#but I don’t think bulldogs can really jump much anyway??

[slothrusts]

My beautiful smart precious Angel baby has finally figured out how to use the stairs to get on the couch!!!!

[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

Are you confident Bughead will be endgame on this show? That’s literally the last strand I’ve been holding onto, but the thread is weakening. I really can’t believe that they would take this ship, their absolute most popular and loved one, and just end it like this forever. I am so angry with the writing!!

Hey there, anon! It is unbelievable, isn’t it?

What a tricky question you ask! confidence + prediction + the Riverdale writers ... As Jughead would say: yikes!

The thing with these writers is that they use a lot of words without knowing their meaning. “Endgame” is one of them. “New” is another. “Exciting”. “Darkness”™. “Adult stories”. “The message”…

Dangling the bughead “endgame” carrot at the end of one or two seasons of no bughead or -worse- of b*rchie and j*bitha f.e. is not an endgame. The general definition of endgame -outside of chess- is: the last stage of a process. If the process (i.e. the season’s content) isn’t about bughead, then bughead coming together at the very end is not an endgame, it's a peripeteia i.e. a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances.

In shipping, endgame is a couple that will inevitably end together (for ever and ever and ever). In order for something to be inevitable, you have to create that sentiment, you have to build the couple up.

There’s an article about the misappropriation of the word “endagame” that I find particularly funny, as it starts by mentioning Riverdale!

Anyway, this is a long-winded way to say that, yes, I do believe that the show will end with bughead and varchie as their main canon couples. It’s just that, like you, I’m so very tired with these story lines. There is satisfaction to be had at the notion of endgame but a seasonful of investigative bughead would be infinitely preferable. For me (and I can only speak of myself) the journey is more important than the destination -even if for the simple reason that -in TV show time- it lasts longer!

Why do I think bughead is still … that word? Everything’s under the cut, so as not to clutter your dash!

1. A lot of people have been theorising that what happened in 5x18 was not the original plot. I agree.

Let’s start with 5x18 varchie.

Their break up came completely out of left field. Its unexpectedness is reminiscent of 4x17. I make fun of how s5 is a reboot of s1+s2’s leftover ideas, so another copy-paste shouldn’t feel out of place, and yet … really? Another repetition? To what end? If the season’s goal was not varchie, b*rchie was already there waiting at the beginning of the time jump! Why abandon that plot? In terms of romantic varchie time, that was extremely limited, since after their kiss in 5x7, Veronica’s divorce kept them apart until 5x17 … Why have Archie being extremely jealous of Chad, Veronica getting involved in all of Archie’s schemes (firefighters, bulldogs), Archie getting involved in Ronnie’s (rescuing daddykins) or Veronica telling her father she chooses Archie over him in 5x17? Also, for those who remember, there was this by the-writer-who-shall-not-be-named.

The reason of the break up is as ludicrous as Veronica moving into Archie’s childhood bedroom (with its effing slanted roof!) on the premise that long term the Andrews’ residence has more room! (By the way, I don’t know what surprised me more: that Veronica thought that Archie and uncle Frank would know who Ina Garten is or that Jughead didn’t.) Why is Veronica astounded by Archie’s involvement in the same activities he has been involved in all through the season?! For f***’s sake, she’s the one that gifted him the fire truck!

Ok. Now let’s give 5x18 j*bitha a try.

For me, 5x18 could either have gone bugheadwards or j*bithawards. J*bitha had some heartfelt talks, a hand touch, a hallucination and a kiss. Bughead had one unfinished heartfelt talk (the only one in the whole season for Betty), two shoulder touches, two hallucinations and Jughead attempting to reconnect with Betty (without specifying what his intent was, it's true).

While I do think that j*bitha is a ship that has been adequately teased, the way they were explored in 5x18 was … not underwhelming exactly (after all, they’re not my ship, so I didn’t have any expectations about them) but … maybe lukewarm is the word? They had but minimal dialogue, only enough to establish that Tabitha’s parents were in town. Then a song where Tabitha initially rejects Jughead, although she had been supportive before. Then another song, where the lyrics were heavily altered and didn’t make much sense anyway (we hadn’t been properly introduced to the Tates) but where the original lyrics were very compatible with Bughead’s history and state of being as of 5x17. The kisses were ok, I have no problem with the actors’ chemistry. But -and this is strictly a personal opinion- Jughead’s flirting scenes (not the make-out ones, you perverts!) with Cora were better and so was the j*bitha kiss in 5x10. For the 5x18 j*bitha to flow, more dialogue and more flirting was necessary (always a persona opinion). So, no, I don’t think j*bitha were supposed to sing what they sang in 5x18.

Production for s5 wrapped up one week after the official announcement of the 5 special episodes for Riverdale and The Flash: “we expect it will take us until Fall 2022 to get back to a regular schedule” was the official quote. Re-organising the cw’s overall schedule didn’t happen overnight. Yes, more likely than not, the writers knew about the specifics of s6a before shooting 5x18-5x19 and had time to re-write them.

2. The couples spoilers for s6 do not make sense plot-wise.

If the end-goal for 5x19-6x1 had been b*rchie, j*bitha and v*ggie all along, these were pairs already happening (except from v*ggie) at the beginning of the time-jump. As for v*ggie, last time we saw them, Veronica pulled a face when she heard that he had had (still has?) an affair with Hermosa. And what about Nana Rose?! (ok, that was a joke! ... or was it? 👀)

The majority of both the fans and the general audience are bugvarchie shippers. Teasing b*rchie and j*bitha as a means of maintaining the viewers’ interest in a will they/won’t they way, only works if the audience finally gets what they want. In this season. Not the next one! There is so much trolling one can take after all. In the space of 1.5 year (4x17-5x19) b*rchie will have been teased ... THREE times (and still lacking build-up)!

I cannot myself see b*rchie, j*bitha and v*ggie as endgame couples. For the audience to invest in them after 4 years of bugvarchie, the writers have to a) give j*bitha an absolutely incredible development that will surpass bughead and the cinematography to go with it (good luck with that) and b) undo Archie’s character (highly unlikely) and/or give Betty a lobotomy (at which point a lot of people will quit en masse, because Archie as The One All The Girls Want just doesn't resonate with the majority).

I have no idea if s6a is an AU or not. But if it’s not, no one will be left to watch 6b.

Can I guarantee a bughead endgame? Of course not. I have no idea how the minds of the Riverdale writers work. But I do think that Jughead and Betty getting back together is more than wishful thinking.

Fervently shipping Jughead/Betty, Jughead/his book and Betty/therapy, sincerely yours, @raymondebidochonlifechoices

I hope you have fun with the Riverdale universe regardless, dear anon. Riverdale has given us one of the most beautiful getting-together stories in s1 and lots and lots of beautiful canon bughead afterwards. Here's to many more! Much love to you!

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Cheryl//this is me trying

Request: Can I request a season 1 cheryl x reader. Cheryl always protects reader from people and r is shy but falls in love with the redhead and some who’s accidentally tells her while she’s having a bad day but cheryl is quick to reassure her then they cuddle after going to pops or something and it’s just fluffy.

hey! happy valentines day gays! and get you, two imagines in one day, it must be the day of love. i hope you all like this because it’s really fluffy and i enjoyed writing this a lot!

Overnight, Riverdale became a shell of its former self. Two months since Kevin Keller and Moose Mason stumbled upon the body of Jason Blossom, and nobody has been the same since. 

The town is riddled with secrets, they’re slowly destroying it like a disease. Nobody trusts anybody anymore, everyone is on high alert, and everyone is a suspect. 

Cheryl usually loves being the centre of attention, she has done ever she was a kid. It’s something that comes naturally with being a twin, you share everything and as much as she loves loved the shared birthdays and friends, she has always loved being the centre of attention.

Now however, she hates it. Her life is a true crime documentary at the minute, and all she wants is for the killer to be caught so the crew can pack up and leave and she no longer has to stare down at the blinding lights being cast over her and her family. 

The only thing that’s kept her sane over the past two months, is you. Despite everything happening, despite the murder and the secrets and the suspicion, you’ve stuck by her side. You were with her when they found the body, and you haven’t really left since. 

The two of you are unlikely friends, she’s Cheryl. Bright and bold and never one to back down from confrontation. But you’re Y/n, sweet and shy and always the first to shrink away from any sort of attention directed at you. 

She knows you hate the constant attention recently, it’s something you get used when you’re best friends with the victim’s sister, but not once have you complained. 

You’ve being questioned by police, journalists and strangers on the internet. You’ve had camera’s shoved in your face on your walk back from school and been asked countless questions about what you know about the Blossom’s. And you’ve also been offered ridiculous amounts of money in order to talk. But no matter what happens, you always just rush past them and join Cheryl, who’s always waiting for you with a sad smile and warm hand. 

Due to the constant hoard of vultures swarming Riverdale High, the two of you had to figure out somewhere else to meet after school so you could walk the long way home. It adds twenty minutes to your walk, but it’s not that well known around town, meaning people can’t bother you. 

Plus, the extra twenty minutes that you get to spend with Cheryl isn’t the worst thing. It’s the opposite in fact. It’s the thing you look forward to, even if you are looking over your shoulder every so often 

But today you’re not at your meeting spot. 

When Cheryl pushes her way through the stares of her fellow students with you and only you on her mind and makes her way through the school basement, back up the stairs and out of the fire exit, you’re not waiting for her with a smile that makes her feel warm and a cold slice of pizza you snuck out of the cafe earlier. 

The only thing waiting for her is a full bin and an empty field. 

“Y/n?” She calls out and looks around the corner. She’s met with three seniors, all of which are smoking with absolutely no care for being caught. 

“She’s not here.” One of them says, her blonde hair and large glasses cover half of her face and Cheryl forces a smile. 

“Hey, Blossom.” A boy says and Cheryl freezes. Who knows what they want, but whatever it is, it probably won’t be nice. It’ll probably be something along the lines of ‘hey, did you kill your brother’ and no matter how many times she’s asked that, it doesn’t get any easier. “Maybe try the bleachers.” He says, ending his sentence with a sympathetic smile and Cheryl nods slowly, not really sure what to say. 

“Thanks.” She forces and spins on her heel. 

“We’re sorry about your brother, Cheryl.” The blonde one says and she turns around again. Each of them look sad, with matching frowns and sorrow swimming in their eyes. 

Jason meant the world to Cheryl, but he also meant a hell of a lot to other people too. And that’s when it hits her. Of course you’re at the bleachers. 

For some bizarre reason, only known by your father. You and your family used to come along every other week to watch the Bulldogs play. For a while you thought it was because your dad was trying to get you and your brother into football and this was a lot cheaper than the actual game, but the older you got the more you figured it was because he was just trying to relive his youth. For 90 minutes he could pretend that he was quarterback again and for those 90 minutes your dad would be the happiest he’d been all week. 

Then one week, a redhead sat beside you. In clothes that were far too expensive to be worn to a high school football game. Her parents looked like they wanted to be there as much as she did, but then a boy with matching red hair ran out on to the pitch and you’d never seen a smile quite like it. 

After that, you made sure to sit beside her at every game. And then one day she sat opposite you at lunch. The first few times she was alone, but then soon she began to appear with a group of other girls, but you were the only one she’d talk to. 

Eventually lunch times and football games turned into group projects and sleepovers. You spend hours braiding her hair and listening to her tell you stories of other worlds and the creatures that live in them. You’d sneak down the dark and creepy halls of Thornhill in hopes of finding a midnight snack, and instead be met by Jason and your older brother in clown masks. 

Eventually, you found a different way to get to the kitchen, one that Jason didn’t know about. And when he’d come looking for you, both of you would jump out  and chase him around the house, much to the dismay of Penelope and Clifford. 

Those bleachers are what started a whole friendship, not only between you and her, but also you and Jason. When you’re brother eventually made the team, thanks to a good word put in my Jason, despite him being a year younger. Him and Jason became as inseparable as you and Cheryl and so it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to see the four of you hanging out. It also meant that if Cheryl was busy, you and Jason would hang out until she finished whatever she was doing. 

Grief is a hell of a lonely thing, and sometimes Cheryl forgets that other people miss Jason too. With everything going on, she didn’t even think about how you were doing. With all the questions, accusations and crying that constantly fills Cheryl’s house. She never even asked how you were. 

And now her legs can’t carry her quick enough to were she hopes your sat. Because she’s already lost her brother, she can’t lose you too. She wobbles as her heels dig into the dirt, kicking up dust and mud as she runs across the field. Her hair swings behind her, and she can feel the red scrunchie loosen the quicker she runs. 

The bleachers have all sorts carved into them. Initials in hearts, some of them still there, some of them crossed out so aggressively that it’s a miracle they didn’t chop it in half. There’s inside jokes and ridiculous rumours. Codes and dates and everything in between. 

But something new has been added in the past few days. 

cheryl murdered jason

and y/n helped

The writing is small and barely legible, but it’s there and the more you run your fingers over it the more it carves itself into your heart. 

“Y/n?” Cheryl pants breathlessly and you quickly pull yourself away from it. Instead you stand up properly and pull the sleeves of your sweater down over your hands. The y/f/c scrunchie remains still in your hair and Cheryl has to stare at it for a few seconds to calm herself down. “You weren’t at our spot.” She says quietly and you close your eyes. 

You let her down. You let her down. You always let her down.  

“Sorry Cheryl.” You sigh and sit down in the dirt. Cheryl looks around before sitting beside you. “I just wanted some space.” You add and force yourself to look at her. 

The sun sits behind her, but even that doesn’t seem as bright as it used to be. Nothing is what it used to be. For the past two months, you’ve been told that thats a good thing. But what’s good about someone you loved being dead. What’s good about watching someone else you love go through life but not really live. 

Cheryl just exists. 

But she exists for you. 

Because as lost as she would be without you, she knows you would be just as lost without her. 

It’s an unspoken rule now, you always text each other when you wake up and before you go to sleep. It’s something you used to do anyway, but now you make a point not to forget. Because forgetting means that the worst could have happened, and that’s something neither of you can bare to deal with. 

“I get it.” She nods. “I was just worried that’s all.” She adds, trying to sound as casual as she can. But on the inside she’s screaming. Because she thought you had died, she thought whoever had killed Jason had gotten to you too, and the whole reason you’re both dead is because she wronged the wrong person. 

There’s a lot of people that don’t like Cheryl, being unliked comes naturally to her. But she doesn’t know how she’ll cope if she’s so unlikeable someone she loves died. 

She has no idea why your friends with her to be honest. She saw you staring at her at a football game once. But it wasn’t a stare she was used to. It wasn’t cold like her mothers or jealous like her friends. No, this was nice. You were staring at her like you wanted to know about her, like when you looked at her, you saw a friend not someone to be feared. 

And so Cheryl clung onto the tiny hint of friendship, the crack of a door into something that could happen, and she shoved herself through it. It worked, and now you’re the only person she’s nice to. She’s mean to everyone else, she calls them names and teases them, especially when they’re rude to you...but you stay. And she has no idea why, but she’s not going to wish it away. 

“Shit, sorry Cheryl.” You drop your head into your hands and Cheryl looks at you confused. She looks around, not really sure of what to do. “I didn’t think, God knows what you thought had happened.” You ramble and she realizes you’re crying. Her eyes widen and you look at her, your eyes red and puffed and your lips pulls into frown. 

“It’s okay.” She replies and wraps her arms around you. You bury your head into her neck, the smell of maple and cherries invade your senses and you let out a shaky breath. 

It smells like home and happier times, and you want to crawl into those happy memories and never come back out. “I was just being ridiculous.” She tries to play it off, to make it seem like she couldn’t feel her heartbeat in her throat and the ringing in her ears. Pretend like it didn’t feel like someone had pulled her heart out and stamped on it. 

“No, no you weren’t. I’m really sorry.” You sob and wrap your arms around her. She falls into your neck, surprised but not upset with how tight you’re holding her. She never wants you to let go. But of course she has to, and so however reluctant, she untangles herself from you and lets out a deep sigh. 

“I’m sorry.” You sniffle. She hands you a tissue and you wipe your eyes with it before scrunching it up in your hand. “I’ve just had a rubbish day. Somebody shoved this in my locker.” You frown and pull a balled up piece of paper out of your pocket. 

Cheryl’s eyebrows knit in confusion as she takes it from you, her fingers graze yours and you freeze for a few seconds. 

who do you think did it? 

cheryl __

y/n __

Jamie __

“Why is your brother on here?” Cheryl asks, her voice rising with each word and you rest your hand on top of hers to calm her down. 

“I dunno.” You shrug. “Your parents are on there too.” You add and point further down the page. 

“What a bunch of dicks.” She grumbles and crumples it up. “Do you know who it was?” You shrug and she sighs. 

“I’ve just gotten tired of the staring and the whispers. So I thought I’d just have five minutes peace before going home and having to listen to Jamie cry in his room but pretend he’s okay. Or for my parents to walk on eggshells around both of us. Neither of them know what to say, and because of that they keep saying the wrong thing.” You ramble and she listens intently, trying her best to find a resolution to all of your problems. 

Unfortunately, she doesn’t know the answer to everything, no matter what her mom says. 

“I just thought five minutes by myself can’t be terrible. But then I came down here and someone carve-well it doesn’t matter what they wrote. What matters is that I made you worry at the worst possible time in your life. I hurt you, and I’m really sorry. Believe me, hurting you is the last thing I want to do you. I feel sick even just thinking about it. I never, ever want to hurt you. I love you too much. I love you more that I’ve ever loved anything or anyone ever. I just love yo-” Your eyes widen when you realize what you’ve just admitted to. 

You don’t want to look at her, but she hasn’t said anything in a while and that’s strange for her. So you force yourself to look at her, expecting the worst. Expecting disgust, disappointment, betrayal. But it’s none of those. 

Instead she’s smiling. And she looks actually happy. Something you haven’t seen in so long, something you’re glad to see, despite the circumstances. 

Oh yeah, you’ve just told her you’re in love with her. What do you say after that? 

“I-er-”

“Y/n?” She cuts you off before you get the chance to ruin the moment. She’s known you for long enough to know that when you get nervous, you ramble and when you ramble you say weird things. 

You’re grateful for her cutting you off, usually if she talks over you, it annoys the hell out of you. But this time it’s welcomed and she stifles a small laugh and the sigh of relief you let out. 

But the next thing she says is something that you weren’t expecting, but you’re sure as hell grateful for. 

“Would you like to go on a date?” 

---

The red lights from outside, illuminate Cheryl’s pale face in the night, painting her in a reddish hue and you find yourself staring at her for far longer than would be considered normal. 

Lucky for you, she hasn’t noticed. She doesn’t seem to be paying attention to anything, not really anyway. Instead she stares down at her food, pushing a few fries around the plate and anxiety rises in your chest. 

She’s already regretting doing this. She’s made a mistake and now she doesn’t know how to let you down gently. 

She seems to sense you nerves because she’s looking at you quickly, a sad smile twitching at her lips.

“Sorry, I just. Jason always used to tease me about the two of us. It’s the only thing we’d take about sometimes. He’d constantly ask me if I’d asked you out yet. And every time I would say ‘no, we’re just friends’ but, well neither of us really believed that.” She says, a small laugh escapes her lips near the end, but she quickly shuts it off. It’s too soon for her to be laughing, too soon for her to be happy. 

“Yeah.” You nod and finish your drink. “He used to tease me too. ‘if you don’t tell her, I’ll do it myself’.” You mimic his voice and a ghost of a smile twitches at her lips as she forces herself to look at you. “I am really glad you did ask me though.” Your voice shakes a little with nerves and Cheryl stares at you confused. “I do really like you Cheryl.” 

“I really like you too.” She smiles softly and you stare at her lips. Sometimes you think the red lipstick has permanently stained her lips cherry red. Even when you guys are a sleepover, she still has bright red lips and the other part of you wonders if that’s just what they look like. 

“Hey.” You start and a sly smile twitches at your lips as you remember an old memory. She leans forward, excited to know what you’re smiling about. 

It could literally be anything, from a musty old book she let you borrow from the Thornhill archive, to a new tv show you started to watch. But whatever it is, she’s excited to hear you talk about it. 

“Can you remember last year. It was Jamie’s 16th birthday and you and Jason were invited over. Jason was there because him and Jamie were planning on sneaking out later that night, and you tagged along so you could keep me company.” You start and she smiles at the memory. 

The four of you sat in the living room, while your mom brought cake and your dad sang ‘happy birthday’. Cheryl remembers how happy she was, and she remembers talking to Jason afterwards, the two of them whispering and wondering if that was what a normal family was supposed to look like. 

You, Cheryl and Jason had each pitched in for the record player he wanted. And even though you all knew that just Cheryl alone could have been able to buy him it if she really wanted, you knew they split it for you. 

Jamie was ecstatic when he opened the box, and then all of the records you’d bought to go with it. He’d played it every single day since getting it, but now you haven’t heard it in months.

“Yeah.” She nods, a sad smiling taking over he face. “Can you remember when Jason pushed his face into the cake.” She adds making you snort a laugh. 

The bell above Pop’s rings and Betty and Archie walk in. They send you a sympathetic smile before sitting at their own booth, and you and Cheryl share a look. 

“Would you like another one?” You point at her milkshake and she nods, smiling shyly. 

---

The walk home is over far too soon, and it’s only when you’re standing on your porch do you realize you took the normal way home by accident. Either the media has gone to sleep, or people are starting to forget about Jason and Riverdale. 

That thought makes you frown and Cheryl watches your expression falter before you look back at her again. 

“Thank you for walking me home.” You smile shyly and a nervous laugh escapes her lips. 

“It’s no problem.” She shrugs and the two of you stare at each other for a few seconds longer than normal. She’s about to leave when you grab her hand and spin her around to face you. 

She’s surprised for a second, until suddenly she feels a pair of lips on hers, and then the only thing she can feel is them. Everything else disappears, and though the kiss is short and a little awkward, it’s still perfect. 

“Would you like to come in?” You ask and motion your head to large wooden door. The pain is chipped around the metal numbers, something your mom has nagged your dad about for the past 6 months. “We still have the rest of y/f/s to watch.” 

“I’d love to.” She nods and the two of you grin at each other. “But seriously, how many times have you seen that now?” 

“It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it.” You unlock the front door, giving it a quick kick before you stumble through it. “What matters is that this is the first time you’re seeing it.” You add and she rolls her eyes but follows you up the stairs anyway. 

The sun sets over another day in Riverdale and darkness floods the town. The streets are cold and scary, but wrapped in your duvet and Cheryl’s arms, you’ve never felt warmer. 

[mashiraostail]

Those can’t sleep heard a noise scenarios were SO cute plz do ones for Fatgum and Gang orca 💕✨ no worries if your too busy or ran out of ideas to make them diff from the others 👌

yeah omg, I’m glad you liked them! I had a separate request in my ask box for gang orca and Vlad king as well so I’m just going to add him here instead of making two separate posts! I hope you enjoy :3

Taishiro Toyomitsu/ Fatgum: Your neighbors were probably just being loud, maybe having a small party, or an argument. You couldn’t remember if they had pets but maybe they did and they were getting into typical late-night pet troubles, and that’s what all the bumps in the night were. Though the shadow of that lamp in the hallway sure did look ominous enough...  Taishiro was a deep sleeper, he usually wasn’t bothered by your tossing and turning...though you figured being a pro hero would give him a sort of sixth sense to these things if there was danger he’d wake up, you just knew he would. You didn’t have anything to be afraid of, or so you told yourself. He was sleeping comfortably beside you still situtatied to hold you where you were once laying.  It was entirely possible that that lamp was not a lamp at all but a very still murder waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike...maybe Tai had a long day and that’s why he hadn’t noticed yet, he was probably exhausted.  You stop yourself before you wake him up, he probably did have a long day, you shouldn’t wake him up from all this much needed rest but- another loud thump. You shake his arm, harder than you intended in the first place. “Taishiro you need to wake up-” He groans and cracks an eye open. “Tha’ts not a very nice way of askin me to cudd-”  “Tai I’m serious.” Your voice lowers, you swear you saw something move.  His other eye opens at your tone, “What’s the matter you?” He sits up beside you, “not feeling good?”  You shake your head, “no I-” You grip his arm and look up at him, “I think I heard something..”  “Think ya heard something?” He glances out into the hallway, “well I’m pretty sure I came here alone.” He chuckles and you shudder at him. “Tai I just- I’m really freaked out-” He grins a little at that, he did think it was cute that you wouldn’t just go check it out on your own. “Alright, well howsabout I go take a look? Make sure alls well?” He offers and you nod vigorously at the idea. “lucky you, I think I can do that.” He stands up, “you just wait here alright?”  You scramble up to stand beside him taking his arm again, “well maybe I should come with you! You know I-in case you run into trouble!”  He’s laughing at that, “Gee you’re right.” He wraps an arm around you, “silly me going in without any backup huh? What would I do without my baby?” He lifts you easily into his side, “you watch my six now, ya hear?”  Unsurprisingly you find nothing. He sets you back in bed, your legs dangling off the edge. “Looks like it’s just the neighbors stomping around up there that gave you such a scare.” He pulls your head forward into his abdomen and scratches the back of your hair.  “You feel a little better now?”  You nod against him as he pulls you back to peer down at you, “let’s get back to bed yeah?”  “Mhm.” You cover his hand on your jaw, “I’m sorry to wake you up over something so silly-”  “Don’t be sorry.” He huffs, settling back into bed and extending an arm to you, “I’d rather you wake me up then be scared all by yourself. I know I’d want you to feel that way if it were me that was scared.” He closes both arms around you as you settle into him, “‘s what I’m here for okay? Well that and cuddlin’ anyways.” 

Kugo Sakamta/Gang Orca: Kugo always scolded you for how easily you were able to work yourself up to practical hysterics, and this time was no different. The rational part of your brain told you it was the wind. A window was open somewhere and the heavy wind was blowing in, knocking things around. The sound of the door just startled you and it overtook any rationality in your brain.  Kugo wasn’t really a light sleeper or anything, you were sure if it was something worrying he’d wake up, but he slept contentedly beside you, an arm still outstretched to accommodate you. You probably had nothing to be worried about. Unless... Maybe you should wake him up to check. It was better to be sure..But he looked so comfortable. He was even snoring a little. He was probably exhausted and-  You hear a louder door close and it makes you jump.  ”Kugo.” You push a hand on his chest, shaking lightly, “Kugo wake up-” One of his hands covers yours to stop the shaking against his chest, “I’m up.” He drops his head to look up at you, “what’s wrong? A nightmare?”  You shake your head, “No I..heard something..”  He sighs and sits up, “you need to get out of your own head love.” He pulls you into his lap. “I just have a bad feeling.” You murmur, bracing yourself against his shoulders. He drops his head and nudges into your neck, his breath is warm on your skin, “you always worry yourself sick over nothing dear.”  “I know..” You murmur, resting your cheek against his head, “well..Isn’t it better to be safe?” He picks his head up at that and takes your face in his hands. “If it’ll help you calm down then yes.” He lets you go and stands as he continues, “now tell me my love, where’d you hear the noise?”  “W-wouldn’t it be better if I went with you?” You look up at him from where you sat and he chuckles a little. “You’re scared to be left alone?” He holds out his hand, “well then come along little one, and stay close.”  You check around the whole house before landing on his office. “The windows were open.” Two of them, just a crack each. He lets you go to close them. “It’s so windy out tonight, a few things must have been knocked over, the first door you heard was probably just the cabinet, and the second was the bigger door. Does that seem right?” He welcomes you to his side as he sets the few things knocked over back in their place.  “It does.” You coil an arm around his rib cage, “I’m sorry to bother you for no reason-”  “Don’t be sorry.” He insists, reaching over to lock the windows, “I don’t scold you because it’s any bother to me, I just don’t like seeing you so worked up. But if I can help I’d rather you wake me up every time.” His hand rests between your shoulder blades, “why don’t we go back to bed now? Do you think you’ve calmed down enough to fall back asleep, or is there anything else I can do for you?”  You shake your head meekly, “I feel better..”  “Don’t be upset with yourself.” His hand moves to hold the back of your hair, “I love you, I’m glad you called on me. It makes me happy that you feel so safe and comfortable with me. Come on now, I’ll carry you to bed.”

Sekijiro Kan/Vlad King: You normally really enjoyed it when Sekijiro insisted on sleeping with you squished into his chest. You would complain and groan about it when he pulled you into bed, settling you directly on top of himself and squeezing you, but you never moved, even when he loosened up his grip, his skin was warm against your cheek and the sound of his heartbeat lulled you to sleep easily, sometimes far before he dozed off. Though tonight it felt restricting, you felt exposed and vulnerable, not by any fault of his but rather by all the strange noises you were hearing.  It was probably the dog, getting into his nightly dog troubles, trying to jump onto the counter and steal left overs despite being just an average sized bulldog, or digging on the couch. The clattering you heard was probably just his fat paws on the hardwood. Soon enough he’d tire himself out and come back in here, either curl up in his dog bed or whine and bark and try desperately to jump up into bed with you until Sekijiro woke up and let you go to pick him up so he could join you at the foot of the bed. Though you weren’t sure you could wait for that. You felt like someone was just standing at your bedroom door, watching you.  Sekijiro was snoring, he always snored, it was the only thing on the planet that somehow didn’t wake you up, despite being actually rather loud. His chest rumbled with it, and it rose and fell with big sleepy breaths, taking you along for each one. Eventually you feel too panicked, the normal grounding sensations weren’t working and before you could stop yourself you were shaking the man below you awake.  “Sek-” You murmur, bouncing against him, “wake up.”  He snuffles up, probably getting a mouthful of your hair. “What’samatter? What-oh.”  He lets you go so you can sit up around him, “bad dream?” He takes your hands and holds them against his chest, “looks like you saw a ghost.”  “I keep hearing stuff. It’s really scaring me.” You murmur, looking down at him, “will you..check around and make sure...everything is okay?” He looks up at you trying and failing to mask his affection. “You’re a little scaredy cat.”  “Shut up!” You roll off of him and he laughs a little, “I’ll look. I’ll look, I’ll check everywhere don’t worry about it.” He peppers a few kisses up your jaw to warm you back up.  “hold on-” You sit up and reach for him, “maybe I should come?”  “I’m pretty sure it’s just the dog, I don’t think I need backup-” It dawns on him, “oh you’re afraid.” He’s grinning, “come on then, stay behind me.” He holds out his hands to you and you take them. Sure enough it is just that pesky little bulldog getting himself into trouble.  “Drac!” Vlad forwns at him, you supposed it was good you’d got up to check. He’d gotten onto the counter somehow, but left himself no way to get down.  “Jeeze you’re the smartest yet dumbest dog I’ve ever met.” He mutters as he picks the bulldog up but despite his scolding is pressing more than a few kisses to the dogs perpetually grumpy face.  The dog mozies along behind you as you go back to bed, and curls up comfortably in his bed on the floor as Sekijiro guides you back to your own bed.  “Looks like it was nothing.” He takes your face in his hands and squeezes, “feel any calmer?” You nod in his grip and he hums before flopping unceremoniously back into bed.  “Come back over here.” He holds an arm out to you and you sigh but roll over to him.  “Sorry for being so paranoid, I just get so-” “Don’t be sorry.” You feel him frown into your hair, “you were nervous, that’s fine. What’s the point in dating a guy that’s 6′4 if you can’t wake him up for stuff like this?” He laughs a little, “wake me up whenever you’re scared. If I can help I want to, okay? I’d want you if it were the other way around so..I get it.” He presses a kiss to your scalp and squeezes you against his chest.  “Now let’s go back to sleep before he starts crying to get up here with us.” 

[idga-buck]

Some and Others, 4/?

Bucky learns some things about his relationship and tries to clean up the mess he made.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 3,300

Content: swearing, discussion of pregnancy, awkwardness, light allusion to dubcon?(No sexual content, but I’m including in case- if you have concerns about this, feel free to message me) also a fanfiction writer’s attempt to fill in the blanks regarding how the avengers make money and avoid plot holes. They’re a nonprofit now. Lawl.

Bucky stared dumbly at your apartment door, the sound of it slamming in his face still echoed in his mind. His lips flapped under the force of his exhale as he swallowed his pride and knocked again. To his surprise, you opened it quickly. Must have stayed by the door after closing.

“Can I try again?” He asked, leaning to the left and looking at your frown under the chain latch that kept him from seeing anything else.

“Is it mine?” You repeated back to him in a voice much lower than his own. If he wasn’t being mocked and you weren’t looking at him like the worst human on earth, he probably would have laughed.

Bucky lifted his hands and your eyes dropped to the four plastic packages in his fingers, then widened. He was a little proud of himself for remembering your excitement over the artisanal popsicle guy that pushed his little orange cart around the park by your apartment. Once the air shifted in springtime and the sun was out most days, you wouldn’t shut up about it. He didn’t really get it and half the flavors on the menu were fruits he’d never heard of let alone could imagine being paired up, but you loved them. Before the break up, you’d dragged him out to join you for one and playfully teased him for ordering a peach lemonade instead of something more exciting. He’d been more interested in getting out of the sun and using your sweet tongues and cold breaths for something more fun and less surrounded by people. Between the heat and his sorriest look, he hoped that the popsicles would help him get his foot in the door.

“What flavor?” You asked, eyes narrowed and on him again.

“One of everything,” Bucky assured you. He held them out as if allowing you to take one before pulling it back again, just as your hand rose to reach for one. “Please?”

The door closed in his face a second time. Becky’s jaw shifted forward in frustration, his bottom teeth tickling his upper lip, probably looking more like a bulldog than an Avenger as he chewed on nothing. His mouth slipped open at the sound of the chain sliding open and the door opened again. Third time’s the charm.

Your arm reached out to take one of the popsicles and walked away, leaving the door open behind you. “You can put the rest in the freezer,” you called back over the crinkling of your wrapper as you tore into it. It was a better invitation than Bucky had expected, so he took it. He closed and locked the door behind him before making his way into the kitchenette. Just before closing the tiny freezer door, he grabbed a bright magenta popsicle for himself. DragonPassionParty, the wooden stick read, and Bucky decided that he could use a bravery boost. Trying new fruits was a good first step before talking to you about the elephant in the room. Or rather in your belly.

“Hey!” You whined, noticing that he’d kept one for himself instead of saving all three for you.

“I’ll buy you more,” he answered automatically before shoving the top of the treat into his mouth and shrugged. DragonPassionParty was good.

Bucky joined you on your sofa, something that had been so normal just a few weeks ago was weird now. Both of you silently slurped on your popsicles, waiting for the other to say something first and break through the invisible barrier between you. Just like before, Bucky knew he should say something and failed to do so. His mother would be so disappointed. His sisters would smack him. If they could see him now, sitting on a sofa, tongue coated in sugar and dyed hot pink, while he stared at a wall to avoid speaking to the mother of his child… actually, even he’d smack any of his old buddies if they’d been that dumb.

“I wasn’t with anyone else,” you finally broke the silence. The braver person in the room showed themselves and Bucky wasn’t exactly surprised that it ended up being you.

“I didn’t think you had,” he admitted.

You scoffed at that, clearly unsatisfied with his response. “Then why ask? Why storm out and leave me alone for a life changing moment? Why show up FOUR DAYS later just to ask something so stupid?” Just when he thought your little outburst was done, you thought of another question. “Why bother showing up at all?”

Bucky winced and bit down on the wooden stick, pulling it between his teeth and clearing the rest of his dessert in one swipe. The ice melted on his tongue and he sucked it down slowly, watching you shake your head. You’d spun on the sofa, leaving half a cushion between your crossed legs and his spread thighs. “I didn’t think it was possible.”

“Well-“ you laughed, but not because the situation was funny.

“You said you were on something, so-“

“Hey,” you said sternly and Bucky’s eyes finally left the cushion between you to meet you head on. You pointed one finger and shoved it against your own sternum. “Woman with a uterus and birth control,” then your fist fell forward, finger now pointing directly at him, “Super soldier with super soldier spunk.” Your arms crossed after that. “Now we know which one is stronger. Shocker.”

“So…” Bucky debated asking, but it was a thought that came back to him over and over during the last few days. He already thought that you’d used him once… what was stopping him from thinking you’d do it again? Nothing. “You didn’t do this on purpose?” Your eyes widened comically, but your brows met in the middle of your face. Equal parts shocked and angered by what he was insinuating. In a moment of stupidity, he decided to lay it out plainly, thinking you’d respect him more for just coming clean about what had been bothering him. “Were you trying to get pregnant... to, you know... trap me?” Bucky frowned as it said it. It sounded even worse outloud. “Is it an Avenger thing? A money thing? I don’t have any…” he rambled on, watching your face fall open in disbelief. “I just need to know.”

“Fuck you.” Or not.

Your voice was different. Maybe because you were mad, but Bucky thought it was more than that. In months of being your boyfriend, he’d never experienced this side of you. You’d always been sweet to him, albeit a little pushy when it came to going out rather than hiding under the covers, but you were mostly a gentle presence. Something he’d kind of needed at the time. Now… you weren’t holding back and every time your eyes cut through his, his gut turned over.

“I should have come to see you sooner,” he admitted and by the look on your face, you were completely unimpressed by him. That was new too. “I had a lot to think about.”

Your hands fell down to your sides and you pushed yourself off the sofa before Bucky could finish his sentence. “Well, I have a lot to think about too.”

“That’s why I’m here, doll-“

“No thanks,” you stated simply. Bucky turned toward the back of the sofa, watching you move toward the door. He frowned when you stood next to it, looking rather expectant. When he didn’t move from his seat, you opened it for him. “I need you to leave, Bucky.”

He stood from his seat but not without arguing his case. He needed a few days to wrap his mind around the idea of a baby. The idea of YOU and a baby. The idea of HIM freshly fucked up and still trying to survive in a new world… having a baby. It was a lot and it was a lot to shoulder alone. Bucky avoided any conversations that turned toward himself. Steve didn't push it. Sam had definitely noticed, but also had a gift for filling silences without making him feel defective. Almost everyone else in the compound was so used to Bucky avoiding them anyways that it hadn’t been all that surprising when he suddenly closed up again.

Standing in your apartment, in the process of being kicked out, Bucky only just realized that you were in it too. He wasn’t technically alone, not if he didn’t want to be. You didn’t have to be alone either. That was the thought that should have put his ass on his bike and sent him here sooner.

He tried explaining himself, but you were over it, eyes flirting back and forth between his and the floor. The second he took a breath, you jumped in, seizing the moment for yourself.

“You can’t be here, Bucky. I have a lot going on and I need to figure out what I’m going to do.”

“That’s why I’m here, I can-“

“Whatever you think you can do, you can’t-“ you said sharply and fell back against the wall next to the door. With your head back, face turned up, you spoke to the ceiling instead of to him. “I told you, Bucky. I can’t say no to you.” He remembered you saying that before. It didn’t mean anything at the time. It was flirty, that’s all. But clearly, he’d missed what you were really saying. “You’re… I dunno. You’re larger than life and it’s my fault for getting caught up in it, but what was I supposed to do? Turn down the fucking Avenger in my bed?” Your voice sounded so small, so embarrassed as you spoke. It made Bucky want to throw up. Were you with him because you didn’t think you’d had a choice? Once he’d gotten it in his head that you were using him, he didn’t stop to question why he kept coming back. Why he’d come to you at all. Good sleep. Comfort. Escape. Some piece of his life that wasn’t under a microscope. Did he have it all backwards? Was he the one using you? “This isn’t-“ Bucky's eyes were drawn down to your hand, coming up to hold onto your stomach. It looked no different than it ever had. But it was. Everything was different. “I feel like everything is falling apart right now and I just… I can’t think about you, Bucky. If I think about you, I won’t think about anything else.”

“I didn’t-“

“It’s fine,” you sighed, pushing off from the wall and dropping your hand back to your side. Bucky’s eyes were still on your stomach as he fought the urge to replace your hand with his own. “I just need to figure out what comes next for me. I don’t know what to do about work or if I can stay in this apartment or how I’m going to tell my mother… oh my god, my mother…” you groaned.

“What’s happening with your job?” Bucky asked suddenly and he could see he’d caught you off guard, your mouth still open and your eyes deeply confused by his interest.

You blinked twice and he tipped his chin up, encouraging you along. “I was at work when those… things attacked,” you explained. “Our building was evacuated, which is where you, you know, showed up to save the day.”

Right. Bucky nodded, but he didn’t bother speaking this time. Just letting you fill in the details.

“My director was one of…” you paused and shook your head. “Well you saw what happened to her.”

The people that died. The people that died in front of you. Shit shit shit shi-

“Then some asshole with a bomb strapped to his back flew through the windows of the floor below our offices, or so they say. Everything caved in, it’s all lost. The video is all over the news, but I could only watch it once. He just soars right into it… it’s… fuck what’s wrong with people?”

You were getting choked up and Bucky stood there frozen, remembering the weight of the man’s body as he kicked it clear into a building across the way. Yours. Apparently.

Seeing that Bucky wasn’t really listening, you wiped your eyes and cleared your throat. “Some people are being transferred to new branches, I haven’t heard from anyone yet and Margo’s funeral is tomorrow and-”

“I’ll go,” Bucky interrupted and your mouth closed immediately. He watched your lips curl in over your teeth to bite them and your eyes drop back to the floor. He was going to say something else. Sorry, maybe. But when he reached up to touch your face, you flinched. His stomach dropped again. It was subtle, but clear as day to him.

So Bucky’s gentle outstretched hand curled into a fist and he left. Whatever help he thought he’d be able to offer was empty. You were pregnant. Potentially out of a job. You might be moving away all together and somehow all of that was his fault. He tried not to dwell on the possibility of never seeing you again, but when his mind did wander that direction, Bucky told himself that the idea of never knowing the only child he’d likely get was what soured his stomach. He ignored the way his disapproval started in his gut, but managed to flutter until into his chest, beating wings beneath his rib cage. It wasn’t like he’d miss you. He couldn’t. He’d only recently gotten away from you. That had been his choice and now, suddenly, he wasn’t so sure about it. Maybe because it was his choice. It was good practice to set his own boundaries and decide what parts of his life included other people. From what he remembered of the sparse therapy sessions, those things were important and the break up let him do that. This time, however, if you left it wouldn’t have been his choice and that didn’t sit well with him. You weren’t interested in his input at all and that scared him a bit. He hadn’t felt this useless in- well ever. Bucky vaguely wondered what his therapist would have said about that.

…

The Stark’s were in charge everywhere they went. It wasn’t really a competition. Tony still perceived a power struggle that didn’t exist between himself and Steve, but Bucky knew better than to say what he actually thought about that. He’d come between them too much as it was, so whenever the two were together, Bucky steered clear. He’d perfected his aboutface back in ‘43 and 80 years later, he found more use for it than ever.

Bucky heard their voices echoing down the hall and needed no serum’s aid for it. The recent attack was the only thing anyone could talk about. It was stressing out Wanda to no end and if Bucky could tell that, he wondered why the hell everyone insisted on continuing on about it. Any civilian casualties set the witch on edge. Being so close to home made these particular losses that much harder. The android, Vision, tried to explain Lagos. Bucky felt like he barely had a grasp on reality as it was and conversing with a metal man who could float through walls wasn’t good for his mental health, so that was a brief conversation. Bucky saw Wanda in one of the sitting rooms, android sitting next to her on a modular sofa as both listened to the other Stark. The blonde one that managed to keep Tony in check when no one else could. She tenderly touched Wanda’s knee before rising from her own seat and making her way toward the hall, where Bucky realized he’d been standing like a creep and watching them for too long.

“Sergeant Barnes,” she greeted him with a warm smile, shifting a leather bag from her hand to her hip.

“Ma’am,” he nodded. She told him to call her Pepper, but he still preferred ‘ma’am’. “Everything okay?”

Pepper looked back at Wanda and Vision, leaning into each other on the sofa like the opening scene of a sitcom, but with somber looks on their faces. “I suppose it is weird to see me around the compound,” she mused before leaning in as if sharing a secret. “Stark tower is more my speed.” Bucky offered a tight smile and when his eyes drifted back into the sitting around, where the couple still hadn’t moved, Pepper spoke up again. “She’ll be fine, wants to make amends. I’d let someone help usually, but since the attack was in the city…” she must have noticed that Bucky’s expression changed. He stared hard, through her not really at her, and Pepper moved her head a bit trying to catch his eyes again.

Amends. Wanda wanted to make things right somehow. As far as he knew she couldn’t bring anyone back from the dead, hell maybe she could, Bucky didn’t know the extent of her powers, but still she wanted to help the ones who lived start to heal. Whatever that looked like. Pepper would help with that and maybe she could help him now that inspiration had struck.

“Do you have a minute?” he asked, suddenly, but hopefully. Pepper looked over his shoulder, then down to her phone. It was obvious she wanted to say no and Bucky was shocked when she didn’t. The Starks were very different people and he was glad to be talking with this one. Bucky escorted her down the halls and toward the hangar, so that she could leave whenever she needed to, sharing a bit of his needs all the way.

“I think I need a space… not here you know? A house or apartment, I don’t know. The compound is great, really, more than I expected honestly, but sometimes I just… I can’t breathe and I don’t have any money, but maybe-”

Pepper stopped walking and held up a hand. Bucky shut up and was glad to, feeling like he was going nowhere with his awkward request. Her smile really was kind and it prompted him to take a breath. “Stark has some real estate holdings, investment properties, I’ll set you up with one of the property managers.” She made it sound so easy. It made Bucky nervous.

“I’ll need a job or something to pay for it, can-”

Pepper stopped him again. “Tony was supposed to talk to you about this.”

Bucky sensed that blaming her husband wasn’t his wisest option, so he smiled meekly. “I might not have been listening.”

She hummed, frowning a bit as if she knew he wasn’t telling the truth, but continued on, seemingly unbothered. “You are not a Stark employee, Sergeant Barnes-”

“Bucky,” he corrected reflexively, but quietly.

Pepper smiled, her shoulders lifting quickly in silent amusement. “Bucky…” she started again. “It’s a conflict of interest. After the mess over the accords, it was decided that no entity should have, for lack of a better word, control over the Avengers.” Bucky couldn’t agree more. “What used to be an initiative of S.H.I.E.L.D. is now a 501(c)3, accepting benevolent donations, but no strings. We use a fiscal intermediary, yearly audits…” Pepper rolled her eyes off to the side. “You don’t care about all that, I’m sure, so I’ll keep it simple. You have money, Ser-” she stopped herself. “Bucky. Many people believe that you put more good into the world than bad and they want to support that.” Bucky swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure about all that…

“Is there… is there anyway we could keep this between us?” Pepper frowned at his request and Bucky coughed. “The whole point of a place is privacy… no offense, but if your husband knows…”

Pepper smiled, but checked her phone one more time. “I understand. He can find out lots, but I won’t give him any reasons to go looking. How about that?” Bucky thanked her and didn’t follow when she started walking again. “I’ll be in touch,” she promised and he waved awkwardly as she pushed her way through tall glass doors, leaving him and the compound behind.

Tags are always open: @fangirl-swagg @learisa @urbankaite2 @intothesoul

[maybeimamuppet]

someone gets hurt

“Janis! Janis!” Cady calls, rushing up to her at the end of the school day.

“Babe, you good?” Janis asks worriedly as her girlfriend barrels into her.

Cady nods rapidly. “Yes! Principal Duvall just told me I’m the valedictorian!”

Janis gasps, wrapping her in a hug. “You are? Oh my god, baby! That’s great! I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Cady giggles from in her embrace. “Are you staying to paint today?”

“Yeah, you want to come?” Janis asks, plotting in her head. Cady has worked so hard this year, she deserves to be valedictorian, arbitrary as the title is. Janis should do something.

“Always,” Cady grins, leaning up for a kiss and taking her hand to lead them to the art rooms. “How is Damian?”

“He’s fine, it’s just a sprain. Texted me earlier high off his ass on painkillers though, that was funny,” Janis chuckles. “Said there was a dragon in his mashed potatoes.”

“Janis! Don’t laugh at him, you know he has a phobia of broken bones. He’s lucky it was just a sprain. Poor guy,” Cady chides.

“He fell down the stairs! I’m allowed to laugh,” Janis defends.

They’d decided to have lunch in the auditorium today, just for fun. Damian had finished eating early and showed off some complicated choreography from his college audition cuts. He’d absolutely nailed them, but during his bows and basking in the applause of his friends, had fallen down the stairs and sprained his foot. He’d fallen into a panic attack, thinking he had broken it, and was taken to the hospital almost immediately.

“He’s your best friend! I’m gonna tell him you laughed,” Cady threatens.

Janis snorts. “You little narc. Go ahead, he laughed at me when I broke my tailbone when we went roller skating.”

“Hmph. Who are you texting?”

Janis had pulled out her phone to text Regina. She loves throwing parties and giving gifts, she might have some ideas for something Janis could do to surprise Cady.

“Uh, my mom. I actually can’t stay today, uhm... Jules is... sick. I have to go help my mom take care of her,” Janis lies through her teeth.

“Oh. Okay. Do you need me to get her anything?” Cady asks, miraculously not having noticed. She struggles reading people sometimes.

“No, don’t worry about it, baby. It’s just a cold, but she gets really whiny and stuff whenever she’s sick,” Janis explains. That’s true, at least.

“Poor thing. Tell her I hope she feels better soon. I’m going to go visit Damian,” Cady says, popping up on her tippy toes to kiss her goodbye.

“Okay, baby. Tell him I said hi,” Janis responds, kissing her back. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Good luck,” Cady says back.

“Thanks,” Janis chuckles.

————-

“Hi, Dame,” Cady says sadly as she knocks on the door of his hospital room.

“Hey, Cads!” Damian says.

Cady chuckles as she comes to sit by his bed. “You sound better.”

“I got, like, hella painkillers a while ago. Went on some fun daydreams,” Damian replies. “Not high anymore though.”

“Good, I don’t know if I could handle you all hopped up,” Cady giggles. “Janis said you texted her something about a dragon in your mashed potatoes while she was in math class.”

“I did? Oh god, she’s never gonna let me live that down,” Damian sighs. “Oh well.”

“I’ll make her go easy on you,” Cady says confidently, pulling out an activity book she had made during study hall. “I made this for you. I know it’s a little childish, but I figured you might want something to do.”

“Aww! Thanks, Caddy. Ooh, connect the dots,” Damian responds as he flips through it. “What’s the matter?”

Cady turns from where she’s standing, frowning as she looks out the window. His view goes across the street, looking over a coffee shop. Janis lied? She’s in the shop, sitting with... Regina George. Hm. They’re laughing at something.

“Huh? Oh, nothing, don’t worry about it,” Cady says through grit teeth, coming back  to his side and trying to hide her seething jealousy. He doesn’t need that right now. “So, how long are you stuck in here?”

“I get out tonight, once they’re totally sure I’m not reacting to anything they’ve given me,” Damian replies. “I’m not going to be in school for about a week, though. I’m not supposed to walk even with crutches until then.”

“You poor thing,” Cady responds as she rolls her shoulders to get rid of the tension.  “I’ll visit you as much as I can, but I just got a huge English project that’s gonna take me a while.”

Damian pats her hand comfortingly. “I get it, Cads, don’t worry about it. I have this cool book to work on.”

Cady chuckles. “I’ll send other people to come keep you company on the days I can’t. And you have Pippa in the meantime.”

Damian laughs outright at that. His french bulldog doesn’t make a great caregiver. “Thanks, little slice.”

“Anytime.”

—————

“So how was Julie?” Cady asks during her daily morning meet-up with Janis on Monday. She wants to hear what Janis has to say, now that she knows she lied.

Janis doesn’t even look up from her phone, tapping away texts to... someone. Probably Regina. “Hm? Oh, she was fine, thanks. Just needed a rest. How was Damian?”

“He was fine,” Cady huffs. Janis had lied again. Janis hums noncommittally. “He went on a quest to fight dragons with a fairy princess and took me. I was an elf. You should really come next time. He’s a wizard, you know. I’m surprised you didn’t notice before. The doctor even had an enchanted sword.”

“Good for him,” Janis replies, having taken in nothing. The bell rings then, making them both jump. “Oh shit. Have a good day, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cady responds, blinking in surprise at the quick kiss pressed to her lips before Janis runs to class. What the hell is going on with her?

-

Janis continues acting oddly into the next day. She’s not at lunch on Tuesday, and neither is Regina. Cady plops her tray of meatloaf on the table and sits down with a huff, startling Gretchen and Karen.

“You okay, Cady?” Gretchen asks worriedly. “You look tense.”

Cady stabs her meatloaf so hard that a few of the tines snap off her plastic fork. “Peachy. Has Regina told you guys anything? About what she’s been up to lately? Janis has been acting so weird, and I think Regina is part of it.”

“Um, no,” Karen lies. Regina had told them the plan to surprise Cady, so they actually knew everything. They had been sworn to secrecy.

“Yeah, we don’t know anything,” Gretchen piggybacks. “How has Janis been acting weird?”

“She... she lied to me,” Cady answers, realizing this may be more serious than she had originally thought. “I got chosen as valedictorian, I thought maybe we could go have dinner or something to celebrate after we visited Damian, but she said her sister was sick. But she wasn’t, Janis was in the coffee shop with Regina.”

“With Regina? Are you sure?” Karen responds. “Regina was with us Friday. And they still, like, totally aren’t friends. X emoji.”

“It was definitely Janis, at least,” Cady says sadly. “I guess it might not have been Regina. But how many other platinum blondes that wear full designer outfits would Janis know? Maybe it was before you guys hung out.”

“That is totally strange,” Gretchen responds, anxious about lying. She tries to change the subject quickly. “Has Janis done anything else weird?”

Cady takes the bait. “She wouldn’t stop texting yesterday, or this morning. I don’t know who she was talking to, but she didn’t even listen to me. I made up some story about Damian and I fighting dragons and she just said ‘good for him’.”

“Dragons? That’s so fetch,” Karen responds. “I want to meet a dragon. It’s one of my life goals, sunrise emoji.”

“Karen, sweetie, no. She said she made it up, remember? Dragons aren’t real,” Gretchen says quietly, squeezing her hand.

“That’s not fetch,” Karen huffs, going quiet.

“I know, sweetie. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much, Cady,” Gretchen says as she tries to comfort her girlfriend. “Janis is, like, head over heels for you. It’ll work out.”

“It better,” Cady grumbles. “Oh, hey, can you guys pop in to see Damian after school? Just for a little while, make sure he’s okay? I told him I’d have people drop by on days I couldn’t go see him.”

“Why can’t you go?” Gretchen asks, genuinely curious.

“I got this English project Friday, I have to work on it. I’m supposed to pick a career I want in the future and make a presentation about it, and it has to be five minutes long! I don’t even know what I want to do for a job,” Cady sighs.

“You can do it, Cady, you’re super smart,” Karen pipes up again. “Notebook emoji. But, like, shrug emoji, would Damian even want to see us?”

“Why wouldn’t he want to see you? He really likes you guys now. You’re not mean to him or Janis anymore, he doesn’t have anything against you guys anymore,” Cady says sadly. “You guys don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but he’d love to see you. You’re his friends.”

Of course we’ll go, we don’t have anything going on,” Gretchen responds. They need to fill him in on the plan, anyway.

“Oh, thank you,” Cady breathes with relief. “I owe you one.”

“It’s fine, Cady. Good luck with your project,” Gretchen says.

“Ugh,” Cady grumbles at the reminder, slamming her head into the table.

————-

By Wednesday afternoon, Cady is at her wits end. She hasn’t slept in two days researching for her project, and Janis still won’t pay attention to her. She’d gotten confirmation that it had been Regina with Janis at the coffee shop, so Gretchen and Karen had also lied to her face.

She heads to the art rooms after school to watch Janis paint, needing a break from her own thoughts. Even if she is a bit angry with Janis. Maybe this will patch things up.

Cady loves watching Janis paint. She loves the cute way her brow furrows and her tongue pokes out to the side whenever she tries to focus, the way every stroke of the brush seems to have a purpose. Janis can create gorgeous scenes just from her mind, as if the brush in her hand is simply an extension of her imagination. Cady loves watching a few simple sketches or swipes of her paintbrush turn to incredible works of art.

Cady’s tried to paint with her a few times, only succeeding in creating a blotchy mess of colors and a few vague shapes, but Janis always cheered her on and pointed out the things she had done well. Cady decided she likes watching Janis paint more than doing it herself, but they have painting mini-dates from time to time that they both enjoy immensely.

She opens the door quietly when she finally reaches the classroom, in hopes of surprising her girlfriend. She winds up getting the surprise herself, finding none other than Regina talking to Janis. Again. Regina is sitting haughtily on the counter, facing Cady but not looking at her. There’s a strangely excited glint in her eyes. Janis is leaning against a desk facing Regina, so her back is to Cady.

They’re awfully close together, Cady thinks as her face falls and her chest burns with envy. She thanks her lucky stars they haven’t spotted her yet, allowing her to eavesdrop for a second. She tries desperately to tamp down the voice growling ‘get away from my girlfriend’  in her head. There has to be some explanation.

Cady can’t quite pick up most of their conversation, but she does hear Regina say, “Cady’s not going to find out, Janis,” and lean closer.

That’s all she needs to hear. She feels herself let out a harsh sob, turning on her heel and running from the room. Janis whirls around just before the door slams shut behind her. “Caddy! Shit,” she calls as  she breaks into a sprint after her. “Baby, please wait, let me explain!”

“What the fuck is there to explain, Janis?!” Cady yells at her, walking backwards for a second. “Just leave me alone. Go to her, I hope she makes you happy.” And with that, she turns and continues running.

“Baby, please,” Janis begs, reaching for her. Cady doesn’t turn back around.

-

Cady winds up running the whole mile back to her house without noticing, ignoring the worried calls of her parents as she barrels up the stairs to her bedroom, throwing her backpack off and burrowing under her covers. Her chest is starting to hurt with how hard she’s sobbing. Maybe she’s feeling her heart breaking.

How could I be so stupid with love again? Of course Janis would pick Regina over me. Regina has every American standard of beauty down pat, and a good personality now. What do I have?

She hears her phone pinging frantically, looking to see texts flooding in from Janis and Regina, both begging her to let Janis explain. She flips it to silent after sending her parents a text, letting them know to turn Janis away should she turn up at any point.

How could they do this to me? I understand why Janis chose her, but how could she be so cruel? Regina is supposed to be nicer now, how could she do this? It’s fucking Aaron all over again. I caught feelings for Janis and she snatched her away. And Janis... did she ever love me? How could she do this?

She rolls onto her side and soaks her pillow in tears, deciding she gets the decision to swear off of dating now.

-

Janis loses Cady as she reaches the main doors, panting with exertion. She turns to head back to the classroom to grab her bag.

“Janis, I’m so sorry, I had no idea she was there or I wouldn’t have phrased it like that,” Regina bursts out as soon as she enters, looking near tears.

“Reg, it... it’ll be fine. It has to be. I’ll go find her and try to explain again, I guess. Better to ruin the surprise than have her think I’m cheating on her,” Janis says in response, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and moving quickly back towards the door.

Regina sighs heavily. “Okay, good luck. I’ll text her too. God, she looked so... broken.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Reggie. Later,” Janis calls over her shoulder, hurrying towards the entrance to the building.

She pulls her phone from her pocket as she walks to Cady’s house, figuring that must be where she’s gone.

Jellybean: caddy that wasn’t what it looked like i promise

Jellybean: are you okay??

Jellybean: please let me explain

Jellybean: caddy you know me you know i wouldn’t do that to you please

Jellybean: baby??

Cady hasn’t answered or even read any of her messages by the time Janis is knocking on the door.

“Cady says she doesn’t want to see you,” Cady’s mother says harshly, protective of her cub.

“Mrs. Heron, please, I need to explain. She didn’t see what she thought she did,” Janis begs.

Mrs. Heron sighs. “Janis, I want to believe you, but Cady has been hurt by this Regina girl before. You need to leave, give her time. I’ll tell her you came by.”

She closes the door before Janis can get another word out. Give her time, Janis thinks as she walks to Damian’s house next, seething with anger.

-

Cady’s father wakes her up just before dinner, softly stroking her hair. She must have cried herself to sleep.

“Janis came by,” he says carefully. “Your mother sent her away like you asked.”

Cady immediately bursts into tears at the mention of her now ex-girlfriend. “I don’t wanna see her again. I want to switch schools.”

“Shh, binti. You’re a month away from graduation, you’re not switching schools. But you can stay home tomorrow. What happened?”

Cady cries harder. “Janis was-was talking to Regina in the art room and-and they were so close together and then Janis said something and R-Regina said that-that I wouldn’t find out about it,” she wails into his shoulder.

“Shh, ndege wangu mdogo wa wimbo. Did you hear what it was you wouldn’t find out about?” Her father hushes.

“She’s cheating on me! With Regina,” Cady sobs. “What else could it be?”

“Did you hear them say that? Or see them do anything?”

“No,” she admits shyly.

“Then you don’t know. You shouldn’t jump to conclusions, you’re going to jump into your grave one of these times,” her father chides gently. “You don’t have to today, or even anytime soon, but you should hear Janis out at some point, let her explain.”

“Fine,” Cady sniffs. “But what is she hiding? Janis tells me everything.”

“That I don’t know, binti. You take some time to think. I’ll bring up your dinner.” And with a forehead kiss, her father leaves her alone.

-

“Whoa whoa whoa, what?” Damian asks hastily, interrupting Janis. “Start again and slow down.”

“Caddy found me talking to Regina and now she thinks I’m cheating. She said she didn’t want to see me and won’t even read my texts,” she growls.

“Wow. That’s... out of character for her,” Damian says in shock.

“I know! I don’t know what to do, she won’t let me explain anything,” Janis huffs, terrified she might lose her girlfriend over something so stupid. “And now I’m wondering what the hell she really thinks of me. If she can’t trust me enough to know I would never cheat on her, especially with Regina fucking George, then should we even be together?”

“That’s a fair point, I guess,” Damian admits. “But that really doesn’t sound like Caddy. Something else has to be going on.”

Janis sighs, trying to get herself back under control. She can’t even figure out why she’s so angry. “Can you talk to her?”

Damian looks meaningfully at his wounded foot, but eventually can’t resist the urge to help his platonic soulmate. “I can try, I guess. Maybe convince her to hear you out. But I can’t explain what happened or get her to forgive you. You have to do that.”

“Fine,” Janis huffs. “Just make sure she’s okay.”

“She will be, Jan, don’t worry. I’ll text her, see if she can come over tomorrow,” Damian comforts.

“Thanks, D.”

————-

Cady warily checks her phone when she wakes up the next morning, surprised when she sees her most recent text is from Damian.

Big Slice: Do you wanna come hang out with me after school today?? Pippa is not performing her caregiver duties well enough

She sighs. It’s almost definitely a trap, Damian is Janis’ best friend. That thought gives her pause. If she and Janis break up for good, will she lose her friendship with Damian? And since Regina is involved, will Gretchen and Karen stop being her friends, too? If she doesn’t go talk to Damian, she might go back to being totally alone for the third time in two years.

Little Slice: Yeah, I’ll come. I’ll be over around noon. My parents made me take a mental health day.

Big Slice: 📷

Little Slice: Wait, Janis won’t be there, will she?

Big Slice: Nope just us :) She went to school and has to babysit Juju after

Little Slice: Good.

Cady hauls herself out of bed with a great deal of effort, surprised to see it’s already eleven. She trudges down the stairs still in her pajamas for breakfast, staring out the window at absolutely nothing as she munches on her cereal.

Climbing back up the stairs feels like she’s climbing Kilimanjaro again, but she manages and resists the urge to flop back into bed. She doesn’t even have the energy to brush her hair, tying it up into a knot and spraying a little extra perfume on in place of a shower.

She grabs her phone after she tugs on a sweatshirt and some leggings, texting her dad to tell him she’s going to see Damian.

Cady perks up a little on her walk over, the sun giving her some energy. She has a spare key, so lets herself into Damian’s house and heads to his bedroom.

“Hey, Cads, how are you?” Damian asks when he turns to look at her. Janis clearly told him everything, but he’s pretending not to know.

“Fine,” Cady whispers. She can feel tears burning in her eyes and knows if she tries to speak she’ll start crying. Damian doesn’t need her problems on top of his own and Janis’.

“No, you’re not,” Damian says, reaching for her. “Come tell me your troubles.”

“You have your own problems, you don’t need to hear mine,” Cady mumbles.

“Bitch, please, I live for drama. I’ve been holed up here for almost a week, give me something to do,” Damian begs.

Cady gives in to the cuddling urge, sliding in beside him and resting her head on his shoulder. She heaves a sigh to try and keep the tears at bay, to no avail.

“Did Janis tell you?” She says, choking out a sob immediately after.

Damian sits up to hold her better. “Yes, but I want to hear your side of things too.”

Cady sobs harder. “She was-was talking to-to-to Regina in the art room, and R-Regina looked... excited about something and then Janis said something to h-her and Regina said that-that I wouldn’t find out about it.”

“So what do you think they meant by that?” Damian hums sadly, rubbing her back.

“Are they t-together? Is she cheat-cheating on me?” Cady whimpers.

“Let’s work through this together, hm? You remember how Janis acted when she had a crush on you, yeah?” Damian asks, continuing when she nods. “Disaster lesbian. Has she been acting like that around Regina?”

“No,” Cady sniffles. “But-but she could be meeting her when I don’t know about it, and hiding it when-when I’m around.”

“That’s another thing. Has Janis been lying to you about where she is, or acting suspicious?” Damian asks comfortingly.

Cady is about to say no before she remembers Friday. “Yeah,” she wails. “On-on Friday, she said Juliana was sick... b-but when I was at the ho-hospital with you she w-went to that coffee sh-shop with Regina.”

“Okay, so we have one suspicious thing, I’ll admit that is weird,” Damian says, scolding Janis internally. “Has she done anything else?”

Cady sniffles as she pauses to think. “She won’t l-listen to me any-anymore. She spent all day Monday and Tuesday t-tex-texting somebody and didn’t hear anything I said, and then-then she missed lunch. She did-did yesterday, t-too.”

“That’s some bullshit,” Damian calls. “She shouldn’t be doing that, I’ll talk to her about that. Okay, so a few things. Back to our checklist. Has Janis stopped saying things like ‘I love you’ or giving you kisses and cuddles and stuff?”

“No,” Cady sobs. She misses that, so much. And it’s only been a day. “She hasn’t.”

“Has Janis ever willingly wanted to spend a long amount of time with Regina? In the entire time you’ve known them? Even now that Reggie is a decent human?” Damian asks, looking at her meaningfully.

“No,” Cady admits. “Not unless one of us is around.”

“So does it make sense for them to be together?”

“No,” she sniffles. “But what if she’s with somebody else?”

“Who would she be with?” He asks.

Cady stops to think. The only other lesbian Janis knows well is Sonja Acquino, and she had gotten a girlfriend over winter break. Girls at school still tended to avoid Janis. Unless she met someone outside of school, there’s nobody she could possibly be with. Cady spends most of her time outside of school with Janis, and Janis would’ve told her if she had met a fellow gay.

Cady processes this realization and bursts into sobs anew. “God, I’m so stupid. Is Janis mad at me?”

“No, little slice, no. Janis has been acting weird, you had every right to be suspicious. Janis isn’t mad, either. She’s frustrated that you won’t talk to her, and she’s upset that you think she would do something like that. But I think once you both take a couple days to process and regroup, you should hear her out and make her hear you out, and then you’ll be fine. You two are so fucking grossly in love, you’re gonna make it through this.”

“Thank you,” Cady sniffs. “For listening. I would’ve understood if you took her side. You’re such a good friend.”

“Thanks, Cads,” Damian chuckles. “I try. But really, I’m friends with both of you; I’m talking to you because I want to. You both have shit happening that you’re not telling the other one about; once you clear the air there won’t even be sides to this. And besides, you’re Pippa’s favorite auntie. We can’t let you get away.”

Cady gives a watery chuckle at that, wiping the tears from under her eyes. “God, I’m such a mess.”

“Bitch, you’re fine. Until, like, five minutes ago you thought you had your second major heartbreak in two years,” Damian chastises gently. “We have ice cream in the freezer, can you go get it for us please?”

“Yes,” Cady says, kissing his cheek and grabbing a tissue from the box on his dresser. “I’ll be right back.”

She hears the clacking of small claws following her down the hallway to the kitchen, turning to see the sweet little squished face of Damian’s french bulldog.

“Hi Pip,” she says in her baby voice. “How are you, puppies?” Pippa wiggles excitedly when Cady picks her up, scrambling to lick the tear tracks from her cheeks. “Oh, thank you. Have you been taking good care of Damian?”

She bursts out laughing when Damian calls “No!” from his room, apparently having overheard their conversation.

“Well that can’t be right, your little face could heal any injury,” Cady says as she sets the dog down. She opens the freezer, grabbing two pints of ice cream and some spoons from the drawer before heading back to Damian.

“Pippa would be a terrible nurse,” Damian says when she comes back. “She keeps tripping me every time I try to go to the bathroom.”

Cady giggles. “She’s doing her best, be nice. Here’s your ice cream.”

“Thank youuuuu,” Damian sings. “Now, what should we watch to get your mind off of things?”

Cady crawls back into bed next to him, helping Pippa up as she stands on her hind legs to see what they’re doing. “Have you found any new bootlegs?”

“Ooh, yeah, actually. I’ve had a lot of time to look,” Damian answers, grabbing his laptop from his nightstand and a flash drive from the drawer. “I found a really good quality one of The Lion King, do you want to watch that?”

Cady’s eyes go wide as she opens her ice cream and she nods excitedly. “I’ve just been watching videos of this monkey who’s best friends with a duck on repeat. It kept making me cry harder because they’re so cute. Your plan sounds better.”

“You are the biggest dork I know, I love you dearly,” Damian responds, bringing up the right file. “Alright, time to see some puppet elephants and shit.”

Cady cuddles into his side as the video starts, with Pippa resting protectively at their feet.

“Is Janis okay?” she asks quietly after they finish.

“Yes, she’s okay. She’ll be better after you two talk, but she’s fine,” Damian responds comfortingly. “I found one of Frozen too, do you want to watch that?”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

-

She stays over through dinner, watching musicals and playing card games with Damian to pass the time. He makes her promise to shower and clean her inevitably messy room when she gets home, and turn her phone back on.

She keeps her promises and heads to bed, feeling much more secure in her relationships than she did a few hours prior.

————-

Janis stays home from school on Friday, having woken up even angrier than she had the day before.

Her therapist in middle school had told her to find a constructive way to deal with anger, since she had a tendency to cause either severe property damage or accidental damage to herself with her impulse decisions. Damian had had to explain her way out of trouble several times.

So, Janis had taken up yarn crafts. She would knit or cross-stitch or crochet, finding the repetitive motions soothing. Plus, a lot of the tools were quite sharp, making her feel like she had weapons.

She’s aggressively working on embroidering new designs on her jacket right around the time she’s supposed to be in school, when none other than Damian comes barreling into her room, as if he’d felt a disturbance in the force and had come to make sure she’s okay.

“Phone,” he says immediately when he sees her face and choice of activity, hobbling over on his crutches and holding out a hand for it.

“Why?” Janis grumbles but shuts it off and hands it over regardless.

“So you don’t do something on it that you’ll regret later. Internet is permanent. You wanna go throw rocks in the pond?” He asks, as if she’s a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

“Can you do that? You’re not even supposed to be on crutches yet,” Janis asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

“You know damn well I would saw my legs off for you, I’m fine taking a little longer to heal. Plus, I got cleared by the doctor yesterday, so yes I am supposed to be on crutches yet,” he says childishly as he sticks his tongue out at her. “Are we going or not?”

“Yeah,” Janis mumbles, throwing off her covers to go get dressed.

-

Luckily, Damian’s unhurt foot is the one he needs to drive, so he can still do so safely. He lets Janis play her Angory Times playlist on the way there, which is just a lot of loud, shouty songs one right after another. Damian normally hates this kind of music, but Janis can see him actively trying to be supportive and let her continue.

Fortunately for him, the pond isn’t too far away, and Janis sees him breathe a sigh of relief when he shuts the car off and the noise stops. Damian grabs his crutches from the backseat and heads off, Janis stalking after him.

She bends to pick up rocks on her way, also grabbing the ones Damian points to. His are for skipping, small and flat and smooth. Hers are just for throwing, heavy ones that will make a good splash when they’re hurtled into the water.

Once their respective collections are amassed, they stand next to one another on the shore and go at it. Janis feels her anger chipping away as she chucks her rocks like baseballs into the murky water, delighting in the splashes echoing around them.

This is part of why she loves Damian so much. He knows exactly what to do to make her feel better in any possible scenario, and is perfectly content to do something as stupid as throw rocks into a creek with her in complete silence. On a sprained foot, no less.

“Nice,” she pants when Damian gets six skips in a row with one of his.

“Thanks,” Damian huffs back. “How many fish d’you think we’ve concussed so far?”

Janis laughs at that, hurtling her last rock as hard as she can. It hurts her shoulder a little, but lands almost halfway across the pond. “I don’t think fish can live in this water, honestly.”

“You’re probably right. Feeling better?” Damian asks, skipping his last stone. Four skips isn’t bad.

“Yeah. Can we get coffee?” Janis asks, trying to catch her breath.

“Yeah. Come on.”

-

Once Janis has her iced coffee and Damian has his latte, they find a bench to sit on and just watch the world go by for a while.

“So, are you ready to talk about why I had to take you to go chuck rocks into the pond?” Damian asks gently.

Janis sighs. “I just... I want to know what she’s thinking. I thought she trusted me, that we trusted each other. If she can’t believe that I wouldn’t do that to the point of completely cutting me off at the first slightly suspicious thing, then do we even... have a relationship?”

Damian doesn’t say anything, just takes her hand and squeezes it to encourage her to continue.

“Like... what else is going on with her? What is she not telling me? I just-I just don’t know what she needs. I’ve never felt so disconnected from her before. I’m-I’m scared.” Janis murmurs.

Damian hums sadly. “Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah,” Janis mumbles.

“I really don’t think this is happening because Cady doesn’t trust you. I think it’s happening because she doesn’t trust herself.” Damian responds. “She was a wreck when she came over yesterday, she had obviously been crying and hadn’t showered, things like that. Her hair wasn’t even brushed. When Aaron got back with Regina she got hot and did our whole revenge party thing.”

Janis takes her turn to listen, letting him continue.

“Cady grew up with lions and shit. If she thought you were cheating on her she should’ve been angry, not sad. Just based on who she is as a person. There’s something more happening.”

Janis thinks on what he’s said for a second. “Doesn’t trust herself? What do you mean? Doesn’t trust herself not to cheat on me?”

“No, no,” Damian says hastily. He pauses, trying to figure out how to word his point. “I don’t think Cady thinks she deserves you. She doesn’t trust herself to be what you want or need.”

“Am I that bad of a girlfriend? How could she think that? Why wouldn’t she tell me she was feeling like that?” Janis asks, trying to hold back the tears burning her eyes.

“Because you might have told her she was right. You and I know you would never do that, and I think she knows that too. But her anxiety about it overrode her rationality for a while. Cady has a lot going on. And no, you’re not a terrible girlfriend. You’re a pretty good one, actually. This is your first argument, it’s understandable,” Damian comforts.

“I just... I don’t want to lose her. And this is so stupid, why can’t I just-just stop being so angry?” Janis grits out.

“I think it’s fair for you to be angry, honestly. Cady didn’t mean for it to be, but this is kind of an attack on your character. She accused you of cheating,” Damian replies, wrapping and arm around her shoulders.

“I guess. Feels shitty,” Janis mumbles, leaning to rest her head on his shoulder.

“It’s meant to. But try to think of how she’s feeling, too,” Damian says as he rests his cheek on her head. “I had to explain to her why it didn’t make sense for you to cheat, and when it finally sank in the first thing she asked was if you were angry at her. For even thinking you would do that.”

That finally gets the tears from Janis, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes as she feels any lingering anger directed at Cady fade into nothing. “God, Caddy. What do I do, Damian?”

“For now, finish your coffee. She invited you to explain tomorrow, yeah?” Damian asks. Janis nods. “Okay, so tomorrow go over and... do something. I know you didn’t technically do anything wrong, but maybe apologize for... how she took it, I guess? You were acting kind of shady. Make sure she knows you would never cheat, tell her she can trust you, stuff like that. Just take everything one step at a time.”

“Okay,” Janis sniffles. “Is-was she okay?”

“Not at first, I’ll be honest,” Damian replies. “She said she had been watching videos of this monkey and duck who are best friends to try to cheer herself up, and I had to watch two bootlegs with her to even see her smile. But once we had a chat and stuff she seemed a lot more secure. Confident. She’ll probably apologize before you even get a chance.”

Janis gives a watery chuckle at the mention of the inter-species friendship videos. “That’s my girl. Thanks for checking on her.”

“Caddy said the same things. She wanted to know if you were okay, said thanks for even thinking about her.”

“I miss her so much,” Janis sniffs.

Damian takes her hand again. “And that’s how I know this is going to work out. You’re both upset with each other, and yet all both of you can think about is making up so you can be together again.”

“I hope so.”

“I know so. Y’all are the most disgustingly loving couple I know, you both look at the other like they hung the stars. You two are going to be fine.”

“Okay. I love you,” Janis responds, wiping her tears with her sleeve.

“I love you too. You wanna go play with the birds at the pet store?” Damian asks, hauling himself back onto his crutches.

“You know me too well,” Janis replies with a small grin, following him back to his car.

————-

On Saturday, Cady tells Janis she can come over to finally have a talk. Janis decides to come in through the window for dramatic effect, nearly falling out of the tree she has to climb to do so until Cady hauls her in safely.

“What the hell, Janis? It’s pouring with rain, why didn’t you come in through the door? You could’ve broken your neck,” Cady insists like a worried mother, leaving to fetch her a towel. It’s strange, not immediately pulling her in for a kiss or hug. She doesn’t like it.

“I didn’t, though, and that’s the key,” Janis says, rubbing the towel over her hair quickly. Once that’s done she gestures for Cady to sit on her bed, sitting across from her criss-cross applesauce. She takes a breath to prepare herself, but Cady speaks before she can.

“Janis, I’m so sorry. I don’t-I don’t know what I was thinking, I should’ve known you’d never do that, especially with Regina. I hadn’t slept in two days, I was so irrational,” she bursts out rapidly.

“Hey, Caddy, shh. I’m supposed to be apologizing to you. I understand how that whole thing with Regina might have looked to you, so I’m sorry for that, first of all,” Janis says. “I’m sorry I ever made you think I would do that to you. I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you. I’m sorry I ever made you feel like you’re not enough for me. I love you. I need you to know I would never even think about cheating. It’s important we trust each other with stuff like that, from now on.”

Cady nods. “I do, I know you would never do that. I trust you, it’s just... Jesus, I don’t even know,” She sighs, burying her face in her hands.

“Cads, hey. Can I touch you?” Janis asks gently, taking her hands when Cady gives a nod and squeezing them. She hates this, it feels like they’re back at square one of their relationship. Maybe they are. “What’s going on?”

“I know Regina has worked on herself, a lot, and I hate feeling like this. But she took Aaron away right when she found out I liked him. What would’ve stopped her from doing it with you?”

“Me,” Janis insists. “I would have stopped it.”

“But what if she’s better for you?!” Cady asks pleadingly. “Regina could take care of you. She’s pretty, and nice now. She’s rich, and smart, and she can do art and stuff too. What- what do I have? I’m just some homeschooled weirdo from Kenya who doesn’t understand people and won’t shut up about math. I-I’m autistic, that’s gonna be hard to deal with sometimes, and in terms of looks I’m not anything special. I want you to have someone who makes you happy. You deserve someone like her. Someone.... someone better.”

“I don’t give a hot, crispy, Kentucky fried fuck what you think I deserve. I know what I want, and I want you. I want my Caddy, my Peanut, my Butterfly,” Janis says passionately, cupping her cheeks and looking into her eyes. “I want your pretty blue eyes and your red hair that smells like cherries and your freckles I can find constellations in. I want my math nerd who does calculus for fun and who can’t do art to save her life but tries anyway because she knows it’ll make me smile. I want my animal lover who makes friends with the squirrels in the woods and didn’t notice a deer followed her on her walk to my house, my girl who can tell me facts I never needed to know about lions and fun stories about Africa. You make me happy. I want you, baby. Nobody else.”

Cady throws herself at Janis, knocking her backwards onto the bed and locking their lips together. Janis kisses her back just as hard, gripping her waist so hard Cady can feel bruises forming. She doesn’t care. She’s flooded with relief at the familiar waxy texture of Janis’ lipstick, the comforting smell of vanilla from her soft skin and the safe feeling of being held in her arms. She pulls back for a split second to breathe before diving back in, gasping as Janis nips her lip and twines their tongues together.

When they finally pull back, Janis just cups Cady’s face to look at her, lips swollen and two-toned hair wild around her. “I’m so sorry,” Cady says, pulling back to sit again and burying herself in Janis’ shoulder when she follows. “I hated fighting, I love you, I’m sorry.”

“The only thing you have to be sorry for is not telling me you were feeling that way. This is only gonna work if we both feel okay about ourselves, and tell each other when we don’t. I’m sorry for not talking with you about this kind of thing sooner. This whole relationship needs to be based on trust and talking to each other, okay?”

Cady nods. “Okay. We both take care of each other?”

“Exactly, my girl,” Janis confirms, grinning as Cady kisses her cheeks. “But ourselves, too.”

“Have you ever felt like this? With me?” Cady asks gently.

“Of course. I wonder every day what I did to deserve you. I was so jealous the whole time you were with Aaron, and I thought you were way out of my league for a long time,” Janis responds, chuckling when Cady pulls back to look at her incredulously. “You’re so beautiful, and so smart. You were queen of the school for a good while, I thought you would at least want someone as smart as you, if not as nice and pretty. When we first got together I spent a lot of time wondering why you didn’t pick Kevin or even Regina over me.”

“Then I’m sorry too. You’re what I want, I love you. I love the way you always smell like paint, I love the one little chunk of hair that always slips into your face,” Cady says, brushing it behind Janis’ ear. “I love the way you’re so tough and strong and yet you cry over the snake food at the pet store and try to steal the dwarf hamsters every time we go. I love how you never let my feet touch the ground when we’re together, and how you seem so cold but give the warmest hugs and softest kisses. I love how you’re the only person who regularly asks for stories about Kenya and never tells me to be quiet, and how you let me ramble about math and at least pretend to be interested even though you don’t understand what I’m on about. I love that you let me call you stupid little nicknames even though it ‘goes against your image’. I love that you’re so passionate about everything, that you care so much about what’s important to you and aren’t afraid to let people know it. I. Love. You. So much. Promise me you’ll tell me if you feel that way again.”

“I promise, baby. I love you too,” Janis responds with tears in her eyes. Cady clings to her tightly, happy they seem to be okay again. They sit like that for a short while, content to be holding each other again.

“Janis?” Cady asks quietly after a moment.

“Yes, Princess?” Janis responds, opening her eyes again.

“What have you been talking with Regina about?”

Janis chuckles, kissing her cheek. “I’ve been trying to come up with something to surprise you with, to celebrate you being valedictorian. Reggie likes party planning and stuff, I thought she might have some ideas.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Oh my god, I’m so stupid,” Cady chuckles. Janis flicks her gently.

“Hey, no you’re not. You’re the valedictorian, for fucks sake. And I did not go about any of this correctly.”

“I didn’t either, I don’t blame you. But you don’t have to get me anything, Jayjay,” Cady mumbles sheepishly as she nuzzles back into Janis.

“I know I don’t have to, I want to,” Janis replies. “You’ve worked so hard, you deserve something.”

“What have you guys come up with?” Cady asks.

“Regina wants to throw you some kind of party, but that’s all we’ve gotten so far. I’m trying to talk her out of some sort of rager,” Janis answers.

“Oh, that sounds fun. But yeah, I don’t want anything big or crazy,” Cady says.

“What do you want? Since it’s not a surprise anymore. Might as well get your input,” Janis says in response.

Cady thinks for a while. “I dunno. Something with food. Maybe outside if it’s a nice day. I trust your judgement.”

“A dangerous choice,” Janis chuckles.

“I know,” Cady giggles. “But really. As long as it’s not anything crazy or expensive I don’t mind what you choose to do.”

“Okay. I can work with that. I love you,” Janis says.

“I love you too. I missed you,” Cady says.

“I missed you too, baby,” Janis responds. “Was torture without you.”

“We really have to do something for Damian, too,” Cady hums thoughtfully. “I would’ve totally spiraled without him.”

“God, yeah, me too,” Janis says. “You think of something to get him, we’ll give it to him on the same day we do your little bash.”

“Okay,” Cady giggles. She goes quiet for a long moment before piping up again. “Janis?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you help me with my English project?”

“Yes,” Janis laughs. “Of course.”

“Thank god.”

————-

“Hey, Cady, can we talk?” Regina stops her in the hallway on her way to study hall.

“Oh god, Regina! Sorry, you scared me. Uh, yeah, are you okay with talking in the bathroom?”

Regina grimaces, but nods. Cady follows her in.

“Regina, I’m sorry, I should never have accused you of trying to steal Janis,” Cady apologizes. “You’ve worked so much on being nicer, and it really shows, I’m sorry I ever thought you would still do something like that.”

“Whoa, Cady,” Regina says. “Um, it’s... fine. I wasn’t expecting you to apologize. I wanted to apologize, I should have been more careful with how Janis and I were meeting and stuff. I don’t know if she’s talked to you yet, but she would never cheat on you, especially with me. I think she still hates me. Please forgive Janis, none of this was her fault.”

“Gina, hey,” Cady comforts. “Janis and I talked this weekend, we’re back together. Everything is okay. We’ve all learned some very valuable lessons. I forgive you.”

“Oh thank fuck,” Regina sighs. “The universe has felt out of balance since you broke up. I was wondering what you guys were going to do to me that could be worse than the Kälteen bars.”

“I’m still sorry about those,” Cady mumbles sheepishly. “Let’s just, like... talk about stuff, in the future? Stop having to have moments like this?”

“Agreed,” Regina says. “You want to hug it out, don’t you?” Cady nods. “Fine. Thirty seconds.”

“I’ll take it,” Cady says happily. “I’ll make a hugger out of you yet.”

————-

“Jayjay!” Cady calls, leaping on Janis from behind.

“Jesus fuck! Caddy! Don’t do that,” Janis yelps as she turns around.

“Hi,” Cady says, grinning up at her. “I sowwy.”

Janis glares at her. “You’re forgiven. For a kiss.”

Cady happily obliges, reaching her arms around Janis’ neck as she leans up to kiss her sweetly. “Better?”

“For now,” Janis says, pecking her gently again. “Do you want to work on your project? I’ve been freed from planning your little shindig for the day, Regina wanted to go see Damian.”

“Aww, that’s nice of her. I definitely need your help, it’s due on Friday and I only have a couple slides,” Cady says.

“Tits. You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Cady says, lacing their fingers together as Janis leads her to her truck.

-

Janis flops onto Cady’s bed when they arrive, reaching for her laptop to see what Cady has so far. She bursts out laughing when she sees the only slide Cady’s made.

“What’s so funny?” Cady asks. She’d been pretty sleep deprived by the time she actually got around to putting it together, but thought she had done a pretty good job.

“Did you proofread this at all?” Janis says in between fits of laughter.

“I hadn’t slept in two days at the time, but yes,” Cady replies, almost offended.

“Baby, this just says ‘I’m so tired. Please god let me sleep.’ over and over with a bunch of typos,” Janis says breathlessly, wiping tears of laughter from under her eyes.

“Oh. Oops,” Cady replies. Apparently she’s made less progress than she had thought.

“Next time, pace yourself. You need to sleep, Butterfly,” Janis says, reaching for her. Cady comes to sit on her lap.

“So, what career do you want to do this project on? It’s supposed to be what you want to do when you grow up, right?” Janis asks, holding her close.

“Yeah,” Cady mumbles. “But... I don’t know what I want to do.”

“Oh, baby, that’s okay. I don’t know either,” Janis comforts. “Do you have any ideas of jobs you want?”

“My parents want me to go into zoology, like them,” Cady replies. “And I’ve been... wondering if I should go into medicine. Like Rhys wanted to. Since he couldn’t himself.”

“But what do you want to do?” Janis asks. “I think it’s great that you’re considering medicine for your brother, but if it’s not what you really want then you shouldn’t force yourself into it.”

“I kind of want to teach math,” Cady mumbles shyly. “Like, to college or high school kids. Maybe get my PhD in math and stuff. I think math is fun, I want to help other people have fun with it too.”

“You would be such a good teacher, baby,” Janis comforts, kissing her cheek. “You should absolutely do that if it’s what you want. You’ll be successful enough to make your parents happy, and be doing something you’re interested in. That’s a great fit for you.”

Cady looks more than a little relieved at that, but realizes something. “I’d feel guilty though. I promised I’d become a doctor for Rhys when he died. I just... don’t really want to anymore. I don’t think I’d be very good at it.”

“Butterfly, Rhys would want you to be happy with whatever you choose to do. You already honor him every day just by existing. You’re so smart, and kind, and beautiful. I know you’re already making him proud, you don’t owe him anything else,” Janis reminds her. She never met Rhys, but from everything she’s heard about him she just made a true statement.

“Thank you, Jayjay. I guess if I did get my PhD I’d technically be a doctor,” Cady jokes. “I’ll decide later, I have a couple years.”

“That you do. Unfortunately, becoming a math teacher doesn’t make for a very interesting project, though, so maybe pick a fake career and we’ll look into that,” Janis says.

“I did actually want to be a zoologist when I was really little, we could do that,” Cady says.

“Sounds like a plan,” Janis replies as she kisses her cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cady responds. “Can we just make out instead?”

“Tempting,” Janis says. “You get one minute of kissing for every half hour.”

“Fine.”

————-

“Hey, Cady, can you go to the mall with us after school today?” Gretchen asks, flanked by Karen.

“Yeah,” Cady responds. “Is this related at all to-“

“No!” Karen insists before she can finish.

“Karen, sweetie, she knows she’s having some kind of party. She just doesn’t know what’s happening specifically,” Gretchen says quietly.

“Oh yeah,” Karen says. “Then yes. They’re going shopping for supplies today and told us to distract you. Confetti emoji.”

“Ah,” Cady giggles. “Yeah, I can go. I’ll meet you guys by the main doors after school?”

“Caucasian thumbs up!” Karen responds, pulling Gretchen away.

“Yeah, we’ll be there!”

-

“Okay, Sarkisian, what’s this wonderful idea you’ve had?” Regina asks.

“A picnic!” Janis says excitedly. “She wants something with food and something outside. We’ll have a picnic in the park.”

“That... actually doesn’t sound terrible,” Regina says. “So what do we need?”

“A big-ass blanket,” Janis responds as they enter a party store. “And food. And Caddy loves balloons, but we should get those on the day.”

“Who’s gonna make the food, Jan?” Regina asks.

“Jules can, she loves to cook. She’s been wanting to practice stuff anyway,” Janis responds, looking at their selections of plates.

“How is she?” Regina asks quietly. She hasn’t seen Juliana since she and Janis were twelve.

“She’s good,” Janis answers. “Tall as shit, little evil genius. She’s super smart and sarcastic and stuff. She’s big into writing now, too. How’s Kylie been?”

“I... She... I’m...” Regina stutters. “She’s a good kid, but she’s turning into a little version of me. I’m trying to stop her before she gets to where I was.”

Janis hums sadly. “Well, at least you’re a better role model for her now. And you’re both getting the help you need. Kylie was the sweetest little thing last time I saw her, I don’t think she can get to your level.”

“I hope not,” Regina mumbles. “Cady likes yellow, right? We could do white and yellow, that would be cute.”

Janis gets the sense they’re done talking about their families for a reason, now. “Yeah, yellow is her favorite. We could go buy some white sheets from somewhere for cheap and then do yellow plates and shit.”

“Done. I’m buying,” Regina says, grabbing several packs of plates and napkins.

“No! She’s my girlfriend,” Janis protests. “I’m paying.”

“Jan, just let me have this.”

“Fine. ‘S your money,” Janis grumbles.

“Thank you.”

“Hmph.”

-

Cady, unfortunately, has study hall as her last class of the day in the English wing, so she has to rush to meet Gretchen and Karen by the entrance to the school.

She’s so excited to be spending time with them that she almost runs past them, managing to slow down just before she barrels into Gretchen.

“Hi, sorry,” she says breathlessly. “Who’s driving?”

“I will,” Gretchen offers. Riding with other drivers tends to make her anxious.

“I call shotgun!” Karen calls, already heading to the car. That leaves Cady in the back, which she doesn’t mind.

They put their backpacks in the trunk and hop in, Karen dancing along in her seat to the radio. Cady texts Damian on the ride there, since he had an appointment to check on his foot today. He’d been back in school starting that week, but was still stuck on crutches.

Little Slice: How was the doctor????

Big Slice: Good! I don’t have to use crutches anymore, I just have to wear a boot and go easy on it

Big Slice: No dancing for a while :(

Little Slice: Aw :((( You’ll be back to dancing soon though!!

Little Slice: And yay no more crutches!!!!!!!!!

Big Slice: Yeah now Pippa can’t trip me lmao

Big Slice: Wait aren’t you at the mall??

Little Slice: Yeah, we just got here. I just wanted to check on you 📷

Big Slice: Aw, thanks Cads

Big Slice: Go have fun I’m all good

Little Slice: Okay. Love you 🥰

Big Slice: Love you too, go eat pretzels 🥨

Little Slice: 📷🥨

She chuckles and shuts her phone off, following after her friends into the mall. “Are you guys wanting anything in particular or are we just here for fun?”

“Both!” Karen cheers. “We should totally buy you an outfit for your party. But I also want frozen yogurt.”

“Oh, I didn’t bring any money,” Cady remembers. “But you guys should have fun, I’ll just hang around.”

“No, it’s our treat. We haven’t paid anything for your party,” Gretchen says.

“You guys don’t have to do that,” Cady mumbles. She’s slightly embarrassed by all the attention she’s been getting lately.

“Money bag emoji, let us buy you stuff, Cady. We’re both pretty rich,” Karen says.

“Yeah, come on. Frozen yogurt and one outfit from, like, Forever 21 or something isn’t that expensive anyway, Cades,” Gretchen adds.

“Okay, fine,” Cady begrudgingly agrees. “Let’s do yogurt first, I’m hungry.”

Karen takes both their hands and hauls them towards her favorite shop.

Once they’re sufficiently full of yogurt and toppings, they head to find an outfit for Cady. Gretchen wanders off for a second, leaving Karen and Cady to browse some racks. She comes back with a beautiful white sundress, patterned with yellow flowers.

She shyly approaches Cady, offering the dress. “What do you think of this?”

“Oh, Gretch, this is so pretty! Let me go try it on, it’s beautiful,” Cady squeals, rushing towards the changing rooms. It’s a soft cotton, with a pretty tight bodice and a skirt that flares at her waist, and ends just above her knees. Gretchen seems to have remembered her sizes from their plastic days, the dress fits perfectly.

She opens the curtain to go show her friends, both of them clapping happily and squealing as she spins around. It’s different than it was when they went shopping last year. She can tell their reactions are genuine, rather than just trying to appease her.

“What do you think?” Gretchen asks shyly.

“Gretch, it’s perfect. It’s so soft,” Cady says, looking at herself in the mirror. It has short sleeves, so she might get a little chilly, but she can steal a jacket from Janis. “And, I can wear it to graduation too. It’s beautiful.”

“Oh, good,” Gretchen breathes. She’s working on not needing quite so much external validation, but it’s a slow process.

“You look hot,” Karen adds, making Cady laugh.

“Thanks,” She says, kicking up a heel. “Do you guys want to come over? Watch a movie or something?”

“Totally, that would be fetch,” Gretchen says.

“I’m so glad you still say fetch,” Cady giggles. “Let’s go!”

—————-

A few days later, Janis is typing the final few slides of Cady’s project as her girlfriend lays in her lap and dictates.

“And... you’re done,” Janis says as she enters the last few words. “Now we just need to proofread it and cite your sources.”

“Mmh,” Cady whines. “I hate citing stuff.”

“I hate it too,” Janis says, leaning down to kiss her gently. Cady rests a hand on the back of her head, keeping her close and kissing her back. Janis gives in for a second, before she resists and pulls back. “Stop trying to seduce me into letting you slack off, Peanut.”

“Fine,” Cady huffs as she sits up, still in Janis’ lap as she enters all her sources. “There.”

Janis turns her around to face her. “Good job, baby.”

“Thank you for helping me,” Cady says contently as she nuzzles into her. “I love you.”

“I love you too. So much,” Janis hums. “Have you thought of anything to get for Damian, by the way?”

“A couple things,” Cady says. “He mentioned something when you guys were telling me about Phillip last year, um... an... uh-“

“Edible arrangement?” Janis asks with a chuckle, remembering the story.

“Yeah! What are those?” Cady asks.

“They’re like flower bouquets but they’re made of fruit, so you can eat them,” Janis replies.

“Oh. We could make one of those? Does he like them?”

“That would be cute,” Janis says. “He likes fruit a lot, I don’t see why he wouldn’t like one. They can’t be too hard to make.”

“Don’t say that, you’ll jinx us,” Cady jokes. “We should decorate a little vase to put it in, too.”

“Sounds like a plan, Butterfly,” Janis says. “Are you excited for Sunday?” She and Regina had finally gathered everything they would need, and decided to have the picnic on Sunday so Juliana would have Saturday to prep the food, with the assistance of Regina and their moms.

“Yes! I can’t wait to see what you guys came up with,” Cady says happily. “I know it’ll be perfect.”

“Good,” Janis says as she leans in to kiss her. “I love you.”

“I love you more,” Cady teases.

“No way. I love you most.”

“Well... I love you... moster.” Cady stumbles, making them both laugh.

“Okay, fine, you win for today,” Janis chuckles.

“Ha! I win,” Cady says. “My prize is cuddles.”

“I can live with that.”

——————-

Sunday finally rolls around, and Janis is shaking with excitement. She’d spent the day before with Cady, putting together Damian’s thank you gift while Regina and Juliana spent the day cooking at her house.

She and Cady had both wound up absolutely covered in paint from trying to decorate the vase they had picked, and painted a Broadway stage on. Once they had scrubbed most of it off, they decided to start prepping the fruit, neither of them quite understanding how to turn a cantaloupe into a flower. Eventually they got the hang of it, putting together a rather lovely arrangement. Damian would like it, at least.

Cady had mischievously decided to chuck a melon ball at Janis once they had finished putting everything together, so Janis had thrown a grape back. Eventually every piece of the extra fruit they had had been thrown at someone, and they had a delicious mess to clean up.

Her jacket had also gone missing, which was slightly concerning. She had planned on wearing it to the picnic as well, but is wearing a backup since it never turned up.

“Janny. Breathe,” Juliana demands. as Janis is frantically running around trying to make sure everything is in place. They’d bought cheap white sheets and stitched them together to make a massive blanket, which is spread over the soft grass, and bought yellow balloons which are weighing the blanket down at the corners.

Juliana had truly gone all out, prepping almost all of Cady’s favorite foods. All sorts of sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, a cheese board, pink lemonade, and even an adorable froggy cake.

“Okay,” Janis says as she teases a deep breath. “You really did a great job, kid, this stuff looks great.”

Julie beams up at her as Janis pulls her into a hug. “Thanks, Janny.”

“Yeah, Jan, chill. Everything’s fine, just wait for your girl,” Regina says, adjusting a bunch of balloons.

“Okay.”

She doesn’t have to wait long, as Damian shows up about ten minutes later with her blindfolded girlfriend in tow. So that’s where her jacket had gone.

He leads Cady to a good place, where she can see the whole spread, before he unties her blindfold.

Cady gasps excitedly, taking everything in for a split second before she runs to jump into Janis’ arms. Janis spins her around as Cady giggles happily, grinning down at her. She pulls Janis down into a kiss as soon as she’s on her feet again, wrapping her arms around her neck and pressing the lips together sweetly.

“Janis, this is beautiful, I love it,” she says as soon as they break apart. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, baby,” Janis says quietly, leaning down to kiss her again. They only remember they’re not alone when everyone starts making gagging noises, Juliana somehow already on Damian’s back. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cady whispers, giving her one more peck before going to thank Regina and Julie. Regina begrudgingly accepts a hug, and Julie grins happily as Cady wraps her in a tight hug and kisses her cheek. Once that’s been handled she looks around a little more, smiling widely. “Should we give Damian his thing now?”

“Sure,” Janis says, heading to grab it as Damian does a lazy waltz with her sister. He only has to wear the boot for a few more weeks, luckily. “Dame!”

“What? Aww!” He squeals when they hold out his homemade fruit bouquet. “This is so cute.”

“It’s a thank you present, for telling us we were both being idiots but in a nice way,” Janis replies. “Neither of us want to think about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been there to talk us down.”

“Aww. I should become a marriage counselor, if I get this kind of stuff every time,” Damian says, eating one of the melon flowers. He gasps with exaggerated drama as they both lean in to smooch one of his cheeks at the same time, pressing a hand over his heart.

“Thanks, Damian,” Cady giggles.

“You’re welcome. When do we get to eat?” Damian asks, cradling his bouquet.

“Once everyone else shows up,” Regina answers, coming over to join their conversation. “Speak of the devil.”

Cady peeks around Damian to see who else has arrived, going to greet the Mathletes, along with Karen and Gretchen with a hug.

She spends the picnic chatting with everyone, but also spends a lot of it stuck close to Janis. She’s either hugging her, in her lap, or holding her hand throughout the whole thing. It’s cute.

Cady and Janis stay behind after everyone else goes home to clean up, deciding to have a moment to themselves first. The sun went down a while ago, so they cuddle up on the blanket and look at the stars.

“I love you,” Cady says quietly after a while, rolling on top of Janis.

“I love you too,” Janis responds as she pulls her down into a kiss. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Cady whispers, ghosting the words over Janis’ lips. “Today was perfect.”

“I’m glad,” Janis says. “Now kiss me.”

Cady obliges, cupping her face to kiss her as Janis rests her hands on her waist. Janis flicks her tongue at the seam of her lips, moaning quietly when Cady lets her in and their tongues meet.

They both know they should get to work soon, but for now their responsibilities are allowed to fade into the background. The picnic was wonderful, but not quite worth almost losing one another.

They lose the world in each other, tasting the universe on each other’s lips as the stars twinkle just for them above their heads.

All is well.

-

hope you enjoyed! this was a prompt fill for Hayeena and Aubrey_Plaza_Stole_HappiestSeason on ao3.

also, translation for the Swahili: ndege wangu mdogo wa wimbo: my little songbird. I have no idea if its accurate, I don't speak Swahili.

requests are still open! please leave them either here, on my ao3 or on my wattpad. all are the same handle, maybeimamuppet.

lots of love,

ezzy

[aresaphrodites]

until the stars burn out

where betty and jughead are seniors in quiet little riverdale, and the future is uncertain but their love for each other is set in stone.

——————————————————

The best kept secret in Riverdale is that it’s actually a very beautiful place.

Growing up, Betty had thought it was magical. She loved going to the river and having picnics with her family. She would often go for little adventure walks in the woods by herself before dinner time; trying to find interesting looking rocks or plants. When she got older, that love she’d had for the town disappeared. She began to resent the small town and how everyone knew everyone and how there was no such thing as privacy. She didn’t go to the river anymore and she stayed far away from the woods. She just didn’t think it was beautiful.

And then she met Jughead Jones.

Well, granted, she already knew Jughead. They’ve been in the same classes since they were children, and they’ve always existed in the same orbit, but she didn’t know him.

At least, not until Archie’s seventeenth birthday party last year where her and Jughead spent all night hanging out in Archie’s garage and talking, away from all the alcohol and their wild friends.

And now, they’re driving through the backroads of Riverdale in Jughead’s old truck. The windows are rolled down as they let the sun shine down on them. Jughead has one arm out of the truck and the other steering the wheel. Betty’s dancing and singing dramatically in the passenger’s seat, causing Jughead to laugh every now and then as he sings along with her.

“If I can’t have you,” they belt out loudly together, somehow off key and yet completely in tune with each other, “I don’t want nobody, baby! If I can’t have you, ah-ah-ah!” Jughead sings it loudly, dragging the ‘ah’s out, causing Betty to clap gleefully.

He takes his eyes off of the road only for a moment so that they can look at each other as they belt out the chorus together.

It’s 4:30pm on a Friday and it’s Riverdale’s Homecoming, as well as the last football game of the season.

Jughead’s dressed in his football jersey and Betty’s all dolled up in her River Vixen uniform. They should be getting back to the school to get ready for the game, but a small detour won’t hurt anyone. It’s not like the Bulldogs can start the game without their captain anyway.

After ten minutes and two more songs, Jughead pulls the truck over on the side of the road.

He turns off the truck, gets out, and walks over to Betty’s side so that he can open the door for her.

“Thank you,” she says as she grabs ahold of his hand and hops onto the grass.

“Have I ever told you how much I love when you wear this?” Jughead asks as he pulls on the hem of her cheer top. Betty smirks.

“You usually tell me that when you’re trying to get me out of it and we do not have time for that.”

He laughs. “You’re right, you’re right. That’s not why I brought you here.”

Right. Jughead’s been telling her all week that he has a surprise for her and Betty’s been practically bursting at the seams trying to figure out what it could possibly be.

He leads her into the clearing of the woods, to their own secret place that no one else knows about. It’s a beautiful garden of flowers and plants that always stay blooming and green, although she has no clue how. She figures someone has to take care of this, but they’ve never seen anyone else here. Nature is mysterious and beautiful like that though.

“Are you nervous for tonight?” Betty asks him as she leans down to pick a daisy.

He shakes his head. “Why? Because the recruiters from both Notre Dame and Yale will be there?”

She gives him a pointed look. “It’s okay to be nervous, Juggie.”

“I just want this so badly,” he admits and Betty nods in understanding. It’s his dream to play college football and then professional, but he’s always wanted to get into an Ivy League as well. It’s one of the things that made her so attracted to him; he took his classes seriously. A lot of people like to think that just because he’s a football player, that he isn’t smart or that he doesn’t do the work on his own, but they couldn’t be more wrong. He’s worked his ass off to be in the top five percent of their class and she’s proud of him.

“They’ll love you,” she tells him. “If I know anything in this world, it’s that you’re going to get everything you want, Jug.” She takes a step towards him and reaches up to put the daisy behind his ear. He smiles gently at her before hugging her close to him.

“I already have everything I want.” He kisses the top of her head and Betty blushes. “You’re everything I want, Betty. It doesn’t really matter what happens tonight as long as I have you.”

“Well, it would be nice if you did get into Yale,” she teases. “I could go to all your football games considering I’d be there too.”

It’s the dream— both of them getting into Yale together. Realistically, she knows that the chances of that happening are pretty low, but it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter where they go, or how far away from each other they are, she knows that they’ll make it work.

“My biggest cheerleader,” he says into her hair, “what would I do without you?”

“Crash and burn, baby. Crash and burn.”

Jughead laughs and she pulls away from him with a smile.

“But really, Jug. No matter what happens with this game or college, promise me that we’ll figure it out together.” The inevitable ending of high school is just around the corner. In just a little over five months, they’ll be kissing Riverdale High goodbye and moving onto their futures. It’s scary and exciting and Betty’s ready and yet not ready at all.

The smile falls from his face and he takes a step back from her, putting his hands inside of his varsity letterman. Betty looks at him in confusion.

“I love you,” Jughead says suddenly, as if he’s barely realizing it for the first time, despite the fact that they said it to each other long ago.

“I love you too,” she replies, confused.

“I mean, I love you, Betty. I’ve loved you from the moment you told me I looked like a creep hanging out in a garage by myself during a party.”

Betty laughs at the reminder of their first real interaction.

“And I’ve loved you everyday since. You’re my best friend and you’re the only person in this world who knows me, all of me. I don’t know what’s going to happen tonight. I don’t know where I’ll be this time next year. I don’t know if I’ll make it to the pros or if I’ll be working for my dad for the rest of my life.” He smiles now, almost like he’s laughing at that idea. Betty’s smiling too but her confusion is starting to grow.

“I’m not sure about a lot of things, but there’s one thing I’m sure of and that’s you.” He pauses. “Always and forever. Until the stars burn out, right?”

“And a million years after that,” she responds, voice shaky. It’s their special way of saying ‘I love you’.

Jughead pulls his hand out of his pocket and Betty gasps as she sees what he’s holding.

He kneels down and she covers her mouth as tears well up in her eyes.

“I promise you that no matter what happens, you and I will figure it out together. Whether we’re both at Yale or I’m at Notre Dame, we’ll be okay, because we’re Betty and Jughead. We’re meant to be together.”

He’s looking at her with so much love in his eyes and Betty feels like her smile is bordering on being manic, but she doesn’t care.

“Marry me,” he says softly as he opens up the tiny black box.

It’s a simple platinum band. There’s no diamond. It’s not fancy. It’s not expensive or expressive. It’s plain, simple, and it’s the most beautiful thing that Betty has ever seen.

The sun shines down on it, making it gleam brightly and look like it could be worth all the money in the world. She tears her eyes away from it to look at Jughead and she doesn’t even try to hide the tears that are falling onto her cheeks now.

The sun is shining on him, too. His hair looks lighter underneath the harsh rays and he’s a little more tan from the many afternoon football practices. His eyes are shining up at her and she loves him. She loves him more than she has ever loved anyone or anything.

“Not today,” he says quickly, “or anytime soon. Hell, we can get married in ten years if you want, or we can just be engaged forever and never actually tie the knot. Just…” he trails off and then smiles softly at her, “marry me, Betty Cooper. I want to figure life out with you. I want it all with you. I want a mansion paid for with my NFL salary and a huge indoor pool that we only use once every two years with you. I want a tiny one bedroom apartment in Riverdale with you. I want a cottage in the middle of nowhere with you. I don’t care where we end up, as long as I’m with you.”

“Yes,” she whispers so quietly that she can barely hear herself. She laughs, tears in her eyes and her heart feeling happier than it ever has. “Yes! Jughead, yes!”

“Yeah?” He asks like he can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“Yes!” She laughs, louder this time.

“You’ll marry me?”

“I’ll marry you.”

He grins so wide that it takes up his whole face. He rarely smiles like that and Betty knows that he’s as happy as she is right now.

Jughead laughs once, like he’s still unsure that he isn’t dreaming, and then he jumps up to his feet. He takes the ring out of the box and holds it out to her.

“It’s not much,” he tells her, “but I wanted it to be purely yours.” He angles it so that she can see the inside of the band, where words are inscribed in cursive.

She looks closer and gasps as she sees the engraving.

Until the stars burn out

“It’s beautiful,” she says and she means it. “It’s perfect.”

He shakily puts it onto Betty’s finger, and she looks at it in admiration before she throws her arms around Jughead’s shoulders.

He picks her up off of the ground and twirls her around, the sound of their undeniably happy laughter mixing together with the song the birds are singing to create a beautiful melody.

For the first time in a long time, the future doesn’t feel like some kind of impending doom; it feels like the beginning of forever, like the beginning of happiness.

And as Jughead stops twirling her to kiss her deeply, her feet still dangling off the ground as he holds her in his arms, she knows that she’d been right before.

Riverdale is beautiful, because what they have here is beautiful. They’ve made something beautiful out of dust and they made it together.

And they’ll have it always and forever; until the stars burn out and then a million years after that.

(( send me a prompt or something, because i’m bored and feel like writing short little things. ))

[nonsensicalobsessions]

A Ruff Day

Author’s Note:

@catsladen wrote: Congrats my dear on your followers! That is amazing and so well deserved! Here’s a conversation prompt I found that I think you can do magic with: Person A: Why are you doing that? Person B: Doing what? Person A:Treating me like a person I picture either Tom or Loki, but I leave that up to you 😊 No smut necessary. Some fluff/angst mixture would be nice (Fangst? Anuff?) Thank you lovely!

After I wrote about having my lovely followers, Life came around and bit me, in the ass, hard. I was left with a large set of dentition marks and a massive infection known as “depression” in its wake. I say this because I know I’ve pretty much fallen off the face of Tumblr, and I am still clawing my way back. I do not have it nearly as bad as some, but I have it bad enough, and I will leave it at that.

When the events that I write about next happened in real life, I could not stop thinking about them, having worked in a veterinary hospital for three memorable years, and I ran the events through my head, over and over. I could see the events as they could have played out...might have played out...most probably played out in some aspects...and then this plot took root, and would not let go.

So, I apologize, @catsladen, for this is not the most original piece that I have ever come up with...in fact, it is derivative, and some may see it as a cheap rip off on a very real event. Still, it will not let me go, and as such, here it is. I present to you, A Ruff Day.

Working on federal holiday weekends in an emergency vet hospital always either dragged, or were so busy I could neither eat nor pee. Today seemed to be the former, and I was grateful for it. The techs were scattered around doing their busy work, while I closed myself in my office, tossing an oversized tennis ball in the air and catching it as I balanced on the back legs of a chair. I’ve done all my charting, there are no patients for me to check on. The last one through the door was a bulldog that came too close to a honeybee, and his already bulbous face swelled grotesquely. A shot of antihistamine, a script of Benadryl, then he and owner went off, right as rain. The airway was never compromised, all’s well that ends well...except for the bee, of course.

Kellie Ashe, one of the techs, came racing into the office without knocking, breathless. “You will no ever guess what is going on at intake!”

I jumped up, grabbing my stethoscope and mask (Thank you COVID) as I glared at her, “What is it and where is your mask?” The laws were quite clear, and stringent on this, and she had no mask on...and what was that twit doing? Brushing her hair and putting on eye makeup, what...? “Kellie! Focus! What is happening? Is it a hit and run, a delivery presenting badly...dog or cat...” I swear this girl has the brain of a flea...

“Tom Hiddleston is here with his dog!”

I look at her blankly. Nothing registered with me except one word—dog. “Kellie, what is wrong with the animal?” I asked, rushing to turn on the lights in the OR, making sure the X-ray machines were on and warmed up, the ultrasound is also on, and proceeding to the exam rooms, turning the lights on in one.

“It’s my turn to be the assisting tech so I ran back here to make sure you knew, it’s my turn not Claire’s, so I get to be the one in the room with you and Tom...”

I stop and freeze her with a glare. “Kellie, I don’t know what in the hell you’re blabbering about, but so far you have given me no information that has been useful to me. Therefore, there is no reason for you to be anywhere around me, the patient, or the owner. You can wait in the back.”

“What? But no...! I’m the one that ran back to tell you, I’m the one that should get to be in the....”

“If you were concerned with the animal you’d be there right now, but no, you were more interested in putting on mascara for chrissakes...get in the treatment room, I don’t even want to see you right now!”

I came to the front area to see a tall man, obviously the owner, who was obviously in a great deal of distress. “I don’t know how many he had..maybe one? It could have been two? And I don’t know if he chewed them, or swallowed them whole...” His voice was muffled by the mask we kept on hand to give to owners as they came in without masks, as they usually did, upset and stressed. Bright flowers covered the lower half of his face, but as I looked at his bright blue eyes, I finally understood what got Kellie in such a tizzy, and why there was an element of suppressed excitement that our usual emergency walk ins did not produce.

Next to him was a calmer woman, who was filling out some of the paperwork, and occasionally passing it to him to sign or for more information. “Tom, I really think it was only the one, and this is a bit over the top. One raisin isn’t worth all this...”

“A raisin, did you say?” My attention was now completely trained on the sad eyed chocolate spaniel at the feet of Claire Peyton, one of the calmest and best techs we had. She had already gotten a temperature and a weight from the little fellow, and was gently guiding the dog and owner into an exam room, while Liz, the receptionist, was explaining to the woman with the clipboard she could not follow us in because of the current COVID restrictions we were under. Only the owner was allowed in the exam room, because of the laws about remaining so many feet apart...and the worst part was, we couldn’t even allow her to wait in the interior waiting room, but she was welcome to stay on the screened porch we were using at the moment. She wasn’t thrilled, but she was accepting.

I quietly introduced myself. “Hi, I’m Dr. Diana Harris, and I’ll be helping...” “Bobby,” the man said quietly. “This is my...Bobby.”

“Okay Bobby, come here and let me look at you, you scoundrel...stealing raisins, are we? When did this happen, Dad?”

“Tom,” he said, distracted. “About ten minutes ago...maybe twenty. I saw that he was snuffling around the plate, and all the biscuits were gone...so were the little cheese squares...and there had been five raisins before, I am sure of it, and when I picked everything up, I only saw four...”

“Very precise,” I noted mildly as I listened to Bobby’s heart and lungs, which were both within normal limits, and made a hand motion for Claire to make a note of it.

“What’s that, that hand signal, what did that mean?” Oh, wow. Tom is very, very upset.

“It’s a signal I’ve developed with my techs to let them know that the patient’s heart and lungs are fine without having to take the time to say it, Tom,” I reply, keeping my life low and mild. The owner’s agitation is passing along to the little spaniel, who is looking around and panting.

“He keeps doing that, he’s panting and looking upset, is he in pain?”

“Claire, liquid charcoal according to weight please,” I murmur, and she promptly replied, “On it,” and she excused herself to open the door...only to find Kellie standing there, clearly eavesdropping. The look I gave Kellie had her scampering...but oh, it will not be far enough. Luckily, Tom did not notice.

“Okay, Tom, here’s how it stands.” I leaned against the exam table, Bobby quivering in Tom’s arms. “You did exactly the right thing bringing Bobby here, and so quickly. Raisins are extremely toxic to dogs, and the fact you got him here so fast really speaks to how much you care about this little guy...so give yourself some credit...”

“I told her...I told her I didn’t want them around where he could get to them...the Bobster is a bit of a food thief,” he muttered.

“Ok, so you’re telling me he’s a dog,” I drily replied. “Anyway, we’re going to take care of this issue right now. I’m going to take Bobby to the back and...”

“Oh no, can’t I go with him?”

Somehow, I saw this being his response. “Tom, we are going to give him some liquid charcoal. It looks like black sludge and it tastes like garbage. He isn’t going to want to take it so we are going to administer it in a way that he will have no choice but to swallow it, but there will most likely be some spluttering. This stuff is a bear and a half to get out of clothes so you do not want to be within spitting radius...and then this little charmkins, after he gives us a horrible stink eye, is going to proceed to vomit, probably in the messiest manner possible, just for spite and revenge, and I don’t blame him one bit. Again, you do not want to be in range! Then depending on what he gives me back, we can go from there. So no, I think it best you stay here...you can wait with your girlfriend, if you want, and I will be right back when I have something to tell you. I promise we aren’t going to hurt him, but we have to get this out, right away.”

“Right, right...don’t waste time talking to me...I’ll just...sit here, if that’s okay.” 

“As you wish, Tom.”

I took the leash from his hand gently. His hands were so cold, I felt pity for him. “I’ll take good care of him, I promise,” I said, and left him standing there, bereft.

Bobby walked with me well enough, and I took him to the treatment area to find Claire had already drawn up the appropriate amount. She quickly got the dog in the appropriate position, and I propped his mouth open carefully and quickly administer the liquid yuck and then closed my hand over his muzzle, blowing softly to stimulate the swallowing reflex. His eyes bulged at the foul concoction, and I tenderly explained,”Ah, such are the wages of sin, my dear thief...and it tastes like ass. Down the hatch...” He swallowed, and I gave Claire the unspoken head nod to release him and step back, which she did...as did I...and Bobby, outraged at this poor treatment, proceeded to sputter and spit like a world champion. Black froth went everywhere, and I couldn’t help but laugh at his outraged expression. “Yes Bobby, that’s right. But I’m sorry, it’s going to get much worse before it gets better...”

After a few minutes, he aggrieved expression turned into the anxious canine smile that presaged a good vomiting session, which was exactly what we wanted. I let him pace about in a small area, until finally he let nature take its course and released the contents of his stomach. Ah, joy, what every veterinarian struggled and sweat blood for, the contents of a dog’s stomach...or a cat, we’re not picky...and hey, I’ll take that over shit, any day...

“Good boy, there’s a good boy,” I soothed him as he retched. He was as miserable as you’d expect, and I kept smoothing my hand over his heaving flanks. I didn’t care about my shoes, they were already black, and just for this reason. Soon I saw a lone offender, and I called for a pair of tweezers to pluck it from the mess and place it on a paper towel. Claire was also consoling the sad little fellow, who was, I hope, reconsidering his evil ways, as I then took a tongue depressor and poked through everything he so woefully bestowed upon us. Yep, cheese...chewed up crackers...mmm, that sausage looked like it was probably expensive...but no other raisins. Just the one. Plus, it hadn’t been chewed, either, excellent! Best of all, it was caught up in all this other stuff. Perfect. Couldn’t ask for better, really.

“Kellie!” I called out. When she didn’t appear right away, my heart sank and my anxiety rose. She wasn’t...she didn’t...

“Hold the leash,” I barked and walked swiftly back to the exam room, and sure enough, I heard her syrupy tones inside...I saw red.

I opened the door carefully, to find her talking to Tom who was standing in almost a corner while she was yapping away. I must have had a look on my face like an avenging goddess, because she immediately began stammering, “I just thought...I could stay and keep Tom company...while you were working with Bobby...”

“Stop thinking, Kellie, it only gets you into more trouble, and it probably strains the gerbils,” I replied softly. “I have a job for you. In the back treatment area. Where I told you to be. Go there. Now.”

She turned towards Tom and said, “So, um...”

“NOW.”

She jumped and scuttled away like a crab facing a boiling pot. Oh, sister...

Tom was blushing and looking at his feet. “It happens all the time. Please don’t be too angry with her...how is Bobby?”

“Bobby is doing excellently and is a trooper. I will be back with you in just a moment. Just...give me a second.”

I flew to the back to find Kellie cowering in a corner. I took a deep breath, and spoke very, very quietly. “You are on such thin ice with me that if you so much as open your mouth, the displaced oxygen pressure will crack the ice and you. Will. Drown. Now. You are going to clean up all of this lovely mess to a surgical grade sterility. I will want to perform open heart surgery on this floor when you are finished. Are we quite clear? Nod if you understand me, Kellie, because you are on such. Thin. Ice.”

Kellie looked around here with dismay. It really was a disgusting mess, and she knew I was going to get down on my hands and knees and inspect the wretched baseboards before all was said and done. I was that pissed.

Claire asked quietly as we walked away, “What do you want from me?”

“I don’t think he absorbed anything. Tom acted too fast, the raisin wasn’t in any way chewed or showing signs of digestion, and it was mixed up with everything else. But pull blood for a CBC-SMAC so we can have a baseline for his kidney values just in case. Better safe than sorry. And then clean up this sad little urchin. I hope you understand now, young man, that crime does not pay...” He looked positively desolate, with his muzzle coated in the foul substance he had to drink and then give back. Activated charcoal really is the worst.

“I’ll make him presentable again. Back in a few.”

I took a deep breath and went to apologize to Tom. Oh, this was going to be fun...

I found him pacing the tiny room, looking at the posters instructing about heartworm prevention and feline leukemia vaccines. “Tom, I really must apologize...”

“No, you don’t. She’s young. It happens all the time,” he tried to brush it off.

“Not when I’m in this hospital, it doesn’t. I’d already given her explicit instructions because she was star-struck, and I will not have it. When someone comes in our door, I don’t care who is on the end of the leash, or holding the carrier. It is irrelevant. What matters is the animal. I give the same treatment and quality of care to the cat from the post office as...well...”

“The dog of some poncy actor,” he concluded wryly.

“Hey, I kinda like some of that poncy actor’s work, so less of that,” I griped, as I blushed and rubbed my forehead, mainly to hide my embarrassment. “Bobby came through wonderfully, and you were right, it was only one raisin...and some crackers, cheese, and what looked like some tasty cold cuts as well. What is great is the raisin wasn’t bitten into or showing any signs of digestion, and as it was caught up in his other ill gotten gains, I think it is safe to say he really got lucky...that, and the fact you acted so quickly. Normally, we’d be talking about having to administer fluids, and have him stay at least overnight to make sure his kidneys were not showing any adverse effects...yes, it is that serious. Especially for a little fellow of Bobby’s size. But he should be fine. I want you to make sure he has access to lots of water. I am having a full blood panel pulled to get a baseline of his kidney values now but that is really just a precaution for when you bring him back to his regular veterinarian...”

“You can’t see him again? He hasn’t needed a vet since we’ve arrived, and I never anticipated having to stay as long as we have...but what if he gets sick, or needs his vaccines updated, can’t we come back here...?”

“Tom, this is an emergency vet hospital, I’m only here on the off hours. My clinic is...well, not here,” I floundered.

“May I have your card, then? I’d really like for you to keep overseeing him...continuity of care, you know,” he trailed off.

“Uh, sure...” I fished one out of my lab coat pocket and gave him one. He looked at it and said, “What should I be looking for, what if he starts getting ill again?”

“Tom, I really don’t think...”

“I can bring him back here, I suppose, I just want to know what symptoms...you said kidney damage...”

“Tom, kidney damage isn’t something you can readily observe...”

“But what if he starts getting that look again, and starts pacing, maybe he’s in pain and can’t tell me...”

“Tom.” He stopped rambling and I held my hand out for my card. Like a child, he held it to his chest. “No, please, I’ll stop...”

“Just give me the damn card, will ya?” I all but yanked it out of his hand, and wrote something on the back. “That is my private cell number. Do not call it, ever! I hate phone calls! Text me. I promise I will lose the cell number you send it from. If you have any questions you can send me video or photos or whatever. Text me...whenever. But keep in mind he picks up on your cues and if you are nervous, he gets nervous. If you are excited, he gets excited.”

He looked at it incredulously, and before he could protest, I waved it off. “Just don’t...I did the same thing for Mr. Puddles.”

“Mr. Puddles,” he repeated dumbly.

“The post office cat...urinary tract infection...anyway.”

Those bright blue eyes stopped staring at the floor impaled me, and said abruptly, “Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Treating me like a person.”

I looked at him steadily and replied, “Because to me, that’s what you are...you’re Bobby’s person. And...well, I know you probably weren’t supposed to stay here this long. You most likely want to go home, be with your family, what is familiar, and god knows what you are living in, some hotel or something suitably sterile...Right now, we all want to hold onto our loved ones a little bit tighter, a little bit closer. I can tell that for you, that’s Bobby. You love him a lot, and take great care of him, even to taking him to an emergency vet on a holiday weekend when the weather is gorgeous and your girlfriend says maybe you could just stay home.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Huh?” Such was my elegant reply.

“No, she’s wonderful, and we’re very close, but it’s not...we’re not...”

I hold my hands up in the air. “It’s okay, you don’t have to explain anything to me...”

 “No I just, erm...”

We spent time admiring the floor when Claire came back, with Bobby cleaned and even faintly smelling of grooming spray, as well as being freshly brushed. 

“Bobby!” Tom cried out, and even though I could not see his smile, I could hear it in the real joy in his voice. Bobby wriggled his behind and danced as he all but leapt into his master’s...excuse me, person’s arms.

“Well, that should settle everything,” I smiled.

“Just a moment.”

I looked up at Tom, confused. He sounded almost stern.

“I think Bobby and I could use some photographs to commemorate the great care that he received here...for our scrapbook.”

“Scrapbook? Really, Tom?”

“Instagram,” he immediately amended.

The buzz that went through the building, I swear was palpable. Of course, I even allowed Kellie to get in the photo, because I am not that bad...and if her scrubs were stained with dog vomit, well, you couldn’t really see. Much. And of course we all had to keep our masks on, so I personally thought it was the dumbest idea I’d heard in a long time, but I wasn’t going to go against the idea. I might have found three of my tires slashed and my favorite coffee mug broken, if I had...and I really like that mug, plus tires are not cheap.

Everyone took their photos, hugged Bobby, gave Tom an elbow bump, and he, Bobby and Not-Girlfriend went on their way...then I went back to my office, made sure everything was documented, and went back to my oversized tennis ball.

I thought everything was over. I could not help was smiling, despite myself. Not too shabby of a way to spend a holiday weekend, making a movie star dog’s throw up...this is why I went through all those years of school, I laughed at myself as I sat down with my frozen pizza and lemonade. I even made a bag of popcorn.

Then, at about ten o’clock, my phone buzzed. I picked it up, expecting it to be my mother, who sometimes forgot about this thing called “time zones” since she moved to Arizona...

Instead, there was a photo of a happy, smiling man, without a mask, and his happy, smiling dog. A text read, “To my favorite doc: Thanks again for helping me. Telling dad all about how the wages of sin taste like ass.”

I winced. I had no idea he’d overheard that.

So I sent a photo back of me. Without my mask, or makeup, or getting a hairdo, because in front of me was the best makeup job ever—my Corgi, Cheeks.

The attached text said, “Stop licking it then...and she says you are very welcome. I don’t know what you did, bro...but check your balls.”

The phone buzzed yet again, this time without a photo, “Thanks a LOT. Now I’m really in trouble...! TH”

“Sorry. Cheeks is still sore over that one. It happened about two months ago and he is still telling the world what a horrible human I am. DH”

“Bobby wants to know...perhaps Cheeks would like to get acquainted and play sometime soon? The dog park close to your clinic looks promising.”

“Cheeks thinks that would be amazing. He is still very much a puppy and has a lot of energy to burn. He’d love a friend to tear around with instead of trying to wrap his leash around my ankles.”

“Maybe...we could have some coffee while they wear each other out?”

“That sounds like a fantastic plan.”

“Could we say...9:00 Wednesday morning?”

“Yes, I’d like that. I’ll be the half asleep one with the hyperactive pooch, I won’t have hours until one o’clock that afternoon.”

“I’ll be the tall one...wearing a mask that is not covered with flowers.”

I laughed out loud.

“I think we will find each other well enough.”

There was a brief pause, and then, “Yes, I think we have. Goodnight, Cheeks, and Diana.” 

“Goodnight, Bobby and Tom...it’s been a ruff day.”

“...I can’t believe you said that.” 

“XD woof.”

Tagging all my littermates: @catsladen, @villainousshakespeare, @winterisakiller, @vodka-and-some-sass, @yespolkadotkitty, @just-the-hiddles, @hopelessromanticspoonie, @theheartofpenelope, @sabine-leo, @wegingerangelica, @ciaodarknessmyheart, @wrathkitty, @rhemasky, @sourpatchkidsandacokecan, @redfoxwritesstuff, @the-insomniac-cat2, @alexakeyloveloki, @myoxisbroken​, @toomanystoriessolittletime​, @ladyfluff, @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi​

[staliasjeronica]

Riverdale S5 Ep9 Thoughts

It’s been awhile since I’ve watched Riverdale, I’m getting bored with them going back to Varchie out of literal nowhere and I’m assuming BH will soon follow because they don’t know how to write anything else even though that’s all the show needs to be good. Look how great the show was when they were finally starting to give us Barchie…. anyways thoughts under the cut so this post doesn’t clog up the tag. Also: MANIFESTING JERONICA AND BARCHIE BYE

- Honestly a lot of people are weirded out/annoyed by the alien plot but I love aliens so I’m lowkey okay with it.

- Alice this is Riverdale you really think some bad coincidence couldn’t have happened right after Polly left the phone booth?

- Veronica stop using money for no reason PLEASE. And god more VA scenes I’m so tired of it… though somehow it fits better than them being together as teens. But we’re not forgetting how he cheated on her with Betty, still loves Betty, and is mostly just going back to Veronica because it’s “comfortable”

- TABITHA AND VERONICA SCENE!! They look so good standing near one another ugh

- … if I heard the football coach say that over the intercom I’d literally think he’s a whiny piece of shit and never go to the games in spite. What the fuck was that???

- Jughead acting like he probably wouldn’t have written a story like that kid when he was in school lol okay...

- Reggie pointing at each bulldog and calling them a loser on his way out…. what the actual fuck asdfgjkl;

- Give Veronica literally anything than plots surrounding Archie and Hiram we’re so fucking TIRED

- Veronica needs Archie to talk to Reggie about this boring football bs but will make a wager with her dad that will go against everything Archie would like… please nothing about them as a couple has changed!!! IT’S SO BAD AND BORING!!!! WE DON’T WANT THEM!!!

- We really could have had teachers!Barchie and Jeronica but noooo they’d rather cater to toxic bh and va who don’t deserve to have their boring ships that ruin their characters. Why did Riverdale get stuck with the people who can’t write to save their lives?

- Cheryl and Betty finally having an actually good conversation wow-

- VA once again in bed sigh. The only thing getting me through is that Archie seems much happier with Betty muah

- Veronica stop being cute I’m trying to hate you and Archie getting back together out of nowhere

- Betty please for once in your life stop lying… I know you’re trying to protect her but if Polly really is dead it’s gonna hurt even worse now that you gave her hope

- LERMAN LOGAN AAFJDSHKHFJDFASHJKN THAT’S HIS FUCKING NAME? BRUH-

- “The story could have alluded to stuff happening at home.” “Then you should have come to us!” yes because parents who were abusing their child totally wouldn’t say anything to throw off the teacher who’s just trying to make sure their student is okay…….. why would he go to the parents first?

- #Kangs Cheryl shh we already don’t like them together please stop… anyways Swangs and Keggie when???

- Fangs really dated Kevin for 7 years, weirded out with his bf going into the woods to hook up with strangers and only now is talking about it… and they thought they’d be able to marry and have a baby together??? damn anyways SWANGS AND KEGGIE WHEN????

- But also Fangs is so right that’s why Kevin’s angry

- Adult friends BH is literally so much better than teenage co dependent toxic wannabe detectives but also if this makes them get together, also out of nowhere, I will rip out my hair

- what kind of nick name is T-Dub………… but anyways this scene was so cute

- See adult BH and VA could have been so good if they kept romance out of it since they already milked the shit out of it for four seasons (at least three too long), because them as adults, as FRIENDS feels so good to watch.

- HIRAM BENCHES REGGIE BC HE DOESN’T WANT TO LITERALLY BREAK A CHILD’S LEGS?!?!??!? This is how we get Reggie back to the “good side” and not Beggie sighhhhhhh imagine if we had good writers

- Betty’s like “…… the mothmen……. god I literally grew up to be a real detective what is this bullshit?"

- Also instead of mothmen why not just make it all about aliens by themselves

- This proves that BH is STILL not compatible after five seasons muah I guess I can deal with boring VA as long as the worst of the worst, BH, is gonna stay dead. At least VA is hot

- That edited picture of Betty and Polly I— afsdfhfasf

- Polly deserved so much better… anyways go read my Sweet Pea x Polly drabble!!! based after the time jump :)

- Kevin please if you’re gonna painfully flirt please learn a few actually good pick up lines

- Ummmm okay first of all why did that guy not say anything about Kevin calling him hot if he was straight and not into him hitting on him? Second of all, why does Kevin always get these awful plots, and lastly, what the fuck anyways can’t wait for Fangs to find out and sick the serpents on that Shane guy bc while him and Kevin aren’t together anymore, he definitely still cares about him

- Betty once again resorting to assault……. okay…… what a gross misuse of power

- Kevin feeling ashamed of him being gay because his mom once talked about him wearing husky clothes…? God everyone on this show deserves much better plots what the fuck

- Can’t wait for Betty to be suspended for this bullshit

- I don’t think the Logan’s would like Jughead of all people helping find their son but okay

- Betty is so unstable please how did she become a detective… ahhh right the writers eat from her ass lmao

- Love that Reggie gets no shit for just suddenly switching sides

- also sigh pairing up bh and va for the millionth time. It’s interesting that everyone enjoys the show much better when literally anyone else interact

- more singing…………Cheryl you’re not in high school anymore BUT it is lowkey a bop somehow though

- I know the answer is no but V never told Archie of her dumbass wager huh

- 0 to 52………………. so how is Hiram not gonna win this. We find out he cheated in some way and is disqualified or something?

- VERONICA, REGGIE, AND TABITHA HUGGING AHHH NEW OT3 FUCKKK

- Why is Hiram so mad his team has 52 points I—

- That kiss was so boring please give us Barchie and Jeronica and stop having V go back too Archie

- THEY LEFT RIVERDALE THAT QUICKLY? damn okay

- Betty feeling bad just because her mom found out she lied… like okay I know we’re supposed to want Betty on the case but she really shouldn’t be. She’s such an awful detective. She had potential in the beginning but :/

- anyways thank fucking god it’s over that felt like a million years long of boring bullshit where is Barchie and Beggie and Jeronica and Keggie and Karchie and Swangs ugh make Riverdale interesting again PLEASE I’ve never stopped watching like this, ever…

[statticscribbles]

Ghoulish

Summary:Jughead/Reader; The Ghoulies have magic running through there veins, as one of them you tap farther into it than most

You’re not entirely sure what you’re doing; the Ghoulie’s didn’t sit easy in the woods as you moved closer to the serpent lawyer. While most of them had been hammering on him, you’d told the ones loyal to you to fall back to the woods. While they hadn’t and couldn’t kick you from them, due to your connection to Malachai, you knew they resented deferring to you for anything involving Riverdale. You knew the ‘pups’ as they called your age group would follow you. Still you can see Penny, the fake snake leering over a boy the same age as you. It’s cold; the group keeps a tight circle as Penny leers over him. Not ideal but you can’t stop yourself from tackling her, nails, scraping too fast at her throat snarling in her face. You shove her as far away from the boy as far possible, brushing your hand against his face mumbling for the serpent prince to sleep. He fights to stay awake but you abandon him, to snarl at the woman. You charge at her; feeling her throat give fully under your teeth, she doesn’t move when one of the others pulls you off. Cannibalism indeed you think. You don’t move from the hold of the other two Ghoulies that keep you from her.

They scatter when they can hear snake songs. Shouting for Jughead. You’re watching the boy, the serpents come to collect him and you hover more than necessary. Your arm aches, it’s been cut, probably gashed is a more apt description, you know enough when you see blood dripping onto the ground. You watch the Serpent moving around he boy. He steps towards you, as you stumble forward, nervous about the man taking him. You try tor best to look intimidating, to run to the woods, but still his arm wraps around your shoulders, pulling you towards the motorcycles and cars. You don’t fight letting him lead you towards wherever their hideout is. You fall unconscious half way to the car, you can see the other Serpent’s swarm as your vision dims. You know when you wake up you’re somewhere safe; despite the voices of Serpents.

“The fuck you bring one of them back?” “She saved Jugs.” You can hear them hesitating. “That little thing? Ripped up Penny like that?” “Not her, there was a big one that took off.” You shift on the couch pretending to wake rubbing your eyes as you sit up. You freeze looking at the group of Serpent’s huddled around the table. “Hey kid, you okay? You took a nasty fall, hurt your arm too. Been out for a few days.” You watch the man the other Serpent’s seem to defer to. “I’m fine.” You speak, he nods. “You need anything? Some food? A ride home?” “No thank you Sir.” You nod standing and moving towards the door. You flex your hands frowning. “You didn’t cut my nails?” You look to the group. The Serpent Prince stands in the hall. “No need. They’d grow back anyways.” He speaks, you nod dashing out the door. You scream when you get into the forest, howling as you crumble to the ground. These Serpents, these creatures were kinder than your own family, than your own pack. You watch a few of them emerge from the shadows, watching as always.

“What’s the plan?” Jordan you think his chosen name is; asks. You look up staggering up and nodding harshly. “I’m going to Riverdale High. We protect the Serpents from now on.” They cower shaking their heads. “Malachai said-“ “No.” You snarl at the group, only a few older than you, still pups as far as the elders were concerned. “You run to jail with the rest or you follow me. Now get the hell off Serpent land before I kill you on it.” You nod stalking past them, hissing as they follow behind. “So we-“ You tilt your head at Erik who appears smirking in front of your path. You don’t make a sound, hand curling around his wrist and jerking it down. he doesn’t scream and you smile. “We join the Serpent’s, well you all do. Keep yourself to the shadows, keep yourselves safe. Survival by any means.” You chirp and they repeat it back to you, letting the forest swallow their shouts and howls.

You tug the hoodie you have closer around you, you can feel the Ghoulies cowering back, everyone knows Riverdale High is dangerous, not just because of the Serpent’s in the halls. You step forward sighing as you walk up towards the office. The rest of them fade into the shadow’s you remind them they are welcome to go to Greendale, you have no problem with them being closer to magic if they need. “Hello, are you new?” You turn to see Cheryl Blossom and the rest of the River Vixens standing in the hallway. You nod and she arches her eyebrow. “You’re far too early to do anything productive, are you trying out for the Vixens?” “Oh no, I’m not cheerleading material, much better at track.” You smile intent on pushing past her but she stops you. “You have to try out, I insist.” You offer a tight smile and a shake of your head. “I really can’t sorry, I have to go I-“ “Have nothing better to do besides try out, please, you might not even make the team anyways.” She interrupts your excuse and you nod, as she hands you a uniform to change into.

You sigh, tugging the shirt on over your bra. “Whoa what happened?” You ignore the voice asking questions and step past the two girls back into the gym. Betty and Veronica you learn within the next few moments. You’re relieved the shirt covers the scar on your chest, and the marks on your back. “Alright now-“ You cringe tuning out whatever she is saying as you notice Jordan with his hood pulled up, lounging on the bleachers. She snaps in your face and you turn your attention as she continues to move, you memorize the steps she’s given, and mimic them easy enough. She smirks. “I knew you’d be perfect!!!” She pulls you into a hug and you cast a glance up to see Jordan making his way down, he shoots you a thumbs up, laughing before he lets the gym doors swing shut.

Your most nervous at lunch, while having seen the Serpent prince, and the other Serpents in classes you didn’t have a need to get close to them. At lunch, you watch Betty, your new tour guide, settle you down next to the prince himself. You cringe as you spot Jordan walking over. Connor flanking him as they weave in and out of the crowd. “ We’re picking you up for lunch yeah?” Everyone turns at his words. “No it’s fine I was gonna-“ Conor pulls you up from your seat and tugs you along towards the fence and the waiting car. “Can’t fight back here can you? Malachai said we have to watch out for you.” He smirks and you scowl as he opens the door for you. You roll your eyes smacking his head into the cars window, before turning back towards the outside lunch area.

“Hey!” You startle as you see Jordan walk forward. You know you look panicked as he takes your arm from Connor. “We have to let her-“ Jordan doesn’t finish before Connor smacks his fist into his face. Jordan snarls shoving Connor back. You know what he’s doing, pushing him onto school property. You step behind the Serpent Prince, and his group of friends and Connor and Jordan pounce on each other. Reggie and the Bulldogs start to cheer, as do the Serpents before Jughead shoots them a look. The principal shows up. You keep yourself tucked behind Jughead and watching as Conor snarls, Jordan however looks smug. “Both of you my office now.” You don’t notice Jughead’s arm tightening around yours before you try to pull away. “You okay that was-oh, hey.” You look at him nodding before turning to dart off, hiding behind part of the school as you listen to him explain to his friends. “She was at the uh, attack the other day. She, she got hurt.” You offer a nervous wave to the group. Archie and Veronica wave back. The serpent’s offer you a nod. Betty nods her head slowly.

“Jug, she’s a Ghoulie? You can’t be serious!” You can see Betty holding his arm and shaking her head. You step further from the shadow of the building. You can see Cheryl smirk. “They’re dangerous Jugs. They’re worse than the Serpents and that’s-“ Betty continues and you scowl. She shakes her head scoffing. “They’re the reason all this shit is happening, with their drugs and-“ “Cause we sell drugs that’s why you think we’re bad? You ever think why we do that?” You step closer to the group hesitating. “When you were at my place you-“ “She was at your house?? She knows where you-“ Betty cuts in, you watch interested as Jughead seems to flash annoyance across his face. “I live at the trailer park, I’m sure she does too. You mentioned how we didn’t cut your nails, what was that-“ You step back shaking your head and running off, hiding behind the door and desk from the first room you’d thrown yourself into. You squeeze your eyes shut trying to get the almost defensiveness you swear you heard in his voice. You can hear footsteps and you bite down the urge to snarl at whoever is walking in, you peek over the desk to see Toni and Jughead.

“Come here spooks.” Toni gestures with her hand and you stand trying to keep the tremors in your body down. “What’s going on? There been some unrest?” You shrug at her words taking a breath in and shaking slightly. “Everything is fine.” You offer a smile. She shakes her head and you nervously watch them, eyes flickering to the door, “Connor and Jordan, they’re here to keep an eye on me.” “An eye on you?” You nod, jumping slightly as Sweet Pea and Fangs appear. “Couple of Ghoulies said they wanted to join up. Be Serpent’s; said their gang was falling apart. With everything about the Gargoyles and all that mess. My dad isn’t too happy” Jughead asks you and you nod ducking your head and cringing.

“We’re all falling apart; with the older ones in jail’ and us left on our own. It’s safer to join up with y’all. Serpents protect their own. If it means not being a Ghoul anymore that’s for the best.” You nod and Jughead frowns. “But you?” “Can’t really leave the Ghoul’s they’re my family.” You realize that they probably haven’t caught on. While Jughead and Betty seemed to be the resident mystery solvers they weren’t looking to anything supernatural for the answers; instead coming to the conclusion that it was simply a gangland feud going a step too far each time someone died or went missing. You let them believe it was Hiram pulling the strings for now; it was safest for everyone.

Support My Writing?

[mashiraostail]

Hiiii, i was wondering if i could request some vlad king and gang orca taking care of their s/o pets. Like if the reader was out of town and asked them to take care of their dogs👉👈 i feel like vlad is such a good doggy dad that the dogs play together and i feel like gang orca would be lost but doing his best and if he was taking care of a cat i like to think it would love being around him because cats love fish and he would just always have his s/o cat cuddling on his lap. Im sorry for ranting lol i love your work you're doing great💕

awwehehe this is so cute since you mentioned dogs for vlad and cats for kugo that's what i went with! also indulged myself and included kugo/ jiro/shoji content bc that seems like such a GOOD FUNNY AND WHOLESOME trio and i wanted more content than we got smh 

Sekijiro Kan/Vlad King: "Hey Sek, I need a huge favor.” You look up from your phone at the taller man who is currently scrunched into the corner of his couch scrutinizing a piece of paper with really terrible handwriting on it.  “Sounds dangerous.” He replies without looking up and you snort dropping to the cushion beside him.  “Only a little, but I think you’re good for it.”  “Alright then, so what’s the favor?” His eyes flick up to you. “I need to go visit a friend out of town.” You sigh, “she had a baby last month, I used to work with her husband and she asked if I wanted to spend some time back home with her for her birthday next week, I should be about five days.” You rest your hands on his knees, “so while I’m out there..would you mind watching Kilo for me? I hate to leave him behind but It’d be a pain to travel so far with him I know he hates trains.”  “That’s a huge favor?” He raises an eyebrow at you, “sure I can watch him. I bet they’ll get along fine.” He glances at his own dog curled up under a chair.  “But only If you can figure out what the hell Monoma tried to write here.”  For all intents and purposes, Kilo was a good dog, a little stupid, but a good dog nonetheless. To be honest, he’s really honored you trust him with the task, you’re the only person he’s met that seems to love your own dog as much as he loves his. Plus it also meant that Kilo had to like him a fair bit which was also a relief, as a dog owner he knew any potential partner was only as compatible with him as they were with his dog, and his dog loved you, he was sure you felt the same way, any partner that Kilo didn’t get along with would be impossible for you to get along with, he found it more than a little reassuring that Kilo seemed to enjoy his company. Past all that, and maybe even most important this was a perfect opportunity to introduce the two dogs. He was sure it was no secret to you but this wasn’t exactly a casual fling, with the way things were going it felt pretty inevitable that he’d ask if you wanted to move in together; but if the two didn’t get along well then..that’d be an issue. Though he was sure if things got tested out now you’d have some time to at least try to get the dogs to be comfortable with each other or hopefully think of some sort of workaround. In his eyes, this was a blessing for him as much as it was a favor to you.  “Are you sure you don’t mind keeping Kilo at your place?” Sekijiro is slightly embarrassed to say how early he arrived at this park, he wanted to tire his own dog out before introducing the pair, he’d advised you to do the same so you were walking to the park, you'd called him on your way.  “Of course I don’t mind babe.” He tosses a ball from his seat on the bench and watches his pudgy bulldog trot over to it, “it’ll be easier this way, right?”  “Yeah that’s true, I just don’t want Kilo wrecking any of your stuff, he always means well but he gets into trouble sometimes-”  “Don’t worry about it, he’ll be a model student by the time you get back.” He hears you laugh into the receiver at that. “I don’t doubt that, I’m almost there, I’ll see you in a few okay?”  “Yeah sure thing, can’t wait.” You huff out another laugh at him before hanging up.  “Sekijiro!” You chirp brightly at the sight of the man, he’s too busy taking you in to respond. Kilo’s trotting a foot or so in front of you on his leash, that old joke about dogs looking reminiscent of their owners was certainly true in your case, you both looked delighted to see him and beyond that, you were practically glowing... Maybe he just had a thing for people who were good with animals.  “Hey Sek?” You lean down in front of him.  “Hey! He welcomes Kilo between his knees, the mixed breed was a bit larger than his dog who was currently bounding back to him with a ball and sufficient slobber hanging from his mouth, the size difference in mind though Kilo was a hell of a lot less bulky, he was practically streamlined, Sekijiro had seen how fast the dog could run with his own eyes. He could see why you took so much pride in the dog, he was definitely beautiful his coat was long, wavy, and shiny and he had big blue eyes and admittedly the cutest pink nose and spotted tongue Sekijiro had ever seen.  “Thanks so much again for doing this I really-” An excited bark pulls your attention downwards, “look who it is!” You sing, crouching down to pet the panting dog, “you sure look tired. Sekijiro is working you too hard.” You frown at him as he hops up to rest his front paws on your thighs. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Sekijiro laughs, “but he is worn out, I guess Kilo is too though.” Kilo’s head is on his knee, the larger dog is panting too.  They seem to notice each other, and approach with a lazy curiosity. They sniff around each other for a bit but after that return to their respective activities, seemingly unbothered by each other and the proximity of the other dog to their owner. Kilo didn’t mind your cooing at Vlad’s dog who didn’t seem to mind Kilo’s head in his owner's lap. With that little bit of reassurance, you hand him Kilo’s leash and a bag of his stuff; food dish, some toys and treats and the like, and then you part ways after promising to call him when you get to your home town safely.  All in all the coming days are pretty uneventful, Kilo joins them on their daily walks, eats at the same time with no trouble, finds a comfortable place to sleep each night.  “Is Kilo alright?” Your voice is nervous in the receiver.  “He’s better than babe, seriously they’re getting along great.”  “God that’s such a relief.” You sigh, “the pictures you’ve sent are cute..gosh I miss him.” You pout a little. “Gee I miss you too babe.” He mutters it with a playful edge to his voice and you gasp,  “I was going to say I miss you too but forget it!”  “don’t be mean!” He complains back, “I was kidding! And anyway I miss you. How’s it been out there?”  You go off on your usual tangents before ending up back at square one.  “Oh! I called you for a reason actually!” You remember, “I’ll be a little bit late getting back on Sunday, one of the trains is going to be down so I’m taking a later one, I should be back around midnight now would you mind-”  “Of course not babe, I’ll get you from the station so-”  “No no! It’s okay you’ve already done so much that’s not what I was going to ask! I just wanted to be sure you wouldn’t mind keeping Kilo around for the extra time...I can get a taxi, seriously don’t wait up for me!”  “Well just come to my place when you get back right?”  “I wouldn’t wanna wake you up-”  “It’s been way too long since I saw you last, so I don’t mind, if you won’t let me pick you up from the station at least come right here.”  “You’re convincing.” You laugh a little, embarrassment heating up your face, “I guess that’s fine with me then...” A distant sounding voice pulls you away from the receiver, “Sek I have to go, I’ll call you again soon though!”  “Don’t worry about anything babe.” He reassures you as you hang up.  There is one minor spat over a rope toy but it’s resolved easily enough and the pair seem to get on swimmingly after that, even sharing a couch cushion and occasionally resting their heads on each other, they become incredibly fast friends, which is probably the biggest relief on the planet to Sekijiro. Watching the two of them play tug of war in his living room or witnessing their schemes to get leftovers off the counter on Thursday night essentially cement his vision of a future with you.  If you were being totally honest it was embarrassing how attractive you found Sekijiro getting along with your dog to be, you’d never got the obsession of handsome guys holding cute babies but seeing some of the photos he’d sent to you over the almost 6 days you were gone made butterflies crop up in your stomach the likes of which you’d only felt when he was actively trying to fluster you...but this seemed totally unintentional. To say you were incredibly eager to go home and see him (jump his bones) felt like an understatement. It’s past midnight when you get back and the place is mostly dark, you see a vaguely bulldog shaped blob partially under a blanket on the couch, but the snoring it emits gives away it’s identity easily. You leave your bag at the door and venture into the apartment, poking your nose into the bedroom.  Of course, Sekijiro is there, dead asleep on his back, and who’s with him but Kilo, his head resting on the blood hero’s chest one of his hands resting on top of it.  “Oh Vlad-” You coo, you practically sing it at him.  “Wha-whatsitwhat-” He rubs his face as he picks his head up, “oh, hey welcome back ‘s good to see you, missed you-”  “You’re so sweet-” You’re already at the side of his bed, leaning down and kissing him.  “What’s-” Sekijiro takes a minute to process everything before he realizes it’s Kilo’s head on his chest making you act like this.  “Oh no way, he’s been a total angel-”  “I’m so glad he likes you so much-” You murmur it between kisses, to his lips and various other spots on his cheeks and jaw, “you guys are adorable together.”  “I’m glad you think so-” He cuts himself off with a yawn and turns into your lips, kissing you again before speaking, “you weren’t kidding about that late train huh? It’s almost 1 AM, you must be exhausted, there’s plenty of room for you in here so come on.” 

Kugo Sakamata/Gang Orca: “Hey, Kugo...” You approach him from behind and wrap your arms around his shoulders, leaning against the back of the chair he’s sat in.  “Yes?” One hand comes up to cover your forearm the other stays dutifully at work.  “You love me, right?” You rest your head against his and he pricks up at the inquisition.  “Of course I do, why would you ask a question like that? Is something wrong?”  The way his hand subtly squeezes your arm isn’t lost on you.  “Hmm..no nothing's wrong.” You lean into him and close your eyes as he sighs good-naturedly. “Then what? Did you just want to hear me say it?” He leans back into you, “I guess I could entertain that...” His thumb swipes a long stroke over the skin of your forearm, “I love you, dear.” He can feel you prickle up at that behind him. “I love you too Kugo.” You squeeze him tighter and he huffs out a quiet laugh. “I’m glad to hear it. Now is that all you needed?” He puts his pen down to bring his other hand up to your arms, “I’m a bit busy. You’re welcome to stay there if you like though I just need to finish some paperwork and make a few phone calls. After that, we can do whatever you like for the night.”  “Well, now that you mention it there was just one more thing. I’ll be fast I promise.” Your hand slides underneath his lapel and into his jacket.  “Don’t worry I can make a bit of time for you then, what’s the matter?” You make eye contact with him through his darkened computer screen.  “My boss invited me to this big conference next week, it’s a pretty great opportunity and I could meet some important people..” You explain, biting your lip, “it could be really good for me to branch out even she thinks so, and getting some more experience will be great, and it’s pretty close to my hometown so I figured I'd stop in and see some old friends after I got done..It’d be about 5 or so days and I’d really like to go.” You sigh and he seems more than a little confused based on his reflection.   “That does sound like a great opportunity for you, you’re right..what’s the problem then? Do you need advice about something?” His confusion doesn’t quell even as you kiss his temple. “I probably will later but for now the problem is Luna.” “Your cat?” Kugo piques, “why is she a problem?”  You sigh, “if I’m not around no one will be there to feed her and make sure she stays out of trouble.”  “Oh is that it? That’s no problem at all dear, I can look after her for you. Is that what you were going to ask me?”  “You don’t mind?” You perk up, “I don’t want to trouble you...and I know I could just as easily leave a key under my mat and have a neighbor do it but I trust you so much more and-”  “It’s no trouble, really.” Kugo laughs a little, "I pass by your apartment all the time on patrols, I’m sure the interns won't mind if I make a stop and head up to check on her every now and again.”  “Oh! You can totally bring them up if they like cats!” He laughs at that too.  “Was that all?”  “Mhm.” You nod and use the motion to nestle into him a bit, “Thank you Kugo.”  ”It’s really my pleasure. Leave it to me, alright?”  All things considered, Kugo’s also pretty honored to be trusted with the task of watching your pet cat, he knows how much you love and worry about her, you dote on her all the time, and if the copious amount of photos you send him of her say anything she’s definitely your pride and joy. For the most part, you spent the bulk of your time with Kugo at his own home, due largely to the fact that he was larger than average and he existed a fair bit more comfortably there, but he paid you visits in your apartment from time to time and had met the cat, she seemed to like him plenty which was a relief as well.  You stop at Kugo’s before you leave and give him a list of things to double-check when he stops in, though you reassure him that there shouldn’t be any problems, Luna was pretty independent and mellow she didn’t like going outside so he didn’t have to worry about her escaping or anything like that. He tries to stop in at least 3 times a day, before, during, and after patrols, he knows that’s probably overkill, you spend all day at work and have never had an issue but he hates the idea of something happening to the feline on his watch. Plus even if he wouldn’t readily admit it he saw this as a perfect time to get on the cat's good side, you said she already loved him but he wasn’t convinced. He knew how much you loved her and any vision of your future that he had always featured the mellow feline so in his mind it was imperative they got on well. On top of that, he was glad you trusted him with something as small and delicate as Luna, she fits pretty comfortably in his hand and was as fragile as she was petit, but you never seemed off-put by the idea of him holding her or petting her, in fact, you encouraged it. The way you even wanted him near her when you weren’t around to supervise put him at ease about his strength and size, he always worried about breaking delicate things, but that wasn’t a worry you seemed to echo.  “Is something going on in that building?”  Shoji looks up at your complex as he pauses by it, “you’re stopping here a lot since yesterday.”  “Huh? Oh. Actually no... well nothing of importance to you. I’m...catsitting.” Jiro holds her breath the hold in the laugh, “Catsitting?”   “Yes...my partner is away at a work conference, the cat in question is theirs.” Kugo nods, “if you like cats you can come up and meet her, she’s actually quite friendly.”   Kugo was pretty used to Luna at this juncture, but whenever other people met her it was easy to see why you were so proud of her, she was quite the stunning cat, a long dark grey and black coat with big green eyes and a swishing tail, her paws were colored as if she was wearing boots.  “Wow...she’s really pretty, I’ve never seen a cat like this.” Jiro was crouched on the ground, stroking her neck.  “I was surprised too.” Kugo confesses, “they found her in a box on the side of the road about a year before we met. She was only a kitten then. Her name’s Luna.”  She seemed to like the pair equally alternating between them, rubbing against their legs and shuffling her head into their palms.  “She is very friendly.” Shoji remarks as she purrs at him, attempting to climb into his lap.  “She’s good at getting into trouble, but she usually means well. You can stay with her for a minute.” He sets off to double-check the usual; food, water, litterbox, the loose window that she’s always wiggling open despite having no desire to climb out of it, he waters a few plants and straightens up anything she knocked over as well. When he returns she's overturned on Shoji’s lap.  “You’re getting along well.” He swipes a pillow she’d knocked over up and replaces it on the couch.  “She’s really sweet!” Jiro is scratching her stomach. “I’m glad to hear it.”   “Hey..sorry if this is too personal or whatever but I didn’t know you were.. dating someone... We didn’t snoop or anything though!” She swears, holding both hands up, the cat looks disgruntled at the loss of attention.  “It’s alright I trust you.” Kugo waves her off, “Luna looks too comfortable anyways, you’ve clearly been petting her this whole time.” He adds with a small chuckle. At the sound of her name, she rolls over and winds around his feet, circling through his ankles and pawing at his pants until he lifts her up.  “To answer you though yes I am seeing someone.” He holds Luna with one hand, his ring and middle finger scratching the patch of grey fur on her chest.  “Are they a hero too?” She wonders, straightening up.  “No...no they’re not, I’m not very public about this sort of thing.”  Shoji contemplates that, “they have a nice apartment.”  “That is true, it’s a good job, and they do have a pretty keen eye for decorating” He agrees, looking around amicably.  “Have you guys been together for a long time?” Jiro blurts out before feeling color float up to her cheeks, “sorry I don’t mean to be rude... I just never pictured you like this I guess I’m curious-”  “It’s okay, most people don’t, and yes, we’ve been together a while now.” Kugo raises a hand to calm her, “but like I said before I’m not very public about things like this which is why you wouldn’t have heard..though either way, even when we do go out together... most people don’t assume I do that sort of thing, and to be frank, we aren’t the most...visually compatible pair..” He says that with a distinct fondness in his voice and then continues, “like you said, you don’t really picture me in this sort of light, most people don’t so hero gossip tabloids tend to leave me alone for the most part, I get a fair bit of freedom when it comes to this sort of thing because of that. There are probably plenty of photos of us together out there, though people usually assume they’re my manager or a secretary or just a friend.” Luna is purring loudly in his hand, her body largely slack against his chest. He walks her over to the couch and sets her down, which she warbles angrily at, “to be honest though I prefer it this way. I’m a private person.”  “That makes sense...well, their cat sure likes you.” Shoji points and Kugo chuckles.  “I’m fond of her myself.” Kugo admits, “everything is as it should be here so we can head out again, sorry for the tangent.” He scratches Luna’s neck and sighs, “as for you I’ll be back tonight. So try to behave until then, for my sake alright?”  Jiro tries not to laugh at the sight. “I didn’t think you’d actually bring them up! Did they like her?”  You sound delighted about it over the phone that night.  “I may have knocked a few intimidation points off of myself, but yes they thought she was cute.” He was sitting with her, contemplating staying the night here. He was embarrassed to say it but this was the longest you’d spent apart in a while and despite any appearances, he had gone soft and was starting to miss you, being around your stuff was nice even if he didn’t fit too well in your bed.  “I don’t think you’re very intimidating at all.” You peep back thoughtlessly. “Well, I’d sure hope not.” He chuckles and leans against the couch, “she’s been good too I was,..expecting her to break more.”  Truthfully Kugo wasn’t sure what he was expecting, he never had pets growing up and hero work didn’t give much free time to consider one, it took a day to get comfortable with her, and even now he was watching his every step for her. “I’m glad to hear that!” You laugh, “she’s a pretty great cat isn't she?”  “I have to agree..” Kugo wouldn’t mind having her around all the time, the longer he sat on your couch and contemplated it the more he realized he wouldn't mind having the both of you around all the time. Was this some sort of emotional sign to ask you to stay with him? He’d give that more thought at a later date.  “Kugo are you listening?” “Of course I am.” He was not. You don’t seem perturbed though, chuckling and then sighing fondly, “I’m gonna go shower then call it a night, I miss you two though.”  Kugo looks down at the cat on his lap and he nods, “we miss you too. I’ll be up for a bit longer so call or text me if you need anything.”  “You shouldn’t stay up so late Kugo it’s bad for you-”  “I know, I know, I’ll turn over a new leaf when you get back.”  “Sure you will.” You snort, “I love you Kugo.”  “I love you too, I’ll see you soon.”  You wanted to see Kugo first thing when you got back but you were so exhausted that you can’t help sulking to your own place, things had gone well enough but all the commotion and travel really drained you. You were sure it wasn’t anything spending some time or even a night with Kugo couldn’t fix though. When you shoulder your door open though there’s Kugo, sitting on your couch.  “Kugo, you’re here?” He’s holding some papers in one hand, the other is holding Luna’s back, keeping her against his chest.  “I was just checking in on her but every time I tried to leave she started..making a weird noise.”  “Weird like how?” You chuckle, suddenly feeling much better.  “Sort of like screaming. But cat-like. I sat down and she clawed her way up here, then fell asleep and almost fell off, but I caught her and she hasn’t moved since.”  “And... how long ago was that?”  “What time is it?” “Half-past 6.”  “2 hours ago. I didn’t want to wake her.”  “Kugo.” You laugh and sit beside him, “you’re so sweet.” You wrap both of your arms around one of his and lean into his shoulder, “I missed you so much.”  “I missed you too.” Kugo sets the papers down on the pile by the arm of the couch, “It's sort of embarrassing but I even stayed here a few nights because of it. I can’t remember the last time I went even 2 days without seeing you.” He appreciates the way you seem to melt into him at that.  “That’s not embarrassing it’s sweet, you’re so cute Kugo...” You lean up and kiss him, “such a big softie aren’t you?”  A soft hum is his reply as you pull away, “was she any trouble? Be honest.” “I was worried at first that I’d screw it up somehow but it went fine.” He confesses as he lifts the cat off his chest and she’s sleepy and limp in his big hand, purring contentedly.  “She was acting up the 2nd day but I think she was just confused about not seeing you. Then she got used to me and was alright.”  “That’s cute..” You yawn and clamber onto his lap, “god all that traveling tired me out...you’ve been stuck here for 2 hours but I might have to trap you a little longer to take a catnap of my own. I think Luna’s onto something...” You nestle into his shoulder, grateful to feel his arms come around you.  “Don’t worry about me.” He hums as Luna curls up in the sliver of space between your bodies, “I just want to finish reading over some things. Then I'll bring you both to bed.”  “You’ll stay tonight?” You yawn again and he hums, you can tell he’s smiling even though you can’t see him. “Would you like me to?”  You nod into his shoulder, “yeah, I would...”  “Alright then I will. Now go to sleep, you need it.” 

[sweetpeagarbage]

Grief, Gin, & a Bad Boy (Part 1)

Sweet Pea x Reader

Warnings: Death, Depression, Slight Alchololism, Drug Use, Eventual Smut

Reader is Midge’s best friend. After she’s murdered, everyone else seems to have moved on. You still miss her and have trouble coping with it. You meet a tall gang member at party and he seems like a great distraction.

Kevin dragged you to this party and you couldn’t be more pissed about it. Your only saving grace is the cup of jungle juice in your hand. You’d already chugged three and you were feeling it. This one was just to replenish once your buzz wore off. Kevin was off with Betty somewhere and you’d slunk off to hide in the stairwell behind a couple making out.

You can’t help but think of Midge. She used to drag you to these things too with Moose. That seemed like a world away now. Where you were reserved and almost always caught with a resting bitch face, Midge was a smiley ball of sunshine. When she’d first dragged you into the playground with her in second grade you’d been determined not to like her.

Sometimes, when you missed her so much it hurt, you wish she’d never smiled at you that day.

You didn’t realize you were crying until a tear landed on your hand and then into your cup.

“Shit,” you mumbled under your breath and wiped at the tears quickly. You got up and carefully made you way past the couple and to the bathroom where you had to kick out another couple just about to go at it.

You slammed the door behind you and stared at yourself in the mirror. Your red eyes could be explained by the jay you’d smoked off of someone outside but the tear streaks you hadn’t wiped at yet we’re clear. Your shift your expression in the mirror from sadness back to blank and then put on your mask for the rest of the world.

“She’s not half as mean as she looks,” Midge would tell everyone. You can almost hear it in her voice.

With that, you leave the bathroom and run right into a hard body.

“Jesus watch where you’re-“ you begin and then look up to who you’d run into.

Fangs stares back at you, shock written on his face. You’re sure you look that way too until you wipe it off your expression. You turn to leave but he grabs you by the arm softly. You hadn’t seen him since the riots. It had all gone so fast. Midget had just died and word got out she was cheating on Moose with a Serpent. Everyone had gone on a witch hunt and of course came to you demanding a name.

You’d played dumb. Lied about Midge not telling you anything but you knew it was Fangs. You also knew he was in deep with her and wouldn’t hurt a hair on her head. Telling Reggie and his goons would just mean they’d hurt him.

It didn’t make a difference because Fangs got shot anyways. You hadn’t spoken to him since the moments before he’d gotten shot.

You yank your arm free harder than you meant to,”I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thank you,” he said sincerely,” Just had my last check up. I’m all healed up.”

“Good,” you say, you mean it but talking to him makes you hurt remembering Midge.

“Look, after everything happened I never got a chance to properly thank you for not ratting me out.”

You exhale a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding,” Yeah, well. It’s what she would’ve wanted.”

“You could’ve just given me up but you didn’t. I won’t forget that.”

You scoff, “What difference does it make? Midge is still dead and you got shot. My silence did nothing.”

You stare at the wal behind him, flashes of blood and knives, and screaming going through your head.

“Are you okay?”

You snap your eyes back to Fangs, “Fine.”

“Are you here with anyone? I came with some of my friends if you wanna-“

“There you are!”

You turn to see Kevin coming towards you and taking you by the arm,” I’ve been looking all over. I’m about to do shots.”

Kevin looks between you and Fangs,” Sorry am I interrupting?”

“Nope,” you say quickly and shot Kevin the fakest smile,” Lead me to the shots.”

Kevin pulls you away talking your ear off and you don’t look back. People say hi to you throughout the house and you greet them back. You see several bulldogs crowded around a table with tequila shots and lime.

“Shit looks like the jocks got to them first.”

“You think I’m gonna let Bulldogs stop me,” you say and untangle from him, pushing between two football players and finding yourself across from Reggie Mantle.

He smirks when he sees you and you’re sure you scowl as your eyes narrow.

“Well, well, well Bulldogs it looks like we’ve got a new challenger. You up for it sweetheart?”

You’re suddenly very aware that they’ve created a spectacle of all this. There’s a bunch of Riverdale student cheering it on and you’ve caught yourself in the middle of it.

“What’s the rules Mantle?” You asks, refusing to be unfazed.

“That’s cute. No rules. Shots until you can’t anymore. You vs me. What do you say?”

You don’t hate Reggie. At least you didn’t used to. He was more an asshole in the periphery of your vision. Of course being friends with your best friend boyfriend meant Midge had dragged you on double dates hoping you’d click but Reggie was simple and you were not down to be his arm candy.

Then after Midge had been killed in the middle of your deepest grief he’d cornered you with a bunch of his Bulldogs and demanded you give him the name of the Serpent Midge was cheating with. You’d been crying and screaming and traumatized and his bullshit had sent you over an edge.

You hadn’t really come back since.

“You’re on,” you say and there’s something heavy in the air. Someone starts to count down and once your hear zero you slam back the first shot and then the second and then the third and the fourth and the fifth and Reggie is coughing and sputtering at that point but there’s eight shots laid out and you finish all of them. Everyone cheers around you and you don’t care as they pay you on the back. You’re staring right at Reggie and hoping he sees how much you hate him.

Kevin is the one to drag you away from it, yelling over the music about how much you just drank and asking if you’re okay.

“Fine!” you yell and then Kevin pauses and looks to someone and you follow his eyes to Moose. They both smile.

You knew they were fucking and you had no right to be mad but you were always angry nowadays and Kevin just so happened to be here.

“You two are really fucking obvious,” you say and Kevin snaps his head to you with wide eyes, “You think I wouldn’t notice?”

“Look I didn’t mean for it to happen especially after-“

You yank yourself free of him, “Don’t say her name.”

You’re not sure where you’re going but then you find yourself back in the kitchen with the Bulldogs and getting more jungle juice.

You feel him beside you before you see him. It pisses you off you’ve been around him enough times to know his cologne.

“It was kind of hot that you beat me.”

“Fuck off, Reggie,” you say without looking at him.

“Look I get that you hate me. I do. But can’t we move past it all. We had a lot of fun.”

You didn’t think you could get any angrier but you did.

“I think you think you get just how much I hate you but you don’t. And let me make it clear, I didn’t have fun when we fucked. I was drunk and you were the closest thing with a dick.”

He looks upset for just a moment before he smirks, “Well it looks like I’m the closest thing again. Wanna go for another round?”

You leaned close to him, making him think his charms had worked and then you stopped, eyes fierce,” Fucking me doesn’t count as an I’m sorry I started a panic that made Midge’s mother shoot someone and forget that the reason everything started in the first place was because your best friend died. You might not have killed Midge but you made damn sure finding her murdered became about everything else but her. Everyone forgot Midge and I blame you, you fucking idiot.”

“Everything okay here?”

You don’t look away from Reggie but you recognize Fangs’ voice. Reggie looks from you to him and you know somethings about to start.

“Fangs, how you doing buddy?”

“Fine,” he said curtly as you still stared down at Reggie, daring him to do something so you had a reason to make a scene, “Y/N are you good?”

“Why wouldn’t she be good Fogarty?”

“Because she looks like she wants to kill you.”

You snap out of it then and mumble out that you’re fine before downing more jungle juice.

“You know just because you feel bad doesn’t mean you gotta follow her around?” Reggie said and then tried to protectively put his arm around you. You shove him off much harder than you intend and send him onto the floor

“Don’t fucking touch me,” you slur out as the kitchen goes quiet, watching the scene unfold.

“Why are you so mad at me?” Reggie screamed, pulling himself up from the floor and making you jump back at his anger, “I’m not the one who was fucking Midge!”

It’s a different type of silent now at the mention of her name. Everyone knew The Black Hood went after your best friend because she was cheating on Moose with Fangs, an act deemed immoral by the serial killer. You never judged her for it, pushed her to do right by Moose because he was a good guy, but never judged her.

Reggie definitely was.

“If you want someone to be mad at, be mad at the guy that stuck his-“

Reggie doesn’t have a chance to finish because your fist is in his nose. You’re cursing at him and swinging and you can feel yourself being pulled back from him but whoever it is isn’t strong enough. You lurch out of their grip and tackle Reggie, hitting him again and again.

“Don’t you fucking put it on her,” you’re screaming, “Don’t you dare blame her!”

Before you can register it you’re being picked up around your waist and hauled off, still kicking and screaming.

“Put me down,” you yell, trying to pry the arms that carry you outside into the cool night air.

Finally, you’re set down on the porch and you whip around to see a frantic Fangs and Sweet Pea.

“Jesus you’re stronger than you look,” Sweet Pea mumbles, catching his breath.

“Look,” Fangs began gently, blocking your path back inside, “As much as I’d love to see Reggie get a black eye this isn’t you. You’re drunk and you’re angry and-“

“How about you don’t tell me what I am and move out of my way?” you growl at him, arms crossed.

“Midge wouldn’t want you to do this.”

“Midge is dead,” you replied, voice cold, “And I don’t need you to-“

You stop, eyebrows knitting together.

“What’s wrong?” Fangs asked.

You turn and throw your face over the porch as you violently throw up the contents of your stomach.

“I’m gonna go get her some water. Just don’t leave her side,” you hear Fangs say.

You hate being this girl. You didn’t used to drink this much and you certainly weren’t this angry when you did. It just made things easier.

You finally stop, catching your breath and groaning off the side of the balcony.

“Ew,” you mumble to yourself.

“You good?”

You’d forgotten Sweet Pea was still there to watch you. You had no right to be angry with him...or Fangs. So you resigned yourself to the exhaustion fighting its way into your body.

“Fine,” you throw over your shoulder, straightening up and running your hands back through your hair.

“You don’t look fine.”

You glare at him over your shoulder, faltering back a bit, still drunk, “Don’t take this the wrong way but I’m really fucking tired of people telling me that.”

Sweet Pea chuckles to himself, “You’re fun when you’re pissed.”

You go quiet, making him feel bad. Slowly, he came to stand next to you.

“For real, how’ve you been doing?”

You look to him. You hadn’t spoken to him since Fangs got shot. When Fangs and Midge had first hooked up, you’d found yourself awkwardly with him as both of your best friends made out across the room at the White Wyrm. He’d cracked a joke and made you laugh. You’d thought he was cute back then.

“I just punched Reggie Mantle in the face and threw up. How do you think I’m doing?”

“Well only one of those things sounds like it wasn’t fun,” he teased and you chuckled under your breath, “Oh look she still smiles.”

You half heartedly glare at him and he smiles down at you, all teeth and big, brown eyes and you can’t have the heart to be mad anymore. Vaguely you start to remember the time you’d danced with each other at a party. It seemed like a world away.

“Thank you,” you say hesitantly.

He shrugged, “You didn’t rat Fangs out and you really didn’t have to be there when he got shot...but you were. Makes you alright in my book.”

You scoffed, “Just alright?”

“Well you do go around punching people so I gotta wait before I give you the full okay.”

“Afraid I’ll turn on you,” you teased, the alcohol on your blood and on your breath making you confident as you stepped closer to him and his eyes darken enough for you to hold your breath.

“Promises, promises,” he drawls, and you’re fresh out of air in your lungs.

The door opens and you don’t realize just how close you’ve gotten to Sweet Pea. You take a step back as Fangs comes out with a bottle of water. He raises a brow at Sweet Pea who pretends like nothing had happened.

“I got you some water,” Fangs said and handed it to you. You quickly began to drink it down, grateful. When you’re done you look to him.

“I’m sorry,” you say sincerely, “You didn’t deserve me yelling at you.”

He looks down at his feet, “Not really sure what I deserve right now.”

You know what he means and suddenly you can see the guilt and grief that hangs over you is right above his head as well, darkening you both. All the time you’d been avoiding Fangs and he might be the only one who really, truly understood just how you felt about losing Midge. Sure, Moose was her boyfriend but you and Fangs shared the same guilt in the thing the Black Hood has judged her for. She cheated on Moose with Fangs and you watched her do it, you lied for her, you were by her side when you went to meet him. You weren’t the ones that killed her but it felt like it sometimes.

“It wasn’t your fault.” It tumbled out before you lose the nerve and then you’re reaching out to squeeze his hand. He takes it, giving you a squeeze back and a small smile.

Something bubbles in your chest and you let go more forcefully than you intended.

“Nights still young,” Sweet Pea said, breaking the tension, “y’all still down to party?”

“Fuck it,” you mumble and you’re the first one back into the house

You find yourself at the beer pong table. You slink the last shot right into the final cup in your game. Sweet Pea and you are on the winning team and just beat Cheryl and Toni. Sweet Pea hollers and pick you up, spinning you around. He’s caught up to you in how drunk you are.

He puts you down, quickly and yells over the cheers, “Don’t throw up!”

“Fuck you,” you yell and shove him at his chest playfully. He grabs your hand and holds it there, making intense eye contact with you.

“Got room for another game.”

Your moments broken up by a particularly pissed looking Reggie with a bruised nose. You snort a laugh, too drunk to be angry anymore.

“Not enough that a punched you in the face you want me to wreck you at beer pong too, Mantle?” you call out, laughing and taunting him as you down what’s in your cup.

“I could wreck you sweetheart,” Reggie says, lewdly scanning your body.

“Mantle you wanna fuck off,” Sweet Pea said calmly, arms crossed.

Reggie looks from Sweet Pea to you, his smile unnerving, “Careful, bro. She’s pretty but she might punch you in the face next.”

You recover quickly and drawl, “Oh my god you think I’m pretty.”

Moose comes to his side, pulling him away and looking at you with an apologetic look. It was the only way he ever looked at you now.

“C’mon bro that’s enough,” Moose said, tugging Reggie away.

Reggie pointed to Sweet Pea with a smirk, “She’s a real handful when she’s mad but she’s a great time.”

Luckily no ones paying attention to the drunk Bulldog this time. You know Sweet Pea hears it though because he looks from Reggie to you with a raised brow. Your jaw clenched and you start to walk away but Sweet Pea stops you. You hate that he made you feel ashamed of yourself. You hate Reggie for making you remember this drunk, angry girl is not who you are.

“Wanna get out of here?”

There’s tears pricking at the corners of your eyes and you’re suddenly very aware of how loud it is in here, back leaning against a wall.

You look up at him and wipe it all away to smirk and bat your lashes, “I want you to take me somewhere to fuck me.”

His brows shoot off his head, “Don’t fuck me to get back at Reggie.”

“I’m fucking you because you look like you want it about as much as I do,” you’re pushing it. You know that but Sweet Pea smiles and leans down until his lips are at your ear.

“If you did wanna piss Reggie off look at him right now,” he whispers in your ear, hands coming up to grab at your waist. You find Reggie over Sweet Pea’s shoulder, glaring at the two of you. You smirk at him just as Sweet Pea pulls back to look at your face, forcing your attention to him.

“Was he looking?” he asked though his eyes are on your lips, the last thing in his mind Reggie Mantle.

“Yeah,” you manage as the hulking boy in front of you puts a hand at your jaw, tilting your face up.

“Good, let’s give him a show.”

He kisses you deep, thumb brushing at your cheek and pulling you so close you gasp. In the space of your parted lips, his tongue meets yours. All thoughts other than the Serpent holding you leave your head. He’s a good kisser, a great kisser and he’s everywhere. Your back presses into the wall and you find yourself fisting your hands in his shirt, trying to pull him closer but there’s no more space for you two to close between you.

He brings a leg forward, making you part yours for him. There’s a whimper in your ears and you realize it’s you. He chuckles, dangerous and low against your mouth.

“You okay baby girl?”

You nod, eyes still closed.

“Look at me.”

You pull your gaze to his and if you couldn’t hear your heartbeat before you can now looking into his eyes, pupils blown wide and gaze heavy lidded on you. He puts his fingers under your chin, tilting your head up to look at him.

“When I fuck you, it’s going to be because you want me so bad you can’t take it. Not because we’re drunk and you want to piss off Reggie.”

He kisses you one last time, slow and sweet instead of with the sloppy heat of before. He finds your hand entangling with his.

When he pulls away your gaze at him is soft.

“C’mon let’s get some water,” he suggest over the music and leads you away hand in hand. You don’t even look back at Reggie as he pulls you through the crowd.

[madzilla84]

Mad I know it’s not technically your birthday for like 6 more hours BUT as an early celebration of you, can you please rant about what dnp’s opinions of your favorite Beatles albums/songs would probably be 🥺 (also hi miss you ly)

whaaaa thank you bb!!! the best gift is the opportunity to ramble about the beatles *and* dnp. MY BRANDING <3 (miss you too; ugh one day things will be different and there will be drinks and nerdery again ;_;)

I know you sent this last night, but it took me A While because it’s something I had to think about quite a bit! (plus i have been working oh no)

(under a cut for ur dashes)

It’s mainly tough to actually narrow down my favourites in the first place because I’m always like. What even are my favourites. I thiiiiiiink I’ve rambled before about what their favourites might be? But as for their opinions of my faves … I’ll cherry pick a few because otherwise we’ll be here all day sdkdsj

lbr, there must be some i love they’d be pretty meh about, but because the beatles’ catalogue, even without the solo stuff, is so varied in style, there’s bound to be something they’d like, even a lil bit. I feel like Phil might gravitate towards the more well-known stuff, as it’s more nostalgic? The stuff everyone knows, even if they’re not and have never been a fan and never deliberately listened to their music, they just know it anyway because it’s in the collectibve psyche? There’s a familiarity to those sorts of tracks I think he’d just enjoy … album-wise, I reckon he’d like the red and blue albums the most (which are essentially ‘greatest hits’), and nothing wrong with that! I started with those myself… but loads of tracks on them are likely to be ones he knows, even vaguely. If we’re talking proper albums, and favourites of mine, I reckon the movie soundtracks might appeal (especially alongside the movies which he might like), particularly Help (side 1 anyway). And the stuff on Blue like Lady Madonna (my fave when I was a kid) or Hello, Goodbye. The upbeat stuff.

*IF* he chose to delve a bit deeper then I think he’d probably like the stuff around the Rubber Soul/Revolver era (which is right after Help anyway). Particularly Rubber Soul, and track wise I think particularly hmm… Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, lotsss off Revolver. I could probably pick tracks from every album that he might like, though, which is why I went for red/blue.

Dan’s a bit more of a wildcard as his music taste is all over the place (which I’m sure he would call ‘eclectic’), but he’s also more likely to do a deep dive and listen to some of the more niche stuff (inasmuch as anything by the most famous band in the world can be ‘niche’, but you know). Of my faves, I think he’d particularly dig … one that springs to mind for some reason is the version of ‘tomorrow never knows/within you without you’ from the ‘love’ (remixes) album. It’s just. So good. And I think he’d enjoy it… I think he’d really enjoy the vibe of the lyrics of ‘within you without you’, but that particular mix makes it a bit more … accessible? than the original version (which I developed a big appreciation for a couple of years ago, but some people don’t enjoy the sitar-heavy songs much, which is fair enough), and it has more of a heavy beat. IT’S SO GOOD did I mention that?

I feel like he’s more into lyrics in general, so there might be some that jump out at him for that reason … from among my particular faves, I dunno why i vibe so hard with hey bulldog but i DO, and maybe he would too; I’m not thinking of any particular person (like, definitely not phil, or anyone really), it’s just so much A Mood in general. Also the fact that it’s a brilliant song that then devolves into John and Paul’s Weird Shenanigans at the end feels very … on brand. And of course I feel like he’d have an appreciation for the piano-heavy stuff; Paul McCartney never had any formal piano training either, and also learned to play by ear, by himself, and he’s done ok for himself so you know. (I Would Die if Dan ever played a beatles song on piano uuuuuuuu) Top choice for those for me would be the opening of You Never Give Me Your Money or Martha My Dear but that’s just me ofc

If he were feeling soppy - and he can’t fool me, I know he does sometimes - there are so many to choose from, especially Here Comes The Sun or In My Life or, if I can veer into solo for a moment, Maybe I’m Amazed. (And ooooo also solo, but Watching The Wheels by John, hashtag relatable). And definitely Don’t Let Me Down, and I’m A Loser (the much more self-disparaging cousin of Nowhere Man), and ofc they would vibe a bit too hard with You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.

This sort of (unavoidably) veered off from which of *my faves* they would like and more into which ones they’d like in general, oooooops.  And it was probably mostly nonsensical. But man, I wish I could drink wine and listen to Beatles with them ;_; (Yeah ok, they might be bored after ten minutes but whatever!! ;))

[lu-undy]

Chapter 15 - SBT

Here it is!

"Good morning." 

"We are closed, Sir - actually, how did you even get in?"

The Frenchman had entered the Queen Victoria first thing in the morning and was standing in front of a waiter in uniform. 

"The door was open." He simply answered. 

"I could have sworn I had it shut…" 

Lucien smirked. Picking locks is not a skill one forgets easily.

"May I ask, are you looking to hire?"

"Uhm, Sir, I'm afraid we are not looking for more waiters or more people in the kitchen." 

"And what about there?" 

Lucien pointed at the wide stage at the back of the dining area. 

"What instruments do you play?" 

"The one you are using when you talk to me. I am a singer." 

"Ah, let me get my manager…"

Lucien nodded and the young man disappeared. He heard loud voices, actually non, it was one loud voice. At first it was unclear and he only heard the end of it. 

"Charles, disappoint us one more time and you're out! The last thing I need is people coming in and out of my restaurant as if it was a brothel! Now, where is that man?!" 

There was a pause before the door through which the young waiter had disappeared blasted open. 

"Good day to you, Sir." Lucien said, not impressed by the roars he heard.

"Who the hell're you to think you can sing in my establishment?!" 

Lucien liked the man already. He had the full set of the rich man who got richer through a family business. He was only a few inches taller than the Frenchman but one could fit at least 3 Luciens in his clothes… His skin was paler than the Frenchman's and had turned red under his fit of anger. Lucien nonetheless remained calm.

"I think I am what you need to be able to stop shouting at your employees as if they were cows."

Lucien took a glance at the poor waiter behind his employer and the young man gave him all his support with his eyes.

"What?! How dare you?! What do you know about running a restaurant?! My business, my rules!"

The man was barking and his plump cheeks rebounded as if they were made of cream. A bulldog, that's what he reminded Lucien of.

"Of course, but don't you want to see more people pouring in day after day?"

"And you think you can achieve that? Hahahaa!"

As he burst into laughter, Lucien's eyes flashed maliciously. 

"Not only do I think I can, but I will, Frank." 

The plump man's laughter cut short.

"How do you know my name?!"

"I like to know who I will work with."

"Arrogant. And what's yer accent? Italian?" 

"French." Lucien corrected. "But I can sing in Italian too."

"And what makes you think that you can sing here, eh?" 

"I have sung in better places than this wannabe elite restaurant."

Lucien disdainfully said as he opened the button of his jacket.

"And in none of them have I ever witnessed the manager raise his voice on his employees. That just confirms my suspicions."

Frank watched, his jaw dropping. He didn't see it but most of the staff had exited the kitchen and backstage and were watching the whole scene. Lucien sat down at the nearest table. He took his cigarette case out of his breast pocket and lit one before resuming his speech.

"The reason for the failure of this establishment is none other than its head."

Frank squinted his little eager eyes. 

"You bluff, you know nothing and you're not even a singer. Also, my restaurant is about to do much, much better even without you. But anyway, I don't believe you."

"You want confirmation of what I said? Fair enough, let us do that, shall we? Someone bring me a telephone. I will call a friend and you will be settled. Now, to make sure that who I will call is truly who I claim it is, I won't give you his direct number. Non, Frank, you will call the lowest secretary of the entire hierarchy tree and work your way up until you have him at the other end, d'accord?"

[Agreed?]

"Who's yer friend, Frenchie?"

Lucien sucked on his cigarette before blowing a cloud of smoke in front of him. Frank could only see his fair eyes pierce through the menthol fog. 

"The man who runs the most sought after restaurant of all Paris, of course. That same place that welcomes celebrities, singers, actors, politicians, local and international leaders."

"Pffff, as if…" 

"I have personally seen in the flesh more kings and presidents that you have seen on television." Lucien added. "Take it as a bet. If I am bluffing and saying nonsense, I will leave and not come back to trouble you ever again. But if it turns out that I really am close friends with the man who feeds the European and international elite in Paris, then you hire me under my conditions. What do you say?" 

Frank frowned harder, trying to impress the thin Frenchman smoking nonchalantly in front of him, to no avail. Lucien's smirk remained. 

"If kings, queens and leaders of all sorts came to listen to me sing, sometimes even offered me a discussion with them, can you only understand the asset that I would be for your establishment…?" Lucien said. 

"Wait, hold on, why do you want to work here? If what you're saying is true, then why come in this 'wanna be elite restaurant'?"

Lucien had to think fast to find an answer to that. Lucky for him, decades of being a spy were hard to forget and so the lies came to his lips very naturally. 

"Well, you just said it." He answered. "You are expecting this establishment to do better. Allow me to help in that matter and also make my name in this continent." 

"So you're in for the fame, eh?" Frank asked. 

"Non, that I already have. Pay attention, Frank," Lucien teased just to make him pay for the way he treated his employees. "I have sung for your Queen a few times, you know? The one with her face on your money?"

"Alright, alright, bring me a phone, I'll call that restaurant in Paris myself!" Frank concluded to cut Lucien's mocking and a waiter brought a phone to him. "What's it called?"

"Le Conquérant." Lucien answered.

[The Conqueror.]

After a few beeps, Frank was in contact with an operator. "Can I get the fanciest, most expensive restaurant of Paris on the line please? Can you confirm it's called 'Le.. uh… Conquayren'? Yeah, Paris in France, where else?! Yeah, I'll hold." 

Lucien rolled his eyes at how Frank butchered the name of the restaurant. He was now used to his impressive politeness. After a minute or so, someone answered the phone. 

"Yeah, hello, am I at that fancy restaurant in Paris? Yeah? I'm calling from Australia, see, I've got a man in front of me who claims he sang for you and made you earn fortunes; just running a background check on the bloke." Frank turned to Lucien.  "Your name?"

"Lulu." 

Frank's eyebrows jumped. 

"L-Lulu?" He repeated, thinking it was all a prank now as the name sounded ridiculous. "Right, I'll pass him over." 

Lucien took the telephone. 

"Allô? Oui. Oui, c'est moi, Lulu." 

[Hello? Yes. Yes, it's me, Lulu.]

The rest of the conversation Frank didn't really understand. 

"J'ai besoin que vous assuriez ce monsieur que je suis bien ce que je prétends être."

[I need you to convince the man that I am indeed what I claim to be.]

Lucien nodded a few times. A few "oui" and "mh-hm" later, the phone passed from Lucien's hands to Frank's. 

"Yeah, hello? Yeah, so, it is true?" Frank expected a no. But what he was told completely confirmed what the Frenchman had said. "Are you kiddin' me?! This bloke, in front of me, singing to kings and stuff…? He had dinner with who now?!" 

Lucien smirked proudly and leaned back on his chair, his cigarette between his lips. He waited for Frank to finish the phone call and he hung up. 

"So…" The Frenchman said. "When shall I meet the musicians?" 

Frank let his hand sink on his face, from his brow to his chin. 

"Listen here, Frenchie-"

"Lucien." Said Frenchie corrected him. "If we are to work together, you will have to learn how to respect your collaborators."

"Collaborators?!" Frank repeated. "I'm payin' you and you're working for me! How is that a collaboration? I'm your boss and that's that!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk…." Lucien waved with his index finger, shaking his head. "Your job is to deal with the restaurant, mine, to organise shows. I hardly see where your input in my work comes." 

"At the end of the month, the cheques."

"You can keep your filthy chèques to yourself. I don't need them. Now, that makes you my collaborator, non?" Lucien asked. 

"Wait, are you sayin' you'd rather not me paying you?" 

"I do not do this for the money, Frank." 

"You're one hell of a weirdo…" Frank took a chair and sat opposite Lucien. "Say I hire y-" 

Lucien raised an eyebrow. 

"I mean, I collaborate with you… What's the plan?" Frank asked. 

"You take care of your restaurant and leave the shows to me. I will handle everything: song choices, musicians, rehearsals, costumes. I ask of you one thing. Non, actually, two."

Frank raised an eyebrow. 

"You let me hire whoever I need and I need to have a look at your menu." 

The plump man's eyebrows jumped. 

"You hungry or something now?" 

Lucien ignored his comment, and Frank put a hand to his chin. Well, his first chin. Looking like a bulldog meant he had multiple ones…

"Let's make a deal then." Frank started. 

"I am all ears." Lucien crushed his cigarette end in the ashtray.

"I get you on board for a month and I accept all your tantrums. No more, no less. If by the end of it things change, I'll keep you. Otherwise, you and your princess attitude can go back where you come from." 

Lucien smirked. 

"So, what d'you say?" Frank extended his hand. 

The Frenchman thought fast. Making himself a name here in a month was impossible. Unless… 

"Agreed." Lucien shook his partner's hand. "Now," He stood up. "I shall get to work."

"Alright."

Lucien made his way through the staff who had gathered around them and had watched the discussion like a tennis match.

"Anyone who works on or around the stage, follow me." 

Like a shepherd with his sheep, they did. They ended up a minute later on stage. 

"Gentlemen, you heard Frank. We need to get the show rolling hard and fast. We need this establishment to thrive!"

Lucien looked around and all he could see was tired eyes that did not have any hope or will to make the Queen Victoria any better. 

"Look," Lucien changed his strategy. "My name is Lucien as you have heard, and I won't promise you glory with a snap of my fingers. The reputation I have, I built it with litres and litres of sweat, as well as endless hours of work. But gentlemen…" He turned to look at them all in the eyes, one by one. 

"Like a phoenix from its ashes, we shall rise again!" He raised his hand and clenched his fist. "We have an open path and only success lies ahead! But to reach that end, I need you, you and you! Oui! I will need all of you to contribute! I need each of you to rehearse as if you were to play to your queen!"

The musicians were keenly listening and started to lean forward on their seats. 

"Now! We have enough musicians, creativity and experience to make this show better than what it's ever been before. Who is the conductor?"

"Me, Sir." A man about a decade older than Lucien raised his hand. 

"I will ask you all to give me a sample of what you usually do. Come on!" 

The musicians took their places. The conductor stood in front of them and motioned them to start. Lucien took a seat and listened carefully. He lit up a cigarette and frowned. A waiter happened to pass by. 

"Could you bring me the menu please?" 

"Of course, Sir." 

A second later, Lucien was reading carefully, raising his eyes to the musicians and his ears still pricked up to their efforts. Indeed, the Queen Victoria served exquisite food if one was to believe their menu… But, as Lucien raised his eyes, he saw a group of musicians who played mechanically. There was no passion, no will, no savouring the music. 

"Stop it." Lucien rose to his feet. "Stop this." 

The conductor signed and the musicians came to a stop. 

"This is no music. This is what school boys produce when they are being forced to sing in front of their classmates. We need to change things, drastically."

"What do you propose?" The conductor asked. "We've always played like this." He raised his hands and let them flop again against his thighs.

"This is exactly the problem. And what kind of music is this? Elevator music? Music that no one ever cares about? Music that people hear but don't listen to?"

"But that's what Mr Jameson wants. He's always asked us to play to accompany the meal, not to compete with it." The conductor answered. 

"Forget about him! He is the one who made you all lose your passion for music!" Lucien shouted, pointing an accusative finger in direction of the door behind which Frank disappeared. “Close your eyes.”

The group watched him curiously.

“Come on, I don’t have all day!” Lucien insisted and they did as he said.

“I want to take you back to the day you all first played, when you picked up your instrument and the sounds that came out of you spoke out loud the words that your mouth couldn’t form! What did it feel like to express yourself with a means that doesn’t care about culture, race, age, gender? Music slashes through everything, your body, your ideas, your beliefs! And it comes straight through your heart, like the arrow of an experienced hunter. And you? You! Gentlemen! You are the hunters! The hunters of those feelings, of those emotions that the poet, the writer and the painter cannot form! Non! Only you have that power! To create the waves of the air that spell the feelings that no language, no other form of art can!”

The musicians opened their eyes.

“Now you take your instruments and you play like you mean it! You play as if it were your last chance, your last moment, as if all the efforts and sacrifices in your lives led to this special moment!”

“What should we play, Lucien?” The conductor asked. 

“What do you feel like at the moment? What emotion do you want to convey?” Lucien answered.

The conductor fell deep in thought for a moment and Lucien’s eyes scanned through the musicians. 

“So? Tell me!” He turned to all of the musicians. "What do you want to play…? You, tell me." He asked a trumpet player. 

"Uh, freedom I guess."

"Oui, freedom, you?" Lucien turned to the drummer.

"Hope." 

"Very good, you?" He asked a bassist. 

"Love." 

Lucien's eyebrows twitched. His first reaction was surprise. Why? Because who would like to sing love? Love is the biggest empty promise that life makes. You grow up full of "find your princess and live happily ever after" only to be served "find your queen and watch her slip from your very hands". Non, love was everything but what Lucien would have sung. 

"Love?" He repeated, his lips almost hurting as they uttered the word.

"Yeah, love." The bassist insisted. 

Lucien looked at all the other musicians and saw so much expectations in their eyes that he couldn't afford to refuse. He couldn't! After the moderately inspirational speech he gave, he couldn't afford to extinguish that flame and lose their trust.

He frowned. 

"Fine. We shall play such a piece. Your job is to find and agree on a song. I give you a few days to rehearse it and make it yours. I don't want to sing on any odd cover, non! You all will have to make this piece yours, make it resonate inside of you. Once this is done, I shall come in and we shall rehearse with my voice. Do we have a deal, gentlemen?" 

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Then get to it!" Lucien concluded before turning his back and exiting the restaurant. 

On his way out, his eye caught the shadow of Frank in the corridor. He had been watching and listening, lurking. Lucien did not mind at all. On the contrary, if the plump man did learn a thing or two on how to manage a team, it wouldn't hurt.

The Frenchman walked back to his car and slid in. He waited to be out of sight from the restaurant and looked in his rear view mirror. He smiled. Being hired proved a bit chaotic, but fairly easy. Now, he had to pay a friend a visit to make sure he would hold his part of the bargain with Frank: make more and more people pour in the Queen Victoria.

[j2hoes]

Bruises. (Sweet Pea x Reader)

Summary: Y/N comes to terms with what happened to her.

Word Count: 1,897

Gif Not Mine. Requests Are Open!

Warnings: Sexual Assault, Suicidal Thoughts, Swearing.

Bruises litter my body, from my neck to my thighs. From the hickeys he left down my neck, chest and stomach to the marks he left on my hips and thighs from grabbing me too aggressively. Each contusion is a reminder that it was my fault. That I deserved this. Glancing up at my tear stained face, I struggle to even look at myself. Last night's mascara creates dark rings under my eyes and my red lipstick is smeared halfway across my face. Despite feeling an overwhelming sense of dirtiness, I can't bring myself to get in the shower. I don't have the energy. Not to mention the fact that every time I walk, the soreness between my legs causes me even more pain. Shuffling over to my bed, I climb under the blankets and try to make myself as small as possible. Almost as though I'm trying to make myself disappear. Perhaps that would be for the best. One less burden for everybody to worry about. They would forget about me soon enough. *** "Y/N, you haven't even touched your food." Toni's voice rings through my ears, releasing me from trance I was stuck in. "Are you sure you're alright?" All eyes are on me, each sharing an interested look. Each wanting to hear my answer before returning to their own conversations. Looking over at my boyfriend Sweet Pea, I notice the concern within his eyes and I know that I have to tell them what they want to hear. "I'm fine." Toni offers me a smile and pats me on the shoulder. She doesn't want to pry, most likely assuming I'm on my period. Fangs and Jughead look unconvinced but don't push me any further. They know that if anything is wrong, Sweet Pea will deal with it. After all, he's the one that normally puts up with my issues. I don't get chance to look at Sweet Pea as a loud roar of laughter catches my attention. Standing by the door to cafeteria I spot the Bulldogs. I spot him. My grip on my fork tightens as I watch him carelessly flirt with one of the Vixens. Unaware that he is destroying me. Tugging slightly on sleeves of my sweater, I feel myself beginning to sweat. The memory of his hands pushing me down dances in front of my eyes. He looks up, eyes catching mine. Ever so subtly he winks in my direction. Jumping out of my seat, I grab my bag and take off down the hallway. Chest tightening, I feel myself slipping back to that night. The way he locked the door, trapping me alone in the bedroom with him. My desperate pleas for him to stop. How he looked me in the eyes the entire time. Pushing the stall door open, I collapse on the floor. Choked sobs escaping my lips. The memories cause my head to ache and no matter what I do I can't stop it. I can't escape it. Despite hearing the door swing open, I ignore it completely. Instead trying my hardest to focus on my breathing. "What's up with you?" Looking up at the person towering over my, I immediately recognise the flaming red hair as that of Cheryl Blossom. She has a small smile on her face, which surprises me as she made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me after I decided to befriend the Serpents. I struggle to talk, I struggle to tell her I'm fine. Cheryl sighs, stepping over me and into the small bathroom stall. She shuts the door and sits with her back against the opposite wall to me. "You don't have to talk to me about it. You should talk about it though, whatever happened clearly hurt you. Can you not talk to that criminal boyfriend of yours?" She asks, offering me a tissue to dry my eyes. Shaking my head slightly, I resist the urge to tell her that he isn't a criminal. It wouldn't matter to her anyway, her mindset would still remain the same. Cheryl Blossom is the most stubborn person I know. Yet she is still sat on the bathroom floor, doing her best to comfort me despite not being the closest of friends anymore. Whoever said she didn't have a heart was clearly lying. "Well if you can't talk to me or him. Who can you talk to?" Her voice is calm but I manage to catch the slight undertone of concern. I sigh, resting my head against the wall. Who can I talk to? My best option is Sweet Pea but who knows how he'll react. What if he doesn't want me anymore? I'm not willing to risk losing him over something so stupid. Something that I should be able to simply forget. "Do you reckon Pea will stick by me through anything? No matter what happens, he'll always be there?" I ask, not daring to look at her due to how embarrassing my question is. "As much as I hate to be nice about that snake, yes he will. It's so obvious how much that boy loves you. Seriously, it's beyond disgusting." She tells me, her words give me the slightest bit of hope that maybe there is a possibility that I could talk to him. "Promise me you'll talk to somebody." Nodding my head, I carefully shift myself so that I can give her a small hug. Despite not knowing about the injuries covering my body, she is still incredibly gentle. Loosely wrapping her arms around me, letting me know that she does still care. Even if Sweet Pea doesn't stick around, I'll always have Cheryl. The red head stands, offering me a hand to help me off the floor. I watch as she checks her hair in the mirror before glancing at me. She smiles, holding the door as we both exit the bathroom together. The sound of shouting instantly hits me and Cheryl and I both turn to look down the hallways. Only to see the Bulldogs and Serpents in the middle of a heated argument. "Sorry Y/N, but there is no way in hell am I getting involved in that." Hesitantly I begin to make my way towards the crowd of people. Noticing that as usual, Sweet Pea stands at the front of the group. Leading the Bulldogs stands none other than Harry Bennett. Jughead spots me as I get closer and nudges Sweet Pea. Ultimately making not only him aware of my presence but also the Bulldogs. Joining the group of Serpents, I stand next to Sweet Pea with my head down. Not daring to look at Harry, afraid of what will happen if I do. The tension in the air is evident and makes me feel rather uncomfortable. However, I tough it out, I need to be strong and stand with the Serpents. A symbol of not only loyalty but unity. "Tell me Sweet Pea, what is your bitch like in bed?" Harry asks, tears flooding my eyes on the spot. The anger radiating off the Serpent next to me is obvious, Harry is getting under his skin. Despite my best attempts to keep my head down, I glance up at the Bulldog in front of me and instantly regret it. I almost physically feel everything, how much he truly hurt me that night. His hand wrapped around my throat, leading me to believe that I was going to die. I wanted to die. "What? Does she not fuck you? Or is she really that bad?" Doing my best to ignore Harry, I turn my head to look over at Fangs. He raises his eyebrows at me, shocked I haven't said anything yet. Instead I just nod my head, motioning for him to get Sweet Pea away from the situation. Fangs understands what I'm trying to say and heads over to the tall Serpent. Whispering something in his ear, the two boys ditch the group and walk straight out of the school building. Both groups look at each other in confusion, not completely what just happened. Though neither cared all that much. After all, it meant they could go back to doing whatever they liked. *** Knocking on the door to Sweet Pea's trailer, I wrap my arms around myself in an attempt to preserve some of my body heat. When the door finally opens, Pea stands there dressed in his favourite black hoodie. The one I love to wear due to the sheer size and softness of the fabric. The moment I step inside his trailer, he wraps me in a hug. His grip on me pushes against many of the bruises and I try my best not to wince, though that proves almost impossible. Pea notices this and takes a step back to look at me. "What's going on with you princess? You've not been yourself and don't tell me you're fine because I know you're not." Pea throws himself down on the sofa and I quietly shut the door. Gathering all of the courage I have, I turn to face my boyfriend. I'm trying my hardest not to cry, not to appear vulnerable. If I cry, I don't think I'll be able to get the words out. "Something happened at the party on Saturday night." I admit, sitting next to him and carefully taking his hands in mine. "Promise me that you won't leave me." The nervousness Pea is feeling is evident on his face, it almost causes me to back out. So instead I look away, knowing that I need to tell him. Especially him, he deserves to know. Besides, I hate lying to him and he'll notice the injuries at some point. "Harry had sex with me. I told him no and I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen to me. He wouldn't listen." I tell him, a stray tear escaping my eyes. "I was begging him Pea. It hurt so much." I can tell he is angry at Harry but he tries not to show it. Instead he presses a soft kiss to my forehead. Pulling my towards him, I rest my head on his chest listening to his heartbeat. "Show me. Please baby." Cautiously standing up, my hands tremble slightly as I pull my sweater over my head. Stepping out of my jeans, I stand in front of Sweet Pea in only my underwear and for some reason I feel more exposed than I ever have before. A look of sadness washes over his face as his eyes scan over the countless bruises. His hands rest gently on my waist, tracing over the purple marks ever so gently. "You'll be okay. I'm not going to let him treat you like that. You deserve so much better. Don't ever think that this was your fault." He tells me, before pressing a small kiss to my belly button. "I'm going to teach that prick a lesson sweetheart, I promise you that much." Leaning down, I place a sweet kiss on his lips. Smiling at how caring this boy can be despite his tough façade. Pea pulls off his hoodie, offering it to me which I gratefully accept. "Please don't do anything that will get you arrested. I can't lose you Pea." I admit, crawling into his open arms. "You won't lose me sugar, that's a guarantee."

[xxdragonwriterxx]

I was tagged by the amazing @nefelimalfoy, thank you for the tag! I hope I’m doing this right, I’m still pretty new to the mechanics of Tumblr so we’re just gonna roll with it and hope this is how it works 😂. I made this on a new one to save space but I decided to do this tag because I figured it’d be a good way for you guys to get to know me since I don’t have an About Me page. Either way, thanks again, and here are my answers!

Named after someone? Yes actually! My name is Morgan and I was named after my mother’s maiden name because they wanted to give me a unisex name so I could be whoever I wanted to be, and that name just happened to work really well. It’s still my grandmother’s name so we always have fun calling each other by my name for fun. My mom also just really loved that name, even when she was a teenager, and wanted to call her child that in the future anyway, so here I am!

Last time you cried? The last time I cried was about three weeks ago. We recently moved several states away from my friends and family and I’m having a hard time adjusting since I didn’t really want to live in this particular state in the first place, coupled with leaving everyone, it’s been a little tough for me. Nothing significant, sometimes I just miss my friends 😊.

Do you have any kids? Nope, I’m only 18 so not quite there yet, but I’m hoping to have some in the future! I’d love to have between 2 and 3 but that all depends on what country I live in and the state of the world at the time I’m ready for them. Raising kids is expensive and really hard so I wanna be ready for them. But hopefully they are in my future somewhere!

Do you use sarcasm a lot? I guess I’d say I use it moderately. I love to use it all the time for humor purposes, but in terms of using it for when I’m annoyed, I guess it just depends on how long I am in an annoying situation and who I’m with. It’s my favorite thing to use for jokes but I’d say I use it moderately in terms of genuine use.

Eye color? I have blue eyes! Although they tend to change based on the seasons. In the winter and spring they are more blue and in the spring and summer they are more green, so I guess it kinda depends on the season and temperature.

Favorite book genre? Definitely fantasy but I will honestly read almost anything just so long as the story is interesting. I don’t really have a “least favorite” genre or anything because I tend to judge a book based on it’s story rather than it’s genre. But most of my favorite books of all time come from fantasy, so I’d say that’s my favorite aside from horror and psychological thrillers which are also top tier genres in my book (can’t watch horror movies but could read horror novels any day).

Any special talent? Okay so actually, I do have one talent that would be considered special. I have no idea where it came from or how I learned it, but ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been able to perfectly replicate certain animal sounds (and a few extra ones that aren’t animals too). I can do a dog, cat (both meow and purr), horse, goat, zebra, pig, dove, Golum (from LOTR), Stitch, trumpet, engine from Cruella Devil’s car (I know this is really fucking specific but trust me on this one), dragon growl/purr (think from HTTYD), and Homer Simpson. Again, I have literally no idea how I started, I just know that when I was a kid, I used to bark like a dog and eventually got good at it (according to my mom). Now, I just practice different sounds I want to make until I can completely replicate them. I know it sounds far fetched, but that’s what it is. It’s really fun to shock people with tbh 😂. But I always have to be careful dogs aren’t around when I bark, because I have set off a barking frenzy before 😅.

What country were you born in? I was born in America but I hope to move to Europe shortly after college. I’m looking at somewhere like Scotland or New Zealand but honestly getting to explore Europe will be amazing in itself and I know I’ll find where I want to live as I go along.

What are your hobbies? Well, writing is the obvious one but I don’t just write fanfics. I also write original short stories and I am working on a fantasy novel currently. Aside from writing, I have been riding horses ever since I was 2 years old, riding my first pony on my grandma’s farm. Now I ride and show competitively, showing in the jumper ring with my 17 hand dark bay Thoroughbred, Moose! We jump about a meter 20 (if any of you know equestrian terms/measurements) but we are aiming for the Grand Prix at some point in my life. I also like to wake surf behind a boat on lakes, draw, read books, and listen to music. I also absolutely love classic cars more than anything. It’s my dream to have one one day and fix her up, so while it’s not technically a hobby since I haven’t done it yet and I don’t know much about the mechanics, I do a lot of research and reading up on them, which will hopefully lead to my dream coming true at some point!

Do you have any pets? Oh god, here comes the word vomit. I could talk about my pets for days 😂 but I’ll keep it short. I actually have three dogs currently, two french bulldogs and a street chihuahua (she does not look like a normal chihuahua at all. She is quite a bit larger and has the funkiest ears of any dog ever. She looks like if a weasel, a chihuahua, and a pine marten had a baby) we found abandoned and neglected when I was 9. I also have a horse and my mother has one as well so as a family we have two because both my mom and I ride competitively. My two frenchies are called Herschel and Humphrey, and then the chihuahua is called Ginger. My horse, as mentioned earlier, is named Moose and my mom’s horse (a 17.2 hand Warmblood) is called Rexy. Despite having all little dogs, we used to have two labs whom I loved with all of my heart, so I’m hoping to get big dogs again in the future when I get out of college. My dream dogs are German Shepherds, Pitt Bulls, and Labs, Collies, or Dobermans. Honestly, just any rescue dog will work, but those are the dogs I envision myself having in the future.

What sports do you play/have played? Like I said earlier, I am an equestrian and have been riding for 16 years but when I was younger I went through a bunch of other sports to see  which one I liked the most. Obviously horseback riding ended up winning, but I did try soccer, gymnastics, dance, taekwondo, track, cross country, and wake surfing. Aside from horseback riding, wake surfing was a favorite of mine, and I only stopped when we sold the lake house and boat we had that we would use to surf. But I still love it and hope to try it again sometime! Other than that, I kinda just like exercising in general, so while I don’t do any of this competitively, I like to run occasionally and I ride my bike as much as I can when I have the time.

How tall are you? I am 5’4” or about 163 cm give or take. I am definitely the shortest aside from my mom in both my family in my friend group but I actually like being smaller sometimes. I can officially say I can fit in both a vacation suitcase and a medium sized dog kennel (like for corgis, beagles, etc.).

Favorite subject in school? In high school, my favorite class by far was Vet Med, but I also loved AP Literature. My teacher was the best and reading has always been my strength (rip math). As for my college classes, my favorites are Abnormal Psychology and Creative Writing.

Dream job? Okay realistically, my dream job is Forensic Psychology. Basically a detective with a psychology degree so that you can not only solve cases but also study the criminals behind them. That’s what I am currently going to uni for and what I hope will continue throughout the duration of my college years! I originally wanted to be a Veterinarian more than anything (hence why I took Vet Med in high school), but for a whole magnitude of reasons, I decided against it. I actually worked at a vet clinic for three years during high school and I fucking loved it, but there were just a lot of things that bothered me about the industry (it didn’t have anything to do with the vets themselves, those people are fucking awesome) so I decided it would be for the best if I changed my major. I still fucking love it and I even have an old textbook from when I was going to major in it that I read when I want so I can still stay refreshed on the major injuries and diseases and their cures. I also get some experience with Vet Med since with horses, the owner kinda has to do most of the healing unless it’s something specific like acupuncture, so I take care of all of Moose’s injuries and illnesses in the same way a vet would. If we are talking unrealistic, my dream job would be to train horses in Europe, writing short stories and novels as I travel around the world to train and compete. While I could never support myself with a job like this, horseback riding will always be in my life and I am hoping that my novel will be successful enough to allow me to be an author on the side of my Forensic Psych job!

Thanks again for tagging me, and thank you for reading through my word vomit about my life! In turn, I’m going to tag @mysteriousmagicx for this. Have a nice day!