#anyways um rachel ate

[yelenapines]

watched tbosas today. needless to say i am obsessed with the red uniform skirt and they should have been wearing those the whole movie. thank you.

[breakaway71]

ANIJATP PLEASE

aaaaaaaahhhh I love this fic SO MUCH but I uuuuhhhh legitimately sort of forgot it existed until like a week ago when I found it on my flashdrive and was like DID I WRITE THIS IN A FEVER DREAM OR SOMETHING?? So this is my JATP/Animorphs crossover, which is mostly canon-compliant for both universes, except the Yeerk war ended more quietly than in the books, so they were still secret at the end. Essentially, Reggie was also an Animorph, getting caught up in it by virtue of being Marco's older cousin, who was visiting when Elfangor crashed in the construction site. The war ended, and a couple months later Reggie ate a bad hot dog and died anyway. (Yup I managed to make hot dog death even more ironic and tragic.) The story picks up post-S1, and Reggie is struggling because his friends still don't know his secret, and he also misses his other team and wants to know that they made it, that they're okay, that they recovered from the war and losing Rachel everything else that happened to them. Also I accidentally made it Marco/Ax :D snippet:

“Reg?” he hears from far away. “Dude, what’s wrong?”

“I…” Reggie shakes his head, coming back to himself all at once to find that he’s shaking all over, jaw clenched around a scream. “No, I’m, um. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Alex says, and Reggie turns to find him hovering at his other shoulder, looking worried.

“Bad dream,” Reggie mumbles, and can’t miss the look Luke and Alex exchange. Because, yeah, they’ve seen him zone out before, but it doesn’t happen to them. He doesn’t know if it’s a trauma thing or just a himthing, and honestly doesn’t want to know. “Look, it’s fine. I’m all good.” He tries for a smile and knows it falls short when Luke crowds in closer, reaching out to grab Reggie’s shoulders.

“Hey,” he says. “You know you can talk to us, right?”

Reggie just barely stops himself from snorting. Yeah, he can talk to them. He can tell them all his wartime trauma stories, and then wave goodbye as they cart him off to a rubber room for ghosts. Sounds fun.

“I…”

“Whatever stupid thing you’re about to say,” Alex says, “don’t.” He nudges Reggie’s side. “Come on, you think we didn’t notice all those times you disappeared on us? We knew something was going on. You don’t have to tell us what it was, but it’s obviously still bugging you, dude. We’re your best friends. We’ll listen if you want us to. You know that, right?”

Reggie shakes his head, not because he doesn’t know, and not because he doesn’t want to talk to them, but because he promised. Because even if he could tell them everything (and he can, he knows he can, they’re ghosts now and even if the Yeerks were still on Earth, his friends would be safe by default because they don’t have bodies to infest), he wouldn’t know where to start.

Once upon a time, I was visiting my cousin, and he and his best friend and a few other kids dragged me through this construction site on our way home from the mall. A dying alien crash landed his ship right in front of us, and suddenly playing bass with you guys wasn’t the most important thing in my world, no matter how much I still wanted it to be.

“I can’t…I…” Reggie swallows. In a much smaller voice, he says, “I promised. A long time ago.” It’s the only excuse he has. “I’m sorry.”

Another look is exchanged, but then Luke and Alex are hugging him, one on either side, and for a little while, that’s the only thing that matters.

[vee-is-a-clown]

Carving pumpkins or making cookies for the Halloween prompt!

Thanks for the inspo, Katel! I hope you enjoy!

I know it didn't follow it exactly but this was the best I could do.

-----------

"I don't carve pumpkins."

"What?"

"I haven't carved a pumpkin since I was 6."

"If you think I'm gonna let you off the hook for that, you're wrong. We're doing some pumpkin carving tonight and you cannot change that fact."

Lance had pulled into their surprise date location which happened to be a pumpkin patch. Keith was serious about not carving a pumpkin since he was 6. The day after his 6th birthday, his dad decided that Keith was going to learn how to carve pumpkins. Sadly, Keith's subsequent homes didn't allow pumpkin carving. Shiro was never really into carving pumpkins and the Garrison didn't let kids carve pumpkins anyway.

It was despicable, heinous, inexcusable (if you ask Lance). He was appalled to hear the information that Keith hadn't carved a pumpkin in years. Now it would be his mission to get Keith to carve a pumpkin with him.

"I'm gonna suck at it though."

"Like I said, we're carving pumpkins tonight."

"Ok but while we're here, we're getting snacks."

"First of all, I never said that we aren't getting snacks. And second of all, the kettle corn here is really good."

Lance pointed to a quaint little stand that Keith now realized was the source of the caramel scent wafting through the air. Keith grabbed Lance's hand and walked with him over to the stalls. Lance is the one who talked to the man at the little stand while Keith stood there awkwardly, holding his hand.

"Lance! I haven't seen you in a while! Where's your family?"

"Riley! Hey! I'm only here with my boyfriend this year."

"You have a boyfriend? It feels like it was just yesterday that you and Rachel were babies. Time really does speed up when you're older."

"Yeah, it's been a while."

"So this is the boyfriend?"

Riley vaguely gestured to Keith. The old man looked kind but Keith still felt out of place. He doesn't know old people who've watched him grow up. If he does, then they aren't the type to be warm and inviting.

"Yeah, this is Keith."

Lance shuffled a little to be closer to Keith, not letting go of his hand as he did so. He looked like a proud child who just got on honor's roll. His smile could be classified as a small star with how warm it made Keith feel. Keith is hopeless.

"H-hi, um Riley"

Hopeless at a lot of things. He's a mess. Keith just stayed in his spot while Lance ordered the kettle corn, leaning his head against Lance's shoulder. He listened to them have fun, catching up, and having witty banter while Keith stood there, trying to forget the horrible first impression he just left.

They got the kettle corn and walked away, their boots clicking away on the gravel pathway. Lance started giggling as soon as they were out of earshot. The giggling turned to laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"You ate shit back there."

Keith made an indignant face. How dare Lance mock Keith's lack of social skills! Despicable. Heinous. Inexcusable. Such an evil boyfriend.

"You're so rude."

"Incorrect, I'm charming."

"That's a weird way to pronounce 'rude'."

Lance chuckled under his breath. That's when Keith struck. Keith hit him. Not hard. More like a bop. Honestly, it was funny more than anything.

Lance started laughing more.

"It's not funny!"

"Pff ahahaha, your voice cracked!"

"I hate you."

"No, you don't. You looove me."

"I thought we were here to get pumpkins."

"Yeah, we are."

"Then let's get the damn pumpkins."

They made their way past the small crowds of people who were undoubtedly families picking out pumpkins and getting fall sweets. Keith saw little kids holding candied apples and adults hauling pumpkins back to their cars. To the right, there was a large pen with pumpkins lined up in pretty rows, crates of pie pumpkins and small gourds near the entrance and exit, and a spattering of gravel covering the ground. On the left, there was a small bakery that sold apple pastries and donuts which had a canopy attached to the entire front side. Lance pulled Keith into the pen.

And thus began the torturous process of walking around, Lance holding up pumpkins, and Keith rejecting pumpkins while holding on to the kettle corn for *ahem* safety reasons.There was nothing particularly wrong with any of them but Keith wanted to be annoying. Lance was struggling to find something when he sarcasticly held up a gourd. A gourd as in one of those gourds used to create maracas.

"YES! THAT ONE!"

"You're joshing me right now."

"No, I want the gourd."

"We're not carving a gourd."

"I've already named it Gourdan Ramsay."

"Keith, no."

"Keith, yes."

"Fine but we're getting another pumpkin for you to actually carve."

"As long as we keep Gourdan, I see this as a triumph."

"Where did you even learn that from?"

"Being annoying about something and then naming it before the decision is final? Because I learned that from you."

"I don't do that."

"Last month, you found a stray cat and said that we had to foster it because you already named it Ash Ketchum."

Well he never. How could Keith do such a thing! How dare he expose Lance like that! Keith was equal parts as attached to Ash as Lance! Maybe even more!

Lance moseyed over to Keith and shoved Gourdan into Keith's hands to go grab some "carvable pumpkins". Now, looking at the gourd, it's really pretty. It has a yellow to green gradient from the bottom to the top. Perfect for brutally murdering.

Lance came back holding two medium sized pumpkins. One had a small dent in the side. The other was just slightly bigger. He smiled that warm sunny smile again like he was proud of himself.

"They're like us!"

"Huh?"

"This one's smaller and dented. I tried to find one with a cut and the dent is the best I could do. It's you."

"I see."

"This one's taller so it's me."

"And what's the point of that?"

"How could you not see the point of having pumpkin clones?"

"They'll only cause confusion in the inevitable case that we have to fight them."

"Irrelevant. It'll never happen. Pumpkin Lance would never betray me."

"That's what they all say."

"I'm going to buy the pumpkin clones whether you want them or not. Let's go."

Lance waltzed right by Keith, grabbing his arm as he walked. Not that Keith minded being dragged by Lance but the sudden tug almost knocked him over. It didn't help that he was wearing heeled boots (He likes to feel tall). He quickly readjusted and matched Lance's pace pretty quickly.

So off they went, over to the little checkout booth underneath the canopy attached to the bakery. There, they paid for the pumpkins and grabbed everything to take to the car.

The car ride was chill. It was just thirty minutes of sitting, eating kettle corn, and Lance making way too many movie references. It wasn't really any different than any other time that Keith's gotten into Lance's car.

They got back home and were able to carve the pumpkins. After this, Lance would stop bothering him about pumpkins. Instead it would be finding a suitable Halloween candy to give out. That suitable candy would be entirely Lemonheads by the way. Keith takes great pride in being evil.

They cleared off the table, set down some newspaper, and readied the pumpkins. Keith pushed his knife into the gourd.

"I didn't know you were gonna kill it!"

"I swear, If I hear another Charlie Brown reference, you're going to have to be at the end of this knife instead of Gourdan."

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

[atlafan]

Take it Slow - Part Seventy

a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.

Warnings: Fluff, smut, and um...butt stuff towards the end.

Masterpost (all previous parts can be found in the masterpost)

Due to getting up and taking Buster out, you had gotten into a habit of not cleaning up your breakfast in the morning. Harry would end up taking care of it for you. He didn’t mind at first because you usually left food for him to eat, and he was grateful he wasn’t on early morning duty with the dog. But was starting to get to him. He didn’t want it to make him run late to the studio now that Mariah and Isaac were coming in.

They were spending a lot of time making large prints and booklets. Harry had invested into some nice printers. Just another thing he could profit from later.

“Do you think Y/N will bring Buster by today?” Mariah asks him.

“I hope so.” He says. “Let me ask you somethin’, do you and Rachel ever fight?”

“Fight? Like argue?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah we do…we’re both pretty stubborn.” She laughs. “It’s always over stupid shit too. It’s not an all the time thing, but every couple fights, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Why, do you think you and Y/N fight a lot?”

“No, but when we do it’s always this big blow up. And it’s usually my fault.”

“Harry.” Isaac says. “I have seen you blow up at people time and time again, are you going to tell me that sweet girl is the one to go off on you?”

“Looks like Harry finally met his match.” Mariah smirks.

“I have a hard time gettin’ mad at her. Even when she’s angry with me, she’s still so cute.” They both laugh at him. “There are things she does, I just choose to let them go. Or if I get mad it’s usually for something stupid. I get jealous easily.”

“That’s because you’re a possessive prick.” Mariah says matter of factly.

“Is that so?” Harry asks with raised eyebrows.

“Harry, the cameras at Plant Geo are for everyone to use, and yet you somehow kept two in your office at all times so no one else could use them.”

“You know how it is when you get the settings just right.”

“Doesn’t matter. You like when your things stay yours. That gets old really quick.”

“So I’ve learned.”

The door opens and they hear the yipping of a dog. Harry turns around and smiles. He picks Buster up and he licks his cheek.

“There’s my boy!” He looks at you. “And my girl.”

“It looks so great in here you guys.” You smile brightly, and go to kiss Harry. He puts Buster down and lets him sniff and Isaac and Maria.

“Yeah it’s really coming together. We’re excited for the opening next month.”

“It’s gonna be great.”

“Wanna leave him here with me for a bit? Got his area set up now.”

“Oh…um, sure.”

“Want him to get used to the space, you know?”

“Right, yeah, that’s fine.” You look at Buster. “Wanna spend the afternoon with daddy, Buster?” The dog yips and you giggle.

“Daddy?” Isaac questions with a smirk.

“I am his father, aren’t I?” He asks, putting an arm around you. “And she’s his mummy, got a problem with it?”

“Not at all.” He laughs. “Mariah, let’s go get lunch. We can leave mummy and daddy here.”

“Good idea.”

The two leave and you give Harry another kiss. You go up with him to your office, and Buster plops on the floor.

“It looks so good in here, babe.”

“Thanks…hey can I talk to you about somethin’?”

“Course.”

“You, uh, keep leavin’ your dishes in the sink in the mornin’, and usually I don’t mind takin’ care of it, but it’s starting to make me run late…”

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry Harry. I didn’t even realize…I end up running around from working out and taking him out and all that. I can try to be better about not leaving a mess for you.”

“Like I said, I usually don’t mind, especially since you make me breakfast like every mornin’, it just piles up some days.”

“Say no more, I’ll just start putting everything in the dishwasher.”

“That’s another thing you typically leave for me…you never empty it. So when I’m doin’ the dishes I have to empty it and load it.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry Harry, I didn’t realize I was doing, or I guess wasn’t doing all that.”

“I feel bad even saying anything because you clean up so many other things.”

“No, don’t feel bad. If I’m doing something that bothers you I want you to tell me so I can work on it.” You wrap your arms around him. “It’s all good.” He kisses the top of your head and wraps his arms around you. “I should probably get going. I have a one o’clock meeting today.”

“Okay, I’m glad I got to see you today.” He kisses you.

“Me too, baby.” You kiss him back. You bend down and give Buster a hug. “You be good for daddy, no accidents.”

Harry walks you out, and off you go. You got home before him and decided to clean the entire kitchen. You felt really bad for leaving a mess behind for him. You knew you’d be annoyed too if he did the same thing to you. You were usually the cleaner one, but you were definitely slacking. You make up a nice salad with roasted chickpeas and wait for your boys to get home.

Harry came in around 7:30, and Buster came in rushing to you. You smile big at him and scratch his tummy when he gives it to you.

“You’re home later than I thought, sweetie.” You say looking up at him. “I made dinner.”

“Thanks, I should’ve texted you, I ate already.”

“Oh.” You stand up. “Leftovers then, no big deal.” You shrug. “It was just salad anyways. You all ate together?”

“Mhm.”

“How was Buster?”

“Good, barely made a peep. Took him across the street to the park for a little bit so he could run around. Should be all tuckered out.”

“You look so tired, why don’t you go shower or something and relax.” You smile at him.

“I’m fuckin’ stressed is what I am.” He walks by you to go into the kitchen, and you follow him in. He grabs a beer from the fridge. He looks around. “You clean in here?”

“Yeah, I wanted to tidy everything up for you.” His face softens a little.

“Thanks.” He takes a sip from his beer.

“What’s stressing you out?” You sit down at the island.

“I don’t know, what if Mariah can’t bring enough clients in, what if I can’t afford Isaac after a certain point, what if we don’t get walk ins, what if my clients want at home pictures instead of comin’ in. There’s just so much uncertainty that’s hitting me all at once.” You nod along as he takes another sip of his drink. “I just hope I didn’t make a big mistake.”

“Oh honey, you didn’t. You’re so talented, and you’re already booking out. You may have slower times than others, but that’ll just leave you to work on your own projects.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if there’s a trip you wanna take, or pictures you’ve been wanting to take you could. And then you could sell prints or something.”

“Suppose so…”

“You know what might be fun at some point? We could set up across the street at the park and take, like, family photos. You, me, and Buster, what do you think of that?”

Harry puts his drink down, walks over to where you’re sitting, and turns your seat towards him. He cups your cheeks in his hands and kisses you. You taste the beer on his tongue. You’re surprised at how lustful the kiss is.

“We really are a little family now, aren’t we?” He asks gently.

“Yes.” You wrap your arms around his neck.

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Always make me feel better…”

You smile and lean in to kiss him again. His hands grip at your hips and he picks you up. He puts you down on one of the kitchen counters. You tug at his hair as he continues to lick into your mouth. He tugs at the hem of your shirt and lifts it off. He unhooks your bra immediately, and before you can say anything his mouth is wrapping around one of nipples. He kneads the other one and you groan.

“Harry.” You breathe as your head rolls back.

He sucks on you harshly, then move to the other one. He nips at the upper part of your chest, and sucks your skin between his teeth. You pull him closer with your legs, needing more contact from him.

“Can I fuck you here?” He says in your ear and your toes curl.

“Yes.”

He undoes his belt and drops his pants just enough to let his dick out.

“Wait we need a condom.” He looks up at you incredibly annoyed.

“Why?”

“I went to urgent care today for my sinus infection and they gave me antibiotics. Some antibiotics can cancel out birth-control.”

“So I’ll put out and come on you.” You look at him. “Or, I’ll go get a condom.”

“Go with the latter.”

“Take your fuckin’ pants off.”

He groans and stomps his way down the hall to the bedroom and comes back with the foil packet. Your pants and underwear have been removed. The cold granite beneath you isn’t comfortable, but you know in a few minutes you won’t care. He grumbles while he rolls the condom on his dick and he looks at you.

“How long are you on the meds for?

“They gave me a z-pack because I have an ear infection too, so like five days. Not long.”

“That’s an eternity with these things.” He grips your hips and pulls you closer. “No wonder you had such a bad headache Saturday, poor thing.” He kisses your forehead, and then thrusts into you with no warning.

“Jesus!” You grip his shoulders.

He thrusts into you hard and fast, and you cling to him. You bite down into his shoulder. You didn’t want your moans to frighten Buster in the other room. It wasn’t often when you both had sex in the kitchen. It was the most comfortable place in the world to get railed, but he clearly needed this, he need you. He needed some time to focus solely on one thing, and that needed to be your body then so be it.

He picks you up of the counter and brings you to your fit. You look up at him confused. He spins you around and pushes your stomach against the counter. He enters you from behind. One hand on the back of your neck and the other gripping the hair on the back of your head. He was hitting you so deep. He was just being a little too rough with you.

“H, Harry, ease up a bit.” You say gritting your teeth.

“Where?”

“My hair, don’t pull my hair.”

He let’s go of it immediately and drops his hand to reach for your clit to soothe you a little. He moves his body closer to yours so his chest was pressing against your back.

“Sorry.” He says, nipping at your earlobe.

“S’okayyyyyy, oh my god.” Your head falls back to his shoulder as you release around him.

He spills into the condom shortly after and pulls out. He throws it away and pulls his pants back up. He gives you his shirt to throw on.

“Thanks.” Your cheeks were completely flushed and you looked incredibly fucked out. It was enough to make his cock twitch again. You slide your panties up your legs and grab your other clothes. “Let’s go snuggle with Buster on the sofa a bit before bed.”

“Meet yeh there.” He kisses your temple.

You use the toilet and get on the sofa with them. Buster plops right in your lap.

“He’ll be too big for this soon too.” You frown.

“Don’t think about it. He can still sit with us, he’ll just rest his head on our laps instead of his whole body.” Buster picks his head up to look at you and you cups his face in your hands.

“You’re mumma’s little lovebug aren’t you?” He starts wagging his tail. “That’s right, mumma’s precious little lovebug.” You say smiling. Harry pets him as you continue to coo lovingly.

“Niall was thinking of puttin’ a campin’ trip together for us and Lou, just a boy’s trip.”

“Oh that’s nice. When?”

“Memorial Day weekend maybe?”

“That’s the weekend between our party and your grand opening…”

“So?”

“So…nothing, um, yeah that should be fine. You deserve some time with them. And I can hang with the girls.”

“You sure it’s alright? I know there’s a lot to do before both parties, but-“

“No, yeah, it’s fine, babe.” You look at him and smile.

//

Harry woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of you throwing up. He gets up immediately and rushes into the bathroom. He pulls your hair back and rubs your back to soothe you as you flush the toilet.

“What happened? You’re sick?”

“No.” He helps you stand and you go to brush your teeth. “It’s the antibiotics, they’re really strong. You have to take two on the first day. I should’ve had a glass of milk when I took the second one before bed.”

“Poor thing.” He holds you to his chest and rubs your back. “Want me to get you some water or something?”

“No, I’m alright now, thank you.”

You both get back into bed. You lay on your back and he lays on his side to face you. He rubs your stomach to try to soothe you and it actually helps you fall back asleep.

Harry wakes up at the same as you the next morning to make sure you’re alright.

“Harry, I told you already the medicine is just strong. I’m gonna have some Greek yogurt this morning to help my stomach.”

“I’ll go take the dog out then.”

“You don’t have to, go back to sleep.”

“I’m up already it’s fine.”

“I wanna bring him with me to work today. I like having him there with me.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll drop him off before I go to therapy.”

“That works. Father-son dinner tonight Buster, how do yeh like that?” He asks him as he puts the leash on.

You go to get dressed after eating your yogurt. You make sure to put your spoon in the dishwasher, and not leave it in the sink. You decide on a light blue dress that had tank top sleeves, and a white three quarter sleeve blazer. It was finally warm enough to break out some of your favorite outfits. Harry stops short when he sees you.

“What?” You look down at yourself. “It’s got a high neckline, no cleavage see?”

“No, no, I just…you look really pretty is all.” He smiles. He takes the leash off of Buster and he runs towards you. “Seems like he thinks so too.” You giggle as you pet your baby.

“Thanks, Harry.” You walk over to him and kiss him.

“I’ll pick up dinner tonight.”

“Sounds good.” You take the leash from him. “Buster, time to go to work with mummy.”

//

Harry, Isaac, and Mariah were all staring at a picture on the wall when you came in with Buster.

“I just don’t know if that works there?” Harry says.

“It’s too abstract.” Mariah says.

“But it’ll give people waiting something to think about.” Isaac says.

“What are you all looking at?” You say.

“Hey!” Harry turns to you and smiles. He gives you a kiss and pats the top of Buster’s head.

“You look so cute, Y/N!” Mariah says.

“Damn girl, you are wearing that dress.” Isaac comments. You blush a deep red and the bombardment of compliments.

“Oh, thanks guys.” You give Harry a kiss on the cheek. “Well, I gotta go or I’ll be late, see you at home later. Bye guys.” You smile and wave to them, and leave.

“Where does she go on Tuesday nights, work out class?” Isaac asks.

“Um, no…” Harry rubs the back of his head. He wasn’t sure if he should say you see a therapist. “She just has this standing this appointment. I can’t really say what for.”

“’Nough said. Now, let’s get back to figuring out if we like this for the waiting area or not.”

//

“You look lovely, Y/N.” Dr. Mara says as you sit down.

“Definitely wearing this dress more often.” You laugh.

“How was your week?”

“Stressful…I’m planning these two parties, I have huge surprise for Harry on top of it. I had to babysit my nephew this weekend on top of still training Buster. Oh, and I got sick so that was great. Harry and I got into a huge fight because of Niall.”

“Again?”

“Okay, here’s what happened, Harry had two weddings to work on Saturday. I woke up feeling like shit, but whatever. He was so good, he got the baby all set up for me, took the dog out, awesome. I didn’t wanna bring the baby into the shower with me, I just felt weird you know?” She nods. “So I called Niall and he came right over. I felt even worse so he stayed to help. It was actually nice because we hadn’t hung out one on one in a while. So, I ended up falling asleep with my head in his lap, there was a pillow there, but a guess he was like playing with my hair and I was really snuggled up to him. So when Harry got home he brought me to bed and then him and Niall started arguing.” She continues to nod along. “They woke me and the baby up, so Niall went home and I made Harry sleep in the other room.”

“He doesn’t like when you tell him to do that…”

“I know, but I honestly didn’t know what else to say, and I didn’t want to argue with him at that moment in time. I couldn’t even be near him. I know it didn’t look great, but he acts like I give him a reason to worry.” You sigh. “Him and Niall are best friends, and Niall is also my best friend. It’s hard to navigate sometimes. Anyways, the next day he and I got into it, and I got so mad I told him if we fought over it again I’d be done.”

“Oh my.”

“I wasn’t even thinking when I said it. I know it really hurt him, I didn’t do it on purpose. I was just so aggravated to be having the same conversation.”

“So what happened when you said that?”

“He just said okay. Then he went to Niall’s to apologize, and then we made up. It’s been put to bed.”

“You can’t guarantee he won’t get mad again.”

“He said he’s going to try to work on it. It’s really more about his own issues than Niall or myself. I try really hard to show him and tell him he could never lose me. I wanna be with him always. He could also just be overworked and over stressed.”

“When you say you want to be with him always, what does that mean exactly?”

“Well, we’ve talked about it and we wanna get married and have kids at some point. I feel like we talk more about babies than marriage. It sort of freaks me out sometimes. I feel like he doesn’t really understand just how much work a baby is, he really romanticizes it. I also get freaked out because of my own parents…sometimes when we fight I feel like I’m becoming my father.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know, just saying the worst things possible…not that I do it on purpose. But he used to say the nastiest shit to my mom, and then he’d stay in the basement for like two days. He’d reemerge like he didn’t just cause a bunch of damage. And my mom would act the same way. It was like they’d throw dagger at each other, and just let the wounds stay open. They never healed. Harry and I always talk after we make up.” She raises an eyebrow at you.

“What is making up then?”

“We have sex.”

“Do you enjoy the make up sex the most out of all the sex you have with him?”

“No…but it is nice. I don’t know what kind of sex I enjoy the most with him. I just like being really close to him.” She nods. “He makes me feel really safe.”

“What can you do to provide more of that safety with him?”

“I could show more PDA, I know he likes that.”

“Good start.”

//

When you got in Harry was on all fours with Buster. Buster had one end of a rope in his mouth and Harry had the other end of the rope in his mouth. They were playing tug of war. You take your phone out immediately and record them.

“What are you doin’?” He says, letting go of the rope.

“What am I doing? What you doing?” You ask, laughing.

“Playin’ with our boy.” He stands up all the way and wraps his arms around you. “How was your session?”

“Good, but tiring. I’m starved.”

“Pizza’s in the kitchen.” You two kiss and then he lets you go so you can make yourself a plate. You plop down on the couch.

“Thanks for picking this up, op, no Buster, you can’t have this. Harry take him off the couch.”

“Sorry.” He chuckles. “Can’t eat mumma’s food, Buster.” He looks at you. “So, our part’s this weekend, then I go campin’, and then it’s the grand opening.”

“Correct”

“And you’re sure you’re okay with me goin’ away a whole weekend.”

“Yes, Harry.” You finish up your pizza and put the plate on the side table. “I want you to hang out with your friends.”

“I think the fresh air will do me some good. Clear my head before the big day.”

“I agree.”

“I’m dyin’ to get that dress off of yeh.”

“That so?”

“Mhm, and I, uh, bought some more lube today.” He says with blushing cheeks. Both of your eyebrows raise.

“Did you now?”

“Yeah.” Your eyes darken and you a grin grows on your lips.

“You want me to fuck you, Harry?” His cock twitches at your sultry voice.

“Yes.” You stand up and take his hand. “But I wanna fuck you first.”

“Deal.”

Harry gets your dress off quickly. You felt his hands all over your body. He kissed love bites into your inner thighs before his tongue make its way to your center.

“C, condom!” You scream when he rubs his top against your clit. He glares at you, but goes to grab one.

“I still think I could just come on you and it’d be fine.”

“Harry…”

“Look, I’m rollin’ it on, see.”

“Yeah, now put it in me.” He smirks and thrusts into you.

“Always take it so well, you’re amazing.” He says as he nips at your jaw.

Harry gave you about four orgasms before it was his turn. You get the towel and the lube and you file your nails quick to make sure they wouldn’t hurt him. You were both at a point where if you fingered him long enough he wouldn’t really need the plug.

“Harry?”

“Yeah?” You slide your fingers out of him.

“Um…could I put it in from behind this time?”

“Sure.” He shrugs.

You kiss for a few minutes before you put the strap on. He flips over and gets on his elbows and knees for you. You like the dildo up with his hole and you slowly slide it in.

“Doing okay, baby?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

You grips his hips and thrust in a little more. Once it’s all the way in you stay there to let him adjust.

“Okay, you can move it.”

You reach one hand around to pump his cock while you start to rock in and out of him.

“Shit.” He groans.

“Feels good?”

“Feels great…miss seeing your face though.”

“Wanna flip back over?”

“Yeah.” You pull out of him and lays back holding his legs back for you. You slide back in. “Much better.” He says.

“You look so pretty like this Harry.”

“So do you.” You rock in and out of him and grip his cock, rubbing your thumb over the tip.

“Ah, fuck!”

“Oh did I hit it?”

“Yes, keep doin’ that, please.”

Harry’s moans were like a symphony, truly and utterly beautiful to hear. You two didn’t do this often, but when you did, you both loved it.

“Y/N, I’m gonna come, fuck!”

It gets all over your hand and stomach from the way you angled it. You lean forward and kiss on his heaving chest before you slowly pull out of him. You take the strap off and rub your hand on the towel.

“You did so good, Harry.”

“Thanks.” He chuckles and pulls you on top of him. “You know I was kind of scared when you first brought all this up, but I quite like it now.”

“Oh good! It’s a real turn on to watch you like that.” You kiss each other and smile.

“Would you run us a bath?”

“Of course!”

You hop off the bed and get the water started.

“What flavor bath bomb do you want tonight?”

“The vanilla one, please.”

“You got it!”

You and Harry relax and chat in the bath for a bit. He tells you about his day while you massage his scalp. You loved him with your whole heart. No one ever made you feel the way he did. And you thought it was so incredibly sexy and manly of him to let him do what you do to him.

“You know I think it’s very progressive of you to let me peg you.” He chuckles and turns to look at you.

“It’s just another way of havin’ sex. Besides, who am I to deny you of somethin’? Guys can be so insecure about this kind of stuff. They think it’ll make ‘em gay if they stick anything up their ass. What a stupid thing to be afraid of.”

“So you don’t feel emasculate at all?”

“Not in the slightest, I’ve never felt more like a man actually.” He faces front and then turns back to you with a smirk on his face. “Besides, everyone’s a little gay.”

[aaliyah-babe]

The One With The Thumb: Part Two

pairings: eventual joey x reader

authors note: i own nothing from friends, all credit goes to their respective owners. feedback is always appreciated.

Feedback is the glue that holds my writing together!

you, joey, chandler, rachel and ross had been playing softball with alan, get some quality time with him. you guys wanted to act like you didn’t win when you walked into the coffee house. with all the gear you leant on the couch,

“hi,” monica said, “how was the game?”

it was silent before you all yelled, “we won!”

“fantastic! i have one question, how is that possible?” she asked you all,

“alan,” you said,

“he was unbelievable!” ross yelled, “he was like that bugs bunny cartoon where bugs is playing all the positions, but instead it was, first base alan; second base, alan; third base, alan.”

“i mean, it was like, like, he made us into a team,” rachel said, handing you a water bottle.

“thanks,” you took a sip,

“yep, we sure showed those hasidic jewellers a thing or two about softball,” chandler said,

“nice!” him and ros high-fived,

“can i ask you guys a question?” monica asked, “do you ever think that alan is maybe sometimes..”

“what?”

“i dont know, a little too alan,” she said,

“what? no! i love that guy!” you said,

“oh, no that’s not possible,” rachel agreed with you, “one can never be too alan,”

“yeah, it’s his innate alan-ness that we adore,” ross agreed,

“i personally could have a gallon of allen,” chandler said.

it was the next day and you were up and at ‘em in work, waiting for jamie to come in, when he did you were surprisingly excited to see him.

“hey jame!” you smiled,

“hey y/n/n,” he smiled back, hugging you a little,

“what do we need for today? a hot dress, underwear, anything?” you asked him.

“uh, nothing. we kind of broke up last night,” you almost dropped the dresses you were holding when you heard that,

“oh jamie, i’m so sorry,” you rubbed his arm lightly,

“look, i know we just broke up, but would you maybe want to have dinner with me, saturday night?” he asked you,

“oh i don’t know, i mean you guys just broke up, okay i will!” you smiled, and he thanked you,

“here’s my number,” he handed you his number and left.

you sighed and rubbed your face, you just got asked out by someone incredibly hot.

you walked into the coffee house before hearing ross yell, “a thumb?!” and pheobe nodded,

“what’s going on?” you asked,

“pheobe found a thumb in her soda!” ross yelled

“eww,” you said, sitting down next to ross and joey.

“i know, i know, i opened it up and it was just floating in there like this tiny hitchhiker,” she said,

“well, maybe it’s a contest, like, collect all five,” you laughed at chandler’s joke.

“does, um, does anyone want to see?” she asked,

“no!” you all yelled,

chandler started to light a cigarette before you all yelled at him,

“no! put it out!”

“come on!”

“you know, it’s worse than the thumb,” rachel sighed,

“hey, this is so unfair.” chandler sighed,

“that is unfair?” you scoffed,

“so i have a flaw! big deal! like joeys constant knuckle cracking isn’t annoying,” joey was taken aback,

“and ross with his overpronounces every word; and monica with that snort when she laughs. i mean what the hell is that thing?” he asked, “i accept all those flaws, why can’t you accept me for this?”

you were all silent, and most of you looked down,

“does the knuckle cracking bother everybody?”joey asked,

“nope, not me. i do it too,” you cracked a few of your knuckles and everybody groaned at you.

“well, i could live without it,” rachel admitted,

“oh, well, is it, like a little annoying? or is it like when pheobe chews her hair?” pheobe immediately spat out the hair she was chewing,

“oh no, don’t listen to him pheebs! i think it’s endearing,” ross over pronounced the word,

“oh, you do, do you?” joey made fun of him, monica laughed before snorting and immediately she covered her mouth,

“you know, there’s nothing wrong with speaking correctly,” ross said,

“indeed there isn’t,” rachel mimicked, and ross looked at her, “i should really get back to work,” she said,

“yeah, otherwise someone may actually get what they ordered,” pheobe spat,

“ooh,” joey said,

rachel turned back around to look at pheobe,

“well at least i dont bite my lip every single second of the day!” she looked at you,

“wha- hey! it’s a habit!” you defended yourself,

the whole group started arguing while chandler continued smoking.

monica left to go to work when you reminded yourself of what jamie said, you guys were at the counter.

“rach! pheebs! guess what!” you said to them,

“what?” they both asked,

“i have a date this saturday!” you said excitedly, since you hadn’t been on a date in like a month.

“yay!”

“what’s his name? what does he look like?” rachel asked,

“tell us everything!” pheebs said,

“about what?” chandler asked, walking over to you three, joey and ross following,

“i have a date saturday night!” you screeched,

joeys face fell at this and only the boys noticed, you and the girls didn’t.

“you have a date?” he asked you,

“yep! with this amazing guy named jamie!” you started explaining the guy to them as joey and the guys went back to couch in the coffee house,

“joey? did i see jealousy when y/n was talking about her date?” chandler taunted,

“no,” he lied.

“you have feelings for y/n!” ross yelled but you or the girls didn’t hear it,

“so? you have feelings for rachel!” he argued,

“hey that’s different!”

“how is that different?” chandler asked,

“because uh, well, it’s just different okay!” he yelled,

“anyway! it’s chandler we should be worrying about! he’s the one with the smoking problem!”

while they were talking about chandlers problem rachel got a call from alan, he asked if he could speak to chandler,

“chandler... it’s alan, he wants to speak with you,”

“really, he does?” he perked up, with a cigarette in his hand, “hey buddy! what’s up?... oh she told you about that huh?” he looked at the cigarette in his hand, “well, yeah, i have one now and then. well, yeah now.. well it’s not that big.. well, that’s true, gee you know no ones, no ones ever put it like that before. so well, okay thanks!” he put down the phone before putting out the cigarette,

“god, he’s good,” rachel said to you and ross who had walked over,

“if only he were a woman,” ross sighed,

“yeah,” rachel and you agreed, before all sharing “what the fuck?” glances you sipped your coffee, rachel walked away and ross sat back down,

you guys went back to monica’s apartment and joey went to his, he seemed angry but you didn’t know why, she still wasn’t home and you were watching tv, laying across chandler and ross,

“and lamb chop and hush puppy...” the woman on the tv trailed off,

“ew, lamb chop, how old is that sock?” chandler asked, “if i had a sock on my hand for 30 years it’d be talking, too,”

“okay, i think it’s time to change somebody’s nicotine patch,” ross handed him the packet,

“hey,” monica said, walking into her apartment,

“hey!” you said getting up and walking to her, “guess what?”

“what honey?”

“i got a date this saturday!”

“good for you sweetie!” she smiled,

“i know!”

“where’s joey?” she asked you,

“i think he’s across the hall but i’m not sure, chandler where’s joey?”

“joey ate my last stick of gum, so i killed him. do you think that was wrong?” chandler asked,

“he’s across the hall,” rachel answered,

“thanks,” she said before leaving.

“there you go!” ross said after he had finished chandlers patch,

“ooh, i’m alive with pleasure now!” chandler said sarcastically.

“hey, pheebs? you gonna have the rest of that pop tart?” pheobe was just staring at what was left of her pop-tart, “pheebs?”

“does anyone want the rest of this pop-tart?” she asked, sighing,

“hey, i might!” ross said, and she handed it to him,

“sorry,” she apologised, “you know, those stupid soda people gave me $7000 for the thumb,”

“what?!”

“oh my god,”

“are you kidding me?”

“$7000?”

she nodded, “and on my way over here i stepped in him.” nobody understood what was going on now, “what is up with the universe?”

“what’s going on?” joey said, rubbing his hair with a towel as monica rushed him in,

“nothing! i just think it’s nice when we’re all here together,” she said,

“even nicer when everyone gets to wear their underwear,” he said, putting the towel over his legs when he sat down, but you could all still see it,

you stifled a laugh before pointing, “joey,”

“oh god!” he covered himself up more.

“okay,” monica turned off the tv, everybody groaning when she did so,

“please, guys. we have to talk.”

“wait, i’m getting a deja vu,” she thought for a second, “no i’m not,”

“what is it mon?” you asked her,

“alright we have to talk,”

“there it is!” pheobe pointed at her,

“okay, it’s about alan. there’s something that you should know. i mean, there’s really no easy way to say this. i’ve decided to break up with alan,” she said, everybody gasping as if it was a show,

“is there somebody else?” ross asked sadly,

“no, no, no, no, it’s just... you know, things change, people change,” she started,

“we didn’t change,” rachel sighed sadly,

“so that’s it? it’s over?” joey asked,

“just like that?” you frowned,

“you know, you let your guard down, you know, you start to really care about someone and i just... i...” she put her hair in her mouth.

“look, i can go on pretending...”

“okay!” joey said,

“no, that wouldn’t be fair to me, to alan, or to you.”

“yeah, well who wants fair?” ross asked, standing up, “i mean, i just want things back. you know, the way they were!”

“i’m sorry,”

“oh, she’s sorry,” chandler sighed, “i feel better,”

“i just can’t believe this, i mean with the holidays coming up,” you sighed, “i wanted him to meet my family,”

“i’ll meet someone else, there’ll be other alan’s,”

“oh, yeah, right,”

“are you guys gonna be okay?” she asked,

“hey, hey, we’ll be fine, we’re just going to need a little time,”

“i understand,”

she left to tell alan and you were sad, leaning on joeys shoulder,

“do you think there’ll be another alan?” he asked you,

“no! there is no other alan’s!” you sighed,

“well maybe your new boyfriend is an alan,” he sneered,

“huh? what? are you okay?” you got off him,

“yeah, i’m sorry i didn’t mean it like that,” he did, “i’m just gonna miss alan,”

“me too,” you hugged him, the others joining you in the hug,

rachel got out cake and ice cream to cheer us up as we went over the memories with alan,

“remember when we went to central park and rented boats? that was fun,” she handed you the icecream,

“yeah. he could row like a viking,” ross sighed,

monica walked in, “hi,”

everybody mumbled back to her,

“so how’d it go?”

“uh.. you know.”

“did, did he mention us?” phoebe asked, everybody looked at monica

“he says he’s really gonna miss you guys,” she said, and you sighed into joeys shoulder again, him hugging you,

“you had a rough day, huh?”

“oh you have no idea,” she sat down next to him,

“that’s it, i’m getting cigarettes!” chandler got up,

“no!”

“i don’t care! i don’t care! games over, i’m weak! i’ve gotta have the smoke!”

“if you never smoke again i’ll give you $7000 dollars,” pheobe said making him walk right back in,

“yeah alright,”

let me know if you want to be in future tag lists!

taglist: @zestygingergirl

[justheretobreakthings]

Welcome to the Family - Chapter 8

(Previous Chapter)

Word Count: 3,089 (Total Word Count: 20,507) Read on AO3

Story Summary: Lance had been excited about his family taking in a foster kid, eager to get to meet his brand new little brother or sister, who would surely adore and idolize their super cool Big Brother Lance. What he got instead was a sullen, quiet, temperamental teenage housemate with a criminal record and a disastrous haircut.

It was a tough adjustment, going back to school for the first time in over a year. Kolivan had warned him about that after he had first been released, that it may be difficult for him to be back in a regular school setting, but there wasn’t exactly much to be done about it. There wasn’t very well any way to practice being back at school in the two weeks between his release and the start of the new school year, so the best Kolivan could do was recommend that he go to the school counselor if he had any trouble.

Which Keith was in no hurry to do. Back at the detention facility, they’d mandated he see a counselor too. Everyone had to, and as far as Keith could tell, it hadn’t done any good for any of the kids there. The counselor he’d seen had been constantly dismissive, writing off any trouble he was having with the other juveniles as him simply losing his temper, and telling Keith that he was exaggerating the problems in his past due to his ‘negative life outlook’ and needed to simply look on the positive side of things more.

Of course, that counselor also didn’t use the title of ‘doctor’, and had yelled at Keith when the latter had first asked about his credentials, so maybe he wasn’t exactly the best example of a counselor. But it left Keith on his guard.

If you assume out the gate that all counselors were underqualified and disparaging, you won’t be disappointed when it turns out to be the case. A lesson he had learned long ago and applied to caseworkers, and classmates, and homes. They weren’t all bad, but the ones that were…

It was a tough adjustment.

Still, as patronizing as that counselor’s advice had been, he tried his best to focus on the positives, listing them in his head throughout the day as he came up with them.

He had his own locker. That was nice. Privacy was always hard to come by, whether he was with a foster family or a group home or back in juvie, so every little bit was a relief.

The teachers actually seemed to give a shit about their subjects, which had not been at all the case for him last year. He was pretty sure that the tutors’ credentials had been even less valid than the counselor’s, and none of the other boys at the center had actually cared about learning anyway - or if they did, they had the sense to keep it to themselves - so the tutors were pretty quick to give up anyway. So that was a nice change.

The place as a whole seemed generally well-kept. No obvious damage like broken windows or exposed wires, and they had those modern drinking fountains with the bottle-filling stations built in. When Keith went to the bathroom after lunch, there was some graffiti in the stall, but it was just the ‘Here I sit brokenhearted’ poem in Sharpie. Pretty innocuous.

And he’d had a place to sit at lunch, which was a major step up from some past foster homes where he’d either been the only kid, or the other kids in the house wanted nothing to do with him. Of course, there had still been some weirdness there. While Hunk had seemed nice and Pidge’s sarcasm hadn’t seemed malicious and Lance did seem concerned about whether or not he ate, it was hard to say how genuine it was or how long it would last. After all, he’d messed up. He’d accidentally insulted Tania, and it had upset Lance, and he hadn’t missed how much all three of the others had stared at him throughout the meal, even if they tried to hide it.

He didn’t like being stared at. He didn’t like it when people were curious, when they tried to dig into him and his life.

Being back in a crowded school made that harder to avoid, which was one of the negatives that he tried not to focus on but couldn’t help but let intrude his mind whenever he got the inkling that there were eyes on him. Which, admittedly, happened a hell of a lot, more than was probably realistic.

The counselor had called him paranoid, but he was sometimes right, and if he was sometimes right, then it wasn’t paranoia, it was just caution. There was nothing wrong with caution. Sure, maybe the times he caught people staring in his direction, they weren’t actually looking at him, and maybe when people whispered nearby or muffled a laugh as they passed him, they weren’t discussing him. But maybe they were. And Keith never knew how to handle that.

It’s not as though there wasn’t plenty of reason for him to be stared at or gossiped about. He reeked of not belonging, and he knew it. He was very obviously the ‘new guy’, not knowing any names or where anything was and three times so far he’d had to ask for directions, a task that had no business being as anxiety-inducing as it was. He’d had Algebra 1 for fourth period, and he was pretty sure he was the only sophomore in a class otherwise full of freshman, which he knew was going to be the case in Spanish 1 tomorrow as well, and no doubt his classmates would have questions about that. And, of course, there was his scar. He supposed he couldn’t blame people for staring at that, but that didn’t mean he had to like it or stop glowering at other students when he caught them at it.

Point was, though, he made it. He made it through the day without any big problems. No one was outright antagonistic to him, nothing the teachers assigned seemed beyond his ability. Sure, there were still a hundred and seventy-nine days left in the school year to ruin that, but at least he was starting off on the right foot. Or, a neutral foot. Whatever.

His last class of the day was P.E., and he was one of the first in the class to leave the locker room at the end of class. Since it was the final period, some of the boys opted not to shower afterward, which was a relief to Keith, as it made the fact that he wasn’t doing so stand out less. You only needed to get your clothes stolen from the gym locker one time in middle school before you took steps to ensure that it never happened again, so he had no problem waiting until he got back to the McClains’ house to clean up.

He had ducked into a bathroom stall to change out of his gym uniform - he would have to ask Lance what the weird cartoon clipart of a knight on the tee shirt was all about - and fortunately it didn’t seem like anyone had paid him enough attention to notice and given him any shit about his excessive modesty, so he was able to slip out of the locker room a minute before the final bell, an extra minute that he definitely needed to find his way back to the sophomore lockers.

After he gathered his things, he headed out to the parking lot to wait next to Rachel’s car, although it was at least another twenty minutes more before he spotted her and Lance leaving the school building. He lifted a hand to wave at them from where he sat perched on the car’s hood, but slowly lowered it again as he noticed the annoyed look on Lance’s face.

“That’s where he was,” Lance said loudly once they were in earshot. “Damn it, we were looking all over for you.”

“What?” said Keith. “Why?”

“Because you weren’t at the entrance,” said Lance. “We waited for you. Rachel was starting to worry you ditched school or something. How come you didn’t meet us there?”

“I… didn’t know I was supposed to?” Keith said, raising a brow. “What entrance?”

“The music wing entrance,” Rachel said. She reached the front door and pulled it open, hitting the button on the inside to unlock the rest of the car. “We always meet there at the end of the day. Didn’t Lance tell you that?”

“No.”

“Hey, what?” Lance said as he slid into his own seat. “Why was that my job? You’re the driver, you were supposed to coordinate everything!”

“...Oh.” Rachel frowned. “Okay, fair, guess this one’s on me. Sorry, Keith.”

“S’okay,” Keith mumbled. He clambered into the passenger seat as Rachel turned the ignition, and leaned in toward the fan as the air-conditioning kicked on.

“From now on, we don’t count on Rachel for anything,” said Lance.

“Fine,” Rachel said. “Good luck getting home from school without me.”

“From now on, we count on Rachel for only one thing.”

“There we go.” Rachel nodded. “Anyway, right, from now on, just meet at the music wing, okay? The front entrance has a sign pointing to the auditorium, so if you go there, it’s just down the hall on the right, and you’re there.”

“Got it,” Keith said.

“We woulda texted you,” said Lance, “But you didn’t give us your number.”

“I don’t have a phone,” said Keith.

“What? Why not?”

Keith turned around to scowl at Lance, and the latter was quick to deflate. “Oh, sorry, was that offensive? Somehow?”

“I just don’t have one,” Keith snapped.

“Talk to Mamá about that,” said Rachel. “I just upgraded a few months ago, she’ll probably let you have my old one, and Luis is off the family plan now so we can add another number.”

“All right,” Keith said. “Um, thanks?”

“Don’t mention it. Not like I’m using it anyw- Lance, don’t you dare take your shoes off in my car!”

Lance looked up, his feet already up on the seat next to him and one shoe off, holding the laces of the other. “Oh, come on, it’s a thousand degrees outside, my feet are hot!”

“No, you are not stinking up my car with your weird foot odors. Wait ‘til we get home.”

“First of all, your car stinks anyway, and second of all, my feet are beautiful and your car should be honored to smell like them.”

“If your feet are so great you wouldn’t need to spend an hour every day rubbing all those creams and oils and stuff on them.”

“Um, it’s called self-care.”

Deciding that the sibling bickering was probably going to go on for the rest of the ride home, Keith leaned toward the dashboard and adjusted the fans to blow directly into his face, closing his eyes and letting the sound of the blowing air conditioning drown out everything else. At first he was a little worried that the fans might spread the smell of the sweat left over from gym class throughout the car, but neither Lance nor Rachel made any comment about it - the smell of Lance’s feet was the only one they seemed focused on - so he was able to relax up until they pulled up to the McClains’ house, coming to a forceful and crooked stop on the curb.

The other two tossed their backpacks onto a chair in their den and shouted greetings to their mother as they entered the house, while Keith kept quiet and kept his bag with him until he’d gotten upstairs and dropped it into his desk chair. Lance had first dibs on the bathroom, so Keith waited on his bed for his turn to grab a shower. When that turn finally came, he turned the water up to near scalding and took a few minutes to just stand and soak. It hadn’t been a bad day, nothing big had happened, but he was still exhausted. Being around so many people for eight hours straight had drained him.

It took a long while and a mental reminder that the others in the house would probably be pissed if he went and used up the hot water for him to finally pick up his bottle - a single, all-in-one shampoo-conditioner-body wash that he’d picked out from the store and that was conspicuously dull among the dozen bottles of brightly colored and sweetly scented who-knows-what that Lance had arranged on the rim of the tub for himself - and start washing up. Once finished, he towel dried thoroughly and got fully dressed again before finally stepping out of the bathroom, letting the steam waft into the hallway behind him.

By this point he was starting to get hungry, the awkward school lunch long behind him, so he started down the stairs, hoping to find something in the kitchen to sneak back up with him before dinner. The den was empty, and the muted sound of Rachel’s trumpet indicated she was practicing in the basement, so the coast seemed clear until he reached the bottom of the stairs and caught the voices of Lance and Tania in the kitchen. Keith hesitated, hand on the banister, deciding to wait it out.

“It’ll just be the morning meeting tomorrow for this week,” Lance was saying. “But starting on Monday we’re back to three morning practices a week, and I think we’ll start on the afternoon practices again in October, so you’re gonna need to tell Rachel she has to drive me.”

“Lance, we can’t base Rachel’s whole sleep schedule on your swim practices,” Tania replied. “I’ll drive you when I can, and we really need to arrange a carpool for you this year. Your friend Nadia doesn’t live too far from here, right?”

“Yeah, but her dad listens to country music in the car. It’s torture.”

“Too bad, mijo, it’s either find a carpool or skip some practices.”

“Fine. I’ll ask her. Oh, and I still need the money for the new trunks this year. My old ones are getting tight as hell.”

“Language.”

“Sorry, tight as heck. Anyway, I need a check for them.”

“All right.” Keith heard the sound of a drawer opening and papers rifling.

“And for a team jacket,” Lance added.

“Ah, ah, no,” said Tania, “I told you already, you want one of those jackets, you pay for it yourself.”

“But Mamá, it’s school spirit!”

“It’s fifty-dollar school spirit and I’m not paying for it. You want extra money, you do some extra help on the farm or you wait ‘til Christmas. For now, how much for the trunks?”

“Twenty.” There was quiet in the kitchen for a few seconds, then the sound of tearing paper. “Thanks,” said Lance.

“Don’t you lose that check, now,” said Tania. “Put it in your backpack before you forget.”

“I will.” A cabinet opened and a couple of dishes clattered against the countertop before Lance cleared his throat. “Hey, uh,” he said. “Speaking of checks, uh…”

“Mm?” Tania hummed.

“Something kinda weird happened at lunch today.”

Keith tensed, his grip tightening against the staircase’s banister.

“How do you mean?”

“With Keith. He tried to skip lunch, said he was saving for when he ‘needed’ it.”

“What does that - ?”

“Well, apparently he thought that the check you gave him for lunch was supposed to cover the whole school year. He was trying to ration it out.”

There was a pause before Tania softly muttered, “Oh querido…”

“Did he, like, act weird at all when you wrote out the check? Or did you say something that he thought meant - ”

“No, no, I think it was just - ” Her sigh was nearly drowned out by a cutlery drawer opening and closing. “Don’t worry over it, cariño, I’ll talk to him.”

“Yeah, but what are you gonna say? Do you know what that was about?”

“Never you mind, Lance, I’ll take care of it.”

“But why did he think - ?”

Finally, Keith had heard enough, and he stepped out into the dining room, ensuring that his footfall was loud enough to get their attention. It worked, as both Tania and Lance looked up at his entrance. Lance quickly looked away again, face sheepish, but Tania plastered a smile onto her face and gestured for him to come into the kitchen. “Keith, dear, good to see you!” she said brightly. “How was your first day?”

“Fine,” Keith said.

“The school seem like it could be a good fit for you? Do we need to make any changes to your classes at all?”

“They’re fine.”

“You’re okay with having Rachel drive you? Her driving didn’t scare you too badly?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“How are your classmates? Met any nice people? Make any new friends?”

“I - I just came in to get a snack…”

“Oh! Right, right.” Tania ran a flustered hand through her hair and turned back to the counter. “Well, I’m actually going to start making dinner here, so if you don’t mind waiting a little longer, there’ll be plenty to eat soon.”

“Oh,” said Keith. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

“No, no, don’t be sorry!” Tania said. “It’s fine, it’s perfectly fine. Would you like to help with dinner, sweetie? I could use a hand peeling potatoes if you’re up for it. Have you used a potato peeler before, Keith?”

“Um, yeah. Sure, I can - I can help,” Keith said.

He shuffled toward the counter. Lance leaned in to whisper something to Tania that he didn’t catch, and she shook her head and waved him away in response. Lance pouted as he stepped away. “Well, uh, I’ll get outta your way, then,” he said.

“You sure you don’t wanna help too, mijo?” said Tania.

“I’m on dish duty tonight, Mamá, you can’t make me do double chores. I’ll strike.”

Tania picked up a dish towel and lightly swatted Lance on the shoulder with it. “If you’re not gonna work in the kitchen, you can’t stand around in the kitchen. Get.”

“All right, all right,” Lance said, turning and walking out toward the dining room. Before he left fully, he glanced over his shoulder toward Tania and said, “¿Me lo dirán luego?”

“No, Lance,” Tania snapped. Lance muttered something under his breath and left as Tania slid a bag of potatoes across the counter and handed Keith a peeler. “We should only need around eight,” she said. “I’ll start on the chicken, and you just let me know if you need anything, okay dear?”

“Okay,” Keith said with a nod. She turned her attention away, and Keith glanced hesitantly back toward the sound of Lance’s retreating footsteps before he shook his head clear, rolled his shoulders, and got to work.

[atths--twice]

Birthday Month in the Unremarkable House

Chapter Three 

Skinner and Rachel

Skinner has met his match with Dr. Rachel Clarke, but will he mess it all up when he learns how she knows Mulder and Scully?

Okay... So this chapter will be just a bit different. 

I hope that anyone reading these stories has also read Soulmates and been following along with the Year of Firsts, or this may be just a bit confusing for you. Let me give you a recap, just in case: 

During the breakup, Mulder sees a therapist, Rachel Clarke, and she is just the person he needs. She is... I just love her so much. So very much.

Sooooo anyway... recently at Mulder and Scully’s wedding, Skinner and Rachel seem to hit it off and well.... this is that story... 

I hope you enjoy it. <3

14c/15

Skinner stood beside his car as he listened to the gas pump into his car. Sighing, he shook his head, feeling like an idiot, just as he had for the past couple of weeks.

"God,” he growled, taking the nozzle out of the car and replacing it. He put the gas cap back on and got into the car, closing the door. He sighed again and shook his head. “Such a goddamn idiot,” he mumbled to himself as he drove out of the gas station and turned left toward Mulder and Dana’s, thinking of the past month.

As the wedding dinner began to wind down, and Mulder and Dana had left for their night away, Skinner found himself staying and watching Rachel out of the corner of his eye. She was helping Tampa, despite his insistence that she should go enjoy herself and not worry about anything else. She smiled and finally listened, staying and looking at the pictures on the table.

Taking the opportunity to get closer to her, he walked up and stood by her as he looked at them, smiling at the memories of the past.

“They look happy,” she said softly, causing him to lift his eyes and glance at her. He nodded and saw her pick up the picture of the three of them wearing alien headbands and smiled. “She’s a beautiful little girl. Those blue eyes are going to break some hearts.”

“I said something similar when she was born,” he said quietly, remembering how small she had been when he had held her for the first time.

“Of course, it would be impossible for her to not be beautiful with the two of them as parents," she laughed as she set the picture down.

“That’s the damn truth,” he agreed, and she smiled at him as he cleared his throat. “Are you leaving soon?”

“Am I being kicked out?”

“No, not at all. I… I didn’t mean…” he stumbled and she smiled wider, obviously teasing him. He huffed out a laugh and then looked away, flustered and not sure what to say.

“Are you leaving?” He looked back at her and shook his head.

“Not exactly, but soon,” he replied and she nodded.

“I had-”

“Girl! Are you still cleaning things up?  Oh... no you are not. Hmm, please excuse my very untimely interruption,” Tampa said with a wink at them as he disappeared from the room.

She laughed nervously and tucked her hair behind her ears as Skinner shook his head and clenched his jaw. He glanced at her quickly, feeling sweaty and anxious.

“As I was saying, I had a fun time tonight. You’re a good dancer-” she said, causing him to scoff as she smiled. “You are. I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true.” He stared at her, and his mouth went dry. “I… I don’t know if you would be interested, but maybe we could get dinner sometime?”

Cotton seemed to fill his mouth, and he was unable to speak. She raised her eyebrows at him and he nodded, causing her to smile.

“Great. I’ll give you my number and you can call me when you think of the place you’d like to take me,” she said impishly and he exhaled loudly, immediately embarrassed. She pursed her lips, trying not to laugh. “Did you want to put it into your phone?”

He reached for his phone before he remembered that he had left it in his car, not wanting to have it disturb the evening. “It’s in the car,” he explained, ready to walk out and get it when she put her hand up and stopped him. He watched her walk into the kitchen and waited for her to come back.

Glancing at the picture of Mulder, Dana, and Faith, he could not help but wonder what it would be like to have a child of his own. He shook his head, knowing the time for that had passed long ago.

“Here you go,” Rachel said, pulling him from his thoughts as he turned to look at her. She smiled as she handed him a piece of paper with her name and number written on it. He smiled, not only at her information, but at the personalized name at the top. Margaret Scully was printed in bold fancy calligraphy.

“Where did you find this?” he asked her quietly and she smiled.

“From a pad of paper in the kitchen,” she answered and he nodded with a sigh.

Margaret Scully, a woman he had only met a handful of times, but had seen immediately from where Dana had received her drive and determination. Standing in her house, her picture up in remembrance as though watching over them all, and now a piece of her personal stationary; if he believed in signs, he would have been unable to deny there seemed to be many trying to tell him something.

“So, now you have my number,” she said and he turned, watching her walk across the living room, heading toward the front door. She took her jacket from the coat rack and slipped it on, a smile on her face. “The ball is completely in your court. Goodbye, Walter.” She nodded and walked out the door.

“Mmm hmm…” Skinner heard and turned to his right. “You’re just going to let her leave?” Tampa asked, crossing his arms and clicking his tongue.

“I…”

“Man, you better have at least gotten her number,” Tampa said and walked away shaking his head.

Leaving a few minutes later, Louise spotted him and bid him goodnight. Once in the car, he sat and stared at Rachel’s number. Taking his phone from the glove box, he wanted to text or call her, but after seeing all of the work messages he had missed during the wedding, he knew tonight would not be the night he would call. Sighing, he drove home in silence dreading the unanswered emails that awaited him.

For the next several days, work had engulfed him, but her contact information had not strayed far. It was on the dining room table, but he had not entered it into his contacts yet. Instead, he had stared at it every night as he ate tasteless microwaved meals, knowing he should eat something better, but lacking the time or motivation to do so.

As he stared at her number, he could almost hear Maggie Scully sighing with annoyance at his inaction. Here she had laid the groundwork, provided the paper onto which Rachel’s phone number was written, and he was doing nothing. The little he knew of her, he did know Maggie was a quiet force that would not be ignored.

Until now, it seemed.

He went to bed on Friday night, angry at himself and determined to call Rachel tomorrow and stop being such a goddamn coward.

Waiting until a respectable time the next morning, he finally called her and reached her voicemail. Leaving a gruff message, he hung up and felt like shit, fearing she would not call back after hearing the stuttery mess of message he left her.

After calling her, he went for a run, leaving his phone at home. His mind was distracted throughout, wondering if he was missing her call but instead of stopping he shook his head and ran faster, annoyed and angry at himself.

There was no call when he came back. Nor was there one after his shower, lunch, a sparring match at the boxing club, before he went to bed, or after his late breakfast the next day.

Grabbing his keys, he dropped his phone in a bowl by the door as he opened the door to go for another run when the apartment erupted in sound, the phone ringing and vibrating against the bowl.

He startled and then saw her name on the screen. Reaching for the phone, he thought about letting her leave a voicemail, let her see how it was to wait, but then he grabbed it, needing to hear her voice.

“Hello?”

“Hello. I was certain you wouldn’t answer,” she said, and he stood in the doorway, at a loss for words.

“Why wouldn’t I answer? I called you, remember? Yesterday,” he said pointedly, almost rudely, as he closed the door and locked it, angry again, but also elated.

"Oh yes, I do remember. You see, if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t be calling you back as I didn’t have your phone number,” she said with a teasing tone. He paused and let her words sink in and then he smiled, walking toward the couch and flopping down.

"I feel like I need to apologize,” he said. Rachel cleared her throat, but said nothing. Grinning wider, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, I should have called sooner. I could blame it on work, but…”

“You know that’s a shit excuse?” she offered.

“It is,” he agreed. “I should have called. I had… poor excuses and I… I apologize.”

“Accepted.”

He grinned as he leaned back and toed off his shoes, no longer wanting or needing to go on that run. He chuckled and heard her answering quiet laugh.

“I actually was sure I would miss you, not just because of your lack of phoning me sooner, but as it IS the weekend, I figured you would be busy,” she said, and he shook his head. God, he really liked her.

“I’m not busy.”

“Oh.”

“Would… would you like to meet up for coffee? Or lunch?” he asked, suddenly realizing he was holding his breath.

“Oh, I’m sorry I can’t. Um, I have plans-”

“No. It’s fine.” He closed his eyes and sighed.

“My mom and I are going on a trip on Tuesday for two weeks. Today we are going to buy the items we need. New clothes, bathing suits, toiletries. She’s actually on her way now, but… I would have loved to have met you for a coffee,” she finished quietly, and he mentally kicked himself for not calling her sooner. Both of them were quiet and then she sighed.

“I should have called sooner,” he said, surprising himself with expressing his thoughts.

“Hmmm,” she answered in a manner that suggested that she was most definitely agreeing. “I have a busy day tomorrow and we leave super early on Tuesday, but I’d love to get that coffee or dinner when I get back.”

“Yeah, that would be fine,” he sighed, wishing it was sooner.

“Fine?” she teased him again. “Just fine?”

“More than fine,” he answered with a smile.

“Hmm. Well, I have to go. My mother just arrived. I’ll call you when I get back. Most likely a day or so after since I’ll be exhausted and need to sleep,” she laughed, and he nodded.

“A day or two after will be-”

“Fine?”

He laughed and nodded again. “More than fine,” he said quietly.

“Good. I’ll talk to you then, Walter.”

“Goodbye, Rachel.”

He waited until he heard her hang up before removing the phone from his ear. Standing up, he walked to the kitchen, deciding it was not too early for a drink.

Standing by the table, he took a long pull of his beer and spotted the paper with Rachel’s number on it. He smiled as he stared at it, hearing the silent throat clearing of Maggie Scully.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he said gruffly as he imagined the smirk on her face, shaking his head as he took another drink.

_________

The two weeks Rachel was gone passed both quickly and slower than any time he had ever experienced. It was an odd feeling, looking forward to someone’s return. He had not had anyone in his life for a long time. Not that she was in his life, he had to keep telling himself, but…

On the first, he caught himself smiling, trying to stop before anyone noticed. He stopped at the store and bought enough groceries for a week, intent on making actual food from ingredients and not from a previously frozen box.

A steak and a salad was a good start, and he found himself wondering if Rachel ate meat or if she was a vegetarian, not recalling what she had eaten at the wedding. He hoped it was the former, but he would work with whatever she liked.

“Haven’t even had dinner yet and I’m making changes,” he grumbled with a smile on his face. Shaking his head, he cleaned up and went to bed, looking forward to the next day.

__________

“I’m absolutely exhausted,” she yawned when she called the next evening, and he grinned, her voice making him happy.

“You had a good time though?” he asked.

“Mmmm. Yeah, it was fun,” she sighed, and he continued smiling. “Jet lag is the worst though. I would love to not feel like I’m walking through a pool filled with sand and snow.” He laughed, and she groaned.

“You should get some sleep. We can always talk later,” he said kindly, and she sighed loudly.

“I wish I didn’t feel so tired, I really wanted to talk to you today. Tonight? I don’t know anymore,” she sighed again, causing him to chuckle.

“I understand, but right now you need to sleep. We can talk tomorrow,” he said and she was quiet. “Rachel? Rachel?”

“Hmm? Oh, I… I…” she breathed, and he laughed softly.

“Get some sleep. Good night,” he said, and she hummed before he hung up, smiling as he did.

__________________

*Did you figure out the restaurant you will be treating me to yet?*

His phone buzzed with a message, and he smiled, looking around as he typed out his answer.

*I was going to ask last night, but you literally fell asleep on me.*

*Hey, you fly for almost a day and try not to fall asleep when you’re speaking to someone.*  

He smiled and typed back a response.

*And I understand, I do. I have a few places in mind, do you have a preference? Are you vegetarian? Partial to a region?*

He waited, and then a bit longer. Finally he saw her answer and he grinned. She sent a gif of a woman eating a huge steak and underneath she had written:

*Carnivore. And if there is pasta… well…*

*Wonderful. I will get back to you later.*

Another gif of John Candy sharpening his knife and fork over a large slab of meat from a movie he had seen but could not place appeared. Laughing, he left his office to find the next person he needed to speak to, thoughts of the perfect restaurant on his mind.

_____________

Saturday evening, he stood in the bathroom double checking his tie before he left to meet Rachel. Nodding at himself in the mirror, he turned off the lights, left the bathroom, and walked out of the apartment.

He was nervous as he drove to the restaurant, worried now that the night was finally happening. Feeling foolish, he shook it off and continued on, knowing that it would be a good evening.

He walked into the restaurant, The House, and he went to the hostess desk to let her know that he had arrived. He was a few minutes early and still a bit nervous as he waited for Rachel.

Ten excruciating minutes later, she walked in and he stood up, watching as she looked around, smiling as she found him. She walked past the people in front of her, saying ‘excuse me’ as she passed them, but her eyes remained on him the entire time.

“Hello,” she said, her blue eyes lighting up.

“Hi,” he answered, not sure he could say much more at the moment.

Her scent hit him like a wave. It consisted of fresh laundry and something that he could not quite place but wanted to smell forever. She was dressed in a simple navy blue dress, navy flats, and a dark gray cardigan with her dark hair pulled back into a long ponytail. Mixed throughout her dark hair was the aqua blue that had drawn his eye at the wedding.

She looked absolutely stunning.

“Sorry, I’m late,” she said, and he shook his head, looking at his watch.

“You’re right on time. I was a little early,” he said with a smile.

“Ahh, nervous were you?” Her eyes twinkled, and he laughed. She licked her lips and looked around. “I like this place. It was a good choice. Meat and pasta. You did good.” He nodded and smiled again.

“I’ll let them know you’re here and we should be able to be seated right away,” he said, and she nodded.

Walking to the hostess stand, he shook his head, the smile still on his face. The hostess smiled at him and grabbed their menus. He walked back over to Rachel and put his hand on her lower back to lead her to the table. She raised her eyebrows, and he moved his hand.  

“No, it’s okay,” she said quietly. He nodded and put it back as they walked to the table.

He pulled her chair out for her and she sat down before he sat across from her and put his napkin in his lap. The hostess handed them their menus and said their waiter would be with them soon before she walked away.

“Did you see that person on the way in eating fettuccine? I almost grabbed her plate and kept walking,” she said leaning forward. He laughed and she set her menu down and took off her cardigan, laying it on the chair.

“So, you know what you want then?” he teased and she nodded.

“I don’t even need to look, I know… oh wait.” She picked up her menu and he heard her sighing and groaning as she read it. “God… it all looks so good. What’s your sharing policy?” She looked up at him, raising her eyebrows.

“Sharing policy?”

“Yes. For instance, if you ordered mashed potatoes or mmmm… any kind of potatoes, would you have a problem with sharing a few bites or are you a non food sharer?” she asked and he frowned.

“I’ve never really thought about it before,” he said as she looked down at her menu again, her eyebrows still raised. “If you want potatoes, I’ll share a few bites, if you share the fettuccine.”

She made a “yes” motion with her fist, not looking up as she perused the menu. He smiled and looked at his, having already decided he would get the red mashed potatoes as part of his meal.

The waiter walked up and they ordered a drink and she asked for some bread. He left and returned quickly with plates, bread, and a small bowl of butter.

“Please don’t think less of me, but I am very hungry, and I will be eating a large amount of this bread,” she said as she reached for a piece of bread and her knife to add butter to it. “Between the jet lag and playing catch up at work, I’ve missed several meals and I’m starving.”

“I wouldn’t think less of you,” he smiled.

“Not until I stab you for reaching for a piece,” she said, taking a bit of crunchy sourdough and closing her eyes.

“It’s a butter knife, I think I’ll be okay,” he smirked as she opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow. He raised his back and took a piece of bread when she was distracted.

“Brave man,” she said as she slid the butter closer to him, but he waved it away. “Not a bread and butter guy... good to know.” He grinned and took a bite, both of them chewing.

The waiter arrived with their drinks and took their orders: steak and fettuccine for her and steak, red mashed potatoes, and green beans for him. She sighed as he walked away and whispered ‘potatoes’ under her breath, causing him to laugh.

“So, you didn’t say where you went on your trip,” he said, drinking a sip of his scotch.

“Oh, I suppose I didn’t. We went to Australia.”

“Oh. Well. That’s nice. Have you been there before?”

“No,” she said, taking a drink of her red wine. “We try to take an extravagant trip once a year, and this year we chose Australia.”

“That’s great that you do that,” he said with a nod.

“Thank you, I think so too,” she smiled, reaching for more bread.

“What do you do for a living?” he asked, realizing there was a lot he did not know about her.

“I’m a therapist,” she said, adding butter to her bread. “I’ve been doing it for almost ten years now, and I love it. And you?” She looked at him and he smiled, while a feeling began to gnaw at him.

“I used to be an FBI agent, until a couple of years ago, Assistant Director. I work for the VA now. The bureau was no longer a place I wanted to be and a change was needed,” he said, his thoughts churning.

“Is that how you knew Fox and… I can only think of her as Scully, as that’s how I was introduced to her at the wedding dinner,” she asked with a smile. He nodded, as realization began to dawn on him, his stomach feeling uneasy. He stared at her smiling face and he knew how she knew Mulder and Dana, or Mulder at the very least.

“I was their boss, yes. I’ve known them both for a long time. Separately and together,” he said, the question he wanted to ask burning on his tongue, not wanting to ask it, but knowing he must.

“I don’t really know Scully, Dana, except for what I’ve seen with my own eyes. But I met Fox a few years ago.”

“You were his therapist,” he stated, not a question, not even knowing if she could answer that type of question.

She stared at him and then sighed heavily, looking down at the table. “If I was, would that be a problem for you? Would it be a problem for us?”

He stared, not knowing how to answer, thoughts of what Mulder would think or if he would worry there was some conflict of interest. Sighing again, Rachel began to gather her things, her sweater and the keys she had set on the table.

“What-”

“Walter, this is not the first time my job has been a problem, but it still doesn’t make it easier,” she said quietly.

“Rachel…”

“I’m not… I’m not as young as I was when the thought of 'might be okay’ was enough to try in a relationship, only to discover it was more like ‘not okay,’” she said, standing up and taking money from her pocket and placing it on the table, which he tried to stop her from doing. “I like you, I really do, but I… I need to be sure that this won’t be something you brush off, only to use as an excuse later.” She put her hand on his shoulder, stopping him from standing up, her eyes sad. “When you’re sure one way or the other…” And then she walked away, her sentence unfinished, leaving him feeling hollow, foolish, and as though he had lost her forever.

He sat as though frozen in his seat, his stupidity weighing him down. Even if he stopped her now, what would he say? He knew her well enough, without really knowing her at all, to know she would see through an apology, wondering through their meal if it was worth it to stay.

“Such an asshole,” he said quietly through gritted teeth as their food arrived and the thought of eating any of it made his stomach feel sick.

Boxing it up, he left the restaurant and drove to a known area where there were homeless people, giving away his much anticipated meal. The happiness on the faces of those who may not have eaten in days was not enough to lift him from his slump. He left them with all the cash he had, but not Rachel’s; it remained in his jacket pocket as he walked back to his car.

He stewed for a week, his emotions all over the place. He was angry at her for leaving and then sorry for the anger he felt. He yelled at Cara, a soft spoken woman who worked in the office, causing her to leave the room in tears. Before he left, he stood with figurative heart in hand, apologizing to her profusely. She nodded and touched his arm, her eyes seeming to see through him.

He threw out all the food he had purchased earlier in the week, his desire to take the time and cook gone and his stupidity angering him to eat frozen crap all over again.

His fingers dialed her number over fifty times in that week, needing to apologize and make it right and to tell her it was not a problem. But it would be a lie and he could not do that to her, not after the shit he had pulled already.

Knowing what he needed to do, he called Mulder, only to hear they were out of town and would not be available until Monday at the earliest. He could have spoken with him over the phone, but this felt like a face to face conversation.

Work once again pushed all other thoughts and desires to the side until he could no longer take it, calling Mulder to ask if Thursday night would work for him to come over. He heard Faith laughing in the background as he looked around his own silent home, the place bare and rather sterile.

“Thursday is great. Dinner?”

“No, no dinner,” he said quickly, and Mulder hummed an ‘mmm hmmm’ no doubt already profiling him. Old habits die hard.

The plans were made, and he only needed to get through two more days before he headed over. He needed to deal with it and move on, whatever the outcome.

Shaking his head, his annoyance at his own stupidity rising, he saw the turnoff for the odd little house they had decided to call home. It was getting dark sooner, the time due to change in the next few weeks. Turning on his high beams, he continued down the road, turning them down as he pulled up the driveway.

Laughing almost bitterly and shaking his head, he shut off the car as he looked at all the decorations up around the outside of the house. Sighing, he got out of the car and closed the door, walked up the steps, and knocked on the door.

Mulder opened it, smiling as he gestured for him to come inside. Dana walked up, embraced him and smiled as she stepped back.  

“It’s nice to see you. How are you?” she asked, touching his arm. He nodded and looked around.

“Where’s Faith?” he asked, hoping he would see her, maybe make her laugh a little.

“Oh, she’s got a little cold and a slight fever, so she’s had some medicine and went down a little early tonight,” Dana said with a small smile. “We were gone over the weekend, as you know, and I think she may have picked something up while we were away.”

“She’s okay though?” he asked with concern, as he glanced toward the stairs.

“Yeah, her mom’s a doctor, I think she’ll be okay,” she said with a wink and a chuckle as he looked back at her. She held his gaze and he knew she saw something in his eyes by the way she tilted her head. He nodded and stepped back, glancing at Mulder.

He saw him glance at Dana before she nodded and walked into the kitchen. “Would you like a beer? Or something stronger?” she asked, standing by the refrigerator.

“A beer is fine,” he nodded, taking off his coat and hanging it on the stair railing.

“I’ll take one too, since you didn’t ask,” Mulder teased, as he sat on the couch.

“Of course, my sweet darling husband,” she joked, taking two beers out and opening them, handing them to Skinner with an eye roll. He attempted a smile and walked over to hand Mulder his beer.

He stepped back and looked around the room, suddenly nervous and not sure where to start. He could hear the clock ticking as they all sat in silence, and he knew they were waiting for him to speak. Taking a long drink of his beer, he began to tell them about Rachel, starting with their conversation at the wedding dinner.

He paced the room back and forth, not looking at either of them, the whole story pouring out, unable to be held back. When he got to Rachel leaving him at the restaurant, he stood with his back to them, the story coming out quietly as his shoulders slumped forward.

The clock ticked loudly as the room was silent once again. No longer able to stand it, he turned around and looked at them. Mulder was grinning and nodding his head as he sat on the couch.

“So… I have some thoughts, but I believe that my wife is dying to say something first,” Mulder said, looking over at Dana. She was leaning against the counter, her arms crossed.

She smirked and shook her head as she looked back at him. “I told you so.” Mulder laughed and nodded, looking back at Skinner.

“She did, one hundred percent,” he said, still laughing. Skinner huffed and shook his head.

“Is this funny to you?” he barked out, and Mulder stood up, shaking his head and walking over to him.

“Not in the slightest, especially as I can see and hear you’re hurting. How about we go sit outside? It’s not too cold out yet.” He glanced at Dana and she nodded at them both, a smile still on her face. He and Mulder went outside, closing the door behind them and sitting down on the porch.

“You’re lucky Scully was feeling kind tonight and unplugged that witch. It gets me every time, the evil hag.” He turned his head and glared at the witch on the porch. Failing to find the humor of it at the moment, Skinner stared straight ahead and sighed.

“You know, or maybe you didn’t, not entirely,” Mulder said quietly, fiddling with his beer bottle. “Scully and I weren’t together anymore when we started back at the bureau. In fact, we hadn’t seen each other until you contacted her. We texted and emailed… but we were separated, as much as I hate to use that word, especially in regards to us. It was… a rough time, for both of us, but for me…” He shook his head and sighed.

“Mrs. Scully… she stepped in, pulled me up, dusted me off, and helped me in so many ways. But, she couldn’t help with everything and I needed to speak to someone. About the past and the present, especially if I wanted to fix my future.” He smiled at Skinner and laughed softly. “Hell, I should have done it years ago, but I was a stubborn ass and I refused.”

“I met with a couple therapists and I hated them. Maybe I was biased, but honestly they were horrible and I hated their approach.” He shook his head with another sigh. “The third person I met was Rachel and I knew by the time our initial session was over that she was the one I wanted to continue to see. She was unlike anyone I had met.” Skinner scoffed, shaking his head as Mulder chuckled. “She called me out, knocked me on my ass, but was there beside me, her hand out to help me up when I was ready.”

Skinner sighed heavily, feeling more and more like an asshole. He had fucked up greatly and he was not sure even this discussion would be enough.

“Skinner,” Mulder sighed. “Walter, I understand your hesitancy, I do. You are intertwined in our lives, have been for years. Not many people have earned our trust, or stuck around the way you have. Yes, we’ve had our… let’s call them moments…” They both laughed and nodded, setting their bottles down. “But, you have always been there for us. Always.” Skinner nodded and kept his eyes downcast.

“Considering all of that… I understand your feelings, but…” He shook his head and smiled. “If you came here tonight to ask how I feel or if I have any problem with you dating Rachel, or marrying her one day-”

“I didn’t say that, nor would I presume-”

“Just busting your balls,” Mulder laughed. “Although…” He shrugged and smiled.

Skinner shook his head, looking around and sighing. “I know it was a stupid thing to do. I was a goddamn fool, but I just felt blindsided and I…” He stood up and paced the yard. “I… I don’t know. Christ, Mulder…” He stopped and looked up to find Mulder smiling and raising his eyebrows. “She’s younger than me. A lot younger.”

“Who cares?”

“She’s… so different than anyone… anyone I’ve ever known, let alone dated. Dated…” He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. “I haven’t been on a date in years and I fucked it up. Christ.” He scrubbed a hand across his face and paced again.

Mulder was silent for a few minutes as he watched and waited for him to speak again. “She… she just… I don’t know, Mulder. What is it?”

Mulder shook his head and smiled. “I can’t answer that, as I don’t know myself. She’s… she’s Rachel.” He shrugged and Skinner exhaled. “If you like her, which is obviously the case, then nothing else should matter. Her age, her work, or more importantly her work with me. How long have you been on your own? How long have you lived in that new apartment? Did you just move in, or has it been a long time? It’s truly hard to tell.” Mulder stared at him and Skinner nodded. “You deserve happiness, Skinner.”

He began to pace again, his anger at himself propelling him forward and keeping him moving. She had looked so beautiful, so happy, and he had acted like an idiot. Stopping, he put his head back and looked up at the night sky, taking a few breaths.

“Skinner?” He turned and looked at Mulder, his hands clasped between his knees. “You’re a good man. You deserve to be happy, to care about someone. You have always put others first, cared for those who need you, Scully being high on that list. I can’t ever repay you for all you have done for her. She is here because of the sacrifices you made. Nothing I can say or do will ever measure up, but if I can tip the scales a little…” He smiled and nodded. “If you came here looking for my… permission? My support? You have it. One hundred percent.”

Skinner cleared his throat as he nodded at Mulder and then looked around, needing to brush past this feeling. He took in all the decorations again and Mulder sitting on the porch smiling at him.

“Jesus, you come out to the boonies and calm the hell down. Where was this guy years ago?” He shook his head, a small smile on his face.

Mulder laughed and shrugged. “That guy, the old me… he’s like someone I don’t know at times. Full of piss and vinegar. Mad at the world and the way it worked at times, the evil lurking everywhere. It’s still there, you see it everyday, especially now… Jesus Christ. But, you focus on that… you fail to see the good. We can’t ignore the bad, but we can’t dwell within it either,” he said, shaking his head and smiling.

“Those two women inside… it is impossible to stay in the darkness with the light they bring into my life.” Skinner stared at him and nodded. “You need someone, Skinner. You deserve someone like Rachel. Scully saw it and she’s right about most things, but don’t tell her I said so.” They both laughed and Skinner nodded. “Call her. Fix the little things before it becomes something bigger.” Again Skinner nodded, coming back to the porch and sitting beside him. He picked up his beer and finished it, both of them quiet.

The front door creaked open and Dana stepped out, causing them both to turn and look at her. “Everything good?”

Skinner stood up and nodded, bringing his beer bottle with him. “Yeah, it’s good.” He smiled, walking up the stairs, intent on throwing it out on his way inside.

“I can take it,” she said, reaching for it.

“Nah, gotta get my jacket anyway,” he explained and she stepped out of the way, allowing him to enter.

He threw out the bottle, grabbed his jacket, and stepped onto the porch, finding them speaking quietly, arms around one another. Dana laughed softly as she looked up and Mulder shrugged. She shook her head and pulled away from him, looking back at Skinner.

Stepping over, she embraced him, sighing as she did. When she pulled back, he nodded, letting her know he understood what she was silently saying.

“You take care of that little girl. Kid can’t be sick on her birthday,” he said gruffly, and she laughed with a nod. He nodded again and stepped over to Mulder, shaking his hand and clapping him on the back.

“Thank you,” he said quietly and Mulder nodded. Letting go of his hand and starting down the stairs, he turned at the sound of Dana’s voice.

“About that birthday you mentioned, you said you would be here. I expect that to change to we,” she said with an eyebrow raised. He stared and she raised both eyebrows.

Nodding with a smile, he waved to them as he walked to the car. Driving away, he looked in the rear view mirror, he saw them again on the porch, his hands cradling her face, a smile on his as he looked at her.

Shaking his head, he felt better now than he did on his way over, but not completely, and probably would not until he spoke to Rachel and apologized for being such a stupid asshole.

____________

Friday was a short day for him, allowing him to catch up on his work... for that week at least. He left, his mind on Rachel and calling her later, when he had an idea. Stopping at the grocery store, he first called Mulder and then texted Dana.

Grinning at his plan, he got out of the car and went into the store. Grabbing a cart, he began to fill it with items from the list Dana had sent him. As he mentally checked off those he had added, he noticed she had sent another text and he smiled.

Maggie Scully recipes never fail.

Buying the items, he went home and began to prepare the things he would need for the evening. A blanket. A basket filled with utensils, napkins, and bottles of water. Once that was finished, he set about making the meal.

Once it was nearly ready, he took a quick shower, finishing the meal when he was done. Packaging up the food, he grabbed the blanket and basket and walked out the door.

He arrived at Rachel’s office and got out, lifting open the back of the car, and setting down the blanket. He sat and waited, seeing the lights were still on inside the office, hoping he was not making a foolish decision.  

Forty five minutes later, he saw the lights turn off and the door opened. She glanced around, a look of surprise quickly crossing her face as he rose from the car. Sighing, she locked the door and then turned to face him, putting her keys in her pocket and crossing her arms.

“I made a mistake. A huge one,” he said quietly and she nodded. “I’m sorry doesn’t quite cut it, but I truly am.” He stared, waiting, his heart pounding.

She stepped a little closer and sighed. “Walter, I need you to be sure, because… I am. If this is just an apology, quite a few days late I might add, then I accept but I…”

“No, it’s not just an apology, though you’re right that it’s late in coming. I was angry at myself. Angry that I let you leave and that a date I had been very much looking forward to ended the way it did. I was...”

“I told you it wasn’t the first time it’s happened, but in the past I was able to overlook it, to be happy with what I had, for however long I had it. Now,” she sighed and shook her head. “I’m 43. I don’t have the time or energy for good enough. I deserve more and I won’t settle for less than what I want and deserve.” She stared at him and in that moment, he fell in love with her, as crazy as he knew it would sound to anyone.

She was strong and determined and that drew him in immediately, but he also knew she was kind and sensitive. He saw it with Mulder at the wedding and most of all with Faith. He saw her holding her, staring at her as she did. The kindness on her face had pulled him to her, eventually getting up the nerve to ask her to dance. She was everything he wanted and had not known he was looking for.

“I was stupid,” he said quietly and she stared, giving nothing away. “I didn’t know… It won’t be a problem, not for me. I have always pushed my personal life to the side, my work coming first. I didn’t mind, well, not completely.” He gave her a small smile and she sighed. “I don’t want that life anymore. Not since I met you.”

She looked down and shook her head, crossing her arms tighter. When she looked up, there were tears in her eyes. She blinked them away and sniffled, sighing once more.

“I’ve done the same, kept myself away from relationships, and I was okay with it. I don’t want that anymore either, but I need you to be completely sure-”

“I am.”

“Did you… did you speak to him? Is that why?” He nodded and she nodded back.

“He basically told me I was a goddamn idiot if I let anything stand in my way when it came to you.” He huffed and she exhaled a shaky laugh.

“He’s a smart man.”

“He is.”

She stared, and then slowly began to smile as she walked over to him.

“You’re sure?” she whispered.

”I’ve never been more sure of anything,” he answered and she smiled wider, wiping at her eyes. He cleared his throat and sighed. “We didn’t finish our proper date and I know that this will hardly make up for it, but…” He gestured to the car and she raised her eyebrows, stepping closer to it. Seeing the blanket and basket, she looked at him.

“An impromptu picnic? Who knew you were such a romantic.” She set her bag down on the curb, leaning it against a pillar, then turned to him, coming even closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he quickly wrapped his around her waist. “Thank you.”

Stepping back, she looked at him and smiled. “Thank you for coming to your senses.” He laughed and nodded, letting her go as she moved back. She slipped off her shoes and sat on the blanket, her legs criss crossed.

He smiled, reaching for the basket and opening it to take out the food he had prepared for them. Handing her the container, he was glad to feel that it was still warm. As she opened it, the mouth watering aroma of garlic made his stomach rumble, even as her eyes softened at the sight of it.

“Fettuccine alfredo,” she said, breathing in as he handed her the utensils. Sitting down beside her with his own serving of fettuccine, he took out his utensils and smiled at her.

Nervously watching her take the first bite, he waited to eat his own before he saw how she enjoyed it. Her eyebrows shot up and she hummed.

“Oh my God,” she exhaled and he smiled. “This is freaking amazing and also definitely not from The House. Where did you get it?” She swirled the noodles around her fork, taking another large bite.

“I… uh … I made it.”

“What?!” she yelled around the bite of pasta.

“I did,” he laughed and she chewed it before taking another bite.

“Oh my God,” she moaned again and he grinned. She rested her head on his shoulder as she chewed and hummed. “Delicious. And you wanted to eat at The House when you can cook food so well?”

“Well, this particular dish I’ve never made before today. But I can cook, I just don’t usually take the time when it’s just me,” he said.

“Well, we’ll have to see what we can do about that,” she said, taking another bite, and sighing happily, his heart racing at the use of we. “This sauce is perfection. But, of course you can’t go wrong with butter, cheese, and garlic. God, I could eat Alfredo sauce with a spoon and be happy. So damn good.” He laughed and nodded his head; it was very good.

They ate in silence, her head never leaving his shoulder. She told him about Australia and her mother getting them lost on the way to Uluru. Skinner laughed at the way she told the story with such animation and enthusiasm.

“I mean it’s a huge rock,”she said, her hand finding his, their food now gone and the containers set aside. She interlocked their fingers as though this was not the first time this had happened. “How do you not know how to find a huge red rock?” She shook her head and he squeezed her hand.

Quiet again, she sighed as she lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him. “In case you were wondering, or are taking mental notes… as much as I do enjoy fancy dinners and getting dressed up from time to time, this… this I like even more.”

He nodded with a smile and she smiled back, her eyes searching. He brought his right hand up to her face, the backs of his fingers caressing her cheek. She sighed and closed her eyes, lightly pushing into his hand.

“Can I kiss you?” he whispered and she smiled, her eyes remaining closed.

“That would be fine.”

“Just fine?” he whispered with a smile, leaning in closer.

“More than fine,” she whispered back before he pressed his lips to hers, his hand moving to her neck, holding on lightly.

She tasted of their dinner; delicious. Their kiss deepened slightly, her tongue touching his softly, before she pulled back, out of breath and smiling.

“Way more than fine,” she breathed, and he kissed her again, her arms sliding around his neck as she leaned back against the side of the car, pulling him with her.

It could have been hours or days, his concept of time lost as he kissed her, listening to the sounds she made as he did. He wanted to hear more, know her in every possible way, but also came to the realization that they were currently in the back of his car, in front of her place of business.

Pulling back, both of them breathless, he rested his forehead against hers lightly as he chuckled. She answered with a soft laugh of her own and a hum.

“To think you almost missed out on this,” she said and he lifted his head, looking at her with a smile, her hands moving to the front of his chest.

“What a horrible thing that would have been.”

“Indeed,” she said with a grin and he kissed her once more before sitting up, pulling her along with him.

“So,” she said, bumping his shoulder and he grinned.

“So…”

“I should probably get going.” She smiled, standing up and putting on her shoes. Turning around, she stepped between his legs and bent to kiss him, her arms around his neck again. “Gotta leave you wanting more,” she whispered in his ear as she pulled back and stood up.

“No worry there,” he growled and she grinned, raising her eyebrows.

Stepping back, he stood up as she picked up her bag and turned to him again. Reaching for his hand, he took it and walked her to her car, unable to wipe the smile off of his face.

Unlocking the door, she put her bag inside and shut it, turning around again and grabbing the lapels of his coat, pulling him in for another kiss.

Then she was in the car before he realized she had even opened the door, so dazed was he by her kiss. Rolling down her window as she started the car, she smiled and he leaned in for one last kiss.

“Thank you for dinner,” she said quietly when he stepped back, and he smiled with a nod. “You didn’t bring a dessert, but you will next time, right?” She grinned and he licked his lips, thinking her kiss was dessert enough.

For now.

“Oh, I brought dessert,” he said, smirking as she laughed and nodded her head. She put the car in gear and he stepped back, allowing her to leave.

“Goodbye, Walter,” she said and he nodded, watching her drive away. He waited until she was gone before he punched the air in celebration.

Grinning, he cleaned up their picnic and folded up the blanket. He threw out the water bottles and closed down the back of the car. Smiling as he sat down and turned on the car, he took out his phone and typed out a message.

Change it to WE.

Setting his phone beside him, he turned on the heater, letting the car warm up a bit. His phone beeped and he looked down to find a message from Dana.

Already done. I told you, Maggie Scully recipes never fail.

See you both in a couple of weeks.

He grinned, setting his phone down, and driving home to an apartment that would hopefully not be empty and quiet for much longer.

______________________________________________

I know it was a bit different, but I hope you all enjoyed this little change of cast of characters. I just love them together and goddamn Skinner deserves to have a wonderful woman to love him and not be so alone in that sterile apartment. ❤️

[cyoza]

adrenaline; part five

I really wanted to explore mental health but as I was writing I realised that the show actually did a pretty good job of it the last episode so it wasn't really necessary. I'm hoping to go deeper into the topic in the next chapter though through Kory.

I feel as though it was a little abrupt at times but I really didn't want it to be massively long and I also have so much work to catch up on from uni so i had to move it along quickly.

I also know that I didn't have like a scene with Rachel but I felt like with the lack of Gar recently, it was important to have that relationship instead because there's a few mom/daughter scenes with Rachel and Kory.

That being said, I hope you guys enjoyed it and I'll finish the story when I'm able but I have a ton of assignments so be patient.

Thank you for reading as always!

part one

part two 

part three

part four

part six   

*******************************************************************************************

It had been 6 weeks since Dick had seen Kory. 

6 weeks since he had felt the warmth of her presence. 

6 weeks since he had smelled the captivating rosy scent of her. 

6 weeks of hell. 

He knew it there was no room for him to be angry at her for her lack of communication after his own previous 3 month complete absence. Yet, he hadn’t been able to shake the ugly feeling he’d had since she left him that night. And Dick had regretted many things in his life but not saying goodbye to Kory, even when he was worried something might happen to her, was top 5. Instead he’d sat in his room and listened intently as she made her rounds to each member of the team in the lounge. Hearing as she made promises she had no surity of keeping; that she wouldn’t be long, that it was going to be a breeze, that no one had any reason to worry. Growing angrier with each bullshit guarantee.

At least when in their 3 month break, he knew Donna would call him if anything was wrong but now Kory was out there, all alone, god knows where and there was nothing he could do about it. Not to mention that he needed her with him then more than ever, feeling the crushing pressure of existence causing his sanity to come crumbling down in a way he’d never experienced before. He ached for a simple smile, a simple touch from her that would no doubt calm the crashing tides raging inside him. At least enough that he could find peace enough to continue to deal with whatever was going on with him in a systematic way. 

So, Dick ignored every part of him that called to his attention and instead focused on the task at hand, trying to pull together all the leads he had to Deathstroke into one collated document so it was easier to find the information in the future. It wasn’t long before the devil on his shoulder appeared. Which was a very loose definition of what was truly going on; he doubted that anyone else in the universe had a 6’25’ Bruce Wayne duplicate lounging on their desk calling into question every action they had made. Of course he knew that this wasn’t normal, that he for sure needed help but the mitigating circumstances meant that this was not at all the time to ask for it. Ignoring the fact that there was no one available that he felt he could ask anyway. 

Dick continued working for a while longer before Rachel raced into his room, eyes panicked and chest heaving. He immediately stopped working and stood, his arms fisting at his sides; ready for combat.

‘What is it?’ He asked. 

‘It’s Kory she’s back. But Dick - .’ 

Rachel could barely finish her words before he flew out of the room at a speed that, to the naked eye, could parallel Conner’s, Rachel distantly behind. He halted abruptly when he caught sight of the huddle surrounding the elevator, his heart swooping to his feet when he saw the flash of ruby hair on the floor. Dick took a few shaky steps forward and pushed past the group to see a recurring nightmare of his come to life. 

Kory lay in a heap on the floor of the elevator, parts of hair a darker red than others, coated in a thick paste of dried blood. She looked paler than he’d ever seen her, various parts of her visible through the cuts of her shirt and jeans. Dick felt his head grow murky and was sure that the remnants of his dinner were going to make a reappearance in a much uglier form. 

‘We found her like this. We tried moving her but Dick, she’s red hot to the touch. We can’t get a hold of her for more than 10 seconds without getting second degree burns.’ 

He could hear Dawn talking but none of it was registering.  All he could focus on was the shallow rise and fall of her chest, the limpness of her limbs, the various lacerations dotted around her face. He could feel his pulse echoing in his ears, his body filled with impotent adrenaline. 

‘Dick, what do we?’ Donna ground out. 

Again, no response from Dick. 

‘Hey! Focus. What do we do?’ Hank grasped his shoulders, forcing him to pay attention. 

‘Um, uh. W-wake up Conner. He should be immune to it. Get him to get her to the infirmary and place her by the window, she’ll need the sunlight when it gets here. We can figure out what to do from there.’ 

*****************************************************************************************************

‘Dick, you have to eat something and get some rest. Please.’ 

Donna’s voice cut through the silence of the infirmary room causing him to look up from the tablet in his lap and turn his head back to her. 

‘I just ate.’ 

‘Oh, you mean that bite of pizza had last night? Yeah that should totally sustain you for the rest of the week.’ She chided sarcastically. ‘Look, I get you’re worried, we all are. But there’s nothing you can do right now. The last thing we need is for you to join her in here because you won’t take care of yourself.’ 

‘No, the last thing I need right now is a lecture from you. I’m fine. I have to figure out how to wake her up.’ He continued to scroll through the tablet, ignoring her comments. 

‘And what if we get an attack from Deathstroke? You think you could handle that right now? He’s been quiet thus far but it won’t stay like that for long.’ She paused to push herself off the doorframe and made her way over to him, sitting on the chair parallel to Dick. ‘Besides, are you making any progress?’ 

That caused Dick to stop and shut his eyes before hanging his head in exhaustion. 

‘No. I don’t know what to do Donna, I’ve tried looking everywhere but I can’t find anything. I feel like I’m going crazy.’ He rasped, running a frustrated hand over his face. 

Donna began to reply but stopped short when something caught Dick’s attention, pulling his gaze to the side before he clenched his jaw. Something had clearly upset him but she saw nothing. 

‘What? What’s the matter?’ She asked in confusion. 

‘Nothing.’  

She didn’t at all believe him but she continued anyway determined to get him more than the 2 hours of sleep she was sure he’d had in approximately 3 days. 

‘I’ll stay with her. Please go. Plus, I’m not saying you stink but maybe take a shower while you’re out there.’ She joked. This prompted a small lift of the corners of his mouth, just as she intended. 

‘Alright, just a few hours. Don’t leave her alone, okay?’ He said, standing and placing the tablet on the table next to Kory’s bed, kissing her forehead as he turned to walk out of the room.

‘Scouts promise.’ 

Dick snorted a laugh at that. ‘As if you were ever a girl scout.’ 

‘Shut it, Birdboy!’ She called after him as he left. 

She let the strong front she’d put up fall away the instant he left the room, running her eyes sadly over Kory’s unmoving body. The crisp whiteness of the sheets contrasted vividly against her vibrant hair. They’d managed to stabilise her not long after they’d found her, bringing her temperature down somewhat with a cooling blanket but there was not much else they could do. They had no knowledge of Tamaranian physiology, they couldn’t even figure out what was wrong to begin to treat it. It had been a week and no matter what they tried, they couldn’t get her to wake up. They had done the light lamps, antibiotics, everything they could think of. Exposure to the sun helped a little but the lack of breakthrough had everyone more than worried. Donna lifted herself out of the chair and placed herself at the edge of the bed, taking her hand into her own. 

‘Look, Kory we need you to wake up. We need you to come back and do that badass thing you do and whip everyone back into shape. Dick especially. He’s spiralling. He keeps acting weird and I keep finding him talking to nothing. You’re the only one he opens up to anymore. So you need to come back and get his ass into shape. And who am I going to hunt bad guys and eat donuts with? Who am I gonna debrief with over a glass of bourbon? So come back to us, Kory. We need you.’ 

Donna broke off as the tears constricted her throat, a few slipping free and rolling down her cheeks. She’d only felt this level of helplessness before and that situation didn’t end well. She prayed to any God that was listening that Kory wouldn’t end up in the same position too. She wasn’t sure the team could handle it a second time. Dick certainly wouldn’t survive it. 

‘Uh, Donna? Eve says she might have found something.’ Gar’s tentative voice surprised her. She hurried to swipe her wet cheeks so he didn’t see her crying but she was pretty sure it was redundant at this point. 

‘Sure, I’m coming.’ She answered before standing to make her way out. She paused by the door and placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘Stay with her ok. And keep talking to her.’ 

Gar nodded as she walked past him then replicated Donna’s position on Kory’s bed. 

‘Hey Kory. Donna said to keep talking so here I go. I know everyone’s already probably said this to you but we really missed you while you were away. We miss you now. So, please wake up. You’re the only one who ever remembers to ask if I’m okay, who finds time to talk to me. And I really need you to do that right now. It’s been hard lately. It’s pretty much my fault that Jason is where he is. If I had just called Dick none of it would have even happened. It was stupid of me to indulge Jason. But you know what Jason is like when you try and say no to him. Plus Dick isn’t like, great with the whole ‘talking about our feelings’ side of life. It would be nice to kind of deal with the past couple months. I know Deathstroke is the big worry right now but it’s like everyone forgot the whole thing with Trigon happened and it wasn’t totally a fun thing to experience. I don’t know, it’s not something I’ll forget soon, you know.’ 

Gar looked away from Kory to stare at the linoleum floor. Remembering the chaos of that day, the crippling fear he felt that entire evening, the indescribable feeling of almost dying twice in just a few hours. Then everyone had kind of just brushed past it happening and he had no choice but to move on too. But it was proving more and more difficult the more bad things kept happening. 

He opened his mouth to continue but stopped short when Rachel strolled into the room. She was another frequent visitor to Kory’s bedside. After Dick, she spent the most time here, often falling asleep by her side. 

‘How is she?’ She inquired plopping herself on the chair. 

‘Same as ever, nothing’s changed.’ He responded. 

Rachel let out a soft sigh and gave Kory a longing look, as if she was willing her to wake up.

‘We went so long without her and now we have her, like this. It’s not fair. This shouldn’t happen to her. She’s the best one out of all of us. She’s the last one this should be happening to. It’s not fair!’ She cried. The jewel on her forehead began to glow. 

‘Rachel calm down, you’re going to lose control and this isn’t the time or place.’ Gar reprimanded. 

She glanced up at her crystal and took a deep breath, the glow fading away from it. 

‘I’m sorry I just want her to be okay.’

‘We all do, Rachel but flying off the handle isn’t helping anyone.’ 

‘It’s not as if I can help it -’ 

‘Yeah so you keep saying but I see you even trying to control it.’

‘You know what, Gar? I’m sick of you ragging on me all the time. I’m doing my best!’ 

‘Yeah, sure.’

‘Screw you, Gar. You’re talking about a time and place - you think this is the right time and place to do this?’ Rachel could feel the glow of the gem pulsating again, the darkness imploring her to let it out. 

‘Hey! Enough!’ Dick’s voice cut through the tension in the room. ‘I want both of you to leave right now and cool off. This kind of energy has absolutely no room to be here right now.’ 

Rachel and Gar shared one last heated gaze before shamefully hanging their heads and shuffling out of the room. Dick’s exhaustion was beginning to get to him, a wave of lightheadedness overtaking him. He’d managed to force down some Chinese food but the lack of sleep he’d had recently was really getting to him. He swayed slightly before making his way back to his usual place on the chair. He eyes went to lifted to her face, filling with tears, too tired to hold them back. 

‘I’m so sorry, Kory. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye. I’m sorry I even let you walk out of this tower. I’m sorry I let this happen to you. I’m sorry.’ He could feel a sob bubbling in his throat but he had to carry on, he had to let her know how he felt. ‘So you have to wake up because this isn’t how things are supposed to end between us. We still have so much to figure out. And we’re supposed to do it together remember? I can’t do it without you. I don’t think I can survive it if you don’t wake up, Kory. I won’t be able to. I need you. And I’ve been in denial as to why but I’m not afraid of it now. I love you, Kory. I love you and I need you to wake up so you can hear me say it. Please just wake up.’ He leaned forward, gripping her hand and weeping into it. 

‘Why does a person nearly have to die to get you to open up, Grayson.’ A croaky voice whispered. 

Dick was sure he’d imagined it, another hallucination to add to the list. But he lifted his head to meet the emerald gaze he’d missed so dearly. 

‘Kory?’ His heart leapt into his throat, head spinning with shock. 

‘Hi, Dick.’

[mss4msu]

“Do I Wanna Know?” (Chapter 2)

Summary: On a visit to a local nightclub, the lounge singer catches your eye. Soon becoming a regular at the club, the way you look on the dancefloor gets his attention. You begin to hear stories about the notorious crime lord who owns and operates the small nightclub. When your friends worry that you’ve gotten mixed up with a mobster, you wonder if it’s better to be left in the dark and find yourself asking, “Do I wanna know?” if you’re getting involved with one of the most revered mobsters in the city.

Pairing: Mobster!Bucky x Reader

Words: 1444

Warnings: Language

A/N: It’s taken me awhile to get back to this fic, but I’m procrastinating writing my thesis, so what better time to revisit?

Read the Full Story Here

You awoke late Saturday afternoon with a pounding headache. You couldn’t remember the last time you had had that much to drink. You groaned as you forced yourself to sit up and open your eyes. A loud ringing pierced your ears, and you went into a panic as you searched your sheets for your phone. You finally found it on the floor just as the call ended. You picked it up and your heart sank as the notification filled your screen: One Missed Call-Tony Stark.

You quickly called him back, holding your breath until he answered, “Mr. Stark, I’m so sorry. I had just set my phone down for a second….” your head continued to pound with a mix of adrenaline and the hangover.

“(Y/N), I need you to come to the office immediately. There is an urgent matter that I need your help with. A car is on its way to your apartment as we speak.”

“Yes sir, I’ll be in soon.”

He hung up without a word. You forced yourself out of bed and grabbed the first thing in your closet. You held your head as you walked into the bathroom, searching for ibuprofen. You dry-swallowed two and put the bottle in your pocket. You quickly applied some mascara before running to find a pair of shoes and your bag. You grabbed it all and were already running out the door when your phone started to ring again.

“Hi, Happy. I’m on my way down,” you answered.

You ran down the stairs and arrived to the car out of breath. You quickly got into the backseat and the car began moving before you even had your seatbelt on.

“Rough night?” Happy asked looking back at you from the rearview mirror.

“No the night was great, this morning on the other hand,” you laughed, which you instantly regretted as your stomach began to feel very queasy, “What gave it away?”

“Well, for starters, your hair’s a mess. Plus you look like you could throw up any second. Here, eat this,” Happy passed you back a granola bar.

“Thank you,” you took the granola bar and quickly unwrapped and ate it. You then pulled the spare brush out of your bag and ran it through your hair.

“Do you know what the emergency is, Happy?”

“No clue, but Tony seemed pretty stressed.”

“Fantastic,” you muttered under your breath.

A short while later the car pulled up in front of Stark Tower.

“Thanks Happy,” you said as you got out of the car.

You ran into the building, quickly showing your ID to the security guards at the front. You ran to the elevator and frantically and repeatedly pushed the “Up” arrow.

“You know regardless of how quickly you push the buttons, it doesn’t make the elevator come faster,” a deep, growling voice said next to you.

“Well, I’m kind of in a hurry, so it at least helps my mind,” you snapped, looking at the rude observer.

Your eyes widened, you instantly turned red, and you couldn’t help the audible gulp you made. Standing next to you was the White Wolf. He looked even better up close than he had on the stage, and you couldn’t help but stare. He had very short hair, but it was dark and you could tell that if he did grow it out it would be very thick. His blue, button-down shirt was left unbuttoned at the top, allowing you to see the gold chains he wore around his neck and just a bit of his chest hair peeking out. He wore tight fitting silver dress pants which matched his suit coat. The blue pocket square in his coat perfectly matched his shirt. His style was impeccable.

He smirked at you, and you knew you had stared for too long, “Is there a reason why you look familiar?” he asked.

“I was at the club you sang at last night,” you whispered, breathlessly. You could hardly breathe, his cologne was so intoxicating and you couldn’t believe he had remembered you.

“Oh right, front row with all the PBRs?” he continued smirking, “What’d you think of the show?”

“It was amazing…” the elevator dinged before you could continue, snapping you back to reality, “Sorry, I have to go,” you walked onto the elevator, and he followed you.

“As do I. Important meeting with the boss,” the White Wolf replied, nodding to the “Stark” imprinted on the elevator panel as he pressed the button for the top floor, “Anyway, amazing? That’s it?”

His blue-grey eyes were staring intently at you, “I mean, it was a pretty big disappointment that you only did the one song,” you replied meekly.

“And why is that?” he asked.

“You’ve got a great voice,” you said aloud, and are absolutely gorgeous, you continued in your head.

“Thanks, doll,” he replied as the elevator dinged again.

He motioned for you to get off first, to which you nodded at him and whispered a thank you.

“About fucking time you got here, (Y/N),” Tony yelled at you as you stepped off the elevator.

The White Wolf cleared his throat as he exited the elevator, stepping in front of you.

“Mr. Barnes, pleasure to have you,” Tony rushed forward, shaking ‘Mr. Barnes’s’ hand vigorously.

“Is that how you treat people that work for you, Stark?” Barnes asked gruffly.

“Of course not!” Tony replied, giving you a look that almost dared you to say otherwise, “Thank you for coming today. Please, take a seat in my office and make yourself comfortable. (Y/N) will get you something to drink.”

“Thank you,” Barnes said, walking towards his office.

“(Y/N), get me my usual. And James, what would you like?”

James Barnes scowled at Tony, “If I need a drink, I can get it myself. I’m sure your employees’ time could be better spent than fetching drinks for people.”

You couldn’t help but smile at James before walking away to make Tony’s drink. While it was annoying to be the coffee girl, at least Tony’s drink order was easy: a hazelnut coffee with a 2 second pour of 1% milk and 1 sugar. As the coffee brewed, you opened and closed the fridge, debating whether or not you should bring James a water. You weren’t sure if it would make him angry or not, but you decided to go for it. If anything it would give you another chance to talk to him, which you desperately wanted. You finished Tony’s coffee, grabbed a water bottle, and walked back to Tony’s office. You used your elbow to push open the door.

“Mr. Stark,” you said, handing him his coffee.

Tony didn’t stop his spiel, he just took the coffee from your hand and kept talking. You went up to James with the bottle of water.

“Singers need water, right?” you asked him.

“I suppose we do,” he replied, flashing you a smile. His teeth were incredibly white and you were convinced if there was sunlight they would have sparkled.

You sat in your usual spot, a chair in the corner of the room, and pulled a notebook out of your bag.

Tony stopped his pitch and looked straight at you, anger in his eyes, “(Y/N), what are you doing?”

“I’m….I’m taking notes,” you responded, caught off guard.

“Not for this meeting. Get out.”

“Um, ok, is there anything else you need?” you hesitantly put your notebook back in your bag and stood up.

“I’m sure your boss will demand a sandwich, a few cocktails, and a cake made from scratch,” James spat out.

You wished you could have seen the look he gave Tony, as your boss’s face instantly softened.

“No,” Tony replied, “Just go work on my calendar or something. I’m sure you have plenty else to do.”

Not really, you thought to yourself, but, “Of course, Mr. Stark,” was what came out of your mouth, “Sorry for interrupting.”

You put your bag on your shoulder and walked to the door. You had to walk behind James to do so.

“Wasn’t an interruption at all, doll,” James whispered as you went by.

You kept yourself composed until you left the room. As soon as the door closed, you couldn’t help but let out a squeal of delight. You almost ran to your desk and immediately pulled out your phone to text Jess and Rachel about your morning. As you unlocked your phone on you saw you had an Instagram notification. You clicked the app, went to the notifications tab, and dropped your phone out of sheer disbelief.

WhiteWolfandTheHowlers started following you - 1m

CHAPTER THREE

Do I Wanna Know? Taglist:

@mrooks0205

Permanent Tag List:

@sophiealiice​​ @sai-kida134 @mrsdeanwinchester19​ @thisismysecrethappyplace​ @ailynalonso15​ @221bshrlocked​

[emotionsofthesoul]

Chapter 5 _ Quieres Ver Una Peli?

It was Sunday morning and Valentina woke up early with a huge smile on her face thinking of yesterday and all the fun she had with Juliana. Suddenly she got an idea and pulled out her phone.

She dialed Juliana’s number and waited 3 rings before Juliana picked up the phone. “Hey guapa, what are you doing today?” She asked before Juliana could even say hello.

In a sleepy voice Juliana replied, “Hey. Um, I’m going to church with my parents at 9 until 10:30 and then I’m free all day. Did you want to do something?”

“Aye, chiquita did I wake you?” Valentina asked tenderly while freaking out about how cute Juliana sounded in her sleepy voice.

“Yeah but it’s okay. My alarm is about to go off anyway, I rather wake to your voice than that annoying beeping. Anyway what’s up?” Juliana said wiping the sleep from her eyes.

“Oh yeah I almost forgot why I called you! Well, I don’t have class tomorrow and neither do you so I was wondering if you want to watch a movie. There’s a Drive-In theater off Bradshaw on 50 and I was hoping you’d want to go with me. I know we said we’d see each other Monday but we can’t go on Monday because I have to be awake by 4am on Tuesday so I thought tonight would be the best options. But if you can’t or don’t want to it’s okay.” Valentina rambled already regretting her decision expecting Juliana to turn her down.

“Vale, Vale, Vale, chill. I’m down. What time? Do you want me to pick you up or meet half way and then we go in my car?” Juliana said with a slight laugh at how cute Valentina sounded when she rambled.

“Really? Awesome! Well,  they have a few good movies but they’re also showing my favorite one, The Notebook, tonight at 10pm. I’m not sure if you like romantic movies but that’s my pick if you ask me. If you want look up other movies and showtime and we can go watch whichever you want?” Valentina said with a slight blush.

“OMG of course you like the notebook. That movie is so cheesy, just like you. It works though, I’m down. How are we gonna do this?” Juliana said while laughing at Valentina.

“Hey don’t judge me. I’m a sucker for Rachel McAdams!” Valentina said and then caught herself, “& Ryan Gosling of course. Total hottie. How about we meet outside the In-N-Out by the Drive-In, I send Alirio home, we order from the drive thru, and head over to the theater. Meet at 8?” Valentina said hoping Juliana didn’t catch her slip-up.

Juliana definitely caught it but obviously wasn’t going to comment, “Sounds good, I’ve never had In-N-Out so I’ll finally see what all the hype is about. It’s a date then Val! I have to go get in the shower and get ready for church but I’ll text you and I’ll see you later morrita, okay?” Juliana said smiling to herself thinking about seeing Valentina later tonight.

“Okay see you then.” Valentina said before hanging up and letting herself fall back on her bed with a sigh. She officially has a major crush on Juliana and doesn’t know how to approach it if at all. She’s never been the one to make the first move, and definitely not with a girl. Valentina was very aware that she was completely crushing on Juliana.

The day went by quickly, los Valdes went to church and had delicious street hotdogs afterwards. They walked to the park next to the church as usual to eat their hotdogs at a table they’ve grown used to since it’s become a part of their Sunday routine. Juliana texted Valentina when they were out of church and continued to text throughout the day until she started driving towards their meet up spot. There wasn’t much traffic so she got there fairly quick.

When Juliana pulled up next to Valentina’s car she waved to Alirio who was already pulling out of the parking space as Valentina ordered. Throughout their conversations during the day they decided Valentina would spend the night at Juliana’s so Juls didn’t have to drive so late.

“Hey, guapa. How are you, how was your day?” Juliana asked Valentina giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey. I’m… I’m okay. My day went well, didn’t do much except study for my nutrition midterm. I’m fairly confident about it though.” Valentina said stuttering a bit at the begging while a blush formed across her cheeks.

“We getting burgers or what morrita?” Juliana said with a large smile at the fact that she had such an effect on Valentina.

“Yeah sure. Pull up to the line and one of the employees will take our order. We never get to order at the window during the weekend or lunch hour. Too many people. I usually get a double double animal style with fries and a pink lemonade with 2 slices of lemon.” Valentina said Juliana drove towards the drive thru line.

“Okay, I’ll get the same. I trust your taste.” Juliana said in a flirty tone.

They ordered their food and drove to the drive-in finding the perfect spot for their car since they were the only car watching that cheesy movie. They got a $4 discount and ended up only paying $6 for both of them. They began to eat as the commercials played.

“Damn Val, you were right. This is delicious. I have definitely been missing out these past 17 years!” Juliana said with a laugh.

“Right! Es lo que yo digo! I’m glad you liked it. Now shh it’s about to start.” Valentina said getting comfy in the passenger seat.

Juliana giggled as she stared at Valentina while she ate her burger. When the movie got to the fight scene outside the house Valentina started tearing up. She turned to Juliana who was staring at her sweetly.

“Sorry, I just love this movie so much and I love these characters.” Valentina said as she let out a sob and a chuckle at the same time.

“Hey, no don’t apologize. Come here corazón.” Juliana said pulling Valentina into her. Valentina snuggled into Juliana. They stayed like that for the rest of the movie.

Once the movie ended Valentina silently sobbed into Juliana’s neck as Juliana rubbed her back comforting her. When Valentina finally calmed down she cradled her face into Juliana’s neck one last time before looking up at her and whispering a quiet thank you. They simply stared into each other’s eyes neither moving an inch. That is until Valentina reached up to kiss Juliana and was met halfway. It was a sweet yet short kiss. Both girls were profusely blushing when they pulled away. They didn’t exchange words, simply held eye contact with shy smiles on their faces.

“What was that?” Juliana asked in a serious whisper and a surprised look in her eyes.

“I don’t know, I’m sorry. I I didn’t mean to…” Valentina tried to say looking anywhere but Juliana.

“No, yes you did and so did I Valentina.” Juliana said grabbing Valentina’s hands.

“Really?” Valentina asked with hope, lifting her eyes to meet Juliana’s.

“Si.” Juliana said caressing Valentina’s cheek.

They fell into a comfortable silence and held hands all the way to Juliana’s. Valentina overthinking the entire ride there. When they reached their destination it was half passed midnight. They walked in very quietly, to not wake Juliana’s parents, and went to Juliana’s room.

Once in the room Valentina was hugging herself and looking towards the ground when she said, “Um… if you want I can sleep on the floor, it’s not a problem?”

“Val, mírame,” Juliana said lifting Valentina’s chin and caressing her cheek, “we did nothing wrong and you have nothing to be ashamed of okay. I wanted that kiss as much as you did. Don’t stress abut this right now okay hermosa, get some sleep and we’ll talk about it in the morning okay.”

Valentina simply nodded and fell into Juliana’s tight hug. She knew she was attracted to women as well as men but she’d never actually kissed a girl. She’s never felt this way about anyone and it scared her.

It was now 4am and neither girl could sleep. Without thinking about it they moved to face each other.

“You can’t sleep either?” Juliana said more as a fact than a question.

“No. Can we please talk about earlier?” Valentina pleaded.

“Okay.” Juliana whispered.

“I. I like men and women, and I’ve only ever told one person while I was extremely drunk. She’s kept my secret for about a year now but I’ve never actually done anything with a girl. I don’t even know where to go from here. I don’t know what to even label myself.” Valentina whispered.

“Valentina. You don’t have to label yourself anything. You’re a human being who can feel whatever she wants for whoever she wants. No one has to understand this, you shouldn’t be afraid of the world. Yeah they might not react how you would like but that’s their problem not yours okay.” Juliana responded playing with Valentina’s hair to keep her calm.

“Gracias. I just don’t know where this leaves us?” Valentina said.

“No se pero me encantas y amo pasar tiempo contigo okay. And I’m down for whatever you want. Si tu le entras yo le entro.” Juliana said with more confidence.

“Can we please take it slow?” Valentina asked with a gentile smile.

“We can do whatever you want Val, as long as you’re happy I’m happy. Like I told you yesterday, I’m in no rush. I have feelings for you, that much I know. I’ve never felt anything towards anyone but with you it just sort of happened and I can’t really understand it myself. & look I know we just met but I wanna keep getting to know you. The real you. I want to know what makes you the wonderful woman you are. I want know what makes you tick. I want to know everything about the amazing masterpiece I have in front of me.” Juliana said pulling Valentina in for a hug.

Valentina snuggled into Juliana’s body and realized they fit perfectly together. She rested her head on Juliana’s chest and soon drifted off to sleep. Juliana on the other hand did not get any sleep that night. She just couldn’t believe the turn of events. She never expected Valentina to like her in that way let alone make the first move. It’s not like Juliana would have done it - she’s too by the book. Nonetheless she was grateful for how everything turned out and getting to hold Valentina as she slept on her chest. The rest of the night Juliana ran her hand through Valentina’s hair, deep in thought. Next thing she knew the sun was coming in through her window and she got to see how beautiful Valentina looked as the sun crept over her skin until reaching her face and giving her the perfect lighting. She was never one for photography but she wanted this moment to last forever. She reached over to grab her phone and snapped a picture of her sleeping beauty. Ready for whatever this day threw at the them.

[bumblecrumble]

FUCKING FOOD POISONING

Ironically enough, i got food poisoning.

Let me set the scene-

On saterday it was mine and my boyfriends 1 year anniversary. We went out to a sushi place (super fancy) and ordered ONLY COOKED FOOD.

We only ate the appetizers and took the rest to go.

I fell asleep and woke up to nauseousa.

Thats normal for me, i feel nauseous often. But this wasent like all the normal times.

I puked (gros) and to my horror realized the food i had eaten three hours earlier had already digested.

This began my personal hell.

I got in the shower because i physically could not control which end of me was exploding.

I tried to drink water, but it came right back up.

Oh hell nah.

I was finally like “take me to the hospital”.

I am dealthy afraid of hospitals (being a patient) so you have to understand the level of done i was with this.

My step dad was all like “what do you think they are gonna do for you there? All the are gonna do is prescribe *insert medicine* and send you home. Just drink water and wait for it to pass”

And i was like

“I cant keep water down so- if this continues for three days i could die”

Finally my mom took me. My step dad did not come.

To be honest- that shit hurt my feelings. I was legit feeling like i was going to die, and going to a place im scared of and he didnt come? That stung.

My mom was PISSED at that.

So anyway, we get to the emergency room, and my mom parks the car while i get out in raggity ass clothes. The security woman looks at me and is like “you wanna see a doctor?” And i immediately started crying. I go through to the nurses desk and im crying, apologizing about it. They ask me questions about whats wrong, who am i, and i answer the best i can. Mom comes and pretty soon we are put in an examination room with a puke bag. We wait for about 30 minutes, and in that time i go to the bathroom like 10 times. Finally she *angel* doctor looks at me. Says the words “food poisoning” and im moved to a patient bed.

Meanwhile, my mom is texting my worry-too-much boyfriend while he is at work telling him where i am. My friend Rachel comes over to visit, and now im puking my lungs out. Like falling off the bed puking my lungs out.

And this whole time im trying to be nice and funny to the hospital staff, because its a Saterday night and im gross. The guy who does my iv is funny, and we chat a bit. That shit FOOKING HURT THO. Becaude my veins are small and so he had to go really slow.

So while he is doing this, i begin to puke, and guess what? I shit the bed!

I! SHIT! THE! FUCKING! BED!

So im like “hey guy, can you get me a nurse please? Preferably female?”

And he is like “yep”

And then my nurse walks in, the one to administer my meds, a stout black man. And he is like “if you want i can find a female to do your meds” and im like

Nooooooooo

He thinks i think that he isnt good at nursing because he is a guy!!

Im like “no its okay you are fine i just need a female nurse for um, lady problems.”

He does my meds. Two injections via iv for naseua and diarrhea, my iv bad to rehydrate me, and then a shot for andomitable cramping.

By that point i am sailing im so happy. Life is good and i have meds. To be continued...

[lazulifoster]

An Unexpected Visitor (Loki X Reader) Part 2

Prompt: Sex by The 1975, Million Dollar Man by Lana Del Rey, and If I Never See Your Face Again by Maroon 5 feat Rihanna

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Warnings: Swearing; angst; arguing; mild sexual content

Word Count: 3k+

A/N: Inspiration from my Spotify Playlist again lol I think I say this every time I post something but sorry if its a slow burn, I actually have a lot of ideas for this fic but I like a slow build ;) Hope you enjoy part 2 if there are typos, from the bottom of my heart, my bad :)

Brief Summary: Loki and you dated back in college before he up and vanished. You have moved on with your life, even started a family, but an unexpected visitor makes his way back into your life.

||5 years earlier||

“Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” “Loki…” “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out, even to the edge of doom.”

Loki.” “…by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare.” “LOKI!  I’m going to fail this quiz if you don’t shut up and quit reciting Shakespeare!” “Oh, hush, love. There is no reason to study, anyway. You know all the answers already.”

“I just want to double check and make sure. Because last time this happened, I practically failed my quiz.” “I seriously doubt you’re capable of failure, Y/N. Besides, your beauty alone deserves to be glorified at every waking moment.” “ Oh pleeease, your flattery won't work this time.” “Won’t it?” Loki leaned in close to me, placing gentle kisses along my neck, causing my will to study to wane dramatically.

Loki then pushed my notes and books of my bed, and we both rapidly undressed, making me completely forget about my upcoming quiz.

************************

“You better start fucking explaining yourself, Loki!”

I began a feeble attempt to reel in the myriad of thoughts flooding my mind. My emotions were a chaotic blend of utter confusion and absolute joy. Loki was here, in the flesh; holding me, kissing me, and telling me we belonged together.

I had pictured this moment so many times over the years, and nothing was happening like I had imagined it. But as much as I missed Loki and secretly yearned for his over the years, reality slowly crept in. Loki was gone far too long to go without explaining himself. I needed answers. Lots of answers.

“My love, I promise you, I will explain everything, but this is hardly the time or place—” “Oh no, no, I am not playing games with you Loki! The “time and place” is right now! You’re the one who left and decided to just randomly show up out of nowhere!” My voice cracked, and I forced myself to hold back more tears, annoyed at myself for getting emotional again.

“I need to know what happened to you, Loki. You owe me that much.”

I could see Loki felt guilty. I knew that behind his devil-may-care attitude and playful demeanor he felt awful for deserting me. I started to feel sorry for getting heated with him again. The Loki I knew would never just leave without a legitimate reason. But suspicious thoughts kept lurking in my head. He’s just trying to manipulate you. I shook the feeling aside, I already had too much to think about. I reached up and rubbed my hand through his beautiful black hair.

“I’m sorry, Loki. I’m just—I don’t know, there is a lot to take in.”

Loki gave a slight grin, placing both of his hands on my waist.

“As much as I’d love to chat with you about everything that's happened, darling, your mum has prepared something for dinner that smells absolutely delicious, and it would be a shame to let all her hard work go to waste.”

I gave a slight chuckle. Loki was right. If I wanted to know the full story, it would be best to wait till my parents and ex weren’t around. Also, I hadn’t eaten all my food at the restaurant with David, so I was actually quite hungry as well.

“Fine. But this isn’t over.” I reminded Loki. He nodded and leaned forward and gave me a soft peck on my forehead before both of us walked in the house. Neither my mom, dad, or David noticed Loki had ever left; still speaking with his illusion.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Mom asked suspiciously

“Oh yeah—um—no I didn’t.” I stumbled over my words like a nervous school girl. Keep it together.

Rachel waddled up to me babbling what sounded like, “Mama.” She wasn’t really speaking yet, but her little attempts always made me so proud. I picked her up off the floor, and she looked around at us five adults standing around talking. Rachel’s eyes met Loki’s, to which Loki made a silly face at Rachel, causing her to laugh loudly. The brief moment between them made me and my parents chuckle. Seeing Loki interact with Rachel made my heart melt; it was almost too adorable for me to handle. The sweet moment ended abruptly however when I looked over at David and saw an irritated scowl cross his face. Knowing David’s temper, I cleared my throat to break the building tension.

“So…what did you make for dinner, mom?” “Oh, just some roast chicken with mash potatoes and Brussel sprouts, nothing fancy.”

“A regular feast, I cannot wait to try, Mrs. Y/L/N.” Loki smiled

“Well, come on in the dining room then, we don’t want the food getting cold.” Mom began ushering us to the dinner table.

“I already ate,” David interjected.

Mom, still walking away, yelled behind her, “Well I guess you can go home then, David.”

My dad laughed from the dining room at my mom’s sassy comment, making David looked at me and whispered, “What the hell?”

"It’s ok, we’ll talk later. I’ll text you.”

David gave me an annoyed look but decided it would be better to leave before he left my parent's good graces entirely. David gave Rachel a quick kiss goodbye and made a quiet exit.

When David left, all of us inadvertently let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Finally got him out of here, goodness gracious,” Dad grumbled.

“Dad, can we not…”

“I just want a relaxing family dinner with all of, it’s been too long.” Mom was beaming. Sometimes I wondered if mom loved Loki more than I do.

Did.

My mind was still an absolute whirlwind. Barely an hour ago, David and I were at dinner, talking about our daughter’s future and reconsidering where our relationship stood. Then I see Loki’s car in my parent's driveway with his stupid “God of Mischief” vanity plates, next thing I know were kissing, uprooting so many feelings I had pushed down over the last 3 years; and now Loki was eating dinner at my house like we had years ago. My emotions were a constant ebb and flow or fury, and affection One moment, I suppressed every urge I had to cause a scene and demand answers from Loki. The next, I wanted Loki to take me in his arms again and to pick up where we had left off. I still couldn’t comprehend how someone who I spent almost every day with since I was 18 to just suddenly vanished. I mean, I knew about Loki being a god. I knew about his brother, Asgard, and the Avengers. I didn’t know everything, but he had told me bits and pieces and opened up to me over the years. I also knew he would have to leave occasionally concerning “family squabbles” and things concerning the Avengers, but he would always let me know ahead of time and would even send his illusion to check in on me.

The leading theory I had settled on for Loki leaving was I thought I scared him off because of the last conversation we had. Petty, I know, but I couldn’t think of anything else it could possibly be.

I remembered every detail about our last conversation, probably because I played the moment repeatedly, trying to figure out what went wrong.

It was almost the end of the semester. Loki and I were in a local coffee shop, close enough to the college to walk, but not close enough where it was bombarded by other collegians studying for finals. Loki was actually helping me study for my other classes besides literature. I was studying for a freshman world geography class, an easy elective I took to boost my GPA. We had both ordered our drinks (Loki drank an Italian roast, black, and I had a cortado.)

While he was helping me study the countries of the Eastern Hemisphere, I looked up at him.

“Do you think you’ll ever get married? Or have kids?”

While Loki took a sip of his coffee, his eyes quickly shifted to me.

“I mean, one day. I’m not saying to me—or anything—um, I was just curious. Plus I’m bored of studying.” I gave an awkward laugh, trying to hide my cheeks turning a bright shade of crimson.

Loki bit his lip and tilted his head up and looked off in the distance. I felt like I could actually see wheels turning in his head. Then he spoke.

“I honestly cannot answer that.”

“Oh…”

“Well, I don’t know, truthfully. Marriage seems so, arbitrary to me. Especially, as a god, time means nothing to me, but to Midgardians, time is so precious, so you decide one person to spend that time with until your dying breath. So if I were to marry an Asgardian, I would be tied to them for possibly, millennia. And if I was to marry a Midgardian, they will have already lived a quarter of their life. I’ve been alive far too long and have learned there is no point in getting attached to something I cannot keep.”

He spoke so matter-of-factly that it almost brought me to tears. Was that all I was to him? A mere mortal with 25% of my life over. I felt foolish for thinking I could be more to him than a Midgardian “friend with benefits.”

Pretending not to be hurt, however, I nodded nonchalantly as I listened to his rant and took a sip of my drink. He continued.

“I could see myself having children though, one day.”

“So you can’t see yourself getting married, but you can see yourself having children? Alrighty then.” I laughed, accidentally letting my hurt feelings slip into my reply.

“Do you see a problem with that, love?”

“No, not at all, to each his own. So kids huh?” He looked at me and gave me a rueful grin. 

“I would love to give my children the childhood I always craved.”

I gave a sympathetic groan and reached out for his arm and gave him a gentle squeeze. I didn’t want to press the issue further. I knew how sensitive he was about the subject. After a few moments, Loki spoke again, looking directly into my eyes.

“Did you ask me that, because I am someone you would want to marry?”

My eyes inadvertently widened and swallowed a little harder than necessary. I felt a little uneasy because Loki refused to break eye contact with me.

“Honestly, Loki…” I felt instant nausea from my nerves.

“Yes?”

“You are someone I want to marry. Why wouldn’t I? You’re amazing, you’re well read, you’re kind, but more importantly, you’re my best friend, of course, you’re someone I would want to fucking marry! I don’t care if I’ve ‘lived a quarter of my life’ already if you love someone you choose to love them no matter what!” I spoke a little louder than I intended too because a few coffee shop patrons turned their heads toward our table.

Loki chuckled at my obvious embarrassment. I gave an awkward half-smile and placed my hands on my face as if trying to wipe away my blushing cheeks. Loki grinned at me and brushed a few strands of hair away from my face before he spoke again.

“Well, darling, I am very flattered.” He placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “Now how about we get back to studying? You need to do well on your exam.”

The quick change of subject confused me for a second before I agreed with him and I began to study for my exam again. After a while, I was ready to go call it a day. Loki offered to give me a ride home, but I initially declined and told him I’d walk; partly because that day was uncharacteristically mild for winter and I wanted to enjoy the lovely weather; also I was extremely embarrassed about the conversation we had inside the coffee shop. But Loki insisted that he take me home and I, not in a mood to argue, I caved. The car ride was awkward, neither of us said anything the whole trip which generally wouldn’t be all that unusual, but because the conversation did not go as planned on my part, I felt that maybe I had crossed the line. When Loki finally reached my driveway, he parked his car and looked at me.

“Y/n, I want to apologize if what I said hurt you. Please don’t misunderstand me, I care for you deeply. I may not know what the future holds but what I know for certain is that you belong to me, and I belong to you, no matter what happens.”

I smiled at him, exhaling a breath I held in the whole car ride; thankful for his reassurance. Loki and I never had any labels in our relationship which was alright for the most part because I knew he cared for me, but every once in a while it was nice to hear him tell me how he felt. Even if he did think marriage was just a quirky Midgardian tradition. But one part of what he said caught me off guard: ‘No matter what happens’”? What does that mean? Ultimately, I shook it off as me being too analytical and leaned in to kiss Loki.

“I love you too, Loki.”

I stepped out of his car and waved back at him, “See you tomorrow!”

He waved back at me and drove off. That was the last time I saw or spoke to Loki.

********************

Dinner with Loki and my parents went as well as expected. The meal mom prepared was delicious, Rachel only threw half of her food on the floor, and mom and dad bombarded Loki with questions.

“So where have you been, Loki? We were starting to worry about ya.” Dad said, giving Loki a pat on his back.

“I have been rather busy with work, I’ve done a little bit of traveling, and also spending time with my family.”

I rolled my eyes. I swear to god he better not lie to me like that when he accounts for the last few years.

“Well, it’s good to have you back, Sweetheart.” Mom cut in, “Will we see more of you?”

Loki looked over at me when he answered, “Yes indeed. I’m not going anywhere as long as I can help it.”

I rolled my eyes again, trying to hide the smile forming on my lips.

Once dinner was over, leftovers and dishes put away, My parents said their “goodnights” and left for bed. I also excused myself for a brief moment, needing to get Rachel ready for bed. Before I carried Rachel to her room, Loki reached for Rachel’s little hand, “Goodnight little love, thank you for showing me all your toys this evening.” Rachel babbled incoherently and gave Loki a smile showing all the teeth she had.

“I think somebody likes you” I smirked, “Say ‘thank you Loki for playing with me’”

Rachel babbled again while Loki lowered himself to her eye level, giving her his undivided attention.

“Well, it was my pleasure, Rachel. Have pleasant dreams.”

I  left and tucked Rachel into her little bed, and she fell asleep shortly after. As she slept, I stared at her for a moment before heading back to the living room. I thought about how adorable Loki was with my daughter. Interacting with children seemingly came so naturally to him. I also wished that David would be the same way with Rachel. He was a great father in that he worked hard to provide for her, but that was the only way David showed he loved her, especially after we parted ways. David wouldn’t play with her, and would hardly make time to spend time alone with her. He blamed work for not being around Rachel as often as he should. David worked for his father’s law firm. Influential attorneys defending the most guilty and the richest. I know Rachel was far too young to understand the nuances of a father/daughter relationship, but whenever David would walk past her or halfheartedly acknowledge her, I could see in her little eyes, that it hurt her.

I made my way back to the living room and saw Loki sitting on the couch, waiting for me. He stood when I re-entered the room and made his way toward me.

“I should probably get going, I know we could all use a restful nights sleep.”

“We still need to talk—”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Loki gently interrupted, “Why don’t we meet in the morning for breakfast, we can go anywhere you want to go.”

“Well, my parents can’t watch Rachel tomorrow, they both have something they have to go to, so if we go anywhere, Rachel will have to come.”

Loki’s face lit up, “That sounds delightful! We shall make a day out of it then.” His hand reached down placed his palm on my face like he had earlier. This time I didn’t swat him away, instead, I wrapped my arms around him. I missed feeling his body against mine. Loki pulled me in closer and rested his chin on top of my head.

Sadly we were interrupted by my phone vibrating. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw a text from David reading: Hey, we need to finish talking when you get a chance. We couldn’t with that guy hanging around. Text me back ASAP.

I groaned. Loki peaked at David’s message and scoffed,“‘That guy’? Charming.”

“You have no idea,” I replied, more to myself than Loki.

Loki’s face turned concerned, “What do you mean?”

“Ugh, he’s just—sometimes he’s a dick, but otherwise he’s alright. He makes sure Rachel is taken care of, so that’s all I care about.” Giving me a dubious look, I reassured Loki that I was fine and that David was just annoying sometimes. Reaching for my hand, Loki made his way toward the front door.

“Well, I better go, love. I look forward to spending the day with you and Rachel.” Loki pulled me close and kissed me on the lips before closing the door behind him. I peeked out the front window and saw him stoop down into his car, rev his engine, and drive off. What have you been up to, Loki Odinson?

**************

David, back at his penthouse apartment, reclined in his Eames chair, sipping away at bourbon and fiddled with his phone. He had searched the name “Loki Odinson” over and over on Google but only found references to Norse Mythology.

Who the fuck is this guy?

David exited his Google Search and began scrolling through his contact list until he found the name, Darren. He pressed the call icon and waited for him to answer.

“Hey David, you’re up late.” “Darren. I have a favor to ask.” “Anything Chief, what do you need?” “I need you to look into someone for me, the name: ‘Loki Odinson.’”

“You got it, boss. I’ll see what I can find.”

Darren ended the call, and David went to his iPhone photo album. He scrolled through his pictures until he found an old picture of Y/N.

This stupid bitch better be careful. She’s gonna get her heart broken all over again.

Taglist: 

@imasultforlokiandspencerreid 

@crescent-night

@portietomednalynn

[sp4c3-0ddity]

If you're taking prompts... Can I ask for Hunk and a space chicken? 👀

i’ve been waiting my entire life for this prompt. thank you for enabling my Hunk + birds habit on top of my love for chickens ;_;

also timeline in this is all over the place so let’s call it canon divergent. ~2000 words, and i hope you like it

If there was one thing from Earth - beside his family - Hunk missed it was chicken eggs.

Sure, there were other foods and herbs and spices he couldn’t quite replicate with ingredients from alien plants - although he found capsaicin in the exoskeleton of a beetle-like insect thing and ground it to season curry for Shiro…not that he’d tell him that was the source - but he never found anything resembling a chicken egg.

The consistency would be all wrong, the yolk a strange color, too much cholesterol or too little protein, a shell even the Yellow Lion’s foot couldn’t crack (and Hunk really didn’t want to know what would hatch from an egg that tough)...

Hunk just wanted a quiznaking omelet.

“Are you sure these are edible?” Pidge held an oblong object that barely fit in the palm of her small hand up to the kitchen’s light. It seemed to reflect the lights overhead, with the darker spots of pigmentation absorbing.

Hunk carefully snatched it from her hand. It was soft and squishy, sort of like a water balloon, under his fingertips, and he guessed he’d have to puncture the...skin to get at the edible flesh.

And when he shone a light through it, a round core absorbed the rays, the flesh almost translucent.

Hunk set it beside the others in a large platter. “You and I have both scanned them,” he pointed out, “and they might be a little protein-rich for fruit, but they don’t contain anything toxic to humans.”

Pidge folded her arms on the counter and leaned towards the platter. “Seems a little...risky though,” she mused. “Remember that spotted fuzzy fruit you tried to fry like plantains?”

His shoulders sagged, renewed guilt making his heart sink, but he couldn’t help retorting, “It’s not my fault Lance ate half of them before I could warn him that too many would probably have side-effects.”

Pidge’s eyes narrowed. “He couldn’t walk further than five meters from a bathroom for almost a movement.”

“And I still feel bad about that!” he protested, his stomach twinging with a sympathetic nausea.

“Not as bad as he did,” she retorted. She prodded one of the water balloon fruits with a fingertip. “Where did you find these anyway?”

“Under a tree,” Hunk said. He rummaged through a drawer until his fingers closed around a small knife - something with a bit more point than a spork. “Kind of in a ring? And they definitely feel ripe.”

“Really?” When he turned to face Pidge, her eyebrow was raised. “Why do you think that alien fruit would follow the same rules as Earth fruit?”

“Because so far other rules have been pretty consistent.” Hunk clutched a balloon fruit in one hand and pressed the tip of the knife into its flexible skin, watching how it puckered under. Just a little more pressure... “I mean, it seems like photosynthesis is pretty universal, for one, and for another--”

He broke off when the knife’s point punctured the skin, a triumphant grin pushing at his lips when a viscous white fluid oozed out. He transferred the fruit to a pan on the stove and sliced open the rest of the skin.

The dark core was a deep yellow and definitely not hard enough to be a pit.

Hunk stared at the blob of clear white fluid with its soft yellow center. “Uh...quiznak.”

“Um, Hunk? Something’s happening with one of your so-called fruits.”

He spun around, the tension in Pidge’s voice making his heart race as he turned his attention to the remaining balloon fruit sitting in their platter.

One quivered in place, as if shaken by tremors that only affected it. Its skin rippled before something pointy poked it from the inside.

Hunk stumbled backwards away from the counter, raising the knife in his hands and wishing he had his bayard . “Oh God we’re in a horror movie!” he realized. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew--”

The fruit exploded.

Pidge gasped, arms raised to shield her face, while something wet hit Hunk’s forehead. His eyes pinched shut as a fluid trickled down towards them, and when he dared open them again his breath caught in his throat.

“I-I think I prefer this to Alien,” Pidge commented, eyes wide behind her glasses as she leaned over the platter and the tiny fuzzy chick cheeping in the center.

Pidge insisted on slipping the rest of the water balloon eggs underneath a lamp to incubate and see if they’d also “hatch”, but when the noisy baby that enjoyed pooping on Hunk’s palm proved the only survivor (or the only fertilized) of the clutch, he happily cooked the rest.

“Are those eggs I smell?” Lance wondered. He skipped across the kitchen from the doorway, a dreamy smile on his face as he loudly inhaled. “Poached?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Pidge said. She flashed a teasing smirk at Hunk.

He scowled and, rather than retorting, watched the eggs - that, now that he had the opportunity to cook and examine them, had an odd green sheen to their yolks - cooking in boiling water.

Lance peeked into the saucepan. “You have ham to go with those green eggs?”

“As soon as Hunk finds a green pig,” Pidge told him.

“Hey, Pidge, can you make yourself useful and check on Ramsay please?” Hunk cut in before she and Lance could get a little too into their teasing.

“Ramsay?” Lance raised an eyebrow. “You have an Egyptian pharaoh hiding in the pantry?”

“That’s Ramses,” Pidge corrected, although she obediently hopped off her stool and walked over to the bin in the corner with the lamp shining over it. “This is Ramsay.”

She scooped up the chick in all his fluffy, cheeping, magenta glory and wandered back towards them. The baby’s eyes slipped shut when she stroked its head, a soft smile on her face.

“Get him out of the kitchen before he poops on his siblings’ remains!” Hunk said, raising a spatula in alarm.

Pidge turned, shielding Ramsay from him and with her lower lip jutting out in a pout. “You’re the one who murdered them.”

“And we both agreed they were never alive!”

“Okay...” Lance glanced between the two of them. “This sounds like some weird science thing I don’t want to get in the middle of.”

“And how do you know Ramsay is male anyway?” Pidge wondered. She lifted the chick to eye level, squinting at his underside. “It’s a chick!”

“There are ways,” Hunk pointed out.

“I’m sure,” she said, rolling her eyes, “but do you know them?”

“Ooh, actually”--Lance raised his hand as he broke out into a broad grin--”if he’s anything like a baby chicken from Earth, I can sex him.”

“You can?” Pidge set Ramsay on her shoulder...just so she could cross her arms.

“Uh, sure?”

“He can milk a cow,” Hunk reminded her. “Why not say if a chick is going to be a rooster or a hen?”

“Huh.” Pidge passed Ramsay to Lance, who...

Well, Lance squealed like a little kid. “Aw, he’s so cute! Just like a chick from Earth!” He poked the tiny barely there tail and ran a finger down the chick’s back.

“So he’s a boy?” Hunk said.

“I didn’t even look yet!” Lance lifted the chick and... “Oh, Hunk, I think you gotta change his name to Rachel Ray or something.”

“Girl?”

“Yep.” Lance grinned and said, “But if it gets us more eggs...”

A gasp escaped him, excitement gripping. “Lance, you’re a genius!” Hunk clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“You can tell that’s a girl,” Pidge said, her eyes wide and incredulous, “but it surprised you when I said I’m one?”

Hunk laughed when Lance only scowled.

Ramsay - name unchanged, despite Lance’s suggestion - ate anything.

She was a hen after Hunk’s own heart.

“Not a very good critic, is she?” Lance commented.

“She’s growing fast,” Allura said. She smiled, cooing over the chick sitting in her lap while the mice looked on with what Hunk guessed must be jealousy.

(He’d have to watch them around Ramsay.)

Predictably, the smile twisted into a disgusted grimace when the chick dropped one on her dress.

“I suppose pets do have their...drawbacks,” Allura mused with a frown.

Hunk scooped her back up and smiled sheepishly. “I’ll keep her confined.”

“And away from Keith’s wolf?” Lance said with a nod at the door.

“Keith’s wolf teleports,” Pidge piped up. “If he wants to eat unripened chicken for breakfast, doors won’t stop him.”

Hunk’s stomach twisted unpleasantly. “I’ll...talk to Keith about that.”

Keith, however...

“You have time to raise a chick on top of being a Paladin?” Keith wondered.

Hunk raised an eyebrow. “I have time to cook for you guys, Lance has time to milk Kaltenecker, Pidge and he have time to play video games, you have time to train till you put too much strain on every muscle in your--”

“Fine, I get it,” Keith cut him off with a hand covering his face.

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that Kosmo is not allowed anywhere near Ramsay,” Hunk said.

As if summoned by the sound of his name (which...well, he was something like a dog), Kosmo teleported into view in a burst of light. Hunk reflexively stepped away, cradling Ramsay between his hands, but when the cosmic wolf’s nose twitched in curiosity, he extended his arms.

He held his breath as Kosmo sniffed the obliviously cheeping chick. He stiffened when the wolf’s tongue flicked out.

Kosmo licked the chick’s downy feathered back.

“He likes her,” Keith said.

“Yeah b-but how?” Hunk said. “He’s about to give me a heart attack...”

Keith smiled but clicked his tongue. Kosmo spun around at attention, ears on end. “He won’t eat her if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Oh! Oh good.” The tension trickled out of Hunk’s shoulders, and as soon as Keith and Kosmo left he fell into a boneless relieved heap with Ramsay sitting on his stomach.

Ramsay grew to be the size of a chicken in only a few movements. But unlike a chicken from Earth, her down feathers gave way to scales.

“Well, birds on Earth descended from the dinosaurs,” Pidge said.

“She’s really ugly this way,” Lance said.

“Excuse you, she’s my child and she’s beautiful!” Hunk retorted, shooting a glare at him.

“But she looks like a chubby and flightless pterodactyl!” Lance gestured at where Ramsay foraged through the meadow alongside Kaltenecker.

The not-chicken - space chicken, they all, except for Allura and Coran, took to calling her - gathered scraps of grass into a heap, almost like...

“She’s building a nest,” Lance observed with a grin. “Aw, look who’s getting ready to lay eggs!”

“What, already?!” Hunk shot up with alarm, a sudden lump lodging in his throat. “I-I’m not ready to be a grandfather!”

“Relax!” Lance said, standing and patting him on the shoulder. “We’ll be here to support you, but only if I get to be the chicks’ godfather.”

“Uh, you guys are kind of forgetting something important,” Pidge said as she joined them.

“What?”

“Ramsay doesn’t have a mate to fertilize her eggs.”

Hunk exchanged a glance with Lance, then he looked at Pidge. “Oh,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck as embarrassment filled him. “I knew that.”

Hunk never had considered chickens a viable pet before, but Ramsay followed him everywhere. She trailed him through the Castle’s hallways, leaving poop he’d have to clean up later in her wake, and hopped into his lap when he sat down. Her eyes closed in contentment when he rubbed her vicious beak, and she perched for the “night” on his bed frame.

And if Allura, Pidge, Lance, and Keith could have pets, why couldn’t Hunk think of this strange space chicken that imprinted on him as one?

He’d see about Shiro adopting a cat later…once Ramsay learned to lay her eggs in a nest and not on the kitchen floor where a certain princess’s mice could steal them.

[impudent-scallywag]

WHO MESSED UP THE TREEHOUSE LET’S GOOOOOOOOOO

Ooh, Rachel Lipman! This should be interesting, she’s a great writer.

Oh no, Mindy’s music theme is playing (specifically, it’s an incredibly off-key xylophone)...........

“TODAY I’M GOING TO SHOW YOU HOW TO MAKE PAPER BAG PUPPETS!”

Shut up, Mindy. No one likes you.

A puppet show, noooooooo. I can already tell that this episode is going to be about the worst character ever, Mindy. Please prove me wrong Rachel.

MINDY’S PUPPET IS TERRIFYING AND HER FALSETTO VOICE AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

FINALLY MINDY IS GONE!!!!!!!!!! HELLO SYDNEY!!!!!!

Commander Cressida comics, interesting.

Only 20 more pages?

Yay, it’s my favorite, Sean! And he still has his old voice.

Paper airplanes? Hey, Nice continuity reference to the Scientific Sean episode from Season 1.

FINALLY, Jet is here! You are right Jet, there is nothing like a treehouse picnic.

Jet just threw his sandwich away.....I think I know where this is going, to quote Sydney in “A Hammer and a Feather”.

The kids all bump into each other with their projects......

Sunspot has all been helping them

The treehouse is such a mess!

Sean: Yeah, who would mess up our treehouse?

Um.........

“No one comes in here but us”....well, Carrot, Celery, Face, Bergs, Dr. Rafferty, and Mitchell have all been to the treehouse, so NO.

“I just had a very healthy little picnic with Sunspot!”

Ooh, nice method of show, don’t tell. Sunspot is showing them the mess they made instead of telling them. The bright percussive music helps.

Mindy, where in the world did you get the idea that a parade of squirrels came and dumped trash everywhere? Are you crazy? Even Sean and Sunspot think her idea is extremely idiotic.

Jet, naive and funny as always, trying to look for the supposed squirrels. 

Mindy: wElL mAyBe I lEfT oNe Or tWo ScRaPs iN tHe cORnEr.

So they cleaned up the treehouse......or so they thought.....

Jet is having a stare-off against a squirrel.

This montage of the kids finding different places to play is quite funny. The quirky electronic music helps.

CARROT AND CELERY AND DR. RAFFERTY YAY!!!!

So are they playing tennis with eggs?

YAY, CODY ATE MINDY’S PUPPET! WHAT A GOOD DOG!

LOL Dr. Rafferty’s face

“How did that get there? Long story”

“This mess is all of our problem.” Gee, who woulda thunk it?

“Maybe it’s not as bad a mess as we think!” Sorry, Jet, but it is

Jet is literally trying to make the trash disappear. Oh, Jet.

Time to go talk to Dr. Rafferty.

So. in case you didn’t get it, the treehouse being a mess is all just a big metaphor for Earth being a mess. You would expect the kids to understand it, since they are smarter than we give them credit for (most of the time anyways), but then we just have Dr. Rafferty compare the treehouse problem to Earth’s problem. Meh, at least it’s not as hamfisted as it could’ve been. Dr. Rafferty is really good here.

Mindy, NO ONE cares that your reusable lunch bag for school is purple.

This is a very teachable moment. Problems aren’t going to go away unless you do something about them. That’s a very powerful message to teach to kids.

“Oh, right, that’s what I was going to say!”

Sunspot has started sorting the trash into different bins. Hey, why are there love notes everywhere?

Sean supersonic, flying straight for recycling! I really like the music here. And now the treehouse is sparkling clean! 

Jet instantly forgot. 

Oh no, the little orange demon is putting on a puppet show......and the episode ends on that note.

Well, this episode was really good! The music was excellent and matched the tone of the episode. There were also a lot of funny moments, and I like the message that it teaches kids. This episode is proof that you all should STOP ignoring Ready Jet Go and start watching it now. If only if Mindy got less screen-time....but at least she got some well-deserved karma. 9/10

[notsugarandspice]

Not Here (Chapter 4)

Summary: Richard Tozier was living a rather ordinary life with his wife and child when something happened in the middle of the night, awakening something in him that was nowhere close to fear.

Pairings: Richie Tozier/Eddie Kaspbrak

Warnings: Teen and Up Audiences, Mature Language

Alien! Eddie, Dad! Richie, Science Fiction, Mystery

Note: Read the rest on ao3.

Day 10: The alien meets Timmy.

Richie doesn’t know how to feel about the changes in his life. All he knows is that everything is suddenly… better? He wakes up extra early to tickle Timmy out of bed, cook him chocolate chip pancakes, and drive him to school. Richie picks out his clothes the night before, laying them down on the chair, and reads his son a story every night before he drifts off, smiling at the imagery of purple dinosaurs. Richie doesn’t talk to Rachel almost at all, and she seems more than content - everything is just as she likes it to be. She is unbothered, wakes up after Timmy goes to school and spends the entire day shopping or pampering. Richie doesn’t have the heart to tell Timmy this is not how a mother should behave.

E-D is a constant presence in his life. Every lunch break he returns home, quickly makes himself a sandwich and sits with the alien in the attic. Eddie shows him more clips of its world - the most beautiful, picturesque place in existence. With every touch of this wonderful creature, Richie feels like he’s becoming a better man, a better dad, and a better human being. He smiles at everyone, goes grocery shopping twice a week, and makes an effort to spend more time with his son. He finally voluntarily speaks to his co-workers, especially Ben. His childhood friend has been concerned over the toxic atmosphere in their household but figured it’s not his place to talk. They’re going through plastic-wear inventory when Hanscom finally decides to speak up.

“Rich?”

Richie looks up at him from the clipboard where he’s doing the count of their losses.

“I know it’s not my place to talk-“ Ben stops when he sees Richie roll his eyes.

“Not this again, Haystack.” He starts mouthing numbers again.

“Look, I love Timmy. I really, really do. I think you and Rachel should get a divorce.” Ben walks up a little closer, looking up at Richie with sympathetic dark greens.

Richie sighs in defeat. “Why didn’t I marry someone as sweet as you, Benny boy?”

Ben blushes and walks back to the shelf. “Maybe because you didn’t get me knocked up?”

“Ooooh, Haystack gets off a good one, ladies and gents!”

They continue the count for a while, the store long closed, but as the hours pass, Richie begins to worry that it might not be the best idea to leave his son alone with Rachel.

“Hey, let’s continue tomorrow. I kind of want to check on Timmy.” Ben nods and gets up from the floor where he was pulling out the boxes to confirm the stock.

“By the way, where do you disappear for lunch all the time?”

Richie stops dead in his tracks and tries to busy himself with stacking the papers on his desk. “Uuuh, just home. Rach doesn’t really do anything, and I need to come back to do the dishes sometimes.”

Ben grabs his messenger bag and a book from the desk on the other side of the office. As owner and manager, they decided to have adjacent space. Richie hates to be alone anyway, and Ben is a great companion to gossip with.

“What, every day?” Ben laughs earnestly. “And I thought I ate too much.” Hanscom walks back to check that all the lights in the store are off.

“What can I say, Timothy is a growing lad,” says Richie in a British accent, earning another loud guffaw from his best friend.

He makes a mental note to go to the bar with Ben one of these days. Maybe when I don’t have an extraterrestrial living in my attic. But the thought only makes him melancholy.

Richie switches on the alarm, and they quickly make their way out. They wave each other goodbye in the parking lot, get into the cars, roll down the windows and back up at the same time. It’s one of Richie’s favorite routines of the day.

Richie unlocks the door and instantly tenses at how quiet it is. Nobody is downstairs, and he can’t hear any commotion in the rest of the house. He quickly throws his brown leather messenger bag on the dining chair and makes his way up the stairs. Richie peaks into Timmy’s room - it’s not time to sleep yet, but it’s late enough that he usually just plays toys in his room. His son isn’t there. Richie walks to Rachel’s bedroom and knocks hard, knowing that it will be locked. It’s always locked.

After rapping his knuckles on the door for almost two minutes he finally gives up, putting the ear to the dark wooden door. Richie can hear Rachel’s croaky voice coming from the bathroom and the sounds of splashing water. He knows she’s drinking because she always drinks when she takes a bath. Fucking woman lives in a bathtub. He irritably punches the door with the tip of his shoe and strolls up another flight of stairs leading to the attic. Richie can feel his heart jackhammering against the ribs, and he doesn’t even want to think of possibilities that might unravel themselves as he gets to the top.

And, just like he suspected, his son is in the attic, actually floating below the ceiling with the alien, giggling and swirling in the air. Richie feels a wave of nausea overcome him from the overprotective feelings he has for Timmy and he runs up to stand right below him. His hands are shaking, and he can’t get a word out - he’s also terrified of scaring either one of them, so he just stands there as leverage for several seconds. When Timmy does another swirl, and his face is pointed down, he finally notices Richie.

“Daddy!” His tiny finger is pointing at Richie’s horror-stricken face.

The alien first smiles at the intruder but upon seeing Richie’s expression loses some of the glow, and its hands stop moving. It slowly gestures towards Timmy’s body and guides the small boy down, making him float right in front of Richie’s face. Richie instantly wraps his arms around his son, breathing in the scent of bubblegum shampoo. Timmy instinctively positions himself on his father’s hip. Richie can feel his eyes burning with tears a little, and he knows he’s overreacting, knows that the alien didn’t do anything wrong - that Rachel is at fault here. But he can’t help but feel that he needs to break this situation down somehow. For both his and his son’s sake.

“Buddy, what are you doing here?” Richie pulls his son back a little to look at his small beaming face.

“Mommy left when I asked her to play the railroad, and I was bored. I found him.” Timmy points his finger at the alien that just floats below the window, looking intently at the interaction between the two.

“You can’t tell your mom about Eddie, okay?”

Timmy furrows his brows in confusion. “Eddie? He told me he’s E-D… um…”

Richie smiles for the first time since he got into the house. “That’s its real name. But don’t you like Eddie more?”

Timmy looks up and grins at the alien who smiles back in return, some of the glow returning to the body. “Sure.”

“Buddy, you have to promise me you won’t tell mom about this.” Richie looks pointedly at his son and pokes him in the side to pay attention.

Timmy giggles and looks at his dad. “Why can’t mommy know?”

Shit. “Because Eddie is my guest, not your mother’s. She doesn’t need to know, okay?”

His son takes some time to answer, but he gives Richie a small smile after a while. “Okay, daddy.”

Richie beams and kisses Timmy’s cheek, making his son giggle. There’s something warm and happy stirring in Richie’s chest, and he feels happy. Content. He finally looks up to connect eyes with E-D. The alien seems hesitant at first but then a spark of gold appears in its eyes, and it descends, planting its feet on the wooden floor next to the pair.

“I’m sorry,” says E-D, the warm electric sound filling an otherwise empty space.

Richie’s lost in his thoughts for a while, thinking whether he needs to warn the alien not to communicate with his son. But Timmy is looking at him with pure fascination, and Eddie seems to be harmless, so he decides against reprimanding.

“You have nothing to feel sorry for. Timmy likes you.” Richie smiles and the alien mirrors his action.

“I like Timmy.” Eddie touches a hand to Timmy’s bare foot, making the small boy laugh. “I like Richie.” E-D touches the other hand to Richie’s shoulder, and he can feel the heat through two layers of fabric.

But the look that the alien gives him is different than one his son received - it’s pointed and secretive. It seems like it’s holding the secrets of the universe in those large eyes. Richie feels his entire body cover in goosebumps.

His son extends a hand, and the alien touches its fingers to the small palm, and Timmy instantly pulls it back, laughing. “Hot!” 

The two other join in on the laugh and Richie’s eyes get glued to the gold dancing below the alien’s black orbs. Their eyes connect in some giddy attraction that Richie can confidently say he’s never felt before. He walks a little closer and wraps another arm around the alien. He knows how odd this entire situation is, but he can’t find within himself to care. The alien is friendly, doesn’t hurt his kid, and makes his body feel like Jell-O in the best possible way. He squeezes all three of them together, but he can’t help a creeping fear wrap around his throat, making his heartbeat speed up. But what now?

[niall-is-my-dream]

Jealousy - part one

You popped the plastic storage box down on the floor of the lift and pressed the number three button. When the lift door open you heaved the box back up into your arms, and made your way across the hall to the front door to your left.

You pressed the doorbell and heard footsteps approach. The door flung open and instead of seeing Willie stood there, it was Niall.

"Hey gorgeous! Didn't expect to see you, thought you were back Sunday?" You asked.

"Got back this morning, I'd finished everything I needed to do and I wanted to surprise you and be back for your birthday night out." He replied smiling.

"Yay, so glad you're back for it! Wouldn't have been the same without you."

"What's with the box?" He asked.

"Oh god, can I come and put these down, they are so fucking heavy! Then I can give you a hug. Have missed you Horan!" You smiled.

You walked in to the living room and popped the box down at the end of the sofa. "These are some vinyls I said I'd lend to Willie. He said he'd be back by now, thought it would be him answering the door."

"Willie text about an hour ago to say he would be late, some fuck up at work" Niall explained.

You leaned in for a hug, you'd not seen each other for three weeks as Niall had been in at his house in LA. He embraced you snuggling into your neck and lifting you off your feet. He placed you back down and pulled away giving you a kiss on your forehead. "Missed you" he whispered. "Missed you to" you whispered back.

You and Niall had been friends for a few years, but since his hiatus with one direction he'd been around a lot more, although he did go to LA every few weeks to work but never for long. This 3 weeks had been the longest he'd been away since though, and you'd got used to him being around. You'd gotten really close this last year but had never let anything go further than the odd snuggle on the sofa watching a film although you'd wanted it to. He was your friend, and if he'd wanted more you were sure he would've asked you out by now or made a move on you.

"Working late on a Friday, that's pretty shit. Doesn't matter I'll leave them here for him if that's ok?"

"Yeah of course" he replied. "You got plans tonight, I'm just starting dinner? Want to join me?" He asked gesturing towards the kitchen. 

You hesitated.

"Chicken stir fry, and I've got wine!" He said smiling.

"Oh go then, as long as I'm not intruding?" You replied laughing.

"Right you park that sexy backside of yours up here and watch me try my best Jamie Oliver impression!" He said patting one of the stools at the breakfast bar laughing.

"Ha! Cheeky!" You said winking at him as you sat up on the stool.

"Can't help it, those jeans of yours are incredibly tight and your arse just looked amazing bending over to put that box down!" He said with a smirk whilst pouring you a glass of wine.

"Stop flirting and start cooking Horan!"

He laughed as he started chopping up an onion ready for the stir fry.

"So how have you been then?" He asked.

You'd text a few times whilst he was away but hadn't been able to have a proper long chat since before he went away. So you filled him in on the office gossip from work which he loved to hear about and told him about the new guy Josh.

"So is this Josh guy good looking then?" He asked.

"Um he's ok I suppose, he mentioned going out for a drink sometime but I'm not sure that will happen"

"What like a date?" Niall said surprised.

"Yeah I think so."

"A date date or just a date?" He said stopping what he was doing and sipping some of his beer.

"What's the difference?!" You asked laughing at him and then taking a big sip of wine.

"Well a date is 2 friends going out and being just friends and a date date is where he's interested in what you have for breakfast?" He said with a serious face.

"Fucking hell I've been out of this dating game too long, I literally have no idea what the fucking hell that all means!" You said laughing. " I'm not sure I'm interested in him anyway to be honest."

Niall continued to chop up the veg whilst the chicken cooked in the pan, occasionally stopping to sip his beer. He'd just made the atmosphere really awkward, why did he care if you dated Josh? You were about to make this conversation even more awkward. You put your empty wine glass down on the work top.

"Why, you jealous?" You asked him feeling gutsy after your one glass of wine.

"Maybe" he said catching your gaze winking.

Fuck, you didn't know what to say to that. That wasn't the answer you were expecting. He didn't say anything as he went to the fridge to get a beer and get the bottle of wine. He refilled your glass, still no words escaped his mouth.

"Good to know" you replied finally smiling.

Silence filled the air again. 

"So how was your trip? Get some writing done?" You asked desperate to ease the awkwardness.

"Yeah had some good sessions, feels like its coming together finally."

He dished up the stir fry whilst you jumped down from your stool and got some cutlery out of the drawer.  You laid the table and Niall joined you with the food. It looked delicious. "Wow looks good Niall" you said. 

He sat down at the head of the table and you to his right. You continued to catch up about what had been happening in London while he was away. The whole date/josh/jealous conversation forgotten. You ate and drank and laughed together like you always did.

You helped clear the table and while Niall loaded the dishwasher you got out the wine topped up your glass finishing the bottle and grabbed Niall another beer. You went to help wipe down the work top when he stopped you. "Go sit down, I'll finish up. Go find one of those shit rom com's you like!" He said laughing.

"Hey my rom com's are not shit, you said you loved The Vow when we watched it last month." 

"No I liked watching you swoon over Channing Tatum, plus Rachel McAdams is cute!" He said laughing.

" I can't even deny that, I was proper fan girling him!" You replied chuckling. "Oohhh lets watch Magic Mike!"

"Fuck off! I love you but that's a big no!" He said. 

Trying to not react to the love word you sat facing the tv pretending to be looking at what was on. He meant it as a friend but your heart still raced.

"Um how about The Inbetweeners then, the first film?" You called out to him in the kitchen. 

"That's hilarious that one, get it set up, I'll just finish up here. Be 1 minute." 

You got the film ready and then Niall appeared from the kitchen carrying a bag of m& ms. "You just ate!" You said as he sat right next to you, putting his right arm around your shoulders. " I know but its a film so you need snacks. I'll even share with you!" He said smiling. "Ha! Thanks." You replied.

You started the film and put your feet up on the coffee table next to Nialls. He kept jiggling his feet and knocking them against yours. "God you're such a fidget!" You said laughing. "No just trying to play footsie with you!" He said winking. "Whatever" you replied. 

The film was hilarious, you were both howling with laughter, you even had to cover your eyes at some of it. The 3 glasses of wine now having slowly gone to your head you had the major giggles! 

"Oh god I need to go to the loo before I wee my pants" you said getting up.

"Yes please go I don't really want you weeing on my sofa!"

When you got back from the loo Niall had opened another bottle of wine and refilled your glass. "Oh god I can't drink anymore I'll never make it in my house! The neighbours will find me lying on my front steps!"

"Stay here then, saves you coming back in the morning for your car. I assume you drove here with that massive box."

"Yeah I did, I'll be ok , I'll have this one and then I'll call a taxi when the film is over." You said sitting down.

"You don't have to, you know you can sleep here. You can have my bed and I'll sleep on the sofa." 

You hesitated.

"Ok if you're sure?"

"Yes, just get cosy again and watch the film. I was enjoying the cuddles." He said smiling at you. 

You got comfy again leaning in to his chest, sipping your wine. Your feet were up on the coffee table next to his again and he looped your feet in with his. It felt comfortable and natural to sit with him like this.

Just then you heard the door open, Willie walked in looking exhausted. "This looks cosy, am I interrupting something?!" He said with a smirk.

"Shut up, we are just watching a film. There's stir fry in the microwave for you, thought you might want it. Grab a beer and join us. I'll have one while you're there" Niall added.

"You ok for a drink Claire?" Willie asked. "Yes thanks babe" you replied.

Willie brought over beers and his food and he ate in silence whilst you all watched the film occasionally laughing at a scene. 

"I'm going to bed" Willie said after he'd finished his food "work was awful this week and I can't wait for tomorrow night. Bit of partying for your birthday Claire"

"I know I'm looking forward to it." You replied. 

Willie left the living room and headed off to his bedroom leaving you and Niall alone once more. By the time the film ended it was late. Niall was already snoozing on the sofa, his arm still wrapped around your shoulder snuggling up to you.

"Babe we should go to bed" you whispered to him. 

"Mmm ok" he replied his eyes still closed. Clearly not wanting to move.

"Come on , we can kip in together in your bed." You said.

His eyes opened "oh can we?! I like the sound of you being in my bed."

"Calm down Horan! I didn't mean like that."

"Ok maybe some more cuddling then, little bit of spooning?!"

"Maybe!" You said giggling "Come on."

You got up to turn off the tv while Niall turned the lights off everywhere before you both walked towards his bedroom. "Can I borrow a t shirt to sleep in please?" You asked.

"What you don't sleep naked?!" He asked.

"No I don't and you're not either, you dirty boy!"

He passed you a t shirt whilst he went into the bathroom laughing away to himself.  You took off your earrings and undid your jeans, slipping them off. You then pulled off your shirt and folded your clothes placing them on the chair in the corner of his room. You turned around to walk back to the bed where the t shirt he gave you lay when Niall came out of the bathroom wearing just his black boxer shorts. You instantly attempted to cover yourself up.

"What you doing that for? I've seen you in a bikini before its no different to that." He said laughing at your awkwardness.

"Its not the same! My bikini is not as revealing as this." 

"I don't know that blue one you wore the last time you were at mine in LA was pretty skimpy" 

"Niall!"

"What it was?!"

You walked over to the bed, picking up the t-shirt and putting it on laughing. You put your hands up behind your back unhooking your bra and then taking it off under your shirt. You could see Niall looking at you out the corner of his eye as he got into bed.

"I can't sleep in my bra it's uncomfortable" you say seeing him looking. 

"Didn't say anything" he said turning off the bedside lamp.

"I know but I saw you looking."

"Difficult not to."

"Niall stop your drunken flirting and move over!" You said climbing into bed with him.

"Hey you said flirting was ok! Bit of cuddling, bit of spooning!" He laughed as he turned over to face you.

You weren't sure if your cheeks were flushed from the four glasses of wine or from him flirting. The lights were off now so there was no way he could see.

You laid there facing each other chatting, you could feel him close to you. You wanted nothing more than to reach out to him. He must have felt the same as he moved closer and placed a hand on your hip. He moved the hem of your t-shirt up so that his hand was placed skin to skin. You moved your hand up to place it on his chest, running your fingers through his chest hair. This felt way more intimate than you'd ever been with him. You were close friends and you wondered if this was too much.

You lost yourself in thought as you both fell asleep, snuggling up to each other.

Part two

https://niall-is-my-dream.tumblr.com/post/168212761328/jealousy-chapter-two