#but i still remember that time my grandma called her and her friend's son answered and told her she passed away

[kingslionheart]

next week it will be a month since my grandma passed away and sometimes i still remember how during the funeral i had to hold back my laughter as i was crying because as soon as the priest talked about her "friends" i have heard so vividly in my head my grandma's annoyed voice saying "friends? what friends, there are no friends"

[sgiandubh]

Sunday sounds:  ¡Chao, pescao!

Bad news travel fast, irrespective of time zones. We were having lunch, when I (very uncharacteristically) saw Shipper Mom bursting into tears while checking her phone.

Ya se fue la Mamita. Mommy just left us.

La Mamita was one of our best family friends and the reason I could write here that I did have a Chilean grandma. She was one of the most fascinating women I have ever met, a heroic, larger than life, luminous presence in the darkest of times. Her family has long been a part of ours, by immediate choice and she firmly maintained she had not one, but two daughters - one of which was Shipper Mom.

They met in the most improbable of places, on the swimming pool deck of one of those hotels that catered for foreign visitors lured by Gerovital's promise of everlasting youth, circa 1985. Freshly divorced, my mother was immediately demoted to the most menial of foreign trade jobs - being a tour guide. She was still grieving her son's suspected assassination in a freak military plane crash, following General Leigh's dismissal by Pinochet, in July 1978. The Romanian tour guide was intrigued by the deep, heavy silence surrounding this mysterious señora. A conversation started, which ended only today.

She adopted us. We adopted her family as if it were ours - and, after all these years, it IS. She came and stayed with us every other summer ever since and until about five years ago, bribing her way around the secret police honchos with cigarettes and Colombian coffee packs, poking fun at the brutal interrogations ("¿Y qué creen esos cretinos que soy yo, Mata Hari?"/ And what do those cretins think I am, Mata Hari?) . She knew all our secrets, took care of our broken hearts ("no llames más a este asco de hombre, no vale la pena" /"stop calling this disgusting guy, he's not worth it"), made us better people. She taught me how to use makeup ("hazlo como una señora, mijita"/ do it like a lady, baby) and, while we first started communicating in English, I suddenly found myself answering her in Spanish.

When we finally, suddenly became free, hers was the first international phone call to cross the clogged lines: 'take the first flight to Santiago and if things fizzle, we'll ransom you. You already have a house and a family in Ñuñoa'. And we did. La casita del tren, where her husband, whom everyone called the Colonel, kept their wonderful toy train collection, patiently assembled during his long diplomatic career. And who else could ever regale us with stories of being wined and dined by a very young Jackie and John, in Georgetown, when she was a very young diplobride of a much older, doting husband? And who else could remember waltzing along with Ike ('I didn't like Ike, but I had no choice'), circa 1956?

Today, it was my turn to tell MT, her daughter and what I consider to be my aunt, to take the first flight to Bucharest and come stay with us for as long as she wants. That is what family is all about.

Eso es para ti, mami. Porque, como tú me enseñaste, el amor es más fuerte:

[mundaneandmagicalcreature]

This is a short ghost story that a lot of Argentinian students read during primary school (around 5th or 6th grade). Almost everyone remembers it for the rest of their life because it's actually quite spooky.

I couldn't find the English translation, so I took it upon myself to translate it. Enjoy.

Hands, by Elsa Bornemann

Lots of times (and by my own request) my unforgettable uncle Tomás told me this “horror” story some summer nights back when I was a little girl and went fishing with him.

He sworn it had happened in some small town in the Buenos Aires province. In Pergamino or Junín or Santa Lucía… I don’t remember exactly where or when the event took place and (unfortunately) he’s been gone for years now and cannot answer my questions. What I do remember is that, among all the stories my uncle used to tell me while he held the rod over the river and I lay next to him, facing the stars, this was one of my favorites.

—It gives you goose bumps and (yet) you love listening to it! Who can understand this niece of mine? — said my uncle to me—. Ah, but I don’t want to hear your mom complaining later, ok? I’ll tell the story again if you swear…

And then I sworn again that I would keep the secret, that my mom wouldn’t find out he had told me this story again, and that I’ll spend the night without calling for her when (back at home) I went to bed in the solitude of my bedroom.

I’ve always kept my promises. That’s why this story about hands (like many others I suspect where made up by my uncle, or remembered from his own childhood) was told to me once and once again.

And once and once again I told this story myself (years later) to my own “nieldren” just like (now) I’m about to tell it to you: like if you (too) were my niece or my nephew, my daughter or my son and you request me:

—C’mon auntie! C’mon mommy! A “horror” story!

So. Here it goes:

Martina, Camila and Oriana were very best friends.

Not only they went to the same school but (also) they spent time together after school. Sometimes to do their homework, and sometimes simply hang out. From fall to spring the three of them used to spend some weekends in a house Martina’s family had in the countryside.

They had so much fun! So many games outdoor, bike rides, horse rides, bonfires at dusk…

That mid winter Saturday, for example, they had fully enjoyed the day, and the cheerfulness of the girls was present, still, during dinner in the countryside house’s dining room because grandma Odila had a surprise awaiting for them:  before going to bed she was going to teach them some tap dancing moves, to the beat of some old albums she had brought for the occasion. Martina’s grandmother was adorable. She didn’t look her age. Always active, charming, in a good mood, and chatty. She had been an excellent tap dancer. The girls knew it, and so they asked her to dance with them.

—Why don’t you leave it for tomorrow afternoon? Now’s time to rest. Also, grandma has been doing stuff all day, she didn’t stop for one minute. She must be exhausted.

Mantina’s mom tried, in vain, to convince them to go to bed. The four of them and not just the girls, because the grandma was not willing to end that day without the promised dance session. That’s how, soon after and while the parents, the dogs, and the cat took seats in the living room, the grandma and the three girls got ready for a homemade function of tap dancing.

Outside the wind seemed to want to join in with its own melody: it whistled furiously in the trees. Above, high above, in the sky with the stars hidden behind big stormy clouds.

The improvised dance class lasted almost an hour. Enough time for Martina, Camila and Oriana to learn, between giggles, some tap moves, and for the grandma to end up exhausted and flustered.

Soon, all of them went to their rooms.

Around the house, the night was as dark as the high top hat they had worn for the function.

The tree girls had already gone to bed. They were in the guest bedroom, like every time they stayed at that house.

It was a big bedroom in the first floor. It had windows that looked to the backyard and that let in the moon shine (although not in nights like that one, of course, in which the darkness was a huge cloak that covered everything).

In the room there were three single beds, placed parallel to one another in a row, separated by sturdy nightstands.

Martina slept on the bed to the left, because she preferred to be by the door. Camila, on the bed to the right because she liked the place next to the window. And Oriana slept in the middle bed because she was easily scared and said that she felt protected by her friends that way.

The girls had just fallen asleep when the voice of the father woke them up suddenly. He was getting dressed (again and in a hurry) while he said to them:

—Grandma feels unwell. Nothing too serious, we think, but we’re taking her to the town’s hospital, just to be safe. We’ll be back soon. Mom says you mustn’t get up, try to sleep until we come back. See you later.

To sleep? Who can sleep after hearing such bad news? Not the girls, at least, worried about the beloved grandma’s health. And least could they sleep after they heard the sound of the father’s car leaving the house. To the uncertainty of the waiting it was added the fear to the noises of the storm that, finally, had decided to dishevel over the night.

Thunder and lightning shook the hearts.

Lightning bolts, like giant and electrified fireflies.

The wind spreading out like never before.

—I’m scared! I’m so scared! — cried Oriana suddenly.

The other two were also scared but remained quiet, swallowing their uneasiness.

Martina tried to calm down her friend (and to calm down herself, there’s no point in denying it) by turning the light on. Camila did the same.

Oriana’s bed was, then, the best lit of the three, since it was in the middle of the two lamps.

—It’s nothing. The storm makes it seem worse than what it is, that’s all— said Martina, trying to cheer up and convince herself.

—They’ll be back with grandma soon. I’m sure. —said Camila.

And so, between Oriana’s whines and the comfort words of her more courageous friends, about a quarter hour went by in every clock.

When the one in the living room, a huge grandfather clock, pointed twelve with its hollow chimes, the young ladies felt quite calmed down, even though the storm threatened to be endless.

The lights went out suddenly.

—Don’t play pranks on me! —cried Oriana—Turn on the light, you’re being mean! — and, frightened, stretch her hand over the nightstand trying to find the switch.

She only found her friends hands doing the same.

— I didn’t turn off anything, you fool! —whined Camila.

—The power must have gone out! — thought Martina out loud.

She was right. Too many electricity playing mischief in the skies and none there in the house, where it was so very needed in such moments…

Orinana burst into tears, disconsolate.

—I’m so scared! Someone has to go the kitchen for some candles! Someone has to go down and bring matches and candles! Or a flashlight!

—“Someone has to” “Someone has to” and who will be that someone? Hm? — protested Camila— Me? No way!

— Me neither! — added Martina—. Oriana thinks I’m Superkid, but I’m not. I’m also scared. What did you think? Also my mom said we must stay in bed, remember?

Oriana cried with her head under the pillow.

—Bwaaaah… What do we do? I’m terrified! Please go down and bring the candles… Be nice… Bwaaaah…

Martina felt sorry for her friend. Even though they were the same age, Oriana looked younger and behaved likewise. Martina took pity on her and acted like a big sister.

—Well, well, stop crying, Ori. Relax… I thought of something so we won’t be afraid anymore, okay?

—W…what? — stuttered Oriana.

—What are we going to do? — Camila showed interest too (it was to be expected: even if she didn’t complain, she was trembling).

Martina kept on explaining;

—We get in bed under our blankets (each of us in our own bed) and then we stretch our arms out and hold hands.

They did so immediately.

Of course, Oriana felt the most comforted: being between her two friends she could feel the hand of both her friends when she stretched her arms.

—Ori, you’re so lucky, huh? —joked Camila.

—In your bed you get company from both sides…

—Yet, we…—Martina ended the thought— with only one hand…

And so, holding hands tightly, the three girls shook off most of their fears.

Soon they were all asleep.

Outside, the storm started to say goodbye.

—Thank goodness, Grandma feels well again— the mother told them the next day at dawn, as soon as she was back in the house with her husband and her mother in law, when they went to check on the girls—. It was just a scare.

Since when she came back the girls were sound asleep, the grandma herself was the one who woke them up and told them everything was in order. They were so happy!

—That’s how I like it. You’re so brave! Well done—and the grandma kissed them and promised to bring the breakfast back to bed, to pamper them a little, after the nerve-wrecking night they had passed.

—We’re not so brave, ma’am… at least not me…— whispered Oriana, a bit embarrassed for her behavior the night before—. It was your granddaughter who got us to calm down…

After that confession, the parents and the grandma wanted to know what had they done to not be too scared.

So the three friends told them:

—We got under our blackest. Like this…

—And we stretched our arms. Like this…

—And we hold hands tightly. Like this…

What they realized that very moment gave the girls goose bumps ! And the parents and the grandma too.

No matter how hard they tried, stretching their arms as much as possible, their children hands couldn’t even grace each other.

They had to move the beds on the sides more than a palm before they could barely touch their fingertips.

And yet, the three of them had really felt their hands being held, as soon as they tried Martina’s idea.

—Whose hand??? —asked them, as the adults tried to conceal their own fear.

—Whose hands??? — corrected them Oriana, making a horrified face. She had felt hands on both sides!

Hands.

Four extra hands, besides the six belonging to the girls, moving in the darkness of that night, trying to reach out for other hands, searching for some hands to hold on.

Human hands.

Spectral hands.

(Maybe, every once in a while, ghosts get afraid too… and they need us…).

[floraltypes]

OHSHC Meeting The Parents

Who - ohshc hosts x reader

Type - fluff !

Summary - the hosts meeting your parents

AN - my requests are open so request something!

unedited :/

Tamaki

You had told Tamaki that your mother was dying to meet him

The woman wouldn’t stop asking you questions regarding him after you dropped a hint you were dating someone

So, one day she threatened to lower your allowance if you wouldn’t invite him over

Hence, why you are running around with trying to finish up your hair and the maid trying to help is stressing herself since you won’t sit down

When the doorbell was rung the butler quickly opened it and your mother and you both rushed down the stairs to try and get there first

Tamaki looked nervous in the beginning but his eyes lit up once they landed on your figure

“Y/n!” He called out, jumping a bit

Tamaki was very much dressed for the occasion, no surprise, and cleaned up well

You mother put a hand on her heart while Tamaki squished you into his arms

“So adorable, my little y/n,” Your mother cooed

“Uh, Tamaki, I can’t breathe,” He let you go quickly, put kept his arms on your shoulders

He soon realized that your mother was there and quickly turned around bowing a few times and apologizing for not greeting her sooner

“No worries dear, why don’t we go to the dining room to begin eating. Y/n’s father will be later due to work,” Your mother told him

The three of you sat at the larger table, Tamaki sitting right besides you

Your mother asked him many questions and he happily answered, staring at you most of the time and your mother could just tell how much he was in love

She thought he was so cute on how he kept asking you questions throughout dinner to involve you in the conversation like ‘what is your favorite class?’ ‘Y/n, you like that game too, as well, correct?’ ‘Y/n sure is very intelligent!’

Your father ended up being very late and didn’t eat with you three

You and Tamaki decided to go to a one of your extra rooms where there was a large TV and couch

You both sat down besides each other and watched something on the television, Tamaki holding your hand

At one point, Tamaki was trying to reach over you to reach a drink on the table besides you, but it ended up being farther than he thought and he feel ontop of you

He looked up from your legs with a awkward, yet cute, smile

At that exact moment the doors swung open and your father walked in

“I apologize for being late, your mother said the boy was in he- why are you laying inappropriately on top of my child?”

“Uh, i-, no, never!”

Let’s say your father didn’t think the highest of Tamaki like your mother did…

Kyoya

You were both working on some homework one day when you brought up the idea

“Do you think it’s about time to meet my parents?”

“Should I?” He asked back

To be honest, Kyoya knew he was a respectable man and knew how to behave, but still had some nerves

You also didn’t want to exactly have to sit through a long dinner with your boring parents who only knew how to talk about business deals and money, but it would be something your family would eventually ask you

When it came time, you were meeting Kyoya and his parents at a restaurant with your own

When the two of you viewed each-other your eyes lit up a little

“Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Kyoya’s father greeted, bowing in front of your parents who soon exchanged the gesture

You greeted Kyoya’s father, your second time seeing Kyoya’s parents again after the dinner you had with them not too long ago

“Y/n,” Kyoya pulled out the chair for you, which you soon sat down on and he sat right beside you, your other side being taken by your mother

“Kyoya, you’re the youngest, correct?” Your father quickly asked, sending a glare

“I am the youngest son, yes,”

“Ah, so you should know what competition is like,”

“I do,”

“Good because they’re many men competing for my daughters hand in marriage,” He laughed, soon turning his attention back to your mother who was chatting with Kyoya’s parents

He mumbled something to himself and grabbed your hand, intertwining it with his

You rubbed small patterns with your pointer finger as a quiet way to reassure him, sending a small smile which seemed to lighten his mood highly

He knew that with you competition seemed worth it, something he was willing to put up with as long as having a chance with you is the prize

When the two of your guys’s families were getting to depart, Kyoya turned to your father before leaving

“I know competition, and I’m very successful in all types of it, I will win the competition for your daughters hand, I just hope you will be able to accept the victor,”

Hikaru

Telling Hikaru that your mother found it important for her to meet him seemed ridiculous to him

Both of your parents weren’t apart of the relationship, so what should it matter what they think of the other

You loved him and he loved you, he didn’t need anyone else to say otherwise

“Come on Hikaru! My mother will continue to bother me until you finally agree,”

“Only if you promise me something,” He quickly told you, snickering secretly at his brilliant plan

“Anything, I’m so tired of her complaining,”

“A kiss,”

You quickly moved your lips to hover in front of his and connected into a sweet and short kiss

His cheeks brightened to a vibrant pink and he scowled turning his head away

“Not now,” He mumbled.

A week later he was outside your door with a cocky smile and a bouquet in hand, (advice from Kaoru)

“Hello, Mr and Miss L/n,” He bowed, handing the bouquet to your mother

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you son,” Your father put a hand on his shoulder

“Son?” Hikaru asked silently, looking at you with confusion

“My father always wanted a boy,” You tell him, laughing a little

“You look nice Miss L/n,” Hikaru complimented your mother, already

“Oh Y/n, he is so kind!”

Though at first, Hikaru thought meeting your parents was ridiculous, now he’s laughing with them at some joke your father made and being invited over next week for another dinner

Kaoru

He’s another person who isn’t so confident about the idea

You both were snuggling on his bed, his arms wrapped around your waist and head lying on your chest while you combed through his hair

“My grandma wants to meet you,”

“She does?” He looked up with a spectacle look

“She isn’t bad, much more open to things considered her age,”

“It makes sense why she would want to meet me, so I guess,” He sighed, then taking in the comfort from the position he was in.

“I don’t want to make a bad impression,”

“You won’t! She just wants to treat you to one of her iconic desserts,”

The both of you slowly got up from your spots and got ready to go to your grandmas that evening

When she opened the door, she gave you a tight hug and then soon threw her arms around Hikaru, squeezing him tightly

“Y/n says you love chocolate, I made some treats so she can show you to the dining room,”

He ended up losing all his nerves after taking a bite of the cake

“It’s amazing!”

“I’m so glad you like it. You’re such a sweet young boy, take some more,”

He felt really comforted by your grandmother and comes back next week after she sends him a letter inviting him

When you came home after a shopping trip with your friends, and saw your boyfriend chatting with your grandmother in the kitchen you were very confused

“Hikaru, I didn’t know you were coming over. Did I forget to tell you I was seeing my friend today?”

“You did,” He walked over you you and gave you a hug and small kiss on the cheek

“Then, uh, why are you here?”

“Your grandmother invited me!” Soon your grandma walked in with three cups of tea

“Oh thanks grandma, did you here me come in?” You went to take the other cup before someone came in behind her. “What are you doing here?”

“She wanted to meet Kaoru’s twin,”

Mori

The both of you were in the library doing some reading

You had recently been describing this book to him that you fell in love with and he wanted to read it for himself

You just wanted to read in general

It was a quiet time, but the both of you sat near each other and your head was lying on his shoulder

You had totally forgotten that your dad was begging to meet this man

“My dad wants to meet you,” You voiced, looking up at him while he just nodded, eyes still on the page

“Which one is that?”

“Dad is the really energetic one, papa is the really smart one,” You told him, the poor boy still having trouble with the names for your two fathers

“Ah,” He hummed, moving a hand to rest on your thigh

“Great, I’ll tell them you will be over this weekend!”

“Mhm,” He rubbed a small circle on your clothed thigh and the two of you kept reading, basking in each other’s presence

When the day came Mori wasn’t exactly nervous, but he wasn’t excited

He had brought a treat that his mother wanted him to bring over

“Mori, is it?” Your papa questioned, while your dad quickly took the treat.

Your boyfriend nodded his head, and scavenged through his pocket for a little box

He handed it to you, and you tilted you head, letting a small smile take over the features on your face

“ARE YOU PROPOSING TO MY BABY ALREADY?!” Your dad asked, jumping and trying to rush to grab the box from your hands, getting pulled back by your papa

“No, it’s a present, calm down hun,” He said with his stern voice, though your dad could easily tell her was just trying to be considerate of you and Mori

“Thank you,” You looked up at Mori and pecked him on the lips

“DID MY BABY JUST KISS HIM?!” Your dad yelled once again.

“You kissed me after our first date, remember?” Your papa reminded the man

“Mori, please come in, take a seat, eat, smile, talk, dance, sing, whatever you please,” Your dad pushed him into the living room and your papa followed

You soon pulled the two aside, sending a look to them

“Don’t be rude to him, I already told you that he doesn’t speak much and that’s his choice that we need to respect,”

You soon felt arms on your shoulder and looked back to see your boyfriends figure towering over yours

“It’s okay Y/n. I’m willing to answer questions to help soothe your parents worries and to show my love for you,” He smiled down at you and placed a kiss to the top of your head

That was when your papa and dad knew that this man was truly a good one

Honey

“Y/n-chan! I want to meet your mom!” Honey told you one day while the two of you were waiting for Usa-chan to get cleaned at the cleaners

“How come?”

“I want to meet the person who helped make you so kind!” He exclaimed, gripping your hand tightly while the two of you walked through town

“Sure, if you really want to,” You shrugged. “My mom is a big cake fan so I think the two of you would get along,”

“Yeah!!!” Honey cheered and the two of you continued your walk with grins on your face

A couple of weeks later your mom was finally home after her stressful business trip and was excited to meet the boy you had been dating

“Mother, this is Mitsukuni,” You introduced her to the childish blonde who was holding on tightly to his stuff animal

“You can call me Honey! It’s so great to meet you! Y/n-chan told me you like cake, so I brought some!” Your mother put on a fake smile and showed him to a area to place it

She soon put on her shoes and coat and the three of you took the limousine to a restaurant nearby

“So, you’re a third year?” Your mother asked once the three of you were seated at a table

“Mhm! Along with my cousin Takashi, he is one of Y/n-chan’s friend as well,”

“He’s the tall one right, I thought he was your boyfriend, someone you could depend on,”

“Mother,” You mumbled, loud enough for her to hear, hoping she would behave kindly to Honey despite the boy not acting like a normal third year

“Y/n can depend on me! I promise! I’m very dependable,” Honey placed his stuff animal on the ground and sat up straight

“You are,” You looked over at him, agreeing with your boyfriend.

The rest of the dinner was a little awkward and when Honey asked to order cake your mother shot him down, it took a lot for the boy to try and hold on his tears

He thought for sure that he would get along greatly with your mother

“Well, aren’t you a cutie?” A man walked up to you, walking alongside you with Honey on your other side holding your hand, your mother was a bit ahead on a phone call

“Um, can you please leave me alone, I’m not interested,”

“Oh come on now doll, don’t act so uninterested, don’t lie, I know you are,” He was about to place a hand on your shoulder before he was on the ground and Honey was holding him in the position

“Y/n! Y/n! I’m so sorry,” Your mom rushed to you and quickly hung up the call looking at the man on the sidewalk and pulling you into her arms.

“I’m fine mother, he didn’t touch me. Mitsukuni got him for me,” You reassured her, pointing to your boyfriend who was watching the man run away

“Oh Honey! I’m so sorry for how I behaved, you really are a good boy,” She pulled him into her arms. “Why don’t the three of us go get some cake to celebrate!”

Haruhi

It was something your father found important

You and Haruhi had been chatting for awhile and your father had overheard you on the phone many times

The poor single father couldn’t figure if your giggles were friendly ones or ones someone would have when talking to a crush

Though he was intelligent when it came to taking care of the colleges he owned, he knew nothing about girls and their crushes

So, he had to ask his secretary for advice, which he did often since he was raising a girl on his own

The advice he received was to just… ask you?

“Y/n, sweetheart, who are you chatting to?”

“Haruhi, Fujioka Haruhi,” You told him, then getting back onto the phone

He rushed to his phone and asked his secretary to found out some more

When he received the information, he rushed to you again, a bit confused it was a commoner, but open to the idea

“I want to meet this Fujioka, and their parent,”

You told Haruhi and she understood, thinking it made sense that your father would want to meet her, especially since Haruhi liked you a lot and was thinking of ways to ask you out soon!

“I’m Hiro, a pleasure to meet you….?” He looked at Haruhi’s father with confusion.

“Ranka, sorry, I’m coming back from my job,” He apologized, whipping the scarf around his neck a little tighter. “You must be Y/n, Haruhi talks about you often! You’re so adorable!”

“Thank you!” You smiled, then grabbing Haruhi’s hand and dragging her into your larger home

Haruhi was very nervous to meet your father, she didn’t want to say anything and tend to just try and stay glued to your side

“Haruhi, you chat with Y/n often, um, that’s good,” Your father was nervous as well, he didn’t want to make the assumption that you two were dating and risk embarrassing you, something he unfortunately did often

“Yeah, Y/n is nice,” She nodded, and you continued to drag her up to your room, showing her trinkets and books

Ranka and your father went to your garden to chat and have some tea

“You have such a lovely home,” Ranka complimented. “Where is Y/n’s mother, at work?”

“She actually isn’t with us,” Your father coughed. “She passed away after having Y/n,”

“I’m so sorry, Haruhi’s mother hasn’t been with us for a while as well,”

Something in common!!?!

They soon started to talk about the difficulties on raising children on there own, and found each other to be much kinder when the nervous aspect disappeared

(they end up calling each other often when they need more advice with their kids, they become good friends!)

“Haruhi is always talking about Y/n, it’s so cute! My little girl is in love..!!”

“Love?!?!” Your father choked on his tea

“Why yes, it’s so painfully obvious that Haruhi doesn’t even realize it herself! I bet it is the same with Y/n, I hear the way she chats and her giggles through the phone,”

“Y/n is in love?!?!”

“Yeah! I think Haruhi is going to ask them out soon!”

“Ask Y/n out?!?!” Your father was about to pass out on the spot

But, Ranka helped him breathe and she revealed just how great of a daughter Haruhi was that your father didn’t seem too scared

Though he didn’t chat with Haruhi too much because the both of you were too busy chatting with each other, he felt she was a good person

“Well, Haruhi, fine young woman, treat my child well, you are well, um, yes,” Your father nodded and Haruhi did the same

The two won’t go and see a movie together, but they’ll be able to get rid of some nerves soon enough and hold some nice conversations together

[lonely-lost-soul]

Immortality and Nymphs Pt. II

(Philza x reader)

Kisses. God Phil missed your kisses against his skin most of all, you were always so warm and gentle. He couldn’t wait for you to be a constant in his life once again, he walked all three of you back to his home. Wilbur was eyeing you the entire time almost like he was trying to find the differences between himself and you, thinking, The boy looked much more like himself than he did you, but there were tiny similarities here and there. You didn’t seem to mind though when he asked you questions you answered them truthfully. Once they arrived back at his house Wilbur stood up a little straighter,

“As much as I’d like to stay and talk more, Fundy and I need to get going.” He trailed off a little looking at you, “I still have thousands of questions but I have a revolution to plan.” Wilbur continued as you raised a questioning eyebrow, Phil’s wings ruffled a little as he cleared his throat.

“You should come back next week with the others.” Phil gave a slight nod of his head, “I’ll send a crow to Techno.” Fundy was the one to whip his head and nod eagerly, Wilbur adjusted his glasses but eventually nodded.

“That should work.” Wilbur turned to face you taking a shaky breath, “I’ll see you then?” A tender smile spread across your lips as you reached out to cup Wilbur’s cheeks.

“I’m not going anywhere again baby boy,” You whispered as he flushed hesitantly leaning into your touch “I promise.” He pulled away, clearing his throat taking Fundy’s hand as he waved.

“Bye, grandpa! Bye, grandma!” The fox hybrid called and Phil watched as you flushed deeply. Phil wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you close, his wings spreading around your body like a cocoon. You giggled softly as he nuzzled his face into your neck, his beard prickled your skin, you missed the feeling.

“Fundy seems sweet,” You mused as the man behind you kissed the skin of your neck. Phil only hummed in agreement which caused you to laugh, “you’re so not paying attention to what I’m saying are you?”

“What?” You burst into laughter at his genuine confusion, “Come on now. I missed you, can you blame me? You’re distracting.” Phil let out a little huff as you pulled away to face him,

“Then show me how much you missed me my crow,” You purred running your fingers through his feathers, you felt his entire body shiver as his breathing hitched. His fingers dug into your hips,

“Careful. They’re sensitive and wouldn't want a pretty thing like you to get hurt.” Phil teased pressing his forehead against yours,

“Oh, I remember.” You winked teasingly as Phil leaned in to swallow your words with a blistering kiss. He felt you melt against his body as his wings fluffed up, both of you poured all your love and admiration for each other into one another. It was then Phil knew nothing changed between the two of you even after all these years apart, there was still the same amount of love and longing you always shared. Phil lifted you into the air and you hooked your legs around his waist, he felt young again, back in the forest by his old home. He felt you giggle against his lips and pull away to rest your forehead on his own, he chased your lips almost desperately. Your hand came up to cup his cheek and he closed his eyes to lean into his palm, “Take me inside first.” You murmured and his eyes lit up mischievously.

“If I remember correctly you never had a problem with making out in the woods before.” He watched your face turn beat red as he smirked proudly, he adored getting you flustered which way to Sunday.

“Yeah well, I’ve lived in the woods all my life. I think I’m ready to stay with my adoring lover in his house, is that really such a bad thing?”

“No. I’d never be opposed to something like that, not when I’ve missed you this much. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, living with you and raising Wilbur, being a family.” He watched you visibly wince and guilt ebbed at his heart, “Hey, hey you had to do what you needed to. I’d rather have you alive and here now than dead or worse.” Phil reassured and you seemed to relax a little bit in his arms,

“I wish I could’ve been here to raise Wilbur with you...I wish I could’ve seen him grow up.” Your voice wavered a little as Phil pulled you close, he hesitated slightly trying to find the right words to say.

“I wish you were there too. But you’re here now, you’re safe and that’s what matters. Plus…” His cheeks flushed a soft pink, “we could always try again.”

“Jesus Christ Phil,” you giggled covering your mouth with your hands and he looked embarrassed. “I just got home Crow, let's give it some time. But...I’m not opposed in the future.” Phil’s face lit up again and he nodded rapidly, he could agree with that, maybe once you built a better relationship with Wilbur and his other boys that’s when the both of you could try again.

Oh god, the other boys. When he invited them all here next week, he hoped they’d make a good impression if not Dadza was going to craft a belt.

“How long has it been since you’ve had an actual meal?”

“God decades!”

He chuckled deeply, kissing your cheek, and led you into his house to have a nice warm meal. Having you around definitely took some getting used to, his days suddenly shifted around as he accommodated for another person but he didn’t mind. Phil woke up happier than he'd felt in a long time, you were curled up against his chest, the top of your head was right under his chin. He ran a hand through your (h/c) hair, letting it run through his fingers, even though it’s been about a week he still felt like you weren’t really beside him.

Wait a week.

His eyes snapped open and he shot up like a rocket, feathers flying everywhere as you groaned, “Crow? Everything alright?” You asked adorably rubbing your eyes, his stress melted away momentarily as he watched you wake up. A few flowers bloomed in your hair as you came to your senses.

“Everythings fine! Just remembered it’s Sunday and the others don’t usually follow set times.” He pulled you from the bed giving you a quick good morning peck on the lips. “Get dressed, something nice I wanna show you off,” He kissed you again longer this time you giggled.

“To who? Our son and your friends?” He gave a happy little nod, as you rolled your eyes, he felt your fingers fix the hair on his face, Phil closed his eyes and leaned against your touch. “But I’ll do as you wish my Crow,” You stood up from the bed and stretched your arms above your head. Phil had managed to get some clothes for you from a nearby village, he still remembered your style, but tried to make it more modern so you didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. You slid on the new clothes, they hung off you loosely. They clearly needed some tailoring, and you slid on the boots he got you the day before, as much as you like walking around barefoot it was pretty impractical.

“Shall we?” Phil held his arm out to you, you wrapped your arm around his own as he led you outside. You both stood on a hillside covered in soft green grass and a big willow tree. Phil looked down at you, his big wings gently covering your back from any danger, he was sure not feeling the grass between your feet was a foreign feeling to you but you didn’t seem to mind. The smile on your face said it all, you were peaceful and relaxed, letting the breeze flow through your hair. “You’re beautiful,” your eyes snapped up to him your cheeks turning light pink,

“Oh stop it old man.” He made an indignant sound as you laughed, your hands reached up and dragged him down to your level, kissing him tenderly. Phil felt his eyes flutter closed and his wings drop, he was snapped back to reality by loud whistling. You pulled back and he pushed you behind him, wings puffing up defensively, standing on the side of the hill were Wilbur, Tommy, Technoblade, and Fundy. Tommy was the one whistling eyes sparkling mischievously, Wilbur whacked him on the back of the head to get him to shut up.

“Dad! Wil’s being mean to me!”

“Don’t be mean to Tommy Wil,” Phil pressed his fingers to his nose with a sigh “Wilbur don’t antagonize your brother.” Fundy was cackling at their mischief, your eyebrows shot up on your forehead and Phil cleared his throat, face pink. Technoblade just stared seemingly eyeing you suspiciously, “(Y/n) these are my other sons. Boys this is (Y/n) Wilbur’s birth mother.” It was Technoblade’s turn for his eyebrows to raise and Tommy’s jaw dropped to the floor,

“No shit.” Tommy gawked, “You don’t look like her at all Wilbur! You’re so ugly, must’ve gotten that from Phil. Sad.” You burst into hysterical laughter watching Phil glare over at Tommy. Wilbur was seething at his sibling but ignored him in favor of giving you a light hug,

“Good to see you, mom.” He whispered,

“Good to see you too.” Phil heard you respond and hug him back, Wilbur whispered something to you and you made a little surprised face before nodding. Phil assumed he told you that the other boys were not in fact his biological children, but those he had adopted. Fundy soon joined in the hug snuggling into your stomach, you ruffled the young fox’s head and he chirped happily. Tommy walked over to introduce himself to you next, he proclaimed to be not only Phil’s favorite son but Wilbur’s favorite brother too. Which lead him to then boldly declare he’d be your favorite as well and Wilbur sent him a scathing look, ah yes, Phil knew that look rather well. Wilbur inherited that look from you, nose all scrunched up and eyes sharp. You shook the young boy's hand and happily told him you couldn't wait to see him fall into the number one spot. Wilbur shot you an offended look and Phil covered up a laugh with his hand, the offending look was sent to his father next,

“Dad.”

“What?” Phil laughed holding up his hands, “If he wants to win your mother’s attention I’m not gonna stop him. Every man for themselves.”

“Phil,” You nudged him with his elbow “be nice.” Tommy began to boast about how awesome he was in comparison to his brother, you sent a wink to Wilbur’s, and his shoulders visibly relaxed.

You were his number one, anyone with a brain could see that.

Phil noticed Technoblade had his eye on you the entire time, it took him much longer than the others to gain trust. He decided to walk away from you to stand by the hybrid's side, “Hey mate.” Technoblade only grunted in response, arms crossed over his broad chest protectively, “What’s crawled up your butt eh?”

“You didn’t tell me ‘bout her.” He motioned in your direction with his chin, “you tell me everything. Why not her?” Technoblade was trying to remain stoic but after all these years he could tell he was hurt. Phil sighed softly scratching the stubble on his chin as he watched Fundy run around you trying to fight for your attention.

“It was hard for me to talk about, she didn’t leave on her own free will. Her life was in danger and I didn’t know if I’d ever see her again. It was a shock when she came back last week, a good shock but a shock nonetheless. (Y/n) was my everything, is my everything. I kept it from everyone because I hoped it would keep her alive and safe from those who wished to harm her.” Phil looked over at Techno, for once Phil’s eyes showed his true age, “I’m sorry mate you know I would’ve told you if I could. Doesn’t take much for me to start gushing ‘bout her. I mean look at her.” Phil glanced back over at you, Fundy was on your shoulders, his hat on your head, meanwhile, Wilbur was wrestling with Tommy on the ground. You looked over at him desperate for his help and Phil only smiled over at you and shook his head. Your eyes screamed distressed as you tried to get the boys to stop fighting, Phil felt Techno’s eyes on him and he looked back at his son and friend.

“I understand I suppose,” Technoblade sighed rubbing the back of his neck, “You wanted to protect her. I can’t be mad at you for that, but no more secrets alright? Promise me?”

“Promise. Now go say hi to her before she gets upset and thinks you don’t like her,” Phil nudged him forward and his eyes widened a little,

“Heh? Phil hold on-”

“(Y/n)! This is Techno.” Phil clapped the man on the back, you looked up at him with a kind smile.

“Pleasure to meet you Technoblade, I like your cape.” Phil watched the man flush in embarrassment at the compliment,

“Eh...thanks. Like your flowers.” He motioned to the flowers blooming in your hair, you beamed brightly at him, always happy to talk about your flowers.

“Thank you, sweetie!” His ears turned red and he waved you off anxiously, he moved to peel Tommy away from Wilbur, wanting to get out of this conversation. Fundy hopped off your shoulders to tackle his father and you let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding in, “wow. They’re…”

“A lot?”

“Yes.” You laughed fondly, “but…”

“I wouldn’t trade them for the world.” Phil nodded kissing you on the apple of your cheek,

“Good. You better not. They’re all my sons now. I hope you know that” You leaned against his chest, he laughed and you felt his chest rise and fall.

“I’d expect nothing less from you.”

Letters. That’s how most of you communicated in the years to follow, Wilbur would send letters and you would beam in delight. It melted Phil’s heart, he knew his son was busy with the revolution and the now Presidency but he wished he’d visit his mother. You would write him back almost immediately after receiving a letter, you’d seal the letter with a kiss before sending it off with one of Phil’s crows. Afterward, Phil would take you in his arms and pepper you in tender kisses, you would giggle and snuggle into his arms. He told you he loved you, and you cooed and told you loved him back, then you both would share a kiss. Phil loved those days the most, seeing you truly happy made his heart swell. There were days where Phil taught you how to fight, days where you would garden, and days where he let you groom his feathers. He loved that, grooming was another one of the things he missed the most, you got out all the tangled feathers just perfectly. He would lean back against your hands head falling on your shoulder as he panted, his pupils were blown wide as you hummed fondly.

So, maybe Phil enjoyed it a little more than he remembered.

It was a cold autumn day when the letters stopped coming, you were heartbroken, always anxiously petting and feeding his crows. They could sense your disappointment in waves, it was almost choking Phil himself, his heart ached to see you so sad. He pets your hair gently as you both sat on the hill with the willow tree, he noticed the bags under your eyes were dark, Phil’s frown only deepened.

“My love please smile for me, I’ve missed it so much these past few weeks.”

“Somethings wrong,” Your voice was soft looking up at Phil “He wouldn’t just stop writing to us. He always writes to us.” He hated the way your voice quivered, “what if he changed his mind about me?” Phil shushed you softly with a kiss,

“First of all, there’s no way he changed his mind about you. The way the both of you bonded these past few years, Wilbur wouldn’t throw that all away for no good reason.” He tried to reassure you, “Although, I will admit this is strange. Wilbur isn’t one to not write to me, it’s something he’s always done ever since he was old enough to spell.”

“Crow…” You whispered, “can we visit him? Just to put my mind at ease...please.” Phil’s heart melted as soon as he saw your puppy dog eyes, he nodded and you smiled.

Good. He was going to keep that there as long as he was physically able.

The next day, Phil scooped you up in his arms and you headed towards the direction of his son's new nation.

It was called L’Manburg if Phil remembered correctly.

What the both of you didn’t expect to see was a war zone, “Phil…” You murmured eyes wide in fear, he held you to his chest, your brow furrowed in worry. He swore he could see Tommy and Techno looking up at them from below, it didn’t ease the anxiety prickling at his skin, the sky suddenly went black with crows.

A bad omen, something bad was going to happen, and they knew it.

“Phil they’re distressed. Somethings wrong.”

“I know hon,” Phil looked around worriedly, he spotted a glance of Wilbur walking into some sort of room. He landed just outside the entrance, he put you on your feet, “Stay behind me.” He instructed you, you nodded your head clutching onto his bicep. The both of you stepped into the dimly lit room, there were scrawlings etched into the wall, all scratched in by Wilbur. Your brow furrowed in concern, fingers dancing across the lettering, “what’re you doing?” Phil spoke, his tone flat and serious, looking dead at your son, wings spreading out behind him.

“Wilby?” You asked softly as he slowly turned around, his big brown eyes were wet and wide.

“Mom…” He whispered, “I didn’t want…” Wilbur looked away from you and grit his teeth, “Welcome to L’manburg. Sorry, you have to see it like this, war-torn and broken. I wanted you to see it in its prime, a shame you didn’t visit sooner.”

“Wilbur, don’t do this,” Phil said watching his son look longingly at the button in the middle of the wall, almost with longing. “This is your country, it can be fixed. Things can be rebuilt, it’s where you raised your son,” Phil continued his entire body tense and nervous he was too aware of the sword on Wilbur’s hip. Phil reached out his hand as you walked towards Wilbur,

“Baby boy…” You whispered tenderly, vines slowly growing out of the cracks in the floor. “Don’t do this I only just got you back, please think about what you’re doing.” Wilbur’s brow furrowed watching you smile softly holding out your arm, “Everything will be alright I promise you. We can help you.” He let out a wet laugh running a hand through his brown curls, his pointed ears visible.

“It’s not the same nation anymore. There was a special place where people could go but it’s not there. It’s no longer the nation it once was Mom.”

“It is there. You've just- You've just won it back, Wil!” Phil spoke up in opposition to his son.

“MOM, Dad, I’m ALWAYS SO CLOSE to pressing this button, Phil! I've BEEN HERE like seven or eight times, I've been here seven or eight times...Phil, I've been here so many times…” All of you jumped a little at the sound of crackling fireworks outside, “They're fighting. They're fighting!” Phil and you glanced at one another, there was a beat of silence.

“And you want to just blow it all up, You fought so hard to get this land back... So hard.” You argued reaching out to cup his cheeks, he melted into your palms, snuggling into them like they were his last lifeline.

“I don't even know if it works anymore, Mom, I don't even know if the button works, I could, I could... press it.”

“Do you really wanna take that risk?” Phil laughed, “There is a lot of TNT potentially connected to that button.”

“Phil... There was a saying, Phil. By a traitor. Once part of L'Manburg. A traitor- I don't know if you've heard of Eret? He had a saying...It was never meant to be!” He tossed his hand back and slammed it against the button, you let out a devastating shriek pulling Wilbur into your arms to try and protect him from the blast. Phil felt pure adrenaline enter his bloodstream as he flew towards you and his son. His wings wrapped around the both of you and you whimpered, some of his feathers caught fire and he squeezed his loved one’s harder. Wilbur meanwhile let out a roaring cry “MY L'MANBURG, PHIL! MY UNFINISHED SYMPHONY, FOREVER UNFINISHED! IF I CAN'T HAVE THIS, NO-ONE CAN, PHIL!”

“Oh, my god…” Phil spoke, his voice quivering with horror, Wilbur looked down at you, hurt and pride swam in his eyes,

“Are you proud of me mama?” He whispered softly as your thumb caressed his cheeks, Phil glanced down at you ignoring the pain in his wing, your eyes were wet but you were still smiling.

It didn’t reach your eyes.

“I’ll always be proud of you Wilbur. I’m your mother, and I love you, I’ll always love you.” He let out a little cry, you were so genuine with him, your love was smothering him. Wilbur looked up at his father and grabbed his wrist,

“Kill me, Phil. Phil, kill me, Phil kill me!” Wilbur broke away from his hold and tossed his sword Phil’s way. Phil caught it in his arms the lines in his forehead creasing with worry, “Phil, stab me with the sword, murder me now, kill me! Killza, Killza, do it! Kill me, Phil! Murder me! Look, they all want you to! Do it, Phil! Kill me! Phil, kill me!”

“I- You're my SON!”

“Wilbur NO! PHIL DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!” You cried as Wilbur shoved you away from him, your growing distress caused vines to spill into the room, filling it with greenery, nature wanted to protect you.

“No matter what you- dude, no matter what you've done, I can't-” Phil’s voice cracked, his knuckles turning white against the hilt of the blade.

Wilbur slammed his fist against the wall, “Phil, it's- LOOK! LOOK! HOW MUCH WORK WENT INTO THIS, and it's GONE!” He grabbed Phil’s hand and shoved the point of the sword into his chest, “Do it. Do it.”

“PHIL!” You sobbed grabbing onto his other arm, eyes red and puffy, fat tears were running down your pink cheeks.

The man squeezed his eyes tightly, his throat closing up, he couldn’t look at you, he could feel the look of horror that was slowly spreading across your face.

“Phil. I’m begging you we can get him help, I can’t lose him. Not again, not when I’ve only just got him back.” You choked out, “he’s my baby. He’s our baby.” You were clinging to Phil desperately, your smile was gone, he failed you and he failed his own son.

“Do it, Dad.” Wilbur interrupted you, you let out a desperate cry and Wilbur shushed you softly, brushing away your tears. “It’s better this way,” Wilbur leaned down and kissed your forehead, “I love you and I forgive you.” He looked back at Phil and his disintegrating right-wing, guilt ate at him, “It’s time.”

Phil let out a deep breath, jaw tense and he felt you bury your head in his uninjured wing. He ran his sword through his son’s chest, Wilbur fell forward against the blade, he choked on the blood in his mouth, it flowed out of the corners and stained the front of his shirt. Phil felt you move to look but he covered your face with his wing once more, “Don’t look darlin’” He whispered as your sobs only increased, Wilbur slowly died in his arms with a smile on his face that would forever haunt Phil’s nightmares. He stroked Wilbur’s hair as he slowly faded out of existence, three lives completely snuffed out, Phil was part of giving him life and was the one to take his final one. Once Wilbur was gone you crumpled to the floor loud sobs echoing in the chamber, he fell beside you and wrapped you in his arms, you clutched his beanie to your chest.

“It’s alright. It’ll be okay.”

“Okay! Philza Minecraft how the FUCK is this gonna be okay!” You snarled in his arms but he only held you tighter, “Our son...our baby is dead.” You choked holding your hand to your mouth, the vines that had grown started dying feeding off your agony. “He’s gone…” You whimpered letting Phil caress your hair and plant kisses on the top of your head.

“We’ll get through this. I promise you.” He swore up to you cupping your cheeks within his hands, you sniffled a little and gave a small nod of your head. You were drained emotionally and physically, Phil’s heart ached in his chest.

“You’re hurt…”

“I’ll be alright,” He tried to stretch out his wings he flinched as pain shot up the right side of his body. Phil’s wing was charred to bits, you both knew the unspoken truth that he’d never fly like he once did, Wilbur wasn’t the only thing Phil would mourn.

“We need to set up a grave for him. Under the willow tree, I’ll plant yellow flowers. That way he can always be close to us so long as we live there,” You looked up at him eyebrows pinched so tight “Please.”

“You don’t need permission Darlin’.” He whispered to you resting his forehead against your own, “If that’s where you want it that’s where it’ll be.”

“Good.”

Phil slowly helped you to your feet, you weren’t injured, a few cuts and scrapes he took the majority of the damage from the explosion just like he had planned. He hissed as he tried to put pressure on his left ankle, “Fuck me. I’m too young to need a cane.”

“Eh,” You smiled weakly “Wouldn’t say that.”

“Shut the fuck up.” You giggled softly, your laughter significantly improved his mood, even if it was a minuscule adjustment. “We all can’t be as spry as you,”

“What can I say some of us have it and some of us don’t.” You smirked slightly hearing another loud explosion go off in the distance, “the Withers. Technoblade spawned them didn’t he?” Your eyebrows furrowed in thought and Phil gave a little nod,

“Most likely.”

“Our boys, they can’t do anything without explosions can they?” You shakily whispered and Phil couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh,

“Guess so,” He shrugged limply as you slipped Wilbur’s beanie on your head,

“What now?” You looked up at him through wet eyelashes, Phil caressed the back of your head,

“We go home, bury what’s left of Wilbur, and take a look at my wings to assess the damage.” Phil watched you nod numbly against him, “it’ll be a long walk back.” He groaned rubbing his eyes and you rubbed his back soothingly.

“Let me handle that,” You reassured and he raised an eyebrow the both of you moved to leave the structure neither one of you wanted to put up with anyone, you both had lost a son and wanted time to mourn. Plus, it seemed Tommy and Technoblade were busy fighting. Phil watched you with careful eyes allowing himself to lean against one of the trees that survived the explosion. You placed your fingers in your mouth and gently whistled, not only did a crow from a tree flutter by but a wandering horse as well, you really were an animal whisperer. The crow ruffled its feathers and cawed loudly at Phil, he shot the crow a look and flipped it off, meanwhile, you worked your magic taming the horse in a matter of moments. “Come here Crow,” You held as your hand and he fell into it, you helped him onto the horse and he shot you a look,

“I’m not riding on this horse with you walking on foot. Switch with me.” Phil tried to argue but you shushed him,

“You took an explosion to the back. Take a breather, relax, nature helps me heal anyway.” You hummed fondly as he slumped against the horse reluctantly, it took about an hour to get back home, Phil had lost all feeling in his wing and wanted nothing more than to curl up with you and go to sleep. As the looming willow tree came into view Phil heard you sniffle and clutch his son’s beanie on your head,

“(Y/n)?”

“I-I’m alright.” You cleared your throat shaking your head, “Let’s get you looked at before anything else, okay?” Phil too exhausted to argue only nodded limply, you helped him inside and set him down on a chair. “Spread your wings for me,” You commanded, helping him stretch out his wings. He cursed, only feeling pure agony shoot through his right side,

“Ow! Fuck me!”

“Sorry, sorry,” You whispered out tenderly rubbing the base of his left-wing. The mixture of pain and pleasure was foreign but not completely unwelcome. “Oh, Phil…” You trailed off hesitant to touch the damage that was inflicted, “I don’t...I don’t think-” You chewed the bottom of your lip, but Phil got the message, he wasn’t going to be able to fly as he once did, maybe ever again. His flight feathers were singed to hell, completely burned away, not to mention the patchiness of his other feathers. His shoulders slumped forward as he ran a hand down his face, he was exhausted, he felt the coolness on his wing as you spread some antibiotic on the injury. “I’m sorry,” You kissed the back of his neck and he shivered at the feeling. “We’ll bury what we have tomorrow, you need rest.”

“I’ll be fine-”

“Phil, I will force you into bed. Don’t fucking test me right now, I will force you if I have to.” You hissed out glaring daggers at him, he should be threatened but he just felt oddly aroused.

He decided to attribute that to how fucked up he felt today.

Phil allowed you to tuck him into bed as gentle as you were capable of doing, “I’m going to send out some letters. I’ll join you in a little bit.” He felt you remove his hat and run your fingers through his blonde hair, he leaned into your touch like a kitten. As soon as you shut the door, Phil was out like a light.

Phil found out the next day that you had sent a letter out to both Tommy and Technoblade, you wouldn’t specify what you sent but you seemed a bit more relaxed than you had the other day. You both didn’t get a chance to bury what was left of Wilbur until a week later, Phil’s healing process was slower than he could’ve imagined. Phil reluctantly had to use a cane to get around easily, his crows laughed at him but you were also so kind and careful.

You were an angel.

The two of you buried him under the willow tree on the hill where you’d met the other members of your odd family for the first time. Technoblade had shown up at your doorstep holding out a large box inside of it was a stone tombstone inscribed on the tombstone was Wilbur’s name and date of birth and death. It had surprised Phil that the hybrid even agreed to make this for you, but at the same time, he was Phil’s adoptive son and closest friend, he appreciated the gesture nonetheless. Phil had placed Wilbur’s coat and beanie into a box and placed it under the ground. You had kept your promise and had grown little yellow flowers around the site of the burial, and the two parents mourned the loss of their biological son. Technoblade stood close by a hand resting on Phil’s shoulder in hopes to soothe him at least a little bit, Phil would never admit it but he appreciated the gesture.

Little did the three of them know, a small smile spread across a young ghost’s face. He picked at the sleeves of his yellow sweater, maybe he could give both of them some blue sometime to help them heal.

He had a feeling they’d like that idea.

~~~

I usually don't tag people in my stories but I figured a lot of people wanted a part two:

@xx-smiley-xx @dreamsofficialwife @dirtydiavolo @thatguythatsshy

@shinyshimaagain @little-odd-dude @theultimatewifu32 @hee-hee-haw @thegeekishere

[bts-reveries]

young one | finale

(images at the end)

“Wakey wakey,” Jungkook says, about an inch away from your face. You slowly open your eyes, leaning in to give him a peck on the lips.

“Morning,” you mumbled, Jungkook scrunches his nose and pulls away, standing above you.

“You know, I was going to make this morning perfect since it’s our first day dropping off Sian at school together, as an ~engaged~ couple, and our first day of work… but you ruined it with that morning breath of yours,” he says, pinching his nose and closing his eyes. Dramatic much?

“I love you too,” you say sarcastically, ripping the duvet off of your body. “Did you make breakfast?” You say, sniffing the air. “It smells like… burnt pancakes.” He tilts his head at you and suddenly his eyes grow wide. 

“S-SIAN,” he yells, running out of your room and to the kitchen. “I TOLD YOU TO WATCH IT.” You hear him yell.

“I DID!” You hear your son yell back.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME IT WAS BURNING?” Jungkook yells back.

“YOU JUST SAID TO WATCH IT.” You stay there, at the edge of your bed, laughing at their conversation.

“BABE,” Jungkook yells from the kitchen, “THERE’S ONE GOOD PANCAKE. DO YOU WANT IT?” You shake your head, standing up and walking to where your boys were at. 

“No it’s okay, you guys can share it,” you say, sitting with Sian at the counter. 

“Rock, paper, scissors?” Sian says, smirking at his dad. Jungkook squints his eyes at him, quirking up an eyebrow. 

“RockpaperscissorssHOOT,” Jungkook mumbles quickly, shooting up ‘scissors’. Sian laughs as he holds up ‘rock’.

“Thank youu~” your son says, taking the pancake from Jungkook. 

“Ah.. that’s my boy,” you say, petting your son’s head. You look up at Jungkook and see him pouting. 

“Go ahead and get ready,” you tell him. “I’ll make more pancakes.” Jungkook’s face lights up immediately.

“Ugh YES, best wifey ever!” He yells with joy, running around to give you a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll pay you back with something special later,” he whispers in your ear, flashing you with a little wink.

-

“Who’s picking me up later?” Sian asks you two as you and Jungkook stand in front of him by his classroom door. 

“Both of us,” Jungkook answers. Sian’s face lights.

“You and Mommy?!” he yells.

“Yeah of course,” you say. “Since mommy works with Auntie Sohyun now and daddy works with Uncle Jin, we’re able to take enough time off to spend with you together.” 

“But mommy what about your college?” Sian asks you, concerned about your own education. You let out a small laugh as you thought it was cute that he knew and cared about that.

“Remember when we went to live with grandma and grandpa? I did school at home right?” Sian nods. “Well I’m still doing that, so I’m doing online schooling.”

“YAY! We get to be together all the time!” Sian yells, raising his arms. You laugh, pulling him into a hug.

“We do. But for now, you’re going to class and we’re going to work,” you say. Jungkook kneels down to give him a hug next. 

“Love you buddy, we’ll see you in a few hours okay?”

“Okay!”

-

You and Jungkook had an hour to spare before you had to start your first shift and before Jungkook had to meet up with Jin at his building. The two of you decided to stop by the convenient store to kill some time, and buy some snacks. 

It was pretty cold out. You two had your hands in your pockets, but Jungkook didn’t let go of your hand and held your right hand in his pocket instead. He’s been super clingy lately. 

You liked it. 

“Is that Sungjae?” you ask. The two of you were walking to the front of the store when you saw Sungjae sitting on the tables at the front, drinking. “It’s seven in the morning..” you whisper to Jungkook. 

Jungkook lets go of your hand and walked up to his old friend.

“Hey.. are you okay?” he asks. Sungjae, still holding onto his drink, turns and looks up to Jungkook. He laughs.

“Did you come here to rub it in my face?” he responds. You frown, standing behind Jungkook. 

“No, we came here to buy snacks..” you say quietly.

“Well you were wrong about everything. A kid may change your life but I doubt it’s for the better,” he says, taking a big swig of his drink. You frown, you were confused. You turn to Jungkook to see if he knew what Sungjae was talking about and you watch his face turn from confused to a big smile. 

“You and Yuri?” Jungkook says. “I would have never seen that coming.” 

“What?” You ask, turning to Jungkook. 

“Yuri is pregnant,” he says. Your eyes grow wide.

“Shut up.”

Sungjae rolls his eyes. “Go ahead and rub it in my face--”

“Oh.. um, Sungjae,” you say, “I know how you all feel about me.. But just know.. That this sounds sucky right now because it wasn’t in your plan, but it’s going to be the best thing eve--”

“Shut up,” he groans. Your eyes widen in surprise. “I don’t want to hear all that dramatic stuff okay? It’s my life, don’t butt in.”

Your face drops and you turn away, Jungkook notices and he felt his face heating up.

“Look, Yn is just trying to help you feel better. We went through this too. You know that. You know, we’re willing to help you and Yuri start out if you need it just like how our friends helped us,” Jungkook tells him. “But if you’re going to despise my family no matter what, we won’t bother you again. My family does nothing to make you hate them but you continue to hurt them with your words and push them away without a second thought.” Jungkook sighs, taking his hand out of his pocket to grab yours. “Maybe this baby will give you the love you’re clearly lacking. Good luck with your life.” Jungkook turns away to walk inside the store, dragging you behind him when Sungjae laughs.

“Before you think about mines, worry about yours,” he says. “Keep calling yourselves the perfect family. I don’t see a ring on her finger.” You smirk to yourself, taking your left hand out of your pocket and showing him your gorgeous ring. Sungjae furrows his brows at the sight of your diamond.

“Don’t expect a wedding invitation,” you say, making Jungkook laugh as you two finally make your way into the store.

-

“So Yuri and Sungjae huh,” you say, before biting into your kimbap. “Would have never seen that coming.” Jungkook nods, chewing on his. The two of you were in the car, in the bakery parking lot. There was still 15 minutes to spare.

“I didn’t either. But I could care less about them,” he says, taking another bite. You turn to him.

“So you’re really over them this time?” You ask, he nods. “What if we bump into them a few years from now?” Jungkook laughs.

“If I hit Yuri with my cart again, I’ll say ‘sorry ma’am I didn’t see you there’ and go about my way,” he answers. “They were good friends when we were younger, but I have to move on. If I want a good future for my family, I have to keep moving forward. I can’t do that with my friends that’s stuck in the past.” You smile at his answer.

“Wow, you sound… really mature.. It’s kind of weird,” you say, making Jungkook laugh.

“I have a son, a lovely fiancée, and I work for a big company now,” he answers. “I’m a big boy, I should act like one.”

“I like that,” you say, smiling up at him, “but I also like the child at heart Jungkook so don’t go changing too much.” 

“Hey I’m the same JK, just more responsible,” he says, with a little wink. He leans into you and you think he’s going in for a kiss, but he passes your lips and leans into your ear instead.

“Make sure you sneak out some cookies for me and Sian,” he whispers. You roll your eyes, pushing him away.

“Whatever Jeon, I don’t think your Yoongi hyung will like that,” you say. 

“Maybe he won’t, but I’m sure noona will be okay with it.”

You shake your head, smiling, this is really going to be the man you marry. 

young one

♛ finale ♛

pairings: photographer, dad!jungkook x hostess, mom!reader

a/n: the end keep a look out for jin’s masterlist that should be dropped soon! i’ll open up the taglist for that once it’s posted <3

taglist: @kookietsukkie @brinnalaine @chocobetterknot @silentlyimpractical @aianloveseven @jayhope88 @preciouschimine @noelitaaaa @butterflylion @yogugui @jikachoo @samros95 @yoongis-cumsock @strwberry-jam @sope-and-shine @cosmicdaylight @eatjeanjin @rjsmochii @i-swear-im-a-soft-stan @peoplejustcanthandlemywierdness @prdshobi @marmaribelarova @ramyagovindraj @casspirit0705 @ssyubb @smauslut @taexmichi @codeinebelle @cecedrake2217 @hellotherehoneybee @ddofa @winterwidow27 @ephyra1230 @heartfeltscribblings @nightapple4jk @applejuice5000 @salty-for-suga @lemonteacyst @princessjazzyjazz @bamboozled-jaykay @bigimpression @dammit-jjk @kookie-sun0097 @kookoo-kachoo @waddlebby @taekookcaneatme @jikooksgirl19 @tanumiki @strawberryforever25 @hobiismyhopeu

TAGLIST IS CLOSED!!

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[kpop-cakepops]

I will gladly read any Wonwoo fluff you would give us be it snuggle donation or otherwise! But if I can be more specific in requesting, how about a missed connection sort of thing? Like the reader and Wonwoo have similar circles of friends who think they’d hit it off, but somehow they just never manage to be at the same events, but then they end up meeting separate from their friends and do hit it off, only to be a couple before their friends even know they’ve met? If that’s too specific, totally do whatever you want with the idea. Welcome to Wonwoo brain domination (my friend incepted my mind last year too and it’s been all Wonwoo all of the time since!)

omg this is actually such a good prompt?!?!?!!? What the hell?! Thank you anon!!!

So this one actually took way longer than expected because I knew what I wanted to do but I didn't know how to not make it confusing? So the best I could do was use time skips in this one, anything in italics are flashbacks.... I HOPE IT'S NOT CONFUSING! Anyhow, I had so much fun writing this! Enjoy! (PS. I didn't edit so excuse any grammar mistakes LOLz)

Warnings: None

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1,863

Meant To Be// Jeon WonwooXfem!Reader

"There he is again... I wonder if he's single." your older sister said as she struggled to keep your baby nephew from running away from the bench the two of you were sitting at.

"Probably not," you told her as you bit into your popsicle. "He's handsome. Probably has a bunch of girls lining up to get his number"

"He's playing video games at a park, I seriously doubt that" your sister added.

"I think it's kinda cute. At least he comes out because he wants to" you looked over at your sister who was now too busy chasing after your little nephew to even listen to you. "Aaaaand I was talking to myself. Cool."

You huffed and looked over at the man sat two benches over. He seemed to be having fun on his Nintendo switch and you were sure you weren't having fun babysitting your sister while she tried to babysit her own son... so you took matters into your own hands and walked yourself over to the man.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" You asked.

The stranger looked up from his game and moved to the side making space for you to sit down. He didn't talk at all but didn't show himself to be rude either. You took the chance to take out your own console.

"What are you playing?" You asked.

He turned around and looked at your hands, his eyes widening a little but the look of surprise was replaced by a smile almost instantly. "Super Smash Bros."

You didn't know what you expected his voice to sound like, but it certainly hadn't been the deep tone you had just received. "Damn, nice voice" you blurted.

He let out a laugh, "what's your name?"

"I'm y/n" you introduced yourself putting your hand out to shake his, "and you?"

He took your hand cautiously, "I'm Wonwoo"

***

"How does this dress look?" You asked as you twirled in front of your now boyfriend of 3 months, Wonwoo.

He smiled approvingly, "baby you look just as amazing as you did in the last dress. You really don't have to worry too much about impressing my friends, they're all a bunch of idiots."

"Well, yes, but... what if they don't like me? I'm the reason you refused all those blind dates they kept setting you up on." You told him.

"And I'm the reason you refused yours, the time will come when I have to meet your friends, too. I promise you there's no reason for us to be worried." He pulled you close and kissed the top of your head.

"I'm just excited to finally meet your friends," you told him. "I want to make a good impression."

"The way you make me smile should be impressive enough, no?" He brushed a strand of your hair behind your ear.

"Getting a little cheesy there, aren't we?" You poked his stomach and pulled away. "Anyways. We should get going or we're going to be late!"

***

"You should come up. Some of my friends are still up there. We could hang out" said Wonwoo as he pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. His tall frame rocking back and forth as he watched you wistfully.

"I really wish I could, but I actually have to go back to work in a bit. I just didn't want for your birthday gift to get to your hands after your special day" You shyly admitted. He held his hand to the necklace that was now hanging from his neck. The pendant hanging from it depicting the Smash ball from the game's logo. Something about him immediately putting the necklace on making your heart race.

"I really wish you could stay, but I guess, you'll just have to make it up to me some other day." He said.

You reached out your pinky and he wrapped his own with yours. "I promise" You told him.

He smiled and you waited expectantly for his nose to scrunch up like you'd learned it would in the last 4 months of knowing the guy. It was weird how after fighting off cheesy romance and dates, you ended up developing a crush on some random guy you'd met at the park.

The both of you stood there for a moment, pinkies linked together as you let the sparks envelope you both. It was obvious you liked each other, however, neither of you seemed to know who should make the first move... nor did you know when.

***

You and Wonwoo arrived at the large hotel his friends had told him to meet them at. A shiver ran down your spine making you take a nervous deep breath. Your boyfriend grinned at your cuteness and squeezed your hand softly before guiding you towards the entrance.

"Oh, God... Maybe I should've brought a gift?" You grumbled as you followed Wonwoo into the hotel. A sudden feeling of guilt taking over you as you remember your own friend, Jihoon, was having a graduation dinner that you couldn't go to because of this. You'd managed to drop off a gift for him days before, but it still bugged you. Jihoon was one of your closest friends after all.

"Honey, it's totally fine. I promise Jihoon won't mind that you didn't bring him a gift" he assured you as he held the door of the fancy restaurant open for you.

"Wait, what did you say?" You asked as you stopped in your tracks. Your boyfriend shooting you a confused look.

"Y-N?"

***

"I don't know, I think my favorite has to be biographies. I'm just nosy" you laughed, Wonwoo following along.

"Hmmm, I mean, biographies are nice, but I've been into humanities lately. It's interesting" He shrugged and licked at his ice cream cone happily. "I used to hate it in high school but I think as I grew up a grew more interested in the way people live... outside of just myself."

"Wow..." you mused.

"What? Was that sexy?" he joked.

You shook your head, "No, you're such a nerd" You teased.

"Hey!" he quipped bumping his shoulder into yours.

"Watch it! I almost dropped my ice cream cone!" Your attempt to seem angry failed by the big smile on your face. It seemed that was all you did around Wonwoo anyways. Smile.

"What flavor is that?" he asked as he eyed your cone curiously.

You put the cone up to his lips, "Butter pecan" You didn't know what exactly you were expecting when you put the cone up to his lips, 75% of you had thought he'd playfully push your hand away while calling it a grandma flavor as he usually did, while the resting 25% of you thought he'd just ignore it and keep walking... but both assumptions were wrong. Wonwoo grabbed your hand with his free one holding the cone in place before getting a taste. It was absolutely insane how much that made your heart race. "Hey! what was that all about?"

"I want to get a taste... but I can't... taste it... maybe I should-" He froze mid-sentence. Wonwoo was nervous. His face was a deep pink as he eyed you closely.

"W-Wonwoo. Are you trying to kiss me right now?" You asked. You wanted to scream and run away but you also wanted to stick around and see if he would.

"I was supposed to be at a blind date today" He admitted.

"Me too," you told him.

"But all I could think of was you" He continued.

"Me too," you agreed once again.

"Y/N, I like you."

***

"What the hell is going on here?" Jihoon's face was twisted in confusion as he stared between the two of you.

"You know each other?" Asked Wonwoo.

Jihoon blinked hurriedly before finding his voice again, "Uh, I think I should be the one asking you that!"

"My head is about to explode" You murmured.

"Yah, Jihoon, Dokyeom just spilled- Oh, Y/N? What are you doing here... with Wonwoo?" Yet another one of your best friends walked out of the restaurant, Jeongyeon's large eyes looking at you and your boyfriend with the same confused expression as Jihoon.

"They got here together," Jihoon announced.

"You two know each other?" Asked Jeongyeon.

"Yeah, Wonwoo's my boyfriend"

"Yeah... we're dating" Wonwoo agreed.

"WHAT?!"

***

"Y/N, pleaseeeeee? I promise you're going to love this guy. He is such a sweet person, he will literally blow you away, and he's handsome! Did I mention he's handsome?!" Jeongyeon's hands were clasped together in front of her chest. It was once a month that she begged for you to go on a blind date with that guy she always talked about, but you shook your head.

"No."

"Why not?! What is it this time!?" Your pretty friend exclaimed as she crossed her arms across her chest.'I have a boyfriend now' You thought, a small smile coming to your lips at the thought of Wonwoo.

"I'm not interested in dating Jjeong. Please, can't we just let it go?" you asked with a soft huff. "We have better things to do anyway. Come on, why don't you let me take a look at your thesis so far."

Jeongyeon huffed and started to pull out her laptop from her book bag. "I can't wait till you meet him. You're gonna regret it"

***

"Wait, pause... so you mean to tell me that we spent ALL THOSE MONTHS trying to set the two of you up... only for you two to meet at a random park and fall in love?!" Soonyoung was being his usual dramatic self again as he glared at you two from across the table.

"I mean, we didn't fall in love right off the bat... but yes. You could say that" Wonwoo answered.

"Wow! I just got chills. I JUST GOT CHILLS!" Dokyeom added as he dramatically hugged himself.

"I just don't understand why neither of you guys told us you were dating! Like... How did we miss it? Where did you hide each other?" Asked Jisoo with a confused frown.

"We didn't. We were friends for about 4 months before we started dating. I even went to drop off his gift at his apartment on his birthday."

"The necklace! I knew I'd seen it somewhere!" Seungcheol exclaimed with wide eyes. "You sent me a picture of the thing and asked if you should get it black or purple!"

"I also asked you for tips on how to confess to a girl over ice cream and got me laughed at." Wonwoo huffed under his breath.

You laughed and shook your head. "You were right, Woo. Your friends are indeed a bunch of idiots"

"Wow... You guys are meant to be. You guys are seriously meant to be. There is no doubt in my mind. I guess when soulmates are meant to meet, they will." chirped Jihoon who kept picking at his plate. "Now that that's all out, I'd like to take a moment to talk about how if Y/N hadn't been dating Wonwoo, she would have missed my graduation dinner for a man. What have you got to say for yourself, traitor?"

"Uh..."

[girl-with-cat-eyes]

Divorce? Is that a kind of Cheese?

Summary: Sea monsters mate for life. They're not like people, they don't separate or get divorces. Mates are permanent. Except when they're not.

Or: Giulia and Alberto are both children of divorce. Luca is confused.

A/N: Here it is! The long-awaited Luca fic! I hope you all like it! Special thanks to @psadler1 for beta reading this! And now without further ado.

Luca bounced in his seat as the train carried him home from Genoa. He couldn’t wait to see his family and tell them all about what he’d learned while he was away. He couldn’t wait to see Alberto again. He smiled at the thought of seeing his friend.

Giulia smiled from where she sat next to him, “You’re really excited to get home, huh?”, He nodded shyly, “So am I. I love my mom but I miss my dad while I’m away.” Luca sat back down from where he’d been staring out the window. A question formed in the back of his mind, one that he’d wondered since he’d left Portorosso and met Angelina. He’d never dared to voice it until now, “Why don’t you’re parents live together?”

She looked away and, for a split second, Luca thought he saw her tearing up. He wanted to take back the question but, before he could, Giulia blinked away her tears and schooled her expression, “They used to. When I was really little we all lived in Portorosso together. But they fought a lot. And eventually, they sat me down and told me they were getting a divorce and I’d go to Genoa with Mama for school.”

Divorce? Luca wondered what that could be. It sounded like some kind of fancy cheese. Like the ones, Angelina would buy to make sandwiches with. Judging by her tone, however, Luca didn’t think it was like brie or mozzarella. He decided to test his luck once more, “What’s a divorce?” “It’s when two people who are married decide they don’t want to be married anymore. You probably have a different word for it.”

Again Luca was puzzled, “You can stop being married?”, he asked. From everything he’d heard up to this point, marriage seemed pretty permanent.

“Yeah. Don’t you have anything like that?” He shook his head, “No. Sea monsters mate for life.”, He’d known this since birth. Upon turning 16 they would declare mates and spend the next two years courting before sealing their relationship. And that was that. They spent their lives together. Your lifemate was your everything.

“What if they stop loving each other??”, He rubbed the back of his neck at the question, trying to think of an answer. In truth, Luca didn’t know what would happen then. The thought of not loving your lifemate enough to leave them was unthinkable. You just didn’t do that. It was permanent.

Then again, from what he’d been told, marriage was supposed to be permanent too. That didn’t stop Giulia’s parents from divorcing, “I don’t know. But I can ask my parents and tell you what they say?”

Giulia sighed, “It’s ok. You don’t have to.”, Luca nodded, but was secretly determined to find out.

The question didn’t come up right away, he was busy catching his parents and Alberto up on how his school year went. The reunion had been full of hugs, kisses, and tears. His mother and Massimo had worked together to make a feast of both human and seafood for the pair, with Alberto even chipping in to make some desserts. It was a fantastic night of dancing, singing, and eating. And at the end of it all, Daniela and Lorenzo agreed to let him spend the night with Alberto.

The taller sea monster had been all too eager to show him the changes made to his island. He wasn’t fully ready to stay with Massimo all of the time, so Massimo agreed to let him go back and forth between the two places. Of course, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to make sure that Alberto was safe and protected. So the pair had spent the fall working to make it more secure from the elements. Luca was impressed upon seeing the changes that had occurred while he was away. They’d spent the night catching up and playing games together. Luca had had a blast. So much so that the question of divorce was forgotten completely.

He didn’t think about divorce again until two weeks later. He was eating dinner with his family, listening to his mother catch him up on everything that had changed while he was away. It was just them tonight; most nights they ate with Giulia, Massimo, and Alberto, but they had a family dinner at least once a week.

Daniella was prepping dinner, sharing all the family news he missed while away at school, “And did I tell you that your cousin Camilla picked Donnie Branzino to be her lifemate? I love her I do, but Donnie Branzino? Out of everyone she could have picked, she picks Bianca Branzino’s boy? Now we have to deal with them at every family gathering from here on out.” Luca stilled in his seat at the mention of lifemates, the conversation he’d had with Giulia returning full force, “Mama?”, he asked, trying to be discreet.

Daniella turned and sat his plate in front of him, “No you cannot go have dinner with your friends. I worked all day making your favorites.”

Luca shook his head, “It’s not that. I have a question about lifemates.” She raised an eyebrow at him, “Lifemates? You have two years before you have to worry about lifemates. What do you want to know?”

He swallowed, gathering all of his confidence before speaking, “What happens if they don’t want to be lifemates anymore?”

“What do you mean?” He shrugged and tried to act casual, “Like if they stopped loving each other. Could they stop being lifemates?” “Sweetheart.”, she placed a hand on his shoulder, “You know we mate for life. Sea monsters don’t fall out of love or stop being mates. Did you hear something?”, Luca sighed and lowered his gaze to the food in front of him.

“Giulia told me about this human thing called divorced. It’s when two human mates stop loving each other and then stop being mates.” Daniella sighed, “That’s awful. But I can’t think of anything happening like around here. Have you Lorenzo?”, for once the other sea monster was paying attention and shook his head.

“Not that I’m aware of.”, Luca nodded in response. He supposed it really was as simple as he first thought. That was until his grandmother spoke up.

“I remember a pair of lifemates who split up.”, Luca looked over at her, hoping she’d elaborate.

“Go on?”, he encouraged with a smile.

“You were only a baby when it happened. Only 3 or 4. There was a couple who lived on the outskirts of town. They had a son around your age. My friend used to babysit for the wife, I can’t remember her name. Lucia? No, Liliana? It doesn’t matter. They argued all the time. Eventually, they split and went to two different pods. He took their son. And then they were both gone.” Luca swallowed at her story. “Oh.”, were the only words he could find himself able to say. The rest of the meal was silent.

“And sometimes human mates just leave each other?”, Alberto asked. They were gathering stones along the beach while they waited for Giulia to finish her deliveries. Luca had told him what she’d said in the meantime.

“Yeah. And I asked my family what happens if lifemates fall out of love and my grandma told me about this couple she used to know that just left. They went to two different pods like they were never together. I always thought lifemates were forever. It’s crazy, right?”

He over at Alberto, expecting him to agree. Instead, he was staring at the ground, a dark look on his face, “Berto?”

“My parents split.”, It came out as a whisper, almost too quiet to hear. Luca’s jaw dropped. He knew that Alberto’s dad had left him, the thought of a parent leaving him filled Luca with white-hot anger. But he’d never said anything about his mother. Luca had assumed that she’d died.

“Oh?”, Alberto sat down and Luca sat beside him, “What happened?” “They fought all the time. And then one night I heard my mama say she couldn’t deal with my papa anymore. And then she left. Only she didn’t take me with her. She...She forgot me. I don’t know why but she did. My father said she didn’t want me. That she didn’t want either of us.”, Tears slowly but surely began to drip down his face, Luca was regretting ever bringing it up.

He wrapped an arm around Alberto, pulling the other boy close, “I’m sorry she left you. She shouldn’t have done that.”, Alberto shook his head fiercely at his words.

“It’s my fault. She left because I’m such a bad kid.” “You’re not bad. You’re amazing. And anyone who says otherwise is a liar.”, Luca hugged the other boy tightly.

“My dad always said so.” “And he’s as much of a liar as Bruno then.”, the resolution in Luca’s voice was as clear as the sky on a sunny day, “You are amazing. And my best friend.” Alberto snorted, “Thanks.”, he whipped his eyes and sat up, “Sorry about crying on you.” “It’s fine.”, Luca rubbed his shoulders, “I’m sorry your parents put you through that.”, They sat like that for some time before Alberto spoke up.

“I wish I didn’t have to pick a lifemate.” Luca looked at him, “Why?”

“Because what if I end up like my parents? I have to trust that they understand me like you do.” Luca looked at Alberto in understanding, “I get how you feel. What if my lifemate doesn’t like me going to the surface? Or what if they don’t like me hanging out with you?”

Alberto sat up straighter, “Lifemates are stupid. Who needs them? We have each other.”, Luca nodded in agreement. Surely a lifemate couldn’t be as cool as being with his best friend, “It can be you, me, and Giulia exploring the world. No lifemates needed.”, The pair sat like that for only a moment longer before getting up and swimming back to town. One thing was clear for both of them; all they needed was each other.

A/N: As always, leave a comment if you liked it.

[angelmavmurdock]

Our Little Secret: Part Six - A.R.

Word count: 5976 Summary: After Lenora’s funeral, Arvin learns some news about her. Y/n and Arvin have sex for the first time and ends up being way past her curfew...

-

WARNINGS: SMUT, FINGERING, DIRTY TALK (mild), READER'S FIRST TIME

-

I attended Lenora's funeral as her best friend.

No one knew about Arvin and I and we were keeping it for a different reason now. Not in case Lenora found out but to keep everyone else sane in this crazy time.

I had taken a week off school, helping the Russell's around the house with cooking, cleaning and some company. Emma was absolutely distraught, only coming out of bed when she needed the bathroom or needed to eat - even then it wasn't promised.

Ma was so busy with helping Daddy while I was busy helping the Russell's, we hardly got to see each other. But we both knew after the funeral things would calm down.

Arvin was handling his sister's death strangely. He wasn't sad. He didn't cry. He would go out on car rides, asking to be alone a lot of the time. I didn't know what he was doing and to be honest, I didn't want to know.

At night, once Earskell had went to bed and well after Emma had went to bed, we'd stay up, sitting outside on the patio in the old rocking chairs with some tea and listen to the radio quietly humming in the background. We wouldn't really speak much. We'd just be in each other's presence. We'd kiss. Then I'd go home.

But today was her funeral. I had a standard funeral outfit on: a black dress with tights and patent shoes with a black ribbon in my hair. I had been crying all day so my tears stained my cheeks and my eyes were red and puffy.

Emma was much the same as me while Arvin was trying to be strong for us, only a few tears leaving his eyes during the ceremony. He held me close to him, his hand just above the curve of my waist to not draw attention to us. We stood by together as Emma cried over her casket.

"Oh Lord, there's just some things we can't understand..."

She cried, kneeling to the floor and caressing the wood with her soft hands.

"But you take her into your arms..." She had to stop speaking because of her sobs.

I watched, tears falling from my face and I looked up at Arvin, rubbing my hand over his back softly. He stared numbly at the casket, only the ever-so-often squeeze of my waist indicating he was okay.

"Now I ain't somebody for sayin' prayers or..." Earskell talked, coughing and then clenching his jaw.

Arvin looked over to his Uncle and then removed his arm from around me, leaving me feeling cold without him. He slightly bent over and helped Emma to her feet, holding her by her arm and then wrapping his other arm back around me, this time on my waist.

"Let's go home." I said in almost a whisper.

Emma and everyone else nodded. I pulled away from Arvin and when he looked at me I looked back as if to say it was okay. He nodded slightly and helped his Grandma to the truck. I followed loosely behind the three of them, giving them some space to be with each other in the fresh air.

As I walked behind them through the grave yard I thought about everything.

What did she have to tell me? What happened with the preacher? Why was she so ashamed? Why did she want to end her own life?...

There were too many questions and none of them I could answer. I was supposed to be her best friend and I felt like I had let her down. I had let her down.

***

"I think it'll be real good if you went out for a night, Emma." I sighed, sitting next to her on her bed.

It had been a few days since the funeral and she was still lying in bed, only getting up for the bare minimum. Even for food she wasn't getting up for, which I was cooking each night.

"I don't have the energy, y/n." She croaked.

"I think you need a bath. And a nice new dress. And your hair did and your friends around you. There's a church day out at the beach on Saturday. I think you should go." I said with a smile.

She laughed lightly, "Honey, I hardly have five dollars to put together, how am I supposed to buy a new dress and get my hair done?"

A grin grew on my face, "Luckily I am here to help with that."

***

Saturday rolled around and I showed up early morning with two new dresses for Emma. She had gotten her hair done the day before and she was feeling a lot better. She showered and I met her in her room when she came out. I lay the two dresses on the bed and she looked in confusion.

"Pick your favourite and I'll see you in the living room." I smiled simply then left her room, closing the door behind me.

I waited in the living room with Arvin who was reading the newspaper, a cigarette bouncing between his lips and an ash tray.

"Ma asked for me to be home at 9 tonight." I said with a sigh.

Arvin looked up from the paper, "Really? That early?"

"Yeah. She does not like you." I groaned.

"Damn...I'm guessin' there's not much I can do about that, huh?"

"Not really...don't you have work today?" I asked.

"Only a small shift. Just gettin' back into it after the accident and then obviously..." He gulped.

"I know...well that'll be good." I smiled.

"Yeah."

"I'm ready!" Emma called from her bedroom.

"Come on out!" I beamed, getting up from the couch.

She clicked down the hallway in her red kitten heels. I gasped with delight. She chose the poppy patterned dress that flowed lightly below her knees. It fit her perfectly. A silver cross hung over her clavicle and her hair was pinned up nicely.

"Emma Russell, you look absolutely divine!" I grinned.

She blushed, "Really? I do love this dress, I can't thank you enough y/n."

"It's no problem at all. I'm just glad you're feelin' better and havin' fun. You deserve it."

She took a deep breath and smiled, "Thanks, darlin'."

Arvin got up to drive her to the church and he complimented her with an embrace.

"I'll be back around 11pm. It's late but the girls are all hitchin' rides with the men after their poker."

"Well I'll be gone by 9 so I'll see you tomorrow? I hope you have fun, Emma." I hummed, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you so much. Have fun!" She waved as Arvin opened the door for her.

We both watched as she and Earskell talked, going to the truck. Arvin closed the door slightly, leaning forward to me.

I giggled and cupped his face, bringing his lips to mine. It was soft but meaningful. His hands lightly touched my waist before we both pulled away.

"Have a good day at work and drive safe, alright?" I said.

"Thanks, y/n. I'll see you later. Bye." He flashed me a smile before leaving the house.

And I was left for nearly a whole day by myself.

***

Arvin's POV

The working truck pulled up to the car park outside. I jumped off the end along with everyone else and we said our goodbyes. As I headed to the truck I saw an officer standing by, looking at me.

"Need to have a word with you, Arvin." He announced.

"About what?" I asked, standing a few yards from him.

"It's uh...it's about Lenora." He spoke awkwardly.

I took a deep breath and looked away for a second, "What about her?"

"I came by here instead of home so nothin's put on your grandmother-"

"Put on her? What do you mean?" I asked.

The officer removed his uniform hat which is never a good sign. He seemed awkward. He seemed nervous.

"Y'know old Dudley in the coroners? He's a drunk but...he ain't no liar."

I looked at him with a stern look, masking the fact that my stomach was flipping inside.

"Did you know Lenora was carryin' a baby?" He asked.

I tilted my head slightly, my eyes on his. This seemed real. But it couldn't be.

I continued staring at him, hoping he'd crack.

"That's bullshit. That son of a bitch is lyin'." I clenched my jaw.

"Dudley ain't a liar. He came to me privately so as your family knew...I felt he was right." The officer nodded.

I averted eye contact, feeling myself tear up. No, no, no, no, no.

"I might've put my foot in somethin' but that wasn't my intention."

He fiddled with his dark green fedora, uncomfortable with the conversation and uncomfortable with the fact he had to tell me.

"You know that preacher ain't said no words for her? Not for people that kill themselves." I shook my head and clenched my jaw.

That son of a bitch.

***

I drove home in anger and confusion. When I pulled up, I saw y/n outside on one of the rocking chairs, a mug in her hand and a blanket wrapped around her.

My mood lifted almost automatically. She looked gorgeous in the dim sunlight. I remembered the house was empty and I was happy in that y/n and I could spend time together alone but then again, Lenora wasn't there.

I walked tiredly up the steps and she sat her mug down with a pout of her plump lips.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked me, standing up.

I didn't say anything.

"Arvin?" She prompted.

I looked up at her.

"How was work?" She asked, trying to pry something from me.

"It was fine." I shrugged, walking back to lean against the post.

She bit her lip, "Is somethin' botherin' you?"

She knew me too well.

"A uh...a police officer stopped me before goin' home." I said, retrieving a cigarette from my pocket and lighting it.

"What? Why?" She asked, arms folding as she leaned against the opposite post.

I chuckled. It wasn't to be annoying. It was in anger and confusion and disbelief.

"He told me that Lenora - my innocent, God-loving, 17-year-old sister - was pregnant before she died." I stated.

She blinked at me like a deer in headlights. She didn't speak for a few seconds, her brain working to log the information properly.

"She uh...she was p-pregnant? No." She shook her head.

"Well she was." I took a puff.

"What the hell? How did I not know?" She pressed a hand to her chest.

"Don't get mad at me I'm just repeatin' what he said!"

"I'm not mad! I'm just...she was pregnant?"

I licked my lips and nodded.

She chewed her lip in thought, wrinkles forming between her eyebrows.

"I don't believe it. That's bullshit."

"That's what I said. But, apparently some guy down at the coroner's said that she was. And apparently, he don't lie." I said.

She shook her head, "Who...who was the father? Cause he'll be out there right now runnin' free!" She exclaimed.

"I don't know. I have an idea but I don't know." I licked my back teeth.

I couldn't tell her about the preacher. She clearly didn't know and I wasn't about to tell her. Because if I told her I would have to explain how I knew and stalking some guy doesn't seem like the best thing to say.

"Well that is just...wow." She rubbed her face.

"I know."

We both went silent, our heads filled with thought and worry and confusion. How could neither of us had known?

"Are you gonna tell your Grandma?" She asked.

"No. No, I'm not." I dropped the cigarette butt and stood on it.

"I think it would set her back." She agreed.

"Exactly. She don't need that right now, she's at a good place."

y/n nodded, agreeing with me. I sighed and took my hat off, running a hand through my hair. y/n walked towards me with her arms outstretched. I smiled and welcomed her. Her arms wrapped around me tightly, her chest pressed against mine. I leaned my head on top of hers and stroked her back softly.

"We didn't get to tell Lenora." She whispered.

I gulped, "I know..."

"Well if heaven is real then she'll be lookin' down at us thinkin': I told you so."

We both chuckled at the thought. But it was slightly uncomfortable to think of her that way. Dead. In heaven. I didn't like it.

"Hey," She chirped from underneath me.

I moved my head and looked at her. She reached her hands up and wrapped them around my neck.

"You were such a good big brother." She stated.

An immediate lump in my throat formed at her words. Not if you knew the things I had done or what I was planning to do...

"And you're an amazin' person, Arv. You really are." She smiled.

I just smiled weakly at her.

"And I know you feel like you have to be strong all the time but with me...with me you don't have to." She whispered, trailing her hands down then up my chest.

Reader's POV

He stared down at me with a sudden look of lust and hunger. Before I knew it, I was being pushed back against the post, gasping as the wood hit my back. Arvin kissed me ferociously, his tongue pushing into my mouth without missing a beat. I moaned in surprised but sunk into him, getting the fast-paced rhythm he was implementing.

He moved his kisses to my neck and he began to kiss and suck on my sweet spot.

"Arvin," I moaned breathlessly, tugging his hair slightly.

His hands slid down my dress and grabbed my ass through the fabric as his mouth worked on my skin.

"Feels so good." I hummed.

His lips came back up to mine and our tongues worked with each other's, pushing and swirling in some sort of dance. It was passionate and hot and I felt like I needed more of him.

Suddenly his hands roamed further to my thighs and swiftly lifted me up. I gasped as my legs locked around his torso effortlessly. He smirked up at my surprise and kissed me again. He blindly opened the door and it slammed shut behind us. He walked through while kissing me intensely.

And then I knew I was in his room. I had only been in once or twice for laundry but I knew it was his. He pushed me against the door, ultimately closing it. I moaned again and he moved his lips to my neck again.

"Want you, Arvin." I hummed.

He looked up at me with a glint of lust and hope in his eyes.

"You sure?" He asked.

"I need you." I whispered.

That was enough for him.

He brought me off the wall and to his bed, lying me carefully on his sheets, getting on top of me.

He kept kissing me, his hands beginning to lift my dress up. I sat up and allowed him to slide it off my body. Thankfully I was wearing nicer underwear this time. He threw my dress to the side and looked down at my body in awe.

He stood up from the bed, eyes burning through my skin as he started to undo his buttons on his shirt.

I felt a colour rise to my cheeks. He was seeing me in my underwear. No guy had ever seen me in my underwear before.

"You are fuckin' unreal, darlin'." He complimented, his eyes shining with adoration.

I bit my lip, "You're makin' me nervous standin' like that."

He removed his shirt and then pulled off his dirty white t-shirt from underneath. I had seen his chest before but his bruises were nearly healed and he looked even better than before. Probably since he'd been working all day. He undid his belt and then slid down his trousers, stepping out of them.

My jaw dropped. Arvin. In. His. Underwear.

"Whatcha starin' at?" He smirked.

I gulped then looked back up at him, "Nothin' much."

He shook his head and leaped on top of me. I squealed before he kissed me.

"You're a minx, that's what you are." He chuckled against my lips.

"Well then teach me how to be good." I whispered.

He pulled away, looking down at me with his dilated brown eyes, almost completely black with passion.

"Fuck, I want to."

He began to slide his hand down my body, making rest stops at my waist and my hip before teasing the waistband of my pants. I gasped and looked up at him in lust.

"Have you ever been touched before?" He asked lowly.

He slid his hand carefully into my panties. I arched my back and moaned lightly at his touch.

"N-no." I answered honestly.

His eyebrows furrowed for a split-second.

"You've never been touched before? When you look this pretty?" He quirked an eyebrow.

His fingers slowly circled on my clit, warming me up. I grasped his arm and bit my lip at the new feeling.

"Have you ever touched yourself before?"

My throat went dry.

"No." I answered again.

He smiled, "That's okay...but you've gotta tell me if you don't like what I'm doin', alright?" He asked.

I nodded with a hum.

He pulled my panties off and I felt completely exposed. Only my brasserie covered the last part of my modesty. But I felt safe with Arvin. I trusted him.

His hand returned back to my core where he continued rubbing circles on my clit. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the new-found pleasure.

"Already so wet, darlin'."

I whimpered at his filthy words and felt his finger slide down my core. He slowly pushed a finger into my entrance. I gasped and gripped his arm that rested beside my head, propping himself up.

He started moving it in and out, beginning to pick up a pace.

"How does that feel?" He asked.

"So- good." I hummed, eyes closed in pleasure.

He began to speed his finger up, curling it up to find my spot. I moaned, bucking my hips into his palm as if to say more.

He got the message and slipped a second finger in with ease. I moaned loudly as his fingers worked inside of me. His thumb grazed constantly over my clit and whatever he was doing was making my stomach flutter.

I could hear the sounds of my arousal and it added to the pleasure.

"So good for me, y/n. So good." He praised.

"Arvin!" I whined.

"What, angel?" He asked softly.

"I need you. Please." I practically humped his hand in desperation.

He smirked, "You sure you're ready?" He asked cautiously.

I nodded, "Please."

He removed his hand from me, leaving me a whimpering, pathetic mess. He slid his underwear off and my jaw dropped once again. His member was a lot bigger than I had anticipated. But to be honest, I had never seen one so I had nothing to compare it to. But my god.

He pumped himself in his hand as he got back onto the bed, kneeling between my legs. I sat up and removed my bra myself. I then took my hair out of the band and the ribbon, sitting them aside. I lay back down, attempting to make my hair look as nice as it could splayed out on the bedsheet.

"You're so fuckin' gorgeous. Can't wait to feel you." He groaned, getting on top of me.

I bit my lip and held his arm with one hand and gripped his hair with the other.

"You ready?" He asked.

I took a deep breath and nodded. He leaned down and encased my lips in a passionate but loving kiss, our lips moving slowly over each other's and our tongues swirling around perfectly. I got so distracted by the kiss that Arvin could easily slip half-way into me. I gasped at the feeling of him.

"Is that okay?" He checked, brushing some of my hair out of my face.

I nodded and hummed. He gave me a moment to adjust to his size. It was slightly uncomfortable but that soon went away when he pulled back then thrusted slowly into me again.

"Arvin," I moaned.

He lifted my thigh up to his side and pushed further into me. I tugged his hair and bit my lip.

"So fuckin' tight, fuck. Feel so good, darlin'." He panted.

"Please go faster." I whimpered.

He dipped his head into the crook of my neck and held my thigh firmly as he began thrusting into me. His pace sped up quickly and soon enough he was moving effortlessly into me.

"Feels so good!" I moaned, arching my back into his chest.

His lips came to my breasts, taking one nipple into his mouth. I gasped at the new feeling as his tongue lapped over my skin. His thrusts sped up and he completely bottomed me out, his skin slapping against mine with every push.

"Oh god!" I tugged on his hair.

He groaned, "So gorgeous, so hot - fuck."

I rolled my eyes back at his words.

In a Christian based Southern state, having premarital sex was looked down upon. But it didn't feel wrong. It felt so good.

"So tight around me," He commented lowly.

"Can we flip?" I asked breathlessly.

"'Course."

He smoothly flipped us, so he was on his back. I bit my lip and hovered over him, taking his member in my hand.

"Fuck." We both cursed in unison.

I pumped him in my hand a few times to see what it was like and how he reacted. He gripped my thigh tighter and bit his lip. I smirked, feeling a pang of power course through me.

I swiped his member on my folds, surprised at how wet I actually was. I slowly sank down on him and we both let out long groans as I bottomed him out.

"W-woah." I panted.

He sat up, shifting inside of me. I moaned a little at the movement. His arms wrapped around me and I held his shoulders. I kissed him deeply, running my hands up into his hair and his tongue explored my mouth like it never had before.

I started to move on him, up and down was my instinct. Apparently I was right.

"Fuck, darlin'." He cursed against my lips.

"Oh god." I moaned, gripping his broad shoulders for support.

He gathered my cascading hair and put it behind my back as I moved on top of him. For some reason it made emotions flow in my brain.

Love.

They way he cared for me and was gentle with me obviously set off an emotion I had never really felt before. Not romantically, anyway.

I looked into his dark eyes and stopped bouncing on him. He looked into my eyes and held my waist.  He started to move my hips in a grinding motion. My mouth dropped open slightly at the feeling.

His eyes stayed on mine as I rolled my hips on his, his hands guiding me. It was intimate and passionate and I loved him. I held him as close to me as possible, our chests matching and my hands massaging his scalp.

"Arvin," I moaned.

I could feel a build up of tension in my stomach.

One of his hands slowly came down between us and started to rub my clit again. I threw my head back in pleasure, the feeling intensifying.

"Shit!"

"You close, darlin'?" He asked lowly.

"Close? To- to what?" I asked, fastening my movements.

"Fuck- to your high, baby."

His fingers kept working on my clit and his other hand still guided my hip.

"My high? Oh fuck! That feels so good!" I moaned loudly and highly.

His fingers worked faster.

"If you feel like you need to let go...then do it, baby." He groaned.

I didn't really know what he meant but the feeling in my core and stomach tightened.

"Oh god! Yes! Yes!" I moved my hips faster on him.

"God you feel so good, baby. So good around me." He praised.

I dug my nails into his back, my head going to his forehead.

"Arvin, I love you." I admitted breathlessly.

"You-you love me?" He repeated as if he was surprised.

"Yes! Yes, I love you." I bit my lip.

"y/n...pretty girl," He brushed some of my hair behind my ear.

"I love you, too." He grinned.

I stopped my movements for a second to smile and kiss him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing him as close to me as possible.

He started to thrust up into me, the sound of skin slapping and my surprised moans filling the room.

"Oh! Yes! God, yes!" I squealed.

He worked a lot faster than I did. His member brushed a spot inside of me I didn't even know existed. I could feel myself clenching around him and he groaned at the feeling.

"Let go for me, baby. Come on." He grunted.

"I love you! Arvin, I- yes!"

I felt the knot in my stomach snap and the feeling in my core burn. I moaned and cursed and gripped Arvin's hair in ecstasy. He continued thrusting up into me, my wetness dripping down onto him and his thighs.

"Feels so good baby, good job." He praised.

He kept me in my high like I had entered nirvana. My mind went cloudy, my vision hazy, my hearing muffled. All I could sense was Arvin. And that's all I needed.

"Fuck, baby-"

He quickly flipped me back onto my back and pulled out of me. I was still somehow in my high but I opened my eyes to see what he was doing. He pumped his member a few times before grunting and finished on my upper thigh and lower stomach.

I watched in awe. His muscles tensed and untensed, his head was thrown back and the sounds leaving his mouth were heaven.

After he calmed down he crashed next to me and we both caught our breaths.

"Sorry about that, I should have asked you." He sighed.

"It's okay. I liked it." I giggled.

He shook his head and looked at me, "You are perfect, y/n."

I shook my head back, brushing my hand over his loose curls, "No, you are."

He smiled at my touch, "How was it?"

I laughed lightly, "Good. I didn't even know it was possible to feel like that."

He smirked, "I'm a master, what can I say?"

I rolled my eyes and smacked his chest. He laughed and then shuffled closer to me, lips decorating my shoulder.

"Did you mean what you said?" He asked quietly.

I nodded, "Every word."

His lips connected to mine in a soft, long kiss.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you, too."

-

He dropped the needle onto the record and waited for the music to play.

(Play now)

'Cry To Me' by Solomon Burke began to play through the speaker.

Arvin had poured us a glass of very fancy scotch each. He said it was only for special occasions. I had only put my panties and one of his button down shirts on. The warm, humid weather was enough to keep me warm. Arvin wore a white vest shirt and some long pyjama bottoms.

"I love this song." I hummed, sipping the warm alcohol from the crystal glass.

"Dance with me." Arvin stated rather than questioned.

I smiled and sat my glass down. He gave me his hand and twirled me under his arm before bringing me into his chest.

We held hands on one side while his other hand held my waist and my other held his shoulder. We swayed back and forth to the music, enjoying the post-sex bliss.

"Come on, and cry to me." I sang an octave higher.

Arvin smiled, "I love you."

I giggled, "I love you, too."

We stayed like that, dancing and singing to the parts we knew, hands all over each other, stealing a few kisses whenever we could. He'd spin me out and I'd attempt to spin him but he could never get the hang of it.

We were happy. And we were in love.

"I've never seen you like this before, you know? I like happy on you." I smiled up at him.

A one sided smile curved on his face, "No one's been able to bring it out of me before."

I bit the inside of my lip at his words. Part of me was happy and proud that I could make him feel like that but the other part felt horrible that he's felt that way for so long.

"Well get ready to be happy a whole bunch, 'cause I ain't goin' nowhere."

He laughed, twirling me under his arm and back into his chest.

"That's exactly what I want." He smirked, leaning down to kiss me.

Our lips pressed together.

But only briefly.

A truck pulled up outside. And both of us turned to look out the window.

"Wait WHAT?!" I shouted, noticing that it was Emma and Earskell in the car.

I looked at the clock on the wall.

11:57.

"SHIT!" I exclaimed.

It was nearly midnight. I was supposed to be home at nine.

I scrambled to Arvin's bedroom and hurriedly put on my dress and shoes. Arvin put the shirt I was wearing on and changed into his work trousers again. He grabbed his jacket and his keys, shoving his feet into his shoes as we ran to the front door.

"Oh! You two are still here?" Emma jumped at the sight of us rushing past her outside.

"Back soon!" Arvin shouted.

I jumped into the passenger seat and Arvin got in the drivers. He pulled out frantically and drove off.

"Oh my god. I'm dead. I'm dead." I panicked.

"Just calm down, you'll be fine." Arvin tried to soothe me, speeding through the village.

"You'll be dead, too! Oh god what are they gonna do, Arvin?" I gripped my hair.

"We're nearly there, it'll be fine." He grasped my thigh lightly.

I took deep breaths, looking out at the silent town as we zoomed past everything. The dread in my stomach grew as we drove up the road and then entered the grounds, past the gate.

"Go before they get you, alright?" I ordered, jumping out the car.

"Y/N Y/M/N YL/N! Where the HELL have you been?!" Ma shouted from the door, storming outside.

"Ma, I can explain! Let's just go inside!" I exclaimed.

"Boy, get out that car right now!" She shouted at Arvin.

"Ma! Stop! It's not his fault!" I shouted, beginning to get defensive.

Arvin got out of the car and held his hands in his trouser pockets, walking towards Ma and I. I saw Daddy standing by the door, watching everything and my heart ached.

"You are supposed to be takin' care of her! How dare you keep her away this long with no contact! How dare you!" She shouted at Arvin, pointing a finger at hi accusingly.

"Ma! He didn't do anything!" I shouted.

"I am not STUPID y/n! I know that you two have been gettin' together almost every night. I see the car bein' parked behind the gate, I see the way you two look at each other. And I do not have a problem with that! But if the so called MAN known for his sexual acts keeps my 18 year old daughter out until MIDNIGHT, I am not gonna be happy!"

"We lost track of time, ma'am." Arvin stated calmly.

"Oh did ya' now? Doin' what?"

"Ma!" I shouted.

"No! I wanna know what was so important that stopped you from comin' home on time!"

Arvin and I stuttered, not knowing what or how to say anything.

Ma scoffed and clenched her jaw. We could practically see steam coming from her ears.

"You. Inside. Now." She demanded, pointing at me.

I furrowed my brows, "No! I'm not goin' inside with you!"

"y/n, inside right now!"

"No! I'm not leavin' Arvin!" I held his arm in mine.

Her chest heaved with rage, "Arvin, stay the hell away from my daughter."

Ma went to grab my arm but I dodged it.

"No!" I screamed.

"y/n!"

"No! I wanna be with Arvin!"

"He is no good for you!" She shouted as if he wasn't there.

"You do not get to tell me what I can and can't do! I'm an adult and if I am in love with someone-"

"IN LOVE?" Ma shouted.

"Yes! In love! We love each other and you can't stop that!" I held his arm so tightly I was surprised I hadn't cut his circulation off yet.

"You are not to be with each other anymore. You are a bad influence on my daughter and I never want to see you near her again. Do you understand?" She spoke sternly to Arvin.

I looked up at him. He gulped, his eyes becoming teary, "I understand." He uttered.

"Arvin!" I scoffed.

"I'll leave you alone." He murmured, beginning to walk away.

"Arvin! What the hell are you doing?!" I shouted, my arm still attached to him as he - we - walked away.

He opened the car door and clenched his jaw, not looking at me.

"Go with your parents. I've done enough."

"Arvin, don't say that! You- you just said you loved me!" I felt tears begin to fall from my eyes.

His chin quivered, "Just go, y/n. Please."

"What? No. No! I'm not going!"

He ripped his arm away from me and went to get in the car.

"No!"

I slammed the door so he couldn't get in.

"No! You don't get to do that, Arvin! You don't get to say you love me then fuck off when somethin' comes between us!" I shouted, realising these were more sobs than anything.

"Just go inside, y/n." He said to the ground.

I furrowed my brows and shook my head in disbelief.

"y/n-" I interrupted my mother.

"No! Arvin, please! Why are you doing this?"

"We can't be together." Arvin sniffed.

"Yes we can! We can!" I went to cup his face but he moved away.

I didn't know if it was sadness or utter rage but I broke down in tears.

"You said you loved me!" I screamed, pushing him against the car.

He took it. He didn't look at me, though. But he took my babyish tantrum.

"You said you loved me!" I cried, hitting his chest.

"y/n, go inside. Please." He begged quietly.

I saw tears fall from his face.

I stopped and stood back, watching with blurred eyes as he got into the car and drove off quickly.

I choked on a sob and kneeled to the ground in a cry, letting all the emotions I had pent up go. Absolutely everything.

Ma came up to me to comfort me but I pushed her off and stood back up.

"No! You don't get to comfort me after ruining love for me." I cried, pushing past her and running to the house.

I ran up the steps and I paused briefly when I saw Daddy watching with tired and heartbroken eyes. He silently moved to the side to let me storm away. I sobbed uncontrollable sobs as I ran up the stairs and slammed my door shut, sliding down to the floor.

I thought he loved me.

-

{Tags: @notanordinaryprincess96 @imagine-yourself-happy​ }

[weeb-writor]

Do you still love me?

Hello lovelies! Today I am back with a angst piece but a happy ending don't fret too much! I was really thinking about making it end horribly or leaving it up to the readers imagination but I decided nahh i couldn't do that to my heart. So here Bakugou and his s/o who fell out of love??(or did they??) when then have a large family in the mix. I have also decided im kind of obsessed with domestic pieces lol, they are like more than half of all my posts. Anywho, reader is neutral hope you guys enjoy!

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Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

You and Bakugou call its quits not thinking of what it would do to your 5 kids who are stuck in the middle

Words:  3606

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“Are we going to dad’s today?” Hiroyuki asked softly.

“Yeah, your going to spend the weekend with him, all of you.” You smiled at him.

“Can I bring Tokki?” He said looking at the ground already knowing your answer.

“We went over this last time baby, Daddy can't have pets at his new place and Tokki is a cat, he likes staying at home.” You said with a sigh. It really sucks that it came down to this, spend a week with you then a weekend with dad, then rinse repeat. Sometimes you even wondered if it was better. That’s what you and Bakugou told each other, I mean what else can you do when you fall out of love? You approached your car where all of your other children were waiting. You and Hiroyuki sat down and signaled the diver to go.

“We going to daddy’s right?” Kohana said as she bounced around in her seat. You booped her nose and nodded at her.

“Yay, daddy’s home!” Yoko said, clapping.

“Don't get excited Yoko, Dad’s probably busy. Were probably gonna be with Grandpa and Grandma.” Hiroyuki said playing with your fingers.

“You're so dramatic Yuki! Of course dad is busy! He is a Hero but he always makes time for us.” Your oldest said little explosion going off around her.

“Kaori.” You warned her with a stern voice. The little sparks calmed and she went back to quietly gazing out the window. 

“Your dad is a hero and therefore busy but I know he is very excited to see you all and will spend all the time he has with you.” You smiled at them. They all smiled back before going back into relative silence. When you and Bakugou decided to have a big family you were ecstatic and so was he. This, however, wasn't what you imagined. A tiny rift right threw your family and it was growing bigger everyday. When you told the kids about the spilt they didnt say much and the youngest ones didnt even really understand but as they lived through it, they changed. They formed their own opinions about who’s fault it is and why it happened. And now they were splitting up, there was Kaori the eldest who didn't care too much, Yoko, and Kohana. At the opposite end was Hiroyuki, just him. Your fragile little boy who was so sure it was his dad’s fault. Saiyuri was too young to choose a side but all the change wasn't really helping the 11th month old baby.

“We have arrived.” The diver announced. You thanked him while getting everyone out of the seats and exiting the car. Bakugou lived in an apartment now at the tippy top of course. It was a long and loud elevator ride as your kids were antsy to see their dad. When it opened Bakugou was standing there waiting for them and was immediately met with an armful of girls.

“Daddy! I missed you so much!” Kohana said almost in tears.

“Misses Daddy.” Yoko echoed her sister.

“Yeah, I missed all you brats too, you better have been on your best behavior! You have to keep up the Bakugou reputation.” He teased them

“Of course we have! I'm still number one in my quirk development classes. Yuki has the best grades in all of his grade. Kohana is reading at a 3rd grade level already and Yoko and Saiyuri are everyone's favorite at the Daycare!” Kaori said with vigor.

“Yeah, your all Bakugou’s for sure.” He chuckled at them. He turned to talk to Hiroyuki but he was gone. You heard a door shut, he was probably already in his room.

“I've got homework to do dad and them we should do something all together!” Kaori said kissing his check before taking off. Her sisters followed her as usual.

“How long do you think he’ll be like that?” Bakugou asked you with a sigh.

“Honestly I don't know, it's not like I tell him awful things about you. Maybe it would have been better if we did cause then he would have one thing to be angry about, one event, It would be easier than him just being angry at you.” You said placing Saiyuri onto the ground to walk around.

“They’re so mature and smart I forget they’re so young. Hell we don't understand why it happened, you can't just pinpoint a time where you fell outta love, it’s gradual. So how can we expect them too.” Bakugou said, sounding in pain.

“Yeah, sucks they had to witness it. I’ve got to go meet up with someone but just… He thinks you’re going to call your parents and abandon them to do Hero work. I know you can't put off everything but I think he just wants to know that for once he can come first to you.” You said as you kissed Saiyoui’s forehead. You were about to enter the elevator when a weight crashed into you. You didn't have to look down too far to see Hiroyuki hugging you.

“Take care of Tokki, please.”

“Yes and you make sure you and your sisters behave for your dad.” He sighed but nodded at you. You gave him one last hair ruffle before leaving. You couldn't help but think this wasn't ever gonna get any easier. You sighed before heading to the next destination, a café to meet with a few of your friends.

“Y/N!” You heard a voice call to you as soon as you opened the door. You identified the voice as Mina.

“Mina! Long time no see!” You said giving her a hug.

“Y/n, dear come sit down.” Momo said smiling at you, you sat down with the group.

“How are you doing.” Mina asked you cautiously

“I’m surprisingly doing awful, I see Bakugou too much to truly get over him. The kids are still adjusting to us being apart and Hiroyuki has been really upset and distant. I thought breaking up would fix a lot but it just made everything worse.” You sighed out.

“Well of course it did!!!” Urakara whisper yelled.

“You and Bakugou called it quits way too soon! I've never seen someone handle Bakugou the way you do. I’ve never seen anyone love him like you. Hell Bakugou loves you so much it’s ridiculous! Do you remember when he was gonna put his hero work on hold because of Kaori! I’m sorry y/n but I’m not buying this fell out of love thing.” Deku rushed out.

“Mm I’d have to agree. If there is anything I’ve learned from being friends with Bakugou it’s that he never half ass anything and if he put time into it he’s gonna see it through till the end so, logically it doesn’t make sense.” Todoroki said quietly.

“Yeah so what’s your side of the story?” Mina asked carefully.

“I… loved him, you know and when we had kids it only intensified but now it’s different. Bakugou is a great dad don’t get me wrong but he’s absent and that was fine when it was just me, Kaori, Hiroyuki, and Kohana but now there is Yoko and Saiyuri. It’s hard when they all have different school times and different needs cause of their ages. It’s hard because I had to put part of my life on hold, I went to UA too and I was supposed to be one of the greatest support people out there, every agency would want me. But it was Bakugou’s dream first so I sacrificed it all in a heartbeat. Over the years he just got more busy and I got more left behind. I’m tired of waiting up till 3am to make sure he’s alright knowing I have to be up at 7 to get the kids ready for school. I… love him and I don’t want to argue with him and I could feel myself growing angry at him, feel myself growing resentful. So I brought it up under the disguise of “do you still love me” and he said No… so that was that and we were done the next week.” You said not meeting their eyes. They just looked at you with wide eyes.

“Y/n I’m sorry, I didn’t know you felt like this.” Momo said softly.

“It’s fine, he is the love of my life and our kids are my everything so I would do it all again, just for them.” You smiled with a few tears cascading down your face.

“You haven’t tried to talk to him about this, you still love him, you guys can fix this.” Deku said almost mumbling.

“But he doesn’t love me and so there is nothing to talk about. Now come on let’s talk about something else. You can hear sob stories like mine anytime.” You waved them off. They were hesitant but the conversation did pick up about their lives and your time at UA, at least the happy parts. The rest of your two days without your kids were a blur. You just remember waking up with your phone going off a Monday.

“Hello is this Bakugou Y/n?” A women’s said. The title hurt just a bit.

“Yes it is.” You responded drowsily.

“I am very sorry you have to receive a call like this but your son Bakugou Hiroyuki has been rushed to the hospital, his sister did refuse to leave his side so she is there as well.” You were silent before hanging up and immediately calling Bakugou.

“What’s up?” He rushed out. He sounded panicked so he must have gotten a call too.

“I need you to pick up Yoko and Saiyuri.” You said rushing to put in on your clothes.

“What? But yuki is in the hospital, we’ve got to be there.” He said 

“Yes but they are done with daycare in.” You paused to look at the clock on your way out the door. “A hour. If we don’t get them now we’ll have to leave him to get them.” You said finally in your car.

“Yeah and he would rather be with you than me…” he trailed off.

“I didn’t say that.” You rushed out

“You didn’t need to, I'll get them and be there as soon as I can.” He said hanging up. You sighed and continued your drive to the hospital. When you got there you rushed to the room where you looked in and saw your son unconscious and Kaori laying next to him.

“So he is going to be okay, we do want him to remain here for another day or two.” The doctor said to you, smiling.

“Okay but what’s wrong with him.” 

“Well he hasn’t been eating or drinking or sleeping enough, especially for a boy experiencing his growth spurt. Pair that with how much he has been using his quirk in class and you have a pretty bad situation.” She said as if it was nothing to worry about.

“Uhhh okay so we just need to make sure he is eating and drinking right?” You said pacing a little.

“Yeah and I would figure out what made him stop. Your daughter was very adamant about it not being abuse just that there was something going on at home and he is trying to deal with it.” The doctor said as you froze thinking you did this to him.

“Just a divorce…” you trailed off.

“Yeah that will do it but I don’t need to know about it. It's your business just make sure to talk to him so you don’t end up back here.” She said before leaving, you let out a few tears before heading into the room. Noticing you, Kaori got up and was hugging you tighter than she ever had.

“Did you know he wasn’t taking care of himself?” You asked, stroking her hair. She shook her head no.

“I didn’t either, I didn’t know it was hitting him so hard… you know you can ask me about anything, tell me anything… me and your dad will always be in your corner.” You said lifting her chin so you gazed into her eyes.

“But you're both not in our corner anymore. You guys are in to different corners and it’s hard to keep up with two different houses and two different.. well everything’s.” She said looking away from you.

“I never meant to you guys to feel like this, I just…” You trailed off but before you could finish Hiroyuki tossed and turned in his bed.

“Yuki sweetie, can you hear me?” You said as you rushed to his side.

“Mmm.” He said, he’s eyes still shut in pain.

“Oh baby, i'm so sorry I didn't notice you were in pain. It’s never gonna happen again, okay? Do you need something?” You said stroking his hair, he hummed before falling back to sleep. You sighed and kissed his forehead.

“So whats up with him?” Bakugou rushed into the room with the girls in his arms.

“He hasn’t been eating, or drinking, or sleeping. So when he used his quirk it drained his body and he’s here for 1 or 2 more days.” You said eyes never leaving his.

“That's impossible, he was just with me… he… didn't eat very much.” He trailed off. You hummed at him understanding how he was felling as you missed the signs too.

“Hey, girls I texted Grandma and Grandpa and they said they miss you so much. So while we take care of Yuki how about you guys go see them, yeah? Mr. Yuri is waiting to take you.” You smiled at them. You see a fire rise in Kaori but it goes out quick as Bakugou ruffles her hair.

“Okay then, be good for them and don't cause too much trouble. Mr. Yuri will pick up Kohana, Kaori please explain what's happening to her. And don't worry, we’ll see you real soon.” You said waving the girls out of the room. When they were out of sight you and Bakugou visually deflated. 

“Katsuki, how does this keep happening?” You asked him

“What?”

“How do things keep getting worse, first the break up, then the kids being mad at each other, Yuki’s anger at you, and now this.” You cried out.

“The break up was bad to you?” He asked voice cracking.

“Why wouldn't it be, Katsuki I know you don't love me anymore but I…” You trailed off

“Would you just spit it out dumbass! This is why we didn't work out because you never say shit. You just bottle it up and never lean on me or depend on me the way I do to you. You used to say “we're a team” all the time but in the last 2 years you haven't said it once. It was you who fell out of love with me so don't pretend like it was so hard for you.” He yelled at you.

“This is why we don't talk Katsuki, all you wanna do is yell and project all the feelings you bottle up from working so goddamn much. Of course it was hard on me and you would know why if you could drop your ego and talk to me like you can tolerate being around me or love me!” You yelled back at him but before the argument could turn into a big screaming match your sons voice rang out.

“Would you two just stop it…” He said weakly.

“Yuki, im sorry we shouldn't have been yelling even if you were asleep.” Bakugou said caressing his check. At the touch Hiroyuki let out the tears he’s been holding in.

“Its us isn't it?” He paused to look at you. “Me and my sisters… You had Kaori and me pretty young and you didn't really get to be young. You had all of us before you really got to live together just the two of you.. And Uncle Izuku and Auntie Urakara's relationship is doing fine even though they started to date around the same time as you, difference is they just started having kids like 4 years ago… Im 12 and Kaori is 13. So its us isnt?…” He said curling into himself.

“Kid, I'm not gonna lie to you, having you and Kaori at the ages we did was a nightmare. We were barely out of school, we lived with my parents for a while cause we didn't have jobs or a place of our own and even we did get one it was a shitty hole in the wall place but even at the young age of 19 we pulled our shit together and made it work so when you came a year later we were a lot more prepared. Yes we did miss out on a lot of things people our age did but we had you and Kaori and that was so much better than party’s and hangovers. Then we decided to have Kohana, Yoko, and Saiyuri and you all make us so happy. You all have nothing, not a damn thing to do with what's going on between me and y/n. If we ever made you feel like you did we didn't mean to. We love you so much and I am so sorry if we ever made it seem like it was your fault.” Bakugou said, eyes boring into Hiroyuki’s. Hiroyuki looked at you and you nodded to show you agreed with Bakugou.

“Don't ever forget how much we love you, okay? Now you should eat, we’ll get you anything you want.” You said wiping your tears with a smile.

“If it's not too much trouble, I want you and dad’s spicy pork curry and you guys should take some to the girls.” He said drowsily.

“But in order to make that we both would have to leave since it's a meal we make together… we couldn't leave you here alone.” You said mostly to yourself before any could say anything else a new voice was heard entering the room.

“You guys go talk and make him some food, ill stay with him. I didn't watch you guys terribly flirt and kiss everywhere just for it to end over some miscommunications.” Aizawa said as he took the seat next to Hiroyuki. Aizawa had remained close with a lot of students from 1A, becoming like a second dad but he had been extra close with you and Bakugou. When Kaori came into the equation he was like a nanny to her and it only increased when Hiroyuki was born, the two having a really strong bond so neither you or Bakugou was shocked he showed up.

“Okay, then old man. Watch my kid.” Bakugou said, grabbing your hand and pulling you away. You almost forgot what his calloused hand felt like. He drug you to his car and the car ride was mostly silent. The talking began when you began to cook in the house you used to share.

“Do you love me?” You asked as you cut pork

“Yes, I love you. I never stopped, I am in love with you y/n. Today I love you more than yesterday but less than tomorrow.” He said slicing onions.

“Then why did you say that, say that you didn't love me.”

“Because I could see it, you don't look at me the same. We don't talk the way we used to. I don't want to string you along and make you hate being with me, because I love you more than life itself. And I was scared that one day you would wake up and you wouldn't need me and realize how easy it would be to leave me. That it would be my fault we ended because I was so focused on me I didn't see your pain. Scared that I would wake up and gaze into your eyes and find no love or joy in them. So I decided to let you go… I was thinking we just needed a break but you suggested a divorce and I agreed because I would do anything to make sure you keep that beautiful smile of yours. Even if you weren't smiling at me anymore… do you..” He said calmly, growing more emotional with each word.

“Yea, I never ever stopped. I was just tired, I am tired. But I want nothing more than for us to work… we can get through this, can't we?” You asked cautiously.

“Of course we can, we are Bakugous, we can do whatever the hell we want. And it will be different this time, we’ll talk about things and communicate better, I swear. I aint seeing a shrink though.” He said flicking water at you to make his last point more effective.

“Yes we are.” You giggled at him.

“No we aren't, you shitty dumbass. We don't need help, I can talk about my feelings without some dumb wanna be life coach.” He yelled as he began to wash the rice.

“Well we don't have to but I guess that means Zuku and Urakara have a better relationship than us since they go to counseling…” you trailed off with a shrug.

“Oh fuck you!” He roared at you, you giggled knowing he would now go. This was the most normal you felt in months, the happiest for sure. Just maybe things would be okay, and who were you kidding you could never fall out of love with the spiky haired explosion boy no matter what he did. It was toxic in a way but you could unpack that in the therapy sessions you were gonna force him to attend.

[peachtree-dish]

A Te Che Sei Il Mío Grande Amore

Chapter 3: Senza che tu mi dica niente tutto si fa chiaro

Luglio 01, 1969

Luca’s birthday rolled around faster than anyone expected, the day arriving with clear skies and high temperatures. Luca awoke to his mother’s voice echoing through their home as she prepared breakfast. Stretching, the fifteen-year-old shook his nonna as gently as he could to wake her. She grumbled at his attempts and swatted at his claws.

“Nonna,” he sighed, shrugging with a smile and swimming into the kitchen to greet his parents. During his time in Porto Rosso, Luca enjoyed every moment he could swimming and spending as much time in the water since he couldn’t do as much in Genoa. He, along with Giulia and Signora Mia, had snuck to the shoreline in the early hours of the morning every few weeks or so just so Luca could refresh his scales and get the nutrients he needed. It was especially necessary when the temperature had become too cold and made him lethargic and ill. Luca shook his head softly, sending bubbles rippling above him in search of the surface. Signora Mia had been just as kind as Massimo, and just as headstrong in a lot of ways. He made a silent promise to call her with Giulia to make sure she was doing well, even if he were sure nothing could fell the infamous Mia Berni.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Daniella kissed Luca’s cheek and handed him a plate full of seaweed and fish flank on his way to the table. Returning the sentiment, the youth sat beside his father and informed his parents that grandma had decided to sleep in a little longer.

“Ugh, she does this every time. MA!” Daniella shouted in frustration, only to be startled by her own mother swimming around the corner.

“You’re being dramatic, dear. I only do it when I think it will annoy you.” The elderly sea monster smiled toothily at her disgruntled daughter who muttered, “Which is every day,” and finished setting the table.

“So, how does it feel to be another year older, son?” Lorenzo floated a piece of fish to his mouth and chewed animatedly, his gaze never leaving Luca’s. Luca shrugged in response and picked at the seafood drifting across the coral table.

“Not any different than last year, honestly. I still feel like I’m fourteen, so nothing special.” He slurped the seaweed into his mouth, much to his mother’s chagrin, and instantly missed the taste of pasta.

“Fifteen is a pretty big deal, though, you’re becoming a young man and that means changes and more responsibility.”

“I hardly think now is the time to discuss any of that at the table.” Luca’s grandmother scoffed before he could reply.

“What, it’s just the basics; Longer tail and fins, not to mention attracting the pretty lady gills, eh?” Lorenzo nudged Luca in the side who nearly choked on his food and spluttered white bubbles over the table, his scales flushing darkly.

“Lorenzo!” Danielle cried, her claws slapping the table in mortification.

“What? We were around his age when we met. If I remember correctly, you thought I was quite the catch.” He batted his eyes at her, pursing his lips teasingly.

“I was young and silly; I didn’t know any better.” Try as she might, Daniella couldn’t stop the smile that threatened to break her scowl. She busied herself by shredding the fish flank and wrapping it in seaweed. Undeterred, Lorenzo lifted from his chair and leaned in closer, trying to further fluster his wife.

“Yeah, maybe, but you still accepted my courting pearl after the Spring Swim Festival.” Lorenzo pulled a reluctant Daniella out of her chair and began to lead her around the room in spins and pivots, grinning madly as she shrieked with laughter. Luca watched with a mixture of amusement and confusion, his discomfort fading as he pushed the idea of ‘lady gills’ far from his mind. When he peered at his grandma, she appeared nonplussed and continued munching on her food although a genuine smile lifted her aging scales.

“You were skinnier and more handsome then, of course, she fell for you.” Lorenzo pouted at his mother-in-law and led both he and Daniella back to the table.

“I simply grew into my man body,” He emphasized his point by sticking his gut out even farther and patted it proudly. The table burst into laughter and Luca quickly finished eating after, his stomach nearly as full as his heart.

After he finished, he turned to his mother and asked, “Is it ok if I go visit Alberto and Giulia for the afternoon?”

Daniella conceded with a content nod, “Just don’t forget about our dinner tonight at Massimo’s, we don’t want you kids to be late.” Luca agreed cheerfully and kissed each family member on the cheek before swimming out the entrance.

“Hey!” Luca turned mid swim to see Daniella at the entrance. “I love you.”

“I love you too, ma!” Grinning, Luca took off, the water gliding past him as he made his way to the surface and his friends. As he leaped through the blue waves, he imagined he was like the superhero from the newspaper comics that Giulia and Mia both read. Pointing both fists forwards, Luca broke the surface with a whoop, water streaming behind him like a cape.

When he arrived at the Marcovaldo residence, the only beings there to greet them were Machiavelli and a few of his kits, each of whom wanted his attention and brief affection. Finding some of his spare clothes in the drawers of Alberto and Giulia's shared room, Luca quickly left the house and wandered the streets, eager to find his friends. Judging from the sun, he knew the morning fishing trip had come to an end not too long before which should mean Giulia, and Alberto was out delivering. Walking through the town square, Luca waved to a few of the patrons he recognized, mentally wincing as he remembered his first attempts at greeting Porto Rosso’s patrons. If anyone had been the stupidi, it had been them.

Chuckling as he went up the city’s hill, Luca caught sight of two familiar heads of curls along with two faces he was not expecting. Tensing at the sight of Guido and Ciccio, Luca prepared himself for a fight and made to run the rest of the way before he heard laughter. Guido was laughing at something Alberto had said and lightly touched his shoulder. Somehow, the movement was worse than if he had punched Alberto instead. A dark and ugly feeling reared its head within Luca’s belly, causing his face to burn and his hands to clench. Clenching his teeth, the young sea monster marched up the cobblestone pathways, intent on not showing his discomfort.

“Ciao,” he muttered shortly, arriving beside Alberto, and instantly causing Guido to lift his hand from Alberto’s shoulder. Giulia nodded hello from her seat on the bike as Alberto wrapped an arm around Luca’s shoulder.

“Oh, hey Luca,” Alberto cheered even more so upon seeing Luca. “You remember Guido and Ciccio, vero? I helped their families in the off-season while you were away.” Luca looked at the two teens who stood abashedly in front of him and offered his hand after a moment of hesitation.

“It’s good to see you both again,” Not, he thought as he shook the brunette’s hand. Ciccio spoke up, his round features coloring.

“We realize we never officially apologized to you before you left, si? We’re really sorry about last summer, Luca.”

“Si, Ciccio, and I were very foolish and ignoranti, we hope you can forgive us, and we can start again.” Guido smiled warmly, his gaze sincere. Taking a deep breath, Luca felt his earlier feeling of… whatever it was, fading away. If Alberto and Giulia both felt they could trust these boys again, then he could follow their lead.

“Lo apprezzo. I know being around Ercole wasn’t the easiest either, it’s all water under the bridge now anyway.” He smiled genuinely this time, heartened when the two ex-henchmen immediately relaxed.

“Bah, no lie, I’m so happy to be rid of that jerk,” Guido nodded at Ciccio who nodded and twisted his hands anxiously.

“He ate so much of my family’s bread,” Ciccio whispered horrified, his gaze wide. Giulia shared a weirded-out expression with Alberto who only shook his head.

“I didn’t know your family baked,” Luca interceded, ignoring his friends’ lack of subtlety Snapping back to the present, Ciccio grinned widely showing his perfectly white teeth.

“Oh, si, Pasticcini al sale Marino is the pride and joy of Porto Rosso and my family. Our baked goods bring customers from miles around; you should see the line of people who want to buy my mother’s Sfogliatella.” He leaned in conspiratorially to whisper, “My siblings and I have been helping since we were little, so only we know the recipe.” He puffed his round chest out proudly, only to be poked by both Alberto and Guido.

“Knowing a recipe and following it correctly are two different things, Ciccio. Your batter was not very good the last time you tried to make Bombolini.” Guido teased and Alberto nodded knowingly.

“I still don’t know how you mixed up salt and sugar,” the older sea monster screwed his face in disgust, remembering how the supposedly sweet treats and mistakenly been made with copious amounts of salt. “Seriously, Ciccio, even the ocean’s not as salty as those things were.” Ciccio pouted good-naturedly as the group laughed.

“It’s still not as bad as the time Guido set the auto garage on fire,” the blond argued mildly to which said boy grimaced.

“I thought we agreed to never speak of that again; I thought my papa was going to skin me alive.”

The teens chatted a bit more and Luca began to warm up to the two boys who had hurt him so much the past year. Perhaps, he reasoned, they had been good all along and had simply needed the chance to prove themselves.

Bidding Guido and Ciccio farewell, Luca joined Alberto and Giulia as they made the rounds. Luca asked a question that had been on his mind since arriving in Porto Rosso.

“So, whatever happened to Ercole? I haven’t seen him since we’ve been in town.” Alberto placed the cash from his previous sale into the leather pouch of the cart before answering.

“Honestly, the guy kind of disappeared after the race. I think he was embarrassed enough to keep his head low for a while, but other than that, I’m not sure. Maybe he left?” Giulia thought for a moment, her gaze focused on the road ahead.

“Maybe, I don’t think he went away to university, but he could have. His family is really wealthy, so they could afford it no matter the grades he got.”

Luca kicked a pebble, his thoughts skipping back to that one word: university.

“What’s the point of grades anyway, doesn’t that, like, stress you out more?” Alberto mused.

“It certainly does for me,” Giulia huffed. She bid Buongiorno to a young mother who bought the last of their fish and both Luca and Alberto filled the empty space as they headed back down the hill.

“I think it’s mostly competition, to see who really wants to be an academico or no,” she contemplated. “Sometimes if you have really good grades, the universities will pay you to study in their schools. That happened to mama when she moved to Genoa.” Alberto winced slightly at the mention of Giulia’s mother, the story of her separation from Massimo fresh in his memory.

“I wonder if I was good enough, they’d do that for me?” Luca hummed, his eyes following the drains that spread across each building they passed.

“Well, duh, they’d be stupid not to; you’re better than good enough right now,” Alberto bumped his shoulder with a smile. Luca blushed and tossed his friend a grin.

“Hey, happy birthday by the way. It’s about time you got to my age,” the older boy winked and wrapped his arm around Luca again, causing Luca’s skin to hum with energy.

“Oh, yeah! Are you excited for tonight?” Giulia asked over her shoulder.

“Thanks, you guys, really,” Luca felt warmer with Alberto’s arm around him, and he was sure it had nothing to do with the afternoon sun. He wondered briefly if said boy could feel how hard his heart was pounding. “Should I be excited, I thought we were just having dinner?” Luca asked, brow furrowing in confusion. He twisted around to face Giulia as she pulled into the plaza and made her way towards the small coastal home. Alberto lifted his arm when Luca turned away, causing him to feel its loss.

Giulia glanced at him and grinned excitedly. “Papa saved some fireworks from the Festa Della Repubblica since we were in Genoa, and he wants to set them off for tonight.” Luca gasped and jumped in his seat.

“Santa mozzarella! Are you serious?!” He shared an animated glance with Alberto who smiled as he hopped off the cart.

“Of course! I mentioned to him how much you had enjoyed the fireworks during Vigilia di Capodanno last December. He decided that would be his gift to you this year.” Giulia locked the bike and carried their bag of earnings inside, the two boys following after her.

Inside they found Massimo at his stove, his presence filling up the majority of the room. He turned to greet them as they entered, placing a kiss upon Giulia’s curly head.

“Buon cumpleanno, Luca. May you live to see many more,” Massimo rumbled fondly, patting Luca on his checkered shoulder. Luca returned the sentiment and wrapped a short hug around the large man, his arms too small to wrap fully around him.

“Grazie, Massimo. For your wishes and for your surprise gift,” Luca pulled away while Massimo smiled happily, his eyes disappearing behind his bushy eyebrows.

“Giulia,” Massimo chided lightly, turning to his daughter who was counting out money, “I thought we agreed to keep it a secret until after dinner?” Giulia smiled apologetically.

“Scusa, papa, we were just too excited,” She and Alberto began counting the coins on the table while Massimo ushered Luca over to the stove.

“Come, Luca, you will help me prepare dinner,” Massimo handed him a bag of clams and ordered him to wash them thoroughly in the sink. Luca would be the first to admit he was not a cook, but Massimo was gentle in his orders and easily guided Luca in making a perfect pasta dinner.

Once the Paguro family arrived along with Ciccio and Guido, once again to Luca’s surprise, the night was filled with much laughter and filling food. The linguine pasta alle vongole was instantly a hit and paired nicely with the red wine Ciccio had brought on behalf of his family. To the teens’ disappointment, the adults were adamant that they were still too young for alcohol. At one moment, Lorenzo laughed so hard, he inhaled his pasta and sent part of it into his nose much to the delight of the children. After dinner, the group trouped outside with fireworks and dessert in hand. While Massimo and Lorenzo set up the fireworks near the edge of the waterline, Daniella, Giulia, and Ciccio helped serve gelato and watermelon.

With a happy sigh, Alberto nestled himself into the sand alongside Luca, happily chewing on the red-fleshed fruit. Luca’s eyelids were drooping as his body felt full and warm, accompanied by his own friend’s radiating heat. His gaze lingered as Alberto licked gelato from his lips, the cream dripping from the corner of his mouth. Forcing his eyes to look anywhere else, Luca shifted closer to Alberto. Instead, his gaze landed on his father asking animatedly about the fireworks in Massimo’s hand, the larger man looking both confused and entertained by Lorenzo’s energy.

“I know I already said it, but happy birthday,” Luca dragged his eyes back to the tanned boy next to him and smiled. He jumped slightly at the first explosion, watching in delight as the light of the fireworks made his friend’s skin glisten with multicolored hues.

“Thank you for sharing it with me,” He replied easily. Neither made comment as their arms brushed or as their hands splayed out behind them with barely any space between. Up above the merry group, bright color after bright color bloomed across a starlit sky, the stars twinkling their own delight.

[organic-guacamole]

episode 209 spoilers below

I'm so late today but here it is

I love EJ, he's finally learning to be happy. I'm so proud.

Ms Jenn = every boomer during zoom calls, like jeez yes we can hear you stop shouting at me.

LOVE THE SUBTLE JOKE ABOUT QUARANTINE "these dark times" "you mean spring break?"

ah yes, remember when we thought covid was just gonna give us a longer spring break? good times

SEBLOS

damn the passive aggressiveness from Carlos and the absolutely over it tone from seb✋

CASWELL COUSINS!!!!! THEY'RE THE BEST!!!!

we needed more if this kind of goofiness for the first part of season 2 that only such an iconic duo can provide.

old old movies-

is it even that old, or is Nini being a gen alpha rn-

i choose to imagine EJ being scared of the movie and hiding in Ashlyn's shoulder while she keeps a straight face and then EJ pretending to be tough afterwards

aww redlyn are soulmates.... yknow, if gingers had souls

(please ignore me)

y'all saw how EJ's face *lit up* when Gina logged on? how dare you tell me he doesn't like her

ofc she's no damsel in distress, she's Gina porter, she's amazing.

so do we think she'd be the type to just glare at suspicious people? or bark at them

do they not know that Rini broke up? or is Ms Jenn just wanting Nini to suffer through her heartbreak to make her a better actress....

speaking of, why is Nini in the call? she's not in the show anymore. Unless she is, even after the rose and the song got cut, which would be so unfair to all those that auditioned properly before she even came back but whatever, she's the main character I get it 🙄

big red is a hero honestly, Nini better thank him for changing the subject like that

I can't-

i won't work you over the break-

this woman would 100% work her kids 24/7 if it was legal and idk how to feel about it.

YES GINA USE THAT CHARM

QUEEN

FRENCH QUEEN

SHE LEARNT FROM THE BEST (antoine obvi)

smh the airport lady, eavesdropping on Gina's call.

The way she was so happy to answer EJ's call, "eej"

I love them your honour.

EJ WITH PAINTED NAILS YES PLEASE

great now we need to see Gina, Ashlyn and EJ having a complete spa day and EJ getting really into it and Gina and Ashlyn take pictures of him when he's laying down in a robe with a mask and cucumbers on his eyes.

finally we get to see Gina's side of portwell

the way she considered it as flirting, this is the sign she asked for in episode 6 come onnnnn

no is Asher/jack really doing tiktok dances in an airport-

Ricky is me. I am burrito.

oh Lynne, sweetie, I'm sorry but the blonde hair is not it

is that even the same lady or-

THE BEAN

THE CHICAGO BEAN

THE BIG OLD METAL BEAN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY 😭

jetlag is my go to excuse for anything... I haven't travelled in 2 years.

"welcome to the Lynne and Mike gossip show. where we talk about our depressed son that we both neglect in certain ways! And now a word from our sponsor, Nord VPN..."

SO MANY CANDLES

WHAT DEMON IS LYNNE TRYING TO SUMMON IN HIS ROOM-

is Nina becoming social media obsessed EJ from season 1? AND SHE LIED ABOUT HAVING SONGS TOO PLEASE WHY ARW THEY RECYCLING THE SAME PLOT-

Gina smiling at the picture of her family on Instagram makes me so happy, idek why.

EJ's nails are so pretty, we needed to see it more (unless he had it on for the rest of the episode and I just.... didn't notice🧍🏽‍♀️)

oh not the tiktok kid✋

yes ma'am end this strange mans whole tiktok career

sir take a hint and leave

GINA NO DONT SAY YOUR LAST NAME HE COULD BE A HUMAN TRAFFICKER

Ricky, walking in style✨

weird kid, ok then Lynne, can't you see he's this close to the edge?

not all your fault baby Ricky, Nini sucks a bit more

RICKY YOU DIDN'T COME DOWN HARD ON THE SONG-

YOU ASKED WHAT IT WAS ABOUT AND SHE SHUT YOU DOWN-

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME YOURSELF

ok but the deleting comment thing was very bad

still don't know if I like Jack honestly

hmmm so Nini's calling herself Nini instead of Nina in her little egg seat, while trying to write a song without inspiration.... Nini, honey, Ricky was your muse, he inspired you to write all those songs, even if it wasn't good for the relationship.

that doesn't mean you gotta get back with him, or that you can't write a song that not about him butttt it'll take some time

the rainbow sticker in her box and her rainbow shirt-

anyways wbk she's not totally straight

Jack are you a criminal?

quick, Gina, check his ankle for a tracker

THE YES AND PRACTICE STRIKES AGAIN

the way Gina wasn't into it in episode 6 but she's used the technique twice now

stole her grandma's Pomeranian-

Jack where the hell did you pull that out from-

the fake crying killed me, that looks like so much fun though

anyone wanna raid a first class lounge with me?

wait so is jack not gonna go in with her?

wouldn't he go in too? help look for the credit card? SO CONFUSED

the first class lounge guy was so into the drama though, watch his face when they start arguing 😭

sorry to break this to you Kourtney, but you haven't even blocked the second act yet soooo...

take that as you will

I love how all of them are totally dissing the dance off

that's the most realistic part of this show tbh

shouldn't Nini have asked how she knew....since the start? why is the fact that her best friend has knowledge of a North high secret now dawning on her...

Howie is sweet honestly, at least he's trying to help. but I stand with Kourtney, don't take him back just because he sang an amazing song, and is giving you a heads up on what's gonna happen...

KOURTNEY IS ME TRYING TO LEAVE AN ONLINE CLASS

I hate school

ooo Nini's writing a song about bad internet connection 🤩🤩🤩

I never lie, except when I do-

son that is the creepiest thing you could say to a stranger that you've been "helping"

2 truths and a lie👀

he's an Ariana fan 100%

called it.

OLDER BROTHER-

WHAT-

free spirit? damn so brother porter was in that horse movie

so has she been kissed or not?????????

I feel like she's moved more than 15 times though so possibly

but then if she's moved so much, and before east high she never opened up to anyone, she's never been kissed then?? damn

same though Gina so let's be besties please

heartbreak president is a great song title idea, give Nini a call rn

but wait

is the no strings attached feeling thing about her telling Ricky she liked him? she thought she was moving away so she thought it'd be no strings attached???

guys I think I figured it out insert the "I've connected two dots" meme

THE DUKE SWEATSHIRT

IS THAT YOUR BOYFRIEND'S

OMG I LOVE I LOVE

NOT THAT I KNOW OF???

ma'am did you just kill me

yes you did

Lynne and Ricky have such a weird relationship

YES IT DID SUCK

TODD SUCKS

LYNNE SUCKS

yeah I get that you wanted Ricky to like Todd BUT THAT WASN'T THE TIME

right so we already know that Ricky was so desperate to keep Nini cuz he didn't want to be like his parents, and now Lynne's talking about this-

Richard needs a long hug

yes Lynne, it is your fault. thank you for finally admitting it.

YES DYE YOUR HAIR

BLOND HIGHLIGHTS RICKY WILL RISE AGAIN

"sometimes the best, last thing you can do for someone you love, is let them go."

gotta admit I teared up at that point

not me thinking big red was calling ms Jenn cupcake for a hot second-

Carlos please omg, you're at the "beach" and they're leaving for the pool?

also, why not just do the call from the hotel room please omg

"don't ask me"

"Carlos"

OMG WHAT HAPPENED

big red wants the tea

O M G

SEB IS JEALOUS

JEALOUS SEBBY IS MY FAVOURITE THING IDC

I'm surprised ms Jenn knew how to give Nini permission to screenshare tbh

So lily's been stalking the East high kids and spending time editing this video while she's supposedly in an immersion trip.... right

EJ and Ashlyn's picture is so chaotic, what even is happening there

"slacking off" bestie its spring break, obviously they're confident enough that they'll get it done in time so why not focus on your own musical.

jealous seb = sassy seb

please what if those guys Carlos is posing with are his cousins or something and that's why he's so confused about Seb

6 YEAR OLD EJ I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM

Nini saying she's obsessed with her ex, that's not weird at all 👍

I can just tell Matt had a blast harassing Julia with those puppets.

Jack please dont be like that, "yet"

chances are you'll never see eachother again 🥰

(honestly sometimes I really miss those friends I made on trips and stuff when we'd spend the day or week together, only to never see them again....those were the good days though)

Ashlyn and Nini should write more songs..... something better than this one at least

Nini: "im good"

cue the Tia Mowry (please I can't spell) crying gif

oh I forgot Ricky was in the show for a hot second

1. where did Gina get to film this without people being around

2. did she just... randomly change her clothes???

ok but the transition between Carlos and EJ

*chefs kiss*

now everyone shut up, EJ's singing

oh i think I'm pregnant

HIS MUSCLES

YES KOURTNEY

I love how big red and Kourtney went from being "the best friends™" to the couple in season 1, to kinda close themselves and having their own plots

sebby makes me so happy

props to biggies editing skills honestly

PORTWELL BEING SIDE TO SIDE I CANT

AND SEBLOS OMG

big red lives for the drama

"wow" so true Ricky

no he is not cute, stop it

"holding" ok that's kinda cute

yeah EJ's a lucky guy😌

jokes aside, it's not that hard to exchange numbers-

keep in touch if you want

ok I really like Jack now

if he comes back in season 3, maybe have him be LGBTQ+ ?

like the only out characters they have rn are Seb and Carlos and they're like the sterotypes, yk?

I'd love to see jack kinda break the mold

Ricky's breaking my heart

that song just hurts

the only thing

now I don't hate Lynne????????

HOW DARE THEY WRITE IN A PROPER REDEMPTION ARC FOR HER

UGH IM SUPPOSED TO HATE HER FOREVER

I mean I don't live her now but she's good

but honestly

"mom can I show you something"

IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL

THE PICTURE AND EVERYTHING OMG

I'm sobbing please help

Gina saying she's just waiting for the right guy and then EJ coming to the airport to pick her up late at night without her asking, offering to bring her back in the morning so she won't have to Uber, bringing her a granola bar (WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT SHE FORGOT TO PACK) and without expecting anything in return???

ms ma'am you've got a keeper right there

her smile at the end was so heartwarming I really can't.

this episode was great.

it felt really short but I liked it, great character development for Ricky, Lynne and Gina.

Cant wait for next episode to see more of EJ being the ideal boyfriend /hj

[caspers-chibs-imagines]

Redemption

Summary

Riley Teller and her son move back to Charming. When Riley returns however, she is faced with the fact that she had to take on her responsibilities as a mom better than before when they are apart of The Sons. Allies are made and maybe a little something more with a certain Scotsman.

____

Chapter Twenty Three

“It’s just for one night. Why can’t they just let me stay?” I cross my arms against my chest as Tara awkwardly fiddles with her hands.

“It’s hospital regulations. You can come back tomorrow morning though-”

“To hell with regulations! I’m not leaving my son.” I interrupt her. My chest fluttered and my jaw clenched as Tara looked at me as her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. “Either use your words or close your mouth.”

Tara closes her mouth and rubs her forehead with her right hand.

“I can… try to let you stay, but you’ve got to be quiet. No wandering around. You need anything you text me.” She explains and relief runs through my veins. My shoulders feel less strained and they sag back down from their tensed position.

“Thank you.” I mutter before she ushers me back into the hospital room.

“Close the blind, keep the noise down and I’ll be the nurse to come check up on Tommy.” Tara then leaves and closes the door behind her.

I turn back to Tommy as he slept in the hospital bed. Mom had brought me a bag of stuff from home, a few items being Tommy’s blanket and teddy bear. I had tucked him in with blanket and he cuddled his teddy with his left arm, resting his cast upon a pillow beside him. He wasn’t in any pain and after his last check up by Tara, everything will be fine. The cast will just be a constant reminder of how I didn’t protect my baby.

Fillip.

God I wish I could hear his voice right now. Feel his hand brush my hair while he whispers “tha’ everything will be fine.”

Not lay near enough comatose in a hospital bed with a hole stitched up in his head.

I didn’t know what to do. Still don’t. I had visited the room that Tara wrote down when she handed me the piece of paper earlier today. I walked up to the door, looked through the small window and froze.

There lay his shell.

It wasn’t my Fillip.

He was lifeless, hooked up to a machine that beep, beep, beeped away.

I stood for a while next to him, my knees locked and my calves and feet felt like TV static. I can’t begin to describe the feeling I held in my chest, but I can begin with that I can’t lose him. I never had closure with George, I never got to say goodbye or say one last ‘I love you’. I didn’t want to have that a second time.

But I wasn’t going to say goodbye because he was going to make it. We were going to see each other again. We’d say hello again.

***

I spent the night wide awake watching over Tommy. I concluded that the explosion had to have been Zobelle; which means that Clay is going to retaliate no matter what anyone thought. This was all the fuel Clay needed to have a full on blood bath in Charming – which could mean someone is going to either end up dead or behind bars. Watching Tommy sound asleep made me panic that that someone could be me. Was being a part of the club worth risking my baby?

The next morning the doctor came as Tara had already clocked off, it was easy to lie and say I’d only arrived moments before him. He gave Tommy a once over and deemed him fit enough to return home and rest there.

“Will everyone sign my arm mommy?” Tommy asked as I drove the truck back home. “Elliot had a cast in school and we all drew on it for him. Miss Harrison said it would make his arm better. Will it make my arm better mommy?”

“It will baby,” I assured him and smiled. “You can get all your friends to sign it at school.” With that Tommy seemed to beam the rest of the drive, happy to be able to get his cast signed by everyone.

We spent majority of the afternoon watching movies and playing with Tommy’s dinosaurs. Tommy had wanted me to sign his cast and I did so with purple heart and wrote ‘mommy’s soldier’. He beamed all afternoon about being a brave soldier, ready to fight the bad guys to protect his mommy.

The club hadn’t called or visited which most likely meant they weren’t going to consider me as a prospect in their decisions today. Which I am grateful for because I didn’t want a minute away from my son. Any chance I could grasp onto him and hold him in my arms, feel his little heartbeat in his chest, blow raspberry kisses on his cheeks, all moments that assured me that he was alive and well.

Coming up to dinner I still hadn’t heard anything from the club or even Jax. Silence is never good – with children or with men. Tommy had asked to call Half-sack at the hospital, after he had his surgery Tommy had been missing one of his favourite babysitters – I couldn’t lie and say I don’t miss him too. So whilst I prepared spaghetti and meatballs, Tommy sat on the floor against the fridge with my phone rambling on about his new cast to him.

“Mommy said I can get it signed by everybody!” Tommy falls silent for a moment, then nods his head. “I made a square for you to sign, next to Chibby!”

Filip…

I jolt as the door knocks. I wipe my hands on the kitchen towel before leaving Tommy still chatting away on the floor and go to greet my new guest.

“Got room for one more?” Mom asks as she holds up a bottle of whiskey. She has shadows under her eyes, her hair still styled to perfection but her shoulders hold onto an invisible weight as they slump.

“Meatballs almost done,” I step back and let her in. We walk back to the kitchen after I close the door. Tommy sees mom and almost drops the phone as he runs up to her to cuddle.

“Grandma is here. Okay. Bye Eddie!” Tommy beams up at mom and I take my phone back and put it on the counter.

Dinner is eaten in the living room with mom and I on the couch and Tommy sat on the floor and his plate on the coffee table. Scooby Doo and the gang run around trying to solve another mystery as I eat my meal and sip the whiskey mom brought. Tommy gasps when the monster is revealed to the previous owner of the land. Mom is silent. She greeted Tommy with warmth and a smile and she answered him anytime he spoke to her, but other than that it’s as though she’s lost in her own little world.

I don’t press her on what’s wrong; that’s a first class ticket to being berated about my own problems.

By the time Tommy is settled in bed and hugging his teddy bear, my own fatigue was creeping up on me. I walk into the kitchen just as mom opens a window, her other hand holding a pack of cigarettes and her lighter.

“Spare one?” I ask as I walk over to the counter below the window and sit on it. Mom passes me a cigarette and lights it for me. With my first inhale I realise that this has been the first one I’ve had in two days.

Mom lights up her own and we sit and stand in a comfortable silence.

“I never did get to say goodbye to your father,” Mom begins, exhaling smoke as she looks at me. A haunted shadow in her eyes fluttered by and said goodbye before I could question it.

“Only got to hear the words come from the sheriff where they found parts of his skull.” I shuddered. I took another drag and let it’s burn itch at my chest.

“I don’t remember the last thing I said to George,” I muttered. Mom shifts next to me, turning in to listen as she did when I was younger.

“I just remember we were shouting; I was trying to get him to come with me. To run back here and get help… but he didn’t want to run. I remember seeing blood and putting Tommy in the truck. But I don’t remember if I told him I loved him.” I sniff back the coarse feeling in my throat. My chest burns a deeper hole. The last thing I asked Fillip to do was take Jax’s side.

“The last thing Fillip said to me was my name. He called out to me before the van blew up. He saved my little boy. Now I don’t know if I’ll get to help him.” My head falls, I stare down at my feet. Mom wraps an arm around me and pulls me into her, her chin resting on my head.

“Does it ever stop?” I ask – beg.

“You never get over it.”

[sunaswife]

Summary: It’s been five years since you’ve seen your ex, Rin. He’s still not over you and you’re not over him. When he finds out you have children he thought he didn’t have a chance. Then he finds out they’re his? All of a sudden you’re teaching Suna how to be a single dad.

note from denise: hi!! <3 this is a small chapter but i think an important one nonetheless :) i hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Fluff, angst I guess, drama, and cuteness twin overload

Previously Up Next Masterlist

Chapter Nine

“Is there anything you want for breakfast?” You asked Rin as you looked through your closet. He was laying back in bed under the covers, typical Rin. “No don’t bother making anything. I wanna treat you guys to breakfast.” He rubbed his eyes and you turned. “You don’t have to.” You immediately told him. “No i want to.” He assured and you smiled lightly. “Alright thank you.” You said softly and you grabbed your black overall skirt, white long sleeve and your favorite leggings.

“If you want you can wake up the kids.” You said before heading into the bathroom. He sat up and groaned and slowly made his way to their room. He opened the door and saw the two little foxes slide something under the bed. He tilted his head confused and they innocently looked up at him. “Good morning daddy.” They recited which honestly gave him the chills. Twins who could recite things at the same time are creepy. “Good morning. Now what were you guys hiding just now?” He asked with a raised brow. “Nothing—“ Akira innocently smiled. Even though these kids looked like Rin, they certainly had Y/N’s expressions. And that adorable smile that Suna has missed.

“You guys already know that lying is bad. Show me what you’re hiding?” He asked and sat on the floor across from them. Rini guiltily frowned and he reached under the bed to retrieve a box. It was an old shoe box. “A box? What? is it just an animal or something?” Rin asked and the kids shook their heads. Akira handed him the box and he opened it. The first thing he saw was a Polaroid of you and him. He felt a slap across his face. You smiled so bright and Rin had his deadpanned face like always. The photo behind the Polaroid was with you in between the twins. They were using your shoulders as an arm rest, each photo made his stomach turn and he saw napkins and tickets, you always wrote the date and a little heart with a note when Rin would take you to places.

“You and mommy looked so happy. Why did you guys leave eachother. I don’t get it.” Akira asked. “You won’t get it until you’re older.” Rin said and began to put everything back before he started crying. “Do you still love mommy?” Rini asked, Rin felt like he was in the hot seat.

They kept their eyes fixated on him. “Of course I do, she’s an amazing friend. She’s the mother of my children.” Rin started. “No not that kind of love...like love love. Like do you wanna marry her?” Akira asked but his phone rang and he saw the FaceTime call from his mother.

His face turned white and he immediately stood up and answered. “H-hi mom..” Rin cleared his throat and the twins gasped. “Grandma?!” They practically yelled. “Rintarou, are you babysitting or something?” His mother asked. “Um no I’m not—“ “Daddy Can we see grandma? We don’t have a grandma we wanna see our grandma!” Rini pulled the hem of his shirt and he looked down. “Daddy? Rintarou they’re not talking about you right?” His mother asked concerned. “Give me a sec...” he told the kids. “Start picking out your clothes.” He said and they quickly nodded and he went straight to the living room. He sighed and rested his hand on his forehead. “Rintarou talk to me. What’s going on? Did you get someone pregnant?” His mom asked. “Yes—no—it’s complicated I—“ “Rintarou it’s either a yes or a no.” His mom said.

Is this deja vu?

“Alright I’ll be honest. Yes I got a girl pregnant.” He sighed and brushed his hair back with his hand. His mom immediately changed her face to one of disappointment. She wasn’t expecting this when she called her son to ask when he was going to visit again.

“Rintaoru explain.” His moms tone completely changed and he gulped, he didn’t hear you coming from the hall. “Well..remember Y/N? My highschool girlfriend?” He asked. “The girl who’s the reason you were severely depressed and almost suicidal? Yeah how could I forget?” She replied sarcastically and you froze.

Wait...what?

“Well before we broke up we kind of..ya know and so she left and she didn’t tell me about them—“ “SHE DID WHAT?! Where is she I want to talk to her!” His mom raised her voice. “Rin I-“ you spoke up and he turned quickly to see you standing there in your cute outfit.

“Y/N, i need to speak with you.” His mother broke the silence and Rin was about to protest but you snatched his phone away. “Hello Mrs. Suna.” You said awkwardly but she had the same deadpanned expression your ex and kids have. “Why didn’t you tell my idiot son you were pregnant?” She demanded rather than ask. “Well it was because I was heartbroken, alone, and going through something traumatic. My parents kicked me out and I didn’t want Rin to have to drop out to help me support two children.” You said. “Two—“ “I had twins.” You interrupted. “How do you know they’re my sons—“ “He’s the only person I’ve ever slept with and they look exactly like him, ma’am. I assure you they’re his.” You replied.

“I don’t believe you not telling Rin you were pregnant because of your situation is an excuse.” She said. “I know. But I wanted to wait until Rin was more mature—“ “And had money and fame as a pro player right? So you could get money?” She asked and both of your and Rin’s eyes widened. “Excuse me. I’m doing more than fine on my own and I have not asked Rin for anything.”

“What do you do for a living?” She asked as if trying to prove you wrong, “I’m a sports commentator, voice actress and Internet personality. I have my own house and car so don’t you dare accuse me of wanted to take money from Rintarou because I will never ask him for anything then to be in the kids lives—“

“Okay that’s enough—mom please stop. We still have a lot of things to talk about regarding the kids and co-parenting. I need to go, we’re taking them on a field trip.” He said after taking the phone away. “When are you guys both free?” His mother asked. “As a single mother I can assure you that I’m never free.” You replied sassily. “I’m free in two weeks—“ Rin interrupted again before another fight started. “..me too..” you replied after checking your calender on the wall.

“Okay, I want you both in Hyogo with the kids. We need to chat.” She said and hung up. You and Rin just looked at eachother and blinked in shock. Like...did that just happen? The kids peered over the hallway doorpost and frowned. They wanted to meet their grandma.

“We’ll talk later.” You told him and he nodded. You turned back down the hall and mumbled something about getting the kids ready for today. Suna changed back into his clothes from yesterday and when the kids look all presentable and cute you all left.

“I should have know.” You said as you looked at the bright sign that said Onigiri Miya. Rin helped Akira out of the car seat and he chuckled. “Osamu’s food is bomb and you know it. I get a best friend discount either way.” He shrugged as you held Rini’s hand and Rin held Akiras hand and you both walked to the shop.

“Hmm? What a surprise!” Osamu spoke up when the bell chimed. “Good morning uncle Samu!” The kids giggled and let go to run to the counter. “How are my favorite munchkins?” He asked as they smiled and looked at the pictured food in amazement.

They act like you never feed them and when you do they just eat two bites and they’re “full”.

“Sup.” “Yo.” Suna and Osamu greeted. “Good morning Osamu.” You said politely and he smiled. “Good morning Y/N.” He replied. “When Suna didn’t come back last night I got a bit worried and he didn’t answer my texts till this morning but I’m glad he was with you.” Osamu said and you didn’t see Suna’s small blush. “Oh well the kids really wanted him to sleep over so he reluctantly agreed and we just called it a night.” You chuckled and he nodded. In the car, Suna told you his situation. He’s currently being transferred over to Tokyo in a different team and his lease ended so instead of getting another lease he moved out and he’s crashing with Osamu for a bit.

While you both talked you couldn’t see the look your kids were giving eachother. The opportunity was perfect and they’re going to take full advantage of it.

Finally you and Rin decided on what to order as well as the kids and you all sat down patiently. Rin was showing the kids pictures of his dog, Chewy. It was short for Chewbacca and you sighed at how much of a nerd Suna really is. But yet again that was another thing you guys bonded over back then.

Soon the food arrived and the kids loved it, you loved it. Rin obviously loved it. It was just so freaking good. “How much was the food again? So I can pay half.” You asked after wiping your mouth and Suna frowned. “I told you I got it.” He flicked your forehead and you smacked his hand. “Oww.” You whined. “It’s free cuz you demanded that I give you free food when I opened my restaurant, remember?” Osamu spoke up from the counter and you squinted. “But—“ “No if’s, but’s, or coconuts. I’m not charging Rin today.” Osamu said and you told him a small thank you.

“Y/N the ticket booth is this way..” Rin pointed out as you walked to the gates. “I came prepared.” You said and pulled out the QR code’s on your phone. “Mama still gets nervous talking to strangers sometimes so she usually is prepared.” It didn’t take long for everyone to go through the gates and Rin realized you have to had payed for his ticket.

He kept bugging throughout the day that he could pay for everyone instead but you smacked his arm and pointed at your kids in the distance. They were at the kids section where they could touch starfish and Akira was obviously a little bit nervous. But Rini was there guiding her hand and making sure she was using the two fingers to pet the animals.

“Rini may be a bit of an airhead but he always remembers that he’s a big brother and he’s always there for Akira when she’s nervous or scared..” you told him and his heart melted. They were just so cute. “Um..excuse me..Suna Rintarou...hi I’m a big fan and I was wondering if I can take a photo or get an autograph..” a small voice said and you turned to see a teenage boy.

“Sure dude.” Suna smiled softly and the guy took out his phone for a selfie, “I can take the picture.” You spoke up and the teenager gasped.” “Kageyama Y/N! Oh my god, are you really cousins with Tobio? Or do you just happen to have the same last name? I love listening to your podcasts and the yandere video game that your in is amazing!” He began to geek out and you laughed. “Yeah Tobio and I are cousins, and thanks for the support! You’re a man of culture I see.” You joked.

There was a slight pause of realization with him and he gasped. “Oh..am I interrupting your date?” He asked and looked between you both.

“Yes.”

“No.”

He tilted his head confused and you held Rin’s hand and hugged his arm. Your chest practically engulfed his arm and he almost had a nose bleed. “We went to the same highschool together so we’re catching up with a small date.” You said causing Suna’s face to turn bright red. The boy apologized for bothering and he took a selfie with you both and left.

You quickly let go and you put some distance between you both. Suna began fanning his face and you tried to hide your blush. Out of everything you could do, why would you do that?!

“I don’t know if you wanna tell the world that you have two kids or that you got some chick pregnant in highschool.” You told him. “You weren’t some chick, and I honestly don’t care if people know.” He said and you sighed and turned back to your kids. “But if you’re gonna keep doing that then it’s fine.” He said and you turned back to see him covering his mouth in shock. “I said that out loud didn’t I?” He asked and you nodded.

This was going to be a long day.

TAGLIST IS CLOSED

🏷: @therealwalmartjesus @differentballooncollection @aaesuki @atsunflower @dope-squish @prettysetterboiss @june-phantom @tomo-uwu @austriasmariazelle @xrnia @katsulia @aprettyfruit @shut-your-eyes-kiss-me-goodbye @tvbiio @sun-daddy-yoriichi @kamenoyaki @ppangiiroo @loeyprivvv @kmskj92 @lovinnoya @sarahvvictoria @tris-does-stuff @mokkeguts @sunaluvr6969 @bara-rose-would @sempiternal-amour @volleybloop @leykyuu @bokutoichigo @stfucanunot @iloveanime691 @tpwkatsumu @ohshirabu @shoutosimp @mqrinqcele @bokutosdivineass @anngelllla @toworuu @hidden-otaku-stuff @seijohiselite @caxsthetic @aquariarose @hhwanggu @bakuhoetoedoroki @yoozuku @osamus-onigiri @akaashi-todorki @donica95 @kakaokenma @airheadpillar

[firstfullmoon]

Do you have favorite quotes related about the importance of small details?

“The precious intimacy of little things.”

— Daphné du Maurier, I Will Never Be Young Again

“On my windowsill when I got home, there was a tumbler with pink jelly in it, and embedded in the jelly, sliced strawberries and bananas… [my neighbour] cooks at odd hours. She must have made the strawberry jelly this morning. When I buy baklava, which is not often because I eat too many, I leave a few for her on her windowsill, with a headscarf over them so the wasps don’t come. For these little gifts we don’t thank each other with words. They are commas of care.”

— John Berger, From A to X: A Story in Letters

“I suppose I could spend time theorizing how it is that people are not bad to each other, but that’s really not the point. The point is that in almost every instance of our lives, our social lives, we are, if we pay attention, in the midst of an almost constant, if subtle, caretaking. Holding open doors. Offering elbows at crosswalks. Letting someone else go first. Helping with the heavy bags. Reaching what’s too high, or what’s been dropped. Pulling someone back to their feet. Stopping at the car wreck, at the struck dog. The alternating merge, also known as the zipper. This caretaking is our default mode and it’s always a lie that convinces us to act or believe otherwise. Always.”

“One of the woman was gently arranging an older woman’s collar beneath her sweater, freeing it from the cardigan’s neck, using both of her hands to jostle it free but also seeming to spend a little more time than necessary, creasing the fold of the collar, the other hand kind of resting on her shoulder, the two of them chatting the whole time, sitting there holding each other, nodding, my head twisting toward them like a sunflower as I finished the stairs and walked by, so in love was I with this common flourish of love, this everyday human light.”

“but her need to share the photo with me [...] smiling and looking at it, smiling and looking at me looking at it, me smiling and looking at her looking at it, which is simply called sharing what we love, what we find beautiful, which is an ethics.”

— Ross Gay, The Book of Delights

“He’s got a fever. He’s all alone. So I’m gonna buy him something to eat.” “The congee downstairs is quite good.” “He doesn’t want congee.” “What does he want?” “Can’t taste anything so he wants sesame syrup.” [...] “What are you cooking?” “I had a sudden craving for sesame syrup.”

“Why did you call me at the office today?” “I had nothing to do. I wanted to hear your voice.”

— In the Mood for Love, dir. Wong Kar-Wai

— Danusha Laméris, “Small Kindnesses”

“It all matters. That someone turns out the lamp, picks up the windblown wrapper, says hello to the invalid, pays at the unattended lot, listens to the repeated tale, folds the abandoned laundry, plays the game fairly, tells the story honestly, acknowledges help, gives credit, says good night, resists temptation, wipes the counter, waits at the yellow, makes the bed, tips the maid, remembers the illness, congratulates the victor, accepts the consequences, takes a stand, steps up, offers a hand, goes first, goes last, chooses the small portion, teaches the child, tends to the dying, comforts the grieving, removes the splinter, wipes the tear, directs the lost, touches the lonely, is the whole thing. What is most beautiful is least acknowledged. What is worth dying for is barely noticed.”

— Laura McBride, We Are Called to Rise

“I’ve never told you this,” she said. “But there’s something about taking the cart back instead of leaving it in the parking lot. I don’t know when this came to me; it was a few years ago. There’s a difference between leaving it where you empty it and taking it back to the front of the store. It’s significant.” “Because somebody has to take them in.” “Yes. And if you know that, and you do it for that one guy, you do something else. You join the world…You move out of your isolation and become universal.”

— Andre Dubus, “Out of the Snow”

“It’s true that, in Vietnamese, we rarely say I love you, and when we do, it is almost always in English. Care and love, for us, are pronounced clearest through service: plucking white hairs, pressing yourself on your son to absorb a plane’s turbulence and, therefore, his fear. Or now—as Lan called to me, “Little Dog, get over here and help me help your mother.” And we knelt on each side of you, rolling out the hardened cords in your upper arms, then down to your wrists, your fingers. For a moment almost too brief to matter, this made sense—that three people on the floor, connected to each other by touch, made something like the word family.”

— Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel

— Ada Limón, from “The Great Blue Heron of Dunbar Road”

“I’m doing a balancing act with a stack of fresh fruit in my basket. I love you. I want us both to eat well.”

— Christopher Citro, from “Our Beautiful Life When It’s Filled WIth Shrieks”

“One of the primary ways we connect with each other is by eating together. Some of the connection happens simply by being in the same place at the same time and sharing the same food, but we also connect through specific actions, such as serving food to one another or making toasts: ‘May I offer you some potatoes?’ ‘Here’s to your health and happiness.’ Much of our fundamental well-being comes from the basic reassurance that there is a place for us at the table. We belong here. Here we are served and we serve others. Here we give and receive sustenance.”

— Edward Espe Brown, Tomato Blessings and Radish Teaching

“Attention is the beginning of devotion.”

“Now in the spring I kneel, I put my face into the packets of violets, the dampness, the freshness, the sense of ever-ness. Something is wrong, I know it, if I don’t keep my attention on eternity. May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful. May I stay forever in the stream. May I look down upon the windflower and the bull thistle and the coreopsis with the greatest respect.”

“it is a serious thing

just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world.”

— Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays / from “Invitation”

— Wendy Cope, “The Orange”

“After learning my flight was detained 4 hours, I heard the announcement: if anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately. Well—one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there. An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly. Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be four hours late and she did this. I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly. Shu dow-a, shu-biduck habibti, stani stani schway, min fadlick, sho bit se-wee? The minute she heard any words she knew—however poorly used—she stopped crying. She thought our flight had been canceled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical treatment the following day. I said no, no, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just late. Who is picking you up? Let’s call him and tell him. We called her son and I spoke with him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother until we got on the plane and would ride next to her—Southwest. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out, of course, they had ten shared friends. Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took up about 2 hours. She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life. Answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies—little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts—out of her bag—and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the traveler from California, the lovely woman from Laredo—we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There are no better cookies. And then the airline broke out the free beverages from huge coolers—non-alcoholic—and the two little girls from our flight, one African American, one Mexican American—ran around serving us all apple juice and lemonade, and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend—by now we were holding hands—had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing with green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere. And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, this is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in this gate—once the crying of confusion stopped—has seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too. This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.”

— Naomi Shihab Nye, “Gate A4″

“Then there are the things, if you are particularly lucky, that this person has done for you while you’re away: how in the pantry, in the freezer, in the refrigerator will be all the food you like to eat, the scotch you like to drink. There will be the sweater you thought you lost the previous year at the theater, clean and folded and back on its shelf. There will be the shirt with its dangling buttons, but the buttons will be sewn back in place. There will be your mail stacked on one side of his desk; there will be a contract for an advertising campaign you’re going to do in Germany for an Austrian beer, with his notes in the margin to discuss with your lawyer. And there will be no mention of it, and you will know that it was done with genuine pleasure, and you will know that part of the reason—a small part, but a part—you love being in this apartment and in this relationship is because this other person is always making a home for you, and that when you tell him this, he won’t be offended but pleased, and you’ll be glad, because you meant it with gratitude.”

— Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

[canon-notcanon-warriorcats]

Decatssi: A Warrior Cats Re-write Arc I

-dustpaw is mentored by tigerclaw and ravenpaw is mentored by redtail, both apprentices witness redtail being killed by tigerclaw, though ravenpaw wasn’t supposed to

-redtail and runningwind are sandpaw’s dads and she has a breakdown over her dad’s death

-sandpaw is still mentored by whitestorm, graypaw is mentored by mousefur, and ravenpaw is given to lionheart to finish his training, firepaw is juggled between all of them for a couple days but runningwind and bluestar end up dual mentoring him

-bluestar makes lionheart deputy as usual, ravenpaw is still scared of tigerclaw, but since he doesn’t have to be constantly around him and has the protection of lionheart and his friends, he doesn’t leave thunderclan and fake his death

-sandpaw gets close to firepaw before she’s a warrior because she realizes that dustpaw is a big jerk wad and firepaw isn’t even that bad and her dad is his mentor and he likes him and she knows that redtail would’ve liked him as well, so dustpaw, tigerclaw, darkstripe, and longtail are probably the wrong ones

-brokenstar was already the leader when firepaw joins and has been for like a year and now he’s ran out windclan and yellowfang

-firepaw finds yellowfang and instead of everyone being like “we should kill her” they actually have brain cells and are like “something’s not right, also yellowfang you can chill here, but firepaw you still have to take care of her because you brought her here” tigerclaw, darkstripe, and dustpaw are the only ones pissed at yellowfang existing in thunderclan

-brokenstar attacks thunderclan while most of the warriors are out on patrol (hmmm tigerclaw, lionheart, firepaw, ravenpaw, and runngingwind are the only cats trained and healthy enough to properly fight while this attack is going on, interesting) because they want more babies to make into murder machines, spottedleaf, who doesn’t have any weird feelings for firepaw and instead is sandpaw’s cool and wise aunt who she loves, is killed, rosetail is killed, thrushpelt is killed (he was an elder, he didn’t die yet before firepaw came to the forest) and lionheart are killed

-bluestar losing her girlfriend, boyfriend, medicine cat, AND deputy gets hit very hard and refuses to name a new deputy because she’s lost two in like a month and a half “if starclan keeps taking my deputies, then they can be the one to choose them!”

-she goes to the moonstone with all the apprentices, whitestorm, mousefur, and runningwind and gets killed by a rat but she’s better now and still has two lives so she’s fine

-ashkit and fernkit are now born to brindleface and their dad is darkstripe, but he wants nothing to do with them and is an asshole to brindleface for no reason, also it should be mentioned that darkstripe’s dad is thistleclaw who was killed by redtail and whitestorm when he was an apprentice and his mom is willowpelt, and now willowpelt and whitestorm are mates so now he has a grudge against both of them and is angry because his family is weird now (no one besides whitestorm and willowpelt know it was him and redtail who killed thistleclaw)

-snowkit is born to speckletail and unknown tom, she won’t say and no one cares, also oh no snowkit is deaf but speckletail’s sister, one-eye, who is going deaf, helps them learn a kind of sign language, and a bunch of thunderclan, including the kits, wanna learn too

-firepaw decides that windclan being chased out for almost 3 moons is too long so him, ravenpaw, graypaw, and sandpaw go save them, not dustpaw though because dustpaw said it was stupid and windclan should stay gone

-they succeed! and bluestar is so impressed she makes them into warriors: fireheart, graystripe, ravenpelt, and sandstorm, dustpaw gets pissed off that he isn’t made a warrior too, he’s older than graystripe and fireheart and his brother got made a warrior, but bluestar tells him to shut up, cats become warriors when they act like warriors, not when they become a certain age

-brokenstar attacks thunderclan again, but this time bluestar captures him and kills him once and also blinds him, everyone takes a moment to remember exactly why she was made leader

-everyone’s nervous that bluestar still hasn’t chosen a deputy yet, they all know it’s between whitestorm or tigerclaw, but bluestar’s still scared they’ll just die as soon as she makes one of them deputy, redtail had only been deputy fro a few moons (one-eye was her deputy before she retired) and lionheart had been deputy for like what, a month and a half before he was killed? also bramblekit and tawnykit are born to goldenflower and tigerclaw

-tigerclaw is weirdly close to brokenstar “theywere friends when they were apprentices and warriors together” everyone says, but is that really what’s happening

-shadowclan is glad to be rid of brokenstar and his followers and they choose nightpelt as their new leader, who actually does get eight lives and becomes nightstar, but they’re pissed that thunderclan is keeping brokenstar because if they had just killed him one last time by now nightstar could’ve had 9 lives

-bluestar makes brightpaw, cinderpaw, brackenpaw, and thornpaw apprentices and give them to sandstorm, fireheart, graystripe, and ravenpelt respectively, it’s been like a moon and dustpaw is still an apprentice because he’s a little turd head

-except graystripe has been going off on his own a lot lately and is like barely mentor, turns out he’s dating silverstream who saved his life while coming back from saving windclan, sandstorm gets angry because she’s had a crush on her for moons but i guess she didn’t like her back

-brokenstar’s rogues attack to free him, but they’re actually being led by tigerclaw now and in the flurry of battle, tigerclaw kills bluestar onces, but she beats him out of her den with the help of whitestorm and fireheart before he can take another one

-yellowfang feeds brokenstar deathberries as she tells him she’s his mom in the midst of battle so the rogues attacking only comes to his death

-what a surprise, tigerclaw had been conspiring with brokenstar and took over his rogues, bluestar banishes him and he’s chased out, but dustpaw follows him because he’s more loyal to tigerclaw than thunderclan and he’s pissed that bluestar didn’t make him a warrior, darkstripe stays to everyone’s surprised because he was tigerclaw’s first apprentice and they were super close, longtail is shocked and angry at tigerclaw and revokes any and all respect and loyalty he had towards him

-bluestar finally names whitestorm as her deputy and orders to keep a watch out for tigerclaw and dustpaw

approximate amount of time that passes during all of this: 5 moons

-graystripe is whitestorm and willowpelt’s son (kiiind of) and so darkstripe also has a super grudge against him, also graystripe gloats that his dad is the thunderclan deputy a LOT now, he also sometimes calls bluestar grandma

-it’s the beginning of leaf-bare now

-while out on a patrol-date, fireheart and sandstorm find old tigerclaw scent by twolegplace so they try to track where he’s been, but when they find a brown trabby it’s actually fireheart’s long lost sister princess!

-fireheart has vague memories of her, but she recognizes him immediately and is so excited and tries to get him to follow her to visit their mom, nutmeg, fireheart declines saying that thunderclan is his home now, sandstorm leaves them to catch up and hunt, tigerclaw’s sent was too old anyway

-they talk for quite a bit and princess tells fireheart that she’s afraid her twolegs will take away her 5 kits who are a moon old now and after fireheart has told her about the clans she wants one of them to come live with him

-fireheart is hesitant, but princess doesn’t really take no for an answer and brings out a white fluff ball she named cloud and really how can you say no to that

-fireheart brings fluffy back to camp and everyone’s kind pissed, but bluestar’s just like “you really like bringing cats outside of the clan to us don’t you” but she has a soft spot for white cats because her sister was white, her first apprentice, frostfur, was white, and her nephew-son-deputy is white, she also has a soft spot for fireheart so how can she say no, “okay, but you have to be his dad now”, brindleface offers to take him because her kits, ashkit and fernkit, are the closest in age to cloudkit, darkstripe gets extremely pissed off that his “mate” is nursing a kittypet and his son and daughter are now being raised with a kittypet, but brindleface puts him in his place and basically officially breaks up with him, if they were ever considered a couple in the first place

-a few days later a patrol of whitestorm, runningwind, fireheart, and cinderpaw are patroling the shadowclan border, suddenly there’s some rustling and it’s not until then that runningwind catches tigerclaw’s scent (he’s one of the best trackers in the clan, no one else could scent it yet over the stench of the thunderpath) tigerclaw jumps at whitestorm, but runningwind zooms between them, saving whitestorm and getting killed by tigerclaw instead, who runs across the thunderpath into shadowclan territory, his two rogues following behind him (they were fighting fireheart, whitestorm, and cinderpaw)

-cinderpaw goes after them even with her mentor and deputy yelling at her to not and she gets hit by a car, her left back leg being almost cleanly torn off from below the knee, whitestorm carries runningwind and fireheart carries his apprentice back to camp

-sandstorm has another breakdown because now both of her parents are dead and tigerclaw is the one that killed them both, runningwind’s parents halftail and one-eye, his sister, mousefur, his former mentor, bluestar, and his former apprentice, fireheart, all grieve immensely for him as well and sit vigil

-frostfur, thornpaw, brightpaw, and brackenpaw are all also terrified for cinderpaw, fireheart is caught between grief for both runningwind and his apprentice, but yellowfang removes cinderpaw’s barely hanging on leg and she miraculously survives, yellowfang thinks this is the first time in clan history a cat has lost a leg and survived

-a week later cinderpaw is back on her paws, or trying to be, she asks yellowfang if she’ll have to be a medicine cat, but yellowfang tells her that she’s too much of a fighter to be a medicine cat, she has to become a warrior, fireheart vows to train cinderpaw to be the best warrior she can be and so she can become a warrior alongside her littermates, all while also basically training brackenpaw because graystripe keeps sneaking away, and helping to raise cloudkit, this is when sandstorm falls in love with him, they had been friends kind of crushing before, but now it was evident that they were falling madly in love with each other

-a terrible sickness starts in shadowclan, it’s so bad nightstar has already lost two lives to it

-fireheart visits windclan with cinderpaw to get tips from the deputy, deadfoot, on hos to become a warrior with only three fully functioning legs

-at some point both yellowfang and tallstar call fireheart their son

-a rare thunderstorm happens during leaf-bare about a moon after cinderpaw’s accident and a fire starts close to thunderclan’s camp, they flee over the river and stay the night in the riverclan camp until the fire has stopped after being put out by the falling snow

-yellowfang and fireheart save bramblekit, but speckletail sadly dies from smoke inhalation while saving her son, snowkit, smallear reveals that he was snowkit’s father, goldenflower asks if he was also her’s and lionheart’s father, but he says no, their father had been sunstar, thunderclan’s leader before bluestar “why didn’t speckletail tell anyone” “because she was honorary and didn’t like other cats knowing her business, neither sunstar or me had ever actually been her loves anyway”

-bluestar talks to mistyfoot and stonefure a /lot/ and seems to take an interest in mistyfoots new kits, primrosekit, pikekit, perchkit, and reedkit

-graystripe does a terrible job at hiding him and silverstream being mates a secret and hangs out with her and mosspelt, who’s pregnant, a lot, silverstream reveals to everyone that she is ALSO PREGNANT but she refuses to tell who the father is

-thunderclan returns to their territory the next morning, the camp needs rebuilding, but luckily the fire didn’t damage an especially large amount of territory, darkstripe is fidgety

-also this is around the time littlecloud decides to become a medicine cat, him and cinderpaw become good friends at the first gathering she’s back and he gets inspired to take a path of healing, a path that brokenstar had refused him, he also has his boyfriend, whitethroat with him

-a couple nights later, goldenflower screams that her kits are missing and soon darkstripe comes back with them, saying they had tried escaping the camp and he had found them on his way back from getting some fresh air, he’s also weirdly taken interest in his own kits, like he wants to become an actual father to them

-willowpelt is pregnant with whitestorm’s second litter of kits!

-there’s dog scent by snakerocks, and also dead rabbits, what could be happening, better go to windclan and interrogate them

-tallstar denies any windclan activity in thunderclan territory, but they still haven’t SEEN any dogs at snakerocks and it might be too dangerous to check it out, even though it’s leaf-bare, adders could still come out of their dens

-brackenpaw is anxious that graystripe has hardly been around for his training and thinks that maybe graystripe doesn’t think he’s good enough to be a warrior, so he asks his littermates to help him fight off the dogs at snakerocks, if he does that graystripe will HAVE to recognize him as good enough, but only brightpaw agrees to come with him, and only because it’s a stupid idea and he shouldn’t go alone

-the next night they go to get rid of the dogs and brackenpaw and brutally murdered and brightpaw is found staying alive by a thread, without an eye and a torn ear

-frostfur is devistated, just after her one daughter was healing, her other daughter was barely alive and one of her sons was dead

-thornpaw tells fireheart, sandstorm, and ravenpelt why they went to drive out the dogs and they get justifiably angry at graystripe, who walks back into camp only after brackenpaw’s body was laying in the middle of the clearing

-sandstorm is so angry at him she swipes at his muzzle, cause droplets of blood to appear and graystripe, in fear, anger, and grief runs out of the camp again, fireheart and ravenpelt run after him, knowing exactly where he’s going, and when they reach sunningrocks they find silverstream giving birth far too early to her’s and graystripe’s kits

-yellowfang is too far away and will still be busy trying to save brightpaw, so, defying silverstream’s and graystripe’s wants, retrieves riverclan’s medicine cat, mudfur, but it’s sadly not enough as silverstream dies shortly after both of the kits are born and she barely utters names for them, featherkit and stormkit

-crookedstar, being by his daughter’s side as she died just as her own mother had died giving birth to her and her siblings, is extremely angered and upset at graystripe, but when graystripe asks to live in riverclan with his kits, crookedstar hesitantly allows him, ravenpelt and fireheart object, but graystripe tells them he’d do better with his kits in their mother’s clan than he’s been doing in thunderclan as a warrior, leaving with crookedstar and mudstar, mosspelt, who had just given birth to two kits, dawnkit and shinekit, two days earlier, turned out to have also been silverstreams mate, and those two kits had been surrogated by a tom for her and silverstream to raise together, graystripe knew this was happening and gladly agreed to mosspelt nursing his kits

approximate time that has passed between part 1 and now: 4 months

-with the news that graystripe has moved to riverclan to be with his kits bluestar and whitestorm just kind of quietly accept that their family can’t have a normal relationship ever

-frostfur is pissed because it seems like graystripe is running away from his actions causing his apprentice’s death, but she doesn’t want to be and tries to hold it in, hoping that the bigger reason why he left was because he wanted to be with his kits and if so she can respect that and makes her very slightly less angry

-with everything going on, bramblekit and tawnykit “sneak out” again and darkstripe “finds them” outside of camp /again/

-it takes brightpaw over a day to regain consciousness, but the bleeding has finally calmed down and she’s going to be okay

-bluestar wants to make thornpaw, cinderpaw, and brightpaw warriors now because thornpaw’s ready, cinderpaw has gracefully caught up and is doing really well adapting, and brightpaw will need help adapting to hunt and fight with only one eye but before this she was basically ready to become a warrior, but thornpaw and cinderpaw want to wait for their sister to be healed

-bluestar agrees, though she didn’t want almost as many apprentices as there are warriors, but it’s close to when ashkit, fernkit, snowkit, and cloudkit should be apprenticed

-bluestar wanted to give snowpaw to willowpelt but she’s gonna have kits any day now, so she gives him to frostfur instead, gives ashpaw to whitestorm, decides to finally trust longtail and gives him his first apprentice in fernpaw, and even though he’s technically still mentoring cinderpaw, bluestar gives cloudpaw to fireheart because who else could mentor this fluffy idiot

-darkstripe is overly mad that his son is being mentored by whitestorm

-willowpelt gives birth to sorrelkit, rainkit, and sootkit hooray

-a few days after silverstream gives birth, crookedstar loses his last life to greencough and leopardfur takes his place as leader and is now leopardstar and she names stonefur as her deputy, graystripe is afraid she’ll kick him out, but luckily she tells him that as long as he’s loyal, he may stay

-meanwhile, dead rabbits keep appearing closer and closer to the thunderclan camp, seriously, in THIS leaf-bare

-patchpelt just keels over and dies because of “stomach pain”

-in the midst of mourning and darkstripe going “at least we’ll get more food” because fuck you darkstripe, brindleface is found murdered close to camp, her scent is covered in rabbit scent and wet moss, everyone correctly guesses that tigerclaw must have killed her and is probably the one killing the rabbits and slowly training and leading the dogs to the camp, but he’s been hiding his scent so no one can tell it’s him, darkstripe says that that’s reach it couldn’t possibly be tigerclaw, but no one believes him and why isn’t he angry that the mother of his children has been brutally murdered and almost made into dog food

-”hey at least it wasn’t willowpelt” he says ominously

-everyone agrees that the dogs need to get out of their territory because they’ll know where their camp is now, so they make a plan to trick them into jumping off of the cliff over the riverclan waterfall

-ashpaw, fernpaw, and cloudpaw want to be in on it but since they’ve only been apprentices for like half a moon bluestar obviously says no, whitestorm also tells bluestar to not be a part of it because he doesn’t want her to die for the final time

-before they go bluestar names frostfur’s children warriors, naming cinderpaw cinderpelt, thornpaw thornclaw, and brightpaw, who’s been starting to leave the medicine cat den, brightheart, she also gives a naming ceremony for the dead brackenpaw, saying that she would have named him brackenfur after his mother

-a patrol of thornclaw, fireheart, sandstorm, whitestorm, and longtail take turns having the pack of dogs chase them through thunderclan territory until they reach the waterfall, but instead of slipping in they manage to stop

-bluestar had been hiding there the whole time and attacks the leader dog, both her and the dogs falling into the waterfall

-thornclaw and longtail run back to tell everyone else what happened while sandstorm, fireheart, and whitestorm run to help bluestar

-the dogs are dead, but they soon find stonefur and mistyfoot pulling bluestar onto sunningrocks

-mistyfoot presses onto bluestar’s chest and she coughs up water, looking up she’s extremely happy at how brave and talented her children are and she’s so glad they’re such great and respected warriors

-”wait you’re our real mom???” “wait they’re bluestar’s kits that disappeared???” whitestorm nods

-bluestar tells them that she wished she could’ve raised them, but she’s so glad they have a happy life in riverclan and she’s so thankful to graypool and oakheart for raising them and loving them, and she is glad that all her living kits, including whitestorm and fireheart, are all finally together with her, she whispers that she wished that they could’ve raised them all, together, before passing away for the final time,

-whitestorm elaborates through grief that bluestar had given up her kits so she could become leader instead of his father, thistleclaw, who was an evil and bloodthirsty cat who would’ve had thunderclan dive into an era of nothing but war and death, and that mosskit died on the journey to riverclan, bluestar had never fully forgiven herself, and that she wished that her, graypool, oakheart, and thrushpelt could have all raised them happily together

-mistyfoot and stonefur nod and are understanding, mistyfoot saying she had sometimes thought they were born in thunderclan because she had vague memories of the thunderclan camp even though she had thought she had never been there, and her and stonefur both felt like they had met mousefur and runningwind before they were apprentices, as it turns out they had once been den mates in the nursery

-they decline sitting vigil for bluestar though, as mistyfoot has to get back to her kits and see how her son, perchkit, is doing as he is very sick, along with many riverclan cats, crookedstar dying of greencough was only the beginning. and stonefur must get back to his duties as deputy

-everyone mourns greatly for bluestar and whitestorm realizes this means he is now leader of thunderclan, but he takes a full day to mourn for his adopted mom and aunt before leaving for the moonstone with yellowfang

-after him and yellowfang leave, sorrelkit secretly follows darkstripe as he sneaks bramblekit and tawnykit out of camp, she wants to go too “hey where are you going?” she squeaks, darkstripe tells her to come with him and roughly grabs her by the scruff, but bramblekit and tawnykit, being almost 6 moons old now yell at him to stop and goldenflower and willowpelt run to find their kits, darkstripe drops sorrelkit, dazing her and willowpelt scoops her up to get her away, goldenflower demands to know what was happening, fireheart, longtail, and sandstorm come to see what’s happening and everyone goes back into camp, darkstripe tells everyone that bramblekit and tawnykit were trying to go see their father because they want to see him again and they want to look up to him and be like him and they were trying to take sorrelkit with them, tawnykit calls his bullshit as well as goldenflower, saying that they’d never be anything like their father no matter what anyone says

-tawnykit and bramblekit tell everyone that darkstripe has taken them to see tigerclaw multiple times, always meeting in shadowclan territory, but they were told not to tell anyone, and darkstripe had been telling tigerclaw everything that was happening in thunderclan, sorrelkit mews that she had just wanted to see what they were doing and followed them

-everyone agrees to put a guard on darkstripe until whitestorm and yellowfang got back, mousefur and longtail offer to be the first guards and darkstripe is made to stay in the old elders den that got charred in the fire

-whitestorm, now whitestar, and yellowfang get back the next day, with bad news, they came across a patrol lead by deadfoot while in windclan and he said that shadowclan had been acting very weird for a long time, and many cats have apparently gotten sick and they believe nightstar might have recently died, and they don’t know who his new deputy was because the former deputy had died of the illness, and now they keep finding shadowclan scent on their territory, whitestar tells everyone they need to be on extra guard since shadowclan had been so secretive and barely attending gatherings since nightstar had been so sick

-goldenflower is the one to inform whitestar about what darkstripe did- and has been doing, whitestar is infuriated at his half brother and his first act as thunderclan’s leader is to banish him, he tells him that if he is still so loyal to tigerclaw that he can go join him, darkstripe is chased out, sandstorm and longtail chasing him off into twoleglace, surprisingly, but before he goes darkstripe admits that it was him and tigerclaw who set the camp on fire and that all of thunderclan will die as soon as tigerclaw gets his way

-after darkstripe is chased off, whitestar decides that before he names his deputy he must make bramblekit and tawnykit apprentices, he gives tawnykit to cinderpelt and is about to give bramblekit to thornclaw when bramblekit speaks up, he doesn’t want to become a warrior, he wants to become yellowfang’s apprentice and become a medicine cat, he’d wanted it ever since she and fireheart saved him from the fire, and he wanted there to be no way that he could follow in his father’s pawsteps and instead make up for what he’s done by healing

-yellowfang gruffly agrees that perhaps he will make a good medicine cat and comments that she needs an apprentice because she’s not getting any younger

-whitestar then names goldenflower as his deputy, everyone is shocked, including goldenflower, because they expected fireheart or sandstorm to be chosen, but goldenflower humbly accepts her new role, tawnypaw and bramblepaw are ecstatic that their mother is now deputy of their clan

-two nights later is the gathering, shadowclan and riverclan were the first to be there, because they came together, cats from both clans intertwined under the four great oaks, with tigerclaw, now tigerstar, sitting on top of the great rock, leopardstar and blackfoot sitting underneath where deputies usually sit, and darkstripe and dustpaw not too far away, along with brokenstar’s/tigerstar’s group of rogues, which had even more members now than ever before

-Thunderclan is immediately angry and windclan is very very confused, Whitestar refuses to jump onto the Great Rock because he will not share it with Tigerstar and what the heck did he do with RiverClan? Tallstar, seeing the tension and realizing something’s gone down jumps off as well, trying to get answers from Whitestar, who announces that Tigerstar killed Redtail, tried to kill Bluestar, killed two other ThunderClan warriors directly, set ThunderClan on fire, and tried to lead dogs to ThunderClan’s camp

-ShadowClan goes “nooo he was with US, he brought our warriors back and helped us get rid of the illness, he’s been making us strong again” they won’t believe tigerstar could do all that

-tigerstar continues to go on that he is now also strengthening riverclan by ridding them of their illness and joining them with shadowclan to make TIGERCLAN, the riverclan cats seem to shrink and be embarrassed, especially leopardstar, it is then that whitestar notices that riverclan’s deputy, stonefur, was not at the gathering,  nor was mistyfoot or graystripe or any of their kits, who would be new apprentices by now and should be attending their first gathering

-tigerstar continues that leopardstar’s and mistyfoot’s son, perchkit, died of the illness but since then the sickness had cleared after he isolated the half-clan cats in riverclan, including mistyfoot and her kits, stonefur, and the unloyal graystripe and his half-clan kits, the sickness had also killed graypool, who had tried to defend mistyfoot and stonefur from being imprisoned because she had raised them as her own when they were brought to riverclan (tigerstar actually killed her/had her killed and said it was the sickness that took her)

-tigerstar explains that it was the half-clan cats that had died from this illness because they were inherently weaker then pure blooded clan cats because their loyalty, and therefore their strength, was split no matter what they said or did, tigerstar says that the only way to get rid of this weakness in the clans is to become one clan, under him, to become as strong as they can be, riverclan already did it, and now he was proposing for windclan and thunderclan to join, even with their “difficult” past

-thunderclan and windclan obviously object and refuse, which tigerstar angrily retorts that then whoever doesn’t join tigerclan in the next three days will be killed by his clan and that windclan and thunderclan would be destroyed either way

-the gathering ends with windclan and thunderclan leaving first, when thunderclan gets back to camp they’re greeted by a half starved graystripe, who says that with less of tigerstar’s followers in camp he managed to escape, he trembles in fear, agony, and embarrasment as he begs for forgiveness and for help to save his kits and mosspelt, as well as mistyfoot and her kits and stonefur

-fireheart and ravenpelt immediately agree, as well as willowpelt who covers graystripe in licks and gives him a mouse to eat; sandstorm, taken aback by her cousin’s state, agrees that it would be wrong to not try to rescue his kits

-whitestar pretends to think on it for a moment, but then fully agrees that thunderclan will help in any way they can, and will take in graystripe’s kits, mosspelt, mistyfoot and her kits, and stonefur as refugees,  it would be wrong to not try to help any cat, especially since most of these cats were thunderclan’s kin (he pretended to think, but we all know he would have killed tigerclan himself to save his grandkits and his cousin-siblings and niece and nephew-cousins)

-a rescue party of graystripe, ravenpelt, fireheart, and sandstorm is sent to rescue the cats: graystripe to guide where they’re being held, ravenpelt because he’s small and sleek so he can hide easily and be sneaky, and fireheart and sandstorm because they’re fast and can hopefully fend anyone off just enough to escape. They roll in river mud to hide their scents and pelts, especially fireheart’s

-they hide in the bushes bordering the riverclan camp by the nursery where the cats are being held hostage and they’re met with the horrifying sight of blackclaw and dustclaw shoving graystripe’s kits, stormpaw and featherpaw, into the middle of the half-wrecked camp and mosspelt yowling in distress as two black and white toms (snake and ice) block her way of escaping through the nursery entance, stonefur is being held guard by darkstripe and blackfoot on the other side of camp as tigerstar growls that the new apprentices’ father cowarded away like the thunderclan cat he is to leave his kits to die without him and that they must pay for their father’s disloyalty and cowardice, while stonefur must prove his own loyalty to tigerclan by being the one to kill them, especially his own apprentice, stormfur, yowls of objection can be heard through the nursery by mistyfoot and her kits even though they can’t be seen

-leopardstar, looking miserable and defeated, looks up to tigerstar and asks him why stonefur must be so cruel, he’s already proven clan loyalty, he was her deputy, he was a brave, strong, and loyal cat even if he was half-clan, he shouldn’t have to murder to prove his strength, and the apprentices hadn’t had a chance to prove themselves yet, but they were crookedstar’s grandkits of course they would be strong and loyal to riverclan-

-tigerstar interrupts her there, hissing that their riverclan loyalty didn’t matter, that riverclan no longer existed, only tigerclan, and she had allowed graystripe  to stay even though she knew he was a disloyal thunderclan cat, and therefore she had no say and no power in this decision, which made her bristle and a glint of her old stubbornness returned to her gaze, but she said no more ase she glanced around at the glares of tigerstar’s cats and even a pawful of her own cats, who supposedly her own cats, like blackclaw who she had once seen as her brother since they were nursed and raised together

-ravenpelt presses graystripe to the ground as he almost let’s out a full growl in the bushes of the camp and sandstorm and fireheart start thinking of a plan, perhaps making a distraction and getting as many cats out as possible, graystripe and fireheart start vigorously digging a hole behind the nursery that maybe mistyfoot, her kits, mosspelt, and her own birth kit, dawnpaw who wouldn’t leave her foster littermates or her mother, could squeeze out of while ravenpelt slinked away to make some sort of distraction, sandstorm whispers into the nursery that they’re there to save them, mistyfoot says that she will not leave her brother, and mosspelt says that she will not leave stormpaw and feather, sandstorm says that once ravenpelt makes the distraction that she needs to call to stormpaw, featherpaw, and stonefur to run to the nursery as fast as possible

-blackfoot shoves stonefur forward to be in front of the young apprentices who look half starved like graystripe and trembling, stonefur bends down and quickly whispers something into stormpaw’s and featherpaw’s ears and touches his nose to stormpaw’s head and gives him a knowing nod before turning to tigerstar who’s hissing to “prove your loyalty already, no more soft heartedness” stonefur raises his head up high and proudly states that he would never kill an apprentice, especially not innocent ones who are also his clanmates and kin

-tigerstar growls “of course” and flicks his tail to darkstripe and blackfoot who immediately run toward the apprentices only to be blocked by stormfur’s body, still strong with being half starved, there’s no more time, the hole has to be big enough and ravenpelt’s yowl can be heard from the opposite side of the camp where he lays hidden several fox lengths away, mosspelt yells out to stormpaw and featherpaw to run back, and with cats running to go see what the howl was, the fight bloody fight between stonefur, darkstripe, and blackfoot, and mosspelt’s howl, ice and snake are confused enough to be pushed through by the apprentices, who even though are young and starved still have the bulk of their father to push through and daze their guards, dawnpaw slithers through the hole first, then featherpaw, stormpaw, and mosspelt after them. Mistyfoot shoves her kits toward the hole and is about to run through the entrance to help her brother until snake and ice crash through the entrance instead with growls and hisses “THE HALF CLAN CATS ARE GETTING AWAY” ice yells, but two of mistyfoot’s kits have already gotten out of the nursery and reedpaw is almost through, snake smacks mistyfoot down with giant paws, but as reedpaw escape sandstorm slips through and pounces on the black and white tom, knocking him over into his brother and she pushes mistyfoot towards the hole, yelling at her to leave now, but she leaves through the nursery entrance instead, where she’s met with blackfoot’s jaws snapped shut around stonefur’s neck, his blood covered body gone limp and his eyes glazed over with death as blackfoot drops his body like a piece of rotten prey

-tigerstar order his cats to catch the escapees, but there are only a few left that didn’t go after ravenpelt’s yowl and weren’t on patrol, leopardstar yells, begs, mistyfoot to run, which snaps her out of her daze and she turns around and dashes away, pushing through the walls of the camp, sandstorm slashes and kicks at the cats that try to get in her way and mistyfoot leaps into the river, where the rest of the escapees are farther ahead, because most of the cats following tigerstar can’t swim like riverclan cats, the only way they can follow them is one by one across the stepping stones, where whitestar planted a patrol of longtail, mousefur, thornclaw, and himself as back up, and trapping the tigerclan cats so they can only head back to riverclan or get clawed at with no where to escape

-blackclaw; however, was still raised riverclan and also now follows tigerstar, along with beetlenose, voleclaw, and sunfish and they swim after the escapees, sandstorm, graystripe, and fireheart reach sunningrocks and continue to run to meet them, dawnpaw, featherpaw, and stormpaw are the first to make it to shore where graystripe immediately warms them with licks, mosspelt and mistyfoot’s kits make it soon after, but blackclaw is almost caught up to mistyfoot and as she gets onto shore he hooks her back leg with a claw, but fireheart and sandstorm bat him away, and whitestar’s patrol joins them, fighting the former riverclan cats who flee, being outnumbered

-the 8 riverclan refugees are quickly taken to thunderclan camp and made nests, fed, and made warm, featherpaw, stormpaw, and dawnpaw sleep in the apprentices den, and with graystripe insisting that he stays with his kits it’s quite cramped but warm, reedpaw, primrosepaw, and pikepaw stay with their mother and mosspelt in the nursery

-that night the cats of both riverclan and thunderclan sit vigil for stonefur, graystripe, mistyfoot, mosspelt, whitestar, mousefur, and one-eye stay up all night to mourn him, graystripe and mosspelt thanking him for protecting and saving stormpaw and featherpaw, stormpaw stays up as long as he can to sit vigil with them, but is pressed by his sisters to come to sleep

-whitestar spends the whole night thinking about his lost cousin, hoping that him, mosskit, oakheart, and bluestar can finally be a family in starclan, and asks them to watch over and protect their kin and clans closely in the coming days

-Whitestar wakes up the next morning only being able to think about what the future of the clans was, what the future of his kits were, and also there was barely enough warriors in thunderclan to mentor all of these new apprentices, not to mention his own kits would be apprentices in just over a moon

-Goldenflower knocks sense into him saying that it’s more important to stop tigerstar and hopefully the riverclan cats would be able to go home soon enough, whitestar agrees and yellowfang mentions the prophecy that she and whitestar got at his leader ceremony “Fire alone will save the clan, but there needs to be proud wind and honorable thunder to summon the storms that will clear the shadows.”  and that means that thunderclan and windclan need to stand together to be able to defeat tigerstar and his “clan”

-whitestar agrees, but the only way to get to windclan would be through fourtrees and tigerstar definitely has patrols patrolling at all times, so it would be hard to get through without being noticed, and perhaps that was part of tigerstar’s plan, either way he decides that he’ll go to windclan and talk to tallstar and decide what to do, thornclaw asks what will happen if tallstar decided to join tigerstar but whitestar retorts that tallstar would never, mistyfoot approaches and says that she will go with him, and yellowfang says she will go as well, perhaps if they come with cats who were raised in all of the other clans then it will be easier to persuade windclan to fight together, whitestar chooses longtail and thornclaw to come with them as back up in case they ran into a tigerclan patrol

-once the patrol makes it to fourtrees, tense and nervous even in their own territory, dustclaw suddenly appears on top of the Great Rock from behind it, snidely welcoming them and ask them what they’re planning on doing there, blackclaw, sunfish, clawface, and jaggedtooth come out from behind the great rock

-yellowfang snarls at the two former shadowclan cats, telling them that she watched them grow up and she thought they’d be good shadowclan warriors and here they are now, jaggedtooth spits at her, saying that they were better warriors then she ever was and ever could be, and twice as loyal than she was to anything

-mistyfoot hisses at blackclaw and sunfish, blackclaw replies that even her hiss is weaker since she’s a half-clan cat and he threatens to claw her until she begs for mercy, mistyfoot retorts that he’d be dead before he could even touch her

-longtail tries to appeal to dustclaw, asking him what their parents, robinwing and fuzzypelt would think of him, and what would their four dead siblings would think of him, and if he came back now maybe he could be an honorable thunderclan warrior again

-dustclaw snarls at him saying that longtail’s become kittypet soft just like the rest of thunderclan and would never recognize his greatness or tigerstar’s and that’s why thunderclan must be destroyed, whitestar growls and tells dustclaw that he wouldn’t let him back into thunderclan anyway, and that thunderclan’s business was none of his own, clawface snears that they both have 5 cats, but one of the thunderclan patrol was an old medicine cat and another was a weakened and frail queen, yellowfang and mistyfoot hiss and sunfish and jaggedtooth visibly flinch

-just as the patrols were about to clash, a hiss is heard from windclan’s side of fourtrees and tallstar and a patrol of onewhisker, whitetail, and tornear appear and they run down to fourtrees and meet the thunderclan patrol, the tigerclan patrol have a moment of worry until dustclaw shakes it off and asks tallstar “oh, are you looking for a couple of your warriors tallstar? icetail, eaglefoot, and hedgepaw?” “no, i’m pretty positive of where they are, dustpaw, i know they joined tigerstar’s group of rogues!” dustclaw’s fur bushes up and he gets defensive “i am dustCLAW now, tigerstar named me a warrior as soon as he became leader because at least appreciates me as a warrior!” tallstar sniffs and replies “he’s using you like he uses all of his other rogues” dustclaw snarls and seems to be about to pounce until he realizes again that the two patrols together almost doubled his patrol, even with an old medicine cat and worn out warrior, and claims that they’ll have the chance to tear them apart in time, until then they had to go report to tigerstar. The warriors are about to attack as dustclaw leaps down from the great walk and strides off towards shadowclan territory with his patrol, but whitestar tells them to halt, they needed to conserve their fighting energy and couldn’t risk anyone getting hurt right now

-tallstar asks if the patrol was coming to visit thunderclan and whitestar nods, tallstar says that barkface received a prophecy from starclan and yellowfang says it’s the same one that she and whitestar received, whitestar asks if this means that thunderclan and windclan will fight side by side then, and tallstar says that of course they would. The leaders decide that the two clans will meet the next morning at fourtrees just after sun has peaked over the horizon so tigerclan won’t have time to attack individually, but two clans being at fourtrees will definitely grab their attention and they would take on tigerclan from there

-once the patrol gets back to thunderclan whitestar starts explaining the plan to everyone, he offers goldenflower to stay in camp to protect his kits and the elders (mostly because he knows it must be hard for her knowing they would be fighting her ex-mate), but goldenflower refuses saying that she must battle alongside her clanmates

-whitestar asks willowpelt if she wants to fight, to avenge redtail and brindleface, but willowpelt says she wants to stay and protect the camp, to protect their kits, frostfur steps forward and says that she will fight as well, for lionheart, for her sister brindleface and her son brackenpaw, as well as the injuries tigerstar had caused her daughters

-rainkit and sorrelkit star calling saying that they want to go fight too, they don’t need to be protected they’re NEARLY apprentices, whitestar adors his little kits but tells them that they need to stay in camp and maybe willowpelt will teach them some fighting moves, mosspelt steps up and says that she’ll stay in camp as well, featherpaw says that she wants to fight in the battle and stormpaw says that if she fights he wants to fight as well, but whitestar refuses them as they had just become apprentices the day before tigerstar took over riverclan and hadn’t gotten enough battle training, primrosepaw says that they had been apprentices for a quarter moon longer than them, so they had gotten some battle training, whitestar thinks and then tells them that they need to guard the kits and elders, dappletail then retorts that she and the rest of the elders would rather die protecting the clan than die needing to be protected, so if anything were to happen the elders would fight till the end, halftail, one-eye, and smallear all heartily agree. Whitestar thinks about how the last time the elders had to battle to protect their clan that rosetail and thrushpelt had been killed, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop them, and if it came to it they wouldn’t have a choice anyway.

-Whitestar is about to tell tawnypaw to stay behind too, but she insists on fighting, she won’t sit in camp while her father tries to destroy the clans and featherpaw insists again and her fighting as well, whitestar decides that tawnypaw can join, but stormpaw and featherpaw will not fight, he gives them to responsibility of being runners, fetching injured cats and bringing them to yellowfang and bramblepaw who will be just outside of fourtrees to attend the injured and they will assist the medicine cats as needed, ravenpelt offers to help them and make sure they don’t get hurt

-whitestar starts worrying about how brightheart or cinderpelt would do in battle, as well as snowpaw, he asks brightheart first, telling her he’s unsure if she’s ready to fight when she had just recovered for about a moon, cloudpaw interrupts and says that brightheart could fight anyone and beat them and she’s been working will hard to train, cinderpelt, sandstorm, and fireheart agree, saying they’ve all been training very hard together and brightheart or cinderpelt could fight just as well as anyone, whitestar asks cloudpaw to fetch snowpaw and he comes back with both snowpaw and fernpaw, whitestar, using sign language, asks snowpaw if he felt comfortable fighting or if he’d rath stay and protect camp, snowpaw shakes his head and signs for “fight” and points towards fourtrees and then signs for “speckle” and “tail”, meaning he wants to fight for his mother, who died saving him from the fire that tigerstar and darkstripe started in thunderclan, fernpaw agrees that snowpaw can and will fight, and she’ll be with him and they’ll protect each other, cloudpaw agrees that he won’t let anyone hurt his clanmates, ashpaw chimes in that he will fight to avenge their mother and whitestar says that he had no doubt his apprentice was ready to battle

-whitestar realizes just how wide tigerstar’s wrath had spread, everyone in the clan had been personally effected, and decides that willowpelt, mosspelt, mistyfoot’s kits, and the elders staying behind to protect the camp will have to be enough, he leads a hunting patrol of longtail, mousefur, cinderpelt, and tawnypaw, and besides that patrol they take the rest of the day to rest and prepare, though most of the clan was too restless to truly rest, yellowfang was teaching bramblepaw the different healing herbs and making leaf bundles that they and stormpaw and featherpaw would carry to the battle, the warrior apprentices trained together with thornclaw and brightheart, whitestar gives ashpaw some last minute battle tips

-before the sun had risen the clan silently pelts to fourtrees, the wind is sadly against their back and when they arrive they see two pelts slink into the bushes, one towards riverclan and one towards shadowclan, whitestar signals for his clan to fan out and they line out in front of the thunderclan border so it would be harder for anyone to try to run into thunderclan and attack the camp, whitestar is suddenly very relieved to have goldenflower standing beside him, strong, proud, and ready to fight, frostfur, mousefur, mistyfoot, and longtail stood beside her, on whitestar’s right flank was sandstorm, fireheart, graystripe, and ravenpelt beside her, thornclaw, brightheart, cinderpelt, and the apprentices created a second line of defense behind them, the apprentices close behind their mentors. Whitestar checked behind him for ashpaw, he could see fear in his eyes and his scent, but his stance was strong and confident

-pink started lining the horizon and whitestar was starting to fear that windclan wouldn’t get there in time, or maybe not at all, he knew tigerstar would be aware of thunderclan being at fourtrees by now, he must be preparing and even on his way, but as soon as he thought that the bushes on windclan’s side of fourtrees started rustling and tallstar sped down the slope into the clear, a stream of windclan cats followed him and lined up in front of their border like thunderclan. Tallstar walked forward to the middle of the clearing and whitestar joined him, they both bowed their heads respectfully to each other. “I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you as a leader for the first time in a better situation, Whitestar. I know your leadership has already been hard, but I am positive Bluestar chose the right cat, and I am sure she is very proud of you and her clan and will be protecting you all, just as the rest of StarClan will watch over us.”

-Whitestar suddenly felt on the spot and guilty that he didn’t know tallstar as well as he should, “I know your leadership has not been easy at all, especially the past few seasons, I’m honored to be a leader with, and to fight alongside you and your warriors. Do you have warriors staying in camp to protect your camp?”

-Deadfoot steps forward and goldenflower suddenly pelts forward to be besides whitestar again, they both nod to each other respectively and then bow to the other leader, “Ashfoot is with our kit, crowkit in the nursery, Webfoot is also heavily pregnant with his own kits, and Robinwing just gave birth to Tornear’s and her daughter, Nightkit, yesterday. They’re all in camp with the elders, Morningflower has also stayed behind to protect them. Tigerstar’s rogues killed her son, Gorsepaw a moon ago in a border scuffle, but she’d rather be there to defend the kits and queens just in case. Whitestar apologizes and asks where their other apprentices were, he only saw warriors in their battle formation and tallstar says that as they had learned yesterday, hedgepaw and two warriors had joined tigerstar and tigerclan, and their other two apprentices were staying back outside of fourtrees with barkface to assist him and to fetch injured cats. Whitestar nods saying that they had two apprentices to help Yellowfang and Bramblepaw as well as to assist injured cats. In big battles like this it was a standard practice, but Whitestar was still glad that the two leaders had made the same strategies.

-Whitestar dips his head to his fellow leader and raises his voice so the rest of the cats could hear him, “May our clans fight alongside each other and lookout for each other. And may StarClan guide us well.”

-As soon as he finishes speaking the wind suddenly changes and a rush of ShadowClan and RiverClan scent swamps the clearing and soon countless pawsteps can be heard and then bushes on RiverClan’s side of the border start to rustle and Blackfoot steps through, Leopardstar close behind him, with many cats, most riverclan but with several shadowclan cats and rogues, following them. Then the bushes on ShadowClan’s side start rustles, shadowclan, riverclan, and rogues streaming forward into the clearing, and then finally, Tigertstar strides out from within his group of cats, darkstripe and dustclaw close behind. The large dark tabby stares down the leaders, not even looking at his former mate, who’s green eyes are now narrowed and her fur bristling, her claws already unsheathed and she’s obviously keeping in a snarl. “So,” Tigerstar oddly purrs, “Have the great leaders of ThunderClan and WindClan made their decision on joining my clan?”

Finale

“We already told you our answer, Tigerstar, our answer is no,” Tallstar responded cooly. Whitestar quickly glanced over all sides of the clearing, almost all the cats of every clan were there, including all of Tigerstar’s rogues and even ShadowClan elders; ThunderClan and WindClan were greatly outnumbered. Whitestar realized that Tigerstar had fixed his gaze onto him.

“And you? Great ThunderClan leader, Whitestar, the one I considered to be like a brother,” his eyes widened to look innocent.

Whitestar’s pelt bristled, “You are no brother of mine! ThunderClan would never join you. WindClan and ThunderClan will defend ourselves until the last breath!”

Tigerstar’s amber eyes narrowed and his claws unsheathed as he growled, “Then die.”

Before Tigerstar could wave his tail to signal his warriors to attack, a yowl came from RiverClan’s side of Fourtrees.

“No!” It was Leopardstar, her eyes filled with anger, her pelt bristled, and claws unsheathed. Tigerstar paused to look over to her, his eyes like fire and his teeth bared.

“Leopardfur!”

“No!” she repeated, her teeth now bared as well, “I am Leopardstar, and I am the leader of RiverClan. We will no longer be a part of TigerClan, I never should have agreed to it in the first place. We will night fight with you Tigerstar! You killed my deputy and dear friend, you held my mate, kits, and clanmates hostage! You brought rogues into my camp! You’ve disrespected and harmed my clan. We will night fight with you, but we will fight against you!”

Shock flooded through the RiverClan cats, as well as several hisses from the rogues and a few warriors, but most of the RiverClan warriors seemed to stand taller and confidently behind their leader. Relief flooded over Whitestar even as snarls, hissing, and yowls erupted from Tigerstar’s followers and rogues, but to his surprise many ShadowClan cats were looking confused or disheartened.

Whitestar had to do something, “ShadowClan! You don’t have to fight with Tigerstar. You can fight for what you know is right and you will be even more of a loyal ShadowClan warrior for it!”

Tigerstar’s lips drew back in a snarl, “You do not tell my clan what to do! They follow my orders and my orders alone, that is the warrior code!”

“You don’t care what the warrior code is!” Sandstorm hissed. Agreement rang across the clearing.

“Enough!” Tigerstar yowled, “I will no longer be merciful, you will all die for your betrayal to StarClan’s wishes and to destiny! TigerClan, attack!”

In an uproar cats from ShadowClan and RiverClan’s sides erupted into the clearing, clashing into WindClan and ThunderClan. Whitestar tried to keep track of where Tigerstar was, but in the flurry of battle, he could no longer spot his dark pelt.

I’ve been in plenty of battles before, but none like this.

Suddenly Whitestar’s breath was struck out of his body as a dark gray body slammed into him and claws sank into his fur. While Whitestar was trying to assess the battle, Darkstripe had taken the opportunity to attack.

“Finally,” Darkstripe’s breath was hot on Whitestar’s muzzle as he struggled to turn towards the striped tom, “I get to do what I’ve been wanting to do for moons!” Darkstripe’s claws raked down Whitestar’s side and he hissed in pain. Whitestar was a pretty decent fighter, but the surprise attack and the fact that Darkstripe was his kin and a former clanmate was making Whitestar struggle to fight back as hard as he could. He swiped at Darkstripe’s muzzle and beads of blood appeared, but Darkstripe was ruthless bit down into Whitestar’s shoulder, but barely missing his neck as Whitestar dodged. Darkstripe sunk his teeth deeper into Whitestar’s shoulder, blood running down his white pelt. Darkstripe wasn’t letting go and instead started thrashing his head. Whitestar yowled in pain, hardly able to combat the tom’s dirty attack.

Suddenly Darkstripe’s teeth were relieved from Whitestar’s shoulder and another thick gray pelt was beside him, a single thick darker gray stripe running down the back. Graystripe had tackled Darkstripe away from Whitestar and was now battering him with heavy blows. Graystripe, being bigger and heavier than Darkstripe easily overwhelmed him with blows.

“Get away from my father!” he yowled. Darkstripe hissed and lunged for Graystripe’s throat, but instead Graystripe’s unsheathed claws landed on Darkstripe’s and in one heavy slash, Darkstripe’s throat was sliced open and he fell to the ground. With his yellow eyes wide, he desperately tried to push himself to his paws, but before he could stand he fumbled back to the ground, soaked in blood. His eyes glazed over, empty with death. Whitestar tensed as he recognized his father’s dying eyes in the gray tom. They were exactly the same.

Though Whitestar was relieved, he couldn’t help but grieve for his half brother. If only you could have been better than our father. Graystripe stood over Darkstripe’s body, blood and scratches on his pelt. Whitestar realized he had never seen his son so injured, no battle in his life had been this hard and suddenly his grief moved to his son, who had never killed another cat in his life and had already lost so much, to now have killed his own kin, his own half brother.

To save my life. He saved my life.

Whitestar flicked his tail down his son’s pelt, “You didn’t have to do that, I have more lives than you, you could’ve been hurt,” Whitestar hesitated, suddenly feeling warm pride in his son, “But you saved my life anyway. You were so brave, my son you are a great warrior.”

Graystripe let out a loud purr, “I could never stand by and watch someone kill you!”

“And I would give all my nine lives for you,” Whitestar purred back.

Graystripe’s whiskers twitched in gratitude, and maybe a little embarrassment, then turned around and rushed back into battle.

I need to find Tigerstar. Whitestar thought, refocusing back to the battle surrounding him. Featherpaw and Stormpaw were rushing a RiverClan cat to Yellowfang and Bramblepaw. Mistyfoot slashed and grappled with Blackfoot across the clearing. She raked Blackfoot’s ears with her claws then grabbed him by the throat and slammed him to the ground, mercilessly finishing him by ripping open his throat.

And as he deserves. Why should she show mercy when he didn’t when he killed her brother.

Leopardstar fought Blackclaw a few fox lengths away, slamming his shoulders into the ground. Suddenly Deadfoot was thrown a few tail lengths away from Whitestar; the ShadowClan warrior, Jaggedtooth, jumping to pin the older tom to the ground. Both cats were covered in blood, but Deadfoot was in much worse condition. Whitestar immediately threw himself at the ginger warrior, his search for Tigerstar would have to wait. Jaggedtooth stumbled away from the black tom as Whitestar’s weight knocked him aside. Whitestar hooked his claws into the tom’s shoulders, there were already wounds there and the ginger tom yowled in pain and tried to tear himself away. Whitestar slashed at his muzzle, Jaggedtooth went low to attack his underbelly, but Whitestar quickly spun around and kicked the tom directly in the skull. Dazed, heavily bleeding, and his jaw possibly broken, Jaggedtooth turned tail and fled from Whitestar and the battle.

Whitestar quickly turned his attention to the WindClan deputy, still heavily bleeding. He crouched down, trying to evaluate his wounds, “Don’t worry, old friend, the medicine cats will get you patched up,” Whitestar tried to gently purr and grazed his muzzle across Deadfoot’s. His one twisted paw seemed to be even more twisted than usual.

Deadfoot twitched his ears, “I know, I trust our medicine cats with my life. As well as StarClan,” he breathed heavily. Suddenly another black pelt, Ravenpelt, ran to Whitestar’s and Deadfoot’s side.

“Deadfoot!” Ravenpelt yelped and immediately started to move Deadfoot onto his back, “All the runners are already busy, I’ll take him to Barkface,” and with determination in his eyes, Ravenpelt dragged Deadfoot to the edge of the clearing. Whitestar felt such deeply imbedded pride in the young warrior who had once been the most timid kit he’d ever seen. Even though he still might not be in love with fighting, Ravenpelt was a truly courageous warrior of ThunderClan and Whitestar was extremely grateful to have him as his clanmate. He kept a watch to make sure no one attacked the two black cats before plunging back into the heat of battle.

Though things were simmering down; many bodies lay limp and lifeless on the floor of Fourtrees and very few of Tigerstar’s followers remained. A dark brown tabby pelt appeared at the top of the Great Rock. His amber eyes fiery and bright in the bright morning sun.

“Tigerstar!” Whitestar hissed, fury heated his pelt as he charged forward. No one got in his way as he halted in front of the Great Rock, “Tigerstar! Come down he and face the consequences of your war like a warrior!”

Tigerstar crouched down, almost as if he were bowing to his enemy, “As you wish, Whitestar,” and with a glisten in his eye he leapt off of the Great Rock and before Whitestar could realize-

The large tabby landed directly on Whitestar’s neck.

~~~

Whitestar awoke in a grassy field and immediately pushed himself to his paws. He anxiously looked around, expecting to see Fourtrees and countless cats fighting, but instead he was met with the starry figures of his late loved one: Bluestar and Snowfur stood in front of him, and Lionheart, Redtail, and Spottedleaf stood beside him.

Of course, he was in StarClan. Tigerstar had killed him, but Whitestar had a sudden rush of emotion and love seeing his mother, aunt, and friends once again.

“Mother! Bluestar!” Whitestar stepped forward and both of his mothers lovingly nuzzled him. He turned and Lionheart and Redtail both touched their noses to his, Spottedleaf licked his ear. Though he was overwhelmed with joy of seeing his loved ones, the feeling was soon washed away with anxiety, “I’m happy to see you again, but I need to go back. I still have eight lives, correct? Please, send me back, who knows what Tigerstar could be doing right now!”

“Please, Whitestar,” Snowfur mewed, “Your neck was just broken, please stay for just a few heartbeats as your body heals. I promise it will be okay, my love,” she began to lap at his ears as any mother would do to calm her kit.

His mother’s words calmed him a bit, as well as hit him with a wave of grief that he hadn’t been able to grow up with her to teach him and comfort him.

Bluestar nodded, “I know that it may feel like you’re here for a long time, but that’s only because you’re anxious, you know that when a leader loses a life they come back to life in just a few moments. No matter how long it feels here, in the living world you’ll only have been dead for a few heartbeats,” she purred.

Redtail twitched his whiskers, “You’re always patient for every cat except yourself!” he flicked his tail tip over Whitestar’s face, just as he’d done when they were warriors together and Redtail would tease him.

Whitestar jokingly cuffed his old friend’s ear, “But Redtail, you know better than anyone else how dangerous Tigerstar is!”

“Yes,” Lionheart answered, “but most of his followers are dead or have ran away, it is only him against all of the clan now,” he shared a playful and proud glance with Redtail, “You should know better than anyone else that your clanmates, and the other clans cats, are very capable and defending themselves.”

Redtail raised his head high, purring as Spottedleaf nodded and returned her gaze back to Whitestar, “You should be proud, Whitestar. You should be proud of everything you’ve accomplished, and everyone you’ve touched the hearts of,” she mewed.

“And not to mention you picked a great deputy!” Lionheart added triumphantly. Whitestar purred at Lionheart’s obvious affection and pride for his sister.

Redtail stepped closer to Whitestar again and touched his nose to his, his green gaze, which looked exactly like Sandstorm’s, now calmer and serious, but still full of affection, “Thank you, Whitestar,” he purred, “for everything you’ve done for me and my kin.”

As Redtail stepped away, Bluestar stepped forward and pressed her forehead to Whitestar’s, and Whitestar drew in her warm scent, just as it was when she was alive, “It’s time for you to go back Whitestar. Remember to trust your choices, to trust yourself and your clanmates. And remember that I named Sandstorm after you for a reason.”

~~~

When Whitestar opened his eyes his head and body pulsed with aches. He immediately stood and quickly took in the scene. What had he missed, how long was he in StarClan before he continued on his next life? Where was Tigerstar? But before he could get a clear focus his legs started to give. Goldenflower was quickly by his side and steadied him before returning a cold gaze down at her former mate.

Before Whitestar could give his deputy thanks, his vision finally cleared and he followed Goldenflower’s gaze. A few fox lengths away was Tigerstar. Fireheart’s claws were dug deep in his back and shoulders; the ginger tom’s green eyes were filled with more ferocity and anger than Whitestar had ever seen in them before. In front of Tigerstar was Sandstorm, fur risen, tail lashing, and her eyes full of hatred, spitting at Tigerstar. For a moment Tigerstar struggled to get out from Fireheart’s grip before seeming to give in, even though his expression still showed nothing but unwavering brutality. Howls, hissing, and growls filled the clearing. Cats closed in around the the fighting cats in a circle to get closer, some trying to get in their own swipe, but there wasn’t enough room.

“Kill him!”

“Slash his throat!”

“He’s a traitor among the clans!”

“And the warrior code!”

“Disgusting,” Tigerstar spat, “To be pinned by a kittypet and be guarded by a cat I once thought could be a fierce warrior. Allying yourself with the kittypet made you soft, Sandstorm. You can’t even kill me like a warrior can you? You’re just like your fathers! Weak, fragile, and too soft-hearted to be true warriors!”

Sandstorm bared her teeth, and with a yowl, reared onto her hind legs and slashed her unsheathed claws down Tigerstar’s eyes. Blood sprayed from his face as he let out a howl. Fireheart struggled to keep Tigerstar pinned down as he lurched upwards in pain.

“Don’t you ever talk about my fathers like that! They were better warriors than you could ever be in all your nine lives!” Sandstorm hissed.

Tigerstar snarled in her direction as he attempted to open his eyes, but there was nothing but blood, streaming down his eyes and face. He suddenly lurched to the side, tearing Fireheart’s claws off him and knocking him over with a roar. Sandstorm lunged for Tigerstar and snapped her jaws down directly on his throat. Tigerstar gagged as blood spilled onto the ground and down Sandstorm’s chin. Then she let go. Tigerstar’s body thumped onto the ground. Sandstorm stared down at his body. Her ferocity and hatred quickly faded into horror as she realized what she had just done.

Whitestar felt a wave of grief and sorrow. Not for the death of Tigerstar, but for his former apprentice. Sandstorm… You didn’t deserve any of this. This shouldn’t have been your burden to bear.

Whitestar glanced next to him at Goldenflower. He was steadier now so he took his weight off of her, but she didn’t move away. Her gaze was somber, but steady as she stared down at the ground in front of her paws. Whitestar knew that she didn’t want to look at her former mate’s dead body. And he also knew that she knew that it wasn’t over yet.

Fireheart rushed to Sandstorm’s side and Ravenpelt paced behind them. Sandstorm’s gaze cleared as she caught her breath and raised her head high.

“He’s dead!”

“StarClan couldn’t have possibly given someone like Tigerstar 9 lives, right?”

Leopardstar stepped forward from the crowd, her fur battered and bloody, matted onto her neck. She must have lost a life at some point during the battle.

“No. He was definitely given lives,” she addressed above the murmurs of the crowd, “I know because I killed him once. I took one of his lives trying to reclaim my clan,” She paused and gritted her, “His followers then took one of my own lives in revenge. And then when both Tigerstar and I came back he killed me again for his own personal revenge.”

Leopardstar stood strong against the eyes of the clans, but Whitestar heard the cracks in her voice. Some cats narrowed their eyes in suspicion, some murmured pity, and a couple growled or hissed in anger.

“How could StarClan give him lives!?” Bramblepaw’s yowl echoed across the clearing.

“Maybe he lost his last one, he hasn’t come back to life yet.”

“Yeah, Whitestar got back up almost instantly!” Ashpaw blurted, running up beside his mentor.

Runningnose pressed through the crowd. He looked older and sicker than usual. He stood beside Leopardstar and he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Tigerstar’s pelt rippled. Cats gasped and Fireheart pressed himself in front of Sandstorm and snarled, his claws unsheathed and ready to defend his mate.

Tigerstar let out a cough and blood spat out of his mouth. He rose to his paws, some wounds healed, at least enough, but blood still dripped from his face and mouth. He gritted his teeth and snarled, snapping his head from side to side. He kept his torn up eyes closed. He was blind. Cats yowled and hissed, some trying to move forward to get to Tigerstar, but before anyone reached him Tigerstar turned to face Whitestar and opened his eyes.

“Whitestar!” Tigerstar charged and then leapt for the ThunderClan leader, giant, unsheathed claws outreached. Whitestar was taken by surprise, but instinctively met his former close friend with his own outstretched claws. As Tigerstar’s claws sank into Whitestar’s shoulders, Whitestar’s forepaw slammed into Tigerstar’s still-wounded neck. Whitestar felt the strength of the entire forest rush through his legs and paws as his claws sank into Tigerstar’s throat and he slammed his body onto the ground. He felt and heard a crack as Tigerstar choked. Then his amber eyes went dull and blank as Whitestar stood on top of him.

The cats stayed quiet as Whitestar caught his breath and stepped away from Tigerstar’s body. He looked to Goldenflower, her lips drawn back in a snarl and claws unsheathed. Her face showed nothing but anger looking down at Tigerstar. Tawnypaw ran up from the crowd to press herself against her mother; Bramblepaw followed behind her more cautiously.

“I’m sorry,” Runningnose sniffed shyly, “I should have spoken sooner…” The cats around murmured, some even twitching their whiskers in amusement at the old medicine cat. “But I have an explanation. And I know I should have told ShadowClan sooner, I should have told anyone sooner. But I don’t think Tigerstar received his lives from StarClan.”

“What!?”

“How does he have lives then?”

“Who gave him lives?”

Runningnose cleared his throat and tried to speak above the chatter while also repeatedly glancing over to Tigerstar’s body nervously, “We never made it to the Moonstone. Tigerstar said that the entrance to Mothermouth was far enough for him, I tried to persuade him, but he just got angry. He fell asleep, but I couldn’t sense the presence of StarClan at all! But he kept twitching and grunting in his sleep, sometimes hissing and snarling. I was hoping that he was just having a bad dream instead of getting lives, but he apparently did, and they definitely aren’t from StarClan.”

“He would have been almost completely healed if they were from StarClan!”

“And he was dead way longer!”

“Why wouldn’t you tell us immediately!”

“Why would you keep a secret like that from your clan!”

“Wasn’t Runningnose raised with Brokenstar? How can we trust him!”

“What kind of medicine cat would do that?”

Runningnose shrank back in guilt and shame and was about to slink back into the crowd when Littlecloud ran up and Flintfang stepped forward.

“Runningnose is a great medicine cat!” Littlecloud defended his mentor, “No one would’ve been able to do anything! If he had said something Tigerstar would have banished him or even had him killed!”

“Littlecloud is right,” Flintfang growled, “Nothing like this has happened in anyone’s memory. Runningnose has done as much as he can just to keep ShadowClan alive! No one one would’ve been able to do better than he has!”

The cats all started murmuring and chattering again as Yellowfang walked through the crowd to stand beside Whitestar and her former apprentice, “I’ve only heard stories of this when I was a kit and my old mentor had mentioned it maybe twice in passing. But there may be something other than StarClan; a place where the worst cats go where they die instead of StarClan. A place of no stars, where light can barely filter into the forest. I believe the elders called it the Dark Forest. It could be entirely possible that they have the power to give lives just like StarClan,” she looked down at Tigerstar, “but perhaps are not as good at healing.”

“I remember that name!”

“I’ve heard some stories about that, but isn’t it just a nursery tale?”

“That’s why he didn’t want to go to the Moonstone!”

In the din Tigerstar’s pelt rippled once again. His wounds were crusted over with dried blood as he struggled to return to his paws. He couldn’t open his eyes. Whitestar took a step back. How many more times do we have to do this? Six? Do we have to just keep killing him over and over? What if he has more than nine lives from the Dark Forest?

“I’m not afraid to die! I’ll come back again and again. I’ll outlast you, I’ll outlast your kits and your kits kits! The clans will never be rid of my claws!” Tigerstar roared.

Goldenflower nudged her kits backwards into the crowd and then stepped forward. She stood in front of Tigerstar, her expression unreadable. Whitestar wanted to tell her to get back, but he had never seen Goldenflower like this and the words seemed to get stuck in his throat.

Tigerstar faced his former mate; his ears and whiskers twitched, “Goldenflower,” he purred, “Have you decided to join me? To choose your mate over your clan? I saw Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw before too. I’m glad you’ve all come to your senses.”

Goldenflower stayed quiet, her green gaze burning into the dark tabby. The rest of the clans had fallen silent, no one was sure what was going on or what to do.

“I’d die before I joined you,” Goldenflower murmured, “I’d die before I let my kits be influenced by you,” her lips pulled back in a snarl, “And I’d die before I let you, my former mate, the one I used to love and respect so much, hurt my clan, or any clan again!” She lunged forward, tucking her head under Tigerstar’s chest and shoving him backwards. Before he fell onto his back, Goldenflower aimed her strike, hooking her claws into Tigerstar’s throat and slamming him to the ground with full force. Tigerstar’s scabbed eyes shot open in shock as he choked in pain, blood gurgling out of his throat. Goldenflower then swiftly raked her claws from his throat down his chest and exposed belly. She stumbled backwards, bloody fur stuck in her claws as blood spurted from Tigerstar’s belly. His eyes had already gone blank as blood continued to spill from his body.

No one spoke. The entirety of Fourtrees was frozen except for the pool of Tigerstar’s blood. Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw stared in shock from the crowd. Ashpaw coward behind Whitestar. Leopardstar, Littlecloud, and Runningnose stood shocked, but Leopardstar looked vaguely impressed. Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Ravenpelt pressed against one another. Whitestar could only glance at Goldenflower before staring at Tigerstar’s corpse. His amber eyes flashing back to life, his pelt rippling and mouth gasping and choking before growing dull and lifeless again. Over and over again. Until he finally lay still forever.

Epilogue: After The Battle

Death Count:

A bunch of Tigerstar’s rogue and former kittypet followers

ThunderClan:

-Tigerstar: killed by Sandstorm and Fireheart, Whitestar, and Goldenflower

-Darkstripe: killed by Graystripe

-Whitestar lost a life

WindClan:

-Hedgepaw: Killed by one of Tigerstar’s allies when he tried to run away

-Icetail: Killed by his sister, Whitetail, and Onewhisker

-Deadfoot: he made it back to WindClan’s camp but died shortly after

-Tallstar lost a life

RiverClan

-Blackclaw (Tigerstar’s ally): Killed by Leopardstar

-Sunfish (Tigerstar’s ally)

-Beetlenose (Tigerstar’s ally)

-Leopardstar lost a life

ShadowClan

-Blackfoot (Tigerstar’s ally): Killed by Mistyfoot

-Clawface (Tigerstar’s ally)

-Nightwhisper (Tigerstar’s ally)

-probably a couple elders since Tigerstar made them fight

-couple of other warriors i don’t feel like finding names for

~~~

-It’s not even sunhigh when the battle is over, Whitestar sees Onewhisker carrying Hedgepaw’s body to the group of WindClan cats and prays to StarClan that unless he truly had darkness in his heart to allow him to hunt with them in their hunting grounds because he was too young.

-Tallstar approaches Whitestar and tells him that WindClan will be returning to their territory now, he wants to see how Deadfoot is doing and that he wants to make sure any injured can be treated by Barkface, and that they were glad to have help, Whitestar apologizes to the WindClan leader for his clan’s loses today, but Tallstar replies by saying that it was an honor to fight for the sake of the clans and to be allies with him and ThunderClan, he turns around, gathers his warriors, and leaves.

-Whitestar sees Graystripe leave Darkstripe’s body and ask Leopardstar if he can take Darkstripe’s body back to ThunderClan, he wanted to tell Willowpelt himself what happened. Leopardstar agrees as long as Whitestar is okay with it, she glances over to him “But I don’t think there’s any doubt he’ll let you.” Graystripe bounds over to Whitestar and before he even asks, Whitestar says yes, he may, and offers to help him carry their half-brother’s body, which Graystripe answers with a nod.

-Goldenflower, Tawnypaw, and Bramblepaw are gathered around Tigerstar’s corpse. Whitestar is about to go to them when his apprentice, Ashpaw, speaks up “Who’s going to take his body?”  Whitestar says that ThunderClan will take Tigerstar’s body, as he was born and raised in ThunderClan, but he will be buried outside ThunderClan’s border. Flintfang steps forward and says that ShadowClan will take the bodies and bury them outside of their territory by Twoleg Place. Russetfur objects saying that he doesn’t have the right to make that decision for the clan and that there are almost as many dead rogues as there are ShadowClan cats. Flintfang says that they were technically ShadowClan cats at one point, so they will be taken away by ShadowClan. No one else objects

-Tawnypaw stands up from her father’s corpse and says that she wants to help ShadowClan bury the bodies, that she has decided that she wants to join them. Goldenflower is shocked and objects and Bramblepaw cries saying that he thought she wasn’t actually going to join ShadowClan like she once said she would in private. Tawnypaw looks to her mother and then to ShadowClan and she says that she felt like it was her duty as the daughter of Tigerstar to help heal ShadowClan and put her strength into them, helping them to be strong and become stronger.

-Russetfur and several others spit that they don’t want some ThunderClan brat joining them, that they don’t need ThunderClan’s help, ShadowClan was strong on its own. Littlecloud runs up and stands by Tawnypaw though, saying that any apprentice of Cinderpelt’s would be a strong and honorable warrior. Whitethroat agrees and Rowanpaw, from the back of the crowd, yells that if she joined that they could beat her up whenever they wanted to. Cinderpelt meets with Tawnypaw and Littlecloud and asks if this is really what she wanted to do and with grief in her eyes, Tawnypaw says yes. They all look to Whitestar and he says that she would basically have to start her training all over again, which Tawnypaw says that she knows and understands. Whitestar then says that if it’s truly what she wants then she doesn’t need his permission, it’s ShadowClan she needs to get the permission from.

-Flintfang hesitates, but then nods and agrees to take her in, and makes a remark, “And Russetfur, you can be her mentor; you know what it’s like being an outsider of ShadowClan coming in.” Whitestar thinks to himself that Flintfang would make a good and noble leader for ShadowClan. Several cats flinch, no one usually dares mention that Russetfur was once a kittypet that joined ShadowClan, but after a hiss at the gray tom, Russetfur only motions to Tawnypaw, “Fine, then earn your keep now and start helping to carry one of these bodies.” But before she runs off, Tawnypaw turns around and nuzzles her mother, brother, and now former mentor. She promises that they’ll see each other on patrols and at gatherings, and that maybe she’ll see Bramblepaw when he’s out gathering herbs by the ShadowClan border.

-Cinderpelt leans over to Littlecloud and asks him to please watch over Tawnypaw and thanks him, touching the tip of his ear with her nose and Littlecloud says of course, touching his nose to CInderpelt’s. ShadowClan, with all the bodies gathered, leaves for their own territory, the last thing that can be seen is Tawnypaw’s fluffed up, golden and brown tabby tail.

-Mistyfoot approaches Leopardstar, a wary awkwardness between them. Leopardstar’s eyes soften for a moment, a rare sight to see. Mistyfoot says that she’s going to fetch their kits and Mosspelt. Leopardstar’s eyes harden again, as if she’s suddenly aware that she had let herself soften and responds, “No. I want to fetch them,” them softens her tone, realizing that she started to harshly, “Mistyfoot, please take RiverClan back to camp for me.”

-Mistyfoot is shocked as well as the cats who were in earshot, but she nods and agrees, but then whispers to Leopardstar, “Only if they want to come back, Leopardstar.” Leopardstar shifts her paws and says of course.

-Stormpaw and Featherpaw say they want to come get them as well and Leopardstar hesitates and then agrees. Mistyfoot collects the RiverClan cats and they begin to leave as Leopardstar walks to Whitestars, slightly nods and tells him to take the lead. Whitestar says that Goldenflower can lead with Bramblepaw as they carry Tigerstar’s body and he and Graystripe will follow behind with Darkstripe’s. Leopardstar walks in step with him, Stormpaw and Featherpaw trotting behind their father. “Come, ThunderClan, we’re going home,” Whitestar says, he notices that Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Ravenpelt take the back, just behind Ashpaw, Fernpaw, Cloudpaw, and Snowpaw. Whitestar takes not on how brave all four of them had to be today, and notices with sadness that they all have blood on their pelts.

-On the way to camp, Leopardstar admits to Whitestar that she saw the cat, Sasha, running towards RiverClan territory, and that she expects she will be in their camp when she gets back. She says that she was Tigerstar’s mate and one of his closest cats, which Goldenflower, overhearing, visibly twitches her tail at. Bramblepaw’s fur raises. Whitestar asks her what she’ll do with Sasha if she is and Leopardstar replies that Sasha is a good cat and i snothing like Tigerstar, and that she believe she is expecting his kits, she would never turn away an expectant queen. Goldenflower is heard swallowing a growl and her ears are pinned back, while Bramble seems to shrink in his own fur.

-They reach camp and lay the two bodies in the clearing, the cats who stay behind swarm around the group of cats, Primrosepaw quickly asks where Mistyfoot is, fearfully. Leopardstar consoles them that their mother is fine and took RiverClan home and that everything should be back to normal soon. Or as normal as it can be. Pikepaw says he wants to go home right away, his siblings and Dawnpaw agreeing.

-Graystripe tells Willowpelt what happened with Darkstripe and then steps away to let her grieve over her older son. Whitestar can tell that he feels worried about something when Graystripe cautiously approaches him. They go under the Highrock and Graystripe asks Whitestar if he can rejoin ThunderClan. His kits are apprentices now and he trusts Mistyfoot, Mosspelt, and whoever will train Stormpaw next to take care of them. He says that he has never felt like a RiverClan cat and that every moment he’s in RiverClan he misses ThunderClan. It doesn’t feel like a home, he can’t be a good warrior there.

-Whitestar feels both pity, joy, and worry. He would take his son back in a heartbeat, but he looks over to Frostfur and her kits, then Sandstorm, and then back to Graystripe. Would they ever be able to forgive him for neglecting Brackenpaw and that leading to his death? If I show that I trust him, they will.

-Whitestar nods, but warns that he’ll have to work twice as hard to gain the rest of his clanmates’ trust back, but Graystripe gleefully says of course and then bounds over to Willowpelt and his younger brothers and sister to tell them, then, more solemnly heads towards the RiverClan cats.

-Stormpaw and Featherpaw are absolutely dejected. Mosspelt’s face turns hurt and sad and says that she had a feeling he would decide this. Leopardstar says that she knew he would decide this for moons now. There is hesitancy and side eyes from a few ThunderClan cats. Graystripe confronts his kits and tells them that they don’t need him anymore, they’re apprentices and are RiverClan through and through, if he were to stay in RiverClan he would just be a reminder that they’re half ThunderClan to their entire clan and he felt like they wouldn’t get the respect they deserve. He says that he’ll always be there for them if they need him though and that he’ll always be their father and that he loves them so much and he knows that so does their mother who will always watch over them in StarClan. Mosspelt rubs her muzzle to his and whisper to him that he’s a good cat and a good father, giving him a look with a glow of love in her eyes. Graystripe says thank you and then presses his muzzle against both of his kits and licks them both between the ears before turning back to Mosspelt and asks her to take care of them. They both say of course.

-The apprentices all say goodbye, Stormpaw and Featherpaw especially take a moment to say goodbye to Willowpelt and her kits. Leopardstar walks over to Whitestar and whispers her thanks for taking care of them all and tells him that he’s a good leader. Whitestar nods and says of course, and that she’s a good leader as well. Mosspelt says her thanks as well and then the RiverClan cats leave to return to their home.

-Fireheart and Ravenpelt pounce onto Graystripe in a welcome back. Sandstorm staying more to the side, but affection for the gray tom can be seen in her eyes and she nods to him. Rainkit and Sorrelkit jump onto Graystripe’s back for a badger ride. Graystripe can hardly stand up with both of the kits on his back.

-The elders, Willowpelt, Goldenflower, and Bramblepaw all take Tigerstar and Darkstripe to be buried just outside of ThunderClan’s border and Whitestar sends a patrol of Longtail, Mousefur, Thornclaw, and all four of the warrior apprentices to go hunting. After the burial patrol returns, the hunting patrol returns with jaws full of prey. Newleaf is surely almost here.

-After everyone eats their fill and Yellowfang and Bramblepaw were able to treat everyone’s injuries, Whitestar calls for a clan meeting. He tells everyone that he’s so proud of ThunderClan and all of the clans for their victory over Tigerstar and that he hopes that after this their can be peace in newleaf. He says that in celebration, their warrior apprentices are ready to become warriors. He calls on Ashpaw, Fernpaw, Snowpaw, and Cloudpaw. He says that they were all so brave during the battle and then to come home and almost immediately go out and bring back fresh-kill for their clan. They were true warriors. He turns to Ashpaw first and says that he was so proud to be his mentor, and names him Ashfur. Then asks Longtail if Fernpaw was ready to be a warrior and when he says yes, says that Fernpaw is graceful and compassionate and names her Ferncloud. Then he asks Frostfur if Snowpaw is ready to be a warrior and when she says he is Whitestar says, while also signing to Snowpaw, that he is patient and intelligent and from this moment forward he will be named Snowears. And then finally Whitestar asks Fireheart if Cloudpaw is ready to be a warrior and after Fireheart says yes Whitestar says that Cloudpaw is passionate and confident and from this moment forward he will be named Cloudtail.

-ThunderClan chants the new warriors’ names, and some even sign the names for Snowears.

-Whitestar apologized to Bramblepaw since he’ll be the only apprentice now, but then Sorrelkit announces that she and her brother can be apprentices with him, but Whitestar refuses, saying that they still have to wait about another moon.

-The sun sets on the clans. They are rid of the evil that was Tigerstar, and are full of promise for a happy future.