#best at home car detailing kit

[thisizitdetailing]

Website: https://www.thisizitdetailing.com/

Address: Tennessee, USA

He called himself Dennis the Menace. But the only thing anyone had to fear was listening to him talk. And talk he could! Dennis was feisty. He loved people. He loved cars (he owned 17 different cars in 3 years!) and going to car shows. But he didn’t love the car care products on the market. So what did he do? He formulated his own!

Back in the early 1970’s, Dennis set out to create an all-in-one detailer so revolutionary that it could be used on any part of any vehicle – paint, chrome, glass; car, truck, motorcycle, RV, boat – anything you wanted to clean, shine, and protect. That’s when This Iz It Ultimate Detailer was born along with the entire line of Beats Um All car care products. Dennis sold the products at car shows across the U.S. and developed an almost cult-like following, making some really great friends along the way.

Sadly, Dennis died in 2019. And that’s where I come in. I’m Denny Jr., Dennis’s oldest son, and I worked with Dad off and on over the years. I helped test his products at my auto detail shop, telling Dad when a product wasn’t up to par and celebrating with him when he got the formula just right. I no longer have that shop, but what I do have is Dad’s secret formula and proprietary process, and I’m continuing to manufacture This Iz It Ultimate Detailer and the Beats Um All products. Like Dad, I use only the highest quality ingredients and I guarantee every bottle in every batch. All of the products are manufactured in beautiful East Tennessee just the way Dad used to do it.

If you’ve been using the products, you’ll keep getting the same friendly service you’re used to. If you haven’t discovered the products yet, what are you waiting for? You’re gonna love ‘em!

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[informative-blogger123]

Discover the Best Soap for Car Wash at Home

Ever wondered what the best soap for car wash at home is? Washing your car can feel like a daunting task, but with the right products and techniques, it becomes more than just a chore—it’s a moment of pride and satisfaction. Whether you’re a car enthusiast or just someone who wants to keep their vehicle shining like new, using the right car care products makes all the difference. So, grab your bucket, and let’s dive into the world of car detailing!

Why Does Using the Right Soap Matter?

Think about it—your car faces all kinds of weather, dirt, and debris daily. A regular household cleaner just won't cut it when it comes to keeping your paint job looking sharp. Using the best soap for a car wash at home not only removes dirt but also protects the finish. This ensures that your car not only looks good but also maintains its resale value for years to come.

The Best Soap for Car Wash at Home: What to Look For

When you're searching for car wash soap, it’s essential to find something that’s gentle yet effective. The best car care products will:

Be pH-balanced to avoid stripping wax or damaging the paint.

Offer a thick, sudsy formula that clings to dirt and lifts it away.

Contain ingredients that help maintain a sleek, glossy finish.

Look for soaps that are specifically labeled for automotive use. These products are formulated to clean your car without harming its delicate exterior.

Essential Car Care Products You Need

When you're setting up for a car wash, soap is just the beginning. If you want your vehicle to look pristine, you’ll need a few other essentials for car detailing. These include:

A Good Quality Car Wash Mitt: This is way better than an old rag or sponge. A microfiber mitt will lift dirt from the surface without scratching the paint.

Buckets for Washing and Rinsing: To avoid spreading dirt around, use a two-bucket system—one for soapy water and one for rinsing the mitt.

Microfiber Towels: These are perfect for drying your car without leaving streaks or scratches.

Wheel Cleaner: The wheels are often the dirtiest part of the car, so make sure you have a dedicated cleaner that can cut through brake dust and grime.

The Best Car Care Kit: Everything You Need in One Package

If you’re just starting your car detailing journey, it can feel overwhelming to figure out what products to buy. Thankfully, there are many car care kits available that include everything you need. These kits typically feature:

Car wash soap

Glass cleaner

Tire shine

Interior detailing cleaner

Wax or ceramic spray coating

One of the major benefits of a kit is that all the products are designed to work together. Plus, it’s a great way to save a bit of money while stocking up on essentials.

Professional Car Wash Kit: Is It Worth It?

If you want to go all out, consider investing in a professional car wash kit. These kits are similar to the consumer versions, but they usually include higher-quality products and tools used by professional detailers. You’ll get a longer-lasting shine and deeper clean with less effort. It’s an investment, but if you’re serious about keeping your car looking its best, it’s worth every penny.

Interior Detailing: The Unsung Hero of Car Care

While everyone loves a shiny exterior, the interior is where you spend the most time. Keeping it clean and smelling fresh not only enhances the driving experience but also helps maintain the car’s value.

Car Interior Detailing Cleaner: What Works Best?

When it comes to car interior detailing cleaner, there are a few different areas to focus on:

Dashboard and Console: Look for a cleaner that removes dust and fingerprints without leaving a greasy residue. Bonus points if it offers UV protection to prevent fading.

Upholstery and Carpet: For fabric interiors, a dedicated carpet cleaner can make a huge difference. For leather seats, make sure to use a cleaner and conditioner that keeps them supple and crack-free.

Glass Cleaner: Streaky windows are a big no-no. A good glass cleaner should remove smudges and leave your windows crystal clear.

Essentials for Car Detailing at Home

Whether you’re a detailing newbie or a seasoned pro, these essentials will elevate your car washing game:

Clay Bar: This is great for removing contaminants from the paint that soap alone can't handle.

Wax or Ceramic Spray Coating: After washing, apply a protective layer that enhances shine and shields your paint from the elements.

Detailing Brushes: These come in handy for cleaning vents, seams, and other hard-to-reach spots.

Foam Cannon: If you have access to a pressure washer, a foam cannon is an amazing tool that helps you cover your car in thick suds.

Ceramic Spray Coating: What You Need to Know

If you want a long-lasting shine, ceramic spray coating is the way to go. Unlike traditional waxes, which wear off after a few weeks, ceramic coatings bond to the car’s paint, providing months of protection and a high-gloss finish. It also repels water, meaning less time drying and fewer chances of water spots.

Ceramic coatings are a game-changer for car enthusiasts. They add a sleek, glossy look and protect your vehicle from UV rays, bird droppings, and harsh chemicals. While professional ceramic coatings can be costly, ceramic spray is an affordable option that still offers excellent protection.

How to Apply Ceramic Spray Coating

Applying ceramic spray coating is simple, even for beginners. Here’s a quick guide:

Start by thoroughly washing and drying your car.

Apply the ceramic spray to a small section of your car.

Use a microfiber towel to spread the coating evenly.

Buff the area with a clean microfiber towel until it shines.

The result? A car that looks as good, if not better, than the day you drove it off the lot.

Why You Need a Car Detailing Kit

Investing in a car detailing kit is the easiest way to ensure you have everything you need for a professional-grade wash. Whether you're tackling your car's exterior or giving the interior some much-needed attention, these kits come packed with products that make the job easier. Plus, having a dedicated kit encourages you to keep up with regular cleaning, preventing dirt and grime from building up over time.

Car Detailing: It’s More Than Just Cleanliness

Car detailing isn’t just about making your vehicle look good. It’s about protecting your investment. Regular washing and detailing can extend the life of your car’s paint, upholstery, and other surfaces. It’s also a great way to catch potential problems, like chips or cracks in the paint, before they become major issues.

Best Practices for Car Detailing at Home

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when detailing your car at home:

Work in the shade: Sunlight can cause water and products to dry too quickly, leaving behind streaks.

Use separate towels for different areas: This prevents cross-contamination and ensures that dirt from one part of the car doesn't scratch another.

Start from the top down: This way, dirt from the upper parts of the car doesn’t drip onto clean surfaces below.

Maintaining Your Car Between Washes

While washing your car regularly is important, there are a few ways you can maintain that showroom shine between washes. A quick spray of detailing spray or waterless wash can remove light dust and keep your car looking fresh. Also, don't forget about the wheels! Keeping them clean can make a huge difference in the overall appearance of your vehicle.

The Benefits of Using the Best Soap for Car Wash at Home

By now, you’re probably convinced that using the best soap for car wash at home can significantly improve your car's appearance. It not only helps remove dirt but also protects your car's paint, prevents rust, and enhances the shine. Pair this with the right car care products, and you’ll be turning heads on every drive.

Conclusion

Detailing your car doesn’t have to be reserved for the pros. With the right tools, including the best car care kit, interior detailing cleaners, and ceramic spray coatings, you can achieve professional results right at home. So, why not treat your car to a spa day? It deserves it!

FAQs

Q1: What is the best soap for car wash at home? A: Look for a pH-balanced soap specifically formulated for cars. This ensures a gentle yet effective clean that won’t damage your car's finish.

Q2: Can I use dish soap to wash my car? A: No, dish soap can strip your car's protective wax and dull the paint. Always use a soap designed for automotive use.

Q3: How often should I wash my car? A: Ideally, you should wash your car every two weeks, but this can vary depending on weather conditions and how often you drive.

Q4: Is ceramic spray coating worth it? A: Absolutely! It provides long-lasting protection and a high-gloss finish, making it a great alternative to traditional waxing.

Q5: What should be included in a car care kit? A: A good kit will include soap, glass cleaner, tire cleaner, wax or ceramic spray, and microfiber towels.

[whileyoureinschoolidothisallday]

OKAY it has been a day of being sad and panicky. Time to move.

Yesterday, I made a post detailing the cdc announcement that there will no longer be an isolation requirement for covid. If you are one of the thousands of people rightfully raging in my notes, here's some steps to focus on.

We're not gonna give up. I've seen quite a few comments with things like 'what's the point', 'why should I even try anymore' etc etc and what we're not gonna do is give them what they want! It helps the eugenics cause to be apathetic and listless. We've made it this far, we will continue to make it. I know it's hard, but I am at least right here with you. Give yourself whatever time you need to grieve, and then I need you to get up.

If you have stopped masking for any reason, or you haven't upgraded to a respirator style mask, now is the time to change or start. From now on, we will be living in a country where you could assume there are multiple covid positive people in the room with you at all times. Surgical masks will not handle that load, and cloth masks will be even less effective at that point. Obviously, this is an unprecedented situation we're putting these masks in, and I'm not gonna sit here and pretend to be an expert that can tell you with certainty that even respirators will hold up with this amount of viral load for a long period of time, but it's the best and strongest tool we have. I'm considering using my p100 more, so that's always something to consider as well (and they make you look like a cool raver when you wear them!!!). You can buy all sorts of masks here, there's more links in the comments of my original post, and most states have their own mask blocs. To find them, go to Instagram and type "[your state] mask bloc". Here is a google doc of verified advocacy groups and mask blocs all across the country here is a diy fit test kit you can buy for $30 (unfortunately they are sold out right now. shocker.) PLEASE remember to take a layered response in these times. Masks are not the only tool in our arsenal. PLEASE for the love of God keep up with your vaccinations. Make a corsi-rosenthal box or buy a high quality air purifier if you can afford it--at the very least our homes can be safe havens (you can even put a hepa filter on your furnace!!!! And in your car too!!!!!). Use CPC Mouthwash, nasal irrigation, and nasal sprays like this one. Make it a routine: you come home, you shower, you brush your teeth, you rinse your nose, you change your clothes. And, like I said in another one of my posts, DO NOT TAKE OFF THE MASK.

3. If you would like an outlet for your rage and you're into calling your reps, feel free to calmly but firmly let the cdc have it at these numbers!!!!!

[alt text: a tweet by user silly_paulie that reads:

"Disdain for the CDC unites us all. Call today and demand isolation policies be returned to 10 days, and reducing it further to 1 day would be criminally dangerous. Call both:

404-639-7000 (press 8)

800-232-4636"

end text.]

4. If you need more outlets for your rage, I STRONGLY encourage you to get involved with your local union. Moreso than calling the CDC, tbh. I've seen multiple comments telling people just to lie about your symptoms to get more sick time off, but since there's no legal precedent to allow employees sick time for covid, all that's gonna do is get people fired. I truly believe in my lefty heart that the ONLY way we're getting anything close to mitigation is through labor rights. Even the standard for the fucking flu is 3 days, and that's nowhere near as contagious or disabling as covid. I say this as a high risk person with a neuromuscular disability: covid is an intersectional issue, but where we have the most leverage to get what we need is through labor rights.

It is NOT safe for workers to be working while ill with a Level 3 Biohazard (same as TB and the FUCKING PLAGUE. Seriously we have more regulations around fucking lice)

It is NOT safe to willfully EXPOSE your employees to a Level 3 Biohazard

It is NECESSARY for all employees to be allowed up to 10 days to recover fully from Covid-19, in order to avoid possible further injury from or hospitalization

You will NOT die or be disabled for the sake of the wealthy!!!!!

(and while you're at it, ask for better air filtration too!!!! At least 5 air changes an hour, MERV-13 air filters!! Then we won't have to constantly worry about virus bs and policy changes in the first place!!!!)

5. Closing statements. Nothing has changed with covid, this is just policy. Covid still isn't magic, she still has to get in you before she can do damage--mask up, arm your home with clean air, and don't let her. It's always worse toward the end. This is not the time to give up, it's time to dig in your heels and get to work. There are so many good things happening with covid. They are finding encouraging treatments for long covid. Finally, after years of nothing, a new prophylactic for the high risk was submitted for emergency use to the FDA, and it looks like this time it's built to last against new mutations. Covid is here to stay for the rest of our lives, but the real science hasn't given up on taking the worst of its teeth out. We WILL get to the point where the extreme fear of catching covid is nothing but a bad memory for EVERYONE. All I need you to do is commit to the belief that you're gonna survive long enough to be in that moment with the rest of us.

Now stay safe, and give em hell!!!!!

[wileys-russo]

A halloween fic where Leah and her gf go to a Williamson family halloween party. Gf secretly dresses up as the always serious Lioness captain and everyone finds its hilarious except Leah (maybe she finds it kinda hot lol)…

narcissist II l.williamson

"oh she is going to hate this." laura laughed as you emerged from your room, the younger girl waiting patiently in the living room while you'd put the finishing touches to your halloween costume.

"thats the goal!" you grinned with a wink, giving yourself a once over in the hallway mirror, adjusting your hair a little. "you look so good lau!" you beamed at laura who was dressed up as cowgirl barbie, having somehow convinced kim to go as her counterpart western ken, who agreed to meet you there.

you'd all been invited to a halloween party thrown by leah's cousin holly, which was an annual tradition among the williamson family and their close friends. leah had been out all day having gone over there this morning, promising to help holly set everything up.

you'd gotten out of it given you had picked up a last minute shift this morning and promised a very nervous laura that she could come over and get ready with you.

with most of the girls away on international break the austrian had spent nearly everyday at yours and leahs shared home seeking out the company she missed when her house mates were away.

not that you or leah minded at all, both looking at laura like a younger sister. you'd always fit in well with leahs friends and team mates since the two of you started seeing one another a few years ago, though you'd become exceptionally close to the fellow members of her coveted infamous acl club.

you glanced down as your phone buzzed, alex texting that she was outside in an uber. "scottys here." you informed, grabbing your house keys and lauras hand, the two of you running to the car with a laugh after you'd locked up.

"jesus christ alex!" you jumped in shock as you opened the door and came face to face with the older woman, who grinned at you devilishly, dressed head to toe like a sexy pennywise the clown. "that is a nightmare." laura laughed, climbing into the car alongside you.

"you look gorgeous!" alex pointed toward laura as the driver pulled out from the curb. "you...well, you look bang on mate." alex nodded her approval as you grinned happily. "down to the very last detail." you pulled a very stern face, causing both women to laugh loudly.

you'd opted that out of all the options you had, the best and most top tier costume you could pull off was to dress up as your lovingly strict girlfriend in her natural element.

so you were clad out in her favourite england kit from the euros with williamson splashed across your back, having to roll the top of her shorts twice so they didn't hang down to your knees. you'd even pulled your socks up and stole an old pair of her boots which you had no doubt you'd hear about from the girl in question soon enough.

then there was the thin black headband which sat on your head pulling your fringe out of your face, leahs now having grown out beyond the need to use it but you'd still given her endless amounts of shit while she'd needed it so it seemed a perfect accessory.

the final cherry on top was the one love captains armband wrapped tightly around your bicep, loaned to you by katie before she'd flown off to ireland for national camp. having laughed till her stomach hurt when you'd explained what you needed it for she made you promise to send her lots of photos.

pulling up to hollys house the party was clearly in full swing as there was cars everywhere and people lounging around smoking on her front lawn, every single sort of weird and wonderful costume in sight.

thanking the driver the three of you slipped out and made your way inside, holly spotting you right away as she grinned and hurried over. she hugged alex who dipped with a wink, spotting some of her friends across the room.

laura was next to go, kim waving her over where she sat with amber, jen and a few others in the living room, the sight of the arsenal captain with a cow print tracksuit on making you let out a loud laugh as she winked and playfully rolled her eyes, dipping her hat at you as she stood to embrace laura.

"and you...babe you are a spitting image!" holly grinned after she'd hugged you tightly, holding you away from her at arms length and looking you up and down.

"god the world can barely handle one leah williamson, but two? good luck to us all!" her brother ben appeared beside her, hugging you tightly and spinning you around before darting away to mingle.

"where is she?" you asked, holly taking your hand and dragging you away to make you a drink. "outside with her mum i think, and i need to see her live reaction." holly handed you a drink and again pulled you away with her.

you spotted your girlfriend stood by the fire pit in the middle of the yard, surrounded by a few of her family members you'd met several times before, following holly over as amanda spotted you and the girl gestured for her not to alert leah.

"well hello sexy, is it hot today or is it just you?" you smacked your girlfriend on the bum as she so often greeted you, the older girl spinning around as you did, having been messaging all day how much she missed you.

though once she actually took you in you were unable to read the look on her face, her family members all exploding into a round of applause and whistles as you took a bow.

"leah williamson; england captain, european champion." you held your hand out toward her mum with a blank stare, and a near perfect impression of your girlfriends thick milton keynes accent, sending the older woman into a deeper bout of hysterics as you were showered with compliments.

"you are unbelievable." finally finishing making the rounds hugging her various family members leah was next as you returned in front of her, sending her a beaming smile and a wink.

"like it? think its pretty accurate." you again made fun of your girlfriends tendency to replace her th's with f's as even leah was unable to hold back her smile.

"you might be fucking annoying but i have to say i do love it baby girl, imitation is the best form of flattery." leah smirked, pecking your lips a few times as the two of you hugged tightly.

"you're looking proper fit babe." you grinned, your girlfriend dressed up like a sexy jack sparrow, the bandana and corset combination doing wonders for you. "are you going to speak like that all night?" leah grimanced at the thickly dramatised impression of her accent.

"sure am, welcome to my every day reality my love."

~

"leah where are we going!" you laughed as she dragged you through the house by your hand, both of you a little tipsy you stumbled on your feet as she pushed you into hollys room.

"you look so fucking good tonight babe its driving me crazy." leah breathed out, shutting the door and pressing you up against it, hands gripping your hips.

"are you seriously telling me you're finding me dressed as you a turn on right now?" you laughed quietly, arms wrapping around her shoulders and fiddling with the baby hairs on the nape of her neck as she gave you a toothy grin.

"what can i say baby? you're hot, i'm hot. put them together? i very much like what i see." leah whistled with a smirk making your eyes roll playfully. "such a narcissist." you teased, standing on your tippy toes to connect your lips to hers.

your head spun as her lips ravaged yours, the kiss desperate and messy and passionate, the older girl doing her very best to show you just how much she'd missed you today, and just how much she was enjoying your little get up tonight.

"leah." you released a breathy moan as she took your bottom lip between her teeth, tugging on it as her eyes locked with yours and winked, sucking your lip into her mouth and pressing you even harder into the door as her tongue slipped into your mouth now taking full control of the kiss.

but tonight, tonight you were determined to stay in character.

you pushed back against her taller form, walking her back until her legs hit the bed and she fell, the kiss breaking for a moment before her hands grabbed at you possessively, tagging you to straddle her lap.

"i think you should keep this on when i have you a whining mess underneath me later my girl. you know i love when you wear my name." leahs hands slipped under her jersey which adorned your top half, short nails scratching your abs before she tugged teasingly at the material.

"maybe i'll even let you wear my euros medal if you beg me nicely enough." leah smiled wickedly, hands gently sliding up higher on your torso until you hastily grabbed them and pinned them to her sides.

"mm tempting but not tonight lee baby, tonight i'm the captain." you breathed out against her lips, ducking your head back with a smug smile as she tried to dive back in to kiss you.

though before anything else could happen a fist was pounding at the door. "i swear to god the two of you better be out out of my room and fully clothed in 0.5 seconds or i'll kick this fucking door and your heads in!" holly yelled menacingly, hitting the door again as you and leah shared a grin.

"don't worry love, this isn't over yet-" you paused, leaning back to proudly tap the lionesses badge on your chest.

"the english are never done."

[fluentmoviequoter]

Lonelier in Misery

Part 2 of Lonely in Misery

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!paramedic!reader

Summary: After you first date with Tim, you decide to keep your relationship from Nolan and Bailey for as long as possible.

Warnings: brief angst, fluff

Word Count: 1.7k+ words

A/N: Titles are hard sometimes. This is one of those times.

Masterlist | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

The morning after your first date with Tim, feigning your continued misery isn’t hard. You miss him already, even though it’s been less than twelve hours since he kissed you and turned your world on its axis. He changed everything, and you never want to go back to how it was before. Now your absent smile and downcast demeanor are because you miss Tim; you miss someone rather than not having anyone. It’s a nice change, but you’re still craving another kiss.

When you arrive at work, Bailey runs across the station to meet you. She pulls you into a tight hug, and you slowly wrap your arms around her in return.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispers. “I thought it would work out with Tim.”

“Oh,” you murmur as you realize she’s still making assumptions based on your text from last night. “Right.”

“Don’t take this as a sign or anything, though. I promise I will do better next time! Just tell me what you did and didn’t like.”

“Bailey, you don’t have to set me up again.”

“No, you need someone. I hate seeing you like this. Being lonely sucks, and with our job, we deserve to have a person to go home to.”

“I agree, but a blind date isn’t-“

“You have to give me another chance. Nolan has more friends, plenty that aren’t cops, so I can find you the right guy.”

Bailey turns when the battalion chief calls her name, and you’re left alone again. You’ll have to convince her not to set you up on another date later. The problem is that you can’t tell her why, not unless you want her to insert herself into your relationship with Tim. Bailey is great, she’s your best friend, but she meddles.

You sigh as you pull your phone out. Tim has responded to your good morning text, so you send a quick warning: Bailey wants to set me up on another date since last night ‘didn’t work out’

Tim answers quickly, and his message brings a smile to your face.

Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle all the dates from now on.

While you avoid answering Bailey’s questions, Tim is dealing with his own line of inquiries about the date last night.

“How did it go? You like her, right? I know you’ve met before,” Nolan asks quickly.

“It was fine,” Tim answers.

“Fine… Is that it? I don’t get more details?”

Tim shrugs and repeats, “It went fine.”

Nolan tosses his hands up in exasperation. Tim won’t elaborate, he already knows that, but he needs to know if he and Bailey were right about their idea that you and Tim would be perfect for one another.

“Sergeant Grey!” Nolan calls. “Bradford and I can deliver the safety brochures to the police station.”

“You want to do a rookie’s assignment for them?” Grey asks, his skepticism audible.

“Yes, sir.”

“Yeah. I know you’re just going to visit Bailey, though, you’re not smooth, Nolan.”

“Never expected to be. Thank you, sir!” Nolan turns to Tim to say, “Let’s go.”

“Why?” Tim asks.

“Because I want to hear from both of you. Fine isn’t good enough.”

Tim grumbles as he follows Nolan to the shop. “I’m driving,” he yells when he catches up.

You’re restocking an equipment kit near the open garage door when a police car parks outside. As you set your gear aside, you see Tim exit the driver’s seat. You smile at him, but he shakes his head just before you see Nolan on the other side. It’s not a friendly visit, then.

“Good morning,” Tim greets. “We are here to drop off these public safety cards.”

“Great. Thanks,” you reply as you take them.

Your fingers brush over Tim’s and you feel the same jolt as when he kissed you last night.

“Where’s Bailey?” Nolan asks.

“Kitchen, I think,” you answer.

He nods to thank you, then walks past the fire engines to find Bailey. You raise your brows and look at Tim, but he just sighs. It’s not far-fetched to assume Nolan gave him treatment similar to the one you got from Bailey.

“Alright,” Nolan calls. He returns with Bailey beside him, and you sigh with Tim this time. “Let’s get to the bottom of this.”

“What happened last night, Tim?” Bailey asks. “You get to the restaurant, and?”

“She’s not who I expected,” Tim answers. He glances at you quickly, and you immediately decide to play along.

“Exactly,” you agree. “Blind date usually implies that you don’t know the person. We’ve met before.”

“Okay, but there’s no animosity or anything. You get along,” Nolan argues. “So, why’d you leave just as sad as when you got there?”

“Because I was still lonely,” you answer.

It’s not a lie. Neither you nor Tim will lie, but you’re going to answer the questions without admitting that they were right. They’ll never let you live it down if they can take credit for your relationship with Tim.

“I just don’t understand why you didn’t enjoy yourselves,” Bailey says. “But your relationships are your decisions. And I already have another guy lined up that I want you to meet.”

You open your mouth to argue, but Tim winks at you before you speak. He told you not to worry about it, so you won’t.

“We need to get back to the station if you’re done with the interrogation,” Tim tells Nolan.

“Sure, yeah,” Nolan responds.

You wave discreetly as Tim leaves, and your internal countdown to when you’ll see him again resumes.

As you walk out of the fire station after your shift ends, your phone rings.

“Hi,” you answer.

“Hi,” Tim repeats. “Are you off?”

“I am. I’m leaving right now.”

“Then you should come over for dinner.”

“I’d love that.”

Tim texts you his address, and you smile for the entire trip to his house. When he opens the door and pulls you into a hug, you feel complete again.

“Whoa, it smells amazing in here. Are you cooking?” you ask.

“Maybe,” Tim answers. “That depends on if you have any stereotypical views that I can’t because I’m a man and a cop.”

“I think you can do everything and look good doing it,” you reply happily.

“Then, yes, I’m cooking. And thank you.”

You follow Tim into the kitchen and settle at his side as he finishes preparing the meal. Everything looks great, but you’d do just about anything as long as you were with Tim.

“I’m sorry if I pushed everything too far today. I know we don’t want them in our business, but if you want me to stop covering things up, I will,” Tim offers.

“You didn’t go too far. I thought it was kind of fun. Plus, I like being with you, even if we are lying to my best friend.”

“Lying,” Tim scoffs.

“By omission, yeah.”

Tim rolls his eyes but tugs you closer to kiss you. His hands rest on your cheeks and as you move with him, you know that it is impossible to feel sad or lonely around Tim Bradford.

Two days later, you find yourself pacing beside your ambulance. Tim texted this morning, just: I won’t answer for a while.

There hasn’t been anything on the news or the radio channels about big police operations, so you’re left to worry about him with nothing more to go on. You try to convince yourself that he’s just in a meeting or on patrol with someone, so he can’t use his phone, but then your mind wanders to a dangerous situation where using his phone could get him killed.

“Oh no,” Bailey murmurs. “Are you okay?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah,” you answer, snapping yourself out of your thoughts. “I’m just stressing. For no reason.”

“Get your stuff.”

“What? Why?”

“You need a distraction, and John Nolan is my favorite distraction. Tag along with me?”

You consider it for a moment. If you stay here, you’ll just be worried and alone. “Yes, please,” you decide.

When Bailey parks at the Mid-Wilshire station, you follow her inside and force yourself not to check your phone again. Tim will reach out when he can. Someone calls your name, and both you and Bailey stop.

“Hi, Detective Lopez,” you greet when you see Angela.

She hugs you tightly as she says, “Stop, it’s Angela. Especially now that you’re dating my BFF.”

“What?” Bailey interrupts.

Angela’s eyes widen, and she whispers, “I’m so sorry. I thought everyone knew. He told me, so I just assumed.”

Bailey says your name and points at you, ready to accuse you of lying to her and keeping secrets. Before she can, Nolan yells, “Why?!” from somewhere else in the station.

A few seconds later, he walks into the bullpen with Tim following closely behind him. Tim is talking, sternly and meanly, based on his stance. Nolan sees you and Bailey and quickens his pace.

“Bailey,” he begins.

“I know!” she replies. “They’re liars.”

“Why would you lie about that?” Nolan asks.

Tim steps to your side as you answer, “Technically, we didn’t lie. We answered your questions.”

“You just didn’t ask the right questions,” Tim agrees. “Which is part of your job, Nolan.”

“No, no, no. Don’t make this about me,” Nolan argues.

“Wait, so then are you going out again?” Bailey asks.

“And did you actually consider that to be a date? Enjoy it and everything?” Nolan adds.

Tim takes your hand as they continue asking questions, and you wave kindly to Angela as he leads you away. You smile as you follow him blindly. Once he has you away from the bullpen and the endless questions, he stops and pulls you close.

“Are you okay?” you ask. “I’ve been worried.”

“I’m sorry. I got called into a meeting to consult on a UC operation. Everything is confidential, so I couldn’t have my phone on me.”

“I’m not mad. I feel much better now that I know you’re okay.”

“It’s Friday,” he reminds you. “We have another date tonight.”

You nod, and Tim moves his hands, one on your waist and one on your jaw. He dips his chin and kisses you in the empty hallway, and you wonder what did it feel like to be miserable again?

[writinground2]

The Past Doesn't Always Stay in the Past

Leah Williamson - Reader

Based off a prompt for Angsty Leah. Y/N's past resurfaces. Slight trigger warning for very mention of abuse, nothing detailed.

Leah’s eye kept darting to the door, their film session having started 20 minutes ago, and Y/N had yet to arrive. Y/N had abruptly left the lunchroom, and no one had seen her since. 

 Finally, 10 minutes later, Y/N settled herself in the open seat next to Leah. The blonde rolled her seat until the arm rests bumped Y/N’s. She rested her hand on Y/N’s knee where it bounced anxiously. The motion caused Y/N to jerk her leg away, slamming it harshly against the table while she pushed herself further away from Leah. The defender withdrew her hand quickly, hovering it in the air in surrender. 

Y/N mumbled apologies to the room as everyone looked back at them, shrinking herself as much as she could into her chair. Jonas quickly called attention back to the front of the room, continuing his film session. 

Leah did her best to focus on what Jonas was talking about, but her eyes continued to stray back over to her girlfriend next to her. Y/N’s eyes were staring forward, but it was obvious she wasn’t paying attention to anything being said, nibbling absentmindedly over her thumb, both legs bouncing again. Occasionally her eyebrows would knit together, and her jaw would clench, whatever thoughts going through her mind not being good ones. 

The blonde gently tapped the table next to Y/N’s arm, doing her best not to startle her again. The meeting finished and everyone left, but Y/N hadn’t made any motion that she knew that. Y/N’s eyes rapidly blinked while she came back to focus, looking around the room to see everyone gone. 

“Hey,” Leah spoke softly, hoping to avoid startling the younger woman. 

“Hey.”

Leah could see the woman working to put up her defences, preparing to defend that she was alright before the blonde could ask how she was. 

“Let’s go home, yeah?”

Y/N breathed out in relief at not having to confront anything yet. Nodding, she followed the blonde out of the room. 

Leah consciously gave Y/N her space as they walked, pointedly keeping herself slightly in front of her, making sure Y/N could see all her movements. Glancing behind her to make sure Y/N was following, she could see the way Y/N’s eyes seemed to dart everywhere, stumbling into the blondes back when a door shut loudly from behind them. 

Y/N nibbled on her thumb again as she stared out the window on the drive home. Leah tucked the hand not on the wheel under her thigh to avoid reaching over to Y/N. 

Leaving her kit bag in the backseat, Y/N darted from the car and to the house before Leah could even get the car into park. 

Hearing the shower running when she walked in, she made her way to the laundry to drop off both bags. She worked on emptying them in the wash, tossing a few other items in to fill the load. 

Absently wandering the house, working to keep herself busy while she waited for Y/N to finish. 

Leah sat the kitchen island picking at a bowl of berries when Y/N made her way in. She forced herself to keep her eyes on Y/N’s face and not scan her body like she wanted to. 

“Umm, a lawyer called me today,” Y/N bit her lip while she shuffled in place. 

Leah nodded, encouraging Y/N to continue. 

“I have to go to court next week. He, uh, he, Rick might get parole,” she furrowed her brows, bringing her thumb back to her mouth, ripping the abused skin off, “good behaviour or some shit.” 

The was the closest to emotion Leah had seen from Y/N since she entered the meeting room hours earlier. 

“He was supposed to have 10 years! It’s only been six! And because he was a good little boy, he gets to get out early? It’s fucked!”

Y/N started to pace the kitchen. 

“Found God or some fucking bullshit. She didn’t even get any time and now he gets out early? It’s fucked up. And I have to fucking see both of them!”

Her voice grew louder the more she spoke.

“So, I have to go be the same scared little girl I was six years ago. I need to see both those monsters again! Because if I don’t, he’ll get out.”

Leah wished there was something she could do. There was nothing she could say to make Y/N feel better. She wanted to pull Y/N in her arms and tell her nothing bad would happen but knew that would be a lie. Y/N wasn’t in a place to be touched right now, the blonde had learned that the first time Y/N had spoken about her past and had a panic attack when the blonde tried to hug her. 

Y/N had told Leah of her past before they started dating. Some rude rookie wouldn’t stop questioning Y/N about the odd shaped scars on her back. Leah harshly told the rookie to mind her own business she brought it up again on a night out. 

Cigarettes Y/N mumbled to the blonde when the rookie finally walked away. Cigars if he was in a good mood, she said it so casually the blonde almost thought she was kidding, but seeing her face, she knew Y/N wasn’t. 

When Leah sat gapping like a fish, Y/N just said she had it a little rough growing up and left it at that. 

A week later, Leah snapped at the rookie again when she commented to the team that it was weird Y/N never changed in front of the group, always choosing to change in a bathroom stall. Leah had hoped Y/N hadn’t heard, but unfortunately, she walked out as the rookie rushed out properly scorned. 

She had found Y/N leaned against the hood of her car when she went to leave. The younger girl just saying she owed the woman an explanation to the person always coming to her defence. 

That night, Y/N explained everything. How she had grown up in the foster system, some houses were good, most weren’t. The last ‘family’ being Rick and Sheryl; a be seen and not heard type of house. That being seen meant being punished. She laughed that Rick claimed he struggled with his anger, but the reality was that Rick loved the fear in the kids’ eyes as he stood over them. But what he loved even more, was Y/N begging him to take it out on her instead. Sheryl pretended she didn’t know what Rick did, but really, she was just too drunk to notice. 

She told Leah how it ended when she had collapsed at a football practice. The doctors had seen the bruises in varying states of healing along with the crudely bandaged laceration on her hip where Rick’s belt buckle had struck. 

Y/N flinched when Leah unconsciously reached out to touch it.

Everything moved quickly after that. The kids were removed and placed in different homes. Y/N was left on her own, petitioning for emancipation. She was awarded that, along with a large settlement from the system for the years of abuse she had attempted to report countless times. After a whirlwind of meetings and court appearances and trials, Rick was in prison, Sheryl was given a fine and Y/N was left on her own. 

It felt like overnight, but now she was 22 playing professional football, dating a fellow footballer, and doing well. All for It to seemingly come crashing down by a phone call. 

“It was supposed to be ten years until possible parole, not six! They were just kids, fucking kids!”

“You were just a kid too,” Leah whispered, heart clenching when she realized Y/N still prioritized how the other kids had been treated over herself. 

“I was just a kid,” Y/N finally broke down completely, collapsing against the wall and sliding to the floor, wrapping her arms tightly around her knees, “I was just a kid,” she whispered helplessly. 

Leah quickly made her way next to Y/N, sitting next to her, but keeping space between them. Only moving to wrap her arms around Y/N when she said it was alright. 

They stayed on the floor for hours. Y/N soaking the chest of Leah’s t-shirt where her face was pressed. Leah didn’t offer any empty platitudes, only rubbing her hand soothingly up and down Y/N’s back. She only encouraged her to move when she recognized Y/N beginning to drift off against her.  

Leah gently tugged her to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth, promising she would feel just slightly better after performing both actions. 

Once in bed, she stayed on her back, waiting for Y/N to decide on her own if she wanted to cuddle into her side or not. Y/N didn’t hesitate before settling herself into Leah’s side. 

“Do you want to say anything to the team?” 

“They would want to be there for you,” she tried to encourage when she felt Y/N adamantly shake her head no. 

Leah sighed. It was a lot for Y/N to take on without much support.

The next day, Y/N apologized to Jonas for her behaviour the day before, telling him she was going through something personal and requested to miss training the next week for court. 

Leah discreetly made her way to the manager’s office, requesting the day off as well. Refusing to let Y/N handle the experience on her own again.

Y/N did her best to focus on the team for the rest of the week, putting in extra time on the pitch and the weight room. She was quiet and withdrawn, Leah was quick to shoo anyone away who asked too many questions, she didn’t care if she seemed like a chihuahua barking at nothing, she wasn’t letting anything further upset Y/N. 

The parole hearing came too soon for Y/N. She wanted it over with, but she wasn’t ready to see either of the people again, she never would. 

“Go to training Leah,” Y/N told the blonde when she realized she was pulling on dress pants instead of track pants, "you are not coming with me.” 

“You’re not doing this alone.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, you aren’t.”

They stared each other down, neither willing to back down. 

“Those people took everything from me when I was younger, they will not take anything from me now. You will not be anywhere near those people,” Y/N growled out, “you are staying here.”

Leah refused to back down, “you had to do everything alone last time, you don’t need to do it alone this time.”

“I don’t care about me or being alone, I care about them seeing you. That man got off hearing me talk about it during trial, if he sees you with me,” she trailed off, “you are not coming, end of discussion.”

“You do not make decisions for me!” Leah took a breath to settle herself, she wasn’t trying to fight or make this day worse for Y/N, “I’ll wait in the car.” 

Y/N shook her head, “I’m not fighting you on this Leah.”

Leah wanted to argue that waiting in the car shouldn’t be a problem, but ultimately offered a small nod, switching her dress pants for her joggers.  

“Thank you.”

“Call me, as soon as it’s done,” she hugged Y/N as tight as possible before slipping out the door. 

Sheryl looked older than someone her age should look. Y/N smiled to herself, good, she thought bitterly. The older woman perked up in her seat when the door opened, and Rick was led out in shackles and a body belt. He too looked far too aged; prison had not been kind to him. 

She felt his eyes combing her body as he was shuffled to his spot, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of looking at him. 

Parole Denied 

The words continued to ring her mind only an hour later. The decision was made almost immediately after she spoke and described who the man was and what he was capable of, that he repeatedly attempted to contact her. 

Sheryl had been carried from the room when she attempted to run to her husband. But Rick’s eyes stayed focused on Y/N, she ignored him while she smoothly made her way out, not giving him a hint that she was uncomfortable.

She waited until she was safely in her car to let out a shuddering breath. No tears fell though. She didn’t even realize she was shaking until she tried to enter the combo to her phone. 

Leah answered on the first ring, puffing out a breath, clear she had sprinted to get her phone from the staff holding it during training. 

“Parole denied,” she spoke before the blonde could say anything.

“Oh, thank god.” 

“Because he lost this one, he forfeited his chance at 10 years, he has to do the whole 10 years.” 

“That’s amazing Y/N! How are you doing?”

“I don’t even know if I have words for it right now. I’m so happy. But I hate that it’s all brought back up.”

“Just come home to me, darling.”

Y/N felt like she could breathe for the first time in days. She had won. She would be leaving here and going home to someone who was gentle with her and loved her. 

Leah had all but begged Jonas to let her leave training as soon as the call disconnected, needing to be home for when Y/N would be there. 

The blonde was ready for Y/N as soon as she came through the door, letting her collapse into her before the front door shut. Leah kicked a leg out to shut the door while her arms held Y/N tight against her. Y/N shuddered and allowed Leah to guide them to lay on the couch. 

“You should be so proud of yourself,” Leah spoke softly. 

 Y/N trembled and shook her head against Leah’s chest, not wanting to hear any other soft words. Leah nodded, understand she didn’t need to say anything, simply running a finger single up and down Y/N’s spine. 

[miniversse]

Hello, in case your requests are without any guidelines, can you a fic like this:

You saved the life of I.N., who was fatally injured in a deal gone wrong, but you're oblivious that he's from SKZ (an underground group known to be dangerous).

Let me know if you have any questions? Thanks for considering!

⭑ “i owe you” ⭑ pt.1

⭑ jeongin x female reader

⭑ content includes: non-idol reader, non-idol jeongin, causal mentions of blood and scars, mentions of other members (bang chan), reader is a doctor

⭑ note: by no means am i a doctor so please correct any of my terminology if its not used correctly.

⭑ minors dni

the red traffic light glowed in the cold, dark night, forbidding you from shutting your eyes. your car's broken clock insisted it was 12:08 AM, though you knew it must be at least 4:08 AM. The familiar alleyway you always surveyed after your dreaded shift was usually populated by drug dealers, homeless souls, and discarded beer cans. tonight, however, a figure crouched there, clutching his right hand and gazing up at the moon...

fortunately a parking spot was open right after the traffic stop and you rush your first aid kit out of the back, pacing to this odd instance. running up to strange man  at 4 in the morning wouldn’t be ideal, but you’re a doctor who believes there is good in everyone, and leaving someone hurt is morally wrong. your footsteps slow down as you approach him, eventually stopping to make out his face. 

his face was illuminated by the moon he looked up to for hope. his eyes were sharp and dreamy, reminiscent of a fox’s gaze. a fresh scar ran down his left cheek, hinting at a serious injury. you couldn’t make anything else of his condition, but it seemed severe and the only solution would be taking him home to treat him.

“e-excuse me?”

his eyes flickered to the direction of your voice, squinting at your - not too appealing - presence. regardless of his beauty, his tattoos and shredded, soiled clothes lent him an intimidating feel.

“who are you?” his voice couldn’t be described as deep, but rather a large and empty void.

“im y/ln, doctor at the local hospital here. i noticed you looked injured and came to help”

“im fine”

you moved closer to him, shining a small flashlight on his body. the injuries were severe and far from fine. knife wounds, bruises and a split lip covered his body, causing him to lose more blood by the minute.

“im sorry, but i cannot leave you in this condition”

he grunted, his grip tightening on his hand, struggling to give you an audible response. 

“just. leave.”

you act quick and throw his limp arm around your shoulder, guiding him slowly to your car. his blood seeped into your shirt, but what worried you more was his life being between your hands.

“fuck! can’t you see it’s an open wound?” your body jumped at his cries, feeling heavier with sympathy for him. you tried your best to disinfect his wounds gently, but the pain would be near intolerable.

“it’s almost over” you whispered to him, too focused to answer him back properly.

he sat on the sofa of your living room, taking in the art works you hung on the wall to distract him from the gruesome pain. every now and then he would flinch or grunt, but it’s nothing you’ve never dealt with before as a doctor.

you near the end of his ‘procedure’ and move to his face, inspecting the deep scar that ran across his cheek and his busted lip. a mix of disappointment and curiosity washed over you, expressed in a long sigh.

“what did you get yourself into?”

“nothing”

“what’s your name?” your questions were an attempt to distract the painful alcohol grazing his cuts, but his hissing and grunting never came to a stop.

“j-jeong in” 

you repeat the name to yourself, its familiarity nudging at your head. while preparing the bandages, you couldn’t help but take in his strong facial features.  he looks back at you too, eyes outlining every detail of your face. you couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity, so you give it up to him being an old patient but a tattoo on his neck catches your eye, denying your conclusion.

(SKZ)

“SKZ? where have i heard that before?” it sounded like something that may have been in the newspapers they handed out to the doctors offices, or something on the news channel, but the lack of sleep wouldn’t be able to catch onto anything.

“you forced me into your home to fucking question me?!” he screamed at your face, looking at you in disgust. the words caught in your throat and you felt like crying, your thoughts crashing down. today had been stressful enough, and having someone scream at you was the last straw. jeongin notices the beads of tears forming on your waterline, changing his expression in a matter of seconds.

“please, just finish so i can leave” he sighs, turning to face the sunrise that peeked through the curtains. the teardrop falls on your leg and you return to what you should’ve been doing, feeling bad for the unnecessary confrontation you gave him. 

a contact named “bang chan” buzzed his phone and he picks it up, placing it up to his ear and squirming at the pain of the alcohol on the scar of his cheek. you attempt to listen to some of the muffles from the other side, hoping you can conclude your suspicions about him.

jeongin- “yea?”

bang chan- “where are you man?”

jeongin- “getting treated by a random doctor in her house” 

his eyes dart from his arm to your face, holding your gaze.

bang chan- “are you crazy? we are high profile by the police and you’re at a random doctors house?”

his tone was clearly sterner, but all the noises you could hear faded at the thought of having someone wanted infront of you. your body stiffens but you act clueless, worried of how dangerous he may be.

jeongin- “just… ill be back”

bang chan- “man this isn’t funny at all. you’re getting us in some deep shit”

jeongin- “she looks like she wouldn’t tell a soul”

bang chan- “a doctor? you couldn’t pick a worse person to help you?”

he scans your face for any fear or regret, but you hold back any emotions until he would be out of your house and safe.

bang chan- “god you’re so fucking oblivious. be here before the afternoon”

he laughs at his comment, ending the call.

you put all the equipment back to its place as jeongin sips on a mug of green tea, slouching on the couch. as a doctor you couldn’t let him out too early and he had to be watched for at least a day. but you were worried of his criminal state and if his friend would barge the door of your house open.

“you’ll need to rest. don’t get yourself involved in any of… that”

he nods, getting up to place his mug on the counter and head for the door.

“thank you. really”

you close your eyes, nodding at him and inspecting his bandages one more time.

“i owe you”

and with that, it would’ve been the last encounter with him. many questions ran through your head but it would autopilot to your couch, falling asleep to the memory of his ethereal but odd face.

the alleyway remained significant to you, always looking for him, or for another injured individual. but with the overflowing pressure of becoming a doctor and having no time to yourself, everything would fade away and it would become endless hours of work.

FIVE YEARS LATER

you parkoured between your new neighbors boxes to get to your door, 

placing the groceries on the floor and rummaging for your key. your eyes couldn’t help but dart to the many boxes. the apartment next to you is finally occupied after a mysterious 3 years of nobody renting it.

at the collection of that thought, the door of the new neighbors unlocks, startling you. a mans back faced you, his hair orange, wearing a black leather jacket and black jeans. it was only when he turned that your heart may have stopped. his features were unmatched and unique, taking you a while to absorb before greeting him.

“hey! new neighbor?”

he didn’t respond for a while, looking at you with confusion.

“your name?”

“it’s y/n. im a doctor at the local hospital here. what about you?”

“jeongin”

recollections of that very night begin to flow through your mind and how everyday for weeks you stared into the dark alleyways, trying to picture his body there. immediately your eyes dart to his neck, only to find his tattoos slightly fading.

(SKZ)

your eyes dart back to his face, still questioning if it was true or not.

“i owe you”

PART 2

⭑ TAG LIST

@captainchrisstan @rylea08 @strayywayy @all4minnie @katsukis1wife @kayleefriedchicken

[sugdenlovesdingle]

can you write a story where Tommy hides a relatively minor injury from buck and when buck finds out he freaks out( angry) but everything turns out okay in the end

"You brought me here? You ratted me out?"

"Dude, look at the state of you. Don't you think your husband of six months would notice?" Eddie said, parking his car in front of Buck and Tommy's house. "I still don't know why you called me instead of him."

"You're a medic! I needed medical help. "

"Yeah, we have these great places called hospitals. You can go there if you need medical help and they give it to you. They can even give you painkillers or numb the area if you need stitches."

Tommy rolled his eyes.

"Enough with the sarcasm, Diaz. You could have brought me to your place. I would have been fine there for a couple of hours until Evan went on shift. I would have had 48 hours to patch myself up and he wouldn't have had to worry." he moved to try and open the passenger door without hurting himself more, but it was yanked open before he could do so.

"Tommy! What the hell happened?" Evan caught him just before he could faceplant onto the pavement.

"It's worse than it looks." Tommy said and then scrunched his face up. "Wait. No. It looks worse than it is." he corrected himself. "Rough landing. It's fine."

"It doesn't look fine. You look like you just went ten rounds with Mike Tyson." Buck said and turned to Eddie. "What happened?"

"I don't know. He just called me and asked if I could pick him up at Harbor." Eddie shrugged. "He wouldn't let me take him to the ER so I cleaned him up best I could with the med kit I keep in my car... but it's not ideal. That's why I texted you, maybe he'll listen to you."

"Traitor." Tommy said, annoyed. "You're supposed to be my friend."

"I am your friend. And I'm also his. And my ankle still hurts on rainy days so I'm not getting in between the two of you again."

"That was years ago!" Buck protested.

"Tell that to my ankle." Eddie replied. "You good with him on your own?"

"We're fine." Tommy said and tried to slam the car door shut while also keeping himself upright and not letting Evan know how much he was hurting.

"Yeah I can handle him. Can you tell Bobby I'm not coming in today? I'll call him later to explain."

"Evan you don't have to stay home to babysit me." Tommy said both both men ignored him.

"Sure. Let me know if you need anything. I can swing by if we have some downtime."

"Thanks." Evan shut the car door and took Tommy inside and deposited him on the sofa. He gently grabbed his chin and turned his head from left to right. "Did Eddie stitch up your eyebrow?"

"Yeah... I told him to just stick a bandage on it but he insisted. It's fine."

"You keep telling yourself that." Evan told him and sat down on the coffee table in front of him, looking him up and down, trying to figure out if he had any other injuries. "Want to tell me what happened? Without using the word fine?"

Tommy took a deep breath and tried to hide the wince when he did. Evan just raised an eyebrow at him.

"The new probie. I shouldn't have left him fly in this weather."

"He crashed?"

"No, no crash. Just a rough landing. We got knocked around a little. it's f- not so bad."

"You're going to be black and blue in a couple of hours. Have you taken anything for the pain?" Buck asked, accepting he wasn't going to get a more detailed answer right now.

"I was going to get something from the place near Eddie's house. Before he ratted me out and drove me here."

Buck rolled his eyes and got up.

"You're impossible, you know that? I'm getting you some ibuprofen." he gently kissed the top of Tommy's head. "You're lucky I love you."

----

send me prompts and I'll write you a ficlet!

[pablitogavii]

Happy Family Pt. 2

Here is PT.1 for y'all :)

The next morning you were the first one downstairs preparing some coffee while texting one of your best friends from back home. You just needed to tell someone what happened last night or you would burst.

"Morning hermanita..." you suddenly heard dropping your phone on the ground not expecting him to be so close and he chuckled picking it up for you.

"You really enjoy scaring me, don't you!?" you say about to take your phone away but he kept it looking at the messages which made you freak out.

"Apparently you don't mind me that much, hermanita" he smirked reading your message before giving you back the phone and you were once again bright red. Damn it! He keeps winning this war!

"Buenos dias kids. I will drive you both today" Sr. Pablo said carrying his morning newspaper while Belen went to make some breakfast. She told me yesterday during dinner that she loves to have all meals as a family and I thought that was so adorable.

"Por que!?" Pablo said and his dad gave him a stern look reminding him of the promise you broke yesterday so he just shut up sitting down waiting for breakfast.

"Bon día!" a boy entered carrying the bag with fresh pastries putting it on the island before greeting he parents, shaking hands with Gavi and finally arriving to where I was sitting.

"I'm Javi..nice to meet you..I'm.." he shook your hand and you interrupted him knowing exactly who he was from the talk.

"Aurora's boyfriend" you say and he smiles nodding his head as she joined in hugging him tightly.

"This is mi nueva hermanita cariño..I told her about you" she said and the boy blushed a little nodding his head and joining in for breakfast.

I went to change into my new uniform after we all ate walking downstairs where Pablo stood in his training kit making me unable not to look..he looked so much better in barça attire.

He was just as guilty looking up as I walked down the stairs staring at my placed skirt raising up a little as I stepped down. He moved a little coughing when his dad joined us and we went to one of his cars.

I was surprised that he opened the door for me thinking to myself that although being cocky idiot, he was raised in a good family and was still a true gentleman.

"Gracias.." you say trying to be kind entering the car and he closed the door before getting in the passenger seat. You had to stop by the gas station and when his dad left, he turn around shamelessly looking at you from head to toe.

"Do you want a picture cabrón!?" you say looking away from your phone and he smirked nodding his head about to take his phone but only chuckling when you blushed red.

"I don't need a picture hermanita..I will remember you in that little uniform for sure..just like I remember you in those red panties..every detail" he whispered the last part and you felt yourself shivering while playing with the edge of your skirt in nervousness. Thankfully his dad came back quickly and he turned around.

When you arrived to the university, there was a hoard of fans around the car knocking on his window until he opened and gave a few signatures.

"And this always happens??" you ask truthfully never experiencing anything like this before and Pablo's dad chuckled nodding his head.

"At least nobody will notice me being the new kid.." you joked grabbing your bag and leaving the car hiding from the camera shots and rushing to the entrance. Pablo watched after you clenching his jaw when some guy smirked while looking at your ass while following after you.

"Hey! You're Pablo Gavi's new hermanita right?" curly haired girl who was sitting next to you in class whispered and you sighed knowing this would happen.

"Yes, I am..and no, I can't get you to meet him!" you say opening your book but she only chuckled shaking her head.

"No..no..you got me wrong. I saw you come in and noticed him in the passenger seat. I have a boyfriend, and thought you could use a friend. I'm Nicole" she said and you nodded smiling at her.

"I'm sorry..I just thought.." you started but she interrupted you.

"You're right to be careful..most would only play nice to get to him through you" she said and you nodded before the class finally started.

"Hey Nick! Back to school party tonight at 10? Bring that bombón too" some tall guy said to us while we were waiting in the lunch line and she smirked nodding her head.

"Who is that??" you say thinking he was kinda handsome but still a little too cocky for your taste. It seems all cocky guys glued to you since you arrived to Spain!

"That's Charlie. But don't fall for his charm..he's the biggest player. Doesn't mean we don't take the free party ticket tho! I'll pick you up at nine?" she said and you nodded although you still had to ask your 'new parents'.

During the dinner, when everyone was there you decided to bring up the party you were invited to hoping they would let you go.

"It's the back to school party and I would really like to go and meet some friends?" you said and they looked at each other trying to decide together.

"Since you just got here, we would like someone we know to go with you.." Sr. Pablo said and you understood knowing that they are responsible for you while you live with them.

"I would go but it's date night tonight..but Pablo is free?" Aurora said and you knew this would be a hard thing to ask but you really wanted to go. You just turned towards Pablo who was eating his toast carelessly meeting your big pleading eyes.

"Stop looking at me like that!" he said but you kept looking at him sadly now pouting as well while his parents smirked chuckling amongst each other.

"Come on hermano! You can't say no to that!" Aurora said smiling at you and he sighed shrugging his shoulders agreeing like it's not a big deal.

You jumped hugging him from behind without thinking which took you both by surprise. You returned to sit down and eat with blushing cheeks but happy to have convinced him to take you.

"Are you ready finally!?" he knocked on your door and you opened making him stand back looking at you in awe which defiantly built your confidence.

"Um..you look nice hermanita" he said you smirked nodding your head and walking by him towards the stairs.

"Thank you Pablo" you said for the first time using his name instead of some insulting nickname. He smiled after hearing that following after you.

"Ready to go chica!?" Nicole was in her jeep in front of the house and you smiled nodding your head but Pablo unlocked his own car.

"You're riding with me! No arguments!" he said before you could whine and you just shrugged nodding your head and getting into the passenger seat as he held the door open.

When you arrived, you met with Nicole introducing her to Pablo before you three entered the club. Pablo was not much of a party lover especially since people always surround him asking for pictures and autographs.

"I'll be by the bar..behave yourself hermanita!" his voice was low and threatening and your panties were ruined but you decided to ignore it walking with your best friend to the crowd of people.

Nicole introduced you to some of her other friends when Charlie walked up with a bottle of vodka and a girl on his shoulder. He was clearly known by everyone but when he saw you he let go of her giving his whole focus to you instead of anyone else.

"It's a second time we meet..I think I deserve to know your name now bombón??" he said reaching out his hand as the girl snarled snatching the bottle and leaving.

You shook his hand smiling feeling a little uncomfortable with the whole situation but still liking the attention you were receiving.

"I'm Y/n..nice to meet you Charlie" you said and he smirked asking how you knew his name but everyone knew who he was anyways. Like you said before, too cocky for your liking!

"Y/n..how about I get you a drink to start this party huh?" he said taking your hand and pulling you towards the bar but you knew Pablo was there and didn't want to make a scene.

"No..um..that's okay..I'm not thirsty right now" you tried to get out of this but it was no use since he kept offering while pulling you to the bar where Pablo was sitting with own drink.

"Tyga! Let's make this bombón a rum cola" Charlie said making Pablo turn to the side clenching his jaw when he saw the same guy who was checking you out holding your wrist.

"You will not make her anything Tyga!" Pablo's voice was low and threatening and the bartender stopped pouring the rum in the glass.

You gulped when Pablo walked up around the bar to where you were standing snaking his muscled arm around your waist and pulling you to his side making Charlie let go off your wrist.

Pablo might not be as tall but he was bulking and didn't look like someone you should mess with, especially when he was angry like this. Charlie was just as angry getting closer and making Pablo hide you behind his back.

"Listen you can be the famous footballer all you want, I don't care cabrón!" Charlie yelled and people started to show up cheering for a fight and you started to freak out while holding onto Pablo's shirt helplessly.

"Stay away from her! I won't repeat it again.." was all Pablo said trying his best not to cause a scene and end up in every gossip magazine the next morning.

"Didn't think I needed Golden Boy's permission to fuck you, bombón??" Charlie smirked while everyone laughed and you felt so embarrassed from how he was talking to you. Who the hell did he think he was!?

Pablo was thinking the same exact thing tensing up about to move towards him but you pulled him back just wanting to disappear from here.

"Pablo, please don't..let's just go home" you snaked your arm around him waist to keep him from moving. Obviously you couldn't hold him back being much weaker but he was letting you calm him down.

"Yeah just go home footballer!" Charlie smirked and Pablo couldn't help his anger again pulling away from him and hitting his face with all his strength.

Before Charlie stood up, you screamed standing in between them and placing your hands on Pablo's strong chest not letting him move forwards.

"Please Pablo..for me.." you whispered the last part and Pablo looked down at your eyes sighed gulping heavily before grabbing your hand and taking you out of the bar. The ride home was quiet and you could tell that Pablo was very angry so you didn't want to test your luck.

"Thank you for walking away.." you broke the silence not expecting him to attack you about what happened next which is exactly what he did. Pablo told you to 'behave' and the next thing you do is get a drink with a playboy!?

"How could you be so fucking stupid huh!? Can't you tell when someone just wants to use you!?" Pablo was gripping his steering wheel and now you were getting angry as well. Why would he get angry at you for something that asshole did!?

"Well, if I'm so stupid why the hell did you save me!?" you spat and his jaw clenched breaking suddenly and your body trashed forwards and you were turning towards him angrily.

"You're in MY house, MY city and MY car so you're MY responsibility! Get that!?" he was yelling and you felt hurt that he just saw you as some bother in his life. Were you really such a horrible thing that happened to his life!?

"Then I'll stay away from you! Just drive me home, please.." you were sad and something in Pablo broke not wanting to be so harsh but the previous anger towards that asshole was still holding him.

You pulled your legs to your chest crying softly and Pablo felt like a real asshole trying his best not to look but every once in awhile he stole a glance at you wishing he can just dry your tears with his hands. You finally arrived home and you left before he could open your door rushing straight to your room. You just wanted to sleep and forget about tonight!

Pablo sighed walking past his old room towards the guest room wanting so badly to walk in an apologize for his actions. He didn't do that tho not knowing if it was a smart idea so he just left to get some sleep hoping things would be better in the morning.

Here's the second part :) I hope you like it!

[thecosmosdefys]

Hiii would you please write smth for simon with an s/o who has depression and anxiety disorder??:'( the details don't really matter, you can write it however you want and it's ok if you don't wanna do it… hope you're doing great and have a nice day💕

Simon Riley who helps his S/O with their depression & Anxiety

Pairing(s): Simon Riley x GN ! Reader

Warnings: Depression, Anxious thoughts, Anxious and depressive behaviors

Synopsis: How I think simon riley would deal with your anxiety & Depression

Author Note: Peekaboo! Tis I cosmos!!! I saw this request at work and decided to write it as soon as I got home, for right now I really only have the energy (as well as time because im about to head back to work) to do headcanons but I hope you enjoy them!! (their more like mini blurbs

I feel like Simon would 100% understand if you told him you had anxiety or depression. He wouldn't be the best at dealing with it but by gods he would do his best to help you with your problems! Like truly he would!

Say idk your room in your apartment is just... really bad. You havent left in ages, and you stopped texting Simon? He's there in an instant. Once he realises your super depressed hes like "alright luv lets get started" and he's helping you clean, wash your clothes, ect.

If you can't find the energy to shower he's drawing a bath and helping you slowly strip off your clothes. He slips you into a nice warm bubble bath and either slips in with you or helps wash you from outside of the bath. He cleans your skin and then does your hair for you making sure to wash it without getting soap in your eyes. He might blow bubbles at you to make you laugh.

If you can't cook or something and maybe don't have the energy, he makes meal plans on sundays, so he starts including you. So when he cooks ahead for the week, he also cooks stuff he knows is your favorite meals and then drops them off on monday.

Would definately invite the 114 over for a little suprise day spoiling you, expecially if he knows being around people helps you. He will plan a movie night and invite you over, and you walk in and all the boys are just sitting there eating popcorn and movie snacks. As soon as they see you its just a huge dog pile of hugs (they almost knock you over)

If your anxious in public he will gladly hold your hand and do all the talking for you. You don't want to order because your stomach is in way too many knots? He already knows what you like and he will order it for you.

Most dates he will try to keep at home if he knows that your anxious in public. You want to see a brand new movie but don't want to go to the movie theater? He texts you to come over one night and he has practically made his living room a movie theatre. Lots of blankets, snacks, pillows for a pillow fort, and a little basket for each of you.

If you have relationship anxiety he is definitely reassuring you all the time. its almost like he knows what youre thinking before you say it out loud? (I swear he's a mind reader) He can tell by your tells when your anxious and he's calming you down already.

If you have anxiety attacks? He's comforting you instantly pulling every coping skill he can out of the book. He is putting loop earbuds in your ears and then breathing with you. Having you name the 54321 thing, and everything. Even has a little sensory/anxiety kit ready for you on the go in his car. He is no stranger to anxiety.

[footywritingworks]

Hurts so Good {Martin Ødegaard x fem!Reader}

Summary: Co-parenting your daughter with a footballer isn't always easy. Especially if there are still unresolved feelings lingering....

Wordcount: 1,5K

Warnings: angst, children, mentions of childbirth

"No. She can't even walk yet."

"Please (Y/N). I'll carry her the whole time! I already talked to Mikel about it. And he likes the idea too. You know how special that would be for me."

Arguing with your ex-boyfriend wasn't how you had wanted to spend the time of you picking up your daughter from his house.

" Martin this isn't all about you. She's still so small. And you know how loud the Emirates gets. It would just hurt her ears and make her afraid. I don't think this is a good idea."

His sparkling blue eyes look down on you. A spitting image of those of your daughter. The eyes that were once your safe place. That were once filled with love, adoration and gentleness. Not anymore. But they still made your heart flutter just like they used to. You really needed to get yourself together.

A pleading look spread across his face and you knew he was starting to become desperate. He rarely pleaded for anything.

"She'll wear earmuffs as protection. Nothing will happen I promise. You can come along too if you want to make sure she's alright."

You can come along if you want. Not I want you to be there for me like it was before. Before everything had gone wrong. Before he had left and stomped on your heart.

You couldn't deny the hurtful tug on your heart his words had left. Tears started to well up in your eyes at the current situation. You needed to get out. Fast. But you needed to put yourself together just for a bit more. Avoiding his eyes was the way to go to not burst into tears.

"If it means that much to you to walk into the stadium with her then fine. But I'll take her as soon as you're done. It's my week anyways."

You didn't look up but you knew that a self satisfied smile graced his lips, his eyes shining bright like the ocean water on the first vacation you spent together. You stopped yourself from going even deeper into your memories.

"Amazing. Thank you. I'll give you tickets too so you can watch the game as well. Maybe catch up with some of the girls."

Giving him a tight smile and nodding you went into your daughters room in Martins house to pick her up. Your old home where you had wanted to watch her grow up together. All that a thing of the past.

Little Linnea cuddled into your neck when she was settled in your arms as you made your way outside and to your car. Martin had followed you when you were done strapping the little one in her seat.

"I'll text you all the details. See you on Saturday then?"

All you could manage again was a nod and you moved towards the drivers door, letting him say goodbye.

-------

Saturday came around quicker than you had imagined. Dressing up Linnea in her Arsenal kit with 'Papa' on the back made your heart hurt just that tiny bit. Looking at her now you were reminded just how much she looked like Martin. She had his crystal blue eyes and blond hair. Her dimpled smile looked just like the ones on Martins baby pictures his mum had shown you when you had visited his parents in Norway. Even her ability to laugh at every little thing reminded you of him. Everything about her did. It was as if you had given birth to Martins twin about a year ago.

But you were glad that she was. As much as your heart still hurt about losing Martin you were glad that your daughter had inherited all his good traits. She was that small wonderful part of him that you still had in your daily life.

The doorbell rang making Linnea look around curiously. You laughed and made your way to the door with her in your arms.

"This must be your Auntie Linn."

Just hearing the word Auntie made Linnea light up more. Her aunt, your best friend had been your safety net when you and Martin had broke up just a couple of weeks after Linnea was born. She had let you stay in her apartment with her and helped you take care care of your daughter. She had basically become a second mum in that time.

When Linnea saw her through the open door she already reached her arms out to get a cuddle.

"Oh hello little Linn. I missed you so so much. Mama has been keeping you all to herself hasn't she."

She peppered Linneas face with kisses which made a big belly laugh erupt from the little one. With you daughter still in her arms she made her way over to hug you.

"You still think this is a good Idea?"

When Martin had sent the information and tickets you had asked (Y/BF) to go with her. She wasn't happy with the reason why you were back at the Emirates but trusted you enough to make the right decisions for you and Linnea to not comment further on it.

She wasn't a massive fan of Martin after the breakup. He had broken your heart so he deserved to get his legs broken. Her words not yours. Your stroked Linneas cheek with the back of your hand.

“I think so yes. He took all the precautions and I trust him with her."

The topic was let go after your words. When it was finally time you made your way to the Emirates stadium. Linnea the ever curious girl that she was was looking out of the car windows to see all the people streaming into the stadium grounds.

The way to the locker rooms was still familiar to you. Having come here after every home game for years made the walk like you were on autopilot. You could see the players lining up already to get out to the stadium as Martin walked up to you with a huge smile on his face.

"Hello Kjæreste! Come to Papa."

Linnea also reached out her arms, wanting to be in his arms. He gave her kisses and held her close and you could see just how important this moment was for the two of them. He pulled the earmuffs over her little ears and turned back to you.

"Thank you for bringing her. Really. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."

For the first time in a long time you gave him a sincere smile. Seeing them matching in the same kit, in the stadium Martin called his home made your heart jump.

"Of course. Just be careful with her yeah?"

"Of course I will. You can go out after us and be next to the tunnel. For pictures and stuff. I'll get her back to you as soon as we're done."

You nodded and watched as Martin walked back to his team and led them out to the pitch with your smiling daughter in his arms. The crowd went wild but Linnea seemed to take it like a champ.

You followed with the staff and stood next to the tunnel and took pictures and videos of this moment. Something you knew you would hold dear in your heart forever. After the whole procedure had gone down Martin jogged to you and handed over your daughter.

"Meet me after the match, yeah?"

You nodded and started to make your way up to the family boxes. (Y/BF) was already up there waiting for you with some of the other WAGS and kids of the other players. Most of them knew you and (Y/BF) well and some of the game and halftime was spent chatting and catching up. And Linnea enjoyed all the kisses and cuddles she got from the WAGS you knew.

New women were in the box as well, probably the girlfriends and wives of the guys that transferred to Arsenal after you and Martin had broken up. But one in particular stood out to you.

She was blonde, tall and skinny. Absolutely gorgeous. She could be a model for all you cared. She looked to be about your age, maybe a bit younger. But you couldn't place her to any of the new players.

You stopped thinking about it when Bukayo scored the 1-0 for Arsenal, the stadium going crazy with happiness. But it didn't stop there. The game ended with 3-0 for Arsenal, leaving the team exhausted but happy.

You said your goodbyes to (Y/BF), reassuring her that you'd be fine and that she didn't have to wait for you and made your way down to the tunnels with the some of the girls and kids. You couldn't wait to see Martin and apparently so couldn't Linnea as she stared to wiggle around in your arms, impatient to see her Papa again. But it looked like someone had beat you to it.

As you walked into the tunnel with the girls you stopped in your tracks. And what you saw made all the happiness of today disappear with just a blink of an eye. Tears gathered in your eyes and your aching heart started to race as you took in the scene in front of you.

Martin kissing the blonde girl from earlier in the box just like he used to kiss you when you were together.

[the-axe-and-flail]

A Love Letter to the Future, My Dear

Some modern Hashira headcanons that have been banging around my head for a while:

WARNINGS- none

Tags- SFW, all hashira, future AU

Kyojuro-

• I feel like he's got a little food blog on the side. Nothing super flashy or anything, just him talking about his favorite places to eat and giving recommendations for his most loved meals/bites.

• He's a good outdoorsy person. Hiking 10 miles into the mountains just to set up camp for 2 days and then hike back? Heck yes sign him up! Kayaking in whitewater conditions? He's there. Just don't ask him to fish, he'd much rather build the most intricate firepit/fuel formation he learned in Scouts.

• Definitely an "Early to bed, early to rise" kinda guy. His version of 'sleeping in' is 7 a.m. at the latest. He's also the type to brush his teeth first thing in the morning, before he even eats breakfast. He just hates the feel of fuzzy or grimy teeth and can't stand to wait any longer.

Shinobu-

• Walking pharmacy. She'll be the one to pull a first aid kit or a little travel pill bottle/keeper out of nowhere the moment someone even mentions being in pain or uncomfortable. She's also the one to remind her friends that sites like WebMD can't be used to diagnosis and to stop freaking themselves out by reading it. Always has chapstick or gum/mints when you need them.

• A bit of a prankster. She's the one that will discreetly hide someone's shoe, or replace the hand soap with mustard. Nothing malicious for the most part, but she'll ramp up the intensity if it's someone she dislikes/hates. One time she even made a very convincing parking ticket to put on a car that was blocking her into her parking spot.

• She's an unaware trendsetter. She's not out there picking clothes or styles because they're fashionable, she's just wearing whatever she feels comfortable in that makes her happy. Her cool, bold personality just makes people want to emulate, including her own personal style.

Gyomei-

• Is a huge fan of radio dramas. He listens to a lot of drama podcasts, but nothing quite beats the old shows like "The Lone Ranger". He has a small collection of vintage radios as well that he likes to use when he's in the mood for a full, authentic experience. He's also a big vinyl collector and swears the music sounds 100× better than digital.

• Very musically inclined. He can play several instruments, mostly self-taught, and the vast majority of his repertoire is by ear. He plays the piano, and Shakuhachi most notably, but also can play the flute, tenor sax, oboe, and trumpet. He also frequents concerts and orchestras, and loves opera, with Giulio Cesare being his absolute favorite. He enjoys the pacing and delicate balance of plot and characters.

• Due to his size, he's not exactly comfortable on most public transit spaces. If he's getting home late (past rush hour) he's more likely to take it, but most the time he'd prefer to just walk. This means he knows the city like the back of his hand, and has all the deets on shops/restaurants/spaces that are opening or closing. This also makes him a regular face, so lots of shop and eatery owners and staff know him really well and love to give him freebies when they can.

Giyuu-

• Knows all the best park trails in the city. He likes to spend a lot of time at parks, either bird watching or even people watching. Something about just being in nature really soothes his soul, but he's not big into camping at all. He likes nature, but he also likes not sleeping on the ground.

• Has a very strong (but internal) opinion on showers vs. baths. He has a whole custom shower in his apt/home that has the giant rain pan over the entire thing, with two spray nozzles that have LED RGB lighting. He even can hook it up to music so the colours change with the beat. Takes two showers a day (morning/night) and considers it his favorite place in his home.

• Falls asleep every night to either ocean or rain sounds. His bedtime routine is very detailed, and he tries his hardest to never miss a step. He likes to keep his bedroom on the chilly side so he can wrap himself in 2 or 3 blankets and become the blanket cocoon. Has trouble sleeping if it's not totally 100% pitch black, so he also has a little eye mask to help shade him from the sun.

Tengen-

• The human embodiment of "the night life". Has a standing reservation at many of the elite clubs in the city and enjoys just living in the moment at them. Something about the colourful lights and deep, rhythmic music really makes him feel alive. Excellent dancing skills also just make him a sight to behold when he's in his element.

• Has an opinion on everything, even the stupid stuff. Pineapple on pizza? He has a strongly worded monologue for that. Cats or dogs? He could write a whole book series. Don't even get him started on deeper topics like politics or social standards because no one has the time to listen to that tirade. His social medias are just 80% photos of him and 20% his hot takes.

• Very fashionable, to no one's surprise. He has a favorite tailor that is used to all his wild requests, and considers himself to be the pinnacle of "fashion forward". Due to his very opinionated nature, he has a fashion blog that he updates religiously. Spends gobs of money to make sure he's always attending Fashion Week, and always stays ahead of the curve.

Mitsuri-

• Has her own pet sitting gig that she does to save up money for a new place. She's so good with the animals that it's easy for her to find work, and even has a hefty waiting list for clientele. Definitely pet CPR certified. Knows the name of every single pet she's ever pet-sat and will go apeshit with joy when she sees one of them out and about with their owners. Remembers their birthdays and everything.

• During a really gloomy winter a few years back, she decided to take up baking and got hooked. She started out simple with cookies and cakes but quickly progressed to making her own sourdough starters and pie crust by hand. Sometimes, she gets a bit carried away and will bake way too much, so she makes sure to make plates for her neighbors and drops them off.

• Fancies herself a crafter, but is a little too adhd about it. She'll hyper fixate on buying all the cool shiny supplies she needs for X craft, but once they all arrive, she gets a bit overwhelmed and ends up only using them 3 or 4 times before her sights get set on a new craft/project. Her craft room is a mix between heavily organized and absolute chaos. And yes, there is glitter everywhere

Sanemi-

• To no one's surprise- a big fan of tattoos/body mods. Has his left ear pierced I a couple places, and has one full tattoo sleeve, and working on another. He takes great pride in how he's incorporated some of his scars into the artwork, and has a fantastic relationship with his artist. At one point he considered a lip piercing until he realized how it could impact his teeth.

•Has a standing appointment every Wednesday to take his mom out to lunch. Sometimes Genya or one of his other siblings will tag along, but typically, it's just the two. She enjoys getting to see the updates on his tats, and hear about how his schooling is going. He always lets her pick the restaurant, so they've tried a lot of new foods.

• He would have the smallest, fluffiest little dog, as his apartment wouldn't allow anything bigger (not that it mattered, he likes the small dogs best of all). He takes it with him on his motorcycle rides, and even has a little safety helmet, vest, and goggles combo for it. Despite Sanemi not being a ray of sunshine, his little dog is extra friendly and often gets him into unintended social situations.

Obanai-

• Was 100% a zoobooks kid, who grew into a very animal knowledgeable adult. Enjoys spending time at the zoo (always accredited with the highest care standards, of course), taking photos of the animals with his ridiculously expensive camera and massive telephoto lenses. Has had many of his photos win awards, and has even been credited in natgeo a few times.

• Hates traveling, but is very good at it. He's the guy with all the carry on items in perfectly portioned bottles, all in sectioned ziplocs. Never forgets to bring the neck pillow or charge the headphones, and has his home airport down to a science so he never arrives too early or too late. Also knows where the best and cheapest food is.

• Is incredibly sensitive to temperature changes. Obanai is the guy who always wears layers so he can either shed or don them. It could be middle of summer and he'll still always carry around a light jacket, zip hoodie, or scarf, just in case they become necessary. He keeps his home a constant 75° year round, and anyone who dares to touch his thermostat will suffer the curse.

Muichiro-

• He and his twin brother Yuichiro have a college podcast about all the goings-on at Uni. Sometimes they'll play a song from a local uni student's EP, other times they'll discuss some faculty drama, or maybe even financial advice for anyone applying or attending. It originally started out as just for their friend group, but the back and forth, good cop-bad cop stylings of their banter made them an overnight sensation.

• Stays up until 4 am, wakes up at 12pm. The most night owl of all night owls, he finds it more peaceful to study in the early hours when everyone is sleeping and social media is relatively quiet. Has a little bit of adhd and a caffeine addiction that definitely play a part in that as well. Is useless at group projects simply because of his schedule, but he does as much as he can on his own, and always buys snacks to make up for it.

• Reality TV connoisseur. He doesn't like them, per-say, it's just that the drama is so terribly entertaining. He enjoys trying to key into who is the worst/most toxic person on the show in the first episode, and how they're going to completely ruin everyone's life by the end. He particularly enjoys the survival variety, and loves picking apart where they went wrong.

[wrestlersownmyheart]

"Her Outlaw Hero" (Sons Of Anarchy-Chibs Chapter fic) Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the Original Characters in this story. I am only using Kurt Sutter's characters from Sons of Anarchy. He created the characters and the show—I am in no way taking any credit for his creations. This story is for entertainment only. Content/Warnings: Violence against both men and women including rape. Summary:

Adelaide Watson is fleeing Tennessee—on the run from her violent past.

When she has a car accident on a lonely road in Charming, California, she has no choice but to walk to town for help. But help comes to her instead. In a very unexpected way.

Chapter 3

Adelaide parked her Nissan Versa in the alley behind the house of her best friend, Angela McSands. Gingerly getting out of the car while also trying to calm her swimming head, she tried to hurry toward Angela's back door and then proceeded to pound on it.

"Angie! Angie, please open the door—it's Addy!" She pounded as loudly as she could with her fists, and then with the palms of her hands till they both stung. "Angela!" Oh, God, please let her be home, she prayed.

The door opened suddenly and Angela emerged clad in a terrycloth bathrobe, her short, blond hair still wet from an apparent shower. "Oh, my God—Addy! What hap-" Her gaze raked quickly over Adelaide's slender frame and took in every detail. Her best friend's temple had a goose egg, a bruise marred the alabaster skin of her cheek, and her lip was split. And that was only what she was able to see. There was no telling what injuries Liam Walker had bestowed Adelaide with underneath her clothes. "It was Liam, wasn't it?" She gently tugged her unsteady friend into her house. "Come inside. Let's get you cleaned up and into some…" She trailed off when she fully took in the state of Adelaide's ripped and disheveled clothing. There was no denying what had happened. "Oh, Addy… I'm so sorry…" She hugged her friend close and stroked her dark hair, then led her into the living room. "Come on, honey. Let's get you to the hospital. They'll need to do a rape kit."

"No," Adelaide whispered, as Angela led her into the living room. She sank weakly down onto the sofa. "He's a cop, Angie. He'll get away with it. Then he'll kill me."

"But, there's proof, Addy. Your clothes, the cuts and bruises, his DNA…"

"He'll turn it around somehow. That is, if he's still alive."

"What do you mean," Angela asked, sitting down beside her and brushing some tangled hair out of Adelaide's face.

"He was raping me, and I… I tried to fight him off. I was feeling for a weapon to use and I was able to grab my heavy fruit bowl." She shuddered before continuing. "I hit him on the head with it—several times. I don't even know if he's alive. If he's dead, I'm in even deeper trouble."

"No, honey," her friend tried to convince her. "If he's dead, then you can explain it as self-defense…"

"You don't get it," Adelaide cried, wrapping her arms around herself. "They're his friends! They won't believe a word I say! They'll think I murdered him!"

Angela was silent for a moment and let this sink in. Maybe she's right, she thought. If she's this terrified, there's a reason. "Okay," she finally said. "You need to get out of here, and soon. Go get a shower so your appearance doesn't get noticed and raise questions. Then you're going to take one of my cars and get out of town—far away from here."

"But what about my car? If Liam sees it parked here, he'll hurt you—"

"I'll drive it into the river. Don't worry. It'll look like you drowned. He'll never know."

Tears filled Adelaide's blue eyes again. "We may never see each other again."

Angela nodded sadly. "I know. But your safety has to come first. That's what matters most to me."

Adelaide sniffled and wiped at her tears. "And yours matters most to me."

"I'll be fine," Angela assured her, placing her hand over Adelaide's. "Like I said, I'll take care of your car. If Liam thinks your dead, he's got no reason to do anything to me. Okay? So go get yourself cleaned up and I'll get you some fresh clothes together."

About twenty minutes later, Adelaide was showered and wearing a pair of jeans, a black WWE t-shirt and sneakers. Angela handed her a key to her old Jeep, a small suitcase of clothes along with a pocket knife, and then proceeded to press many paper bills into her hand. "And take this too."

"No, Angie. It's bad enough you're giving me one of your cars. I have money. I stopped at an ATM before I came-"

"Hon, I could care less about the money. It's only a few hundred dollars, but it could help get you out of a bind. I'll sleep a lot better knowing I've done everything I can to help you."

Adelaide swallowed hard and smiled sadly at her best friend. "I would never have made it without you."

"Oh, yes you would've," Angela contradicted her, her green eyes filling with tears. "You're stronger than you realize, Addy. You're going to be fine, honey. Now get out of here, and start living again."

"I'm going to miss you," Adelaide said, hugging her friend close. "So much."

"I'll miss you too, but I'll take comfort in knowing you're alive," Angela replied, returning Adelaide's hug.

"Be sure and get my cell number out of your contacts," Adelaide warned. "I left my cell phone behind and if you call it, Liam will realize you know something."

Angela nodded, "I'll take care of it right now."

Minutes later, Adelaide was pulling out of Angela's garage and began heading for Interstate 40 West, tears streaming down her face.

00000000

A loud curse echoed throughout the MC's clubhouse. Juice rubbed his shaved head for the third time in one game of pool. "You're gonna take my head off if you keep jumpin' the cue ball like that," Juice shouted at Rat. "What are ya trying to pull, bro?"

"I was just trying a new trick is all, settle down, Juicey," Rat grumbled as he picked the cue ball up from the floor and put it back on the pool table.

"How about ya play the right way, and then I'll settle down," Juice retorted.

"No, how about the two of ya quit bickering like a couple of little girlies," Chibs asked from the bar. "I can't hear myself think!"

The two smaller men each mumbled something unintelligible under their breath but resumed their game in a quieter manner.

Daisy, Tig's pet pit bull he rescued from a dog fight, scratched at the club's front door and whined for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past half hour.

"What's with her," Happy asked, draining his beer bottle.

"I don't know," Tig replied thoughtfully. "I just took her out to use the bathroom, and she took a long piss, so I'm totally clueless."

"Maybe she's constipated," Chucky suggested, wiping down the bar. He blushed when he noticed everyone staring at him. "I mean… Ya know… It's a possibility."

"Shut up and grab me another beer, Chucky," Happy ordered.

"I accept that," Chucky murmured, grabbing another bottle of brew from the cooler.

At that moment, Quinn returned from a repossession and opened the door to enter the club house, and Daisy took that instant to flee.

"Daisy," Tig yelled. "Come back, girl!" He shot up from his seat and bolted for the door. Sticking his head out, he was distraught when he discovered the dog had completely vanished. "I've gotta find her. Chibs…help me out, brother?"

"Ah, come on," Chibs groaned. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Drive the van," Tig suggested, his vivid blue eyes pleading with his friend. "I can't very well bring her back on my bike, and she gets nervous in a vehicle. Someone needs to drive while I keep her calm."

"Mother Mary," Chibs growled as he pulled the keys to the club's van from his vest pocket and put on his sunglasses. "Let's go get this over with." The two men hurried out to the van and pulled out onto the road.

"Did you see what direction she went," Chibs asked Tig.

"No. Not really. DAISY! WHERE ARE YA, BABY," he shouted.

Chibs cursed and looked at his friend as if he were crazy. "Do you really think-"

Tig shushed him and yelled for Daisy again. To Chibs' utter surprise, he could hear the dog barking in the distance.

"That way! Go," Tig hooted, happy to have an idea of where his dog was. "I know my girl, Chibby! Follow that bark!"

Rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses, Chibs turned the van in the direction the dog's barks came from and they drove down the road, keeping their eyes peeled for Tig's pit bull.

000000000

Adelaide touched a hand to her head as another wave of dizziness came over her. She groaned softly at the pain and struggled to keep her eyes open.

"At least I'm just on an empty old dirt road," she reasoned with herself. If I come across some traffic, I'll have to pull over until this dizziness passes.

In the next instant, she was aware of opening her eyes and discovered she was in the wrong lane. Reflexively, she jerked the wheel back into the right lane and breathed a shuddering sigh. Realizing she was briefly losing consciousness, she rolled her window down the rest of the way in hopes of getting some more air. The California heat was stifling and the old Jeep's air-conditioner had long ago kicked the bucket.

"I need water," she thought out loud, realizing she must be severely dehydrated.

She couldn't even remember her last sip of liquid or bite of food, or sleep for that matter. She'd been in such a hurry to get away from Nashville, she drove for two days strait. She'd been too frightened to pull over and close her eyes, afraid that Liam—or someone affiliated with him—would capture her when she was at her most vulnerable.

Suddenly, Adelaide realized she was coming too again, and prepared to jerk the wheel into the appropriate lane once more. But too late, she saw a telephone pole looming just ahead of her. A hard collision followed, along with the sound of breaking glass and grating metal. If not for the airbag deploying, she would have smacked hard into the steering wheel. Her head was spared yet another trauma, but her ribs weren't. The airbag's tautened material slammed into her hard, and she heard a very audible cracking sound as a burning pain shot up and down her side. The car slammed to a stop and she gasped and sobbed as another agonizing stab of pain sucker punched her.

"Oh….my God…" she wheezed out, shocked by the sudden pain.

She grasped the key and turned it in the ignition, and the engine tried to turn over but didn't manage it. Adelaide tried a couple more times, but gave up on it when it became clear the car was not going to start. She grabbed the small pocket knife Angela gave her and somehow managed the strength to open her door and feebly climb out of the Jeep. Her legs wouldn't hold her, however, and she sank to her knees.

"Get up," she ordered herself, teeth clenched. "You don't have time to fall apart. Not yet."

Shakily, she held onto the car for support as she stood to her feet. I have to get to a mechanic and see if they'll tow the Jeep and repair it, she thought. And then I need a hotel where I can get some sleep, or I'm going to end up killing myself and possibly some innocent people.

Slowly, she began her long walk down the road, in hopes of finding a mechanic that would help her out.

00000000

Chibs continued driving down the road as Tig leaned out the passenger side window calling for Daisy.

"I think we've lost her, brother," Chibs said softly, aware of how much the dog meant to his friend. "I haven't heard her bark in several minutes."

"She's here, I know it," Tig insisted, and then he pointed at what looked to be a dark-haired woman up ahead of them. "Look, there's someone walking down the road. Pull up beside them. Maybe they've seen her."

Skeptical, but humoring his friend, Chibs pulled up beside a woman walking at the side of the road. "Hey lady, have ya by any chance seen a white pit bull around here," Chibs asked. "My friend's lost his dog and we thought she'd headed this way."

The young woman seemed to be startled by his inquiry but she turned to glance in his direction, the sun catching on her icy blue eyes, "Y-yeah… I did," she replied softly. "She w-went up th-that way…" She motioned behind her with a wave of her hand.

"Thanks," Tig called from the passenger side. "Let's go, Chibs!"

"Just a sec," the Scotsman muttered under his breath. Something wasn't right. The woman was moving very slowly and he'd noticed bruising on her pale face. "Are you alright, lady? Do you need a ride somewhere?"

The woman seemed to jump out of her skin again, and shook her head without paying him even a glance. "No, thank y-you. I-I'm fine."

"Ya sure? It's an awfully hot day to be walking a long distance," he pressed, noting her jean-clad legs. The black t-shirt can't help matters either, he thought, recalling how hot the club's black clothing could get in the heat of the California sun. "I can give you a lift somewhere if ya want."

"No," the woman answered curtly, without even looking up and kept walking gingerly in the other direction.

Chibs sensed Tig was about to set out on foot himself to go retrieve his dog. So, feeling conflicted, he drove on, in search of Daisy.

Minutes later, and a few miles down the road, they spotted an older model Jeep wrecked against a telephone pole.

"Wow," Tig said, "That's one busted up Jeep. Do you think it belongs to the woman we passed a few miles back?"

"That would be my guess," Chibs replied grimly. "She's got to be hurt. I saw some bruises on her face, and-" He cut off when he noticed Daisy sitting dutifully by the Jeep. "What the…?"

"She was trying to lead us to her," Tig commented. "She somehow knew what happened to that woman."

"I think you're giving your dog a little too much credit," Chibs said skeptically.

"How else would you explain it," Tig asked.

Chibs pulled to a stop next to the vacated car, his black eyes flashing, "I don't know. Get your dog and then we're gonna go help the woman."

Tig climbed out of the van and approached Daisy, "Come on, girl," he coaxed. "Come back with me, baby. We're gonna go help the lady. Come on." He led the apprehensive dog back to the van and then lifted her up and settled her on his lap once he climbed into the passenger seat."

In the next instant, Chibs pulled a sharp U-turn and headed back for the dark-haired stranger.

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Tagging:

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[oliverreedmasterass]

Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby Competition🤩

Oh my god Addison I am SO sorry for the wait, but thank you for the request!!

Sleek, Modern, Sexy

Words: 3.8k

Warnings: brief mention of a kinda nasty finger injury, the Blue Man Group

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

“Sam,” Josh’s voice shook over the phone. “We did it. We won a Grammy.” 

Sam was taking a nap when his phone broke him out of his slumbers and, while he had at first been groggy, he immediately snapped awake. 

“You’re kidding,” was all he could manage to say. 

“For Best Rock Album. We actually won.” 

Sam sprung to his feet and raked a hand through his long hair in disbelief. Their EP had beat Weezer, Ghost, Fall Out Boy, and Alice In Chains. It didn’t feel real. In fact, Sam hadn’t felt such a gratifying sense of victory since nine years earlier. 

He was about a foot and a half shorter, his hair was clipped above his ears, and, at that point, he had only touched his dad’s bass a handful of times. Instead of playing music with his brothers, he spent his days flipping through Marvel comics and, more importantly, designing his car for the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby. 

Despite his young age, Sam had established himself as a kid with a serious eye for engineering. It was most likely due to his father, Kelly, encouraging him to watch various Discovery Channel programs with him, and coming home with Lego kits, telling Sam to “go ham.” Sam’s creativity, logical reasoning, and handiwork made him a triple threat when it came to building a small, wooden car to race against his fellow Cub Scouts. He could hardly focus in school because he was too busy drawing blueprints and testing various models, hypothesizing which would be the fastest, or most aerodynamic. 

A week before the competition was supposed to happen, Sam was ready to put his car together. His older brothers, Jake and Josh, took interest in his project and trailed him into the garage as he gathered his tools. 

“I made a car for my troop,” Josh shared with Sam, hoping to impart some wisdom on his younger brother. 

“It was a lousy car,” Jake reminded Josh. “You placed in dead last because you glued your tires to a block of wood without checking to make sure that they rotated. The stupid thing sat at the starting line.” 

Josh frowned at Jake. “The whole point of this competition is to learn from your mistakes.” 

“I bought a Hot Wheels car ten minutes beforehand because I forgot to make one and got disqualified,” Jake told Sam. “So the bar isn’t too high if you want to impress Mom and Dad.” 

“I just want to make something I’m proud of,” Sam answered with a shrug. “But also I’m pretty sure I can win this thing,” he added. “The people in my troop aren’t the brightest.” 

“I guess things haven’t changed that much since we were there, huh Josh?” Jake nudged his twin in the ribs, which earned him a smack on the arm in return. He rubbed his forming bruise and motioned towards Sam’s journal. “Is that your plan?” 

“Uh huh,” Sam answered. He set his block of wood down and handed Jake the book. He would never say it to them upfront, but Sam really did want to impress his older brothers with his car. Earning their respect meant the world to him, and the fact that they had taken interest in his work was filling his heart with joy. 

Jake scanned over the various sketches of Sam’s car and raised his eyebrows. 

“This is detailed, Sammy. You really have been working hard on this.” 

Josh grabbed the notebook from Jake and studied it as well.

“There’s notes in here about aerodynamics. How do you know what that is?” 

“Dad showed me a documentary about how planes fly a few weeks ago. I thought it might make my car go faster too, with physics and all.” 

“Dad and his science documentaries,” Jake rolled his eyes. “So, can I help you with the saw?” 

Sam felt bad, but he had a specific plan in mind that he knew Jake couldn’t pull off. Plus, his parents had made it very clear to Sam that he and his siblings weren’t allowed to touch anything sharp. After Jake had sliced the tip of Sam’s thumb off a few years earlier, all of the Kiszka siblings were barred from putting their hands on any knives, saws, or other items that could cut. 

“I have to wait for Dad,” he sternly told Jake. The last thing he wanted was to get in trouble with his parents or, even worse, have Jake cut his thumb off again. That had hurt pretty bad. 

Jake looked like he wanted to protest, but Josh put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, and then pointed up the stairs at the main level of their house. 

“I’ll go and grab the old man now so we can get this thing started.” 

Sam wasn’t sure that he liked how Josh was referring to his project as a group effort, but he decided to let it slide since he was grateful that Josh was following his parent’s orders. It was rare that his brothers listened to their parents, especially since they had entered their teenage years. 

Josh bound up the rickety wooden steps and threw open the door leading into their kitchen, disappearing from sight while calling out for their dad. Sam and Jake stood in silence for a few beats, but then Jake cleared his throat. 

“Your design really does look good. Like, a lot better than the stuff I saw when Josh and I did the competition.” 

“We’ll see how it turns out,” Sam mumbled, his cheeks flushing. Jake seemed to be uncomfortable with the silence lingering between them because he moved across the garage to retrieve a soccer ball that was sitting around. Sam tried to focus his attention back on his blueprint while Jake started to juggle the ball, his sneakers squeaking against the pavement. 

Josh came back down a few minutes later with Kelly in tow, and the two joined Sam’s side. 

“You’re in charge here, kiddo,” Kelly told Sam. “You let me know what you need, and I’ll give you a hand. But you’re in the driver’s seat.” Kelly couldn’t help but chuckle at his pun. “What’s first?” 

“We have to rough cut my design,” Sam regained some of his confidence. He liked the feeling of being in charge and, more than that, holding his dad and Josh’s attention. Jake, on the other hand, was too preoccupied with his soccer ball at the other end of the garage. Kelly grabbed the block of wood Sam had been given by his Scoutmaster. 

“Shave it down a bit?” 

“Yeah, a lot thinner,” Sam said. He reached for his sketches and held them up to his dad to inspect. Kelly’s eyes scanned over Sam’s pencil drawings and he broke out into a smile. 

“Sounds good,” he said as he carefully set the notebook back down. 

Kelly let Sam wear a pair of safety goggles while he used his saw on the wood and instructed Jake and Josh to stand at least ten feet back. Jake had joined their side the second he saw Kelly bust out the saw, and looked visibly disappointed that he couldn’t move closer to see his dad cut the wood. While Kelly got to work, Sam looked over his shoulder a few times and grinned at his older brothers, who were both standing on their toes trying to get a better view. Sam had a front row seat though, and he remembered that he was the one in charge. He put that authority into practice when he noticed that his dad was being conservative with how much he shaved off. 

“I want it to be light,” Sam told his dad. “Take off more.” 

“You got it,” Kelly grunted. 

When he was done, Kelly presented Sam with his altered block, which was cut down to a thin rectangle. Sam cradled the wood in his small hands and studied it, picturing how it would look when it was done. He was still feeling confident that his design was going to win. 

“I need to sand it now,” Sam announced. This brought Jake and Josh closer to him, looking expectant that they would be asked to lend a hand. Sam wanted to be in charge of smoothing out certain edges of his car because he had to be very particular about it all, but he also wanted to make his brothers happy. “You can sand the tires,” he tried to delegate the work. “That will cut down on the friction.” 

That was more than enough to satisfy Jake and Josh since they happily accepted some sand paper from Kelly and grabbed Sam’s tires. 

“I didn’t realize you were supposed to do this,” Sam overheard Josh telling Jake. 

“It wouldn’t have mattered for your car, considering your tires didn’t even work.” 

“No need to keep bringing that up.” 

Sam kept his goggles on because they made him feel official, and he settled at his dad’s work bench to focus on his work. He reasoned that his car needed to be curved slightly in the front and have its corners be softened. He had read a lot of books at the library about the fastest cars on the planet, and a lot of them followed a similar structure. Sam grabbed his sandpaper and got to work, rubbing it carefully against the wood while biting his lip in deep concentration. 

“I think we’ve got the tires in good shape,” Jake joined Sam’s side while he finished shaving down the front of his car. Sam let out a short huff because he didn’t want to be distracted from his work, but he turned to look back at Jake, who was holding out the four black tires in his hand with a satisfied grin. Sam grabbed one of the tires and held it up to the lightbulb screwed into the wall above their dad’s bench to inspect their work. 

“Just a bit more sanding and then it should be good,” Sam said back to Jake. 

“You’re kidding,” Jake’s smile dropped. “We spent like twenty minutes on those.” 

“Friction will slow it down. I need this car to be as fast as possible.” 

Jake took the tire back from Sam and turned back to return to Josh. “The sandpaper is gonna turn my hands to stumps pretty soon,” he grumbled under his breath. 

Sam focused back on sanding the wood and, by the time Jake and Josh returned to his side holding out the tires again, he was happy with how the body of his car looked. It was pretty close to his drawings, which Kelly verified when he stuck his head back into the garage to check on their progress. 

“This is gonna be a fast one,” he claimed as he twirled the car around in his hands. “I can tell.” 

“Can you make some holes near the bottom for the axles and tires?” Sam asked his dad. “Oh, and also a few holes in the bottom for my weights?” Kelly inspected where Sam had penciled in for him to cut and brought the wood back to his workstation to use his loud drill. Within no time, the wood was back in Sam’s hands, and Kelly excused himself to get started on dinner upstairs.

Sam grinned down at his car and then snapped his head back up to look across at Jake and Josh. 

“It’s time to decorate it.” 

“What are you gonna do for the paint job?” Josh’s eyes were wide with interest.  

“Flames?” Jake guessed. “The Batman logo?” 

Sam shook his head. “I want it to be sleek, modern, and sexy.” 

“Sexy?” Jake and Josh both gaped at their younger brother. 

“You’re ten, what do you know about sexy?” Josh sounded genuinely concerned. 

“I hear people call cars sexy,” Sam replied. That was really all he understood about the word. His response seemed to bring some relief to his brothers since they dropped the subject. 

“So, sleek and modern, huh?” Jake asked Sam. 

“I want it to be red and glossy,” Sam shared. 

“Only red?” Josh checked in. “You could paint something else on it, you know.” 

“I was gonna do a Spiderman design, but I think only red is better,” Sam replied. “It feels more, I don’t know, grown up.” 

“I can grab you a Sharpie and you could write some stuff on it,” Josh suggested. “Like ‘Sam Kiszka rules’ and ‘I love my brothers.’”

“Ew, gross,” Jake made a face. “Don’t you dare write that on your car.” 

Sam laughed at his brothers. 

“I’m just gonna do red.” 

Josh was hovering around Sam quite a bit while he retrieved a tube of red acrylic paint from their arts and crafts drawer, and he took the hint. 

“Do you want to help me paint?” Sam asked Josh. 

“Sure,” Josh tried to sound cool, though Sam could tell that he was secretly ecstatic. 

They settled back in the garage and grabbed their paint brushes, both spreading the scarlet shade over the wood. Off to the side, Jake had snagged his own paintbrush and was carefully decorating the discarded pieces of wood that Kelly had cut off of the original block of wood with the Cool S. Sam and Josh covered the car in three hefty coats of paint before Sam decided that it was looking good. The color was bright and was certain to gather a lot of attention out on the track. To top it off, Sam added some gloss over the paint so it had a bit of a shine to it when it was held up to the light. 

“What do you think?” Sam called over to Jake, who had started mindlessly painting on his bare arms so they were mostly blue. He let his brush drop back down onto the table in embarrassment, and squinted to look at Sam’s progress. 

“Looking good!” he called back, giving a blue thumbs up. 

Since they had to wait for the paint to dry, Jake and Josh excused themselves so they could find something else to do to keep themselves preoccupied that wasn’t watching paint dry. Sam overheard them scheming to paint Jake entirely blue so he could run around their neighborhood pretending to be a member of the Blue Man Group. 

Sam took advantage of the peace and quiet and focused hard on aligning his axles and securing the tires. When he was satisfied, he glued the axles in place and then popped the tires on. He gave the car a light push across Kelly’s work bench and watched in delight as it moved in a straight line with ease. 

“Nice,” Sam whispered to himself. And then he hustled upstairs to find his mom. 

Karen was the self-proclaimed expert with the hot glue gun, which was what Sam needed to secure his metal into the back of his car to insure that it moved as fast as possible. 

“MOOOOOOOOOOM!” Sam shouted from the kitchen. 

“Yeah, Hun?” Karen’s voice was muffled from the other end of the house. Sam cradled his car in his arms to make sure it didn’t get damaged, and ran down the hallway to his parent’s room. There, he found Karen, laying on top of their Queen bed while flipping through Water For Elephants. 

“Can you glue something for me?” Sam asked, out of breath. 

“Is this your Pinewood Derby car?” Karen asked in intrigue, motioning for Sam to pass her his car so she could admire it. Sam excitedly handed it to her, hoping to receive more praise for his hard work. “Oh wow,” Karen breathed out. “This looks really good, Sammy. I love the color too.” 

“Josh helped me paint it,” Sam said as he puffed out his chest in pride. 

“That was nice of him,” Karen gave Sam a warm smile. “So what do you need me to glue?” 

“I have these Tungsten balls that should fit in the holes Dad drilled to the bottom of the car in the back,” Sam explained quickly. “I need the hot glue gun to make sure that they stay in place.” 

“Let me grab it,” Karen told Sam. He watched her mark her place in her book and stand from the bed to rummage through her closet for the hot glue gun. It had been a while since she had needed it; the kids weren’t doing art projects as much as they used to. 

They moved to the kitchen where she could plug the glue gun in, and Sam stood on his step stool to watch his mom trap the metal inside the drilled holes with the hot glue. While they waited for it to harden, Sam watched an entirely blue Jake run around the front yard, waving his hands around and cackling loudly. Karen caught a glimpse of her son and shook her head in disbelief. 

“What am I going to do with your brother?” she sighed. 

They both watched as Josh ran behind Jake with the garden hose, trying to wash him off with an equally loud laugh. 

Later that evening, the entire Kiszka family crowded in the living room to watch Sam test his design against the infamous Hot Wheel car that had gotten Jake disqualified three years earlier. On their homemade track, built out of old carboxes, Sam and a slightly less blue Jake held their cars at the starting line. 

“On your marks,” Josh called, “Get set, go!” 

Jake and Sam dropped their cars at the same time and watched in awe at the incredible speed that carried Sam’s car to the finish line in what felt like the blink of an eye. A few seconds later, Jake’s Hot Wheel clunked past the finish line. Sam’s grin was wide as he pictured his car winning the following weekend at the Derby in a similar fashion. 

In what felt like no time, Sam was at the Frankenmuth Youth Center, carefully shielding his car model from any harm. His fellow Cub Scouts were crowding around the racetrack and playing with their cars on the gym floor, which Sam noted was ruining their tires. 

He was standing off to the side, surrounded by his family, attempting to remain calm while he waited his turn for the competition. When the time finally came, Sam could feel his heart start to thunder in his chest. 

You can do this, he thought down to his car. He hoped with all of his might that his car was going to win. The prize was a large trophy which was pretty cool, but Sam mostly wanted to prove to the other kids that he could make the best, fastest car out there. 

He eyed his competitors and noted that their cars were too tall, too wide, too flimsy-looking, too chunky. In comparison his car looked like a part of the Indianapolis 500. Sam gingerly placed his car in its designated lane and then, per the Scoutmaster’s direction, took two steps away from the starting line. 

C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, Sam silently prayed. 

“Let’s go, Sam!” Josh called from the crowd. 

Please, Sam tried one last time. 

The bar holding the cars in place on their elevated slope was removed, and the cars sped down the track in a quick zip. The bright red color of Sam’s car definitely made it stand out against his competitors, and he had no trouble tracking it as it zoomed down the track at the front of the pack. The other cars felt like they were miles behind him. Sam started to imagine all of the bragging rights he would earn on the playground and could feel his stomach turn in glee. The Scoutmaster’s shrill whistle marking the end of the race brought Sam out of his daydream and, beaming wide, he waited to hear the announcement that his car had won. But, off in the distance, he saw the Scoutmaster holding a different car up. 

Bradley, who was conveniently the Scoutmaster’s son, ran to join his dad with an excited whoop, dancing at the finish line with his winning car. Sam’s face dropped in shock. Bradley’s car hadn’t seemed like a threat to him when he studied the other cars in the race earlier, but there must have been something about his design that outshone Sam’s. 

Sam could feel the excitement oozing out of him until he noticed that the Scoutmaster was holding up his car as well. He could just barely hear his gruff voice call out, “Second place!” 

Even though Sam had been shooting for first place, second place got a trophy as well which was more than enough to keep him happy. He had never won anything in his life and had always dreamed of having something shiny to display on his bookcase, just like his siblings. 

He sprinted to the finish line and had his winning car placed back in his hands, which he immediately lifted up in victory. Within seconds his family was by his side, clasping him on the back and congratulating him. That is, everyone but Josh. 

“Don’t you think it’s a bit rigged that the Scoutmaster’s son won?” he asked with his brows furrowed. 

“Joshua, not right now,” Karen told him. 

“It just seems a little bit fixed,” Josh continued to argue. 

Sam hadn’t considered that, but Josh did have a point. 

“Bradley cheated!” he called out. 

“No,” Kelly assured Sam, turning briefly to shoot Josh a glare. “He won fair and square. But you got second place which is so wonderful! You should be so proud of yourself.” 

“They stole that win from you,” Josh whispered to Sam. 

“Joshua,” Karen warned her son again. Josh took the hint and shuffled away from Sam. 

Sam was ready to continue spewing conspiracies that the entire race was fixed, but he was quickly distracted when the Scoutmaster announced that they begin the award ceremony. While Sam continued to hold onto his car, he was handed a polished gold trophy that had “2nd Place” written on a plaque at the bottom. He could hear his family whoop and cheer for him loudly and, in that moment, Sam felt like he had accomplished something truly great for the first  time. He always felt like he was living in the shadow of his older siblings but, finally, he could enjoy the limelight. He felt a new confidence growing in him as he realized he had won something that he was in charge of. It had been his design, not Jake’s, not Josh’s, not Ronnie’s, not his parent’s, his. He couldn’t be more proud. 

After receiving the news from Josh about their Grammy, Sam felt transported back to his youth when he placed second at the Pinewood Derby Competition. Like nine years prior, his heart swelled with joy that he, Danny, and his brothers had come together to create something that was uniquely theirs, and found success along the way. 

“We worked so hard for this,” Sam told Josh, his voice quivering as his emotions caught up to him.

“Nice to finally win first, right, Sammy?” Jake joined Josh, calling into the phone to Sam. 

“It definitely is,” Sam laughed.

[pbandjesse]

We just had a stressful 20 minutes. Everything is fine now but man. Did not expect that! Sweetp tried to jump over the fence. We banished him into the house but then he pushed open the catio door?! Broke the caribeaner and was alone in the back!! And then in figuring out how to secure the door me and James were in the basement finding a drill bit and I accidently stepped on James's hand so hard they are icing it now. We are just killing it tonight.

Today was not nearly as stressful. It was mainly a really nice day. Mostly restful even if it was to hot.

I didn't sleep great though. I was not feeling amazing emotionally last night and was really upset. Which just made me frustrated with myself. And with James and with the world. So it wasn't the best sleep. And when I woke up I felt. Bleh. The sun was to bright. The world was to hot. But I went and got cleaned up and tried to feel better.

And I did. My hair was dirty and I was to hot. But I was having a nice day. Even if I was sweaty.

I continued to only want to eat Celeste pizzas. I would have my brownie from the farmers market. And then a little frozen pizza. I would spend the morning doing some stuff around the house. I did some cleaning. I moved the one rug from upstairs into the studio. I want to reassess the little room so I was thinking about moving things around in there.

I would try to deal with the heat with fans. I had one going upstairs and two downstairs. The backdoor open. Just trying my best to deal.

I had Ruby the Roomba going and she kept getting stuck today. But it was fine. I put her in the doorway pit because it was really dirty down there. There is a rug that goes in the pit and I will put that back soon. I want to look at peel and stick tiles for in there too though. I just hate the fake wood so much. It feels bad and it looks so cheap. But it's such a small area I am not super concerned about it. It's low on the list.

I would go out for a drive. I took myself to savers to walk around. I listened to music and enjoyed how full the shelves were. There were to many people and they are clearly reorganizing the store so there were a few aisles I couldn't access. But that's was fine.

I found a vintage house building kit I'm excited about. And a few pieces of clothing. Nothing super exciting but some basics and some things I think will be nice for work. Unsure once I tried them on but with some adjustments I think they will be excellent pieces.

I paid and folded all my things and went to the car. I was shocked at how overheated I was. I had brought a nalgene of ice water and it was the only thing keeping me going I swear.

I went to joann's next. They did not have the big eye needles I was looking for. So I would have to order those online. But they did in have a buy three get three sale on thread. I am running low on black and white so I grabbed some of those as well. The line took forever but it was fine.

I drove down the road to go to the goodwill. Which is not a good goodwill but I did find two excellent mirrors. One is a round one with a silver tray and floral details on the edges. And the other is a vintage catalog piece with shelves that I'm going to use for mugs. And they both were only $10 together!! Amazing.

I decided to indulge in a craving I have had and went to Sonic for mozzarella sticks. But I won't be doing that again. While they were good enough, the sauce was sour, and for 5 mozzarella sticks and a small soda it was almost $9??!! Insane.

I went home after that. I was to hot. And my ears were closing up again. Stupid allergies. It was nice to be home.

When I got back here I tried on the clothes. Mixed results but I have some ideas. I would have a snack and hang out with sweetp. Periodically I tried to do some little tasks. I mainly would work on a drawing for my teddy bear hospital and then worked on some research and planning for me and Mom's trip next year.

James would come home before 5. And after drying off would hang out on the couch with me for a bit. We would hang the mug shelf mirror. And learned how to use the Bissell cleaner we got as a house warming gift. There was a learning curve but I'm excited that we have this now. I want to try it for the seats in the car.

We would chill for a bit but soon James said we should go get groceries. And we did just that. (After working together to carry a shopping cart across the parking lot that had broken wheels) We got a little more then James had planned. Snacks and such. But I think we did good. Though we were twarted by an older woman who kept blocking entire aisles and then was in front of us at the only open register and took almost 15 minutes?? The people behind us were angry but I was just like. Confused. But it was fine. We didn't take nearly as long. Packed and paid. I was a little annoyed because James got the cheaper toilet paper and I felt mad. But it wasn't a really a big deal I was just tired and to hot and wanted to go home.

When we got back here James put thing away. And I would drag my rocking chair outside to enjoy the evening. James would bring a chair and a table out too. So they could be on their laptop while I was watching videos on my phone.

We both got a scare when Sweetp jumped on the fence. Scared both of so bad we jumped up and I grabbed him and put him inside.

We would stay outside without Sweetp. He would go in the catio and things would be fine.

Eventually we went back inside. And that's when I heard a sound and was like hmm. Weird.

Then a few minutes later I was like. Wait where is Sweetp. And that's when I saw he was outside on the other side of the catio!! He had pushed the door so hard he broke the lock!! I was so mad!

And like I said in the confusion and trying to fix the issue I stepped on James and felt so bad. But everyone is okay now. Sweetp is trying to hang out because he knows we're upset. But hopefully tomorrow we can try again and everything will be safe and no one tries to go over the fence!!

I cannot wait until we have a good fence and a better backdoor. Hopefully very very soon.

Tomorrow is memorial day! Me and James are going to their cousin's going away party in DC in the afternoon. It is supposed to be a rainy day. But that is okay. I am just hoping it is cooler.

Now though I am going to go wash my hair. Jamea is hanging the smaller mirror in our bedroom for me. I am tired and a little unsettled but I am okay. And I love you all. Goodnight my friends. Until tomorrow.

[jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka]

Summer Crush

Hydrangeas

Part 2

Summary: Sam had been caught in the middle of a friendship triangle for years. The problem was it wasn’t a competition for you. No you actually had a secret crush on his other best friend, Danny. When the boys come home for the summer Sam gives you one word of advice, distance yourself from Danny.

Pairings: Danny Wagner x fem reader x Sam Kiszka *slash pairing

Warnings: 18+, NO minors!, sexual content, slash pairings, friends to lovers, kind of enemies to lovers, love triangles, drinking, talk of jealousy, potential threesomes, not going too into detail yet don’t want to spoil it but do be warned 🫣, if the part number is in italics then there’s spice

Word count: 3.2k

“Why is Danny coming?” You grumbled when Sam asked you to take a detour to swing by his house and pick him up.

You and Sam were hanging out around town today. It had been raining every day for nearly a week and today was the first beautiful sunny day forecasted so Sam had decided to ditch band practice in the garage with his brothers to hang out with you instead.

“He needs to get some stuff from the shop in town for his kit so I told him he could tag along. If not Jake would probably drag him back into that garage again. I didn’t think you’d mind” he directed you with another turn.

“I usually don’t mind,” you nibbled at your lip in between sentences, “it’s just I thought today would be just us”. Since Danny had officially joined the band a few weeks ago the boys had been busy rehearsing. Danny had brought a new drive to the band which was obviously a good thing, but on the other hand your Sam time had dramatically decreased.

Sam smiled over at you, clearly pleased with your codependent need to have him to yourself every once in a while. “Don’t worry, I can come over tonight and we can watch a movie. Just us” he offered a solution to your worries which you bashfully shook your head yes to.

Sam pointed out Danny’s house as you turned down the street. He hopped out of the car and ran up the sidewalk to fetch his friend. He opened the door to the house without a knock or anything like he was so used to being there he didn’t feel the need to ask for entry anymore, then disappeared inside.

When the front door opened again Danny was the first to appear. He had his hair pulled into a bun and was wearing some dangerously short shorts. Your knuckles gripped onto the steering wheel so tight they turned a transparent white from lack of blood flow as you watched him bounce down the steps of his porch and make his way to your car.

“Sam is looking for something he swears he forgot last time he was over” Danny revealed what was taking your friend so long when he slid into the back seat. “I told him I’ve already looked for it but he thinks I’m just trying to mess with him”.

“Sounds like Sam” you replied, releasing your grip on the wheel when he finally appeared.

“Did you find it?” Danny asked Sam when he returned to his spot in your passenger seat.

“No, that means Jake must have taken it. I knew he was lying” Sam sighed knowing he would have to scold his older brother later.

“Alight, where to first?” You asked both the boys in your car where you were chauffeuring them off to.

“I’m pretty hungry” Sam mentioned first, looking back at Danny to see if he had anything to say. Danny just shrugged so you backed out of the driveway and headed in the direction Sam designated was lunch.

“I thought you were going to come help me with these?” Your mom called over to you, snapping you out of your day dream.

You were curled up in a chair on the back porch of your childhood home. The glass of lemonade you had forgotten about in your hand sweating so profusely in the summer heat your denim shorts were getting soaked.

The morning had reminded you of that day nearly 5 years ago out in town with Sam and Danny. Although you were reluctant to have Danny join the two of you at first, everyone ended up having a great time. Unfortunately that day hadn’t helped prevent the seed of a crush you’d had buried in your heart for Danny sprout. Actually it had caused it to come into full bloom.

You set your glass down on the table in front of you and and moved over to where your mom was crouched in front of her garden.

She handed you a pair of pruning shears and you went to work with her on the plants.

You mom always loved to garden, and she was rather good at it. Every spring she would stay in the yard until late hours of the night planting, so come summer your entire backyard had blown into an impressive utopia of colorful flowers and the nature they attracted.

By far the most impressive blooms and your mom’s favorite flower were the hydrangeas.

“These are Summer Crush Hydrangeas” your mom pointed out the rows of bold red and deep pink clustered blooms. “You know hydrangea means water but the most common problem with growing them is overwatering. You can change the color of the blooms with the type of fertilizer you use, on the other hand if you use too much fertilizer you can prevent them from blooming”.

“So you are saying that everything you give to these flowers to make them so beautiful, if you give them too much it can hurt them?” You had seen your mom gardening for years, but never really realized how much tedious work went into it.

“Gardening is just like relationships, they need to be watered daily and given the proper nutrition, but overdoing it can cause more harm than good”.

You paused what you were doing and sat back on your knees to look at her, trying to figure out where this life advice was suddenly coming from and what exactly she was trying to refer to.

You were nearly startled by the sound of the back porch door sliding open. It was still too early for your dad to be home for lunch so you turned your head around to see who it was.

“Sam!” You shouted at him, surprised that after the night he had last night he was up and over so early.

Your mom gradually stood up from her spot and dusted little blades of grass off her pants. “I’ll leave you two alone” she gave you a soft smile and a forward glance over to Sam who was making his way barefoot through the yard over to you.

“Sam” she acknowledged him and he gave her a gentle hug, “lemonade?”

“Sure, thanks” he accepted her offer and she took your glass back inside with her to freshen it up for you as well.

“What are you doing over here?” He snooped, standing so close behind you he was pressing his shins to your back and leaning over you.

You shoved him off you and instead he plopped down on the ground next to you. “Helping in the garden”.

You thought about sharing the little bit of advice your mom had just given you knowing Sam would have an interesting way of interrupting it. Decidedly though you kept it to yourself to allow some more time to process it first.

“What are the plans for today?” You asked as you got back to work.

“This” he replied while taking his foot and pushing it into your side, “annoying you”.

“Ha very funny” you leaned over and bumped your shoulder into his, “maybe I’ll be the one to annoy you this time”.

“Don’t think that’s possible” yet he still raised his eyebrows in interest.

“We will see about that” you dropped your tool again and launched over at him, knocking him down to lay flat on the grass and running your fingers all up and down his sides causing him to erupt in laughter and tears.

“No! No stop, you know I hate this!” He squealed as you were being relentless.

Through all the loud noises the two of you were making neither of you heard your mom come back through the patio door until she was standing behind you with a glass in each hand clearing her throat. “Aren’t you two a little old to be rolling around in the grass still?”

“You’re never too old for this!” Sam exclaimed when he was able to push you off of him. “Want to join us?”

“Oh, no. I’m just bringing these out then I’m heading back in to start making lunch” your mom handed you the glasses then excused herself again.

You extended a hand with a glass to him, bringing the other one to your lips to take a drink. After exerting yourself like that you were pretty thirsty.

“Wait, let me try yours first and see which one I like best” he flailed his hand in front of you trying to get you to hand it over quickly.

“What? No drink yours and I’ll drink mine, they came from the same pitcher” he pouted for a moment until you gave in and handed over your glass as well. He pretended to treat the lemonade like glasses of wine. Swirling the bright colored liquid around and smelling them before taking a sip of each.

You sat back and watched him with a solicitous look while he continued his ridiculous behavior.

“I like this one the best” he ended up sticking with the glass you had originally given him and handed you yours back.

“So, umm, Danny’s mom is cooking dinner for all of us tonight. You’re welcome to come if you want”

“Are you inviting others to events that aren’t yours to invite people to again?” You laughed trying to hide the nerves that immediately surfaced when the mention of Danny was made.

After what happened you had avoided Danny for the rest of the night, but you realized today that you probably needed to have a talk with him about what Sam had said so that a mistake like last night didn’t happen again.

“She won’t care, Danny’s mom loves all of us and if she can love me then she’ll love you”.

“Everyone loves you Sam” you rolled your eyes.

“You coming then?” He looked up at you with his wide brown puppy eyes and you knew you couldn’t say no even if it did mean having to face Danny.

“Yea, I’ll come” you agreed and he tossed his hands in the air with victory. “You have to help me here first then” you picked up a trowel and showed him where your mom was digging a spot for a new shrub.

“Only two days back and you’re already putting me to work. Don’t you know I’m supposed to be relaxing” he joked but picked up the little scoop anyways.

“Shut up and dig” you shot him a smile back and both got busy.

“I’m so glad to see you guys home” Danny’s mom beamed with a wide smile as everyone got their plates and situated themselves around the table. She was at the end with Danny to her left. Jake sat next to Danny and Josh was at the other end. Sam was to Danny’s moms right and you were next to him and Josh. You weren’t aware that there was a spot for you at dinner only because Danny’s dad couldn’t make it so you felt even more out of place at first. Sam was right though, Danny’s mom was thrilled to have someone else visiting and to feed.

While dinner went on the boys exchanged stories about being on tour.

Some stories you had heard already, some not, and some you were surprised when you had only heard Sam’s side of the story about what really happened.

“Danny, why don’t you go give your Dad a call and check on him?” His mom encouraged him since he had been rather quiet compared to the Kiszkas interruptive style storytelling.

Danny stood up from his spot at the table and walked through the kitchen into a hallway that was just barely visible from the dining room.

“Excuse me Mrs. Wagner, but where’s your restroom?” You spoke up and she pointed you down the hallway Danny had just disappeared into.

“Down two doors on your left” she informed you and you also excused yourself.

When you felt like you were far enough down the hallway to no longer be heard from the table you glanced back once to make sure no one had followed you before you called out. “Danny?” Your voice was just barely over a whisper yet he still heard you

“In here” he answered your call and you turned to your right to see the next door was slightly left open.

Danny was standing in his room with his arms lazily crossed over his chest like he had almost expected you to come after him.

“Hey, we need to talk about what happened last night”

“Which part?” He replied, arms still crossed, “the part where you kissed me back or the part where Sam told you to stay away from me?”

Your heart started to race, you hadn’t stopped to question whether Danny had overheard your conversation last night so you were certainly shocked. “You heard that?” was all you managed to respond.

“Danny and I aren’t close”, “nothing can come between us” he repeated the words you had said to comfort Sam only now realizing those same words might have hurt Danny.

Now definitely wasn’t the right time to be pondering on metaphors, but you couldn’t help but think about what your mom had told you earlier today about the Summers Crush Hydrangeas. The parallels were starting to make sense now. The care you had given Sam in turn was poisoning your already delicate situation with Danny.

“Why did you kiss me anyways?” You asked, taking the interrogation off you and onto him.

“Because you’re beautiful” he replied matter-of-factly without hesitation. Normally when a boy called you beautiful it didn’t raise any feelings, but what you did know about Danny was he was a genuine person who didn’t play people for fun. So when he revealed that he thought you were beautiful a fire lit inside you that you were unsure you had the means to snuff it out before it consumed you.

Danny sensed the change in atmosphere in the room, relaxing his posture and cautiously stepping towards you. “I’ve thought you were beautiful for a long time. Just didn’t have the confidence to ever say anything to you”.

“You’re kidding me right?” you dropped your face down into your palm to hide the relieved smile that was making its way across your lips.

Now he was standing just in front of you, he took his hand and wrapped it around your wrist, prying it away so that you would look back up at him. “Why would I be kidding about this?” First you thought it was a rhetorical question, until he watched you waiting for your reply.

“Danny, I’ve had a crush on you for a long time”.

When you revealed your deep secret it felt like a weight had been lifted from your shoulders. You reached a temporary high only to have it all come crashing down on you when you remembered why you came in here to talk to him in the first place. “But Sam is our best friend. I won’t do anything to put our relationship in jeopardy” you took your hand out of his grasp but he quickly replaced it with your cheek.

“What Sam doesn’t know won’t hurt him” Danny breathed so close to your face you could feel the air displacing between the two of you. You knew what he wanted, yet he still waited for your consent before taking it all the way.

“What Sam doesn’t know won’t hurt him” you repeated like if you said it out loud then you could convince yourself you actually believed it. He nodded and you could feel the tip of his nose brushing against your cheek with the movement. In that moment you closed your eyes and Danny connected your lips again.

You let out a little whimper underneath him. Although this was only the second time you two had kissed each other, the act was already making you feel things against your better judgment.

“I think we should go back soon,” Danny was the first to break the kiss again “but I want to hear more about this crush you’ve had on me for a while now”. When you reopened your eyes he was smiling down at you with satisfaction. Clearly the confidence he mentioned he had lacked before was there now.

“You go back first, I’ll wait a minute then follow” he suggested and you took his advice, leaving his room feeling extremely happy and blissed out. That was until you returned to the dining room and saw Sam looking up at you with concern for why you had been gone so long.

“Everything all right?” He leaned over to ask you when you took your seat. “Your face looks a little flushed”.

“Yea, everything’s fine” you assured him through gritted teeth.

Everything in your mind was in fact not fine. Danny reappeared just a minute after you like he’d said he would. The two of you clearly avoided eye contact but you hoped it wasn’t noticeable to the others.

“Dad said he’s headed home soon” Danny announced and everyone seemed to be excited to get to see him again in a little while.

“I think I should head home” you mentioned just to Sam who again flashed you a worried look.

“Got to get up early and get some work done. Not everyone is on vacation all summer” you reminded him with a half smile you were only able to manage. “You can get a ride home with your brothers?”

“Yea, I can. Call me later would you?”

“I might be asleep, Sam” you warned.

“Well then call me in the morning” he insisted with a pat on the shoulder as he took your plate in his other hand to put away for you.

“You might be asleep” you reminded him of his habit of sleeping in. He shot you a look so you told him you would call him bright and early and he better answer.

He wrapped his arm around your shoulder and gave you a squeeze. Although Sam was the one touching you, you could feel Danny’s eyes burning holes through Sam into you.

When you got back home you took a lukewarm shower because you weren’t brave enough to take a cold one but you needed something to cool you off.

Laying in bed your moms advice rang through your head now that it made sense to you. Of course she had no way of knowing the dynamics of Sam, Danny, and you, but she had to have been telling you it for a reason right?

What did she expect you to do? Now that you had the knowledge Danny returned your feelings could you really stop all progress knowing there was something there? Or knowing Sam’s feelings were you going to stick to your word instead of risking complicating things beyond repair?

As the implications of each decision played out you felt a stream of tears begin to steadily and silently run down your cheeks.

You rolled around in bed to bury your face into the pillow and let the tears keep coming until there was none left.

The only truth you knew tonight was you should have never come back home.

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