kageyama had some after his game. You knew that he had accidentally finished all the ones he had packed earlier and had been kinda crabby about it so you thought maybe it would cheer him up. You had stood in line for the vending machine for what felt like forever but it was all worth it knowing that you could throw the milk boxes into your lunch bag to keep them cool. Knowing Kageyama would be excited about it made you really happy.

As you walked back towards the gym, you could hear cheering. Your eyes widened as you realized that the game had already started and you ran towards the stands.

“Y/N! There you are!” Yachi’s smile looked oddly nervous. Not that she wasn’t normally nervous at these games, but this one seemed different. “I think something’s wrong with Kageyama.”

Your eyes shot down to the court, seeing how stiff Kageyama looked next to everyone else. They were patting him on the back, yelling “We’ll get the next one!” and Noya screaming, “BRING IT ON!”

“He was looking for you in the stands earlier I think,” Yachi told you with a small giggle, “He looked really nervous when he couldn’t see you.”

Your heart swelled slightly, wondering if Kageyama was off his game because he hadn’t been able to see you. “Kageyama!!” You yelled from the stands, cupping your hands around your mouth. The dark haired boy’s head shot up to look at you, a sense of relief growing on his face. “You can do it!!” You screamed some more, the people on the stands behind you yelling in support.

Even from far away, you could see his lips turn upward in a smile.

Alright, you both thought to yourself. Now we can get started.

[authorofdanger]

Dominance

Genre:Angst with slight fluff at the end

Poly/Hybrid Skz AU

Humans: Chan, Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Changbin

Dog Hybrids Felix and Y/N, cat hybrid Minho, Fennic Fox hybrid Jeongin, and Chipmunk hybrid Jisung.

(I'm sorry but Woojin has a few mentions and a small appearance)

It started slow, his typical sweet and gentle nature shifting into a violent and destructive one. The warm glow in his eyes dulling and his smile transforming into a scowl. His open and inviting hands became fists that would swing without second thought.

I was the first to notice these changes after he stopped playing with me and shoved me away when I came up for cuddles by the fireplace and hugs in the kitchen when he was trying to help cook. The other hybrids noticed soon after I did, one by one as they lost their friend. The humans on the other hand wanted to push it off as his upcoming heat or his grief after Woojin left, maybe even both. Inside I just knew it couldnt be the case, there has to be more.

These shifts would continue for nearly three weeks until one day the worst would happen. It was early on a Tuesday morning, a quiet day for the most part for us hybrids. Chan and Changbin were at the gym they owned, Hyunjin at his dance studio, and Seungmin at his cafe, leaving the rest of us to do as we will in our new house we just recently got.

I was bundled under the blankets in the living room with Minho as cartoons flashed across the screen but not holding either one of our attention. He was more occupied with his phone while I kept an ear out on Jisung and Jeongin, who decided to try and play video games with Felix to cheer him up. All seemed well until I heard a loud thud and an ear piercing shriek that followed with pure chaos.

Chunking the blankets off of me and leaping off the couch, I raced down the hall and nearly tripped over Jeongin whom was balled up in the floor. Minho checked on the younger for injury as I burst into the demolished bedroom to find Felix hovering over Jisung, snapping his teeth at his upper arm. Jisung's face was bruised and he was crying out in pain and fear since he was powerless in the dog hybrid's trap.

"Felix stop," I cried before going to pry him off and yanked him to the ground with his back against my chest, getting harshly in the wrist as a result. He fought hard against me, clawing at my arms and thighs while trying to bite me more. "Minho! Call for help," I begged as I bared the pain Felix was forcing on me. My eyes never left Jisung as he writhed in pain and grabbed at his now bleeding side that I didnt notice earlier.

"Felix please! STOP," I barked as the pain was starting to be too much for me but I still held on. I had to protect my pack, I was the only one who could! With Felix and I being the only two dog breeds we could both easily kill the other hybrids and from the way Felix was fighting me I could tell it was a possibility if I were to let go.

It took Changbin and Chan nearly ten agonizing minutes before they arrived to me nearly having to give up and the others locking themselves in the bathroom as Minho tried to patch Jisung to the best of his abilities. Blood was all over my body from all the scratches and bites Felix had been inflicting and my face was stained with tears. Changbin yanked Felix away from me and Chan scooped up my body to be cleaned and examined. His face held so many emotions but I could see anger was seething through the most. Setting me in the bathtub next to Jisung I screamed in pain as the soapy water stung my wounds.

"Holy shit," Seungmin gasped as he ran in, "what happened?" Minho shook his head but continued to clean Jisung as he shakily said "I dont know. Y/N and I were on the couch when it started! It's never been this bad!" I laid my head onto Jisung's shoulder while Chan lathered my skin and examined every bite and scratch, trying to calm my nerves with his scent. "They need to go to the vet. There isnt much we can do here and the injuries are deep. Look at her thigh," Chan groaned as he stood up and asked Jeongin to go get towels and clean clothes for us.

The bathwater was tinted a dark pink from our mixed blood but the towels Jeongin retrieved would be stained just as bad as Seungmin and Chan helped dry us off. "Shit he got her pretty bad," Seungmin whispered to Chan. The towel only added to the pain and I tried to shove Chan off of me put his grip was just tight enough to hold me in place. "Look what you did," Changbin boomed as he pulled Felix in by his ear. Jisung immediately curled into Seungmin and I fought to get in front of the three of them to keep Felix away. Minho stepped in front of Jeongin and slowly made them back away protectively but his ears pinned down in fear.

My body immediatly tensed up and a low but loud growl ruptured through my chest with my teeth bared, stopping everyone in the room. I never growl at them, hell Chan has never heard me growl at all! Even when first meeting the other hybrids I only showed pure joy and love. "Y/N what the hell," Chan asked while reaching out for me. "Get him out," I barked as my growls grew louder and more threatening. Felix's eyes skimmed my body and his initial anger quickly shifted into guilt and saddness, tail hanging low and limp. "Lock him in the guest room until I get back. Seungmin help me get them dressed so Changbin and I can get them to the vet," Chan ordered, "I need everyone to stay away from Felix until I say otherwise.

****

"Thank you," Jisung stammered as we pulled into our street, "for helping me. I didnt stand a chance against him and you got hurt and-" I placed my hand on his cheek and hushed him quietly before sighing "Its okay Sungie. I'd do it again if I had to. You guys are my pack and I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even if it hurts a little."

"You guys shouldn't be fighting at all," Chan grunted, "now I need to know what happened." Jisung shook his head and placed his head in his hands, body trembling from oncoming anxiety. "I dont even know! We were just playing Just Dance and he lost the round and then got aggressive. He was about to go after Jeongin for winning but I got in the way and he lashed out!" I gently rubbed his back as a few sobs escaped his lips and turned to look at Chan as he parked in the driveway. "I kept saying something was wrong but you guys wouldn't listen. He needs help Channie." Chan was eerily quiet as he got out of the car while Changbin stayed close to us while we limped towards the house. My legs were both insanely sore and Jisung's side hurt with every step but we refused to be weak and lean on eachother, knowing to keep the house as calm as we could, we had to keep our composure.

"Are they okay," I heard Jeongin cry as the front door opened. "I'm fine," I called out. "Alive," Jisung added. I was nearly tackled to the floor by the youngest as soon as I entered the living room and Minho was close behind but more careful with our injuries. I could hear the humans talking about something but for once chose not to eavesdrop, deciding if it was so important to keep quiet then maybe it should stay that way.

"Yeah when I got here Felix was locked in the guest bedroom and there was blood all over your room! What the hell happened," Hyunjin asked, "cause frankly it seems the rest of us dont know shit!" "I dont know okay," Chan snapped, "he has never been like this! Even when I first found him he was never fucking aggressive, just scared! On his heats he can be a bit temperamental but nothing at this rate. The closest he has ever been to this was when I first got Y/N but never to the point of fighting! Hell he was fine that same night!"

"Chan could this be a dominance thing," Changbin asked, "I mean Woojin just left and our dynamic in the house had altered because of it you know? Maybe he is trying to assert more dominance on himself." I eyed the other hybrids carefully as we all thought about it. It really could be what's going on. I've noticed between the hybrids in the house we have had to alter duties in the home and other various romantic situations but dominance hasn't changed! I've always been head of the hybrids while Chan was big man of the humans and never had there been a single complaint! Even Minho was fine with me having charge and the man radiates dominance.

"Maybe I should talk to him," Chan groaned. "No," I said lowly, "if he were to lash out at one of you guys like he did Jisung and I you would get mauled! Atleast by the time Binnie got to him I had been dealing with him for atleast ten minutes. Let me go in, he isnt likely to injure me more right now." The room erupted with arguments but I did notice something extremely odd, there was not a single sound coming from the guest bedroom he was locked in. Creeping my way down the hall I felt a breeze from under the doorframe and could smell the outside air and only a faint one of Felix.

"Guys," I called out, "Felix jumped out the window again. He got out." "Fuck again," Minho growled. Recently Felix has had a knack for escaping through windows, a detail the others probably forgot about while I was gone. "Okay Changbin you go check the parks, Seungmin and Jeongin check the neighborhood, Minho and Hyunjin go check the cafe's and our shops, I'll go check the pounds. You two stay here and call if he comes home before we do," Chan ordered while fiddling with his keys.

****

One by one the others arrived home between eleven and midnight, not a sign of Felix anywhere. My heart was racing, what if he was taken or attacked? What if he just ran away? Why would he leave us? Doesnt he love us? "Y/N why dont you come on to bed? He'll show up," Chan suggested. The others were already in bed and asleep but Chan wanted to wait for me. "Just a bit longer. You go on ahead though, I wont be long." Placing a kiss to my forehead and hugging me for a couple of minutes he slipped on to bed, leaving me waiting all alone.

Sitting in silence gave me time to think back on recent events and little warning signs of Felix's personality change. Felix seemed to challenge my authority more now that I think about it. As Chan would take on both of Woojin's positions, momma and cook of the house, and taking on an extra job at a local daycare I noticed that during Chan's absence Felix tried to take control. When I would remind him that I was in charge when he was gone Felix would argue that he was in Chan's life first and is the strongest in the house. He would also mention how dominant he was in most relationships in the house despite his hybrid features and it was ridiculous that a switch as sub oriented as I was had such a dominant role over all of the hybrids and some of the humans. "Felix it's just how it ended up and you arent stable enough to be in Chan or I's spots." "Technically Chan took over Woojin's spot and you took over his! How is that fair that you get all this power?"

I guess in a way he was right, maybe I should have listened to him and stepped down a bit. "Felix if you dont quit your yelling-" "You'll what Chan? Punish me? Funny how you punish us for things Y/N gets away with," Felix boomed. "Y/N only yells when she has to," Chan argued, "and I do punish Y/N when she does something wrong let me remind you." "But we cant! Because she is head over us like you are! You both get to take alpha roles and for what? Why does Y/N get any power over us and not just you?"

Just then the door creaked open and Felix was dragged in by Woojin, whom had a dissapointed scowl on his face. "He came to my house. Tell Chan to call me in the morning," he sighed before leaving as quick as he came. Felix stood there for a moment, analyzing my body and every bandage. "I'm sorry," we both said at the same time before looking at eachother in confusion. "I'll let Chan be the only one in control. I'm pretty sure that's why you've been upset right?"

Nodding his head and looking to the floor I could see a flood of emotions on his face. "You remember when you spent your first night with us in my bed? How you curled against me and acted so small with us? What changed when we moved here? What made you act so dominant over me, taking what little control I had?" "I dont know," I admitted, "Felix I never tried to hurt you. I just felt like I had to be so strong when we moved and got in this massive relationship. I had to learn a new language from scratch, I had to be so strong! Maybe it changed me but I honestly dont know."

Tears rolled down my cheeks and i buried my face in my hands. "I didnt want to seem as weak as i was when you guys found me." I felt a strong grip around my shoulders and his cheek against my head. "I'll stop trying to be so tuff if you stop being so aggressive." "Okay," he whispered, "can we just lay down in here? I know if I wake up Chan I'm going to be bent over the bed and end up with a bruised ass and I dont want to deal with that just yet."

"If anyone deserves a bruised ass its me," I chuckled through my sobs. "That can be arranged later. Let's just sleep."

[antiquecompass]

Untamed Winter Fest Day 17: Bells

The Jiang Holiday Extravaganza was an entire fortnight of excess that even after four years still shocked Xichen in the five minutes of peace, quiet, and reflection, he got to himself at Lotus Pier. At least he’d learned how to avoid all those damn demon elves on their shelves, especially since Jiang Cheng always exorcised their room of them when they arrived. He also knew which  bathrooms to avoid (near the library and off the living room with their Santa and Mrs. Claus toilet seat covers respectively), and how to kindly suggest a theme to Madame Yu for the Christmas tree in their bedroom. The first year had been a tree full of teddy bears, and while not offensive in any way, half of those ornaments sung in voices eerily reminiscent of The Chipmunks. Many were motion activated. He’d come out of a sound sleep his first night here, terrified, as Nutmeg tried to climb the tree and a freakish high-pitched voice sang ‘Up on the Rooftop.’ This year Madame Yu had apparently found some mercy and picked deer. Glittery deer, but just deer. None of them sang or played music, though the large light-up display on their fireplace mantle did. It was a compromise Xichen embraced. Mostly because he’d easily found the off-switch on the musical Santa train.

The sheer amount of food and all its richness? That was still a struggle. He had consumed far too many desserts at the Christmas Eve party and now regretted it as he laid on their bed, waiting for Jiang Cheng to return with Sugar. Honey, their new puppy, was already in her bed in the corner, fast asleep. Cinnamon and Nutmeg had claimed the library as their territory, but Pepper was on the bed beside Xichen, stretched out over all the pillows.

He truly wanted nothing more than to roll over and sleep with her soft purrs lulling him into dreams, but there was one Christmas tradition he had come to fully embrace and he was going to stay awake for it, even if the sugar crash in his system was demanding sleep.

This was why Uncle had always forbid food excess, especially sweets.

He smiled as their bedroom door opened, Jiang Cheng carrying the crisp, cold scent of the outdoors on his skin and in his hair. He carefully placed Sugar on the bed, then sat down between her and Xichen, stroking Xichen’s hair.

“The great Lan Xichen. Defeated by fudge,” he teased. His fingers moved to his belly and rubbed it in warm circles. “How far you have fallen.”

“It was very good fudge,” Xichen said. “I know you still have your problems with him, but Jin Zixuan is a talented baker.”

“It’s one of his few good traits,” Jiang Cheng agreed.

When he leaned down to kiss Xichen, he could taste the remnants of peppermint and chocolate. Xichen wasn’t the only one who had an excess of sweets tonight.

“I’m going to grab a shower while I can,” he said. He ran a thumb over Xichen’s lips, a soft smile on his face when Xichen caught it and gave it a sharp bite. “I’d ask you to join me, but I don’t think you’re capable of moving.”

“Probably not,” Xichen admitted. “The spirit is willing, the body refuses.”

Jiang Cheng sighed and patted Xichen’s belly again. “This is what I get for hitching myself to your old, broken down, wagon.”

“I am four years older than you,” Xichen said.

“And yet one of the oldest people in this house,” Jiang Cheng said as he slipped off the bed.

“We can’t all be sat at the kid’s table,” Xichen said.

Both Jiang Cheng and his brother had been placed there to watch over the younger cousins and their nieces and nephews. That was the story at least. Xichen had experienced enough Jiang family dinners to know it was more to do with Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng, two grown men, always being on the verge of a food fight.

“Can you honestly say you enjoyed your time at the main table?” Jiang Cheng asked as he pulled out his pajamas. “Enlightening conversation with Uncle Yi about different wood grains?”

“Each day brings a chance to learn something new,” Xichen said.

“Baby, you are so full of shit,” Jiang Cheng said with a laugh as he walked out into the hallway.

**********

Xichen had fallen asleep despite his best intentions, but when he woke up from his dessert-induced nap, Jiang Cheng was beside him, hair down and loose, reading glasses on, with his Kindle in his hands.

Xichen still couldn’t believe he had the good fortune to fall asleep and wake-up and live beside such a man.

“Sorry,” he said.

Jiang Cheng startled, but set his Kindle to the side.

“You were fighting a losing battle,” he said. He slid down to press up against him. “I’m surprised you lasted as long as you did.”

“Did I miss it?” Xichen asked.

This was their tradition. On Christmas Eve, late at night, when the house was quiet and nothing could be heard but the sound of the bells and windchimes on the porch, they exchanged their gifts to each other. The private ones. The sentimental ones. The ones they wanted to keep just between them without the eyes of the entire family on them and without any running commentary from certain vocal parties.

Wei Ying and Madame Yu both had very pointed opinions on gifts.

“It’s 11:50,” Jiang Cheng said. “You woke up just in time.”

He reached under his pillow and pulled out a slim box.

“Merry Christmas,” he said.

Xichen reached under his own and pulled out the slim wooden chest he’d commissioned to hold the small glass figurines inside.

“Merry Christmas,” he said.

It was Jiang Cheng’s year to open his present first. Xichen eagerly waited to see his face.

“These are--” Jiang Cheng’s voice went soft. “These are our pets.” He looked at Xichen, fingers carefully trailing over the glass figurines inside the box. “How?”

“I ran into a few old friends from college when I had to chaperone that school trip to the Renaissance Festival. One of them is a glassblower, the other a woodworker. I know they’re not like the tiny crystal ones you collect but--”

“They’re perfect,” Jiang Cheng said. He pulled Xichen in a deep kiss. Then another. And another, before finally turning back to the box, the softest smile on his face. “You even got Honey in here.”

“A last minute addition,” Xichen said. The little glass Honey had arrived days before their departure.

“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng said. “I love them.”

His fingers danced over the tops of the five glass figures again before carefully closing the box and setting it on his nightstand.

“Your turn,” he said.

Xichen picked up the slim box and heard a slight rattling inside.

“Not a necklace,” Xichen said.

“No, you don’t wear those,” Jiang Cheng said, fingers unconsciously wrapped around the jade lotus pendant hanging from his own neck.

“A bracelet?” he asked. “A fountain pen? A letter opener?”

“Stop guessing and just open it,” Jiang Cheng said.

“The guessing is the fun part,” Xichen said. He carefully started to unwrap the paper.

“Just open the damn thing,” Jiang Cheng said.

Xichen deliberately opened the present even slower, just to see that frustrated furrow between his boyfriend’s brows.

When he finally opened the box, he forgot how to breathe.

He’d resigned himself to the fact that there would never be a wedding for them, even though he knew they’d be together for life. Jiang Cheng was very vocal about his hatred for weddings and a general apathy towards the institute of marriage when legal ties and an agreed life-long commitment was just as valid in his eyes. So Xichen knew he wouldn’t have an engagement or a wedding or a marriage in the legal sense.

But this--this was--this was the Jiang Bell.

A silver bell engraved with the design of a nine-petal lotus hung on a royal purple tassel. It was sacred to the Jiangs. Similar to the Lans and their forehead ribbon. And was meant only for family members.

“Legend has it,” Jiang Cheng said in the wake of Xichen’s silence, “that the bell can calm the mind and clear the spirit. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s a family tradition. I’ve been lobbying to get you one for years now and my Great Aunt finally gave up the goods.”

Xichen was still at a loss for words. His fingers shook as he removed the bell from its box. A soft ringing filled the room.

“You’re my family. We’re our own little family, cats and dogs included,” Jiang Cheng said. “And it was time you had your own.”

“You,” Xichen said, laughing even as happy tears filled his eyes. “I got you little glass animals and you give me--”

“What is rightfully yours,” Jiang Cheng said.

He kissed the tears on Xichen’s cheeks, his fingers wrapping around Xichen’s own where they held the bell.

“I love you,” Xichen said. All he could say when words truly failed to express what he was feeling and the depths of the emotions running through him.

An excess of love, of devotion, of trust, of dreams fulfilled and even more hope for the years ahead of them.

“Of course, I’ve now fucked myself over,” Jiang Cheng said. “No present is ever going to top this one.”

“No,” Xichen agreed. “But I somehow think you’ll still beat me, again, like you have, every year.”

“We’re going to disagree on this one,” Jiang Cheng said. “You gave me the menagerie in tiny glass form that I can have forever.”

And Jiang Cheng had given him his family, completely, fully, now.

“A draw then,” Xichen said, even if they both knew who had won this year.

“A draw,” Jiang Cheng agreed.

[vannahfanfics]

Life’s a Circus

Category: Friendship Fluff

Fandom: Naruto

Characters: Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno

Requested By: KoalaTakingNotes (FanFiction)

“A circus?”

Sakura’s green eyes widened as Naruto elatedly presented the colorful flyer that he had spotted on the window of a local pastry shop during his jaunt to meet the pink-haired kunoichi at Ichiraku Ramen for dinner. Now that the war was over and the world was all peace-filled, they had taken to scheduling weekly get-togethers of the team. Sai was off on a mission this evening, but he and Sakura had decided to meet anyway because neither of them had anything better to do; when he had spotted the announcement, he had instantly realized that it was the perfect opportunity to shake up the hum-drum of routine.

“Yeah! They’ve put up a big pavilion in one of the training grounds! It starts in an hour; if we book it, we can totally make it, believe it!” The last time he had been to the circus was that business in Crescent Moon Island, way back when he was a plucky little Genin. He had thoroughly enjoyed it then, and there was no reason that several years later the opposite would be true. “It says they got a hypnotist!” he insisted while fervently pointing at the exciting script that indicated such. Sakura’s lips were pursed in a look of displeasure and uncertainty that he had often seen her wear.

“I don’t know, Naruto. A hypnotist? Sounds like a sham. It’s probably genjutsu.”

“Who cares?” he whined and slouched over dramatically. Then, pouring as much pleading sparkle into his clear blue eyes as he could muster, he tilted his head upwards into a begging puppy-dog expression, bottom lip poked out and his cheeks filling with the rosy innocence of an endearing child. “Please, Sakura? It’ll be fun! Believe it!” Sakura rolled her eyes at his deplorable attempts at placating her, but he knew it worked like a charm from the faint smile that graced her lips. She exhaled deeply while tossing a hand through her sakura-colored hair.

“Oh, all right��� It is something different, after all.” Naruto cheered with delight and shoved the flyer back into his trusty pouch before grabbing Sakura by the hand, insisting that they take off that instant. The girl yelped some kind of startled response as he jerked on her arm, pulling her into a run to make a mad dash for the big top circus that they could just barely see poking above the horizon of village buildings and trees that was the Hidden Leaf Village.

~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto was literally vibrating with energy as he sat beside Sakura in the bleachers that circled the circus floor; his leg bounced at lightspeed as he shoved handfuls of popcorn into his mouth, practically embodying the image of a twitchy chipmunk. “Calm down, will you? It’s just a circus, Naruto.” The words would’ve irritated him if it weren’t for her playful tone of voice. As he gave her a side-eye, strategically maneuvering the half-eaten popcorn in his mouth so as not to choke and die, she flashed him that sweet smile of hers and leaned over to grab a handful of the popcorn from the bucket and eat it in a much more delicate manner than himself. If he had been in this situation a year prior, Naruto would’ve been swooning at the prospect that he and Sakura were on a date, but he no longer had any fantasies of such; at some point his romantic affections for the girl had been replaced by friendship and respect. A lot of that had to do with Sasuke, who had more or less acknowledged Sakura’s feelings for him and in his own weird way expressed some level of mutual attraction, though that was yet undecided; he had left her at the village entrance with only cryptic words as before, disappearing into the blue for his mission for atonement or whatever. Regardless, Naruto was actually quite happy with the situation. He liked spending time with Sakura on just a friendship basis and wasn’t actively seeking anything more.

“Hey, are you paying attention? The show is about to start!” Sakura’s giggly voice and elbow into his ribs brought him out of his introspection. His eyes fixed onto the streaming stage lights, white circles tracing patterns across the packed dirt floor before settling on the ringmaster dramatically flourishing on a decorated pedestal.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome!” he announced, and the crowd responded with a raucous chorus of cheers and claps. The ringmaster gave the characteristic, dramatic introduction before vanishing beyond the cloth fabric of the big top, allowing the performers to literally steal his show. Naruto and Sakura soon became engrossed in the splendorous performances of the circus actors; graceful acrobats performed gravity-defying feats of gymnastics upon thin ropes and swinging bars, leaping across the air in complex flips and spins. Next, a set of ribbon dancers glided down from a catwalk high above their heads. Sakura thoroughly enjoyed this bit, tears filling her enraptured eyes as powerful instrumental music echoed about the big top to accompany the dancers elegantly soared around the room like beautiful birds (in fact, their costumed features plumaged leotards and ornate feathered headdresses); Naruto thought it was pretty but had no idea why Sakura seemed so emotional about the entire dance, and when he commented on this she whacked him over the head and called him an uncultured twit. As he nursed the goose egg that was already poking out of his fluffy blonde hair, he made a mental note to just let her cry over whatever she wanted with no comment.

A parade of animals, tigers and monkeys and elephants clothed in patterned fabrics led by similarly clothed retainers, marched a circle around the big top before dispersing across the floor to engage in a series of tricks. Acrobats danced across the elephants, lightly flitting over their backs and across their thick trunks; the monkeys juggled a few balls and engaged in humorous banter with a posse of clowns that had Naruto rolling in his seat, leaving Sakura the one to be unimpressed; the twin tigers demonstrated their roaring prowess before leaping through flaming hoops. By the time the crux of the performance arrived, the promised hypnotist, Naruto and Sakura were thoroughly entertained.

The performer glided out onto center stage like a phantom, silent but nonetheless captivating. A black mask eclipsed his facial features, and as he swung his arm in a dramatic flourish, the cape he was wearing flapped like dark bats entering the night from their dank cave. Piercing blue eyes flitted across the crowd, smug and calculating.

“For my performance tonight, I require a set of volunteers. Would anyone like to step forward?” Naturally the crowd exploded into thunderous cheers and cries, and hands waved in the air like flags flapping in a fierce breeze. Of course, Naruto jumped to his feet hooting and hollering like a buffoon, making Sakura grimace beside him; his little stunt worked, however, as the hypnotist’s eyes fixed upon him and a smirk graced his thin lips. “I think you and that lovely lady you’re with will do quite nicely. Would you please join me?” he asked, and Naruto was momentarily blinded as the stage lights shifted to bathe them in their intense white brilliance- or, perhaps he was blinded by the opportunity at stardom.

“C’mon, Sakura, let’s go!” he snickered as he grasped her hand tightly to drag her out of the bleachers and down to the circus floor. The poor girl stumbled to keep up with Naruto’s manic energy. His giggles floated behind them in a song, and he was still chuckling in anticipation as he joined the very handsome hypnotist on the floor. He could tell that he was handsome because a light blush painted Sakura’s cheeks when he took her hand to lightly kiss the top of it, like a prince would a princess. He gave Naruto a regal bow, which Naruto returned politely and somehow did not lose his balance and make a fool of himself.

“Very good. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I will recite the ancient words and when I finish, these two will be compelled to do as I wish. You two, just stand there for a moment, please,” he purred with another flourish of his cape, raising his hands in what was undoubtedly some form of intricate incantation. Naruto and Sakura looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes as he began to utter some sort of foreign language. Naruto supposed he should have felt something, something related to the supposed magic or genjutsu or whatever the hypnotist was doing, but he felt nothing. He could tell from the puzzled look on Sakura’s face that she felt the same; likely she had already released the genjutsu if there was one, and was about to make him out to be a fraud. Is this guy really a sham? He wondered as the man finished speaking. No tingling, no sleepiness, nothing at all; Naruto ran his hands over his body to ensure that he was no different, but he was not. As he moved, the hypnotist’s electric eyes locked onto Naruto. “You there. Do you know how to dance?”

“Do what?” Naruto spluttered. What the hell kinda question is that?!

“Dance. I think you do. Why don’t you show the audience, please?” Naruto was about to tell him to shove off, but all of a sudden his body suddenly jerked without him even thinking about it.

“What the-?” he squeaked in fright as his arms and legs suddenly started moving on their own, and he swept an equally surprised Sakura up in some form of elaborate tango, one hand on her hip and the other grasping hers as he spun her around and around the circus floor.

“Naruto! What do you think you’re doing?!” she snapped at him as he very uncoordinatedly wrenched her around in some poor excuse for ballroom.

“I dunno! My body just started moving on its own!” he cried back. His response was nearly drowned by the crowd’s mixture of cheers and laughter. Naruto’s ears began to burn with embarrassment, and he shot a glare out into the bleachers as his shoulders hunched up haughtily. “Bastards! Stop laughin’!” he whined.

“Stop, please.” At the hypnotist’s utterance, Naruto abruptly regained control of his body, and he jumped away from his partner to begin stomping over to the hypnotist. His teeth were grinding and he was rolling up the sleeve of his jumpsuit while he flexed his arm muscles for a very savage punch.

“What’d you do ta me? Why I oughta-“

“You ought to take a nap, please.”

Next thing Naruto knew, he was blinking awake, lying flat on his back in the sandy floor of the circus. Sakura was leaning over him, her pink eyebrows knit together in concern.

“What the-?” he mumbled groggily as he wearily lifted his head. Another goose egg had joined the one Sakura had given him earlier, and a wheedling whine slipped out of him as his fingers caressed the very tender lumps. “Ouch…”

“You passed out all of a sudden, and as soon as he told you to wake up, you did,” Sakura murmured to him as she placed a hand at the small of his back to help him sit up. Naruto’s bottom lip poked out as he glowered at the charismatic hypnotist, who had his arms crossed and a very accomplished smirk decorating his annoyingly pretty face.

“It’s definitely some type of genjutsu,” he grumbled as he pushed himself up to his feet, brushing the dirt off his bottom and back before dramatically pointing at the hypnotist. “Stop makin’ a fool of me! I know your trick, believe it!” He then whirled on his heel to face Sakura, making her eyebrows shoot up to her forehead. “Hit me! It’ll get rid of the genjutsu, right?”

“Don’t be a moron.”

“The young lady is right, you know. My hypnotism isn’t some trick just anyone can beat,” the hypnotist chuckled lightly with a small shrug and light toss of his head. He cracked an eye open when Sakura scoffed loudly. Naruto beamed as the confident smirk jumped from the hypnotist’s face to hers. “Oh? You think you’ve figured it out? Let’s test the theory then, shall we? Miss, why don’t you come over here and give me a kiss, please?”

“Do what?!” Naruto screeched. “Sakura, there’s no wa- ehhh?” When the blonde turned once more to stare incredulously at the pink-haired kunoichi, he found her not at his side, but sidling over to the very amused hypnotist who was leaning to the side tapping his cheek with his index finger expectantly. Sakura clasped her hands behind her back and shyly wiggled her shoulders, and Naruto smirked. Hah! She’s just acting! She’s about to sock this loony into next week!

Naruto’s jaw hit the floor when she did not in fact deliver one of her signature punches to the smug bastard, but instead leaned over and very delicately pressed her lips to his cheek. All the while those glittering blue eyes bored into Naruto’s, issuing a daring challenge. Steam blew out of Naruto’s ears and his teeth nearly ground themselves into dust. Sakura, meanwhile, composed herself and jumped backwards with a horrified gasp, her hands flying to her mouth and her green eyes wide as moons.

“D-did I just-?!”

The girls in the crowd, meanwhile, were losing their minds. It seemed they were quite jealous of Sakura’s opportunity to deliver a kiss to the beguiling young man. As Naruto continued to rage, the hypnotist laughed in a carefree manner and dramatically bowed to the crowd.

The hypnotist spent the rest of his performance making an utter fool out of Naruto and parading Sakura around as some sort of bewitching, beautiful partner of his. By the end of it, they were both red-faced and steaming like tomatoes in the sun. Meanwhile, the hypnotist was lapping up the crowd, bowing as roses rained down on him.

“Thank you, thank you! It has been a splendorous evening! Please give a round of applause to my lovely two assistants,” he purred while holding out a rose to Sakura, who promptly snatched it out of his hand and crumpled the poor flower in her overpowered fist. Naruto was in as foul a mood; his eye had been twitching for the last ten minutes now, and it was beginning to ache.

“We are never going to the circus again.”

“No, never,” Naruto muttered in agreement.

~~~~~~~~~~

“The nerve of that jerk! He made total fools of us!” Naruto snapped as soon as he located the nearest trash can and kicked it over. He then felt bad when it startled a nearby stray cat and sent it slinking into the alleyway with a terrified mew. “Oh, no, kitty, I’m so sorry!” he wailed in dismay and crawled through the upended trash after it. The cat did not forgive him, and he slunk back to Sakura covered in scratches and his pride even more bruised. The girl seemed not to notice at all; she had her hand on her chin and her eyebrows knitted as she pondered something deeply. “Yo, what’re thinkin’ about so hard?”

“That hypnotist. He had to have been using some kind of genjutsu, but why wasn’t I able to release it?”

“Who knows? Who cares? I wanna forget about the whole ordeal,” he groaned while assuming a cross-legged position right in the middle of the street. Half of the village had been there, and he knew that he was going to be dogged about his laughable antics for weeks. Sakura was not so willing to do so. The ground cracked underneath her as she stamped her foot, making Naruto yelp and cringe.

“No! I have to know!”

“Jeez! Would you just forget about it, please?” he argued back hotly. He saw Sakura’s body tense and he immediately curled up, shielding his tender head from a third blow from the undoubtedly irate kunoichi. The expected fist never fell, and he gingerly peered out of the gap in his arms to see Sakura with a completely puzzled expression on her face. “Sakura?”

“I forgot what I was talking about just now.” Naruto would’ve told her not to joke about things like that, knowing she would be playing off the hypnotism, but as good as an actor she was, she could not fake the acute level of confusion and concern that was painted across her features at that moment. Naruto lowered his arms, his eyebrow rising instead. “I… really don’t remember.”

The lightbulb blazed in Naruto’s head.

“Sakura… Did that guy ever actually release the hypnotism?” She put a finger to her lips as she pondered the question, and her expression gradually turned more horrified.

“Now that you mention it… He didn’t do another weird incantation, did he?” The silence settled between them like a thick fog… and was promptly blasted away as the simultaneously released mortified screeches and pulled at their hair.

“You mean we’re gonna be like this forever?!”

“Hell no! We have to find a way to release this genjutsu! I can’t be doing weird things every time someone says ‘please’!” Sakura cried as she very angrily ruffled her pink hair about. She then grabbed Naruto by the wrist, ignoring his whimper as he felt his bones crunch under her much-too-tight grip. “Come on! We aren’t sleeping until we sort this out!” He tried to dig in his feet, but he only accomplished scoring deep trenches into the earth. His whines and begs for Sakura to release him floated up into the night air, ignored and forgotten as she concentrated on fuming about their dismal situation…

~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto’s bottom lip was wobbling and tears were quietly leaking from his eyes as he gingerly held an ice pack around his very likely broken wrist, huddled on the floor like some sort of depressed gremlin. Sakura, completely unaware of the injury she had caused him, had pulled her hair up into a short ponytail and was chewing on the eraser end of a pencil, staring down at the words she had scribbled down onto a scrap sheet of paper. The brilliant girl had of course memorized the words should they come in handy to breaking the genjutsu. “This definitely isn’t a language I’ve heard before. The secret must lie in these words. Perhaps it’s some sort of cipher…” she mumbled to herself. She had been just staring at it for nearly an hour, and it was late into the night. Naruto was sleepy. With a groan, he flopped onto his side and peered up at her wearily through his bangs.

“Can’t we just figure this out in the morning?”

“No!” Naruto rolled onto his back and kicked his legs and arms about like a child throwing a tantrum. “Stop acting like a child, Naruto! Please.” Per the hypnosis, he immediately ceased all actions and his face grew deadpan.

“I have paperwork to do.”

“If that’s your idea of being an adult, I’m concerned,” she snorted with laughter. Naruto regained his sense, blinking, and then grimaced deeply. As much as he wanted to crawl into his bed and conk out, it was annoying to be subject to the hypnotism. He dragged himself up into a sitting position- well, more of a slouching position- and frowned at her while she continued to tut to herself. It didn’t take long for his attention span to lapse and the boredom to itch beneath his skin. Man, this is so lame! If I have to sit here and just watch her try to figure this out all night, I’m gonna go nuts! he complained to himself. His eyes wandered over to the cipher scrawled onto the paper, which had apparently not yet revealed anything to the smart young woman. So the rule of the hypnosis is if you say “please” after telling someone what to do, they gotta do it, right? A mischievous egg hatched into a devilish little chick of an idea in his mind. Sakura was too busy thinking to notice the wily grin spread across his face.

“Hey, Sakura. Do a handstand, please.” Her cry of protest caught in her throat as her body reacted against her will, and he cackled in triumph as she literally threw herself into the form. She spit thin strands of pink hair from her lips as her green eyes burned like smoldering sea foam. “Ahahaha! Now I get why it’s so funny!”

“Naruto, cluck like a chicken, please.” Sakura had not even fallen from the handstand before the words left her mouth, dripping with acidic anger. The gasp that he was going to release exited as a loud squawk, and she smirked while Naruto tried to speak and only managed to utter ridiculous clucks for a good few seconds. As she rolled onto her back and sat up again, tossing her ruffled hair over her shoulder, Naruto sniffed dourly. It was definitely on now.

“All right, Sakura, I want you to howl like a wolf for a whole minute, please!” Naruto scrambled out of the way of her attempted stranglehold, and as she flopped on her belly grasping at the air where he had been sitting just a few precious seconds before, she opened her mouth and let out a long, not-very-wolf-like howl. Her green eyes flashed with malice and she scrambled after him, chasing him around and around his bedroom, howling like a deranged dog all the while. When she finally managed to wrangle him into submission, straddling him while pinning him with her arm pressed into his throat, the hypnosis had lapse. She brought her face close to his. Her grin bordered on lunacy.

“You want to play this game, do ya? Okay then…”

Their motive had switched from deciphering the genjutsu to making each other do the most ridiculous things possible, and Naruto soon regretted provoking Sakura, because her ideas were far more satanic than any he could ever think up. “Pull your socks off with your teeth, please! Go walk down the street on your hands, please! Try and drink this glass of water standing on your head, please!” By the time Naruto was crawling up the steps to his apartment after jumping out of the window at Sakura’s command, he was breathing hard and wallowing in regret.

“Okay, Sakura, I’m sorry! No more!” he whined as he dragged himself through the threshold of the door. She could have told him to beg for forgiveness and kiss her boots, and he would do it without her even saying “please.” She towered over him, arms crossed and the picture of triumph.

“Ah-ah-ah. I have one more command for you, Naruto.” He let out a whimper and grabbed onto her boot with tears streaming down his whiskered cheeks.

“Please… Have mercy…” he pleaded as she squatted down in front of him. Her smirk sent shivers down his spine.

“Tell me your deepest, darkest secrets, please.” Mercy, it seemed, was not in Sakura’s vocabulary. The words began to tumble from his mouth like an avalanche.

“One time, Iruka-sensei almost caught me with a dirty magazine and I panicked and shoved it in Kiba’s desk and he got in trouble for it even though it was mine and he still doesn’t know I was the one who hid it there. This other time when I was staying in a hotel with Jiraiya-sensei I broke a vase and I just kind of stuck it back together and I dunno if anyone ever found out about it. Then this other time-“ Naruto continued rattling off his secrets, mostly pranks and attempts of hiding stupid decisions, until finally he sputtered, “- and I’m pretty sure I’m in love with Hinata but I’m honestly not sure what to do about it because I’m pretty dumb when it comes to that, y’know?”

The last one came as a shock even to him. He knew he has always liked Hinata- maybe not in a romantic sense at first, but he did like her; she was sweet, and humble, and pretty, and encouraging… Naruto’s cheeks flushed with both embarrassment and breathlessness as he stared uncomfortably up at the woman who had yanked the confession out of him. Sakura’s eyes had widened, and she was just staring at him. “S-Say something, okay!”

“Wow,” she breathed as she fell back into a sitting position, putting a hand up to her mouth as she considered the weighty reveal. “I had no idea, Naruto.”

“Yeah, well, me either. Guess we both know now,” he huffed as he pushed himself up. They now sat across from one another, cross-legged and pink-faced. “… So… What should I do, Sakura?” The playful mood had evaporated. Naruto wanted to get serious now. The cat was out of the bag, so he might as well get some advice from the one person who understood love better than anyone else. Sakura clicked her tongue as she leaned back a little, her head tilted upwards as she pondered how to explain the predicament.

“Well, Naruto, have you ever just considered telling her how you feel?”

“Sakura, I’m dumb, okay? Until ten seconds ago I didn’t even know what I had was a crush. Plus, y’know, I’m not good with words all the time. I’m afraid I’ll sound stupid.”

“Good point,” she laughed dryly and looked at him with a soft smile. “You know that Hinata loves you, right?” Naruto knew that, or at least he thought he did. She had said something of the sort during his battle with Pain, but he was a little delirious from blood loss and had gone berserk immediately after. He was never really sure what had really happened that day so he had ignored it. It was probably a stupid decision on his part, in hindsight. His confusion on the matter must have shown in his face, because Sakura exhaled deeply. “Naruto, Hinata is definitely in love with you, so at least you won’t have to face the possibility of rejection. Hinata already confessed to you once, and that took a lot of strength. I’m not sure it’ll happen again, so you should probably be the one to approach her.”

“Yeah…”

“Just say what you feel, Naruto. Honesty is what matters.” That made sense. Sakura had always been honest with Sasuke, even if he had rejected her at first, and it had worked out for her in the end. Feeling better about the situation, he flashed her a bright smile.

“Yeah! Thanks, Sakura! I’m gonna tell Hinata how I feel, believe it!” He pumped his fists a little, feeling energized. Sakura giggled and leaned over to take the paper with the incantation on it. Naruto jumped as she suddenly slapped her forehead and groaned loudly. “What? What is it?”

“I’m so dumb!” she sighed and crumpled up the sheet of paper to toss it Naruto’s wastebasket. Naruto must have been even dumber because he had no idea of the revelation she had stumbled upon. “How could we have not thought to say the words again and see if the jutsu breaks?” As soon as she said it, Naruto slammed his head into the floor as the weight of their combined idiocy struck him. Of course it had been that simple! Sakura had overthought it and Naruto really hadn’t been thinking at all in the first place, so naturally something so simple flew right over their heads. Sakura quickly recited the incantation and then timidly said, “Okay, Naruto, raise your right hand, please.” The young man held his breath as he waited for his body to spontaneously react… but he was not compelled in the slightest.

“It worked!” he cheered and flung both of his hands into the air. Sakura breathed a sigh and held her feet as she leaned back, her shoulder joints popping as she rolled them, as if she had been relieved of a great weight. Naruto gazed at her, and then began to snicker uncontrollably. She gave him a quizzical look. “Tonight was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was,” she agreed with a serene smile. She glanced out of the window, where the starry night sky glistened beyond the thin pane of glass. “It’s gotten late.”

“Ya want me to walk you home?”

“Actually, I was thinking I could stay. We don’t always get time to talk like this since you go on so many missions, Mr. World Savior,” she responded with a wink. Naruto was surprised, but not unpleasantly. He grinned widely and scooched a bit closer to Sakura with that radiant smile still plastered on his face.

“Okay! Let’s talk, then!”

Thus, he and Sakura talked deep into the night about all manners of things. They reminisced of memories and contemplated the future; their emotions rolled between happiness and sadness and everything in between. They both collapsed in a mess of blankets and pillows on Naruto’s floor just as the sun was creeping above the horizon to paint the indigo sky in shades of gold. The sunlight streamed into the room to bathe the two lifelong friends in its warmth, the light catching on the smiles still ghosting their lips as they basked in dreams of days gone and yet to come…

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

[dorotheajanegilmore]

Closer to you - Chris Evans

CHAPTER ONE

Throwing my small brown faux leather bag over my shoulder, I raced down the cold metal staircase at the back of my apartment building. The elevator had broken down throwing a wrench into the works of my morning and now I was breaking a sweat to get myself back on track.

Finally the rusted blue door of an exit was in site. Just outside were the freezing cold streets of Manhattan.

My palms met the blue metal and my arms pushed until my elbows were flat. The door pushed through the snow leaving a semi-circle of wet pavement exposed beneath. 

I ran through the frosty street, passing a few strangers. As I came to the end of the street where the quiet road merged with the busy road, a familiar white Toyota came purring around the corner. 

My best friend Holly pulled up at the girl and she leaned across the pull the hand. "Quickly, get in!" She yelled as I hurried across the icy road.

I practically threw myself into the passenger seat and as soon as my door closed Holly sped off. "Let's go girls." 

I looked back at my friends in the back seat. "Morning."

Teegan gave a small wave and Chloe nodded, both of them struggling to keep their eyes open.

I let out a sigh as I took my phone out of my bag, knowing I would have a series of unanswered messages from my mother. "Listen to this." I started, glancing at my friends to get their attention. "Good morning sweetie, have you left yet? Lessi ? You awake? Darling? Have you left the city yet? Where are you? Do you want me to send dad to come and get you? Are you even awake? Oh child of mine do you see the morning light? Hurry up and get here before dinner gets cold. Granddads not getting any younger." My friends were sent into fits of laughter at my mother's lunacy.

“Your mother is the greatest." Teegan mumbled, nearly asleep.

"Agreed. Tracey's the queen of sarcasm." Holly added as she drove onto the highway.

We had a twenty minute bout of silence as we all broke free from the morning anger, apart from Holly who seemed to be too chill for someone with dangerous road rage.

We stopped at McDonald's for some breakfast before hitting the road again. About fifteen minutes into the resumes drive Holly glances at me. "So, does your Mom know about Simon?"

"Alvin And Theodore? Yeah she knows the chipmunks." I bite my lip and look out the window, trying to dodge the question and giving my answer.

Holly rolled her eyes, there was no way she was letting this go. She briefly lifted her hand from the gear stick to hit me on the knee. "Answer me."

"Yeah she knows." I mumbled quietly, just loud enough for my girls to hear. Even though we were secure in the four walls of Holly's car, I still felt like I should be secretive about the subject of Simon.

Simon Holdsworth was my boyfriend for four years before dumping me. Me! After I found him cheating on me in MY bed with some NYU art student who stole my jewellery and the batteries from my tv remote. Ok maybe she didn't take my batteries but I have no other explanation for that so she's getting the blame.

"His mother called my mom and yelled at her because I was a apparently a bitch to Simon. She said I didn't allow him creative freedom to express himself with other women." I rolled my eyes and cursed under my breath.

"Hippies." Chloe shook her head as she picked her nails, remembering when she first met Simon's mother. When Simon first moved in with me we had a house warming party on the roof of our apartment building. Simon's mother, Nora, brought two bags of weed and brownies and set up camp in my living room. Nora also brought various scarfs and blankets that she draped over my living. She also replaced the coasters that my mother bought me for ounces made from tree bark that had been carved into peace signs. Chloe threw them in her log burner as soon as Simon moved out.

"What did Tracey say?" Teegan asked. All of my friend were on first name basis with the fantastic woman that birthed me. Not only were we best friends, we were raised together. We were all born in the same hospital, in the same city. We were raised in the same town, same schools, same university. Plus Teegan is my second cousin so.

"She laughed, told her to piss off and put the phone down."

"Yes Tracey." They all cheered her on.

"It's a pity you can't do the same thing." Holly replied with a serious tone, raising a brow at me.

"Hey, you know I'm strong-willed when it comes to people screwing me over. I just like to argue with him, he tried to get to me. He purposely likes to call and harass to upset me, he wants me to break. He would love nothing more than to see me cry. But he won't win, he won't." I shook my head, feeling the anger curse through me again. "He thrives on hurting people. But he won't hurt me, I won't let him."

"Good on you." Chloe nodded, putting a supportive hand on my shoulder.

Holly nodded in approval. "That's our girl."

\|\|\|\|\

It took three hours and forty minutes to get form Manhattan to the little town of Fairfield, Massachusetts. Soon enough we were surrounded by familiar buildings that had now been covered in a blanket of snow and driving through streets we used to run drunkenly through as we disobeyed our parents (and the law.)

First Holly dropped Chloe to her folks house, then Teegan to hers and finally I was looking at my parents house. I looked back at Holly with a puppy dog look and asked "Can I come to your house for thanksgiving?"

"Of course you can." Holly out a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. "Next year." She then have me a playful shove and I opened the door.

"Thanks for the lift. See you later yeah?" I asked, knowing I'd be needing a drink after an hour with this crazy lot.

"Sure, I'll text you." She nodded.

I grabbed my suitcase from the trunk and headed to the pavement. I gave Holly a wave and she watched me walk up to the driveway. She waited until I knocked and somebody answered before she drove away, always one for safety.

My little brother Alex opened the door. "Shit, when did you get so tall?" I cursed looking up at the nineteen year old.

He chuckled deeply and stepped back for me to go in. "You mean since I saw you two years ago? Yes I've grown. When did you get so short?"

"It's all the coffee." I shrugged as I left my suitcase in the downstairs cupboard and headed into the living room, at least I thought it was the living room. It was in the same place and it was the same shape, however it was all so different.

The red poppy wallpaper above the grey stone fireplace had been taken down and replaced with a cream paper with turquoise flowers, it also had an overspray if light silver glitter that matched the silver chandelier and doorhandles. The normally dark doors had been replaced with white ones and the rest of the walls painted white as well. My sweet childhood cottage had been replaced with a modern townhouse.

The burgundy couches had been replaced with chocolate colours leather and my dad's favourite recliner was nowhere is sight.

Moving further throughout the house i couldn't see any of my relatives. I looked back at Alex and asked "So, where is everyone?"

"Dad's in the garage working on the car and Mom, Nana and Lucy are in the garden with Joe and Leo." I nodded and walked through the kitchen to get to the back door.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw that there was now an orangery that had been extended into the back of our house, I glanced back at Alex to see him shrug at me.

He stepped around me and walked through the orangery into the open backyard. I followed slowly, taking in the new changes. I quickly glanced back at the kitchen. Huh, no changes their. The grey slate and white marble must've been modern enough for Mom.

I stepped out into the yard to see my mother, sister and grandmother gathered at the fence talking to our neighbours. Joe and Leo were over at the trampoline, at least there was one piece of my childhood left.

Leo gave me a wave and I waved back, this must've caught my nephew's attention as he stopped jumping, letting gravity drop him on his ass so he could jump from the trampoline and sprint across the yard.

As he ran at me I saw him lift his arms and I knew exactly what he was gonna do. He jumped as high as he could, I reached forward and caught him at the torso and he wrapped his arms around my neck.

"Auntie Alessia!" He yelled as he hugged me tightly. His shouting caused my family to turn their attention to me. I hugged Joe back before setting him down on the soft grass and kneeling down to talk to him.

"Hi bud! How are you?" I asked as I held his hand.

He beamed brightly and showed me his teeth. One of his front teeth had fallen out. "Look, I'm a big boy now." He pointed excitedly at his mouth.

"Wow!"

"My mommy said that if I put my tooth under my pillow the tooth fairy will come and she will take it and leave me a dollar! A whole dollar!"

"Well let's not encourage selling our body parts. Here." I reached into my back pocket and took out my change from earlier. "Here's five bucks, give your tooth to your dad."

He nodded and looked at me like I was crazy. "Thank you auntie Lessia!" He hugged me again before running back to Leo and the trampoline.

I stood up and headed over to my mother. As I approached the fence I saw she was talking to a woman I had never seen before. Where's Cheryl? I wondered.

"Oh Alessia, darling. Come meet our new neighbours." My mother wrapped her hand around my arm and practically yanked me over to the fence.

"Hi." I waved politely to the kind woman staring back at me with a warm smile.

"Hello there, Alessia. My name's Lisa. You're mother ya spoken so highly of you, it's so nice to put a face to the name." She said sweetly.

"It's nice to meet you too. Are you new to the area?" I inquired, wondering where our old neighbours had got too.

"Oh gosh no. We moved a few blocks away as my mother passed recently and she left us the house."

"Cheryl? Oh god I'm so sorry. She was the nicest woman, salt of the earth. I'm sorry for your loss." I felt real sadness as I spoke, not believing that sweet old Cheryl had passed on.

"You knew my grandmother?" A deep male voice said from my left. I looked in the direction of the person speaking and nearly had to do a double take. Standing beside Lisa was a very handsome brunette man with striking blue eyes and full beard. He was about 6 foot tall, with muscles and wide shoulders. He was wearing a deep maroon tight long sleeve and navy patriots cap.

"Hi." I breathed out, staring at this specimen in disbelief. How can one person be so unbelievably attractive? "Yes I did. Uh, I grew up doing chores for her. I kept her company on Wednesday's when Arthur would be at darts. She taught me how to bake and knit." I giggled lightly at the memories.

The man gave me a soft smile while Lisa smiled at me. "I'm sure she loved every minute of your company." Lisa nodded at me. "She actually left me a box of things labelled with your name. I'll have to have Chris dig it out and bring it over to you sometime."

"That would be lovely, thank you." I smiled, wondering how I had missed so much.

I could feel her son's eyes on me as I stepped down from the gathering or grass to allow my mom to finish her conversation.

"Hey." My sister Lucy said as she wrapped her arms around me to give me a hug. "I've missed you sister sister."

"Missed you too." I mumbled into her shoulder as she crushed me. She pulled back and placed a hand on her stomach before putting her pinger finger to her lips.

"It's a secret." She whispered and I nodded with wide eyes. Shit. She's pregnant again.

"Congratulations!" I whisper yelled at her and she widened her eyes at me and looked back at my mom and grandmother to see if they noticed. They hadn't, they were busy gossiping with Lisa.

Chapter two

[sistercelluloid]

This his has nothing to do with classic film, but I feel like you’re family, so I hope you’ll bear with me in remembering my sweet, beloved Linus, who we lost last week. He lived to be sixteen years and eight months old, but his life seemed to go by in the blink of an eye.

We adopted him when he was just shy of three; he had been so horribly abused that a neighbor called the woman who ran the local no-kill shelter and begged her to somehow get the people who had him—I refuse to call them his family—to surrender him. In his early days with us, his trauma surfaced in heartbreaking ways, as when my husband Tim pulled on a pair of heavy boots to go out and shovel snow—and Linus wailed and shook violently, ran to a corner, and tried to dig his way into the wall.

When we first met him at the shelter, he was clearly anxious to be let out of the kennels. Far and away the smallest dog there, he broke free of his handler, snuggled into a spot on the sofa between us, sighed, and settled in. He was home already. While we waited to sign the final adoption papers—we’d already been through an application process the FBI would gaze upon in awe—I ran through a bunch of names in my mind. “What about Linus?” I asked Tim, thinking of the Peanuts character. “He’s looks so sweet and thoughtful, like he’s got a lot on his mind.” And when we got him home, the first thing he did was burrow deep into his carrier and pull out something that had been scrunched up in the back: his blanket.

He sniffed his way around his new home, and just to make sure we knew it was his, he peed on every rug. Then he curled up on the sofa with his brand-new stuffed bear, chewed the nose off and gleefully pulled out the stuffing.

The bear would be first of a long string of victims which ran the gamut from stuffed toys to silk eye masks.

Linus 1, Mister Fluffy Bunny 0.

And oh, yes, that poor Santa hat—his revenge for the 15 seconds he had to wear this silly outfit for a Christmas card photo.

He literally loved his soccer ball to bits, and no shiny new replacement—even if it was exactly the same thing—ever made him as happy. So I’d just grab his old one, gather up the trail of stuffing strewn across the living room floor, and sew it all back together again.

Only the Grinch was spared from being torn apart, and they became such fast friends that I took to leaving him out all year.

When we first brought Linus home, we weren’t sure how long his walks should be. No one had ever bothered to take him for a real walk before—at the shelter they’d heard he’d been let out in the yard maybe once or twice a day. And being a dachshund, he took a whole bunch of steps for every one of ours. So we decided to just walk him until he got tired.

He never got tired.

After three or four miles, I’d be splayed face-down on the sofa, and he’d be like, “So, where are we goin’ now, Ma?”

Sometimes before we even got to the street, he’d meet Patty or Helen or Michelle from our apartment building, who all adored him. And oh was it mutual. He’d squeal and yip, waggle his butt, and run up and smoosh against them, just unable to contain himself. And he’d bark at their husbands.

Down the street we sometimes ran into Jeff and John, who’d swoop off their stoop the minute they saw Linus. They even bought dog biscuits to keep on hand for him. One night when we passed Jeff, we didn’t stop because he was on the phone. But he let out a whoop and waved us over. He proceeded to tell the guy on the other end Linus’s entire life story—and then ignored him completely talk to Linus, asking over and over, “Who’s a good boy?”

We’d often stop at the coffee shop on our walks, where he’d make new friends. In the summer, I’d often hear a sudden “Ooh!” only to turn and discover Linus had rubbed his cold nose against someone’s bare calf.  And then there was the firefighter with arms roughly the size of Bluto’s, who cooed baby-talk to him and treated me to a cappucino because he loved him so madly.

It took my breath away how open-hearted Linus was, after all the horrors he’d been through. People hold grudges for years, sometimes forever, over the tiniest slight. But once Linus was safe and happy and loved, he was willing—happy, even—to give the whole human race a second chance. He was such an old soul, such a sweet spirit.

For all his years in our family, Linus went with us just about everywhere. He especially loved the “come-withs” at our upstate house on weekends. And because he was crazy-smart, he picked up on clues instantly. When he saw Tim make any move toward the Linus bag—the little canvas pouch with his portable water dish and snacks—he’d go crazy. He also went nuts when I took my bra out of the drawer, because it meant I was going somewhere so probably he was too. It got to the point where if we were heading out without him on the weekend, I had to sneak my bra out when he wasn’t looking.

We took him on our vacations…

…on camping trips…

…on family visits to the lake…

…on day hikes (where once he was super-excited to meet a countryman)…

…to every park we could find (whether he was allowed there or not)…

…to street fairs and festivals…

…to drive-ins…

…and to restaurants, where, on the rare occasion we dined outside without him, we’d get grilled about it by the waiters. (“We were just out shopping and we didn’t know we’d be stopping to eat!” we’d plead, heads down, like guilty criminals.) At one place where we dined often, the manager would greet him with a full plate of bacon. One day, a woman at a nearby table complained, “You served that dog before you waited on me!” and he replied dryly, “He’s a regular.” To know Linus was to love him to the point of obliviousness to all else.

And, um, yes, he had a little portable bed, to protect him from the hard ground. (Though sometimes after we finished our meals, he’d venture off just far enough to sneak a peek at what the people at the next table were having.)

He also had a bed to cushion his naps in the backyard. Okay fine, two beds.

Mostly, though, he roughed it.

Oh and he had a bed in the car, though sometimes it was more of a pillow.

Though having fluffy beds pretty much everywhere, including three in the house, didn’t stop him from checking out other options.

Linus was so sweet and supremely silly…

Once, in a rare attempt at hunting, he somehow wound up in a stack of planters, while the chipmunk had long since scampered down the driveway.

When it was too chilly for the yard but just warm enough to get near it, he loved to watch the world from the screenporch.

Being so close to the ground, Linus was not a huge fan of the cold and wet. (When we got a couple of inches of snow, I’d croon, “It’s up to your knees out there…”) He’d take a few steps and then lift a chilly front paw as if to say, “Taxi!” And I’d pick him up and carry him out to the plowed road for a quick walk. Then he’d come in for a vigorous pat-down with his super-absorbent doggie towel, play-fight with it after he was dry and happy, and burrow under his blankets again.

Always a sun puppy, in bleakest February he’d follow the scant rays around the house. (I call this The Linus in Winter.)

On sleepy weekend mornings, Linus had a little ritual he loved. I’d give him breakfast and take him out for a walk—and then he’d all but march me back to bed. (Tim was usually still there.) He’d head toward the bedroom, stop and turn around to make sure I was following him, and harrumph at me if I wasn’t moving fast enough. Then he’d stand by the bed and wait to be lifted up, barking at me to follow him under the covers so the three of us could snuggle.

He also made a huge fuss whenever Tim came home. You’ve seen the heartwarming videos of dogs whooping and jumping and hurling themselves wildly at returning soldiers, who’ve been away for years? That was Linus when Tim came back from the deli.

He loved belly rubs…

…and deep, long snoozes, and honest to God you’d sell your soul to sleep like that for five minutes.

And if he snoozed on something I needed, I’d just wait until he woke up.

He was also great at self-snuggling, where one minute he was lying flat on his blanket and the next he was a dachshund burrito.

Linus never met a snack he didn’t like (that’s a telltale yogurt ring on his face)…

…and his devotion to whatever you had on your plate bordered on the monastic.

A couple of weeks after we brought him home, we went out to a family dinner and brought home a big, fat, juicy steak bone. When we gave it to Linus, he didn’t seem to know what to do with it at first—because apparently in his almost three years of doggie life, no one had ever given him a bone. But he quickly caught on, and wouldn’t let go. We somehow managed to pry it away from him for his nightly walk, but upon returning, he raced down the hall, frantic to reclaim his prize. After that, he got lots of bones.

When my Mom visited, she actually teased us about spoiling him. Imagine. And then there was this.

But how else would I treat my best editor? When I was stuck for a word, I could always turn to him for support. Or, more often, just chuck what I was working on and curl up with him.

He’d also sense our miseries and truly sympathize. Whenever I cried, whether from something real or even an old movie, I’d soon find him clinging close to me.

Every autumn, on the Feast of St. Francis, we took Linus to be blessed, which I think may have helped him through the health crises in his life.

In the summer of 2007, a few weeks after my company closed its doors, I was spending some time with Linus upstate. One day, rather than racing around the yard, he seemed sluggish, mostly sitting in one spot under a tree. I chalked it up to the weather, which had grown more sultry as the afternoon wore on, and thought it best to bring him inside. But when I picked him up, he howled in pain. Trying (and failing) not to panic, I softly cradled him into his bed and called the vet, but they’d already closed. So I called a cab to get to the emergency vet in the next town.

An hour passed. No cab. By now the sky was black, and it was pouring. I called again (I vaguely remember screaming). A half-hour later, the cabbie drove right past me as I stood on the screenporch frantically waving my arms. I ran outside, caught up with him and jumped right in front of the car.

By the time Linus made it to the vet, his back legs were paralyzed. He had ruptured a disc and needed emergency surgery, but whether he’d ever walk again was highly uncertain. They brought him into the back, gave him steroids, pain medication and sedatives to stabilize him overnight, and told me to get him to Cornell veterinary hospital first thing in the morning. I called Tim from the front desk, sobbing so hard he could barely understand what I was saying.

As I waited for him to drive up from the city, I sat outside crying on a bench under an awning, as the rain pounded against it. A woman who’d seen me inside came out, sat beside me, and pulled my head onto her shoulder. “He’ll be alright,” she said over and over, like a lullaby, or maybe a prayer. I’ll never forget her. (And she was right.)

During the drive up to Cornell, I sat in back with Linus. Bundled in blankets, he clung to my lap, drifting in and out of a fearful, fitful sleep, trembling the whole time. When we arrived, they whisked him into surgery within an hour, removed the ruptured disc and fused the ones on either side. They were going to keep him for another three days, but he was so scared and miserable in his cage—he hadn’t spent a night without us since we first brought him home—that they let him leave a day early, giving us strict instructions on how to get him back on his feet.

Naturally, at first, he was wobbly as a newborn foal. I’d hold him as he took a few halting steps and then lose his footing and stumble to the ground. I started to look into scooters, in case he needed one. But then suddenly, less than a week after surgery, he went from staggering to running, in a single motion. So there we were in the yard, him scampering around like he’d never left, like it was just another Tuesday, and me crying my head off. I started to call Tim, but then I put the phone down. I wanted Linus to surprise him when he came home.

The only lingering result of his trauma was that occasionally when he sat down, he would swing one leg out to the side, like Rita Hayworth in her pinup shots.

I told Tim if anything ever happened to me, he should take me to Cornell and tell them I’m a German Shepherd.

A few years later, a routine vet visit turned up some disturbing lab results. So we went back to Cornell, where a battery of tests revealed a dangerous tumor. He needed surgery right away, and the only available slot was the day before Thanksgiving. For the second time, everything went perfectly, and in their post-op report, the clearly perceptive vets actually wrote, “Linus is a very good dog.” Tim and I had our holiday dinner at the only place we could find open, a bar in downtown Ithaca. I ordered a cocktail, only to have the waiter snap, “Today we have beer and wine and that’s it.” Yipes. But since he was stuck working, I could hardly blame him for sounding like Sheldon Leonard in It’s a Wonderful Life. (“We serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast, and we don’t need any characters around to give the joint atmosphere!”)

And once again Linus, desperate to go home, was released early, enjoying some post-holiday deli turkey on the trip back.

But the following year, Linus was diagnosed with Cushing’s disease, which is something of a plague for dachshunds. Every story I dug up was more horrible than the one before, and the typical prognosis was two years. Linus was blessed with another four, and until he was near the end, fate was somewhat benevolent to him. But in the last few months, one by one, a series of cruel symptoms came crashing down on him. Cushing’s attacked his retinas, dementia darkened his wonderful mind, and sometimes he struggled to stand. Before, the vets always had an answer. Now they had none.

Often I’d pick him up, wrap my arms close around him, and try to will time and trauma away. Do your worst to me, I’d plead, but leave his little fourteen-pound body alone.

It’s one of the cruelest twists of nature that they get so much less time on this earth than we do. I would have happily shared my years with him if I could have.

The night before Linus died, Tim and I slept on either side of him, guardians at the gate with nothing left in our desperately depleted arsenal but how much we loved him. At first, he shared my pillow, his nose pressed against my neck. But then he shifted, resting his head on my hand and curling his body into the crook of my arm. Then he sighed and settled down, just as he did those first few moments we welcomed him into our family.

Despite his age and his illness, losing Linus was an awful, sudden shock. Losing someone you love so much always is; there’s no “preparing” for it. It’s not just a turn of phrase to say I don’t know what to do without him. I really don’t. I can’t put his beds and blankets and bowls away, but I can’t bear to look at them either. I can barely breathe.

I know he lived a long, happy life, and he was loved like crazy, and we’ll always have our memories of him. But none of that helps right now. I’ve collapsed in tears in the diner, in the supermarket, on the street, everywhere. And it’s worse at home. I wake up crying and go to sleep the same way. I miss everything about him, even the smallest things, like the sound of him lapping at his water bowl and his paws click-clacking on the floor. As little as he was, he filled the house. And he filled my heart. Losing him has thrown open the gates to a very dark place I can’t find my way out of without him.

Goodnight and sleep safe, my sweet, silly, beautiful, beloved pup. You were such an indescribable blessing, beyond any words I can find. I have no idea if there’s a God, but there better be a Heaven for you. May the angels hold you as close as we did for all those wonderful years.

Remembering Linus, Our Sweet, Beloved Pup This his has nothing to do with classic film, but I feel like you're family, so I hope you’ll bear with me in remembering my sweet, beloved Linus, who we lost last week.

[girls-love-girls1200]

36. Rosé x Reader •Winning•

Fingers numb from the harsh January cold, you attempted to tie your bright yellow shoelaces, huffing as your extremities didn’t seem to be cooperating in the sub zero temperature.

A delicate chuckle from above distracted you from the impossible task, you smiled at your teammate, a red beanie on her head, the varsity jacket zipped up to her chin, cheeks bright red.

“Are you making fun of me Rosé?”

Her smile spread even wider after hearing your voice, she kneeled in front of you, chocolate eyes leveling with your own.

“Not at all Speedy, in fact I was actually planning on helping you.”

Her gloved hands patted your shaky ones out of the way before tying your laces in a swift motion, your heart thumping hard at the small distance between your faces.

“Y/SN should I get you a godamn babysitter while we’re at it?”

Coach’s incredibly loud voice made your bones tremble as you pulled away from Rosé and jumped to your feat in a millisecond.

“No Sir that will not be necessary!”

The older girl chuckled at your antiques as she moved to her center midfielder position, fixing the captain band on her arm, she winked at you with a soft smile that made your stomach twist.

The whistle blew and Rosé whizzed passed you as practice begun.

Your legs felt like bricks as you walked out into the empty parking lot, it was dark already, the only illumination coming from the busy street next to the field.

Putting one headphone in your ear and fixing the sports bag your brother had gotten you for your last birthday, you started the thirty minute walk home.

Your soul left your body as a strong hand suddenly grabbed your shoulder, a high pitched scream tumbling out of your mouth.

You turned around to be met with your captain’s familiar smirk,

“What the fuck is your problem Chaeyoung!?”

Her smile was wiped off her face as you roughly pushed her away, hands connecting with her chest,

“That was not fucking funny.”

Your voice came out shaky from the sudden fear induced adrenaline rush. This girl was trying to kill you,

“I’m sorry Y/N I didn’t think you would freak out so much, I’m an idiot, forgive me?”

Her sad puppy dog eyes felt like a stab wound to your chest and you had already forgiven her for scaring the living shit out of you.

“I just wanted to force you in my car and give you a ride home, I hate the thought of you walking alone around here in the dark.”

Your body tingled at her words and her mischievous smile as you let her grab your freezing hand, squeezing it in between hers, trying to warm you up.

“Let me take you home please Speedy.”

A small smile on her face, she pulled you closer, strong arms wrapping around you, her light fragrance filling your senses.

“Just this once Chipmunk.”

“So, are you nervous about tomorrow?”

The lifts home after practice had now become a routine, everytime you walked into practice and didn’t see the older girl joking around with the team a strange sadness bloomed in the pit of your stomach, you couldn’t deny the feelings that had slowly developed into a huge stinking crush.

“Yes, I mean there’s gonna be so many scouts in the crowd and the only chance I have to get out of this town is if they offer me a scholarship.”

Rosé’s stare kept switching between the road and your face, eyes falling to your lips, hands tightening around the steering wheel in a failed attempt to keep her racing heart at bay.

“Honestly Speedy, you’re the best forward our school has ever seen, you do things on the pitch that I can’t even describe.”

Her hand reached over the gearshift and gently grasped your thigh, “All you have to do is keep your grades up and I am sure the sponsors and scouts are gonna come knocking at your door.”

You felt your heart in your throat as she kept her hand in place, muscles tensing under her soft touch.

The street lights illuminated her delicate lineaments, her eyes twinkling,

“Thanks Chaeyoung, that means a lot to me.”

You mean a lot to me.

The moment lasted shorter than ever as the car came to a stop in front of your house.

You sat in silence a few seconds longer, not wanting to leave just yet.

“Are your parents coming to the game tomorrow?”

No.

“Yeah, I think so.”

She could tell you were lying, but Rosé had to remind herself she was just your team captain, not your girlfriend so it was really none of her business, yet she wanted to help you so bad.

She bit down on her tongue as you bid your goodbyes and left the car.

Her stare fixated on your form until you were behind the door of the big empty house, and as she drove off your fragrance remained in the speeding vehicle, thoughts of you filling her mind.

“Listen up team!”

The rowdy changing room quieted down as soon as coaches’ voice filled the space, you took a long sip out of your energy drink as your gaze fixated on the floor, unaware of another pair of eyes on your back.

“We’re drawing 1-1 girls, but I know we can do better than the shit your showing me out there.”

I could be playing so much better.

“I need you to forget about whatever is on your mind during the second half okay?

Be the team I know you can be and kick their damn asses!”

The warning whistle brought you out of your trance as you jumped to your feet, chucking the empty bottle to the other side of the room, adrenaline running through your veins.

Coach stopped you right before entering the field,

“Hey Y/N, show me what you got alright? I know I’m a little harsh on you but it’s because I know you can be pure excellence.”

His deep voice drilled into your head, honest eyes calming you down significantly, “I’m proud of you kiddo, now go score me a goal Champ.”

His strong hand patted your back a little to hard before roughly pushing you onto the field.

Oxygen flowed into your nose, down your windpipe, straight to your lungs before coming out again from your mouth.

That was the only thing you focused on as you ran across the mid field line, caressing the ball with your feet, your eyes seeing a pattern form in front of you.

Lifting your head you made a swift pass to your dear captain before sprinting even faster towards the penalty area, Rosé understood perfectly as she sent the ball flying towards you.

It was a perfect pass, although your chances were looking pretty bad due to the two well built girls running towards you at full speed.

Breathe.

You lifted your head as you were inches away from one of the girls, faking a left you managed to tap the ball between her legs, sprinting past her you recovered it and smoothly dribbled past the second girl.

With the perfect opening you shot the ball straight into the left top corner, the goalie didn’t even have a chance as it soared to the back of the net.

Your eyes widened at the sight, joy overtaking your senses, but something felt out of place as a strong stinging feeling spread through your ankle, you were swept off your feet, the night sky being the only thing you saw as your back hit the ground at full force, oxygen leaving your lungs harshly.

Your ears were ringing, all you could hear were screams, your ankle was burning like the deepest pit in hell, you shut your eyes tight trying to control your breathing.

Rosé had witnessed the whole thing, the ball was already in the net when the second mountain you had dribbled past came sliding directly towards your ankle, a smirk on her face when she got up on her feet perfectly fine while you were on the ground, not moving.

Rage flowed through her veins, ready to knock the stupid girl to the ground but another teammate beat her to it shoving her in the chest with force.

The crowd was going insane, the referee struggled to keep the girls from beating each other up as more kept joining in the mess.

Rosé snapped out of it as she saw the emergency services running onto the field, coach was already by your side, panic in his eyes.

In a second she was kneeling next to you, her hands holding yours tightly,

“Hey, hey I’m here Y/N, open your eyes hun please.”

Rosé eyes filled with tears as a strangled sob left your mouth,

“I can’t breathe, I can’t...”

Her hands didn’t leave yours as you were being lifted onto the gourney, “You’re going to be okay Speedy, I promise.”

Her voice came out shaky, she couldn’t take in your current state,

“I... I have to, to finish...”

Coach showed up in your line of view, worry etched on his face, “The only thing you have to do is get to the damn hospital Y/N, we’ll finish this game up and come by straight after it.”

He grabbed Rosé, separating her from you as you got carried away, her eyes fixed on you until you were out of sight.

The fighting had died down after the girl that caused this mess was sent off and a few yellow cards were given.

She rested her hands on her knees, head dipping as she tried to calm her breathing.

You were gonna be okay.

The whistle blew and the game started from where it left off with a worried Rosé leading her team.

“It’s not broken is it?”

Your feet dangling off the hospital bed, you stared at your doctor with hopeful eyes.

“No Y/N it’s not broken, just try not to put too much wait on it for the next three to four weeks.”

His stern voice reminded of your dad, who still had to show up to sign you out.

“So that means no soccer?”

A small smile broke out on his face, “That means no soccer for three weeks.”

A light knock interrupted your conversation, the older man opening the door to reveal a disheveled looking Rosé on the other side, a huge smile spread on your lips as you saw her.

“Chipmunk, did we win?”

Something seemed to click inside of Rosé’s chest as she saw you there, sitting on the clean bed, a huge smile on your lips and a bandaged ankle.

She marched towards you, not even giving you time to react as her soft lips pressed against yours, the surprise soon being replaced by this warm feeling in your belly as you moved your lips against hers.

You both pulled away, with short breath, foreheads pressed together, eyes closed. “We won Speedy, we won.”

[5hfanfiction]

sleeping to dream (chapter 3)

//

‘Can I sit here?’

Lauren looks up, blowing up at her childish bangs to see where the voice came from, her cheeks puffed.

Her reply is cut off by a childish giggle.

‘Your face looks funny.’

If there was any rule in Mrs Peterson’s class of six-year-olds, it was that no one bothered Lauren Jauregui, let alone tell her that her face looks funny.

Letting out another puff of air, Lauren gets up, standing only a few inches taller than the preposterous girl, face plum and smoke coming out of her ears, causing the room to grow silent.

‘You’re so funny.’ the smaller girl giggles again, and now the room is filled with gasps, and whispers of oh my god. \ In hindsight, nothing about my friendship with Camila was ordinary. Our very first encounter was a disaster in itself; after Camila had come up to me, I took it upon myself to give the brown-eyed girl a piece of my mind. I took the crayons away, scribbled on Camila’s drawings and even took away her juice box (literally anything). No matter what I did though, I couldn’t manage to wipe the dopey smile from Camila’s face.

//

Fourteen and tired, Lauren slouches her way into the classroom, eyes rolling at the sight of a certain brown-eyed girl. Begrudgingly, Lauren sits herself next to her, inwardly praying that the girl doesn’t talk to her, and when she doesn’t, Lauren lets out a sigh of relief. Though she can’t help but feel a little disappointed, mind racing with why Camila hasn’t even looked at her.

The bell rings, signalling the end of the torture known as history and though usually, Lauren would rush out to escape Camila’s overly bright smile, she found her pace slower, eyebrows furrowed, and eyes trained on the girl with her head down.

‘Urm, Camila?’ her voice comes out hoarse, the name unusual on her tongue, her hand slightly shaking Camila’s shoulder.

Looking up, Camila blinks at Lauren, and for the first time in that hour, Lauren notices how red Camila’s usual soft eyes are, and she wants to ask, but her question comes out in the shape of a breath.

‘Oh hey, must’ve dozed off.’ Camila laughs nervously, and Lauren knows it’s not genuine, but she doesn’t question it. Instead, she offers Camila a small smile before making her way out, confused with her reaction to seeing Camila like that.

-

Lauren saw her for the second time that day; being late always led Lauren into being in detentions, though no one really cared, she had good grades and that’s pretty much all that counted.

Walking out of the school doors, Lauren noticed Camila, curled up under a tree with her head on her knees. Before she can think of what to do, Lauren found herself sitting next to the girl, her fingers nervously fiddling with the ring her grandma had given her.

‘Camila?’

Twice that day, Camila looks at Lauren with red eyes, except now the red is deeper and the eyes are brimming with tears, and for the second time that day, Lauren finds her stomach dropping (though she still doesn’t know why).

‘What’s wrong?’

Eight years was a long time to get to know someone, or at least form an opinion of someone. Everyone, who wasn’t Lauren’s family, knew that Lauren wasn’t someone who cared. Camila was told this, over and over. Though in those eight years, Camila knew better than to believe what was being told to her. She knew better than to think that anyone with eyes that effervescent, would have a heart that’s contrastingly still. So, she chose patience, growing used to Lauren’s usual cold character. And it’s led her here, with her heart broken but also warm, the fact that she was right giving her some form of happiness. Lauren Jauregui did have a heart after all.

‘It’s nothing.’ Camila’s usually bright tone was replaced with a tired one, a small smile on her lips.

‘It’s not nothing if you’re sitting alone under a tree that looks like it’s about to pass out. Not that you look any different from it.’ Camila laughed at that, the bluntness Lauren Jauregui carried like a crown amusing her.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Detention. You still haven’t answer me.’

‘I er, it’s nothing. Really.’

‘Camila.’

‘Er, my-, mydogdied.’ Camila mumbled, both embarrassed and sad.

‘What?’

Knowing Lauren wasn’t letting up, Camila sighed, closing her eyes as she did.

‘My dog died. We put him down this weekend.’

Nodding, Lauren plays with her ring again.

‘And going home will remind you of him.’

If the topic wasn’t so damn depressing, Camila would’ve been happy. Excited even. Not only was Lauren Jauregui asking her what was wrong, she was perceptive too. If only everyone who had a negative thing to say about the green-eyed girl was here to see this.

‘It’s hard, I know. But my aunt once told me that anyone who passes away, animals and humans alike, goes to heaven. So just think about how your dog is in heaven, with an unlimited number of toys, and food and treats.’ Lauren has a soft smile on her face, and Camila, for the first time since her dog passing away, finds herself genuinely smiling too. Maybe even okay with the fact that Mocha isn’t here anymore.

‘Yeah… yeah I guess you’re right.’

‘Yeah.’

The two find themselves in a staring contest, an unspoken understanding settling between the two, and it’s not something Lauren does, so it startles her when Camila’s hand covers her own, a smile on her face.

‘Thank you, it means a lot.’ and before Lauren knows it, Camila’s walking away, leaving Lauren with an unsettled tummy and tingling skin.

\

I think that’s when it started, both our friendship and my feelings for her. To see someone who was always so annoyingly positive be so torn, it stirred something inside of me. Maybe a new perspective. When I first met Camila, I disliked her because I was envious. The way there was no smile on my face but always a smile on hers, the way she so easily made friends. It made me think that all the world’s unfairness was settled on my shoulders and all the world’s happiness on hers.

But after that day, I knew it wasn’t the case. Things weren’t always black and white, and Camila Cabello was my awakening. Not just over her dog of course, over the following years I learnt things about her that ran deeper than the skin.

//

‘Kaki!’

‘Sofi!’

The familiar voices startle Lauren, causing her to look out from her window, her hand putting the car back to neutral.

Green eyes watch as a sixteen-year old Camila lifts her younger sister, matching smiles on both of the girls’ faces.

‘What are you doing here munchkin?’

‘Papa said I could come pick you up!’

‘You can drive now?’

Lauren cringes at Camila’s joke, but she can’t deny the smile on her face when the smaller version of Camila giggles.

‘No silly, I came with Papa.’

‘Ohhh, see because that would’ve been unfair if you got to drive before I did.’

‘Maybe if your lazy-ass actually starts learning, that wouldn’t be the case.’

The husky voice causes the two brown-haired girls to look in Lauren’s direction; the older of the two wearing a dopey smile and the younger a scowl.

‘You can’t curse Lo!’ Sofi exclaims, baffled at the language of the sixteen-year old.

‘Oh right, sorry.’ Lauren replies, a blush now on her face at the stern look on the toddler’s face.

‘I guess it’s okay, you have pretty eyes.’ Sofi shrugs, as if her reason was enough to let Lauren get away.

Camila giggles at that, asking Sofi to wait in the car before making her way over to Lauren’s car.

‘It’s creepy you’re stalking me.’

‘We go to the same school Camz.’

‘Exactly, stop stalking me.’

‘I was about to leave but your chipmunk voice stopped me.’

‘I don’t like you.’

‘Could’ve fooled me with the way you were on my ass for the last what? 100 years?’

‘Don’t you have your girlfriend to meet?’

‘Careful Camila, you sound jealous.’ Lauren smirks, bopping Camila’s nose.

‘Oh I am… Lucy is beyond stunning.’

Before Lauren could reply, Camila’s dad called out to her, something about grocery shopping. And just like that, just like ten years ago, Camila leaves behind a red-cheeked Lauren, smoke streaming out of her ears.

‘See you later Lo!’ Camila calls out, before disappearing from sight.

\

Pieces of Camila started to glue themselves to inches of my heart; the way she was in love with everything beautiful, the way her heart was fabricated with unlimited love and compassion. The way her smile settled my darkest nightmares, or the way she was the light that was missing from my own dark world. I grew in love with her every second I spent with her. But the relentless butterflies, or the racing heart made no sense to me, not until I was eighteen anyway. Though, obviously I still knew nothing then, stupid enough to think Camila would feel the same.

//

‘Why are we doing this?’ Lauren grunts, not happy to be woken up at 2am and being taken to a cold playground.

‘You’ll see.’

Not having any of Camila’s secrecy, Lauren grabs the brunette’s arm, pulling Camila into her, her breath catching at how close the brown eyes were.

‘No. If I’m out here, losing my fucking sleep, you’re going to tell me why.’ Lauren tried, she really did, but having Camila so close was making her shaky, and that’s why-

Camila burst out laughing at the way Lauren had spoken, though she regretted it instantly because before she knows it, Lauren is tackling her onto the grass, tickling her mercilessly.

‘Okay! Stop! I’ll tell you.’

Huffing, Lauren rolls off, now laying parallel to Camila.

‘We’re going to watch the moon.’

And that’s what the two do, and with each passing second, all the frustration Lauren had disappeared. Instead, serenity pulsated through her veins, her heart content after the crappy day she had.

Looking towards the brown-eyed girl, Lauren felt her heart speed up at the smile on Camila’s lips, the sight glowing under the moonlight. Feeling the need to, Lauren moved her hand a little until she found Camila’s, intertwining their fingers, the contact causing the butterflies that usually only roared when anything with Camila was involved.

‘Thank you.’ Lauren whispered.

Camila replied with a smile, her hand squeezing Lauren’s slightly.

\

‘Laur?’

Normani’s voice pulls me out from my thoughts, and I blink to come back to the present, staring at Camila’s back.

‘Go.’ she whispers, and I nod, before letting my footsteps carry me.

[sonofadeanwinchester]

Friends

Summary:  Your parents think that you've been dating Tom for the past three years but when it comes to you going home for your brother's wedding, he assumes you're going to take your ex-boyfriend, Tommy.

Words: 3900

Tom Holland x Reader

A/N 

 Y/F/N = Your Full Name Y/N = Your Name Y/N/N = Your NickName Y/L/N = Your Last Name

Tom flopped down on my couch and sighed. He picked up the TV remote flicking through channels. "What should we get to eat?"

I shrugged, twisting my hair back. "What do you want?"

He chewed his lip. "Chips?"

I cocked a brow, "like chips? Like Ruffles or Lays?"

He laughed, rolling his eyes. "Uh, fries."

I snapped my fingers as if it just dawned on me. "Of course, fries."

He smiled, "I forget that I'm not in England at the moment."

I lazed down beside him, shifting so my legs onto his lap. "Nope. You're in the good old U S of Canada."

He laughed, running a hand through his curly locks. "That makes no sense."

I scrunched my nose and stuck my tongue out. "It does it me."

"Mhmm. So fries?" He ran a hand over my clothed leg.

I shrugged, "I guess so."

He sighed, throwing his head back against the couch. "You don't want fries."

"I never said that, Tom."

He furrowed his brow, "we've been best friends for almost three years, I know when you don't want something and right now, you don't want fries."

"Well, young Thomas, I could really go for some pizza right now but if you want fries, then fries it is." I saluted to him.

I scoffed, "I'm only two years younger than you."

I laughed, or snickered. "Two years is a lot."

"You're right. Cause while I'm young, you're an old lady."

"Shut up." I laughed.

Tom sucked back the fries like they were going to be his last meal. "Jesus Tom, did you even taste them?"

He shoved the final one into his mouth and smiled, his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk. "Of course."

I nodded at my food, showing I still had half a container full. "So."

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "So."

"My brother's getting married in two weeks."

"Right, did you tell them that you and Tommy broke up?"

I chewed my lip. "So, here's the thing-."

"You didn't tell them."

I made a face, "they didn't really know I was seeing Tommy."

He snorted, "meaning?"

"Meaning that they think I've been dating you for the last three years."

He choked on his drink and he shook his head. "What?"

I nodded, "as far as they know, I've been dating a big time actor named Tom Holland for the past three years. I have all the pictures with us together for proof and all the times we've hung out when they called."

He shut his eyes, running a hand through his locks again. "So, let me get this straight. Your parents, who I've never actually met, think that you've been dating me instead of your actual boyfriend?"

I nodded, raising a brow. "Sounds right."

"So let me guess? I have to go to the wedding with you, act like we've been dating for three years and not tell your parents that I'm your best friend?"

I pouted, bringing out my best puppy dog eyes. "You'd be a life saver."

I sighed, "it's a good thing I'm done shooting for the next two months."

"Is that a yes?"

He shook his head, "only because you're my best friend!"

I reached across the table and hugged him long and tight. "You're amazing."

He chuckled, "it's been said."

TWO WEEKS LATER

We were two hours into our six hour flight when Tom glanced at me, "so we have to make sure this is convincing, you know."

I nodded, "I know Tom."

He smiled, "I'm an actor, like an actual actor. Like it's what I do for a living."

"Yes Tom, I know." I chuckled as I tried focusing on my book.

"How long have we've been dating?"

I sighed, "three years, two months, six days and let's say three hours."

"That's pretty precise."

I scoffed, "you haven't met my parents."

He nodded, chewing his cheek. "The good thing, I guess, is that they don't know much about me."

I nodded. "You're right."

"So, let's go over what you need to kno-."

"Your name is Thomas Stanley Holland. You were born June 1 1996 in Kingston. You have three younger brothers. Sam and Harry are twins and Patrick is eight years younger than you. Your mother is a photographer and your father is an author and comedian." I said monotone as I focused on my book.

He snuffed, "fair enough. How did we meet?"

I turned my eyes to look at his brown ones. "Whatta mean?"

"I mean, are we gonna tell them the true story of how we met or are we gonna fake it?"

I shrugged, "the truth is nice. We met one night you were roaming around New York in the wee hours of the morning and became fast friends from then."

He nodded, "fast friends." I clicked his tongue. "What was our first date?"

I chewed my lip. "I don't know, you're the romantic."

He chuckled, "very well. I picked you up around seven, I drove you to the qaint little eatery where I had rented out the entire building. We ate salmon and veggies and then shared a huge piece of chocolate cake."

I nodded, closing my book, realizing that he wasn't about to stop anytime soon. "That's sounds ... really nice, actually."

He smiled, a rose color filling his cheeks. "Good."

I sighed, "okay. What do you know about me?"

He cleared his throat, winking. "Your name is (Y/F/N). You were born in Canada. Your parents moved to New York when you were fourteen. You studied at NYU for two years. You are allergic to cats but love dogs. Which is why I like you by the way, you're so good with Tessa." He wiggled his brows. "You have three brother and a sister. Your father is a carpenter and your mother is an interior decorator."

I nodded, "very good."

A few moments passed before he spoke again. "Are we planning on getting married?"

I shook my head, shocked my his question. "What?"

He raised his brows. "Us, as a couple, do we plan on getting married?"

I shrugged, "I guess so. Down the road, maybe."

"Do you think I should propose?"

"Jesus Tom, what the hell?"

He shrugged, "you don't wanna marry me?"

"Tom! We're not even really dating!"

He huffed, "I know that." His words came out soft.

I sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm just nervous about you meeting my parents and-."

He smiled, reaching his hand to rest on my knee as if he'd done that a thousand times before. "It's gonna be fine."

I laughed, "did I mention my dad hates accents?"

We landed at the airport where my brother and his fiancee were holding a sign reading my name. I ran towards Logan and hugged him tightly. Tom followed close behind but gave us our space. We said our hellos, I hugged Grace and congratulated her again on getting married soon. Logan kissed my cheek and smiled. "You must be Tommy."

Tom sighed, smiling. "I usually go by Tom, but yeah, that's me."

Logan chuckled, "British?"

"Uh yeah. London."

I went to Tom's side and laced our fingers together, leaning into his shoulder. "Baby, are you hungry?"

Tom made a face and then chuckled, "I'm starving."

Logan wrapped an arm around Grace and he nodded. "We could eat somewhere if you'd like."

I nodded, squeezing Tom's hand. "We should grab some pizza."

Tom laughed, "only because we had fries last night."

---

We sat around a table and shoveled pizza into our faces. Logan wiped his mouth and smiled, wrapping a arm around Grace's chair. "So, Tom. How did you and my sister meet?"

Tom nodded, chuckling. "We met one night when I was roaming around New York randomly."

Logan smirked, "drinking?"

Tom shook his head, "I had just landed. I flew in from Japan and the time difference messed me up, couldn't sleep."

Grace smiled, "so Tom. You're an actor?"

I smiled, kissing his cheek. "Tommy here is a good actor."

Tom flushed pink, "I try."

Logan snapped his fingers. "Dude! You're the new Spider-Man, that's where I've seen you before."

He smirked, "One of the best things that has happened to me was landing that role. The first here was falling in love with (Y/N)."

This motherfucker was smooth.

I blushed and cleared my throat. "So Grace, are you all set for tomorrow?"

She laughed, kissing my brother's cheek. "I certainly hope so! I'm so happy you were able to make it."

I smiled as leaned into Tom's side, it seemed so natural. "Of course, Logan is my brother and you're his fiancee. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Logan smiled, taking a long drink. "I guess we're lucky that Tom got some time off."

Tom laughed, "well, I'm finished shooting for a while now."

My phone started buzzing in my pocket. "Hello?"

My mother's excited voice squealed from the other end. "(Y/N), my darling, how are you? Have you landed yet? Is Logan and Gracie with you? Please tell me you've brought that secret boyfriend of yours along."

I laughed nervously, "Hi mom." Tom's eyes grew wide and I winked at him. "I'm doing fine. We landed about an hour ago, we stopped for food. Logan and Grace are with me and he's not my secret boyfriend, he has a name."

She laughed, light and fluttery. "Well, Missy, please get your butt home so I can hug your cute little face and meet this special boy."

I sighed, "of course mom."

She gasped, "can I speak with Tom?"

I shook my head, "what?"

"Can I speak with Tom?" She repeated.

I chewed my cheek, "he's actually gone to the washroom at the moment."

Tom made a face and pointed at his chest. I nodded.

My mother sighed, "okay, well then, I guess I can wait till you get here to meet him."

I sighed, relief filling me. "Okay, see you soon."

Grace stood, fixing her skirt and smiled. "Well, we're ready to go if you are. We'll go grab the car and bring it around for you two."

I nodded and smiled, "sounds good, thank you."

When they were gone, Tom sighed and slumped into his chair. "That was terrifying."

I laughed, "you're right, it was but it's about to get so much worse."

"Parent time?" Tom made a face as he asked.

I nodded, "parent time."

The ride to my parents house was awkward. Grace and Logan sat up front while Tom and I were in the back seat. Tom kept his hand on my thigh as if to reassure himself that we were dating. Grace kept smiling at me and commenting on the weather. "I hope it's this beautiful tomorrow."

I chuckled, "I'm sure it will be lovely. You're going to make a beautiful bride."

She chewed her lip, blushing. "Thank you!"

We pulled into the long drive way, coming to slow stop near the house. Logan jumped out, opening the door for Grace and then grabbing our suitcases. Tom stepped out and smiled. "I got it, thank you though."

Logan nodded, "okay. See you inside, bro." He patted Tom's back and grabbed Grace's hand.

I sighed and leaned into Tom's chest as my parents came rushing out the front door. "(Y/N)!"

My mother all but ran to my side and hugged me tight. "Hello, mother."

My father kissed my cheek and winked at me. "Welcome home kiddo."

Michelle, my mother, turned and eyed Tom. "Well, Tom, aren't you a handsome young man."

He chuckled nervously, lacing our fingers together. "Thank you, Ma'am."

She chuckled, "(Y/N), you never mentioned he was British."

I nodded, "surprise, my British boyfriend."

Tom laughed and kissed my temple. "I'm just a boyfriend, really."

Michelle hugged him tight and my father shook his hand. "Nice to finally meet the young man that's captured my daughter's heart."

Tom nodded, "nice to finally meet the man who raised the love of my life into such a beautiful young woman, Sir."

My dad, Ralph, laughed. "Smooth."

Tom smiled, "saying nothing but the truth Sir."

Just then, the three younger siblings came running out. Lucas, being the youngest at four, ran to my side and hugged my tightly. "Hey, buddy!"

The other two, Kohen and Josie, seven and nine, hugged me once tightly and stepped back beside my parents. I kissed Lucas's cheek and smiled. "Guys, this is my boyfriend, Tom."

Kohen made a face, "do you play on movies?"

Tom nodded, "I sure do buddy."

Josie smiled, blushing. "You play Peter Parker."

Tom smiled, nodding again. "Yes, I do."

Kohen's eyes grew wide, "can you show me how to do that flip thing?"

Tom looked at me and I shrugged, "go play, Love."

Tom kissed my cheek and ran away with my younger siblings.

I followed my parents into the house and smiled as I watched my best friend flip around with the three treasures in my life.

My mother smiled, sitting on the couch. "Tom seems like a lovely man."

"He's a sweetheart."

Ralph smiled, "he seems young."

I nodded, "he's two years younger than me."

He made a face, "so that makes hi-."

Tom entered the room, "I'm twenty one sir."

My mother smiled, "are your family in the United States Tom?"

He shook his head, "no, they're back in England."

He sat beside me on the couch opposite from my parents, wrapping a arm around my shoulders. "You have a big family?"

He shrugged, "I suppose so. I have three younger brothers."

My mother clapped her hands, "both from big families! You know, (Y/N) has always dreamed of marrying a man that comes from a big family."

"Mom, stop, come on."

She waved me away. "Do you think there is marriage involved?"

Tom shrugged, kissing my hair. "One day down the road, I'm sure. I'd love you marry your daughter."

Ralph smirked, "when you're a little older, right?"

Tom laughed, "of course. Twenty one is quite young to get married and start a family."

Michelle smiled, "especially with your career blooming."

Tom nodded, "I'm very blessed with where I am right now, life and career wise."

I looked at my watch, it was a little past eleven. I yawned as if on cue. Tom smiled, "time for bed, Love?"

I nodded, "I think so." I stood, dragging Tom up behind me, kissing my parents cheeks before heading upstairs. "See you in the morning."

"So, are we gonna sleep in the same bed or...?" Tom sat on the floor, his shirt removed and only jogging pants.

I shrugged, removing my shirt to reveal a tank top. I crawled under the blankets. "I don't care."

Tom sighed, "no funny business."

I scoffed, "Thomas Stanley, it is you who I should be saying that too."

He made a face, "why?"

"What was with all the kissing today?"

He shrugged, "we're suppose to be dating for a decent amount of time. Couples like that are touchy and show affection. If you want me to stop, then I will."

I shook my head, "I never asked you to stop."

He winked, crawling in beside me. "Good, cause I wasn't going to."

The kids busted into our bedroom around seven am, screaming at the top of their lungs. "Wake up! It's the wedding day!"

I shifted but kept my head underneath the pillow. Tom wasn't beside me, and his spot was cold. My sister chuckled, "Tom went out for a run about an hour ago."

I sighed, nodding. "Thank you, Josie."

Kohen stripped me of my blankets and revealed my tank top and short bottoms. "Ugh, Kohen, it's cold!"

He laughed as Lucas crawled up in bed beside me. "I'll keep you warm, sissy."

I kissed his cheek as Tom entered the room. His hair was covered with a hat and his headphones hung from one ear. He smiled at me, sweat had formed a fine layer onto his face and chest. "Lucas, that's my job buddy."

Lucas made a face, "you're not her husband."

Tom shook his head, "no, you're right, I'm not. Can you cuddle her then?"

Lucas's face beamed as he snuggled in closer to me. "Of course."

My mother came up the stairs, her hair in curlers and her makeup freshly done. "Good morning, love birds. Tom, why are sweaty?"

I chuckled, standing and stretching. I walked to his side, kissing his cheek. "He likes to go for runs in the mornings."

Tom nodded, kissing my hair. "It helps keep my thoughts at bay and it helps with the Spider-Man physique."

I chuckled, "I like the Spider-Man physique."

My mother's face reddened. "Okay, well, Ralph is downstairs fixing up some breakfast if you would like some. Make sure you're both ready to leave by noon, please." She started to walk away. "Oh and Tom, the spare bathroom is at the end of the hallway, there is towels in the drawers. I'm sure Logan left some body wash in their from the last visit."

He smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

As mother scooted the kids out of the room, Tom started stripping his running clothes. "I didn't know you went for a run every morning."

Tom laughed, his face confused. "You didn't?"

I shook my head. "No, you've never actually stayed at my apartment before."

He shrugged, "fair enough. I'll be back, babe, gotta shower the stink away."

---

Noon time came around and everyone was shuffling around like they were chickens without heads. My mother fought with the children to fix their hair and get them dressed fully. My father had finished dressing and was now helping my brother with his tuxedo. Grace and her bridesmaids have left early that morning to get ready. My mother had asked me to go with them and I declined, "I'm not one of the bridesmaid's mom."

She shook her head, "and that is something I will never understand."

I huffed, "she's the bride, she can choose. I don't mind, really."

Tom had kissed my temple, "I'm gonna get changed, babe."

Half an hour later, Tom came out of the bedroom dressed in dark pants, paired with a navy blue suit jacket and a crisp white shirt. "Damn, you clean up well."

He chuckled, "this old thing?" He winked as he fixed his hair.

Michelle stepped into the bedroom and leaned against the door frame. "I cannot wait till I have to do this all over for you two."

My face reddened as I fixed my makeup, brushing some lipstick across my lips. "Mother, come on."

Tom laughed, coming closer to me and hugging me from behind. "I'm sure that day will come sometime."

Michelle's eyes welled up with tears. "You two are just adorable. Tom you look positively handsome."

He smiled, "thank you Michelle, you look beautiful."

She laughed, "my hair is still up in curlers, Tom."

He shrugged, "beautiful all the same."

She walked away, rolling her eyes as blush filled her cheeks. I snorted, "you maybe wanna calm down on sucking up to my mother. She likes you."

He shrugged, "your mother is a beautiful lady."

"Maybe you should date her instead."

He laughed, taking a step back. "Maybe I will."

"Now leave so I can get dressed, Thomas."

He winked at turned away, "by the way, I changed your dress to match me."

I gasped, "you what?"

"I know you packed that dark red one but it didn't really go with my outfit so I took the liberty of buying you a new one to match me."

I laughed, shaking my head. "You better have not fucked this up, Thomas."

He winked again, "just look, Love."

I turned to my dress bag and zipped it down. There was a beautiful navy dress. I slipped it onto my body and admired it in the full length mirror. It stopped just above my knee and flowed out backwards. It was sleeveless and had a silk belt wrapped around the middle. I teared up and Tom appeared in the frame again. "You look beautiful."

"Shut up but good choice on the dress."

He winked and my mother called up the steps. "I hope you two lovelies are ready because we are leaving." She sang the last few words.

Grace had turned this little garden into some of fairytales. It was absolutely stunning. Tom held my hand was we walked up to find some seats. Across the walkway from me was an old friend of my brothers and an old flame of mine back in high school. As Tom talked to my mother about some of the new projects he was working on, TJ slipped across the way and stood in front of me. "Well, hello (Y/N)."

I smiled at him and fished around for Tom's fingers. "Hello, TJ."

He was tall with dark hair and bright blue eyes. His smirk ever so present. "You look beautiful, as always."

I laughed, "right because that's what you said in high school."

He shrugged it away, "high school was forever ago. You've changed, I've changed. All of us have changed, (Y/N/N)."

I sighed and pouted, "you're right, we have all changed. TJ, have you met my boyfriend Tom."

At his Tom spun around and smiled. He stood, offering his free hand. "Nice to meet you..."

TJ laughed, "TJ, I'm an old friend of Logan's."

Tom nodded, "nice to meet you."

"Did (Y/N) ever mention that we use to date in high school?"

Tom chuckled, "she's mentioned briefly about a guy who broke her heart as he cheated on her with her best friend."

TJ stuck his tongue in his cheek and I smirked. "Oh, but we've all changed TJ, right?"

He smiled but his eyes were fixated on Tom's. "Is your last name by any chance Holland?"

"It is yeah."

TJ snickered, "and how did you ever manage to hitch yourself to her?"

Tom stood to his, coming to the same height as TJ. "I love her very much. I'm lucky to have such a beautiful woman to hold at night."

TJ licked his lips and scoffed, "you may be holding her at night but she's held every guy in New York."

I stood, stepping between the men. "TJ, fuck you. Go sit down, I don't even know why Logan invited you."

He laughed, "perhaps it's because Grace is my younger sister?"

My jaw dropped and he snarled. "Have a good life (Y/N), nice to meet you Tom. Keep up the good work." He winked and slipped back into the crowd.

Tom shook his head and sighed. "What a fucking moron."

I chewed my lip, "you didn't believe him about the New York guy thing, right?"

He shrugged, "why should I? I'm not really your boyfriend so should I care?"

The hurt. It felt like a punch to the gut. "Because you're my best friend."

He shrugged, "I can't stop you from sleeping with every guy in the city."

I scoffed, "so you do believe him then?"

Tom raised a hand and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know, (Y/N). He seemed pretty legit."

"Okay, I'm going to sit with-” I glanced around, “anyone other than you."

Tom sighed, "come on, Love. Don't be like th-."

"Tom, just don't." I slunk away from his grasp and marched to the back of the chairs, sitting beside a stranger.

Tags: @221bshrlocked

[star-nova]

The Lives of the RiffRaff:  Franz Fawke-Hecklers

Previous:

We Are the RiffRaff Rickie Johnson-The Art of War Vera Sherwood-Little Sister Kali Muburu-Hair  Tracy Kwan-Vergil 

The RiffRaff keep to themselves and the Others—you know, the not-Riffraff—do the same. The paths don't cross, and there's no need for our worlds to overlap. They don't want a damn thing to do with us, that's why they call us RiffRaff in the first place. What they don't know is that we wear that title like a medal of honor.

For the most part, they don't really bother with us. They watch us from the lofty heights of their front porches, backyards, and curbsides and judge only silently. But then there are the ones that aren't silent about it. There are the Hecklers.

The Hecklers are usually teenagers, usually boys but sometimes girls. Some are older, some are younger, and none of them know how to keep their bloody mouths shut. They throw their heads back, cackling like chickens in a coop, crowing loud enough to be heard all over town. Unlike the regular Others that are just confused by us, these guys have a profound dislike for anything they consider out of the ordinary. How very dare we not conform to their idea of what the world is like? Don't we understand that the whole world revolves around them?

These nasty little bastards don't have a single care in the world. They say what they want, do what they want, and to hell with you if you don't like it. Once, I caught them mocking Vera Sherwood while her brother was away. “Derrrr...” they said, imitating her muscle spasms and the way her head rolls side-to-side. They were standing close enough for her to hear them, but far enough away to feign innocence when she turned her head and hollered, “You talking 'bout me, you turds?” They act as though one bad fall or one unfortunate accident on the bikes they love so much couldn't leave them in her condition or worse. When I found Leon and the two of us chased them off, they only let out their chicken-cackles and went off to find someone else to harass.

The Hecklers don't care who yells at them. They don't care who tells them off. They don't care that they're the most rancid pieces of garbage that ever walked the Earth, and that their fathers should've pulled out before they ever got a chance to exist. If you holler at them, they just laugh. Try to use reason with them, and they just plug their ears and make you look like the crazy one. Charmain Dekker, one of the sweetest RiffRaffs you ever could meet, has tried to be nice to them. She's offered them leftover cookies from her barbecue and volunteered to buy them ice cream from the truck when they didn't have any money. They gladly accepted the gifts, but still hollered, “Hey, hooknose!” when they passed by her house on their bikes. There's no stopping them.

Even ignoring them has no effect. “Hecklers,” my wife, Emery, once said, “get bored real fast if they don't have anything to heckle.” Well, that may be true for your ordinary run-of-the-mill hecklers. These Hecklers, however, are demons. Anna Ming ignored their cries of, “If your eyes are so squinty, then how do you see?” until they followed her out to her car, squinting their eyes and yelling, “Ching-chong, ching-chong!” the whole way. She turned on them and told them that if they were going to follow her out to her car, she was going to call the police on them for harassment. They all scattered then, hollering “ching-chong” as they ran off. Sophia Bolshevik stood her ground when a few of their girls commented on how her makeup makes her look like a whore, but when she reached the safety of her car, she cried where they couldn't heckle her for that too. The one thing you never want to do is let them have any sort of effect on you—after all, they're only kids and you're the grown-up—but poor Sophia's too shy and tender-hearted for that.

It makes one wonder how and why we're considered the RiffRaff, yet wastes of life like this are simply “the neighborhood kids.” When Arthur Ratliff turned the hose on them when they refused to get away from his fence, the Others had plenty of choice words to say about him: “That man is a nasty piece of work.” “That guy is a brute. Just stay away from him.” “There are some sick people in this world. That guy is one of them.” Arthur wore it as a badge of pride, but it made me furious. They could act like brutes all they wanted and nobody bat an eye, but when they get their asses handed to them by an even bigger brute, only he's the bad guy. Screw that, Arthur had taught them the most valuable lesson that their parents and their schools refused to teach: don't fuck with others if you don't want them to fuck with you.

My worst situation with the Hecklers involved my beautiful wife.

Emery is the pride and the star of my world, but the two of us are as different as day and night. While I'm a loud-mouthed and profane little shit, Emery is as sweet as the banana cream pie she can bake like a pro. Take one look at her, and you can tell she's just as good at downing pies as she is at baking them. But for all her tendency to overindulge, the woman is built like a tank from weightlifting and rock-climbing and hauling tools and heavy auto parts back and forth. She's an absolute unit, and she could crush you just as easy as squashing a bug. But the most beautiful thing about Emery, to me, is that she would never hurt a soul. She'll pound sheet metal into submission until it begs for mercy, but she would never even think of hurting anybody, no matter how much they deserved to be crushed like scraps in a junkyard.

Usually, when the Hecklers came around our neck of the woods, they never got a chance to get as far as our house; Talia Santiago usually took them out with a few well-aimed stones before they even reached our corner of the street. If our neighbor's methods proved unsuccessful, the sound of Emery's sledgehammer against a sheet of metal would send them scattering. But this time, there was no Talia and no sledgehammer. There was only Emery, outside tending to her flower garden, and me, inside watching reruns of Shark Tank from the comfort of our recliner. I turned the volume down a bit so I could hear Em singing to the flowers. “They like it when you sing to them,” she swears. “They grow taller so they can be closer to the sound of your voice.” This time, she was singing our song:

Emmy Lane

is in my ears and in my eyes

There beneath

the blue surburban skies

Even after we married and Emery had taken my last name, Fawke, I still called her “Emmy Lane” and sang her the modified Beatles song. We'd both sung it at our wedding, even though I can't sing for shit.

I took a sip from my beer. On Shark Tank, someone was presenting a non-adhesive tape. Emery stopped singing, but I heard something else, an unmistakable chicken-cackle that sent me running for the window.

“That ain't how she walks,” a red-shirted Heckler was saying to his friends. “It's like this.” He puffed out his gut as far as it would go, inflated his cheeks like a chipmunk, spread out his arms, and waddled from side-to-side. “Oh, look,” the little bastard said, “a Snickers bar! Everybody out of my way!” He picked up the imaginary Snickers bar from the ground and mimed downing it in two ugly bites, messily sopping up the imaginary chocolate from his lips and fingers. Get the sledgehammer, Emmy, I pleaded silently.

But she didn't get the sledgehammer. Instead, she laughed, tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, and said, “Careful you don't bite off your fingers. Y'know, that happened once, in a particularly grisly incident with a devil dog.” She held up her right index finger. “It was covered in the cream filling and I couldn't resist! This one's just a fake.”

What the hell was this?! The boys' eyes got real wide, like they believed every word she said. “Is it really?” They moved in closer to the fence to get a closer look. Bloody morons!

Emery wiggled her finger at them. “You tell me,” she said with a smirk, before returning to her verbenas and singing “Emmy Lane” under her breath.

I tried to remember where Emery had left the sledgehammer—was it in the garage or in the shed? I could go look for it, but I didn't want to leave my wife alone with these bastards. They had decided they weren't done having their fun with her. While she sang our song, they walked around in circles outside the fence, chanting, “I'm all about that bass, 'bout that bass, no treble.”

To my utter horror, Emery changed her song over to that! She sang right along with them, her voice rising right along with theirs, until they had quite the little song-and-dance party going on. My face burned with anger at them and at her. What the hell was wrong with her?! How could she encourage this? Didn't she know that's all she was doing, encouraging it? They didn't give a damn if she made light of it all. They didn't give a damn if she turned it into one big game. They were gonna keep on going anyway, and they'd do it again the next time they saw her, and again, and again, and again. Didn't she know that? Of course she knew that! She should be bending them out of shape like the metal at our shop! She should be crushing them under her heels like the rancid little roaches they were! She should be smashing them up like the pile of bricks in the backyard! Why wasn't she?

All I had was my beer can, and I was a piss-poor throw, but it would have to do. I grabbed it and poured the rest of the beer into the dirt patch outside the window. I hated that I had to waste good beer on these little shits, but they weren't gonna stand there and mock my girl and not expect to get anything back. I mentally readied my best possible insults: “Hey, you walking condom commercials!” “You miserable little wastes of life!” “Get the hell away from my wife, you future shit-shovelers of America!”

But when I flung the front door open with my can and my mouth at the ready, they had already taken off down the road. “Bye-bye, kiddos!” Emery called after them as if she was their friendly, pie-baking auntie. “Y'all stay safe and take care of yourselves, all right?”

It was too much. I crushed the can in my fist and chucked it on the ground at my feet. I tried to swallow my angry tears and failed. Emery set her watering can down and laid her hand on top of my head. She towered over me.

“How could you?” I asked, for once refusing to look into her beautiful face, lest my tears become out of control. “How could you stand there and let them treat you like that?”

She just gave me a kiss and said, “It's okay, Franz.”

“No it ain't!” I hollered. I had nowhere else to throw my anger except at her. “It's not fucking okay! They don't get to treat you like that, Emery! They don't have the right!” I had to get inside before I completely lost it and somebody saw me. I darted into the house and flung myself down on the recliner. I was breaking the number one rule, not to let them have any effect on me, and I was too messed up to care.

Emery followed after me. She put her hand on my back, gave me another kiss, and went to the kitchen to get me another beer. She was singing “Emmy Lane” again, and her hips were swinging back and forth. She was smiling like an angel.

[trexrambling]

Until It’s Gone - Ch.3

Overview: Both brothers had loved and lost her. One night, Sam gets a phone call that changes everything.

Characters: Sam, Dean, Reader

Warnings: mild language, a tiny sprinkle of angst, fluff

Word Count: 1,544

A/N: This is the third chapter in my second fanfic series. Thanks to @wheresthekillswitch for being my lovely letter checker! I really like how this one is going, so I’m still feeling a good 8-10 chapters. Am I going to slow burn this one too? ...Eh... :) Feedback is always loved and appreciated!

Read (Ch.1) (Ch.2)

My tags are way down below. Let me know if you want to be added to anything that I write :)

Sam sat in the backseat with Y/N curled up against his side. He’d given Dean vague directions to her house, but Sam was surprised to see that he didn’t really seem to need them. Dean turned down each road with precision, even cutting off a few minutes of time with a side-road that Sam hadn’t even known existed. He would have contemplated it longer if Y/N’s shivering body beside him wasn’t drawing all of his focus to her.

“I’d offer you my jacket, but it’s soaking wet,” Sam murmured against her head. He had an arm wrapped firmly around her shoulder, and his other hand gently traced circles on the back of hers.

“It’s ok,” she whispered back, giving his hand a small squeeze.

Sam’s eyes drifted to movement in the front seat as Dean reached out to turn up the dial on the heat. Sam caught his eyes in the rearview mirror, watching them flicker down to Y/N before returning to the road. He tightened his grip around her. “We’re almost there, chipmunk.”

They pulled into her driveway a few minutes later, the Impala coming to rest in front of a small, but quaint home. It was simple, but that was the way Y/N liked things. He’d known she loved the place the day he helped her move in.

“Where do you want this one?” Sam asked, pointing down at the box in his hands with his chin.

Y/N popped her head out of the kitchen. “Ummm…just set it down in the living room. No idea what’s in it.” She smiled widely at him. “I’m a terrible packer.”

Sam set the heavy box down beside an existing stack and joined her in the kitchen. She was carefully stacking the few plates and cups that she owned onto the shelving, arranging them with detail and care. He smiled at the look of pure focus on her face, watching her tongue slip out the side of her mouth in concentration.

“Are you sure about this, chipmunk?” Sam asked, his smile fading.

Y/N set the last glass down and turned to him, leaning back to place two hands on the countertop behind her. “I can’t stay at the bunker, Sam.”

“I know it would be weird…but he said he didn’t mind. We’d make it work.”

She was shaking her head while he talked. “It’s not that, Sam. I know I can stay. But…I can’t. Me. I can’t stay.” She sighed and placed her back against the counter’s edge, using her hands to push the stray hairs behind her ears. “It would destroy me, Sam. Seeing him every day…it would tear me up from the inside out.” She gestured at the space around her. “This is home now. And I’m ok with that.”

Sam already knew she would be unwavering in her decision, but he couldn’t help but try. The thought of not seeing her every day was already weighing heavy in his mind. He didn’t want her to leave.

Y/N must have read his emotions because she quickly crossed the room and wrapped her arms around his body in a tight hug. “But you’ll come visit me, right goose?” She turned her head up to him and rested her chin on his chest. “Please?”

Sam grinned at her and dropped a quick kiss to the top of her head. “Couldn’t keep me away if you tried. I am a hunter, after all. The lock on your door wouldn’t stand a chance.”

She grinned widely at him. “Good, because have you seen the size of that backyard? It’s begging for a puppy to roam in it. I’ve always wanted a dog – now I can finally have one.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Not to mention that you’re a natural handyman and this place needs some major work done. The only reason I could afford it is because it’s practically falling apart. But that just means I get to put my personal touch on things – really make it mine.”

The excitement in Y/N’s voice was contagious, and Sam tightened his grip around her before lifting her off of the ground to spin them both in a quick circle. Her laughter was intoxicating, and he was soon laughing alongside her.  She twirled around in a circle after he set her back on the ground. Her eyes sparkled when they met his. “We can unpack these boxes later. But for now-” she extended a hand- ��will you dance with me, goose?”

Sam took it without hesitation. “Anytime, chipmunk.”

Sam glanced out the car window, happy to see that the rain had dissipated to a slight drizzle. He briskly rubbed Y/N’s arms. “You head on inside. Get a hot shower, curl up with a blanket. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Y/N nodded and squeezed Sam’s hand one more time before detaching herself from him and sliding across the seat to open the door. She paused as she stepped out of the Impala, leaning her head back in and looking towards the front seat. “Thanks for driving me, Dean.” An unreadable emotion flickered across Dean’s face as she quickly retreated and took off at a fast pace towards her front door. Dean watched her every move until she disappeared through the entryway, firmly closing the door behind her.

“I’m going to stay here tonight,” Sam stated. “I don’t like the idea of that dick knowing where she lives.”

Dean nodded. “You’ll figure out who it was?” There was an edge to his voice, and Sam knew the minute he got out of the car that Dean was headed straight back into town, either to lose himself in some whiskey or to canvas the area to find the answer himself. He leaned forward and placed a hand on the driver’s seat.

“Look man, I’m just as heated as you are. Actually, I’m pissed. I want to break the guy’s face.”

“I’d prefer to shoot him,” Dean growled.

“Me too. But look,” Sam said with a sigh, “we’re not going to get anywhere tonight on this. Guy’s probably back at his house or roaming somewhere. I’ll figure out the details and we’ll take care of it. Just…not tonight, ok?”

Dean clenched his jaw and gripped the steering wheel tighter. He’d didn’t agree or disagree, and Sam decided that was the best he was going to get.

“Can you bring me back some things from the bunker? I’ll text you a list.” Sam quickly typed a few items into his phone and hit send. Dean watched his phone screen light up and gave a slight nod of acknowledgment to his request.

“Thanks,” Sam said, exiting the Impala, “just drop it by the side door.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve got it.”

No sooner had Sam closed the car door than Dean revved the engine and peeled backwards out of the driveway. Sam watched him speed off, knowing that he would take the longest route to try and blow off some steam. He sighed and made his way into the house.

The wooden floors gave soft, happy creaks as he shed his jacket and shoes before making his way to the kitchen. He pulled a mug down from a cabinet, smiling at the god-awful wallpaper that adorned the back of the storage space. They’d scraped off all of the wallpaper in the kitchen towards the end of the rehab process, and Y/N had thoroughly worn out her more colorful vocabulary by the time they had finished. She’d literally screeched when Sam had discovered that the wallpaper ran behind the cabinets before quickly slamming the hinged door shut and proclaiming, ‘Problem solved!’

He grabbed the teapot off the stove and filled it with water, turning a burner on medium and setting it back down on the hot eye. He went to another cupboard and retrieved a box of tea, reading the labels of each one before making his selection – honey lavender, her favorite. He set the tea bag in the mug and went into the living room while he waited for the water to boil. He pulled the fluffiest blanket he could find from the basket in the corner and spread it out on the couch. Then he made his way towards the bathroom, the sounds of running water growing louder with each step.

It was the dress on the floor that made Sam stop dead in his tracks. It lay in a crumpled pile directly in front of the bathroom door, muddy and bloodstained. He slowly bent down to pick it up, the wet fabric still silky against his fingers. He stared at the blue dress in his hands and closed his eyes to try and still the rising anger in his gut. The high pitched trill of the teapot brought him back to the task at hand, and he quickly went back to the kitchen, gently placing the dress on one of the kitchen countertops.

Sam steeped the tea and set it down on the coffee table in the living room. He surveyed the area one more time before grabbing the remote to turn on the TV and pulling up Netflix. He then plopped down on the couch and leaned his head against the cushions, allowing his eyes to close for a few moments of much-needed rest.

- Read Ch.4 -

My Forever Lovelies: @wheresthekillswitch @emilywritesaboutdean @arryn-nyxx @pinknerdpanda @hannahindie @ruprecht0420 @jotink78 @hiimaprofessionalfangirl @super-not-naturall @aiaranradnay @percywinchester27 @rosie-winchester @nanie5 @feelmyroarrrr @mogaruke

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[getters-blog-index]

Ka’rta Tor

Chapter 3

 In another time and place, a much more peaceful planet enjoyed a brief moment of respite between the forces of good and evil. Birds chirped and flowers were in bloom in the spring breeze. On the plains beyond the nearby city, a blue wind blazed across the land. It was the hero of this planet, a beacon of hope during its darkest hour. Sonic the Hedgehog ran with the breeze, feeling the wind on his face as he zoomed across the Kingdom of Acorn, a place where the free people of this world lived in harmony. It came under attack many times by the villainous robotic forces of a roboticist that goes by the name of Dr. Ivo Robotnik.

       Sonic came to a stop from his immense speed before allowing himself to fall backwards onto the grass, looking up at the blue sky and sparse white clouds. He could lay here forever, or at least until he got bored and started running again. For now, he was just enjoying the peace and quiet. It felt like a few hours before he heard the crunching of the grass nearby. The blue hedgehog turned his head to see the chipmunk that had showed up.      She certainly didn’t look regal, but she was the princess of the kingdom, Sally Acorn. She was tapping her foot, but her face held a smile. “Well, if it isn’t Lazy the Hedgehog.” She said teasingly to the resting hedgehog. He smiled and hopped onto his feet. “Hey, what about all those times I beat up robots for you? Don’t those count?”          “It doesn’t outweigh the number of times I could’ve used your help surveying the area around New Mobotropolis. After all the times we’ve been attacked, we have to make sure that there aren’t any surprises in store for us in the near future.” She was referring to the capital of the kingdom that her brother ruled. The city was the first line of defense against Robotnik alongside Sonic the Hedgehog. The people of the kingdom, mutated animals called mobians, were made up of a diverse group of creatures that came together under the rule of the Acorn monarchy, who led them into times of prosperity over the course of generations.            Sonic chuckled and nudged Sally’s shoulder. They’d all come a long way since they were younger, fighting what seemed to be a hopeless fight against Robotnik’s Empire. Who would have thought that a speed demon and a princess would’ve grown as close as they did, and that their little group would become celebrities and heroes in their own right for the world at large. Now, thanks to their actions, the world was rebuilding. Sure, the threats weren’t gone, but they were at a much better point in their lives now.           Sally seemed to get an idea of where Sonic’s train of thought had gone. “It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? The work’s never done, but you can’t stop the Freedom Fighters that easily.” She assured Sonic, maybe more for herself. “Evil Scientists, Vicious Wizards, Ancient Masterminds, Crazy Mirror Alternates. It’s hard to believe that this has been our life. It sounds like it comes straight out of a TV show.”           “Well it wouldn’t be an adventure if it was mundane, Sal.” Sonic responded. They both nodded in agreement as they continued towards the city itself. The high wall gave way to a sprawling city with simple buildings towards the outside and grew more diverse and complex towards the center, where Castle Acorn stood proud and tall over the subjects, acting as the heart of New Mobotropolis.           “I need to talk to Elias about the places the Royal Guard has already checked out, and you can pick up where they left off.” Sally explained, heading to the castle by herself, leaving Sonic to his devices. He shrugged and went to his Uncle’s restaurant, where he could grab a snack while he waited. He wouldn’t have to wait for long as his friend, a two-tailed fox named Tails, found him in the establishment.            “Hi Sonic. How’s it going?” He asked his blue friend. Sonic scarfed down the remainder of his chili dog in order to answer. “It’s been chill. Not much going on around here. Sally wants me to check out some places around the country for signs of Eggman, but I’ll be done with that in a flash. You wanna race when I get back?” Sonic challenged. Tails couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face. “You bet! I’ll beat you this time, Sonic!”            Sonic ruffled the kid’s fur playfully. The two had become close brothers, going on adventures together all the time. There was not a way in the world you could possibly separate the two. They were a package deal, and they were among the best of the best.          Almost as if on cue, Tails’ communicator rang. It was the princess. She probably expected the two to be together. “Tails, if Sonic is there, tell him that there was something suspicious going on in the western sector. The Royal Guard said they saw some weird robots, but there were none on the sensors. Nicole is doing a scan for whatever might be out there, just in case its trying to cloak itself, but you’re the fastest thing alive. If anyone can find it and stop it, it’s you.”           Sonic couldn’t help but smile. He loved action, and chances like this were growing rarer and rarer. He hopped off of his stool, Tails following his lead. “I’m on it, Sally. I’ll meet you there! Just try to keep up!” He and his friend hurried back out to the outskirts of the city. He moved swiftly across the rolling fields and the trees. There wasn’t even a sign of footprints. They could’ve been buzzbombers, but they’re loud. They would’ve heard them if it was those badniks. Something was out of place here. He settled beneath a tree next to Tails and started tapping his foot as his eyes scanned around, waiting for Sally to arrive.        The chipmunk wouldn’t keep them waiting for too long, as she arrived with Amy, another of their friends and fellow Freedom Fighter in tow. They all seemed to be perplexed by the lack of any hostile presence. “It’s not like the Royal Guard to jump at shadows. If they saw something, it’s still nearby.” Sally mused. Amy took a peek at the console that Sally had, which also housed the AI Nicole. It seemed like the Ai was processing information from the surroundings.          Sonic huffed. “Look, there’s nothing here. I’ve checked. The guards must’ve been daydreaming or something.” He concluded. The three looked at him with a stern look. “....What?” Sonic responded to the gesture. Amy saw something of note. “Hey, Nicole? What was that spike you just showed on the screen.” The AI moved back to it and revealed a holographic form of a lynx. “Hmm, I saw it earlier but I dismissed it as an error in the reading. I can take a closer look at it though, if you think it’s not just something random.”         “That would help. Thank’s Amy. Maybe that’ll be our key to solving what’s going on here.” Sally spoke up. “Tails, what about you? Did you notice anything strange since you got here?” In response, he seemed to hum as he looked over his own console screen. While Sonic was running around, he’d been searching for traces of power sources. Anything from electrical discharge, diesel, or otherwise.        Then, both Tails and Nicole piped up. “Chaos Control.” They spoke at the same time. The lynx spoke first. “You were right. The outlier actually had a frequency that we have on record. It was Chaos Control, similar to what Shadow’s used. It caused a slight space-time blip. The guards probably saw a vision of badniks. Though the source of the phenomenon seems to elude my sensors.”         Tails continued. “It’s possible that it came from the future. It’s not as strong as the Time Stones, but Chaos Emeralds HAVE shown some amount of temporal flux capabilities. Maybe someone was trying to time travel.” He elaborated on the possibilities that surrounded the mysterious circumstances. The group of five looked to each other with concern.         “So, do you think there’s going to be an invasion anytime soon? From the future or just plain from Eggman?” Sonic asked.          “It’s entirely possible. Chaos Energy is unpredictable, and just with what we’ve heard and found here, it’s not exactly enough for us to plan for. The best we can do is keep an eye out for any more phenomenons.” Tails answered. Sally and Amy both nodded. They were about to return when a burst of light struck, giving the five a vision of a far off place; A Temple, where two factions were fighting. The vision disappeared as soon as it came, barely giving them any insight on what they saw.           Nicole was the first to say something. “That was another blip. It...It might be Chaos Control...but...I’m not so sure anymore.”         “You’re right. I’ve never seen Chaos Control do that. Usually it just teleports, transports, or freezes time. Unless Shadow’s done something like that, I have a hard time believing this was just plain Chaos Control.” Sonic said sourly. Things were getting more confusing by the second...